Easter Weekend

Many of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that I love Easter! I look forward to it with the same anticipation and excitement as I do Christmas. Now that Isaac is getting older, devotions and activities are even more fun. God blessed us with a weekend full of family worship.Warning: there are a lot of pictures in this post.

On Good Friday, we spent most of the day reading and reminding ourselves of the story of the cross. It is a sobering reminder to me of how the same people, that just a few days before were praising God and calling out HOSANNA were now, just a few days later, shouting out CRUCIFY HIM! How fickle I can also be. 

After Luke got home, we went on the hunt for rocks to build our own tomb. This was an idea we got from some friends and I loved it. I knew Isaac would really enjoy this.

Going on the hunt.

We gathered our things and we read the crucifixion story in the Jesus Storybook Bible.

Putting Jesus in the tomb.

The two guards pushing the stone :)

All done. Now we wait....

On Saturday,  after a baby shower with a sweet friend, we got ready for our neighborhood Easter egg hunt. This was a challenge from our church. I was a little nervous, but God was kind and gracious to us in so many ways.

The snack table. That garland ribbon and cupcake liners!!!

We had about 9 kids show up. Interesting fact (and God's grace), they are all related to one another.

Egg Relay

 While the kids ate their snacks, I read through the Resurrection Eggs with them. God was so good to provide courage for me and attention to the kids so that it all went smoothly and they all got to hear what Jesus did on the cross. Praise God!

Ready for the hunt!

Praising God again for our backyard!!

  It was such a fun time. God allowed us to see so many of His blessings as he answered our prayers and many other who were praying for us. We're praying that God will use this event to continue to build relationships with our neighbors.

Easter morning started out with us making Resurrection Rolls for breakfast. As an aside, I am so very thankful for the community of godly moms that the Lord has placed in our lives to give such great ideas that shepherd our children to Jesus.

Little Helper

The marshmallow represents Jesus, and when the rolls come out of the oven, the marshmallow has melted and the roll (tomb) is empty.

While the rolls were baking, we checked back with our tomb outside. In place of the two guards, there were two angels, and the stone was rolled away. Isaac was excited to see that Jesus was not in the tomb.

 Not only were the rolls a great visual for the boys, but they were yummy too! Then we were off to church. But not before a short photo shoot.

I love these Easter brothers!!!

Church was really great. Pastor Horner preached about running the race that is set before us. If that course isn't through cross, through the abandoned tomb, and to Jesus seated on the throne, then it's not a race worth running. AMEN!

 After church, we stopped by Luke's parents for a little bit so Grams could see the boys. She had this beautiful azalea bush that she wanted to get some picture of us with. I'm glad she did because I think this picture turned out great!

After some time at home, we went to the house of some great and godly friends for Easter dinner. Not only did we have a fun little egg hunt and an amazing dinner but it was an evening truly filled with family worship.

 

Josh and Bianca were so intentional about making every part of the evening about Jesus and the resurrection. During the egg hunt, there was the frequent reminder that the eggs represent our new life in Christ. While we were setting the table, the dads took the kids and went through the Resurrection eggs. At the beginning of dinner, Bianca had a cross with everyone's names on it. She explained that when God looks at us, who should be on the cross, He only sees Jesus who went to the cross to bear our punishment. AMEN! At the end of dinner, I used my little Easter people and book to again read through the Easter story.  Later, while eating dessert, Bianca read another great Easter story book. Like I said, a night filled with family worship. We loved it all. One of the sweetest things was that the kids all already knew the end of the story because they had been hearing it for weeks! Our prayer is that as we train our children up in the way they should go (God's way) that they will never depart from it. 

Thanks for hanging with me through this long post. I hope it was an encouragement to you.

Happy Easter from Us 4 Mehaffies!