There are so many places I could start this morning reflecting on this verse, honestly, all of the avenues I have right now of reflection are testimony to the Lord...you'll see why.
Here's the first...when I was young, my sweet mother helped us learn bible verses by memory. At very young ages, she had a calendar with stickers and we worked on verses every day, at the end of the week if we had memorized our verse we got a sticker. During that time, I didn't really understand why we were learning these things out of the bible, but as hind sight is always 20/20, I see now that mom knew the scripture needed to be written on our hearts. So, this was one of our verses and I have to say, I learned this one so well, that I thought the last words of the verse were "Mark 16.6".
I would proudly walk around saying the entire verse and just conclude w/ the address. It was just part of it for me - when I realized that "Mark 16.6" was actually the address of where the verse was in the bible, I was shocked - not sure why. Anyway...my first reflection from this verse takes me back to my childhood and the early learning of this powerful scripture.
Here's the second...so a few months ago, my friends Jenny and Kerry and I decided that we would start reading in Matthew and we would commit to like 5 chapters a week. So, every week when we meet for accountability, we would just hold each other accountable for reading the scriptures. This way, it wasn't like you had to read one chapter a day, or 2 or whatever, it was just read the five chapters at some point that week. Well, we chugged along through Matthew and every once in a while would chat about what we were reading and ask each other questions. After Matthew comes Mark so we are just going to keep going through the whole new testament. So, it just so happens that this week - the very week of Easter - we are finishing Mark and reading his account of the end of Jesus' life. Coincidence that its this week??? Nope - that's just how awesome God is - His timing is perfect.
Its funny too b/c I think Matthew's writing about the end of Jesus' life is more descriptive, so why would we not be ending Matthew this week? Who knows, but I do know that Mark is more to the point, he's cut and dry, and really, when you are talking about the resurrection of Christ...that's all you need.
Third and lastly...this Easter morning is like no other I have ever experienced. I woke up to my husband being gone to work (poor Matt he left at 4am), and my dog snuggling up to me in the bed in place of my husband. There is no Easter egg basket outside my door, there are no cute yellow duck decorations in my house, there isn't even any Easter candy, not one piece. But I will tell you that this Easter morning is VERY special - because what IS here - is that HE IS RISEN.
When Matt left for work this morning and Elle quickly jumped in his spot in the bed, he just left and said, "I love you" like he does every morning, and then I just laid there for about 20 seconds before drifting back off to sleep...but in those 20 seconds, God whispered to me, "He is RISEN". It wasn't anything to keep me awake (I love to sleep), but it was my heavenly Father telling me,
"It doesn't matter that Matt is working and you are sleeping with a dog, it doesn't matter that you don't have any family to see today or that you aren't eating ham and rolls for lunch, it doesn't matter that you are going to church alone...what matters is...HE IS RISEN!"
That's the thing...its not about ME - its about HIM! So, I'll just end where I started,
"Don't be alarmed, you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. ~Mark 16.6
The Lord put it on my heart to share on my blog what He has done in my heart this morning - He has taken me back 2000 years ago to the rising of my King. Him rising out of that grave and defeating death is all that matters in this life, and that is the best Easter lesson I've ever learned. So, thank you Lord, for raising your son from the dead so that I can be your daughter - I love you.
~AES
Cake - 
Mid smash - he was awesome!
Yay! We can stand up! Walking is next!
This pic was from a trip to Charleston where Caroline's family has a great beach house - probably 2 years after meeting at Focus. 
This picture is from my second trip to see Caroline in Raleigh - she had just moved in with Courtney and Erin and I got to visit. This is pre-David! :)
Saturday we went to a great little baby store in Greenville and looked around at baby paraphernalia and such. We had to run a few errands and of course Duncan slept through the whole outing! Saturday night mom and I cooked spaghetti for Caroline and David and hopefully we got it to the perfect consistency for Mr. Cheek – he’s a picky one. After dinner we continued our lazy weekend of playing with Duncan and watching the conference basketball tournaments on TV.
