He Is RISEN...oh, yes He IS! (belated Easter post)

We had a sweet time celebrating Easter as a family.  We did some new things this year and some modifications of older traditions.  It was a peaceful time of relishing the new life we have in our Risen Savior!!!  

There were no PAAS easter egg dyeing kits available in Ghana so we "blew" our own eggs and painted them.  Apparently you need the same skills to blow an egg that you do to blow up a balloon and since I can't do EITHER, Libby was a HUGE help in blowing all the eggs for us.  (My mom will hate this next picture!)

(notice her "fashion earrings")

I love seeing kids creativity!  This year, our egg creations included an easter bunny, a baseball player, a full body Tinkerbell, and a full blown Rapunzel scene.  The kids were really hoping to transport their eggs home to the States next week, but unfortunately, a couple days after painting, a not-so-pleasant odor could be smelled anytime one was within 3 yards of this pretty plate...

Taaa Daaa!!!

So there are a lot of discussions out there about celebrating holidays as followers of Jesus.  Many of them are challenging (like this one) and strike at the heart of American materialism.  As with all things, we are constantly trying to find a balance between making fun childhood memories with our kids and instilling in them the joy of pursuing Jesus only without all the extras.  Sometimes finding this balance is hard but we trust that God will continue to draw their little hearts to Him more and more.

So in our family, we celebrate Jellybean Day.  I don't remember when it actually started.  I just remember that at some point we felt like there was too much crammed into Easter Sunday.  We wanted the kids to have fun with easter hunts, baskets, bunnies etc but we didn't feel like we had the time and space to really reflect and "sit in" the redemptive story of the cross and the gloriousness of worshiping our Risen Savior.  So at some point we invented Jellybean Day.  Its the Saturday before Easter and we enjoy some fun activities involving hunts and baskets and treats.  Then on Easter Sunday, we enjoy special meals together and the rest of our time is centered around Jesus...with no extras.  Its peaceful...reflective...sweet.  The kids look forward to this day as much as they do Jellybean Day.  For this I'm thankful.

On Jellybean Day this year, our kids were given a secret mission...

"Here is a secret message containing the clue to the hidden treasure...

...however, the "jellybean monster" has taken the decoding sheet and its your job to get it back.  Your mission is to each find 10 eggs of your assigned color and feed them to the jellybean monster.  After he has eaten 50 eggs, he will return the decoding sheet!  Good Luck!  This message will self destruct in 10 seconds..."

Getting their mission orders

 

Counting their eggs

Decoding their message

Success!

The Decoded Message

(sound effects for the above picture below)

The Treasure!

(Later in the week, we all took a tro-tro into Accra to see The Croods together.  The movie was just ok but it was such a fun family day and the kids did great with all the walking and hot crowded tro-tro rides it took to get there and back.)   

We spent Easter Sunday reflecting and celebrating the miracle of our Risen Savior.  It was a precious time.  

Easter breakfast

This is one of my favorite Easter traditions.  Those of you who are not familiar with Don Francisco (1980s Christian folk singer!), you are really missing out.  Don and I may be two of the few people who grew up with Don Francisco.  When we first met, both of us could sing most of his songs word for word.  So of course we are raising our children with the same Don Francisco love.  This is the scene at our house every Easter morning.  (if you are not one of our grandmas, you may find this a little long!)

By the way, the kids did this special 4th performance for me since I forgot to video the first 3 times...

The kids look for any excuse to give presents.  Each of them had presents for every member of the family, most of them homemade.  I LOVE this!

Easter diorama by Libby

Homemade snow globe

Kady loves Star Wars so Libby made her an entire set of Star Wars toys out of things she found around.      Having very few creative juices in my body, I was very impressed.  :)

Princess Leia

Ally made Kady a Peter Pan hat

The kids were excited all week about our Easter Feast and helped me plan the menu.  We appreciated yummy food more this year than in previous years.  Our menu included Chicken Fricasee, steamed green beans, dumplings and gravy, strawberry jello with frozen strawberries and bananas in it, cheesy au gratin potatoes, and kool-aid!

Our consumed Easter Feast

HE IS RISEN!  OH YES HE IS!!!