Easter is a favorite at our house. Conrad even likes it better than Christmas. I think it is my second favorite and this year it was really special. We did the usual Easter eggs, Easter egg hunt the Easter bunny visited our house, and had Easter dinner with my parents and Aunt Joyce. My parents put together a hunt the week after, too, and we got to see most of the family, which was fun. All of that was really memorable, as always. But, with the new Come Follow Me curriculum and Emily Belle Freeman's book Celebrating Easter, it was extra special. You can read about that below.
Here are some pics from our Easter weekend:
The spiritual side of Easter week. Each day we studied a person or event that surrounded the Savior and last week of his life. Freeman's book gave me ideas on symbols that would help the kids understand and remember, and as I studied, I picked things from her book and from Come Follow Me to go study together. I wrote it all in my personal journal, so I'm not going to go into great detail on what we did. But, I took a picture of the symbols we used.
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| We planted wheat berries the Sunday before so we could see them sprout within the week. It symbolized the good that can spring forth through our trials. |
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| The branches symbolized the palm branches placed down as the Savior entered Jerusalem the last time. The golden eggs have our testimonies written inside, and I left them in so each of us can read them next year. The red eggs which are hard to see I explained below. The white ribbon was placed on the branches the day we talked about his death and burial and symbolized the linens he was buried in. (probably doesn't make a lot of sense but it did to us. haha) |
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| This is what I boiled for about 20 minutes to get the red dye for the eggs. Yellow onions skins. Crazy right! |
My favorite was the hollowed-out eggs I dyed red. They were gorgeous and helped us remember the bloodshed for us and love the Savior has for each of us. This morning was particularly special, and I think each of the kids was able to feel the spirit. It's hard to explain why it was all so special, but I think it was the feeling in our home, and also, the kids really looked forward to each lesson to see what was next.
As I've tried to gauge what is working and not working with our Come Follow Me lessons, I've asked the kids what they remember most, which experiences were their favorite, and if they've noticed the spirit in any lessons. They all said Easter week was their favorite. I'm grateful we were able to share that together.
I also just have to add that I know when they announced church going to two hours, I was pumped. I imagined how much easier it would be for everyone. I was excited to try the new curriculum because it was hard to come up with lessons for FHE and keep it consistent. The Come Follow Me book had all that time-consuming work done for me. It was all organized, and I had enough weekly lessons to have a little devotional before school each day, and it was going to be reinforced at church. It is simple enough that the older kids can use it to plan a small lesson for us too. How much better can you get?!
Come Follow Me has genuinely been a blessing in our lives. Our home is far from perfect, but I can see more bits of heaven on earth as we strive to follow our prophet and use this curriculum in our home. The spirit is here more, and it's more peaceful. The kids still fight and get on each other's nerves, I still lose my patience, but it seems like it isn't as often as it was. I'm praying that it will continue to strengthen all of us and make our home more of a heaven on earth. I'm also praying that with these lessons, our children's hearts will be converted and know the the plan of our Heavenly Father truly is the way to have joy in this life and eternal life in the next. The Savior is the light and the way home, and that they'll have a desire to take what they know to share its message with anyone ready to hear it.
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