Happy Easter!

 I am so thankful Jesus came to live as a person whose service and teaching we now can follow. I am so thankful he accepted to horrific cup of crucifixion and death to pay for my salvation so that I can have the hope of Heaven. And I praise him for conquering death and proving He is Lord! Hallelujah!

Our Easter celebration was a little different for us, but still wonderful. Probably the most different part was that I didn’t take a hundred pictures and we didn’t even get one family one! Haha.

On Saturday, we had a lovely brunch, including baked goods from the new Azteca Pan bakery in Colfax, which is owned by one of Sylvia’s classmates and his brother. Jeremy stopped in and picked up a beautiful selection, and everything is so delicious! 

We enjoyed relaxing around the house together, and in the afternoon Carter came over to visit Sylvia. We all had pot roast and enjoyed the evening together as well.

As we were getting ready for bed, Annah shared how exhausted she is with school. Her first couple years of college have not been a good experience, what with Greenville dropping her major and all the yuck that came from that, then all the stress Covid and the political unrest that has added upon transferring to a new school in the middle of it. She has one more month before coming home for the summer. We all have been feeling so sad and emotionally and mentally exhausted these past months. And we are each struggling in our own ways, and it feels so hard to help each other when we are each so down. We need Jesus so much.

Over the past few weeks, we have been attending a different church. There are a lot of reasons, but it has proven to be the best choice for us right now. (Annah hs been attending church with Ryan when they’re home.) We attended at 8am today, and it was a fantastic service and time of worship.

Much of the sermon was around Luke 8 and how Jesus healed in response to faith. The part the spoke to me the most was when the pastor made a parallel of the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years--how exhausted she was, how she had used up all her resources, how excluded and secluded she was made to be--to how we have all been feeling over the past year. Yes. And then, the woman was brave in her faith to fight through a crowd she wasn't supposed to be in to reach out in faith and touch Jesus, believing and knowing He could instantly heal her. Her despair was not the end of her story and it doesn't have to be the end of ours!

I had promised Caeden I'd make him biscuits and gravy after wrestling season was over, and I hadn't gotten around to it--until today.

When we get "bored" around here, we send our family group goofy SnapChat photos and we all laugh.

The girls and I colored Easter eggs today!  We used lemon juice instead of vinegar.  It worked really fast and the colors were pretty and intense.  

Sylvia joined a dozen of her Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp friends today for a Zoom concert.  Each of them played a Bach solo for the others. So many of them are having concerts, recitals, tours, auditions, competitions and lessons canceled right now, I thought it was such a wonderful beautiful way for them to connect and console one another.

Annah practiced her makeup skills this afternoon when she needed a break from school work.  

Easter Sunday

Hallelujah!  Jesus is risen!

We had a beautiful spring day to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior with our church family!

Friends snapped this picture when all five of us happened to be in the same area of the parking lot after baptisms this morning.  We are so blessed.

Good Friday

Sylvia had her friends Isabella, Kaidence, and Jacob over today 

for lunch and to watch The Passion of the Christ.

After enjoying the very intense movie, they decided to play a game to lighten their time together.

Easter Sunday

He is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Our Easter was definitely less than traditional this year, but we were so glad and thankful to celebrate Jesus' resurrection!!!

Caeden and I, in the back row before church began...

It was a very cold children's egg hunt after the service today at about 30 degrees and windy!

The girls and their friends at church

Jeremy had to work all weekend for a big implementation, and I didn't get anything traditional or special planned ahead of time. So, I took the kids to DQ for lunch after church.

We went to Meijer to get a few groceries, and I had the kids pick out their Easter candy themselves.  When we came out of the store, it was snowing!

It snowed all the way home!

And kept snowing...

Annah and Caeden played some Mario Kart.

It snowed all afternoon and evening, and we accumulated about 4 inches!

Seems fitting for an Easter that falls on April Fool's Day!?!?

Happy Easter

He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

We celebrated Easter with our PoC family this morning.  Dave Zaring took some wonderful photos for our photography team, and caught this one while I was having a lovely conversation with Debbie and Nora.  I love our church family so much.

Annah helped in PoC K.I.D.S. this morning, and I played piano.  After church, I asked Jeremy if he would mind taking the kids home, so I could get home and finish cooking lunch.  He said he had a "mission for Caeden," so he'd take them all. When they got home I had mashed potatoes, green beans, and gravy going on the stove.  But!  I wanted a family photo before they changed, so we rushed out the front door and I put my phone on my gorillapod and set the timer.  

This one turned out great--before I got into the picture.

My floating head is in there...ha!  Not quite the picture I was hoping for, but I didn't want lunch to burn on the stove while we were waiting for the 10-second timer!

We all got into our comfy clothes and enjoyed our lunch.  Then we relaxed at home for the rest of the day!  

It turned out that Jeremy had stopped by Meijer with the kids, and the "mission for Caeden" was buying an Xbox!?!  I'm not sure where that idea came from, but here it is...

...I guess this is the Easter basket this year.

It was wonderful to spend Easter Sunday worshipping our risen Savior with our church family, and relaxing at home with our immediate family.  

Happy Easter!

We celebrated the resurrection of our savior, Jesus, with our PoC family on this beautiful Easter Sunday!

We went to the early 7:45 service for those serving at church today.  When Pastor Todd asked us to gather in close, Jeremy had to get as close as possible to Pastor Todd...

After the worship team practiced, the youth band practiced too.

The girls and their friends all looked so pretty today.

Chuck always notices me and my photography team taking photos, so today he asked if he could see my camera for a moment--and he had to take a picture of me, and my buddy Pastor Todd.

Our church is such a great family, and will greet each other for as long as they're given time during the service.

I went back the PoC K.I.D.S. hallway for a few minutes to find the kids doing some awesome Easter activities.

The Pivot youth band finished out the worship service by leading 2 songs. They are talented kids who really love Jesus!

VIDEO: 

I love the one the girls led...Marissa with the opening verse, Sylvia with the second, then Annah...

VIDEO:

Awesome version of an "old hymn..."

Everyone went outside for the Easter egg "hunts."  We had 4 areas for different age groups, and everyone got plenty of eggs and candy!

This was Caeden's last Easter egg hunt.

VIDEO:

I put together this review of the day for our church.

We didn't take the time to pose for a family picture, so we took a family selfie in the car on the way home.

Thank you, Jesus, for dying to pay for our sins! Thank you for your forgiveness!  We celebrate the love and sacrifice and power of Jesus today!

Easter

 I believe Easter is THE most important day of the year.  I love it.  It is a celebration and a wonderful chance to praise Jesus and give Him glory and thanks for dying for my sins and saving me from an eternity in hell.  That's as big a deal as it gets!  Jesus is the meaning of life, and it all comes down to His defeating death and His resurrection, which we celebrate on Easter!

 

I must admit, I have enjoyed the Americanized traditions that come along with Easter too.  When the kids were younger, I loved the excitement they got about coloring and hiding/finding eggs, and I had fun filling their Easter baskets with all kinds of treats. I enjoyed making sure we all had new spring-y clothes and posed for a family picture in our nice new duds at some point during Easter Sunday. 

 

This year, it was a stressful, mad rush to get the kids and I some new clothes because none of us had anything decent that fit.  I filled one basket with candy, and that was plenty. Easter is now a weekend of work for us, and I am not complaining.  It is a joy and a privilege to do the work God has for us!

 

Last night, we all helped with setting up the church.

 

Jeremy, putting up the sanctuary curtains...

 

Installing the cross behind the stage...

The girls helped put response cards together...

 

We had 2 services today, with an egg hunt and a breakfast in between.

Yesterday, I spent an unexpected chunk of the day dealing with technical and administrative tasks that were necessary with adding an additional service.

When it came time to check children in for first service, our wi-fi signal was weak, and our system didn't recognize the additional events I had added for the kids' classes.  Good thing we can still resort to writing things down with paper and pen, huh? 

 

Sylvia helped Jill in the 3-year-old class during 1st service.

 

 

 

Annah helped in the Early Learners class during both services.

 

 

 

I played and sang in the band for both services.

 

Jeremy helped "hide" the eggs for the hunts.

 

 

Caed-bud in K.I.D.S. craft time

 

Ready for the egg gathering to begin...

 

 

Emptying the loot out of their eggs...

Sylvia in 2nd service with friends...

 

K.I.D.S. worship

In the sanctuary, many were commissioned into various ministries.  Recently, PoC has started a small Saturday night worship service, and a campus in Champaign.  Today, several were commissioned as lay pastors to take the weekly message/sermon to others who physically cannot get to church--some are in other states and countries!
22 people were also commissioned (though their names were not made known) as local missionaries who are ministering to others in their communities and striving to live a life of service and mission!

 

 

There were several doors on tables around the room, and each had a few "entered" stamps and sharpies.  These commissioned people stamped and signed the door to signify that they have ENTERED into the mission God has called us to.

 

 

Then, the entire congregation was invited to accept Jesus' call and stamp and sign a door.

 

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

 

Jillian and Annah...They are growing up too quickly!

 

Jeremy helping tear down the sanctuary...

 

 

Blue man group?

 

Church is where our best friends are.

 

There is a LOT of work to be done now!  277 souls ministered to today!

 

 

I have a really talented photography team who took most of the photos for this video I put together of the day.  Our church is SO blessed with the favor of the Lord!  He gets all the glory.