Happy Easter!

On Thursday night, Ry and Zeke dyed Easter eggs.  That's about as commercial as I get at Easter time.  No baskets full of gifts or Easter bunnies here.  I want the kids to know the true meaning of Easter and that the day is a celebration of the resurrection of our Savior.

I had Good Friday off from school, and it was indeed a good Friday.  I felt like I was able to stretch Saturday out over a two day period and accomplish normal Saturday things at a much slower pace.  We visited friends, went grocery shopping, cleaned the house, visited JD's grandmother, and went to the Good Friday service at church.

Saturday was more of the same, with an egg hunt at church where the kiddos gathered plastic eggs in a rainbow of color, hoping to find one of the "Resurrection Eggs" which held tiny symbols of the Easter story.  Quin found one with a communion cup in it and Zeke picked out an Easter coloring book for him as a prize.  Christa and Travey came over for dinner, and once the kids were in bed, we amused ourselves playing old-school Nintendo games and Deal or No Deal on the wii.

Today, we sang all of my favorite Easter songs at church with my family filling up the entire row.  On the way home, we stopped at JD's mom and step-dad's, where the kids got to hunt for Easter baskets full of little gifts and then hunt for some eggs outside.  Quin isn't really into the hunting yet, but Ryley and Zeke had fun trying to find their eggs and see what goodies were inside.

We had dinner back at my mom's with all of my in-state siblings and their significant others.  When my brother introduced his girlfriend to my 91-year-old grandfather, saying "This is Krystal,"  without skipping a beat, Pa reached for his cup and said, "This is glass."  I guess you had to be there.  Dinner was followed with another egg hunt back in our yard, where Mom's husband and Dolly's boyfriend had hidden a pile of eggs.  Unfortunately, the dogs found quite a few of them before the kids did!

One of my favorite Easter songs by the Gaithers:

God sent His son, they called Him Jesus

He came to love, heal, and forgive.

He lived and died to buy my pardon,

An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

Because He lives, All fear is gone.

Because I know He holds the future,

And life is worth the living just because He lives.

How sweet to hold a newborn baby,

And feel the pride and joy he gives.

But greater still the calm assurance,

This child can face uncertain days because He lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

Because He lives, All fear is gone.

Because I know He holds the future,

And life is worth the living just because He lives.

And then one day I’ll cross the river,

I’ll fight life’s final war with pain.

And then as death gives way to victory,

I’ll see the lights of glory and I’ll know He lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

Because He lives, All fear is gone!

Because I know He holds the future

And life is worth the living just because He lives!

Last night's beautiful sunset from our porch