Happy Easter!!

We spent Good Friday fasting as encouraged by our prophet in General Conference this past weekend. This past week for our family scripture study we have been studying the last week of Christ's life. As we studied about Friday's events I thought, "I can't even imagine being Mary, the mother of Jesus, and watching her son be tortured and murdered right in front of her!" What a sacrifice her sacred calling was to be the mother of Jesus, the Christ.  

Saturday: I spent three hours in the yard -- pulling weeds and cleaning up the ward (with help from the kids) in order to get things cleaned up for Easter. Rick was blessed with the inspiration to write a new song and decided to give it to all of the kids for Easter. So he spent all day in the studio writing it! It is a bell arrangement to "Oh My Father." He is really excited for the the kids to learn it! 

He and I went for a walk in the afternoon and it was pleasant, but getting a little too warm by that time. We had an Easter egg hunt with the kids. The kids filled their own eggs -- half for the hunt and half left out for their Easter baskets. I fixed a meatloaf dinner and then Rick and Janelle hid the eggs for Jaiden, Josh and Jenna to find. Then the kids and I delivered Easter eggs and bubble wands to the young women in my class with a cute note. The kids scattered the eggs on their lawns and had fun ringing the door bell and making a mad dash for the car!  

Sunday: This morning we did a quick clean up from last night's activities and prepared the food for our Easter lunch. Then we had the kids get their Easter baskets, which was really simple this year -- just stax potato chips, hot chocolate, candy filled eggs, clay, and Rick's new song.

Jase and Ellen gave the Easter lesson and did a great job! We had Janika and Brandon join us for the lesson over a Zoom call.

A couple of Janelle's work buddies stopped by the house and dropped off a little Easter basket filled with goodies for her! One of her friends also dropped off some flower seeds and a sweet note. 

Then we had a delicious lunch of ham, cheesy potatoes, asparagus, beans, and salad. Then everyone dyed Easter eggs!!

Then it was the traditional Egg Bash!! Jaiden's "Chick-Fil-Egg" won the tournament!! 

 

The girls were really excited about the song (Josh, not so much!) Our family gathered together in chairs around the piano to have our first practice today! I even felt a little emotional as we started to sing together and imagined where we might perform this beautiful tribute. Tonight the kids and I watched the movie, "The Fighting Preacher." It was good! What a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His glorious resurrection! What a wonderful opportunity to spend time with my family! What a precious gift!!