Come Receive the Light

Tonight at midnight, the Orthodox Church will go completely dark. The priest will light his candle from the eternal flame at the alter, and will use it to light the candles the altar boys hold. They will walk down the aisle and the flames will pass from candle to candle. Within a minute, every person in the packed church will be holding a lit candle and singing the hymn "Christ is Risen from the Dead." Our faces will be illuminated like icons, and I will undoubtedly get a tear in my eye from the incredible beauty of it all. I always do.

We spent the entire day at Church yesterday. 9:00 am Service where Christ died on the Cross, then a retreat for the school kids, then 3:00 Service where his body was taken down from the cross. We did take a little break for a vegetarian dinner, then back for Christ's funeral service. DD10 was a myrrh-bearer, scattering rose petals around the bier and in the processional. She looked so serious in her white dress.

The icon above is one of my favorites. It depicts Christ breaking the gates of Hell and grabbing Adam and Eve to free them.

I did get some bad news when I logged on to my email last night. The city put out a 5:00 Friday press release announcing massive budget cuts, including the tutoring program I work for. There were a number of other emails from coworkers talking about going to budget meetings. I think it's hopeless really, the city is clearly out of money. Some of the council members are tutors! I think no matter how much they might want to keep us in the budget the money just isn't there. A sign of the general economic health of the whole country.

So I'm thinking about where we can get the money and how we're going to do it. Wish me luck. Hundreds of kids will be affected by this.

Bake Easter bread/save the world - another typical day for a mom. . .

update: The Friends of the Library read the press release and just contacted us to donate $10k. Note to self: Renew membership to Friends of the Library. They rock. Nice to see some people "get it." Only about $50k more to find.