Easter - Jesus has risen!

Spring is in full force, and signs of new life are all around. The trees are budding with flowers and new leaves, bulbs are blooming, eggs are hatching, baby animals are everywhere, and even the sidewalks are teeming with life waiting to be transformed into something new as the caterpillars crawl around. How perfect that Easter falls at the height of the spring season! As we see signs of new life all around us in God's beautiful creation, how can we not accept the gift of new life God has given to us? I am so grateful for a God who loved me enough to give His only Son up to suffer in my place that I may have new life through Him. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!!! As my precious little son, Caleb, said on Easter morning - "Jesus is alive today! He was dead. The bad people killed him, but now he is alive!" Thank you, God, for all the many blessings You have given us, but most especially for the gift of new life through Jesus Christ our Savior!

We were blessed with a beautiful Easter day to remind us of God's amazing love for us. Church was packed, and the service was great. Afterward there was an egg hunt for the kids. It was divided into groups by ages, and both my boys fit into the 3-5 year old range. Unfortunately, though Malachi is 3, in many ways he is more like a 2 year old. We have him in the 2 year old Sunday school class where he fits in perfectly. Not only was he much smaller than most of the kids in his group for the egg hunt, he didn't have a clue what to do. After all, while most of the kids had been on an Easter egg hunt before, this was Malachi's first Easter. When the go ahead was finally given, all the kids took off running to get the eggs. All but Malachi that is. After I scanned the group looking for his dark little body running with the other kids, I finally found him back at the starting line crying his little heart out! My poor little boy!!! I felt so bad for him. After comforting him for a minute I led him along to find some eggs. When he finally picked up an egg it fell open revealing a nice tasty piece of chocolate. At that point he became so absorbed in that one piece of candy it was nearly impossible to convince him to move on and collect more eggs. Needless to say, Malachi did not collect too many eggs! I think we will soon be doing an egg hunt at home so he can actually hunt some eggs!

Malachi models his Easter outfit my mom made for him. He seemed to know it was special just because Grandma made it!

See how little Malachi looks in comparison to the other kids in the group?

After Mommy wipes away the tears from his initial confusion Malachi finally joins the egg hunt...

...but as quickly as he gets started, he is overtaken by a single piece of chocolate!

Daddy tries to help him out. Look at how full the kid's bucket behind him is as opposed to how many eggs are in Malachi's basket.

Oh my, more chocolate!

Like most of the other kids in the group, Caleb knows the game and quickly fills his basket with eggs.

Wow, Malachi is actually getting another egg, thanks to Daddy's help!

Caleb gets an egg alongside his friend Jonathon. Not only are Caleb and Jonathon in the same classes in church, the same t-ball team, and the same soccer team last fall, the boys are also neighbors. Jonathon has wonderful parents (and a great big brother, too!), and we feel very blessed to have them as neighbors.

After the hunt, Malachi's basket is overflowing with eggs! Well, perhaps not!

Oh well, he only got a couple of eggs, but at least he is happy!