6.15am The kids always sleep through our alarms. Why are they both awake now?!

Maybe they want to make sure I know Christ is risen!

8.06am Somehow, we’re all dressed and ready to go! Sophia has had some chocolate and us grownups have had our caffeine. I just need to feed Aidan and then it’s time to head to St Giles!

8.29am Let’s go!

9.23am Well, that was lovely! Because I have a very generous and understanding husband, I did the communion bit at the St Giles early service. It would have been a struggle to do a whole service, but I really needed to do something. So Nathan led the service, Jane did a cracking sermon, and I stepped in just for the communion bit. It was great.

Lesson learned though, it is not easy to feed a baby when you need to get them under a chasuble, inside a double-breasted alb, through a dress, under a clerical crop top and then finally a bra. It was an interesting couple of minutes navigating all that, I can tell you!

10.10am I’ve left Sophia with Nathan and Aidan and I are getting in the car to go to ASSF. Sophia decided to opt for the church with the Easter egg hunt, and I can’t say I blame her!

12.30pm Well, that was such a good morning! I always feel great for being at ASSF. The service was lovely, and it was great to worship with my church family on this Easter Day!

I hadn’t realised that there would be an Easter egg hunt at ASSF as well. Sophia may find it harder to choose next year! Aidan slept from the Gospel reading to the last hymn. When I went up for communion he was given a blessing which went something like this: ‘may the joy and peace of the Lord be with you always, and his sleepfullness be with you always, especially at night’ – I loved that, and I’m definitely stealing it for future use!

Anyway, time to go back to Aintree, pick up Nathan and Sophia, and head out for lunch.

3.24pm I don’t think I could eat another thing ever again! I and so full! When we got back, Sophia did a craft we picked up yesterday, and then we surprised her with a little egg hunt in the garden. She had taken us on an egg hunt with the little chocolates she won yesterday, and she loved hiding them in church, too. It was nice to spend some time in the sunny garden, hunting for chocolate!

5pm Fitbit says I’ve just slept for an hour and a half! I must have needed it.

11.08pm I’m now in bed, thinking about this Holy Week. It’s been different, for sure! Quieter and less busy. Yet somehow, I’ve had far less downtime than usual. In some ways, I have missed church, and in other ways, I haven’t. It’s hard to explain how I feel. Part of me is longing to be back in the middle of it all. Another part of me is enjoying who I am at the moment, and not wanting to go back to who I was before. I am a much better wife, mum, daughter and daughter-in-law right now. And I’m actually a much better person of faith right now. These are things I can’t ignore.

But, today is Easter Day. We’re celebrating the greatest day and the biggest miracle in history! Death has become so insignificant that we don’t need to fear it! Jesus coming back means that death is not the end. The darkness is put to shame by the brightness of the light. Things that seemed impossible become possible, all because of Easter Day.

All those things I’m worrying about, I can hand right over to God because He cares and He wants to help. He’s a parent who is interested and invested. But, unlike me, he is not limited by the capacity. He can hear me and hear billions of others around the world at the same time. He hears me. He hears you. He is here, and to quote Sophia, he is back!

Happy Easter and, as always, thank you for reading along x