Easter Giveaway & Blogging Break :-)
If you took part in the Facebook fun of my Spring Cleaning Week of giveaways, hop over to my page to see the winners announced. If you aren’t my FB friend, I’d love for you to be! Just click on the FB icon in my sidebar and send me a friend request!
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Hey bloggy sisters~
I’m posting today, offering an Easter giveaway and then I’m going to take a much-needed blogging break to focus on Holy Week with my family.
I want to slow down and savor the moments. I wasn’t sure if I’d have anyone who wanted to color eggs, but I do have one taker. (Thought I was going to need to grab some neighborhood kids!)
I can’t wait for our church’s resurrection celebration. We are trusting many hear about a new life with Jesus, because of the cross.
When we first began attending this church last spring, attendance was around 350. In one year, we’ve witnessed literally dozens of people decide to follow Christ and be baptized.
Homemakers, skeptical husbands, a woman who was a drug dealer, men addicted to pornography, indifferent middle-agers, sweet grandmas and searching teens. Now we are running over 700 each week and anticipate over 1,000 for Easter since that is how many we had at Christmas!!!
As our lead teaching pastor said yesterday, it is NEVER to be about the numbers but about the fact that many will hear about Jesus, the cross and the resurrection and as a result, lives will be changed for eternity! And what a humbling thought that God uses us as He changes lives—ours included!
And of course, I can’t forget my extended family get-together with all the aunts, uncles and cousins where my mom hosts her annual egg-hunt, now turned trivia contest with other whacky games for the teens that are excuses for her to love on her grandkids and load them up with candy!
Yes, I love Easter week.
I have been blessed with a man who is intentional in creatively teaching his kids about God. We’ve had M & M races, a lesson on the persecuted church given on a cold, hard cement floor in the dark by flashlight, & much more.
This week, our yard sports a large, wooden cross.
Passersby will see a sign change each day announcing just what happened on that particular day of Holy Week. From Palm Sunday (Jesus enters Jerusalem) to Maundy Thursday (Jesus shares the last supper with his 12 closest friends) to the darkness of Good Friday, the silence of Saturday & the glory of Resurrection Sunday.
The signs not only change, but a cloth draping the shoulders of the cross goes from red to black to royal purple. And spot-lights illuminate the scene at night.
I pray you too are being intentional to focus on the glorious unfolding of Holy Week. Don’t take it for granted! Read the accounts in the gospels. Thank God for His wonderful plan!
Now, as an Easter gift to one of you, this week I’ll be giving away the following to one gal who comments:
~ An NIV thinline compact Bible. No better Easter gift than God’s word!!! It is a great, portable size for your purse or car. (pictured out of the box for you to see the color)
~ Some bags of chocolate-hazelnut & Raspberry white tea (all decaf) for you to enjoy hot or cold while you read your new Bible!
~ A fresh linen candle. Because Jesus’ blood makes us clean!
~ A dark chocolate-sea salt bar. (Hey….there is sea salt in the Holy Land, right?)
Okay—so leave us a comment letting us know your favorite Easter memory.
Mine is when our kids were small and we made a paper-mache’ “tomb” scene complete with three crosses. They would use an action-figure guy to be Jesus, wrap him in strips of white cloth, place him in the tomb and voila’—-He wasn’t there on Sunday morning….but their Easter baskets were!
What is your favorite Easter memory from adulthood or childhood?
Lunch at grandma’s after church – there was ALWAYS an angelfood cake with glaze and Peeps stuck all around it, green grass and jelly beans on the plate!
Wow Karen, I LOVE your cross and sign idea! What an amazing testimony to your faith!
My favorite Easter memory happened just last year. My husband was celebrating our second Easter as minister at our current church and to bring the Easter story to life a group of us made a life size paper-mache (sp ?) tomb out of the entrace to our church so everyone walked through the tomb. Just inside we had a bench with a pile of cloth and a crown of thorns to show that Jesus wasn’t there. It really brought the story to life for me.
Dying Easter Eggs….and wearing that brand new Easter Dress and Bonnett and gloves….
Enjoy your much deserved time of Rest……….take him the Holy Spirit…be blessed.
My favorite Easter memory was the year I attended Sunrise Services on the beach in Alameda, CA. It was dark when we got there but as we sang and worshipped the Lord the sun rose and illuminated our day.
Another favorite is from when I still attended the Catholic Church. Every year we went to the Midnight Mass and the priest would light the Easter candle from a spark using a rock and flint. From the Easter candle (which represented Christ) we would spread the flame from candle to candle to everyone at the service. From one little flame the entire church was lit up. That has always been a powerful example to me of why we must witness to others every day.
Hmmm, both my favorite memories involve light.
My favorite Easter memories are how my Mom always got my brother and me a new outfit, down to little white gloves for me. And, going to my Grandmother’s house on the Saturday before Easter for supper….oh, how I wish she was still able to cook Easter and Christmas suppers for us. She will turn 100 years old this year!!! Thanks for letting me enter your precious give-a-way! HOPE you and your family have a blessed Easter!
My favorite Easter was last year. Yes, it was my daughter’s first Easter. She was only 3 1/2 months old, and I just was so thankful that I get to teach her about the Resurrection of our Lord! The excitement of Easter I can hardly stand! From the church breakfast, to worship service and then dinner with family, it is wonderful!! May you have a blessed Easter!
May you and yours have the most blessed Easter yet!
We didn’t have much when I was younger, but my mom worked harder to make sure we had our easter baskets, new ones every year. We would then go to church and started the easter hunt!
those were the days!
My memories are old, getting a new dress and new shoes for Easter Sunday. Always a large basket of goodies, with a large chocolate bunny.
Mine would be when my brother & I were little, the Easter bunny would hide our Easter baskets and we would wake up Easter morning ready for out search adventure! My kids now do the same! I love it!
My favorite Easter memory is getting all dressed up for Easter Sunday church in my dress, white socks, white hat and white patent leather shoes. I always got to carry a small purse that day to church and I thought I was all grown up!
What a great blog entry – thank you – I’m going to try to recreate a Last Supper for our family and read those Scriptures this Thursday. You’ve inspired me. :)
One of my favorite Easter memories is of my three younger brothers and I all dressed up in matching outfits that my grandmother lovingly sewed for us to wear. I felt like a princess wearing her gorgeous dresses. Now I look back and have a different perspective as I realize I AM a princess since I’m a daughter of the King. Precious memories!
Favorite Easter memories.
Dying Easter Eggs.
The early morning egg hunt for my kids that they would do in their pajamas.
Dressing in our new Easter clothes.
The cross craft projects they would make in Sunday school. I’ve kept them all, and put them out at Easter every year.
My favorite easter memory was teaching the sunday school kids the ressurection story through using an empty plastic egg. Then having a fun easter egg hunt after sunday school (with snow on the ground sometimes).
I was 10 when we first started attending church… we had an Easter sunrise service at 6am to celebrate the resurrection. I remember getting goosebumps, thinking about how Mary must have felt at the empty tomb…… Jesus IS risen!
my favorite Easter memory is the one I’m creating now with my 5yo daughter. We are doing our Resurrection Easter Eggs that tell the Easter story. When I ask her what she wants me to read to her, she tells me “The First Easter Story” that is on my Kindle. She gets the meaning of Easter that it isn’t all about the bunny & candy. She knows that Jesus died for our sins & rose from the dead on the third day. So I was thinking of putting a big kids’ bible in her basket. Not the storybook kind (we have those already) but a grown up kids bible. I believe she is ready (even though I will have to read it to her).
nicolepipkin{AT}gmail{DOT}com
My favorite memories of Easter aren’t just of that day but of the whole Easter season leading up to that day. It was so special when I was little because it was so planned for. From having a new outfit (which was a must) from head to toe, to buying the Easter egg dying kit. Whether Mama made the matching dresses for my sister and I or they were bought along with everything else, it was a reminder that everything was new the day of Christs resurrection.
What wonderful blessing your church has experience this year. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Hugs…Tracy :)
cottonpickincute(at)hotmail(dot)com
My favorite memory is from last year when my then 15 month old niece and 28 month old nephew came to my house for their very first Easter Egg Hunt. I had filled plastic eggs with Smarties, gummy snacks, and dollar bills. My husband found Smarties in the yard for weeks after that :) Then next few times my little ones visited after that Easter Sunday they would race to the backyard as soon as they got out of their carseats…..when we would ask where they were going, they would respond “To find eggs!” How exciting the Resurrection Celebration is on Easter Sunday….if we could just hang on to that same excitement week after week….like my little niece and nephew!
Going to church on Resurrection Sunday and worshipping with fellow believers and friends…then the Easter Egg Hunts with the kids…then grandkids…hiding the plastic eggs in more difficult places each year as the kids grew…”you’re getting hotter…getting colder”…so many laughs and good fun…
I can remember getting dressed up in a pretty dress with fancy shoes, frilly socks and a hat, having an Easter egg hunt while my mom cooked breakfast and then our family posing for a family picture before heading out to church to hear the wonderful story of death and resurrection. Then, we’d spend the day with my Nana and Grandpa. I’m trying to pass these traditions on to my kids so they will have great memories to look back on.
I remember waking up early to find Easter baskets, then getting dressed up and going to church. New dresses, new bonnets, and my dad. Dad worked nights, mostly, and almost never came to church, but he was there on Easter Sundays. That was the best part for me.
My favorite Easter memory is going to Sears Roebuck with my nana and buying shiny new red shoes with a white and navy coat. of course gloves, a hat, and a little purse completed the outfit. Then i got to watch her get ready for church and together, on a sunny day we walked to Church all dressed up and i felt like a princess. I remember looking at all the people all dressed up for such a blessed occasion and thinking WOW . I felt so special to be surrounded by so many people singing Hosanna! wooh – just thinking about this again gives me goosebumps. thanks for helping me bring back a very special memory.
When I first completely understood what Resurrection Sunday stood for. That Christ who had died for my sins had risen from the dead and is preparing a home for me in Heaven. Praise God for His love and mercy towards us!
Growing up in a communist country, celebrating Easter was not a popular or common thing. One of my most cherished memories is going to the sunrise prayer service on Easter Sunday with my grandparents. And the white lilies my grandma always bought to decorate the church.
Easter growing up was always a new dress, shoes and a hat for my sisters and I, a new suit for my brother, Easter baskets, church, then an awesome ham dinner at Ma and Papas house(my grandparents) Papa would also buy all his daughters and Ma of course, each their own bouquet of Easter lilies.
Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!!!
Thank you Lord for the promise of Easter :)