Easter

In my opinion, as a Christian, this holiday is the most important one for our faith.  Our Savior is alive and living to intercede for us at the throne of the Creator.  Wow!

In an attempt to teach my children more about the amazing God we serve, I came across THIS blog from a friend and fellow teacher/coach's wife.  I asked if I could borrow some of her traditions and she graciously agreed.

*Note*: this blog serves as a journal for my family.  If you're reading this and you're going to start beating yourself up for not 'doing' Easter, please stop reading!  This is simply a record for my kids in the years to come.  It's not a platform to boast about my family and how together we are.  Lord knows, this is not the case.

So, this year I wanted to communicate to the kids what the Holy Week might have been like for Jesus' disciples and Jesus himself.

On Thursday we had a Maundy Thursday dinner.  It consisted of nuts, cheese, dried fruit, baguettes and grape juice.  We ate on the floor, some of the kids even laid down while eating, and we talked about being the disciples at the Last Supper.

Even though it wasn't a ton of food, I was full.  Full of gratitude and love for my sweet family.

On Good Friday we had a normal meal, but after dinner we talked about the Cross.  Ahren and Tim put together a cross out of scrap wood (and even painted it purple!?!).  Then we wrote some sins on a piece of paper and drew pictures of some sins and nailed them to the cross.

These sins were then gone on Easter morning when the kids woke up.  (the beautiful flowers were a gift from Tim and Ahren for Easter!)

On Saturday after dinner we made THESE.  Resurrection cookies.  Made out of egg white, sugar, vinegar, salt and pecans.  You mix all the ingredients together with a scripture to go with each ingredient.  Then you put them in a warm oven, turn the oven off and tape the oven shut (to parallel with the tomb being closed).

In the morning the cookies are supposed to be hollow to parallel the empty tomb.  But, something went wrong and my cookies didn't work.  I think maybe I didn't mix them long enough to form stiff peaks.  Oh well.

Easter morning we went to church together and the kids sang a sweet song up front: "My Redeemer Lives".  Such sweet little voices!  It was a wonderful Easter spent with family and remembering what Christ did for us so long ago.

He is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  Hallelujah!