HE IS RISEN...HE IS RISEN INDEED!

That is the greeting that the early Christians used, to greet each other on Resurrection Sunday! Here in Colombia, everyone "celebrates" the death of Jesus, but no one celebrates, or even recognizes that He arose! HOW SAD! "Because He lives, we can face tomorrow!"
Since we are in the rainy, chilly season of Colombia, for days I have been wondering what "Spring outfit" I could wear on Easter...that would keep me warm!?!(more later!)
Our Sundays are WAY to hectic to have a special meal with company over. (Because sometimes we only have 2 hours at home, in between our 2 services!) So, we had our "Resurrection Sunday meal"...on Saturday, and invited Carlos and Gloria. Friday evening we had a church service in Corinto. Then later on that night back at home, I had FUN getting the table all ready for our special meal. [A DEAR friend gave me the beautiful table cloth, and the vase (minus the flowers) was given to me from the wedding reception that we attended last week.] And we sat a place for Jesus...THE UNSEEN GUEST, to help us remember that HE IS ALWAYS PRESENT WITH US!

On Saturday, the meal turned out good, THANK THE LORD. In Colombia I have never seen a HAM, and the ROAST BEEF are VERY TOUGH (Kimberly nearly choked to death eating beef at Christmas time) so my choices for meat are hamburger, chicken, or shrimp. (Of course the Colombians would tell me that I had MANY MORE CHOICES: cow intestines, blood sausage, cow foot, cow liver, chicken liver, chicken feet, chicken gizzard, etc. UGH!) So, I found a new recipe in Taste of Home called "Shrimp with Lemon Linguine" and made that, and it turned out delicious. To accompany the Shrimp sauce and pasta, I made a lime jello for the appetizer, my homemade French bread (with NOAH'S HELP!=), a tossed green salad, and Gloria made homemade fresh raspberry juice to drink. We had a wonderful time of fellowship, and after dinner we moved to the living room to visit more...AND THAT IS WHEN THE STOMACH FLU HIT SARAH AND I. All I could do was sit in a chair in the living room, and hope that I did not loose my dinner. So poor Phillip and Gloria had to serve my 2 desserts: the "Tres Leches" cake, (a DELICIOUS Latin American moist,white cake) and the Fresh Strawberry Pie. By that time, I did NOT want any of the desserts, I was soooo sick. So, needless to say...I decided WHAT "SPRING OUTFIT" THAT I'D WEAR ON EASTER TO KEEP ME WARM...my warm, flannel nightgown...while I laid in bed SICK! SMILE! But, I was HAPPY that I got everything done I wanted to get done, and the meal over before I got sick. AND THOUGH I'M SICK, I'M STILL REJOICING IN THE FACT THAT JESUS DIED AND AROSE FROM THE DEAD AND LIVES TO INTERCEDE FOR ME! (Phillip told me that there was a good crowd at church this Easter morning, and they had a good service. He took the camera to church, but since he was busy leading the service, he forgot to take any pictures.)