Easter Weekend

Andrew and I had a great Easter weekend celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We started off the weekend by going to the Good Friday service at church. I loved the reflection and prayer time before communion. My little girl isn’t out of the womb yet, but I’ve been seeing myself as a mother already. After all, I’m already doing my best to care for my little one, prepare for her arrival, and pray for her future. This gave me a new and unique perspective on Jesus’ death on the cross.

I feel I can understand more of what Mary might have been thinking, and what a sacrifice God gave of His only begotten son in a whole new way. I was imagining if I had to give up my little girl for the sake of others how might I feel or how might I react. My first response is “No! You can’t take her! I love her too dearly and there must surely be another way.” But for Jesus there wasn’t another way. Sure He could have stopped it all. He could have used His Godly power to stop the nails from being hammered through Him and into the cross. Heck, He could have made it so He wasn’t betrayed by Judas and arrested for His good and Godly deeds in the first place.

But He didn’t. Jesus knew what God’s ultimate plan was. And He knew that His death was the only thing that could pay for the sins of every single person who has or ever will live. He knew that His pain, suffering, and death on the cross was worth giving us each an individual chance of accepting God’s grace, love, and forgiveness from our sins, and asking Him to be the personal Lord and Savior in each of our lives.

If my little girl had to die for others, for God’s plan, how would I react? How would I feel? I am sure there would be sadness, but I hope I would be filled with peace and joy for her part in God’s plan to reach out to the world to let every person know of His deep love for them and the saving grace He offers. When my dad passed away nearly seven years ago now, that’s how I felt about his death. I was deeply saddened at the loss. My dad couldn’t be at my college graduation, my wedding, and he won’t get to meet dear sweet little Tadpole. But I know my dad touched a lot of people’s lives, and helped people draw closer to God. And I know for a fact that his journey battling cancer, and his death also drew individuals closer to God. For that I am super excited and thrilled that my father could be used in such a way: to help someone reaffirm their faith in God, to help someone else come to Christ, to help someone else turn back to Christ, to help others become curious about who Jesus is and why He did what He did.

I cannot predict exactly how I would react if I was ask or told that Tadpole had to lose her life in order for God’s kingdom to be expanded on earth. But now that I have a child of my own I can understand Mary’s faith in God more. And I can understand God’s love for us more. I am much more thankful and appreciated of it as I realize yet again that none of us deserve what God gives us. That was my new and unique view on Jesus’ sacrifice this Easter.

The rest of the Good Friday service was also wonderful, and I really enjoyed having a private communion with Andrew and one of our pastors.

Saturday we slept in and then cleaned our home and packed more boxes as we waited for lunch time to come around. For lunch we met up with Andrew’s best friend, Mike (he was the best man at our wedding), and finally got to meet his girlfriend, Heather. We had a joyous time soaking up the sun as we ate Panera for a picnic at Carkeek Park. It was fun to relax and chat and talk about our lives and what’s been going on in them, along with meeting and getting to know Heather. 

We went to bed early on Saturday because I did not want to miss Easter breakfast at church or Easter service and I’ve been needing extra sleep recently. I was determined to make it unless Tadpole showed up. We had a most yummy breakfast with church family Sunday morning. I was encouraged by how many people showed they’re anxiously awaiting Tadpole’s arrival with us and praying for us by saying things like “you’re still pregnant,” “so glad you could make it today,” “aww, no baby yet?” “we hope she comes soon! We want to meet her!” It was so encouraging to hear all these comments. ^_^

I had a lot of people comment on how joyful and energized I seemed for being so pregnant too. My response to this is that I have peace about when Tadpole will arrive. I know that she will come when God has deemed her to come, and that it will be the perfect timing for her, Andrew and me. I’m praying that my attitude will remain the same as we wait for her to come, even if she doesn’t come until two weeks from today.

It was great to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection with our church family. I loved the analogy Pastor Craig used for the kids to describe what Jesus has done for us. When he had the kids up on stage with him, he talked about Disneyland. He talked about how the train ride from the parking lot to the park is super cool and fun, and a pretty good place to be, and that it could be compared to life on earth. Our life on earth can seem pretty awesome and we can be content with it, but there is more out there. Talking about entering the park he asked if the kids ever paid for their own ticket or if someone else always paid for it (for those who had gone before). The kids all said someone else paid the price of the ticket to enter Disneyland. Craig then said that’s like how Jesus paid the price (His death on the cross) to make it possible for each of us to enter the gates of heaven. Then he talked about how great Disneyland is, but that heaven is even better than Disneyland! He explained to them that the Bible says that Heaven is better and more than anything we could ever possibly imagine. I loved the analogy! All the kids were able to follow it completely even if they hadn’t been to Disneyland before because they all know so much about it.

After church we had a nice yummy lunch with our friends Jeff and Sherry. We chatted about things we do on Easter, waiting for Tadpole, summer plans, and just enjoyed each others company.

Then Andrew and I went back home, grabbed our Wii games and a few controllers and headed to my sister’s house. My sister, brother-in-law, two nieces and Grandma were there, and we shared a wonderful Easter feast together! We had (in my family’s opinion) the two mandatory food items: Ham as the main course, and green Jell-O with fruit mixed in and topped with mini marshmallows for a side. Plus we had other delicious food. Then we enjoyed family time together just talking and chilling, and then playing Wii games.

After that Heidi, Rick and I had fun hiding Easter eggs throughout the house while Andrew, Sara and Katie took the dogs for a walk. When they came back the lights were out and we gave them each a basket and flashlight to look for the eggs. It was so much fun watching the three of them egg hunt, and the three of them were enjoying the hunt too. 

Waiting for us to let them into the house.

That’s how we spent our Easter weekend. What did you do?