Easter "Magic"

children are always entertaining and are easily entertained. sometimes, all you need is a spoon. see what my cousin beau started in our last Easter family get together...

first, the demo

then the assist

success!

the cousins join the act (with some cheating)

jyo becomes a pro

as does gueli

easter balut :)

A Triduum Martha

i've always been a martha. that explains a lot about my being a producer: always in the background, making sure that there are no loose ends and that everything runs smoothly.

this triduum, i was still martha, but one with more faith. you see, our triduum coordinator, tito eddie, has this bizarre prayer that we have a difficult time. he's not a sadist (at least, not that i know of). "all the better to rely on Him," he says. he says it each year and each year, the triduum preparations get more and more difficult.

this year took the cake. despite what we thought was an early start on preparations, we found ourselves grappling for time 'til the very end. tito eddie was having a dry spell and i (quite literally) could not find the face of Jesus for the reveal sequence. with less than 2 weeks to go, my lead dancer informs me that she can't make it to our planned rehearsal dates because of a conflict with a sudden school activity and so far, only 5 sisters had signed up for the dance (we wanted at least 10). eleven days before "show day," my assistant director backs out due to a family emergency. less than 24 hours later, my floral coordinator and supplier begs off as well.

i had no script, no lead dancer, no dancers, no assistant director, no production assistants, and no florist. what i DID have was faith.

had these been the circumstances say, 10 - 12 years ago, i would've panicked; not this time. strangely enough, i was very calm. driving from a meeting one day, i heard the Lord say that He was in control. all i could say was "amen."

it really helps when you have a friend in high places. the Lord had all the proper connections and He led me straight to them.

• surfing the internet, i found, of all things, a website specifically dedicated to images of the resurrected Christ where i found His face!
  
• a dear friend agreed to do my flowers at my price (with delivery) over a simple phone call. they were beautiful too! plus, she delivered 2 hours early!
  
• a simple e-mail to the sector youth workers instantly yielded the 15 kids we needed to dance the hora tambourine dance (18 actually showed up on rehearsal day!)
• on the day of the first dance practice, a sister called me up and couldn't believe what she was about to ask me: "could i still join the dance?" she then shared that during her morning prayer time, the Lord asked how she could dance for her health but not for Him. the moment she decided to dance for the Lord, her schedules cleared up, making her available for rehearsals. she was the 10th dancer that we needed.
• last minute, we decide to have kids wave ribbons during the Gloria. i asked the help of a brother who was at the rehearsals (for a different meeting) to do the recruiting and he and his wife got me 29 kids that same night (30 if you count the little boy who took his brothers ribbon and refused to return it. his mom waved it for him.)
• a brother and a sister in community (separately) helped me look for an assistant director. a week before show day, i had not one, but two assistant directors!
• better still, one of them recruited the four production assistants we needed (on the actual day, i had 3 additional volunteers!).

the Lord provided every need. every task that needed to be done was accomplished, even the unexpected. a third priest helped celebrate the Easter vigil mass (we were only expecting two). no one knew his name. mid-mass, i was informed that a sister knew him and so to get the priest's name (so he could be properly acknowledged), i needed to find her... in a sea of over 2,000 attendees! were they joking me?! while ranting, i turned my head to find, seated in the front row of the group of chairs just behind me, the very sister i was looking for! it brings new meaning to the verse "seek and you shall find."

i finally printed my final script 5 hours before it was to be executed. midway through my final revisions, tito eddie texted to ask how i was doing and i reported to him my status. he rejoiced with me and texted me a prayer for smooth transitions for the day. i replied that i was grateful that his prayer was not that i would have a difficult time. he said that it was no longer necessary because that was already an answered prayer and that i had truly experienced the weight of His glory. he's absolutely right!

when God is in control and ties up loose ends, Marthas get to experience being Marys too. what a glorious God we have indeed!