Yearn for Surrender: Jesus Is Risen (Week 4)

This year's Easter Sunday was on April 12th. It was unlike any Easter's we have known. For a ministry family, days like Easter and Christmas Eve are quite busy. This year was very different.

I was the first one out of bed as I took a 6:00am walk with Charissa. The two of us wouldn't dream of a walk on an Easter morning in normal circumstances. It was such a cool way to start the day.

The first picture was actually taken the day before Easter. I was peeling the potatoes for the big Easter meal and found this wild one. We just had to take a pic because it sort of looked like a cross and a tomb and seemed fitting for the weekend.

Our Holy Week potato!

Another unique start to the day was a text Brandon received that our sweet neighbors were dropping of egg bake for him! We were all missing the church Easter breakfast, and it was very special that Brandon still was able to experience the tasty egg bake.

Beautiful!

As I was eating breakfast I was talking with Brandon about how nice and relaxing it was to already have the service recorded and to just be able to enjoy it as a family. He then told me that he was actually more nervous than ever. If technology didn't work, the whole service wouldn't be accessible. Suddenly my tummy started to turn too. We were both praying and everything ended up going perfectly!

We decided to dress up for church since it is a special day. A friend had given me this dress to wear for Easter and T had a new to her dress too.

Ready for church from home!

The service was so lovely. The music, the videos, the skit and the message. It was so special. It was made even more special knowing that our friends and family from all around the country were watching with us. I got choked up while singing quite a bit of the time.

After church we took a few pictures before we put back on regular clothes.

He is getting taller.

Our family!

A fun shot!

After the shot above T insisted that we go around the circle kissing the cheeks of the person to our right and then to our left. Such a sweet thing to do.

After we changed out of our church clothes I did some food prep and the kids and Brandon played some wrestling games. Once I had things in the oven, I hid the first round of eggs. I only hid 12 eggs. They all contained sour patch bunnies. M searched for the purple and the green and T for the pink/orange/yellow. Apparently, I did a pretty good job hiding them because it took much longer than you would imagine to find the eggs, especially since they were all in one room!

The eggs!

M and T: Mom did a good job and it took a long time!

It was fun to watch them search. It was sad to learn that M doesn't like that kind of candy, but he was happy to take a couple quarters in exchange for the candy. Brandon was happy to eat the candy, so it was a win/win situation.

After the first egg hunt I did more food prep and the kids wrestled and Brandon took quite a hit in the jaw.

And that was the end of that game...

Finally it was time to carve the ham. It was then that I realized I have never carved a ham. Thankfully, youtube came through with a video. Brandon said, "I think she has our ham" as we watched the video!

Learning to carve a ham shank.

M really wanted to have a turn at carving, so we let him cut a couple of pieces.

M: I felt very grown up.

As I write this post we are on the verge of a major pork shortage in our country. Sadly many animals will have to be destroyed with their meat unused. Many processing plants have had to close due to major COVID-19 outbreaks. Pigs grow quickly and there is no where to take them. It is a sad situation indeed. I guess that makes this ham even more special.

We wanted to take a pic of our family before eating. T insisted on holding up her napkins. I searched for Easter ones we had on hand and found extra cake napkins from T's Birthday so put them on white ones. T thought it was so special that she needed to display it.

A tasty meal!

I am not sure what side dishes are customary for Easter, but we sort of did a Thanksgiving/Easter hybrid. We did bacon roasted brussels and sweet potato casserole along with potatoes and gravy and ham. I considered more sides, but we are in a season of not having everything at one meal to spread out the fruits etc so we settled for these things and it was a very tasty meal.

Not typical, but delicious.

After dinner we said hello to my grandma. She was celebrating the day alone. The kids only talked for a minute and then biked with Brandon while I finished the conversation.

When they returned we FaceTimed with my family. We enjoyed talking with them and hearing about their day.

So thankful we were able to see them!

The weather at their house was not Spring-like at all. They were getting six inches of snow! If you remember, they had major snow at Thanksgiving too. The pics were lovely, but I was glad we didn't get the storm in our area.

Not good egg hunting weather at their house.

It looks like a lovely winter day.

After talking with my family we talked with Brandon's family. They had drive-in style church. Tom is preaching in the back of the truck. It worked well and allowed the church family to see each other.

A different kind of Easter! (and different weather than in MN)

While I was cleaning up in the kitchen, Brandon and the kids played a brain challenge game for the first time.

Making memories.

Finally it was time for the scavenger hunt I created while they were biking the day before. They all hid in the bathroom while I distributed the clues. Sadly, I forgot I needed to hide a clue in the bathroom, but I managed without them knowing.

Here are the clues and baskets before I hid them.

The kids were given 15 clues that led all over the house. Besides just searching for the next clue, they were given challenges at different stages, like Amazing Race. At one stop they had to make a cross and an empty tomb out of Magnatiles.

I can tell what they are. The blue Magnatile is the stone.

They also had to make a marble tower.

The kids took turns reading the clues.

They worked well together on the tower.

Other challenges included looking up and reading a Scripture passage and doing some crunches/pushups. Finally they received a final clue which led them to the basement where their treat baskets were set up. They were excited about the treats, but VERY excited about the new 1000 piece puzzle! We all loved the scavenger hunt and were thankful that it wasn't over too quickly.

M and T: We got juice boxes, animal crackers, oreos, fruit snacks, and a puzzle!!!

Later in the afternoon we hid the Resurrection Eggs. I am glad the kids still like finding these eggs and talking about the meanings inside each of them.

M: I remember doing these at a little boy.

When T was finished with dinner she decided to make her own scavenger hunt. She hid clues and we did a search around the house. It was a fun way to end a very good day!