Good News for April 11 (posted by Mary Beth)

Easter Saturday

"Today we wait: having faced the sorrow of Good Friday, we eagerly anticipate the joy of Resurrection Sunday. We have the benefit of knowing what happened on that glorious day. Pity Jesus’ followers who were waiting with all of the doubts and fears and pains brought on by the previous day’s events."

Click here for more on Easter Saturday.


Resurrection pastors rely on Mark to tell Easter story

"When pastors gaze upon their flocks after sunrise on Sunday, many will see congregations cast in shadows—haunted by diminishing investments and the prospect of losing jobs and homes.

Amid this fear and doubt, the clergy must lead the faithful to a message of hope—the miracle of the Resurrection commemorated at Easter.

To do it, many will rely on the Gospel of Mark, a tale that embodies the anxiety of confronting the unknown."

What can Mark say to you in these times? Click here to find out.


Live Stations of the Cross: Houston worshippers gather to witness re-enactments of Christ’s last hours

"Join St. Phillip of Jesus Catholic Church parishioners as they portray the Stations of the Cross."

Visit the slideshow here.


Chocolate masterpiece: Snook’s Candies a popular spot for Easter supplies

"Just call him Folsom’s Michelangelo, but instead of marble, he works with chocolate.

Snook’s Chocolate Factory on Sutter Street, which was founded in 1963, is offering a wide variety of Easter treats including various chocolate bunnies. The store’s classic surprise bunny has a chocolate coin and a coupon for a chocolate-dipped waffle cone sealed inside its hollow body."

Click here for the sweet story!


Mom's job: Driving kids ... everywhere

"This week alone, my four boys had basketball practices and games, tae kwon do classes, religious education classes, floor hockey games, piano lessons, a Japanese class, chess club, a violin lesson and two birthday parties.

Like parents everywhere, my husband, Pat, and I struggle to manage the schedule of our four boys (ages 11, 9, 7 and 4). Including trips to preschool and the elementary school, we made 26 round trips and spent about seven hours in the car."

For tips on managing a schedule full of chauffeuring, click here.


Having a ball: Bowling is still the family sport

"As a kid in the '70s, I occasionally watched the Pro Bowlers Tour on ABC. It was appealing in an old-fashioned sort of way. I dug the players' double-knit pants, the special shoes, and, of course, announcer Chris Schenkel's even-keel call of the games.

Bowling is anything but dowdy these days."

Click here to read more on a real family outing.



New apartments open for seniors in Lower 9th Ward

"A new Lower 9th Ward apartment complex, built with financial help from the city and the federal government, is giving some senior citizens a chance to return to the part of the city they called home before Hurricane Katrina.

Rising Sun Homes, a 34-unit complex at 1420 Charbonnet St., offers efficiencies that rent for $375 a month and one-bedroom apartments for $475 to people 55 and older with low incomes."

Learn more about this bright spot on the New Orleans map by clicking here.


Backstory: How rapper Lil Wayne was saved by alert off-duty cop

"Lil Wayne never would have made it had it not been for big Robert Hoobler.

The celebrated New Orleans rapper would have bled to death on the floor of his mother's Hollygrove apartment the afternoon of Nov. 11, 1994, at just 12 years old, after accidentally shooting himself in the chest while playing with a 9 mm handgun."

Click here for the story of a big-hearted man and a future star.


Artwork from Hearst Castle returned to heirs of Jewish couple

"The grandchildren of a Jewish couple whose artwork was taken by the Nazis in 1935 received three of the paintings back from the state of California this afternoon at a ceremony in Sacramento attended by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger."

To read more on the story, click here.