Sweet Easter

While I love Christmas, birthdays, Mother's Day and Thanksgiving...there is nothing like the significance of Easter. It's my favorite holiday from the standpoint of what it means...the death and resurrection of Jesus.

As always it was wonderful to reflect on the gift of Christ's sacrifice, and be moved again by what that means to me personally...a relationship with God, the hope of heaven, forgiveness for my sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit...all things that would not have been possible were it not for Jesus. So...I love this holiday!

I also love it because it's a special time with dear friends.

Some years ago we started spending Easter with the Pitcher's, one of the first families with JV. I have no idea how many we've spent together over the past 15 years...but it's a lot!

One of our traditions has been a time of reflection on the meaning of Easter using "Resurrection Eggs"...yes, there really is such a thing! Someone made up an egg carton of them for us years ago and I've used them to talk through the Easter story with the kids ever since.

Our other tradition has been an egg hunt...yep, those typical, colorful, plastic eggs strewn throughout the yard, filled with delicious (?!) Easter candy that we've managed to come up with! And all just waiting for some willing, wanting children to hunt for them!

Through the years other kids have joined in the fun with us,and this year we had twelve in all! The oldest being 19, the youngest being 1! How's that for an age spread! The little ones get their own, small section of the yard to hunt for the coveted eggs, while the older kids have to find them in very difficult hiding spots that all the dads have managed to find. It's a great time, for oldest to youngest!

This Easter egg hunt was bittersweet though...it was the last one with the Pitcher's who will be moving back to the States soon, not to mention Tyler and Patrick Till's last one as they head for college in the fall.

Nevertheless, it was a sweet day together, enjoying our traditions, and remembering Jesus.