Holy Week

The last couple of years we have had a traditional Passover Supper with our friends the Malone's. This year they were out of town, so we had our own family "Upper Room Experience."

We talked about why it was so significant that Jesus took on the form of a servant and washed the disciples feet and then each of us took a turn washing someone's feet.

A time of prayer. Thanking Jesus for His sacrifice on the cross for us.

It was a wonderful time together reflecting and taking to heart the meaning of what Christ did for us.

Then on Easter morning, we got dressed up and headed to church with great excitement!

Only to get half way there and run out of gas on the free way!!

(At least we had Uncle Josh for entertainment, while we waited for the tow truck to bring fuel!)

Next stop: Uncle Mike & Aunt Katie's for an egg hunt!

MONEY!!! :)

Connor found one of the golden eggs!!!

Warmer...warmer...hot...hotter...burning!!!

A special thank you to cousins Nate & Erica for doing such a great job of hiding eggs!!

Then inside for a little Easter Egg coloring...

It was a wonderful Easter. We completely lost track of time!

And thoroughly enjoyed each other!

Paigey Nailed It!

I've been a little slower this year to get my act together for the preperation and anticipation of Easter, but lack of preparedness has forced me to keep things more simple and I have found that to have equally as beautiful meaning as the years that I've had a whole plan in place.

It's fun to see the kids get all giddy about getting out the decorations! They each place their Resurrection Tombs in their rooms just like they did their Christmas trees!! This warms my heart. To see them seeing Easter as equally meaningful and celebratory as Christmas is exactly what I hoped to impress. I praise the Lord it's taken so early.

I drove in the driveway yesterday to find Paige & Steve together nailing together two pieces of wood...a cross that Paige requested to make. As if seeing her "wood working" with her Daddy wasn't precious enough, to hear that she desired to make a cross to decorate her room like the one displayed in our family room, was heart-melting!!

To the left is her PINK Resurrection Tomb that she made last year and then to the right is her newly constructed cross. I love how her princess heart clock is at the foot of the cross. It's sweetly symbolic of how she is in her own way laying her heart at the Jesus feet by honoring Him through her remembrance.

I'm always looking for new, fun and innovative ways to bring these meaningful Celebrations to life for our kids. Recently, I came across these few suggestions that I felt my kids were ready for this year...maybe yours are too.

Introduce your family to the concept of dying to our selfish desires to train our focus on God and deepen our relationship with Him by fasting. Fasting doesn’t necessarily mean skipping a meal. What would be a sacrifice for your family? Replacing dessert with a time of prayer? Going tv-free for a week? Singing praises together instead of plugging in to an Ipod?

For our kids giving up dessert, a desired afternoon snack or Wednesday night Wii would be a great start to this discipline. Its never too early to start teaching the disciplines of hearing from the Lord!! And selfishness runs rampant in our house, from Mommy straight on down...so we can all benefit from taking some time to give up something we love and spend some time in thanks to the Lord.

I hope your Easter Anticipation Celebration is off to a great start! You don't have to wait until Holy Week to start!!