We had such a busy Easter season leading up to the holiday since we were involved in our church's ALIVE drama that I was a little worried the day of was going to be hectic as well. The play we were in had a performance Friday evening and 2 on Saturday, so we were at church all day Saturday which didn't leave me with a whole lot of time to prepare the things we were supposed to bring to our family get together's, prepare our church clothes, and stuff the girls Easter baskets. Not to mention try to keep our house somewhat in order from all of our running around.

Mark and I were up late Saturday night after we got home getting everything together. I did indulge in some late night brownie batter spoon licking to help keep me energized. : ) I planned to get up early the next morning too so I could shower and get myself ready for church before we did breakfast and Easter baskets. Usually Sunday morning breakfasts are quick and easy, but on special occasions I like to make time to eat a fun, memorable breakfast. (These came out of a can, so memorable can still be easy!)



Anyways, I snoozed my alarm clock and woke up an hour later than planned! Ugh! I'm really thankful God got a hold me of me in the shower in the middle of my grogginess, and changed my pouting about the morning being off to a bad start to remembering the importance of the day. A less than stellar house, or breakfast, or even time to do my hair just right {cause you know, Easter pictures!} was absolutely NOT what we were celebrating today. Thank you Jesus for that grace that kicked me in the pants!  I let go of some things, prepared my heart to worship a RISEN king and enjoyed my little family. We even had time to do a surprise Easter Egg hunt that one of our neighbors left in our yard the night before for the girls!



I've said it before and I'll say it every year, Easter Sunday at church is my favorite. The excited celebration is something I wish I could carry every week of the year. We celebrated at church with family, spent lunch and the early afternoon at my parents house and then went to Mark's parents that evening. We colored eggs, did an Easter egg hunt for the girls {and one for the adults with a few $20 bills hidden around! Thanks mom and dad!} and shared delicious food.


That night when we got home we finished our Holy Week readings and calendar with Reaghan. I'm so glad we did this with her this year. She retained so much information about the weeks events and even still will hear songs on the radio like "Come to the Table" and will tell me... "Mom! this is the song about Jesus when he washed his disciples feet and said 'this is my body' and 'this is my blood!'" I'm always amazed at how much she actually remembers! It's motivation for me to keep feeding her growing mind and spirit and conviction to keep me praying for the wisdom and grace to show my girls their need for a Savior and their mom's need for Him too. The weight of that feels heavy sometimes, I'm so afraid I'll mess it up! But that's kind of the thing isn't it? It's not all on me and His strength is made perfect in my weaknesses thanks to the cross! Thanks to the resurrection! Happy Easter!

Happy Palm Sunday! We are having a lot of fun this Easter season so far! Our church is putting on an Easter drama portraying the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus and we are participating as a family. Mark is playing the drums for the live band and the girls and I are participating in the crowd scenes.

In the recent months God has pressed upon my heart to begin preparing for conversations about salvation with Reaghan. She is only 3 and I know her understanding of sin and salvation are limited, but even so, I've been looking for resources and tips on explaining salvation to her. I am so glad that God began preparing me before I knew why! He knew what was coming in Reaghan's heart because she has expressed a lot of questions and thoughts the last several weeks since we've been practicing for the play... "Why is Jesus on the cross?" "Why are they hurting him?" "That makes me sad." "I wish he was okay." "How will Jesus come out of the tomb if the rock is there?"  These have lead to sweet discussions introducing my girl to the concept of Salvation through Jesus' death and resurrection.

To keep her thoughts turned towards Jesus this week we decided to add something interactive during our nightly bible reading. We usually read out of the Jesus Storybook bible during our morning "school" routine and another children's bible in the evenings, but I found a Holy Week reading schedule using the Jesus Storybook Bible from Erin over at Home with the Boys so we are going to use that for our nightly family bible readings this week. We made a Holy Week calendar to go with it so after each reading Reaghan can glue paper cut outs or draw a picture that corresponds with the event in the story. I'm totally being lazy right now and just snapped a picture of it while sitting on the couch writing this post, but here it as after our first reading tonight! (I found the original inspiration here from pinterest... this blogger is longer blogging but her site is still up for reference.)


Reaghan loved it and is anticipating how we will fill each square. I love that when I showed her the biggest square for Easter and asked her if she remembered what happened on that day she answered, "That's when Jesus comes alive again!" We are going to keep it on our fireplace this week so it is front and center!

I have a lot of Easter Printables saved on my Pinterest Board for Reaghan to color and complete this week during our school hour to help build her anticipation for Easter. I love using Pinterest as a resource for these types of things! I really want to cultivate a spirit of excitement for Easter in our home that is similar to that at Christmas time!

How do you celebrate Holy Week? I'd love more ideas!

3 weeks ago we celebrated Easter Sunday, one of my favorite Sundays of the whole year! I always look forward to the renewed excitement the church feels as we celebrate the resurrection and anticipate the Saviors return. I mean, we carry this with us throughout the year, but the expression of it on Easter always makes Heaven seem a little closer.

I was afraid we weren't going to make it to church Easter morning because Reaghan got sick in the middle of the night and woke up in a mess of her own throw up. I had a feeling it was just from the treats she had eaten at her Grammie and PopPops {we had spent all day Saturday there} but I wanted to be sure it wasn't anything more. Thankfully after I got her all washed up and back in bed with Mark and I she was fine and never showed another sign of feeling bad. We skipped Sunday school  to give her time to make sure her breakfast was going to stay down just in case so I got to enjoy a lazy morning in bed with all my favorite people before getting up to get ready.




Of course I bought the girls matching dresses... Lilly is pretty much a pro at timing her spitting up to right after I get her dressed and/or prop her up for a picture... thus the wet mark on the front of her sweater ; )

Easter Sunday is just my favorite. Everyone comes to church energized by the empty tomb and the promise that it gives us. The excitement in the atmosphere is tangible. The ability to face tomorrow, no matter the circumstances, all because He lives! Yes, this is the promise we cling to all year round, I just wish I was better at carrying that same excitement about the resurrection of Christ thats felt on Easter, throughout the rest of the year.

On Saturday our church's children's ministry held an Easter egg hunt. It was inside because of the chilly and windy weather, but it was a fun time. Reaghan was not a fan of the singing puppet show, but enjoyed the egg hunt!

 At first I wasn't sure if I was going to do an Easter basket for Reaghan{see the end of this post}... Obviously she's way too young to enjoy some Reese's peanut butter eggs (my personal favorite) and while she definitely know when she gets a new toy, I knew putting a basket together would be more for me than for her.

But... she did actually need some new outfits since she is outgrowing most of whats in her closet and she could really use some new toys... So I decided to go for it! But what exactly do you put in a 6 months old Easter basket??? I'll share what we put together!

• Pacifiers
• Bows/Bow ties
• Bibs
• Beach toys
• Beach Towel
• Bathing Suit
• Baby foods
• Stuffed animals

{I certainly haven't forgotten my Easter Post from a couple of years ago. I'm no less irritated by the Easter bunny this year than in years past, but as I mentioned then, we are going to enjoy celebrating Easter with baskets and eggs just as we celebrate Christmas with gifts. But we will keep the true reason for the celebration the focus above all else. Tonight I read with Reaghan the story of the cross and resurrection from her Jesus Storybook Bible at bedtime (a shortened version ;)) and this is something I plan to continue to do with her on Easter's Eve!}

So often in today's society it's difficult to find things that celebrate the true meaning of Christian Holidays. Easter isn't any different. This week at work, as I was looking forward to Easter, I would ask my patients and co-workers if their family did anything special to celebrate Easter. Many would respond that they have family get togethers and dinners but very few included that they would be celebrating at a church. I was shocked at how many celebrate Easter with no real understanding of the holiday. Maybe shocked is too strong of a word, after all, many celebrate Christmas without celebrating the birth of Christ, so why would Easter be any different? But I guess I assumed Easter was different. Isn't so obviously a religious holiday, a time celebrating the resurrection of our Savior?

Unfortunately it gets buried underneath the commercialized Easter bunny, Easter Eggs, Pretty baskets and Easter Egg hunts. I suppose if you didn't come from a Judeo-Christian background you could justify setting aside a day to go a long with those Easter festivities. But as I consider what this young Poindexter family's holiday traditions will be, I am torn between wanting to avoid any secular aspect of Easter and allowing some fun popular traditions. I struggle with this same concept during Christmas. I find myself severely irritated with Santa Clause during Christmas and even MORE irritated with the Easter bunny during the Easter holiday.

As a Christian is it okay to allow some popular Easter traditions such as the Easter basket and Easter egg hunts into your Easter celebration? I mean, my parents always filled Easter baskets for myself and my siblings, we always had Easter egg hunts and usually dyed Easter eggs for fun on Sunday afternoon. I know doing those things never took away from the true meaning of the holiday in my family, and we never for one second believed that the Easter bunny (or Santa Clause for that matter) were even remotely real. But I am so afraid that I will do a poor job of getting that across to my future children. I want so very badly to raise children that will truly give their hearts to Christ and I know it will be Mark and I's responsibility to lead them in that direction. On the other end of the spectrum, I don't want to be legalistic and make my children bitter towards Christian holidays because they don't get to enjoy many of the same things their friends might be enjoying. How do you give them the true joy of the holiday, allowing it to be fun with family memories, but never taking away from the meaning of the celebration???



Am I crazy for even thinking about this right now? We don't even have a baby on the way and I'm already concerned about this. Is it too early to even worry about it???

Well, worry about I do. Concerned about it, I am. (Some how Yoda is making an appearance all of a sudden...???)  Anyways! Mark and I decided that for now we will plan to allow our kids to have Easter baskets and most likely engage in some Easter egg hunting/dyeing activities, but incorporate the true meaning of the season even more than we allow the secular aspects. And to ensure that our children know the difference between truth and fictional characters.



Here are some cute and fun activities I found that could be a good idea to refer back to when it does come time to celebrate Easter with some young ones one day.