One of the “differences” between Orthodox Christianity and the rest of the Western world is that we operate based on the old Julian calendar. Some years, this means that our Easter falls on the same Sunday, and other years, it is later. This year, our Easter was off by just one week (some years it’s been a month different!). This means that instead of celebrating Easter today, we had Palm Sunday. A friend of ours caught this sweet little picture of AJ kissing an icon of Jesus riding in on a donkey. I absolutely love this time of year here in Dallas. Spring is in full bloom, it rains every other day, and everything is lush and green. Now that we live by a huge lake, we have the most gorgeous drive home from church in downtown. Here’s a taste of what we got to experience today. These aren’t even filtered– this is what it looks like in real life (in fact, the second picture was taken through the front windshield while we were driving)! The weather has been absolutely gorgeous when it’s not raining– mostly in the 60s and 70s with sunshine and a slight breeze. We’ve been spending a lot of time outdoors, that’s for sure! AJ and I took yesterday morning to go get haircuts while Jesse and Gregory went to Saturday morning liturgy at church (we have church twice a day during Holy Week, so church is 75% of our life during this season). After haircuts, AJ and I walked over to the grocery store across the street. It’s my favorite store in the metroplex, quite honestly. It’s a small store called “Natural Grocers“, and is not unlike Whole Foods, except for the fact that it’s a little smaller. The unique part about this store is that it used to be a movie theater many years ago. They use the old movie marquis to display health food posters 🙂

We’ve also had a lot of great times with friends lately. Last Thursday, I babysat all 3 of my godsons. Friday night, we had my doctor’s family come over to have music lessons and then eat out with us at a restaurant. Saturday, we had two other families over for dinner. And then Sunday afternoon, we ate out with friends after church. Jesse and I hardly ever turn down an invitation to spend time with friends since we spent 3 years feeling very lonely in CA. We’ve been trying to make up for those years ever since, which probably means we’ve been overdoing it with our social calendar! I guess as long as we get precious moments like this as a family every night, I’ll be okay with the busy-ness. 🙂