Tuesday, April 2, 2013

He Did That For Me ...

Easter.
 
Yea, Easter is kind of a big deal around here. 
 


 

Not the whole bunny thing or dyeing eggs thing.
 
The Real Thing. 

 
The Sunday before Easter our church always take Communion. Kollin has participated a couple times before and understands the meaning behind the cracker and grape juice. Travis and I have never sugar coated Calvary, we want our children to truly understand the sacrifice that Christ made for our sins. We want them to understand that without the cross, the Bible would not be true and Christ could have never resurrected and fulfilled God's plan. 
 
As we held our small cups of juice and crackers, I leaned in to talk to Kolt. I knew Kollin understood and being this was Kolt's first time, I really wanted him to understand the seriousness behind what we were doing. We all drank, ate and began to sing Amazing Grace. I was enveloped in God's presence - thanking Him for His many blessings when I felt Kollin's arms wrap around my legs. I looked down just as he looked up and tears were streaming down his face. 
 
I sat down on the pew as he stood next to me sobbing. I asked him why he was crying and so passionately he said, "He did that for me. He did that for me Mommy. Jesus died for me." 
 
(Queue me losing all composure)
 
As I stood there in awe looking at my six year old who truly understood what some adults don't even get ... I was astounded. 
 
He gets it. 
 
Kollin began to look all around us at the other people in our service. "He did that for her. And her. And Brother Ritchie, Mommy. And you. And Daddy. And Kolt."
 
Astounded. Amazed. Grateful. Blessed.
 
He gets it. 
 
After service, Kollin and I were walking through the foyer when he said, "I'm ready."
"Ready for what?" I asked. 
"I'm ready to be baptized."
 
As I wrote his name down on the list to be baptized April 7th, I beamed with pride. I am so excited for Kollin to experience this as a child - to feel the wave of being washed in His spirit. T minus 6 days (and counting).
 
So yea. My oldest kids understand the true meaning behind Easter. We still do the egg hunting and baskets from Mommy and Daddy, but we never forget to read the Easter story to them too. And not to mention it's like dress-up day for me, it's the one day my boys actually let me put ties on them without complaining about it. We enjoyed a great service and lunch with our family and friends we consider family :) 

By the way, if you're not comfy - you'd better get comfy ... here comes loads of pictures from our Easter weekend :)

First comes the Annual Egg Hunt at our church ...



Egg hunts are serious stuff people!!
 
Not gonna lie, this was one of my faves from the whole weekend :)
It's Nichols' family tradition: every Easter at the Annual Egg Hunt you sit in front of the brick and smile. Yea, yea - laugh all you want at my attempts for four smiles.
 
 

Kohen and our fabulous babysitter Stephanie
 
 
Three prize eggs later,we left with one blue bunny and two pink ones: meet Hoppy, Carrot and Peter Rabbit (all named after their owners without any adult supervision).

Next comes Easter Day :)
 
Couldn't leave out Sofie, our dog




 
 
All this suff and what does he go after first? The dog's toy!

 

 Kolt's Sunday School class sang a song in front of the church :) Melted my heart ...



Kollin and a group of the older kids played a song with bells, it was pretty cool to watch! Kollin stayed right on target with each of his turns, they did great!

 
Bring in more laughter at yet another Easter photo attempt ... boys!


This is life with four boys



Ready for another egg hunt, this time there was cash on the line thanks to Coach Petro





 
Part of our family that came over for Easter dinner

Got to love the kids eating on the porch
 
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ Then they remembered his words.
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
Luke 24:1-12
 


1 comment:

  1. I love their ties. :) Also love how you tried so many times to get a picture of all them smiling lol.

    ReplyDelete