He is Risen!

Easter was both joyful and sorrowful this year, as Peter's aunt Sherry passed away on Easter Sunday.
You can check out  Peter's blog for more on that, and for a powerful reminder of God's great love for us. 

When I was growing up, my parents were very mindful of keeping the emphasis on the true meaning of Easter.  There was never an Easter bunny, or even Easter baskets, but there was a focus on the miraculous resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I've found myself following in my parents footsteps in many ways, and we wanted to keep the emphasis on the true meaning of Easter in our house too.  However, I also remember that my parents did not want us to feel deprived of some of the fun traditions, and so we were surprised with "Spring baskets" at some random time before or after Easter, since we had much love for chocolate eggs and jelly beans. So, when Peter brought home an invitation to an Easter egg hunt at a friends' house, we figured that there was no need to deprive the girls of something that they would love!  They know that their is no Easter bunny, but running around and collecting eggs filled with candy seemed like a dream come true for them. Truth be told, I was just as excited as they were, because it was my first Easter egg hunt too.

 The girls showed up with baskets in hand, and there were eggs everywhere you looked!  The kids posed for a picture first, and then the signal was given to start collecting eggs.   This picture cracks me up because the instructions were for the bigger kids to stand in the back, and the smaller kids to sit in front.  As soon as I heard those instructions, I knew that Eliana would consider herself one of the bigger kids and stand up, even though every kid standing is twice her size.  She looks so pleased with herself.

 
When the signal was given the girls ran off together holding hands.  While they did not stay next to each other the whole time, I watched as they always made sure they were in the same vicinity as each other.

They got the hang of things quickly, and soon had full baskets.  They were quite impressed by this cake made by our hosts, and excited about all of the candy they could take home with them.  (Confession:  Peter and I probably ate more of that candy than they did.)   I was happy to experience my first Easter egg hunt along with my girls! 

On Easter Sunday we were excited to spend the day with my "little sister" Sade, and her younger sister Ashley, and their kids.  Despite a forecast of showers, we took the kids for a hike and hoped for the best.  It was great for the kids to be able to run around and play with rocks and sticks and moss and wildflowers (aka weeds).  Eliana was quite enamored with Mikhail and felt that he was her kindred spirit due to his love of running everywhere and his prowess at throwing rocks in the creek.  Saniyah and Beauty were a little shy at first, but soon all of the kids were playing like best friends.  We enjoyed our time at the park, and our Easter dinner together.  The kids played in the backyard, played dress up, and listened attentively to Peter's telling of the true story of Jesus' death and resurrection.

So, faced with the prospect of five kids stuck in the house if Easter was rainy, we bought an Easter egg dye kit "just in case."   Thankfully it did not rain until later in the day and we did not need to use the dye kit, but Eliana was intrigued by it so a few days later we decided to dye some eggs.  Oh my goodness.  If I ever thought I was a patient person, this little activity proved otherwise.  For some reason the kids really wanted to crack the eggs, and the dye was just a mess in every direction.  I managed to keep things under control, until the phone range and I left the room for two minutes (I actually mean two minutes, like 120 seconds.)  Eliana comes walking in to the living room with a yolk in each hand.  Arrrrgghh.  Let's just say that this is not going to be an annual tradition.