He Lives! He Lives! (Christ Jesus lives today)

Jack is a sponge. Now that he's older, I've been feeling the pressure (from myself) to really make it clear what the different holidays are all about. A few of you sent me some wonderful ideas about Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thank you! For some reason, I was nervous to take a shot at the meaning of Easter. I didn't want to scare Jack with the death on the cross/raising Jesus from the dead part. You know, the central meaning of Easter--and Christianity for that matter.

But God answers prayer. On Good Friday, they were talking about the day on the morning news, so I decided to just dive right in. After a quick explanation of Good Friday, Jack said, "Jesus died for you and me? And for daddy because he loves us? Oh, I can't believe it! Jesus is my sweetie." His response was so genuine that my eyes got misty.

After a very full day of running around town, Jack opened his Easter card from Grandma Dolly, and she generously included 10.00 for Jack. He said, "mom, money for my future!" ;-) We used the money to buy the book pictured above. We had gone to Schuler's bookstore that day, to play with their train table and read, and this book caught my eye. It's great! It's probably written for a child a bit older than Jack, but he still understands, and it should last us for the years ahead. It starts with the birth of Jesus and goes through his resurrection.

We drove up north for Easter because my aunt Marybeth was coming to town. After being there for 20 minutes, Jack proclaimed to all the adults that, "Jesus died for you and me because he loves us!"

Saturday morning, when Mary asked to look at Jack's book, he said, "Sure! Do you want to learn about Jesus?"

Jack was up bright and early to find his Easter basket. He made out pretty well, with 2 books, a movie, and Easter eggs filled with hot wheels! (oh yeah, and a small amount of candy) I think his favorite was the Bernstein Bear's and The Truth. He carried it around for the rest of the day asking people to read it and memorizing the pages!

We went to the United Methodist Church in alpena, solely for my Grandma's sake, and probably never again. It just wasn't for us. Jack did enjoy going to Sunday school with the "big kids." The teacher told us that when they were talking about the tomb, Jack said "the tomb is for everyone."

On the way back to GR, Jack told us he learned and Easter prayer. "la le lu la. la le lu la. la le lu la. la le lu la." This went on and on. ;-)

What Easter traditions do you do with your family? Or did you do growing up? I don't have any pictures of Jack in his Easter apparel, because like the scattered mommy I am, I forgot our camera and my dad doesn't know how to email pictures. Next time!