An early Easter

It was delightful to get out the Easter decorations!

I was ready for Spring!

Of course, the kids all like THIS one!!  Yummy!!

It is hard to find an Easter decoration that is about the REAL reason for Easter!  

Several years ago, a friend made these.  I had to get one!

You can actually roll the stone and place the figures where you want.

My friend passed away from cancer so it is especially a precious piece. 

See the communion cup?  That is one that I got in Israel.  We had communion at the garden tomb Easter morning 2 years ago.

Our Arkansas kids came for the weekend and so I decided we should celebrate our Easter since they wouldn't be here for that and our other grandkids will be having Easter with their daddy's side of the family.

 We began first of all with the re-telling of the real Easter using symbols.

I have made my own, but you can purchase these too.  Just Google Resurrection Eggs or go to a Christian bookstore and you can get them.

I begin with a flower in the first egg.  "In the beginning, when God created the world, it was perfect!"

2nd egg - "But sin entered the world"  There is a black felt heart in this egg.

3rd egg - a little baby  "God knew He would need to send His own Son to rescue the world"

etc.  I just followed the Easter story and found things to represent the story.  Rope, purple cloth, flat rock, dice, sponge.....

The last egg is empty to represent...

the empty tomb!

We had 2 Easter egg hunts.  In the morning, it was a little chilly, so we had an indoor hunt.

I color coded the eggs.  Each child was assigned a color and there were 10 eggs per child.  This way, if they found another color (Claire's were the easiest, being placed in plain sight, whereas, Hannah's were rather complicated to find!) they were to leave it for the person who had that color.

It warmed up in the afternoon, so we had an outdoor hunt.

(have no idea why the kids drew on their foreheads)

Do others put their eggs in the car handles and on top of the tires?

We were having trouble finding the last egg.

What do you know, 

Claire discovered it first and showed the others where it was.

Guess next year, we will have to hide hers in more difficult places too!

A geography lesson

Last Sunday after church, I made a fast trip to Arkansas.

I arrived in time for a late supper and to read bed-time stories to the children.

On Monday morning, Emeri had school and I hung out with Eli.

He enjoys the game of Life!  

Except we didn't play it the normal way - we just spun the wheel and went that amount of spaces with our cars.  We didn't stop to get married or have babies, get careers, buy houses, etc.  But it was fun.  We played 4 times and he won every time!!  Maybe someday he'll be able to beat his Aunt Mindy playing it the grownup way!

The purpose for this fast trip was to share about Japan to Emeri's first grade class.

They are studying geography and when they were going to study about Japan, I was asked if I would be willing to give some input since I grew up there.

Emeri is in the front row smiling over at someone.

Showing the children how crowded it gets in the train sometimes.

It can get pretty crazy!!

I shared about the different alphabet systems they have and how kanji

(the Chinese method that began with picture drawings) developed.

After my short lesson, I said my good-byes to Emeri and went to Kristin's house. 

 I was going to go beforehand, but I got 

lost.

I'm a Kansas girl.  Look at the roads in Arkansas.

They are squiggly and the miles in Arkansas are MUCH longer than miles in Kansas.

See how nice and square miles are in Kansas?  A mile is a mile.

Nate and Kristin were in our young marrieds group that we led here in Kansas but then they moved to Arkansas.   They live close to the school Em goes to. (unless you get lost!)

I had to see their new little baby Miles that they adopted.  He is just so lovable!!

You can read their story here.

 I wasn't done with visiting.  After good-byes to Kristin and Miles, I wanted to see my Aunt Betty and Uncle Bill.  Aunt Betty is 10 years younger than my daddy.  They live just a few miles off the road on the way back home.  Just across the border in Missouri....in the hicks.  Truly.



I came across a farm that had free-range guinea fowl.  I remember seeing these in Africa.  I didn't even know they had them in America!

This farmer had an out house.

Maybe it was ok that the picture was blurry.

Elvis and some shady lady.

Up a narrow lane and into the boonies and there they were!

 Uncle Bill tells me that they have seen bald eagles, bob cats and even mountain lions.

 Here is a picture of my Dad.  He is the boy with the rifle, and Aunt Betty is the baby.

It was a fast trip, and a long one.  Luckily, I don't mind pulling off to a rest area or gas station for a quick power nap when needed.

A Starbucks helped and seeing a beautiful sunset was great for my heart!  (Yes, I pulled off the road)

I had a laugh when I got home.  There had been an addition to my grocery list. 

 I had written down Pam (the cooking spray).

Clearly my son-in-law's hand-writing!