“We think success means being so good or so great that no one can do without us, yet a successful scholar is one whose work continues in his students long after he retires, and a successful entrepreneur is one whose company chugs merrily along while he’s taking a holiday on the beach. A successful parent is one who, eventually, doesn’t have to be there.

“Success is a movement into invisibility. Success is decreasing so that others may increase. Success is a seed dying in the ground and bearing fruit upwards. Success is becoming dispensable. The successful man is the one who will not be missed.”

—Peter J. Leithart, in the June 2009 Touchstone Magazine

“Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone,
but in every leaf in spring-time. ”
—Martin Luther

Happy Easter to you! I hope you have a wonderful day, as my friend Jen said, “for Jesus reasons and for chocolate reasons!”

If you are having trouble seeing these photos, I apologize! I’ve fixed the code three times now and still some people seem unable to view them. Maybe Flickr is having some server problems or something. Let me know if you have a problem and I’ll try again. Sorry, and thanks!

A couple of days ago, this colorfully-decorated package arrived on our doorstep. (Okay, mail doesn’t arrive on our doorstep, it arrives in the mailbox by our gate. Though this package didn’t even arrive there, our mail carrier walked it around back and left it by our garage. Our mailman is thoughtful like that.) We noticed it as we were leaving to go out to dinner, so we took it with us and opened it at Boston Market while we were waiting for our food.

It was an Easter package for Annalie! Her cousins Brett & Leo made these signs for her and her Aunt Dana packaged them up with a cute stuffed frog (promptly christened “Froggie”) and an assortment of Easter goodies including sour apple edible Easter grass, neapolitan chocolate eggs, and a chocolate bunny.

We all tried the edible grass, curious what it would taste like. Annalie thought it was just okay, but Troy and I quite liked it so Annalie generously told us we could have it. It sorta has the texture of a rice cake and is mildly sweet. What Annalie really wanted to eat right away was one of the Neapolitan chocolate eggs, which were flat egg-shaped candies with layers of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. She ate one the day we opened the package, and another the next day.

This morning she asked me if she could have one of her chocolate eggs. Distracted by a phone call from a friend, I said that was fine. Sensing my distraction, she asked if she could have two chocolate eggs. I said, sure, go ahead, and went back to my conversation.

Ten minutes later I was off the phone and leaving the bedroom when Annalie walked up to me and said apologetically, “Mom, I have to tell you something. I accidentally ate ALL my Neapolitan chocolate eggs that were left.”

I sighed. “Annalie, why did you do that? I hope you don’t get a stomachache now. How many did you eat?”

“I dunno. I think there were…ten?”

“Well, you can’t have any more candy or sweets for the rest of the day.”

“Okay. I’m sorry I ate them all without asking you but…they were just so DELICIOUS I couldn’t stop eating them!”