Bunnies & Baskets & Blessings – oh my!

This Easter has been the BEST Easter I think we have ever had as a family.  Not because of the egg hunts and candy and parties, (although that stuff is always fun) but because of the BLESSINGS, given and received! We started this year’s Easter weekend early, on Thursday by having the amazing opportunity to bless a family in need.  For the past 3 years we have been a part of our church’s Thanksgiving outreach and have delivered Thanksgiving dinner to the same family each year in Elsberry, MO.  This year God laid it on my heart to “adopt” the family for the whole year.  Our first opportunity of 2013 came when I decided that we should take all of the kids Easter baskets!  The 4 of us had so much fun going to the store and picking out all the goodies for the other kids.  We delivered the baskets to the family and had the opportunity to talk to and pray with the mother of the home.  She’s such a sweetheart.  Her name is Helen.  I wonder sometimes who is blessed more by the visits, their family or ours!  Here is a picture of me and Helen from our Easter visit:

Then it was Good Friday.  Our church showed the movie Passion of the Christ and served communion afterwards.  It was a powerful experience to be a part of.

Then, on Saturday, I took the kids to a family Easter egg hunt in our old neighborhood of North County (actually it was at our old house where my step-sisters now live).  They had a blast!  Instead of the eggs being filled with just candy, most of them were filled with MONEY!  $2 bills, $.50 coins, $1 coins!  And Jaxon found the golden egg which had $5 in it!!  Here are a couple of snapshots from Saturday:

Jaxon with his GOLDEN egg Zoe sitting in the car with her basket where it was warm…it was a chilly raining day!

And then came EASTER! Our church had 2 services (which were awesome) followed by another egg hunt! They had the egg hunt inside this year because of the muddy grass and unpredictable weather.  It actually worked out great!  They dismissed the kids by age to go downstairs and grab as many eggs as they could.  The cool thing was, the eggs were empty! Except a few special eggs that had slips of paper in them with a number.  If a child got an egg with a paper inside, they were able to go redeem their paper for a special prize.  Zoe got an airbrush sidewalk chalk kit, and Jaxon won the GRAND PRIZE!!  A Nintendo DSi!!  He has actually been praying for and dreaming of owning a DSi so he was STOKED!!  It really was pretty cool, and no, it wasn’t rigged!  So Jaxon made out really well this Easter, won the $5 golden egg at the 1st hunt, and then a DS at the 2nd hunt. Here are some pictures from our time at church:

  Zoe & her friend Zyla All the eggs for K-2nd grade Jaxon getting ready to go! On your marks, get set… GO!

And our day still wasn’t over!  We got a surprise visit from Kory’s grandparents and they took us out to lunch after church!  That was a nice treat!

When we got home, the kids got to open their Easter baskets from us.  This year, their baskets were really special because they came from an auction at a trivia night my step-mom Janet put on to raise money for her missions trip to Zambia this summer!  So, we not only got to give our kids some super cool Easter baskets, we got to help out with her trip!  My dad won the basket for Zoe, and we won the one for Jaxon. 

Zoe’s “girls only” basket Jaxon’s “all cars” basket The Easter bunnies I hand knitted for my kids :)  The brown one is Jaxon’s and still needs clothes (I ran out of time) but I think they turned out pretty decent for my 1st attempt. 

Easter this year was AWESOME!  I loved every minute of it!  Just to be reminded that my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died & rose again for ME is enough to make me smile ear to ear.  Then we got to spend some time blessing others and being blessed.  What more could a girl ask for!? HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE! HE’S ALIVE!!