Easter Sunday

Happy Easter! We had a very nice day remembering the Lord at church, and then being with family at home after. I bought all the girls a cross necklace, which I've been thinking of doing for a while (since I listened to this Easter podcast in 2021 - part 1 and part 2). I wore one too. I hope it's just a simple way for us to show to other Christians that we believe in Christ too. And I also like to think of it as me taking up my cross daily (Matthew 16:24-26), and my cross is such a little cross compared to the cross that Jesus bore for me. So yeah, that's a little thing we did this year. I am going to try next year to make Easter a bigger celebration, more like Christmas, to try and make it a big focus and to have more Christ centered traditions. For our celebrations today, we went to Corey's parents house for dinner. Aunts, Uncles and cousins were there, and Joseph, Melodie, and Ethan all came up too. It was a nice meal, but I think what we all enjoyed the most was just being together. 

It was fun listening to and watching the kids all talk and laugh. The college kids shared some of their dating stories and woes. And in this pic below Natalie was using a long grabber thing to give Ethan a drink, it was funny. I love how all of our kids are smiling and laughing!

Yeah, there was a lot of laughing and joy and fun. How wonderful that we can live together forever because of Jesus' sacrifice for us. Time is so fleeting, so we're glad to know that this life is just a blink in our eternal existence. I made a 2 decade calendar yesterday. It's kinda crazy looking at it - Corey and I will be 66 by the time this is taken down. 

And someday... (Fall 2036 to be specific) ...Corey and I will just have two kids here at home - Peter will be starting his senior year and Katharine will be in 9th grade. That will be like us just having Wesley and Abi! How different that will be compared to the life we've had for the past 23 years! I bet it will eventually happen though, cause so far all of our other kids have grown up, so I think Peter and Katharine will too. 

Peter enjoying his cousin's lightsaber, and Ethan having K try out music on his airpods. 

 

We didn't have an easter egg hunt at home, although I did buy treats and plastic eggs... maybe we'll do one later this week? But their cousin Isaac had prepared a hunt for his little cousins. 

The kids liked that. And then we spent the rest of the evening around the piano. Kids goofing around and singing and it was a lot of fun. 

Singing Billy Joel (Piano Man, Scenes from an Italian Restaurant), and some of the Beatles (Hey Jude).

It was really fun. Before we went home, Katharine showed off showing us all how she can stand without holding on to anything. 

And we'd all clap and cheer! And she'd cheer for herself too! That was the highlight of the evening for everyone. Little video here that Joseph took. Life is beautiful and wonderful. We are grateful to God for this beautiful world he has created, and for the wonderful children he's given us, and for the glorious plan of salvation. Thank you Jesus, for rescuing us from death and hell. We trust that as we strive to follow him, we will be able to live with him again.