Easter 2018 can go down in the books as a fun one! We did the Easter things, like dying Easter eggs and having the Easter egg hunt. We read the story of Easter, how Christ came to earth as a man, sinless and perfect, but was hated by many. Hated by so many, in fact, that they were able to convince a judge he should be put to death. It was on the darkest day in history that Jesus was nailed to a cross, dying for mine and your sins. When all was quiet, all hope was gone, and everyone who knew Jesus wondered where their redemption would come from now, the stone was rolled away to reveal an empty tomb, Jesus’ empty tomb. It was on the greatest day in history that Christ defeated the grave, defeated death, and then extended his arms to you and me to have the same death-defeating life He bought for us just 3 days prior. Easter.
The boys had a blast dying eggs. Our house is currently in disarray with baby stuff everywhere as I try to get everything sorted and put up, but I made a spot on the floor to dye some eggs. This has always been one of my favorite things to do at Easter and I love that I’m able to share it with my boys. Plus, I LOVE boiled eggs and deviled eggs so it’s nice to have some colorful ones to eat on for a change! Here are a few of their favorite egg creations:
We had a lot of fun hunting for Easter eggs out in the yard after church. The weather was simply beautiful. I’m not really sure how many eggs we hid, but I think it was over 150! We thought we found them all, but since Sunday, two more eggs have been discovered in the yard. It’s for that very reason that I am glad we never hide real eggs… the stink would be awful at this point if we still had some stragglers out there! I somehow managed not to get any pictures of Callen hunting eggs… not sure how that happened. Hm.
While Easter was great, and I seriously have no complaints, there was still a small emptiness to be felt this year. It’s been almost a year since Lance’s grandparents moved out of the house across the street from us to have 24 hour care, whether at family member’s homes or in nursing facilities. It’s been 9 months since Papaw passed away, and to be honest, the past couple of weeks have really been hard on both Lance and me. I’m not sure if its because the birth of our first daughter is quickly approaching, and we know how much Papaw wanted us to have a baby girl, or if it’s just the reality of everything really settling in. Either way, there have been many, many tears shed over the loss we feel by not having Mamaw and Papaw across the street from us anymore. There are days where I see something move out the window, and I expect to see Papaw riding across the street on his scooter to come see us.
I remember telling Lance last year that I thought it would be the last Easter we would get to spend with Mamaw and Papaw. We wanted to soak up every moment we could with them because we knew time was running down quickly. The last few years, Easter has been the one holiday that we’ve really gotten some good one-on-one time with Mamaw and Papaw. I’ll cook a big lunch and we carry it all over to their house to eat and then hunt eggs afterwards. It was such a sight watching Papaw ride around last year helping the boys find eggs. Everyone loved it! I guess all of that is probably what has made this year so tough… Elijah remembers spending our Easters with them so all week he kept asking if we were going to go to Mamaw and Papaw’s for lunch and to hunt Easter eggs, and each time he asked was a reminder of what we are missing out on by not having them here. BUT praise God, we have hope, and what better holiday to be reminded of that hope. The pain of loss is great, sometimes it almost feels unbearable. I am so thankful for Christ not only dying on a cross for my salvation, but defeating death so that we can have hope in life after leaving this world. So while I’m reminded of what I’m missing out on by not having Papaw here, I also have reason to rejoice because I know it’s not the end. We’ll one day walk those streets of gold together, praising the One Who Was, the One Who Is, and the One Who Is to come.
