Easter 2009

Only about a month late here! The children had fun on their Easter egg hunt! The children all paired up with their 'buddies' and it made it much easier. In this way I was able to keep an eye on the group and make the rounds making sure all was well, but each small child had an older child to help them with their craft, games, snack and then the Easter egg hunt.

Helping Their Buddies Decorate the Bags

Ready for the Candy Hunt

My Four Year Old "Twins"
Peanut and His Taller Sister

In What Land Do You Find Candy on the Ground!

Buddies: Game Time

Carrot Drop Game

Happy Boy!

Briton won a bunny at the party. Actually, we had four kids win from the draw! I guess that is what happens when you bring eight kids to the party.

The funniest thing was when I went up and asked for sixteen hotdogs. The women looked at me like I had three heads.

"How many?"

"Sixteen."

Then she looked at me like I was a criminal! "You can't have that many! You are only allowed one per person."

"Oh, well, then, I'll have ten."

"One per person!" She repeated.

"Yes, I have eight children."

"Oh!" with a bit of a suspicious look. *laugh*

Savannah Loved the Bunny

The funniest thing was when she was telling someone about the Easter Egg Hunt, she told how there was a bunny and a fake bunny! Too funny!! I had no clue if she would know the fake Easter Bunny was fake! I mean how many Easter Bunnies has she seen! *grin* Smart little girl!

.

Easter Sunday

Today we went to the church near our home. The girls dressed up in their spring dresses and white shoes, and the boys looked handsome in their dress shirts and good jeans. The church was absolutely packed! We had to slip up to the front of the church, and I had all the little ones sit on the floor, while we older ones shared a piece of a pew.

I am glad that we ended up at the front (cause usually we sit in the middle) because it was a wonderful service!! They had brought in live animals and there were two little goats and one little lamb! The children thought they were wonderful. The pastor used the animals to talk to us about the meaning of Passover and the Scape Goat.

Then our girls were offered flags to 'flag dance'. These small flags are held by the girls and they dance around and wave their flags to the music. At first the girls said no, and then Little Miss Savannah - decided she wanted to have a flag. Raine took Savannah over to the girl and they walked clear across the front of the church to get a flag from the box.

You should have seen Savannah beaming with shy pleasure, as she danced her flag around in the air to the music. I kind of figured that Raine wanted to do it but was a bit shy to, so I asked her if she wanted to. She said no, but I am happy to say that I am really getting to know their hidden personalities, and I was sure she was just being shy. So I told her that she didn't need to feel that way; it was okay to do whatever she wanted to worship. At this point, she decided that she wanted one. She slipped quietly across the front of the church, selected a white gauze flag and proceeded to quietly wave it in the air in time to the music. I wish I had my camera because with their pretty aqua, yellow and white dresses, waving flags, they looked very sweet.

After the music got quite lively, you should have seen Savannah! She was bouncing up and down to the music - feet leaving the floor, clapping her hands. It was wonderful to see! I always see her at our other church kind of swaying to the music and clapping but holding back. Here there were so many young people up clapping and dancing that it encouraged her to set herself free!
.

Resurrection Sunday

We have a wonderful tradition that we do at Easter. First of all, we watch a child's version of the crucifixion and the resurrection.

On Friday night we watched the Nest Family trilogy of the life of Jesus, followed by the crucifixion, and then the resurrection. Because our children know the celebratory meaning of Easter, I was planning on showing the resurrection video on Sunday - the actual day of resurrection. Plans changed though as I observed the girls watching the video. They had seen the crucifixion video in a child's format while in Ethiopia, so they were fully aware of what Jesus and God and Jesus's dying on the cross meant.

But it had probably been a year since they had seen the video. So during the video I spent more time observing them than I did watching the video. It was interesting to see how they would respond to this story. At one point I saw a shine in Savannah's eye and then she turned to look at me. I asked her if she was sad. She nodded her head and I put out my arms and she came and sat on my lap, while sadly sobbing at Jesus's death.

At that moment, I decided we needed to put on the triumphant movie of his Resurrection. She watched that one with joy on her face. I saw Raine mouthing something from across the room. I stopped the video to ask her what she was saying. She was watching the video and saying, "He has no more owies!" She had a look of pleasure and wonder on her face.

We take it for granted because our children have been raised in the faith and simply *know* that Jesus rose again, and therefore they have no sadness at his death. But this was different! The girls now have an understanding that has been addressed and they have seen it to a happy ending.

The following day we did our Resurrection Rolls. This is a wonderful fun time. We have been doing this since Colt and Dane were small. They are yummy and represent what happened at Easter. This is the recipe:

Crescent roll dough
Melted butter
Large marshmallows
Cinnamon
Sugar

1 - Preheat oven to 350*

2- Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls.
The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.

3- Give each child a marshmallow.
This represents Jesus.

4- Have the children dip the marshmallows in melted butter.
This represents the oils of embalming.

5- Then dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar.
This represents the spices used to anoint the body.

6- Then wrap up the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll. Not a typical crescent wrap. Bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside.
This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death.

7- Place in a 350* oven for 10-12 minutes.
The oven represents the tomb- pretend it was three days.

8- When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there. HE IS RISEN!

Ray came home with the crescent rolls and he held it up to show me. I asked him how many the tube made.

"Eight," he said.

"Eight," I said, "That might not be enough. "

He then smiled big and held up FOUR tubes.

I laughed and said, "You are learning!! LOL!" He has learned that when I send him shopping for something on sale - you buy LOTS!

Making the Rolls

The Uncooked Resurrection Rolls

Jesus "Leaving the Tomb"!

He's Gone!

The Empty Tomb

Munching Down

These are so yummy that we had to make four tubes and everyone got three treats. They are like cinnamon rolls, but smaller.
.