Preparing for Easters

We dyed eggs at the 'rents place. I think Mavis and Annie (not even pictured here) dyed the most eggs — close to 2 dozen each. Izak is on his mission, and his friend, Jana, who is a girl (not officially the girlfriend, although they do write to each other every single week!) comes over every now and then to hang out. Jana and her sister Kate showed up when we were dyeing eggs. That was fun for us. It was also especially nice that Jana and Lexy watched the kids for us afterward so we (me and the sibs and spouses and 'rents) could all go to Shoga for dinner. I've only been once, but I was pretty impressed with Shoga, the new Japanese restaurant next door to Outback in Orem (kitty corner from the University Mall ... just South and West of it). Real Fresh! And flavorful. I'm excited to go back. Also, I finally made it to red mango and it was real fresh too. Great flavor! I had the regular flavor yogurt with strawberries and mango. It was exceptional!

Lastly, and more importantly, in the week leading up to Easter I ended up talking with Mavis about the meaning of Easter. We talked about Jesus' death (we didn't go into much detail yet) and His resurrection. Also, several weeks ago we visited Grandma Irons again, Janet's mom, who is quite old now, and close to death. She has soft, bony hands; thin, matted, grey hair; hunched over body; can't hear much, etc. It scared Mavis a bit, although she was a good sport and gave out hugs, danced for Grandma, and let Great-grandma hold her hand. So out of the blue, on multiple occasions, Mavis angrily told me, "I don't want to die!!" "I'm not going to get old!" "I don't like Heavenly Father's plan!" And then, when she was in trouble the other day she yelled at me "You just want me to die!" It seems that my attempts to teach her about Easter and resurrection, and our visits to Grandma have combined to cause her quite a bit of inner turmoil. She was so sad that it made me feel sad too, although I have to admit that deep down I also wanted to chuckle a bit at how sensitive and thoughtful she is. I was thinking about this in church the other day and realizing that the reason I don't suffer from the same fear is because I have felt the comforting spirit of the Holy Ghost confirming to me that there is life after death, and that there is a Savior, which is Jesus. I hope to be able to help Mavis find her answers and feel the same peace in her heart.