Happy Easter!

Hallelujah! Jesus is Alive! Death has lost it's victory and the grave has been denied. The Lamb of God has risen. He's Alive! He's Alive! Hallelujah! Jesus is Alive! Those are the words from one of our favorite Easter songs by Ron Kenoly. I could sing it over and over and over. We had church last night where we celebrated communion with some who are celebrating their first true Easter. Then this morning we had a breakfast with the church. After eating and singing we talked about what was significant about Easter for us this year.

For me, this Easter I really thought about how to make Easter real for my children. I don't want Easter to be about candy and bunnies. While that part of Easter is really fun there is a much more significant meaning that I want to instill into their souls. I may be raising them in a Christian family with Christian traditions, but that does not guarantee that they will choose to accept Christ as their Lord. To that end, I will be very intentional in the things I do to instill in them a desire to follow Christ every day of their lives.

I REALLY wanted to make Easter baskets, but I wanted the Easter baskets to point to the true meaning of Easter--Christ's resurrection. I found a book last year called My Easter Basket and it talks about how the different colors in the basket tell the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. (ie. green is for the palms that lay on the road of Jesus' triumphal entry, purple is for the wine at the Last Supper, brown is for Jesus' death. ) My idea was to create baskets with an item for each color. I was successful and I suspect that this will be tradition for our family.

We read the story first.

Then we gave them their baskets. No, they didn't "get it" this year. That's ok though.

And then we had an Easter egg hunt!

Caleb's first egg hunt. It was fun to watch him catch on to the idea. I think he had fun!

Aliza had her own designated area this year. She was a pro.

Josiah found a couple eggs. He kept running to the far reaches of the yard and had to be rescued. Thanks to Uncle Jeff and Aunt Janell for watching out for him. Josiah is particularly fond of Aunt Janell. I think it's because she lets him off her plate. Whenever she sits down to eat Josiah is right there waiting to see what sweet thing he can get off her plate! And Uncle Jeff kept Janell's plate supplies with his favorites today.