He is Risen!!! Death Equals Life!!

Happy Easter!! We had so much to celebrate today, so I will tell the story in pictures. Yesterday, we attended church because today was to be a family day. At church we were reminded of the theories out there that indicate that Christ somehow faked His death or people were hallucinating when they saw Him resurrected. It is almost laughable that people find these theories to have some merit, but I guess some people think it is laughable to know that He did indeed rise from the dead.

We started today in an unusual way. The kids had messy rooms, and we have been on them to get them together for quite some time. They were resistant to obey, so we would not let them find their baskets until they cleaned up the rooms. They ended up getting a bit of a deal on this because the rooms weren't quite up to inspection standards when the hunt began. Last year we put together a scavenger hunt for them, and it was such fun that we did it again this year. I will tell the rest of the story with the pictures.

Savannah reads the first clue: Psalm 23:5 You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies.
The second clue led them outdoors. 1 Samuel 15:22 But Samuel replied: "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?"

A later clue almost stumped them because they only checked one pot. Ezekiel 24:3 Put on the cooking pot; put it on and pour water into it.

Zachary reads a clue at the doorframe: Deuteronomy 6:9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and your gates.

Finally, the kids found the baskets. Of course this was Wyatt's first Easter celebration, and he was had a terrific time following everyone around as they solved the clues. This year we were smart (I think) because I typed up the clues and saved them instead of staying up half the night coming up with them. They didn't remember them from last year, and we did change a couple of them. After the baskets were located, Andy read the story of the resurrection from the Bible. We never finished our Resurrection eggs this year. They are in sad, sad shape, and a new set is on the way. Maybe we will be better next year.

Tomorrow is Savannah's birthday, so we took the opportunity to celebrate today since the whole family was gathering anyway. Savannah is our low maintenance child. For the third year in a row, she has chosen to make her own birthday dessert. This year she made chocolate chip cookies which is a family favorite.

She blew out 11 (blows my mind) candles, and then we headed outdoors for an Easter egg hunt.

You might know already from our scavenger hunt that we like to mix things up a bit here. The eggs that we hide are all marked, and the kids can only pick up their own eggs. This helps us to distribute the candy better (everyone gets candy they like), and it offers more challenge to the older kids. While the adults hid the eggs, Wyatt was literally bouncing up and down with excitement. He could not wait for Easter. He wanted to find eggs, get a basket full of candy, and "paint" eggs. He got to do all three, and we tried really hard to express to him that these things are all lots of fun, but they are not what Easter is about.

Zach has wrist weights on for the egg hunt. He is working out twice a week for wrestling and working very hard.

Julia had us all hunting for her last egg only to find out that it was already in her bag just hidden inside another egg. She is a riot!

Delighted!

We went back indoors so that Savannah could open gifts. I have five siblings, and they join forces with my parents to get nice gifts. It works well for us because they often get the kids gifts that we can't afford, and the kids get what they want, and we get less clutter (of course the less clutter thing isn't so obvious in our house - sigh).

coloring eggs

Tessa was a big help during the egg dying session.

Julia shows off her artwork on the eggs.

Wyatt shows off his eggs. Zachary did not join us for this activity this year. He was busy playing video games with his cousins. Savannah also took off early to join them. I guess these two are now too big for this tradition.

The next pictures are a family tradition that I will explain here. Several years ago when we celebrated Savannah's fourth birthday, my father-in-law was in town. He and Savannah had a great time together and something (I now am convinced it was the Holy Spirit) told me to take a picture of them together. However, it just didn't seem right to take a picture when my mother-in-law wasn't there. We had plans to see them a few weeks later, and I decided to wait and get a picture of all three of them together. That never happened. I was awakened by a phone call the very next morning (on Savannah's actual birthday) and learned that my father-in-law had died in an accident. When we gathered pictures to take to the funeral home, Savannah was the only grandchild who did not have a picture with my father-in-law. That is one reason. I also have another reason for doing this. I take pictures with each family member in hopes of getting a good one because I ask them all to write letters to my children for their 13 birthdays, and if they don't have a picture to give me to go along with the letter, I have one that I can use. I compile the letters into a scrapbook.

so this is Savannah with my parents - getting my dad to cooperate for these pictures is worse than taking kids in for vaccinations - okay, not really, but very close

Savannah is pictured here with my brother Joshua.

She is pictured here with my brother Jonathan and his fiance' Danielle. She made an awesome lemon pie for today, I might add.

This is my sister Tiffany and her family - husband- Tony, sons - Austin and Logan. Somehow I missed their pictures from the egg hunt. I have a great picture of Logan throwing his last egg up into the air and catching it.

Tiffany is a big kid - enuff said!

my sister Tara is pictured here with Savannah

The boys enjoyed the hot tub after all that work playing video games, eating lots of food and finding Easter eggs.

This picture has a story behind it. I was determined to get Tara to take a new picture for her Facebook profile because, as you can see, she is pretty. However, she always chooses pictures where she isn't facing the camera. Tiffany pretended to be a photographer's helper trying to get a child smile, and well, you just have to know Tiffany. We were laughing so hard that it is a wonder that I could take a picture that isn't blurred, and I just love this picture of my little sister.

So, today was lots and lots of fun. We had grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken with all kinds of terribly fattening sides. Candy was available in abundance, and family gathered for a good time. I ended the day sobbing through tonight's episode of Extreme Home Makeover. The family profiled used the same adoption agency we did for five of their six adoptions. They were certainly deserving of the beautiful home they received.

Now as I prepare to sign off, I must say that I know exactly where I was eleven years ago today. It was Easter Sunday, and this is the first time in eleven years that Easter has fallen on April 12th. I had been to the hospital on the 11th and sent home because I was not close enough to deliver a baby. However, the nurse believed I was in very early labor and said she would not be surprised if I returned the next day. At about this time (11:00 p.m.) I was making arrangements to go to the hospital, and it was very clear that I was in labor. The next morning held a big surprise, but you will have to tune in tomorrow for more on that.