Easter

He is RISEN! Easter is here! The tomb is empty! Praise the Lord! I love Easter! I have fond memories of Easter growing up. I remember going to Lott, Texas with my dad and brother. My dad's sister and her kids were there along with his brothers. My grandma and grandpa were there. It was a HUGE family affair. I usually stayed with my grandma at my great-grandma's house (the kids think it is way cool that I had a great grandma and great grandpa) while my dad and brother stayed next door at my great aunt and uncles house. My great grandmas kids, grandkids and great grandkids were ALL there. Let's just say we busted those houses out at the seems. I loved it! Easter Sunday we would get dressed in our nice new clothes...my brother even had a 3 piece suit back then (you of course would never see him in something like that now). We would then walk to church. Yes, really walk! It seemed like a pretty far walk back then, but it was only a block. LOL After church we would race down that long block and grab our Easter baskets and fill them up with the TONS of eggs the bunny brought while we were at church. Such wonderful memories! It is not such a big busting the house event here though. The bunny has to come at the crack of dawn to beat the kids. Let's just say that when I went to "help" the bunny with the eggs, I was not happy with the dripping thick fog. We just live too far away from church to do the egg thing after. It was the usual race for eggs followed by anger because one kid ended up with more...it seems to be a different kid every year. sigh....

Here is Miss Hannah checking out her basket of goodies. I just can't over how precious she is.
Here is the mad dash for eggs. Even the dog is running! Gotta love Caleb holding UP his pants.
Hannah is not participating in the mad dash. She has a small section of the yard just for her. You can see she really was in no rush. She walked around with just those two eggs for a while.
Can you tell that Caleb let go of his pants?
This picture makes it look really dark outside, but it is not. I wish I could say the sun was out, but the sky was filled with a very thick fog.
Of course the egg hunt is followed by the dumping out of all the eggs.
Since I was singing with the choir, I had to be at church early AND for all 3 services. The plan was to take Hannah with me because there was childcare available for her. The other 3 would ride in later with Marc, Donnie, and my mom. The goal is to have them mostly dressed before I leave so no one ends up with clothes on backwards and all the hair gets brushed. This picture was right before I left and all the brushing was not done yet. Actually this was about the 10th picture! Do you know how hard it is to get 4 kids still, looking at you, AND smiling all at the same time?
This was at church after the service. Hannah did her smile "cheeeeeese" pose.
Then I got the real photo!
Caleb said, "I'm next....cheeeese"...the he got mad because I took 2 of Hannah and only one of him. :(
Yet another attempt at 4 kids in a photo.....this was about pic #8.
The kids wanted a picture of ALL of us. Normally I would be ok with it, but I was in all black. That was the Gathering Singers attire for Sunday...well, it is for every Sunday. We tried to use the color of the girls to hide my black, but I am thinking Josh between Marc and I would have helped hide me more. :) Donnie took the picture and it was the ONLY one he took so I am glad it came out ok!
We ran into Hannah's friend Hope as we were leaving. Hope's mom and I tried to get a picture, but the girls weren't still for very long. My first picture was a blur, so this is my good picture. I don't know if Hope's mom got a good one though. Hannah talks about Hope all the time!
I hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter. We did! Church was great. Lunch with the family was great! Getting to chat with friends was great.

Here is a verse from one of my favorite songs, In Christ Alone.
There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

Nothing I say can top that!