Easter week was a special time for us and we spent time really focused on teaching the kids what Easter was all about.... Jesus dying on the cross and his resurrection! Our church held Easter festivities throughout the week including a Maundy Thursday service. I had the priveilege of being a part of the service and by God's grace, had my sweet husband and his creative brother, Bran who helped write, develop, and create the material I performed for our church. I was approached 2 weeks prior to the service to see if I could perform a type of spoken word poem, I agreed, and then anxiously began studying what spoken word poems were, how to perform then, and after a week of not finding any SWP regarding the two subjects they wanted, we set out on writing our own. It was a neat process and extremely humbling to express thoughts of Judas betraying Jesus and what Jesus endured during the days leading to his death. I share one of the two videos with all of you and in a very vulnerable way... but pray that the words penetrate ones heart, even after the Easter season! For some reason my youtube video won't pull up, so you'll have to click on the link below.
We were fortunate to get to spend another holiday with family, something we weren't able to do much while living in Saudi. A few weeks before Easter while talking to my parents I offered to them to come spend some time at our house and they agreed! We decided to plan a few things to do together and first on our list was to go to Cadillac Ranch- its a place where there are 10 Cadillacs that were buried into the ground and instantly became a tourist attraction. People from all over are encouraged to bring spray paint cans and "decorate" the cars, which we did!!!
The kids loved, loved, loved getting to do this. Thankfully, I thought to bring a paint holder gun to make it easier for the kids to use and it came in handy! Miles was beside himself by the fact that he could actually spray the car and laughed hysterically while he did it! Gavin thought it was the coolest thing ever and was very interested in figuring out how the cars were standing up. Brooklyn, well she was precious walking from car to car trying to turn the wheels and not get sprayed by the paint.
My parents helped the kids paint and were just as amazed as we were with all the cars!
Since it was Easter, we took time to do normal activities like dying Easter Eggs. The kids were amazed how the eggs changed colors and had fun mixing different colors together. A constant and I mean constant game the kids played with my mom was "hiding" eggs in the backyard and finding them. They did this 10 times a day and it never got old to them!
Easter morning was a little hectic. Between cooking and prepping lunch, making breakfast, giving the kids their baskets, opening and playing with all the new goodies, and then getting to church early, our morning was a little hectic, but still fun! The kids were so excited to get new swimsuits and a few new toys. Their favorite might have been the chocolate bunnies!
Our church had 2 services for Easter (and I was asked to perform the spoken word poetry again, and ended up combining bit and pieces of the two poems and shared it in between songs in the Easter service-- talk about being nervous, but all went well!) Between the services, they had a massive Easter Egg Hunt for all the kids. Each age group had their own area around the church to search and the kids had a blast! They were so excited for eggs and kept opening each one to see what was inside. My favorite item they received.... free sno cone certificates at a local shop in town!!
After church and eating lunch at home, we spent the afternoon playing! The kids hunted for more eggs, played pac an egg, and Gavin was in for a BIG surprise during egg toss when an egg thrown to him cracked! He was shocked and decided it'd be a great idea to throw it at his dad! We laughed all afternoon and goofed off with the kids!
It was great having my parents come for a visit and getting to spend time together. The kids always love when any of their grandparents are around and they get that special attention! What a great Easter week to celebrate Jesus resurrection!!
