Easter Fun

For the past few years I start every Easter season with hopes and plans of doing a little devotional about the Savior's life starting on Palm Sunday and ending on Easter Sunday with the Resurrection. So far we start out well, but by Wednesday things begin to unravel and plans go by the wayside. This year Madeline was sick with her ongoing stomach problems, and on Easter Sunday Madeline was sick and her exaughstion kicked in and so she was out; so we celebrated Easter in spirit. We did manage to get our Easter Egg hunt and Easter baskets done on Saturday. Madeline is not allowed to have dairy and she doesn't care for sweets and stickers remind her of bandaids so stuffing her eggs was a bit of a challenge. After thinking about it I decided to empty out our coin jar and fill the kids' eggs with money. So as to be fair and make sure that not one child got more eggs than another and that everyone would have a fair opportunity to hunt for eggs, I wrote the letters to their names on the eggs and when you spelled your name you were done hunting. Spencer really got into it, but Spencer was all about order and had to start with the letter "S" before he would move onto "p" and so forth. There was no jumping around. The kids really like the money especially Anthony and Madeline. Spencer on the other hand thought it was neat for a few minutes and then he moved on to other things. It was a good thing he just got pennies which ended up back in my coin jar.

With Valentines Day and Birthdays the kids go on a hunt around the house using clues to find their gift; and the Easter basket was no different. This time instead of clues they had to put together a puzzle that would reveal where their gift was hiding. Maybe next year Spencer will be into putting puzzles together, but this year he was content as well as preferred Mommy to do all the work. However, when he saw what the picture was, he was all about finding his treasure. Who knew that a paper notebook could make a four year old so happy.

Well that sums up our Easter, and hopefully next year we will get through all of our plans. Easter is such a special time and a wonderful time to reflect on life and our Savior's love. We talk a lot about the resurrection at our house, it seems that it is Madeline's favorite topic and one where she asks lots of questions. During one of our discussions I was prompted to tell her what the resurrection means to her. For Madeline the resurrection means no more pain, no more sickness, and her body completely whole. After letting the new information sink in, Madeline with a smile from ear to ear asked "and no more IV's," which I gladly responded "no more IV's." The resurrection will be sweet to be able to watch Madeline as her mother receive a completely whole body. I can imagine giving her a hug and telling her "you did it." "You endured well, you fought the fight, and now your body is whole." I am grateful for our Savior's love, for his willingness to come to earth live a perfect life, and to suffer and die for me so that I can be able to walk back to his presence and live with him forever with my love ones. I am grateful for my knowledge of the resurrection and to know that when we die it isn't the end. Easter is such a special time of the ear and it is wonderful to be able to teach my children what Easter truly means and to help them gain a testimony for themselves of what Easter is truly about.