Saturday, April 11, 2009

The Accidental Easter


Easter really crept up on me this year.
I kept putting off plans
thinking I'd get to it
when I had time.
It's been a crazy week around here
and with David's deployment
being extended at the last minute
to include Easter,
I was left to fend for myself
as far as putting together
a celebratory weekend.
I decided to not plan,
and just do.
So today we just did
and we had so much fun!!

On a whim, I decided to take Bren
to an egg hunt at our local park.
I'm so glad I did!
I saw so many of my friends there.
Lot's of SOALO (officer's wives group) girls,
PTA girls, and moms I knew from the soccer team.
If you aren't a military wife
or if you have never moved to a new area,
you really haven't experienced the feeling of
being in a place where you don't know
any of the faces in the crowd.
David and I always get excited
about the first time we get to wave
at a familiar face after we've moved
to a new town.
It means so much to belong.
It settles the soul to know that
you are a part of a "group"
and that someone else in your
day to day world knows your name
and cares enough to smile
and wave when they see you.
It's seems like such a small thing,
but we've learned that it's
one of the things we miss most
when we move to a new town.
Being familiar to someone else is comforting.

Check out these SOALO kiddos!
Aren't they adorable?
They all had so much fun
opening their eggs and
checking for prize tickets.
My friend Karen's little boy Kai
(who is in the blue hat above,
but you can't see his sweet face)
won a killer Easter basket
with a big plastic sports car
and tons of candy in it!
It rocked!

After saying hello to the Easter bunny
and goodbye to all of our friends,
we headed home to
start boiling our eggs.


When we got home

a box was waiting for us

from Pro Flowers.

My mom had sent me

these gorgeous Easter flowers.



I love them!
It makes me all kinds of happy
to have fresh flowers on my coffee table.
Thanks Mom!
There was even a little bunny
inside for Bren.
Sweet!


Ok, enough with the cuddling....
on with the egg coloring!



Years ago, when we lived in Kings Bay
my friend Stacey would come over
every Easter and we'd dye eggs together.
We got pretty creative
one year and made little people
out of the eggs.
They had yarn hair, googly eyes,
and scrap fabric clothes
and were just as cute as can be.
For the life of me,
I cannot conjure up that level of creativity
anymore.
I don't know why.
Maybe it was because
we were young and our mommy brains
were just in their beginning stages
of degeneration.
Our hair showed no signs of
the kind of grey
that can only come from being in the same house
as our teenage offspring
and our youthful faces weren't yet wrinkled
from years of laughing at mostly ourselves.
Creativity runs rampant
in a mind not pulled in forty-eight different directions.
Minds that are pulled in forty-eight different directions
use sticker faces on their eggs!
I'm just saying.

Egg coloring is lost on the older three.
Madison came over and dyed one or two,
but it was mainly a Brencentric activity.
She had a blast and I enjoyed watching her
create her masterpieces.



Bren and I talked alot about the meaning of Easter.
We talked about the reason we celebrate Easter
and that it isn't just about chocolate and rabbits.




I told her that Easter morning is the day that
Jesus rose again from the grave.
The day he conquered death for us
so that we could live.
As we dyed eggs, I tried to explain to her what it meant
to have "new life" in a way that she would understand.
I told her that we are like the plain white egg.
But when we emerse ourselves in Jesus
who is the bright pink dye (her choice)
and let him completely surround us with his love,
He changes us into something new and beautiful.
I took our egg out of the pink dye
and we marveled at it's beauty.
I looked into her eyes
and marveled at the gift I have in her.


I thought about all of my kids and my husband
and what gifts they are to me.
I thought about my Savior
and his work on the cross
and about new life
and I marveled at
His amazing love.






After our eggs were all colored and decorated,
we moved on to our cupcakes.



The following is a photographical tour
straight up Sugar Rush hill!!
















We've almost reached the summit!!
Can you see it in her eyes??








From our family to yours,
Happy Easter everyone!
He is Risen!!



2 comments:

Laura said...

This was beautiful. We aren't doing anything for Easter. No egg hunts, no little kids to run around and watch them enjoy all the fun, no egg coloring cause well sure I could do it but where is the fun in doing a super fun project all by your lonesome, though Bren sure looked like she enjoyed every second of it.

Thanks for posting your easter celebration it gave me something to see just how fun easter once used to be and how much fun I plan to make it again when I have some of my own little ones running around.

I LOVE the Sugar rush pic. That cupcake looks sooooooo goood!

Cristie :) said...

That's so funny...the sugar rush hill...you can surely see it in her eyes! Makes me think of all the candy that was eaten at our house today! GOOD TIMES! :)