Easter 2011

This year Sam and I got to celebrate Easter with both of our families. I know that this is a daunting task and will only get more difficult when there are kids thrown in the mix, but I am pretty proud of our system right now! :) This year we went to my parents house on Saturday night to have an Easter dinner together because on Easter Sunday everyone was going in a different direction. We had yummy "Reggie Steaks" as Sam calls them with sweet potato fries and some other fixings, but those were the highlights of the night. We played Kinect, looked at old pictures, and got to hang out and enjoy each others company. Well when I say everyone I mean everyone minus one because Moriah didn't come home. She really needs to stop loaning her car out to her friends so she can hang with her awesome fam..but that's just my opinion! :) We stayed as long as we could..this year the Easter bunny wasn't coming around so no one needed to hit the hay early.

We woke up to a rainy, yucky Easter morning, but we didn't let that dampen our spirits. We got started our part of Easter lunch, got ready, and hit the wets streets for church. We had a great Easter service with plenty of worship and celebration of our risen Lord! Thank you Jesus that we can celebrate the hope of life with you!

We had to hit the road as soon as church was over, but we spared 2 seconds to get an Easter picture just in case we didn't get one later.


Emily had to be a part of our family picture too! She's part of the family. She even has her own room at our house. Ask her about it. She loves it!


Sam also thought that we would want to document us dressed up so nice. He never wears a suit, so we had to get evidence that this does occur once every blue moon.


We ran home, got a change of clothes, grabbed our dish, and were on our way again to Sam's mom's house. We all brought some goodies and had a delicious lunch. We are definitely going to have a circus running around when there are more kiddos added to the already rambunctious bunch we have. This year Chris's sister and her husband and daughter got to hang out with us too!

Although the rain did put a damper on the day, we didn't let it get us down. Sam and I went out and hid Easter eggs for the girls to hunt. They enjoyed every second of it. They kept saying, "I found one!" for every single egg they found. It was really cute. Samantha enjoyed getting into everyone's candy once they found all the eggs. I really like her approach: Let the big girls do all the work and then enjoy their candy while they are looking at the neighbors dogs. Smart little girl!

Here are some photos of the afternoon:





Aside of the time with family, the candy devoured, the stomachs stuffed to the brim...The most important thing is that we took time to remember why we have hope that this life on this earth is not the end. The struggles and heartache that we face will only last for awhile, but our hope is in the eternity of life with our Father. Thank you Lord!

One of my favorite songs that I got the chance to hear in concert is by Newsong called "Arise My Love". It brought tears to my eyes as I got the full understanding of the words and meaning of the song. I find joy knowing that these words could be spoken to me one day...

"Arise my Love, Arise my Love, the grave no longer has a hold on you. No more death sting, no more suffering. Arise, Arise my Love."