Easter Hullabaloo and Good News

I've got a lot of catching up to do, so hopefully this won't be too draining for everyone to read. My mom arrived in England to help out and spend a couple of months with us on the 2nd. WOOHOO!! I'm so excited b/c I've always wanted to have my mom around when I've been having a baby, and now my dream has come true! She's really enjoying spending the time with the children, too, as they are really enjoying her! I think James' favourite word is 'Yia Yia', which is what my children call her. We're having a blast and I get to put my feet up! It was Easter break, pretty much from the time she arrived here, so no school and we took her to Cornwall for the day, when we visited Simon's parents in Exeter.

Easter is such a lovely holiday! I used to always be a Christmas person, and I still love Christmas, but Easter is my favourite. I love that the flowers are all blooming and we get some sunny days, we also have some lovely traditions that always make Easter special for our family. We start out Easter morning by going and having a devotional in the countryside at sunrise. Simon always finds us a lovely spot for it and we read the Easter story in the scriptures, sing a hymn together, and have a prayer. It is always a really spiritual experience. I love it! We then have church and the talks and lessons were so uplifting this year, especially the talks in Sacrament. Afterwards, we have a special Greek Easter feast. When Simon was on his mission in Greece, they celebrated Easter more there than they did Christmas, so we decided as a family that we could do a Greek Easter. Simon grills a lamb, and we have stuffed vine leaves, fried aubergines, pitas, Greek salad, etc. It is soooooo delicious, and I don't do the cooking, which is always a bonus! I love our Easter traditions. There's not a more significant event that's ever taken place in the history of man, than that of our Saviour's atonement and resurrection, and our traditions have made it even more special for me to have that extra bit of reflection on things.

The rest of the Easter break was eventful, to say the least. James broke his leg, in what they called a toddler fracture. It wasn't anything major, but he had to get a cast on it for a week. When I took him into A&E, it was 8 days after he hurt it. I know, I'm a bad mother, but I didn't actually see the accident and Simon insisted that James was just over-reacting to a little twist of his ankle when he was coming down a slide. Anyway, Simon went away for a day to visit his mum, so I took James to A&E, where I was, again, treated like the delinquent mother. The report that the receptionist wrote up even said I was referred by the police, which made me feel like a criminal! Next time, I'm sending Simon!

The really good news is that Simon's mum is now at home. It is a miracle!! She went from having a 20% chance of living and being in a coma, to now being at home for her recuperation. She was supposed to have something like 4 weeks more in hospital, then have to go into a home for a couple of weeks of rehabilitation, but she's bypassed all of that and is now at home. She's still quite weak, but is doing amazing. I got to see her for the first time last week, when she was still in hospital, and she looked good to me. She's always been a determined woman and strong, so this has proved no different to her character. I'm just amazed by it all! The Lord has blessed us so much! I could never be in doubt of his love and mindfulness of us!

Anyway, that's what we've been up to. Hope you've all had a lovely Easter and Spring!

Major Progress

Just to keep everyone in the loop, Simon's Mum came out of intensive care, yesterday. Hooray! We're so thrilled with how blessed she's been and we feel confident now that everything is going to be okay, although it will be a very long recovery.

She tried to walk for the first time, a couple days ago and finds it very frustrating, but she's determined to work at it. She's also talking now and we were able to talk to her on the phone on Monday. It was amazing!

Simon's Dad has been unwell and not able to see her as much, but is managing very well in the circumstances, especially as she is doing much better.

We just feel very blessed and know that the Lord is watching over her and that the Spirit has blessed us with a great calmness and reassurance at this time. Thank you for all your love, concern, prayers, and well wishes. It's all helped, tremendously!