2014 Easter, Journal, Christian Thoughts

This was fourth year of Easter celebration dinner at the home of Lisa/Dave.  

Appetizer Table - lots cheese, dips, crackers, vegetables, sausages, meat balls 

Drinks’ counter: various kinds of wines from Lisa and beer and water with ice provided by Elsa.

One of the Dining Tables

Hiroko is surprised to these tablecloths.  Who made these?  Mom, you did.  WOW!  It is beautiful.  Ha,ha,ha,ha!

At the front of the pretty tulips, little cute chicks were in the dish.  It was made with egg shell by Dave’s niece who is 10 years old.  It was very cute chicks and clever idea.

Lady and Man of the house

Dave has always been a good chef, and Lisa stayed by his side to prepare right dishes for the foods and clean the things chef need.

Here is the people

Leo and Mikio

Dave’s mother and grand-daughter - this girl made the egg shell chicks

It was little bit cool and lots of sunshine.  Who was bathing sunshine?  Richard’s tenant and Dave’s brother

Dave’s father - his salad and green bean with bacon are very tasty

Dave’s brother and his wife  Where is their dog?  They are really fun to talk.

Today’s main dish - Steak and spaghetti, and chef 

Time to eat!

Dan-san, as usual gave the grace for the foods.

Give praise and thank to the Lord God for His Love and Grace, Jesus showed on the cross.

Thanks for the family and friends, and good health for everyone.

There were usual foods, so Hiroko didn’t take photo.  However, she missed some foods.  What was it?? 

Salad by Dave’s father, …  Hey!   Holly, Dave’s sister-in-law’s broccoli rice, and green beans with bacon.

Time to clean-up by Holy and Elsa

What are they doing?  Weren’t they take responsibility to clean the dishes?

Well, now they’re agreed something and started to clean the dishes.

Dessert Time 

This was the dessert made by Richard’s tenant

Easter cake by Dave’s brother

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Another Easter Luncheon

On the Easter Day, April 20, Sunday, was held annual luncheon after the Easter Worship Service

This is Devon Church Sanctuary, Dan-san and Hiroko has attended for 30 years.

At Easter Service, puppet shows were played.  The puppet show stage was put on the left side of the pulpit.  The cover of the alter was white, which is the Easter color, and the Easter emblems on the white cloth.

The screen is hung on the left side of the alter.  On the screen can you see the word “Risen”?  The whole sentence is that “Jesus has Risen” was on the screen.  Jesus rose on the Easter Day.  The most important subject of Christianity is that Jesus’ death on the cross, and Jesus’ resurrection after three days. 

Children’s luncheon room in the church basement - Children loved all the decorations, and took them home.

Luncheon room - Before the Worship Service they were enjoying a cup of coffee

This is the center piece of the table. 

As usual, Hiroko forgot to take the photos.  There were lots of food with many different kinds of ethnic foods and all were very tasty.  Hiroko made ham for Church Luncheon and also for Lisa/Dave’s.

Sakura, 2014

Sakura, 2014

These beautiful photos of Sakura were forwarded to Hiroko.  There weren't any explanation except the address was found.  The address seems someone’s blog, so Hiroko tried to look for the blog, but she can’t find anything.  This is the address.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUIBN3AgK8wXgSRp9vEPJFiDCL6LVxvhzqjcwjJEPObjkqJJqzaDIqHqwHyLQk6ge8EMDVNdL1JbBGdVmzx2KkhF-RvJ2NjHcrWpMbR-ENEp3OJY1D4kdm4fmTiobH9Wm2aSgo-s5YMgnH/s1600/cherry_blossom_sakura_01.jpg

These photos titled “Sakura, 2014 - Beautiful Japanese cherry blossom photos of 2014” were so beautiful, that Hiroko wanted to post and share the beauty of sakura with you.

Please enjoy them, and if you find the link or something please let everyone to know.

                           

Genesis 1:9-13
And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.  And it was so.  God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas."  And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.  And it was so.  The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.  And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening, and there was morning --- the third day.

14 04-13 Visiting to Celebrate Easter; Christian Thoughts

It is Palm Sunday, one week before Easter.  Why is it called Palm Sunday?  Please read the article below.

Church visitation group had a wonderful time to celebrate Easter at Covenant Nursing Home.

After lunch, the members of the group was practicing with Leo, Hiroko’s best friend’s husband.  He is very good guitar player.

Here is the meeting room at the nursing home.

There weren't many residents attending, yet, because the church group had arrived a little bit early.  The church visitation group started to visit this nursing home since last Christmas, and we usually visit them around 2:30.

Leo was adjusting his guitar.  Others were waiting and talking.

The residents started coming one by one.  There was not so many residents at this time. 

Here started singing.

The numbers of the Church group seemed more than the residents.  It was happy to see the residents enjoying singing Easter Hymns and old songs.  13 songs were sung.  Leo sung some old song by himself.  Thanks to Leo.

It was time to finish and to go home.

After the singing the Nursing home provided us coffee, tea, water, and cookies.  The Pastor of the Nursing Home said thanks to us for visiting them.  We gave thanks to them for inviting us and their concern to quench our thirst.

Palm Sunday:

Palm Sunday is the day we celebrate Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem.  This happened over 2,000 years ago.  Jesus borrowed a donkey that had never been ridden before, and He slowly made His way into the city of Jerusalem.  As Jesus rode along, the people cheered for Him.  They loved Him because of all the miracles they had seen Him perform.  They thought Jesus was riding into the city to become a king.  They were hoping He would be the king who would bring peace and power to the entire Jewish nation.  The people pulled down branches from the palm trees along the road, and spread them in front of Jesus to honor Him.  They waved palm branches too and they shouted, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”  They even took off their coasts, and laid them on the road as Jesus traveled.

If all the people wanted to make Jesus king, why was He crucified a few days later?

Jesus knew that His Kingdom was not going to be like an earthly kingdom, but some of the people don’t know that.  Jesus knew that He was going to die to save them from their sins.  God used the celebration of all the people to demonstrate that Jesus really was the Son of God.  Even though the cross where Jesus died seemed very bad, it really is good news today because we all can live together forever just because Jesus died and took the punishment for our sins.