easter

it was a nice and busy easter this year. in sunday school, the lesson was on moses parting the red sea. so after justin did an awesome job teaching, the kids had snack and i got to do an acitivity with them comparing and contrasting the red sea story with the easter story. it was soooooo cool to here the similiarities they came up with! they made the connection of the blood that was painted over the doors during passover and Jesus shedding his blood on the cross. they observed how the Isrealites had to trust in God to get them across the red sea while Pharaoh's army was chasing them, and Jesus had to trust God and His plan while He was on the cross. God saved the Isrealites and God saves us through Jesus' death and resurrection. and my favorite was when a boy named noah said he knew something that was different about the two stories: that God split the red sea, but didn't split anything on the cross...but then the class and i talked through it and came to the awesome conclusion (with kids' hands flying up in the air as we talked it through more)...that God did split something while Jesus was on the cross. when Jesus died, the temple curtain was split in half, showing that we now need no mediator between us and God. it was awesome to draw that conclusion with them and see noah light up because it was his thought that got it all rolling. i truly felt privileged to be part of that activity and witness these little ones thinking so hard and drawing conclusions about God first hand.

after church, we spent time hunting eggs and hanging out with justin's family. then we headed to my mom's for dinner with my family. it was hard to believe this was elise's second easter already...last year she was so tiny and so unaware. this year, we watched her "hunt" (be led by the hand/carried) for eggs, eat candy, pose for pictures with her cousins, and have a little bit more of an idea of what this holiday is like. i look forward to when she's old enough to read her the easter story and have her understand it. i look forward to doing things like resurrection eggs or a resurrection tree. but for this year, she got dressed up (and was very aware that she looked pretty in her dress!), enjoyed time with family, and now enjoys playing with her plastic eggs in the bath tub.