Easter Pre-school Party

The Ever-Amazing-Party-Planning-Carlyn threw, yet again, another amazing pre-school party!!!  Since Dougie was on his school break, he got to participate!

Smiles while enjoying their bird nests that Carlyn made (peanut butter rice crisps with Peeps or Malt Eggs in them)

Silly Boys!

Sillier!!

Peace, Mummy!

Ian enjoys the Peeps: "Where his head go, Mummy?!?"

 Dougie wearing the bunny ears he made, and stole from Miss Carlyn, and a mighty fine chocolate "soul patch"...

While the kids were snacking and making ears, Wes hid a ton of eggs in the park down below the Sakura apartments.  Dougie and Eaton could hardly wait to get down there!

And they're off!!!

Eaton & Ian snag the eggs from the trees...

And bushes

And then put them back...

 Picking the eggs out of the drain holes - REACH!!!

 Dougie was limited to eggs that he had to reach for, leaving the "easy access" to the younger kids.  And he had to reach...  And poke...

And JUMP!!!

Ian braved the thicket, got down on his hands and knees, and picked all the eggs out of the brer patch!

 Ian put his eggs in one basket and then went for a ride on a ladybug

The Ring-leader, Miss Carlyn, with Dougie and Ian, Ava, and James (and Casey!)

Jail Birds: Claire, Eaton, James, Dougie and the sassy Ian

All the participating members of the Egg Hunt

And the moms!

 Thank you Miss Carlyn & Mr. Wes for making this happen!!!

He Is Risen!!!

After sleeping through the sunrise service (actually sad about this!), we got ourselves up, breakfasted, dressed (and coordinated - gasp!) and EXCITED and got to Easter Service!


The boys and I (*) had gone to the Good Friday Service and I had the joy of getting to watch Stefan, Dougie and Ian all put down what they brought to "entertain" them and absorb themselves in the retelling of Jesus' death.  And, like all good cliffhangers, they had to wait for the next installment to discover "what happens next?!?"


Like all good cliffhangers, you can see/hear/watch them over and over and never tire of them.  That is Easter.  I get excited for what comes next.  Every. Single. Time!  The boys were excited to hear what happened next.  Again.  And Again.


So, what happens?  The tomb was empty.  Um, yeah.  Except that it was sealed.  With a ginormous rock and candle wax.  Oh, and did I mention guards?  Because "they" did not want "that Jesus" to be stolen.  But then...  Did I mention that the tomb ended up empty.  No body.  EM-PTY.  EMPTY!


Because Jesus, who is God in a bod (thank you Young Life), had a NEW bod, asked the angels to come and shove that suffocating rock out of the way and went out to stretch His legs.  After all, He had been horizontal and, well, dead, for three days.  Instead of just disappearing and heading straight to that awesome place called Heaven, He went for a walk.  Here.  On Earth.  He visited His disciples.  And they did not recognize him! 


Woah.


Kind of like us.  The Lord is walking along the road, we run head on into Him, and we do not recognize him!  Anyone else recognize this?!?  I know I sure do...


So, Sunday morning...  Easter morning...  He is RISEN!


Anyone can die.  We all do, eventually.  Those two crooks crucified next to Jesus died.  Jesus did to.  Only one walked this Earth again.  This is not a story of death.  It is a story of new life.  Jesus' new life is representative of the new life he provided for us.  He died the death that we all deserve.  The one without our Father - God.  He was shunned.  Because he was ugly.  Ugly because he was wearing all the sins of the world.  Yours.  MINE!


And God rejected Him.  His own son.


So that we would not be rejected by God.  Ever.  Completely selfless.  And horrible.  And miraculous.  We did nothing to deserve this.  We did everything to deserve the death that Jesus had.  And God showed us grace.  In its purest form.  Grace.  Underserved.  Jesus got our death.  We got saved.  We have the opportunity to choose to be with our Father when this life is over.  We have the opportunity to choose to know and love Him.


I guarantee that not all will make that decision while we are walking this Earth.  But I do know that we will all know.  At some point.


We will all know that He Is Risen Indeed!

(*) We are truly blessed that the Lord has provided a great job for Eric so that he can be the sole provider of this family.  We are SO thankful for the provision - even if we are not always thankful for the schedule...

Happy Keaster!

Happy Keaster!!!

The Easter Bummy has arrived...

I know this will make you crack a smile! I really DON'T mind being the butt of all the jokes.

That's okay - I can put it all behind me.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone:  ideas & puns plagiarized from Caroline Putaansuu & Judy Hopkins - Thank you ladies!!!