Easter week - Sunday

He is risen!!!!

Easter Sunday...is there any better day?! We started off the day be greeting each other with excitement, shouting 'Hosanna! He is Risen!' The kids loved it and honestly, I loved it too! I felt so good to shout in joy that our Savior has risen. Oh, how I love my Savior :)

The Easter bunny also left treats for the kids Sunday morning, so once they were all up, we gathered to start the hunt. After the hunt, we made breakfast. I found this recipe online for 'Resurection Rolls'. They are brilliant and also delicious. You start with a marshmallow, which represents Jesus. You dip the marshmallow in melted butter and the cinnamon sugar representing the anointing of Jesus' body, then wrap it in Pillsburry cresent rolls, representing the cloths which were wrapped around Jesus body. You put the wraps in the 'seplechure' (the oven) and bake for 15 minutes. The pastry bakes around the marshmallow, making a cave while the marshmallow melts. When finished, you open the pastries and see that Jesus body is gone. The kids LOVED this!! Nola literally screamed 'He is Risen!!!!' when she opened hers. It was the perfect. Then off to church for a beautiful Easter service.

When we gathered before the egg hunt, Nola raised her hand and said 'I love that the Easter bunny came, but Easter isn't really about the Easter bunny. It's about Jesus. Jesus died but He is resurected! And we will be resurected too!'

Mission accomplished.

My testimony burns so strong within me. These accounts, these stories are true! Jesus Christ truly is the Son of God. He lived on this earth and taught us the truth of who we are and what we are to do. I am SO grateful to know Him! To have guidance and direction in my life because of my Lord and Savior. I know that by suffering in the Garedn of Gethsemane, Jesus took on the sins of the world. 

My sins. Your sins. Everyones. 

Oh, how that strengthens me. How it blesses me with respect and humility to my Savior, with courage and conviction to face the sins that do so easily beset me. I can do it, because He did.

This has been the best Easter in my life by far, and I know it's because we were focused on the right thing. May The Lord bless all of us as we turn to Him and search for truth.

Hosanna!!! He is Risen!!!

Easter week - Friday and Saturday

Friday is the day of the Saviors crucifixion.

We kept it brief with the kids, as Nola really struggles with the thought of death. She has had nightmares and moments of intense anxiety, just like her Mama, about Jesus' crucifixion. We have been keeping our focus on the resurection and teaching of the emence joy it will produce. I cannot wait for tomorrow morning!

Saturday has been a day of deep reflection, so I'd like to share my thoughts.

The crucifixion. 

I struggle with this day. I often don't allow myself to go there...to go that place where the emotions are so raw, so real and oh, so intense. I protect myself by keeping my distance, by closing my eyes, sticking my fingers in my ears and whistling a sweet toon to remain ignorant. 

Ignorance is bliss, isn't it? Well actually, no. Truth is bliss, and the truth is that Jesus was tortured by man until He gave up the ghost and left His mortal life. Jesus was innocent before Pontius Pilate, yet He was charged. He was whipped, mocked and spit upon. He carried His own cross to Golgatha, where with He was hung upon. Not only were nails driven through His palms, but also through His wrists. With slashes to His sides and a crown of thorns upon His head, He hung.

Waiting. 

Waiting to fulfill His calling and finish His Fathers work. He certainly was the Son of God, but man, how hard must that have been. We can certainly see that His eternal perspective gave Him the strength He needed to endure, especially when the Father withdrew himself. Even while hanging, all alone, He forgave His accusers, for they knew not what they were doing.

Oh Jesus, I love you. I love you so much. I am so sorry that you had to endure the crucifixion...that you had to suffer. How I wish I could have been there, to help console you in any way. To have held your mother while she watched, to have gazed into your eyes and born unto you the testimony of my soul, to have anointed and wrapped your body and to have helped carried you to the sepulchre. To have waited, patiently and with faith that you would indeed rise again.

Oh Lord, I would have. And Lord, I will now. I will hold my brothers and sisters on earth as they face adversity. I will let my light so shine and share my testimony with the world. I will partake of the holy sacrament worthily and with conviction. I will use my eternal perspective to ensure the 'Golgathas' of my life.

And I will wait, with patient and faith, for when you come again, because I know you will.

I love you. Oh, I love you. Thank you, Dear Lord. Thank you.

Easter week - Thursday

Tonight was special. 

The Thursday before the resurection was the night of the last supper and Jesus going to the garden of Gethsemane.  We started off by watching a bible video of the last supper. We asked the kids why they thought Jesus would wash his disciples feet. Nola was so cute - she  said that the disciples feet were so dirty they couldn't walk anymore, so Jesus served them by cleaning them :) We talked a lot about service and how we are all equal. Then, we took turns washing each others feet. The kids were remarkably reverent while doing it.

After that we had a discussion about the sacrament and then prepared to enter 'Gethsemane'. We had originally planned to go out to the back yard as Gethsemane, however it was rainy so we just pretended the kitchen was the garden. We started downstairs and slowly walked up stairs to the kitchen while singing 'Gethsemane'. Once in the garden, we all knelt in prayer. John said the prayer and said 'Heavenly Father, thankful for this day. Thankful for chicken and pickles. Thankful for Easter week. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.'

After we all hugged and took a deep breath to prepare for tomorrow...the crucifixion.

Easter week - Wednesday

Historians do not know what the Savior did on Wednesday before the resurrection, so we just planned an Easter activity. I had a great object lesson planned, however the kids were a mess. John did not nap, Robbie was aggressive and Nola was emotional. It was a long a trying night at the Walton residence...

Instead of the object lesson, we watched videos of the Savior from lds.org. It actually turned out to be the perfect way to end a hectic evening :)

Easter week - Tuesday

After Jesus' triamphal entry into Jerusalem and cleansing of the temple, Jesus taught the people. Knowing that Jesus was a threat, the Pharisees tried to discredit him while he taught from the Temple Mount. The tried to trick Him through asking challenging and potential contradictory questions, however the Savior answered them all and the accusers only discredited themselves.

Jesus taught the people many parables and I was struggling to find which ones to teach my kids, and then also how to teach them in a way they understood. After reading the accounts a couple times, we decided to stick to the basics. And really, is there anything better or of more worth than the basics?

The Pharisees try to trick Jesus by asking Him what the greatest commandment is. Here is the Saviors response as recorded in Matthew 22:36-40

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

For our activity tonight, we read that account and then discussed these 'great commandments'.  I made each of the kids a paper to remember the commandments that they could put up by their beds.

Tonight was Nola's school spring concert, so the second part of our activity was to put what we learned into action. We each had to show love to our neighbour at the spring concert, then we'd report about it before bed.

Nola was a doll. For her concert, she helped Brooklyn, a disabled girl in her class. Nola LOVES Brooklyn, and it was so sweet to watch her take care of her.

Nola is the last on the left. She is handing Brooklyn her scarf back after Brooklyn threw it on the ground. She did this multiple times through the song :)

Robbie had a bit of a tough time at the beginning of the concert, so we were just trying to keep him entertained. He did, however, stay on his bed and wait for Doug to put John to bed, while Nola and I were still at the concert. He showed his love to his daddy by listening and following his directions.

Doug served Nola by postponing his workout tonight so he could snuggle her to sleep. She has been having some anxiety before bed and she really needed him. Doug sure does love his children!

I sacrificed my workout tonight to go visit a friend. It was lovely to catch up and chat :)

John is still learning :)

Nola and Robbie are really drinking in 'Easter Week'. While discussing our activity tonight, Robbie kept raising his hand and sharing any information he knows about the Savior. 'Jesus was baptized.' 'Jesus died.' 'Jesus is resurrected!' He is learning and it is beautiful to watch. Nola's understanding is starting to deepen. 'Jesus wants me to love everyone, even strangers.' 'Mom, when that lady opened the door for us at the bakery, she was serving us!' 'When you are sad and pray, the Holy Ghost will help you.' Again, absolutely beautiful.

I add my simple testimony to those of my children. Heavenly Father loves us and He wants for us to love others. His Son, Jesus Christ, did live. He lived, died and now lives again, through the resurrection. My heart is filled with gratitude for these teachings. 

Easter week - Monday

Nola was so excited as we started our activity. 'Two family home evenings in one week?!' She exclaimed. 'This is the best week ever!!' Haha. She was even more excited when we explained we will have FHE every night until Easter Sunday. How I love her enthusiasm!

Tonight, we learned about when Jesus went to the temple and cleansed it. We read the scriptural account in Matthew 21 and then talked about the importance of keeping things clean and pure.

For our activity, we cleaned the toys up in the basement and in the toy room. We sang a little song we made up 'cleansing the temple! We're cleansing our temple!' while we cleaned. After the rooms were tidied, we ate a little treat and talked about how our homes and bodies are like temples and why it is important to keep them clean, both physically and spiritually. 

It was another lovely lesson with my lovely little family. 

Easter week - Sunday

Easter is a week away and it has really been on my mind. I want my children to undertand what Easter is really about. Sure, the Easter bunny will come visit our house and we will all eat ourselves silly, however it is about so much more than that. Its actually about the most important thing that has every happened to mankind...the atonement and resurrection of our Savior.

I have found it quite easy to emphasize that Christmas is about Jesus. It's not hard for a child to grasp that Christmas is actually about Jesus' birth. It is, however, more challenging and complex to teach children that Christ took on the sins of the world in the Garden of Gethsemane, and that He was crucified. I have always struggled to teach this to my kids because honestly, it breaks my heart. Especially in the early years of my conversion, I totally blocked out anything to do with the atonement and crucifixion. I just couldn't handle it...I couldn't swallow it. It made me sick to think of those things happening to anyone, let only my Savior, my Redeemer, my best friend. But as the years have passed and my understanding has deepened, I have come to love the story on a very deep, raw and personal level. My kids need to know...they need to know what Jesus did. They need to know why He did it. They need to know how He did it. They need to know who the Savior really was. And I can't teach them that without telling them the story of Easter.

With that, we are celebrating Easter week. We will be reading the scriptures and doing activities to mark each of the 7 days before Jesus was resurrected.

Tonight, we celebrated Jesus' triumphal enterance into Jerusalem. We read the account in Matthew 21, watched a bible video of it, then made 'Hosanna palms' and re-enacted the scene. It was a special way to start out the week - shouting 'Hosanna!!' and welcoming The Lord with love. 

I honestly and truly pray that the Spirirt will enter our homes and hearts this week to help prepare us - all of us - for the celebration of Easter.

Phone favs Feb 2016

Robbie has (finally) started colouring!! Yay!!

John was so cute playin with the dollhouse. He made my heart melt.

Nola and Rob took about 50 pictures on my phone of Robbie holding these tongs. Cool guys.... Haha!

Hi Grandpa!

More takeout :)

Nola getting ready for her party.

Mommy Johnny night! Doug brought Nola and Rob to 'build with dad' night and John was SO sad he couldn't go. He literally stick out his pouty lip, hung his head down and sulked out of the room! Sorry bud, but it was hilarious!! So, we went out for a date to the mall. Edo, a timbit and a ride on the toys at the mall  made him happy :)

Alice!!!!!

A trip to the ER. Poor Nola was SO sick! Luckily, it was just viral, and not menegitis as the dr originally suspected. Poor John caught it too a couple days later. Hopefully Robbie won't catch it!