Happy Birthday Dave AND Happy Easter 2014! Christ is Risen!

Happy 48th Birthday to my favorite husband and the best daddy!

     Dave's birthday started off with Joshua waking up with a fever and very clingy.  He was happy enough to help stir some of the dry ingredients of the cake but insisted on being held for the rest of the process.  I wasn't sure how I was going to frost the cake....

.....but it worked out!  Jonathan helped to frost the inner layer of the cake ....he's standing just outside the picture.  Our first birthday cake made by all three of us.  

     Easter Sunday started with a fire in our kitchen!   In a crazy twist of events, a wooden trivet had gotten stuck to the bottom of our tea pot.  Nobody noticed and in the morning I put my teapot on to boil!  Off I went to change a dirty diaper, and a few minutes later Dave noticed smoke and stink and discovered a fire on the range!  Fortunately the fire went out as soon as he turned off the gas, but we were smoked out of the house and into the back yard for over an hour.  

      This Easter season we did our usual Resurrection Eggs and multiple readings of the Easter story with much interest (Joshua) and questions (Jonathan) from  the boys.  My new tradition to try this year was the Resurrection Rolls (recipe linked.)  Our local import store had some marshmallows from the Phillipines, so I was excited to give this a try.  The boys helped to prepare the marshmallows and wrap them in dough.  The baking didn't go quite as expected .....I guess the Phillipino marshmallows weren't quite the same.  They puffed up to the size of a lemon, exploded the rolls open, and then did not melt as predicted.  So, the object lesson didn't work like I had hoped.... but they still tasted delicious!  

     This year was the 4th time we participated in the Easter Egg hunt at our international fellowship.  It Jonathan's 4th time.  He knew what to do and was so fast I didn't even get any pictures of him finding eggs this year!  I did get this picture of proud Joshua!

Starting for home with a basketful of candy!  To be divvied out one piece a day for .....many days!

Happy Easter 2013!

This year we are doing the Resurrection Eggs again.  It's our 3rd year doing them, but the experience this year is very different as Jonathan understands much more now.  For those of you who don't know about the Eggs, there 12 plastic eggs each containing a symbol of Christ and Easter.  For example, the first egg contains a donkey to help us remember when Christ rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.  We have opened one egg each day and read the Bible story connected with it. 

While we are only "supposed" to open one egg each day, the boys have gotten a bit carried away and we've had opened eggs all over the place!  That's okay, though, because while they play with the eggs, they listen and think about the story. 

 

Jonathan has been paying attention.  We pray every night and thank Jesus for dying on the cross to save us from our sins, so it is not a new concept for him.  This week, however, the Resurrection Eggs have led us to talk about dark and horrible topics like the torture and crucifixion of Christ.   We've talked a lot about how "the bad people" caught Christ and did mean things to them.  "Why did they do mean things to Jesus, Mommy?"  Jonathan repeatedly expressed his belief that Jesus "got away from the bad guys."  When we were talking about the nails used to put Jesus on the Cross, Jonathan said that "the wind blew them back out again mommy."  To be honest, I have hesitated to tell him the truth about the the horrible violent story of Christ's death ....it's so gruesome.  Isn't it too much for a 3 year old who thinks that Thomas the Train is a scary movie? 

"Are these all the mean things, Mommy?"

I decided to move forward and trust God to reveal the truth to Jonathan in His tenderness.  If I wait to tell Jonathan the truth, he may hear it from someone else who doesn't love him as much or in a way that is not as true.  So this week we learned about the coins used to pay Judas, the whip, the crown of thorns, the nails, the die for casting lots, and the spear.  I actually felt nervous and had a feeling of dread each day as I tried to find the right words to tell Jonathan about each thing.  I've realized anew what a horrible thing is the killing of Christ.

So then I got the idea of making a paper mache tomb.  Here is step one ....mixing the flour/water glue and using the paper, etc, to make a BIG MESS!

Step two:  Painting the tomb with Daddy.

The finished product!  Here is a paper Jesus, dead and ready to be wrapped in gauze and put inside.

 The 10th Resurrection Egg had a roll of guaze inside, to help us remember how Jesus' body was wrapped by his friends.  So on Good Friday, Jonathan wrapped our paper Jesus right up and put him in the tomb with the stone closing the opening.  So now we're waiting for Sunday morning!  To be continued.....The resurrection is going to be great!

Happy Easter 2011!

Happy Easter 2011!  He is Risen Indeed!

Easter 2011 family photo.  Our Walla Walla church is making a new church photo directory so we want to send them a new photo.  I'm not sure if I want to use this one, though.  We all look kind of tired, don't you think?

Our international fellowship had an Easter Egg hunt for the kids!  Jonathan got to find EIGHT eggs! 

 

Grief is a strange thing.  I found myself missing Bethany today -- really hurting because she wasn't riding on my hip, an almost 3 year old girl in pigtails and a frilly Easter dress.  I hugged Jonathan with so much gratitude in my heart, but wished I was holding my girl, too.   I felt ashamed to be feeling this way, on Easter, when Jesus rose from the grave and made it possible for us to know that Bethany also is alive and we will be with her again.  I cried almost all through the church service, resolved in the knowledge of the Truth that gives me hope, but still hurting and missing Bethany Joy.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the world's greatest miracle for so many reasons -- for me it means that I will be with Bethany again, and our tiny one we lost in January.  The sermon yesterday was from I Corinthians 15:1-11 -- the witness of the Resurrection.  I glanced ahead and God met me in the next passage, I Corinthians 15:12-28 (excerpts below).

"For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.  And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.  If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.  BUT CHRIST HAS INDEED BEEN RAISED FROM THE DEAD, 

the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.....

THE LAST ENEMY TO BE DESTROYED IS DEATH."

Blessings to you as you celebrate the Resurrection today!