Easter Hope

I'm sure by now everyone has heard of the Catholic Church's new pope.  So far I have been pleasantly surprised by what Pope Francis has done in his short time as Father of the entire Catholic Church.  It doesn't hurt that he is a Jesuit, one of my favorite types of priests and the kind of university Will and I attended as well.  But the fact that he took one of my favorite saint's names - Francis, the patron saint of humility, simplicity and all creatures great and small - is also a plus in my book.  After hearing a quote by Pope Francis however, said during Holy Thursday mass at a juvenile detention center in Rome, I became one of his biggest fans.  He told the young adults gathered before him, "Don't lose hope, understand?  With hope you can always go on."  

To me, Easter is the holiday of hope.  After a long Michigan winter, Easter comes at a time of year when the first signs of spring fill me with hope and excitement.   I read somewhere (probably Facebook) that Christmas was God's promise to the world and Easter is the fulfillment.  Because Jesus died so that we may live forever with Him, I know that I will see Luke again.  Without death we could not have new life.  I honestly do not know how I would move on with living if I didn't have this amazing gift of hope to hold on to. When life gets difficult, it is human nature to despair.  But as Marilla from my favorite Anne of Green Gables books once told Anne, "To despair is to turn your back on God."  Easter is the reason I do not despair, and hope is the reason I can overcome difficulties and always move on.  

With that being said, here is our family's celebration of the Easter holiday.  We started out the festivities dying Easter eggs.  We used eggs from our very own chickens this year which made it even more special to us.  We were worried that the varying egg shell colors of browns and blues wouldn't dye well, but I think they actually resulted in even more vibrant colors than using the traditional white eggs. 

My brother, sister-in-law and niece Ellen took the girls to an Easter party at our church where the girls did crafts, an Easter egg hunt and a meet and greet with the Easter bunny.

As I wasn't there, I can only imagine through the pictures they photo streamed to us about how cute and exhausting it was to wrangle three girls all under the age of four through a maze of chocolate candy, plastic eggs and a giant bunny.  And knowing Emma, I can only guess that she is asking Aunt Jenna in the below picture for, "just one more" piece of candy with her cheeks still full from the last piece of candy she ate.

Easter morning dawned bright and early.  I woke up before the rest of the family to start breakfast.  The girls woke up just as I finished and we had a lovely morning finding Easter baskets and eating chocolate bunnies, cream cheese french toast casserole, sausage and fruit salad.

After breakfast we headed to church and enjoyed a beautiful Easter mass.  We sat by the choir as usual, since the girls can always be distracted from less than desirable behavior by pointing out the various instruments stationed nearby.  Here are the girls below posing for a picture in front of the grand piano before mass started.  We had to get there early to ensure a seat, and while we were waiting I whispered the story God Gave Us Easter to the girls, which the Easter bunny had put in Lucy's Easter basket.  This is my favorite children's Easter story as it does a great job explaining Easter even to an adult.  My favorite part of the book is when the Papa Bear in the story tells his little girl, "...sometimes we have to let go of one thing so we can move on to another."  During the sermon a little bit later, the priest quoted Pope Francis saying, "Keep hope.  Move forward always."  It was a very meaningful service and several times I had to fight back the tears.

When we came home we went on an Easter egg hunt around the yard.  The girls were having a hard time waiting all morning to do this, since the Easter bunny had left a clue on the bird feeder that they looked at while we ate breakfast.

It had just stopped raining, so it was a bit chilly and wet on the hunt, but the girls didn't seem to mind.

 

We then enjoyed a light lunch of hard boiled eggs and went down for naps.  After naps we packed up the car and headed to Will's Aunt Karen's house for Easter dinner.  On the way, we stopped by the cemetery to give Luke an Easter egg and wish our little guy a happy Easter in heaven.  Here are the girls below, each with a foot on Luke's footprints that are engraved in his headstone.

We had a wonderful time at the Timmerman's for Easter and the girls enjoyed another Easter egg hunt.  Will and I were super happy to see that the plastic eggs were filled with coins and not candy.  Thank you Aunt Karen!

The girls were also happy to celebrate their birthdays and received many wonderful presents from their Timmerman Aunts.  They loved their gifts so much, they slept with them next to their beds that night.

This was our fourth Easter with Lucy and our third Easter with Emma.  Celebrating with my children has helped me to take pause and delve deeper into the true meaning of the day in order to best represent it to Lucy and Emma.  It is both challenging and amazing to me as I figure out how to explain every detail of each tradition in as basic a way as possible.  This has made the day more meaningful for me as I now experience it through the eyes of my children, my greatest hopes on earth!

I wish you a Hope-Filled Easter!