Happy Resurrection Weekend!

Alright, alright.  So I know I'm a little late in the game, but we JUST pulled out our Easter stuff at the beginning of this week.  With normal housework, homeschooling, testing last week, and just LIFE in general, Easter kind-of snuck up on me.

But it's Friday, and Sunday's coming!

So here's a look back at this week and all the fun things we have done to prepare for Easter:



Seriously.  2 dozen hard boiled eggs.  Eaten up in 24 hours.  Crazy!





Sophie was so happy to be dyeing her own eggs!



I just couldn't resist this sweet, sweet smile from Joseph!



Why Easter eggs?  They represent new beginnings.  A new life transformed by the resurrecting power of Jesus.





Out came the books.  The Resurrection Eggs.  The Jesus Film movie.  My kids LOVED reading, and telling (and retelling!) the Easter story.  Even Sophie.  Too cute!



Every year we do our own Passover dinner with our family.  It has become something our kids talk about all year.  We retell the Exodus story, letting the kids act it out as we go.  Waving the palm branches, painting the doorposts, and parting the Red Sea with a staff.  We talk about how each part of that familiar Old Testament story points to the New Testament Jesus. 



Making Resurrection Rolls!



 

And......eating them. :)



The kids put together a little Easter basket to take to Mimi this morning.  Cute little Easter bunnies making a delivery.  Made alot of people smile. :)



Love this picture!





I so, so badly wanted to make an Easter garden with the kids this year.  Wasn't on the ball enough to plant early though.  Instead, they collected sticks today and made these for our front planter.  Love! 



The eggs, the books, the baskets......they're are well and good, but it's all just a means to an end.  To point to Him.  Traditions that we've created for our children in hopes that they will lead them to Jesus, our risen Lord, who conquered death and rose again on the third day.

Our family has had a taste of this death-conquering Jesus this year.  There IS power in His name when we cry out to Him.  Power to heal the sick.  To make blind men see.  Even to resurrect from the dead.  All we must do is believe. 

Believe in the One who created the universe.  Who spoke life into being.  Who sent His only Son to die on a cross.  For our sins.  For my sins.  Whose blood was spilled, so that I may have life eternal.  And who, on the third day rose, in all power and glory. Conquering death once and for all, for all who believe.

That is what Easter is all about. 

"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

~Romans 10:13

I'll leave you with a song I've had stuck in my head all week (you will have to pause the music player at the bottom of this page before playing the video).  Happy Resurrection weekend!

                       






Kirsten

Moving on DOWN!!!

Yes, that's right....we are moving on DOWN!!  Down the list, that is. :)

The end of March brought in slightly cooler weather, but it also meant an update from our social worker.  As of last month, we had dropped down to #80 - a HUGE feat, considering we hadn't moved much at all in about five months.  Today??

Let me give you a couple hints......

It's an important year for our country AND it also happens to be the name of the professional basketball team here in Philly.  Give up?

This month we moved down FOUR SPACES to.....

 

Woohoo!!!!!  So excited to see ANY movement at this point.  Well, any movement in the right direction, that is. :)  Each month as we've moved down, I've seen my faith increase.  Last month I shared about audacious prayers.  Just the other day I read this and I was nearly doing backflips on the inside:

 

"Then Jesus said to them, 'Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.'  And suppose the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me.  The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.'  I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity, he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.  So I say to you:  Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened.  Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?  Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"'

Luke 11:5-13

Jesus WANTS us to audaciously, in faith, approach his throne.  Not from a "name it and claim it" standpoint, but as a child approaches his/her parent with complete trust that they have their best interests at heart.  So thankful that we serve a God whose attention to detail is unmatched.  Whose hand is guiding our adoption process from beginning to end and sees each day before it ever comes to pass.  Whose very heart is for the orphaned and the widowed and the down-trodden.

So thankful that He has led us on this journey and has brought us to this point.  Continuing to pray audaciously that He would continue to bless our journey, leading us even closer to bringing our little one home.  All glory and honor go to Him!




Kirsten