We had a lovely Easter filled with sunny skies. Saturday we got the final 3 inches of snow needed to crown ourselves as "Snowiest Winter in Anchorage on Record." Now that we have the moniker, can we just have the snow melt, please?

After that gloomy day of snow, we woke up to beautiful sunshine on Easter that served as the perfect metaphor for the change that comes on Easter. He is risen indeed!

We really worked particularly hard this year to instill in the kids that Easter is not Christmas-lite. It can easily become all about eggs and the Easter Bunny and what cool stuff I get in the easter basket. We spent time at home starting on Thursday doing our own mini Holy Week activities. Maundy Thursday we read the story of the Last Supper and had our own family foot washing. Good Friday we read the story of Jesus' arrest and crucifixion. On Saturday we washed an abridged version of "Passion of the Christ." Greg was concerned that it was too violent. It is, don't get me wrong. But we fast forwarded through parts as needed and it was instructive to the kids in terms of preparing them for the meaning of the next day. I figured that if Christopher wants to see the "Hunger Games" and feels old enough to watch that kind of violence, he's old enough to understand this. It wouldn't be right for every child, but it worked for us.

The Easter Bunny this year brought mostly instructive things for the kids' baskets. Cate got an "Action Bible" (moms out there with children of reading age -- this is a GREAT segue way into more grown up bibles. It's the bible in graphic novel format and Cate is LOVING it. Christopher already had one). Christopher got a boys devotional. They also got some books and a bit of candy.

Sunday we headed to church and then out to Palmer for a barbecue with Matt, Brooke, and the kids. Every year we do a special Easter egg hunt. I was in charge of preparations this year. I threw together some eggs (plastic with candy inside) and included one special egg for each that had 2 dollar coins in them. Each child was allowed to find one of the special eggs. It is a joy to watch the cousins play and enjoy each other. As they grow, they are even closer friends and treat each other almost like siblings. A very special Easter!