Easter Sunday 2013

Family photo on Easter Sunday at Cory's parent's house!  After an incredible worship service with our church family, we spent the afternoon with Cory's family.

On Saturday the girls and I baked cookies for all the local cousins!

Riddle cookies :)

Christie cookies :)

We took a couple of plastic eggs and filled them with Chuck's treats.  He loved them.  Here he is on Easter morning, watching the girls open their eggs!

Cayla's Easter basket and Vera Bradley backpack in Viva La Vera!

Autumn's Easter basket and Vera Bradley backpack in Doodle Daisy!

 We know it's more than baskets, and eggs, and cookies.  It's about Jesus, and the debt He paid for us.  In the Easter Sunday sermon this morning, our pastor presented us with the following (loosely translated), extremely poignant thought:

Pastor:  "What if you received a legitimate letter from your mortgage company informing you your debt had been paid in full?  Regardless of how much you had left to pay, it was covered.  You didn't owe a single penny anymore.  Would you rip up the letter, throw it away, and continue to pay your mortgage every month?"

Then why do so many people throw away the "Paid in Full" notice that Christ offers?  There is no sin that Christ can't redeem.  We can't sin too much, or too big.  His death on the cross covered ALL sin, and our debt was paid.

What an incredible gift.  How can anyone turn it down?

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 6:23

Easter Egg Event 2013!

I have to admit, St. Patrick's Day is a little too close to Easter this year for my liking.  It's kind of cramped my decorating style because I felt some compulsion to decorate for St. Patrick's Day.  But after tomorrow, all the St. Patrick's Day decor will come down and it will be full on Easter!

Actually it's been Easter for the past month, we just combined a little St. Pat's in with it :)

Tonight we dyed eggs as a family (and then watched Duck Dynasty, but that's a whole other post).  We usually wait until just a couple of days before Easter, but we thought it might be fun to enjoy the eggs prior to the holiday this year, instead of dealing with them for days on end afterward.

Below is just a sampling of our Easter dyeing evening:

I've been completely obsessed with wheat grass (as decor, not to eat) lately, so when I saw it in my grocery store I knew it was coming home with me.  I love it!  I know, it has nothing to do with dyeing eggs, but it IS grass, and it IS where eggs are often hidden, so in a way, it kind of fits into the post.  Besides, I think it's cute and wanted to show it off :)

Since last Easter I've been eyeing this adorable porcelain egg tray at TJ Maxx, and I finally broke down and bought it.  The eggs inside are a few that Cory and I dyed.  Unlike the girls, who love to make their eggs 'artful', I like mine to be simple, and deeply dyed.

Autumn with her first egg of the season :)

As usual, Cayla got creative and wrote cute and/or funny things on her eggs.  This one has spots!

Some of Autumn's creations!

A few of our plain ones.

Autumn and Chuck.  The smell drove Chuck crazy.  He drooled the entire time hoping an egg would fall on the floor :)

The designers!  I hope they always love to dye eggs as much as I do!

Happy Easter!

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life....."
John 11:25a