Easter was extra special this year. I mentioned that Mike and I both spoke in church. Although a little nerve racking it did make Easter extra special. Speaking turned out to be a blessing. It was such a beautiful day of celebrating the resurrection of our Savior. My talk went fine, but I was most impressed by my husbands.
I have many a moments when I am grateful for Mike. Yesterday though as I watched and listened to him speak I was especially reminded of how much grace God showed me by allowing me to meet and marry him!
He spoke about the atonement. A hard hard topic. He talked about how he had seen a patient just a few days earlier. The patient was a new citizen from Mexico. They had a lot of health problems and it took them years to finally gain citizenship in America. It was the first time in this patients life they had health insurance and she was crying with enthusiasm to Mike in hopes that he could heal her ailments.
My husband went on to explain in medical terms what the patient needed. It was a LOT! She had terrible terrible arthritis that had NEVER been treated. I saw a video that he showed to just me of her walking and literally he legs were sideways as she walked. She had joy in her face and was hopeful in modern day medicine .....especially in America.
Mike talked about how she had an incredible amount of faith in Mike. It overwhelmed him as he knew that her trials were near impossible to fix. She looked at him and said "Dr. Sumko.....I know it has taken me a long time to get here, and I KNOW that YOU can heal me. You are a man of God and YOU can heal me." Mike said in his talk that immediately a scripture came to his mind and in that moment he knew he COULDN'T heal her. Despite her faith and his knowledge......her condition could not be healed. He was humbled as he recognized the atonement and felt extreme peace in recognizing that someday in the resurrection this women WOULD be healed.
So often when I think of the atonement personally I think of healing in an emotional sense, and or making up for my sins and shortcomings. I have been blessed with good health for many years, and I am sure have taken it for granted. I was reminded by my husband the miracle of the atonement in the healing sense of people physically.
There was a certain time in Mike's medical school training that I thought it was quite ridiculous. I was upset that he was gone ALL the time, that we never were able to afford a vacation. I had moments of resentment. However, during his graduation (4 years after the start of the journey).....I was overcome with knowledge that this is what MIKE was MEANT to be. There was NO other option for him. He needed to help others. He is good at it. He craves for it. He loves it.
We love Mike. We love Easter, and we surely are grateful for our savior.
On the trivial side....
Every year in my family at Easter it was a big to do .....in my mind at least.... Easter attire. I would get so so excited day dreaming about the Easter dress I would get to help pick out. My Mom had great taste and would always help me choose. Easter Sunday meant Easter Best! To her....and to me it was important! It was TRADITION!
How pathetic I kind of realize that at almost 40 ....yes almost 40.....I still get GIDDY about Easter attire. It is MY FAVORITE without a doubt holiday to dress for. The easiest time of year for me to choose something I like. The problem for me is narrowing it down from 10 things in my basket to 1.
I love the colors, the textures, the styles of Easter dress. The fact that I get to look like a pastel frilly easter egg for a day totally makes my heart sing. Bow ties, seer sucker, checks, pink, purple....you name it. I LOVE IT ALL!
This year I was kind of extra excited about my dress for some strange reason. Memories of being excited to dress up for Easter were flooding my mind. I have ALWAYS loved dresses! From the time I can remember. I was Catherine's age (similar to Catherine in this sense) day dreaming of fashion designing. I would design in my head exactly what I would want to wear. I still get thrilled about wearing a new dress, and probably will when I am 80 or so....
I tried to get one with Mikey.....not so easy to have that happen.
But I did get this cute one the evening before. I LOVE THESE BOYS!
ps.....Mikey LOVES bow ties and Edwards Sunday attire as he calls it. He labeled "Edwards style himself".
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