A Different Easter

A dear friend wrote this after erasing every activity from their family calendar.  Every activity and holiday, but Easter.  Easter can never be erased.  "He rose, He is risen, and He will come again.  That has not changed.  He has not changed.  And maybe He wants that for all of us during this time:  To watch our plans being stripped away until only He is left.  With room to ask Him to fill all the other days with ways He want to transform us into a blessing to share that eternal hope with others." - Ali

We are all missing the traditions from years past: the matching Easter dresses, the community Easter egg hunts, gathering with family for meals, even going to Target for Easter basket gifts.  But this Easter will be different, one that we will never forget.  It's ok to mourn the loss of the ordinary and expected, but to then turn the mourning into joy!  We have been given a gift of time, time to focus on the greatest story ever told!

Here are some links to ideas on how to celebrate this Easter season with joy!

If you are local and would like one of these Easter guides, I'd be glad to drop one off!

 - A Printable 15 Day Guide for Easter that we've used in years past

 - A Printable 2 day guide for this Thursday and Friday

 - Resurrection Eggs with a printable

 - Homemade Resurrection Rolls with a great explanation

 - Resurrection Rolls (with Pillsbury crescent rolls) 

Easter baskets may or may not be feasible or doable this year for some families, but if you're searching for online ideas, these are two of my favorite bloggers with great lists.

 - Preschool Easter Basket Ideas with Naptime Kitchen

 - Easter Basket Ideas for Outdoor Imaginations 

    with Over at Alicias

May your Easter be full of hope, full of joy, and full of expectation of what's to come!

What happened in March, and what's left of April...

What happened in March...

(Better late than never seems to be my motto these days... late to church, late nights, late waking up, late blogging...)

- Concerning my March goals, not much happened.  Getting to bed at a decent hour is still a work in progress.  I finished Notes from a Blue Bike with a friend (great read!)  I'm on chapter 3 of Love & Respect, which is a great book, but it's a struggle to force myself to read for pleasure when I've already spent time reading aloud to the girls (not to mention I fall asleep every time I lay down to read.)  I may have read a chapter of The Happiness Project before it was due back at the library (I even tried to renew it!).  Oh well!

- All of our plane tickets are ordered and our lodging arranged.  The countdown has officially begun!  The girls have worked so hard making sea glass earrings and jars, cake pops and lemonade.  It's been special to see them give so willingly and be able to say they paid for our train passes (Naomi earned enough for hers and Chloe will be able to pay for the rest of ours, plus money for some activities while there).

- 40 bags in 40 days was such a nice thought...  We may have decrapified 10-15 bags, but let's be honest... purging is hard.  If nothing else, I was encouraged by a friend who read about it and actually did it!  Setting goals is not in vain.

- We got to celebrate two birthdays in March, my sweet husband and our littlest girlie.  Both celebrations were low key, but special.  No regrets on this goal.  

                                  

                                                   

                                                   

What's left in April...

- Really do the envelope system this month with our budget.  Even though, we're well into April, it's not too late.  I need to remember that every penny saved could be put towards our trip.

- Re-discover my love for getting outside, especially my morning runs.  I forget how fresh air and getting those endorphin's going is so vital to starting (or continuing) my day on the right foot. 

- Read more of Love & Respect (a perspective of marriage that is foreign to our culture and even in our churches), read Own Your Life, and who knows what else...

                                    

- Finish this school year well!  Our writing class is wrapping up this month, ballet recital practices are in full swing, and some intense language study needs to happen before next month!

- Buy train passes, rash guards for the girls, and start packing!!! 

- Reach out to others through opening up our home, sending encouraging notes, or even a simple phone call or text.  

What happens after Easter...

Now that Easter has past, what happens now?  We remembered His death, so amazing, so sacrificial. Those crosses still sit on our kitchen table.  I'm afraid to take them down for fear I'll forget...  for fear that life will go on and that amazing grace will seem lost.  Sometimes the colors of the world stand out bold and clear while the cross and the tomb that could not hold Him seem dim in the background.

May our children remember that it's more than a story.  It's our reason for living.  It's the daily dying to self so that His glory may be proclaimed.  For us as mothers & fathers, "we look to Jesus not only as our example; we also see that He is our power to love God and our children.  Because Christ has done for us what we could never do for ourselves, with His power we can ask forgiveness of our children when we sin against them, because God in Christ has forgiven us." - Gloria Furman

Let the light never fade.  May we teach our families daily to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength... impress them on your children... talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." All day, every day, everywhere! (Deuteronomy 6:5-7)

Treasure the blessings God has given us!  "Because of the gospel, we can rejoice as we find our hands full of blessings in Jesus, because all we know is grace." - G. Furman

Hold tight to family, yet be willing to let them go.  Savor every moment, every holiday, every phone call, and every picture-taking moment.

 

"Let the rest of folks go ahead and pack up their Easter decorations and turn the calendar page over and they can roll up the banners and swags but there's this Resurrection People who aren't going back to before and we refuse to live like that stone's been rolled back.  

He is alive and He is risen and I'm going to keep that on the chalkboard and keep saying it over the burnt pots and the overflowing sinks and I'm going to keep singing it like a refrain:  He is Risen Indeed - because I want Him to be risen in me." - Ann Voskamp

Aspirations for April...

Can I just start by saying that God is amazing?!  This may seem like nothing to most, but to me, it was kind of cool so I had to share. The other day, on my morning crawl (which has still not reached 4 miles again), I glanced down at this lonely dandelion.  I couldn't help myself in capturing this little weed, front and center on such a gorgeous morning.  When I got home, the verse in II Corinthians came to mind, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."  This weed will be gone tomorrow and so will my to-do lists and my monthly aspirations, but God's word will remain, the souls of my family and those around me will remain, and that is where my focus is to be.  Those are the things that will last forever. Then, the very next day when I woke up this verse came to mind again (which is rare for me, considering my horrible memory these days.) But then... (this is the amazing part to me) what was one of the verses in my devotions?  II Corinthians 4:18!  Coincidence?  I don't think so.  That was a God thing.

Reviewing my Musings for March:
1. Teach at least one essential oils class.  Nervous, oh my!
2. Plan (with my older girls) a ballerina/pirate party for my youngest (who is turning 4!!!)
3. Focus on discipling my girls (with an emphasis on Bible memory).
4. Let go of some things of the past... (more may be shared in the future.)
5. Spend as much time outdoors as possible (more bike rides, park visits, picnics, and maybe getting back to running 4 miles again... maybe.)

- Teaching my first essential oils class was terrifying to me.  I'm still learning and researching, so my inadequacies overwhelmed me. Yet God is so good and anything good that came from the class was only from Him.  The time with old and new friends shared over Peppermint Patties and lemon water made it worth it all.

- Sophie's party was a blast!  As usual, I eliminated half of the ideas and expectations I had for the party, but the time spent watching her dance with her sisters, cousins, & friends made the party a success.  Naomi was my planning partner, helping me sew the little tutu's for the garland (which then became doll tutu's), bake the cupcakes, make the frosting, and browse Pinterest for party ideas.  Special times with my little middle!  Chloe took the role of ballet teacher, choosing songs for both ballet and tap, planning steps for each song, and fully embracing the role with great maturity on the day of the party.  I couldn't be more proud of my girls!

- Discipling my girls has been heavy on my heart for a while.  They have worked hard on their verses for Wednesday nights at church (not quite completing all the verses, but we'll keep trying).  But through studying these important scriptures (with the use of the Evangecube), something greater has occurred that Marty and I have been praying for. 

- Little by little, I'm letting go.  

- With our crazy North Carolina weather, we did the best we could getting outside.  It would feel like spring one day, then forecasting snow the next.  I'm looking forward to more walks and trips to the park this month.

Aspirations for April...
1.  Plan a new spring menu (less grains, more veggies & protein).
2.  Point my girls to the real meaning of Easter.
3.  Start every day with a clean kitchen table.
4.  Finish two of the books I'm reading:  Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman & Cleaning House by Kay Wills Wyma.
5.  Truly rest on our little family spring break.

Click & print one of these great Easter reminders

The Day that Doesn't End...

It's almost been a week since Resurrection Sunday, the day we remember what our Savior did and the reason for our hope in living on this earth.  How I want to be constantly mindful of His sacrifice, yet how often the mundane, trivial things of life block my view instead.  This has been one of those weeks... 

Battling a sickness that swept through our children, leaving us sleep-deprived and fearful of catching it ourselves, this week has left us weary.  But I'm finding that during those times, when I'm knocked off my feet and helpless in my own strength, the blessings become more evident.  Easter Sunday was a whirl wind of dressing in our Easter best, worshiping with fellow believers, baskets full of goodies, traveling to family, pictures, hunts, and a birthday party to boot!  Monday morning woke us up exhausted!  Yet it was such a blessing at times (because of our sickness), to be forced to rest, to be allowed the time to remember, to be able to continue to mull through the day of His resurrection that doesn't end that Easter Sunday so long ago.

After a really discouraging Thursday, I was listening to Pandora while fixing supper, and Laura Story's song, Remember, began to play.  How I needed those words in that moment!  Let me continue to remember what He has done and let the truth of that day never end...

This is the body that was torn for us
This is the blood that was spilt
Points to the pain you endured for us
Points to the shame, the blame, the guilt

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, come
Move our hearts to remember

This is the Lamb who was slain for us
So we the church may enter in
So bitter sweet when we think of You
The One who bore our curse, our sin

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, come
Move our hearts to remember, to remember

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, come
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, come
Move our hearts to remember

So many blessings!!