Cuties...

LOVE THESE GIRLS!

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Easter Weekend...Saturday

We got up Saturday morning and thought we might head to a movie that we really wanted to see in 3D...but when we got online to check on tickets...ALL showings in several theatres were ALL sold out! So, we looked out the window at the gorgeous day and decided to head to an Easter Celebration in a small historic town nearby. It was a glorious day and the weather was AMAZING!

We got there a little early and had time to walk downtown and look in all kinds of stores. We found a precious little bookstore and we spent some time hanging out there. Then...it was time to head outside and get the fun going on!

They had all sorts of outdoor fun things for the kids to do...and both our girls love the hula hoops. Anli kicked off her shoes and got to it in the soft green grass. That just spells spring to me...fresh grass and no shoes!

We went to take some family pictures near some amazing flowers (that I posted the other day) and then it was time for the egg hunt! They had one for the younger kids and another for the older.

Then, we headed to our FAVORITE little Italian Ice place called Rita's for a cool treat...bring on the SUMMER!

He is RISEN!!!!!

"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 into the hands of sinful men, 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 leven 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

How precious that women were the ones to first hear the news and share it with others!!! As I am up before sunrise this morning...I await the moment to tell my girls HE IS RISEN!!! Women were allowed to hear these precious words first and had the honor of telling the disciples. Ladies may we seek to lovingly share of our risen Lord not just today but every day!!!

Also, notice that it was when they "remembered His Words" that they believed and went to tell others!!! Praise Him!!! Ladies, we must be IN His Word and have them written on our hearts in order to remember them! Begin today with time reading and savoring His Word!! They remembered His Words...ah that is the satisfaction of our souls sweet friends. It comforts us in our sorrow, guides us when we are confused and perplexed. It fills us to the FULL...and then allows our cup to overflow.

There us so much more I could share about this passage...like never look for the living among the things of the dead! Jesus came to give us LIFE to the FULL...let's not look for life among acceptance from others, being supermom, money, cute clothes, fabulous houses...those will never lead us to LIFE! Look to The living Lord!!! Oh...this a amazing day to celebrate that we no longer look to the dead sacrifices for life and forgiveness...no...we look to the LIVING Jesus Christ!

And as the girls rise this morning, they will find LIFE in the pots! Beautiful white flowers have replaced the buried seeds. LIFE has burst forth! Our cross is no longer there on our pantry, but replaced with the GOOD NEWS!!! We are celebrating BIG TIMe today in our home:) Tell everyone you see today that HE IS RISEN!

Spring Moments...

Smoothies, Swingin', Swimmin' and Sunshine...

Drink. It. Up!

It is finished...

Seventh Reading

Good Friday

[One candle lit before reading]

This was the darkest day in history. The Son of God himself was killed by people who weren’t satisfied simply to reject him; they couldn’t stand to have him exist. They thought they could put God out of existence.

And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him.

“You stiff-necked people . . . you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

“Hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

[Snuff the last candle. Do not light again until Easter.]

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

(Taken from Mark 15:22-24; Acts 7:51-53; Isaiah 53:4-6)

-By Noel Piper


**Two new posts below**

Thrive!
Frances

Good Friday Activity...

This afternoon we did something new to remember Christ on Good Friday. We took regular clay pots and the girls decorated them with things that reminded them of Good Friday and Easter...

Flowers...

Crown of thorns...

Crosses...

Empty tomb!!

The colors of salvation: Black for sin, red for Jesus' blood, blue for baptism, green for new life, and gold for heaven! Anli did this all on her own...precious!

Then, we talked about how the rock sealed the tomb as they buried Jesus... and then began to fill the pot up with soil to remember how He was buried.

Then, we placed seeds in the pots to think about how the LIFE of the world was buried in the ground...

...then we buried them.

There will be a BIG surprise for the girls on Easter morning as they rise. You'll have to wait and see...

Tonight we blow out our final Lenten light. The Light of the world snuffed out...for a little while. Each night we have been seeing the prophesies, walking though Scripture and waiting anxiously for Jesus' birth and life. But, tonight will be different. It will be somber. It will be weighty. It will be powerful.

Today the sun shone brightly and many of us enjoyed time with family and friends. My day was much the same. It had so many beautiful moments of joy with my family and friends. But, all the while I was keenly aware of what my Jesus was going through. It has been on my mind and in my heart.

Just a little something from my sweet hubby...

**New post below**

Good Reading on Good Friday...

I ordered this book last year and it is amazing! Jay and I read it together each night last year and truly were led to a powerful contemplation of the Cross that impacted me in a profound way. This year, I have been rereading it and am touched in fresh and new ways. It has challenged my thinking on the Cross, sin, and the Resurrection. Powerful.

Here is the description from Crossway.com:

This collection of readings, drawn from the writings and sermons of 25 classic and contemporary theologians and Bible teachers, focuses on the wonder of Christ’s sacrifice.

In a culture where crosses have become little more than decorative accessories and jewelry, how easy it is for even the most well-intended Christian to rush from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday without thoughtfully contemplating the cross and all that it means. Yet we miss out on spiritual riches when we do.

So that we all may linger at the cross during the Lenten season—and stay near it the whole year through—editor Nancy Guthrie has compiled this special anthology. It draws from the works and sermons of classic theologians such as Luther, Edwards, Spurgeon, Ryle, and Augustine, and from leading contemporary communicators such as John Piper, R. C. Sproul, Francis Schaeffer, John MacArthur, Skip Ryan, and Joni Eareckson Tada to help readers enter into an experience of Christ’s passion and anchor their hope in the power of his resurrection.

Each essay in this collection holds to a high view of Scripture and expounds on a particular aspect of the Easter story using the appropriate Scripture passage from the ESV Bible. These readings are sure to prepare people’s hearts for a fresh experience of the cross each and every Easter season.