Easter 2010

We had such a wonderful Easter!! It started Saturday night with dying eggs. Tried to take pictures, but they were concentrating soooo hard on their eggs and wouldn't look at me:

I guess you're never too old to dye eggs!! And...you're never too old for an Easter basket filled with goodies. Grandma has always made Easter baskets for the kids, and this year was no exception. When we were at the Hallmark store the other day, my Mom was talking to the lady about Easter baskets. The lady had young grandchildren she was making baskets for. She asked my Mom what ages her grandchildren were, and she was surprised when my Mom answered, "16, 19, and 25". The lady replied, "Oh my, they still want baskets when they're those ages?" OH, YES!!!!

Grandma found these fun bubble wands to put in their baskets, and they were a big hit. The kids were outside for about 20 minutes blowing bubbles:

The last month at our church, we were encouraged to write the name of someone (on a post-it-note) we wanted to pray for and invite to Easter services. Then we posted them on each side of the Auditorium. Each week, during the singing, we could go up there and pray for several names. (Don't mind the guy with the bag over his head. It's our pastor being silly! It's the only picture I could find.)

Well, we were soooooo excited that the people we prayed for and invited came. Our neighbors, Bill and Pam, came with us. Ethan came and his parents came down from Weaverville to come to church with us. We had services at the Redding Convention Center. There were over 3,500 people at the three services. Most importantly, God was there!!! I sang in the choir, and I really enjoyed it. (I'm the third one from the left in the front row.)

Pastor Bill ALWAYS comes up with something spectacular for Easter, and this year was no exception!! He talked about their being a wall between us and God. He tried to break down the wall with various tools (each representing something). "Religion" cannot break down the wall, Morality cannot break down the wall, Good Works cannot break down the wall. Only Christ taking on our sins and dying on the cross is what can break down the wall. He ended up smashing this whole wall and finishing it off with a jack hammer!! You had to be there to really get the whole picture, but IT WAS AWESOME!!!! There were many, many salvation decisions and lots of "seeds" planted!!! Praise the Lord!!!!

After the services, everyone came over to our house for Easter dinner. It was so nice to get to know Ethan's parents and visit with them.