I wanted to really focus on Christ and His resurrection for Easter, instead of the Easter Bunny. It may have worked. However, the Easter Bunny did bring Easter baskets that morning.
On our drive up to Grammy and Grampy's we read the Easter story out of The Gospel of Luke. It's a lot longer than the Christmas story, but the drive is kind of long too, so it was ok. The kids listened surprisingly well. Also, throughout the last week we have been re-learning our two Easter songs, "Did Jesus Really Live Again," and "Christ is Risen." We learned them last year, but they are realy the only two Easter songs I know for kids, so we learned them again. It was fun singing them. Even Abigail sings along. She especially likes the end of "Christ is Risen" when she sings, "Christ ist erstanden, Christus mein Freund" (Christ is risen, Christ, my friend).
Then we stopped off at the cemetery where my Grandma and Grandpa are buried. We used to live with them. Joshua doesn't remember Grandpa (Joshua was only 10 months old when Grandpa passed away) but he still remembers Oma (that's what we called her). He says he still remembers her funeral and everything. So we were able to visit their grave and talk about what Christ's resurrection actually means for us.
Up at Grammy and Grampy's we ate a huge delicious Easter brunch and went to church with them. Elder Holland wasn't there. I was kind of disappointed but kind of relieved. (I dont' know why, it kind of stresses me out and puts me on my guard to be around an Apostle. Two years ago when we were there for Easter he started talking to me in the hallways - I was pacing around with my newborn Abigail - and I was so nervous I didn't even know what to say and I felt really dumb. What do you say to an Apostle?)
After church the Christensen's came up and we played! We searched for Easter baskets, we raced little duckies, and we had a fabulous Easter dinner, after which we played some more. It was a lot of fun.
Follow up: I did read the four Gospels again the week leading up to Easter. I actually finished Easter evening. Having three kids leaves me with much less reading time than when I only had two. So that was something special for me. At Christmas, when I did this before, my favorite gospel was John. But this time I was reading the Joseph Smith inspired version and I really really enjoyed Luke. I also have to admit I didn't have a lot of time to read and FOCUS so I'm sure I still would have loved John, but I felt like Luke was so enlightening. It was a treat.
Also, I asked Abigail the other day why we have Easter. She said, because it is Easter time. And then I asked, well, what happened to Jesus? "Jesus had lots of owies" and then did he die? "yea." but what happened after that? "Then Jesus was resurrected and now all the children can be resurrected too!" She's a smart cookie.
On our drive up to Grammy and Grampy's we read the Easter story out of The Gospel of Luke. It's a lot longer than the Christmas story, but the drive is kind of long too, so it was ok. The kids listened surprisingly well. Also, throughout the last week we have been re-learning our two Easter songs, "Did Jesus Really Live Again," and "Christ is Risen." We learned them last year, but they are realy the only two Easter songs I know for kids, so we learned them again. It was fun singing them. Even Abigail sings along. She especially likes the end of "Christ is Risen" when she sings, "Christ ist erstanden, Christus mein Freund" (Christ is risen, Christ, my friend).
Then we stopped off at the cemetery where my Grandma and Grandpa are buried. We used to live with them. Joshua doesn't remember Grandpa (Joshua was only 10 months old when Grandpa passed away) but he still remembers Oma (that's what we called her). He says he still remembers her funeral and everything. So we were able to visit their grave and talk about what Christ's resurrection actually means for us.
Up at Grammy and Grampy's we ate a huge delicious Easter brunch and went to church with them. Elder Holland wasn't there. I was kind of disappointed but kind of relieved. (I dont' know why, it kind of stresses me out and puts me on my guard to be around an Apostle. Two years ago when we were there for Easter he started talking to me in the hallways - I was pacing around with my newborn Abigail - and I was so nervous I didn't even know what to say and I felt really dumb. What do you say to an Apostle?)
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| The men making brunch! |
After church the Christensen's came up and we played! We searched for Easter baskets, we raced little duckies, and we had a fabulous Easter dinner, after which we played some more. It was a lot of fun.
Follow up: I did read the four Gospels again the week leading up to Easter. I actually finished Easter evening. Having three kids leaves me with much less reading time than when I only had two. So that was something special for me. At Christmas, when I did this before, my favorite gospel was John. But this time I was reading the Joseph Smith inspired version and I really really enjoyed Luke. I also have to admit I didn't have a lot of time to read and FOCUS so I'm sure I still would have loved John, but I felt like Luke was so enlightening. It was a treat.
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| Just a photo of Lukas because he's adorable. This is what he did on Easter. |
What fun! It was great to chat with you the other night. I didn't realize how much I needed that! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteRuss is getting ready for his trip, so maybe I'll call you on Monday and set up a time for us to get together this week.
Cute Easter pictures. That's really neat that you got to visit your grandparents grave on Easter. Very special.
Oh, and we sing the Jesus is Risen song, too (in Portuguese, Ressuscitou O Salvador). Vincente especially likes it because the Portuguese translation says "The savior was resurrected, he conquered death, he lives again." Anyway, in Portuguese, "conquered" is "venceu" which is pronounced a lot like "Vincente" So he's always asking to sing "the song with Vincente!" It's really neat to hear all the different translations of songs. The primary songs are beautiful no matter what language they are sung in.
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