Happy Easter.....the Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Christ, celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox. This year Easter happens to fall on the Sunday after what would have been my sister's 56th birthday. Cool. I get yet another chance to celebrate her life! If my readers have had the privilege of living alongside a terminal cancer victim, then the reader would have been taught what really matters in one's life. A cancer patient inspires anyone in their path. Easter, springtime, and cancer patients are entwined by God's love. My family has had a couple of close calls with death and was shattered by a recent emergency. But today, I get to celebrate that precious life and thank God for guiding us to our loved one at 11:30 p.m. Bruce and I know that our precious one is God's miracle. The heart wrenching waiting game was worth every hour that we spent at hospital in our sleeping bags and mattress pads. We waited, cried, prayed, waited, cried and prayed. I watched the monitors intently and I held hands. Thank you, God, for the extra smiles, cuddles, giggles, and pouts. Thank you, God, for my family's life on this Easter Morning, 2009.

The Jelly Bean Prayer - Written by Charlene Dickensen, 1997...or someone from the Counts Family.

GREEN is for the grassy blade,

YELLOW is for the sun God made.

ORANGE is for a flame so bright.

BLACK is for our sins not right.

RED is for the blood He gave.

WHITE is for Jesus' grace He saved.

PURPLE is for the hours of sorrow.

PINK is for a new tomorrow.

A bag of jellybeans, so colorful and sweet, is a promise, a prayer, and a loved one's treat.