A Beautiful Easter

Easter.  Such a beautiful holiday.  In so many ways. Preparations started Saturday Night.  We watched a movie together - I’m still not sure why my husband is obsessed with the Toy Story movies! - and I did the girls nails and put their hair in curlers.  Someday I might get in trouble for putting this picture on the internet, but its so cute:)  I did not include a picture of their nails since I am the worst nail painter in the world:)  The girls told me that grandma is way better, but they still like it when I will paint theirs:)

Sunday morning was up early to get the salads ready for our family get-together.  I love seeing my extended family on holidays.  Always good food and lots of laughter:)  Anyways, I totally underestimated the time I needed this morning before church.  The one good thing is that I found an Easter dress for the first time in years so at least I didn’t have to choose what outfit to wear:)  Curlers, breakfast, easter dresses, salads and quickly out the door.  Had a wonderful service at church, celebrating with our church family and then our family lunch at my moms.  Easter is beautiful because of the things we do.

But this year I wanted to focus on the beauty of Easter because of Jesus.  I woke up with this in mind, but if you’re a mom as I am, you realize that some of the hardest times to focus on spiritual things is during a major holiday!  It seems so backwards, but the to-do lists can take over.  I woke up at 6:00am and first realized that I had accidentally left the church Easter Lillies in the back of the van for 24 hours.  Thankfully they didn’t look any worse for the wear.  Then it was quickly into the kitchen to do all the food prep and breakfast.  Trying to coordinate everyone getting ready.  Arianna wants her earrings changed at the last minute.  Stressing about the 32 pages of accompaniment I had to play for special music at church and I knew that I had not practiced enough.  Pack the van.  Did we feed the dog?  Bibles, camera, pictures in Easter Dresses, slides at church, play the piano, the list goes on.

So how do you focus on the beauty of Easter?  How do you see the big picture without getting overwhelmed by the details?  For me, it was to take the little moments.  A few quiet minutes reading the chapters of the Easter story.  Praying when I could.  Staying focused on the message instead of thinking of my list.  Taking some time to just say Thank you to the Lord.  All these moments added up to feeling as though I celebrated the beauty of Easter in all the best ways possible.  Such a beautiful day.

Just have to share some pics of my gorgeous kids:)