A Different Sort of Easter - - but we can still celebrate!

This morning, when I awoke, I realized that we would not be able to take our annual family photo on the altar of a church for Easter.

Easter 2015 - Holy Family Church, Steubenville, Ohio and one month before our wedding!

One short year later, in 2016, we returned to that same church for Easter Mass when Charlotte Annie was just 20 days old!  <3

 Easter 2017 found us back in Holy Family with our newly turned 1 year old who turned our lives upside down....in a good way!

We were unsuccessful in getting a picture for Easter 2018 when we went to mass at Holy Family but here is one from after the craziness of that mass of two year old Charlotte.

She looks like an Easter egg!  =)

We were unable to go to our beloved church for Easter 2019 as we were living outside the country at the time.  Here is last year's Easter photo from the glorious Kartause Maria Thron from April 2019.

Today is Easter Sunday 2020.  I don't have any pretty outfits or dresses to put on Charlotte at the moment.  When we hastily packed to make this emergency trip home to my parents, I didn't think to pack anything for her to wear for Easter Sunday.  I suppose when churches reopen and we attend that long awaited first mass after a while of not being able to worship as a community in person, we'll have to wear extra special Easter outfits to take a photo after mass!

Instead of ending this post with an annual photo, I am sharing these two student-created spiritual reflection videos they created for last week and this week in my classes.  Like I said, this is the first year my family and I are unable to get a picture in a church for Easter. Yet I'm feeling extra fortunate to work somewhere that I can learn from and grow with my students in this way when we're unable to go to Mass in person.

Enjoy these spiritual reflections that were created by some of the amazing student leaders I have the honor of working with...may we all take a moment today to remember the reason for the season and reflect on all that has been given to us. <3