Easter at the O'Briens

It has been over 2 years since I last blogged!!! I swear each year that I am going to keep up with this and I never do.  I think it is because Facebook took over.  Let's give this year a chance and see how it goes because I no longer, due to an agreement between Chris and I, Facebook on a regular basis.  I will however post these to my profile because otherwise no one would know that I have posted anything.  :) 

Anyways, I wanted to make a post about Easter.  I was running behind getting our taxes prepared, so that took priority.  Now that is done, so I can post!

I think that Easter is a majorly over looked holiday.  It gets no where near the celebration that Christmas does, yet it is the cornerstone of our faith.  Yes, Christmas is important.  It is the birth of our Savior, but the important part of the life of Christ is that He fulfilled Old Testament prophecies by dying and raising again on the third day.   That my friend is EASTER!!!

To begin preparing our minds and hearts for the day, we started 12 days ahead of time with Resurrection Eggs.  Every morning, we hid an egg and the girls had to find it.  After a short Scripture reading, they could open the egg.  Inside the egg was an item that was significant to the Easter story to help little minds start forming and committing the Easter Story to their memory and hopefully someday to cherish in their hearts.  Here are what the eggs look like:

I am not sure who had more fun with the eggs, us or the girls.  I loved watching them hunt them down, how much fun they had learning "hot/cold", and most importantly how much the eggs helped them be able to tell the Easter story!

To go along with each egg, the girls colored a page from an Easter coloring book.  I am not sure what to do with all these, because they really spent a lot of time on them.  Something I will have to think about. 




Easter morning was something really special.  We woke up early to go in to a sunrise service at the river.  I wish that I could have taken pictures but, in my opinion, it would have ruined the serenity and beautiful atmosphere to hear my camera shutter clicking away.  

Use your imagination to see the picture.  There was a cross set up on the river bank, steam rising off the curvy, flowing river, water noises trickling, birds chirping, and the sun beginning to rise over a big hill.  Absolutely breath-taking!!!  The crowd gathered was small, the Scripture and message powerful, hymns sang were beautiful.  Could not have asked for a more picture perfect Easter service.  I hope it will become one of Mullen's traditions!

After church, we drove home to enjoy a hot egg casserole that had been place in the oven before we left.  Once breakfast was over, we did our final resurrection egg as well as a traditional Easter egg hunt and baskets.  (Our kids do get baskets, however it is with full understanding that they come from mom and dad!)  Pictures of "The Hunt."

 

For lunch, Chris' parents were able to take a small break in their day and join us.  (We didn't have a "whole family" Easter as Adelyn was recovering from the chicken pox.  YUCK!!)  After lunch the girls played outside and rode their horse.  Grandpa and Grandma couldn't stay long because cows do not recognize holidays and did not take a break from calving.  :)  Kiddos went to bed early and we finished our day with the Passion of the Christ movie.  This definitely was an Easter to remember!!  I hope that we can keep the traditions that we started this year and add to them as the years go by!

"Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.  But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.  Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.  Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen!  Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee saying, 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.'" ~Luke 24:1-7 NKJV