I’m just popping in to share some some memories from our recent Easter celebration. I’m so grateful that God tempered the weather. Just the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before we had snow all day everyday. It felt like always a Narnian winter, never spring, with 6 inches of snow on the grass and the trees looking picture-perfect for a Christmas greeting card, covered with fluffy whiteness. I prayed that it would all melt in time for an Easter egg hunt and I got a yes answer. Yay!!! It’s a little thing, I know, but I am so grateful. Last year we had too little snow and this year we’ve received more than enough. We’re all ready to be done with winter, even my snow-loving 13-year-old.

The above image is from the cover of a little book a friend in my neighborhood dropped by with some Easter treats. It’s a book by Elder Neil L. Andersen. I love this quote from it:

“His life is the life that gives every person born on earth the gifts that open the doors to everlasting life in the presence of God.”

I didn’t do as much for Easter this year as I sometimes do. My children are past the age where they really enjoy dyeing eggs so we didn’t do that. I’ll probably do it next year with the grands, as my daughter and son-in-law are moving to live close to us this summer. Yaaaayyyy! I finally get to have grandchildren living close by.

I spent a lot of my time of Holy Week listening to YouTube videos about Easter. This one below was my favorite:

Saturday night we went to my friend Katie’s home and had an Easter Singalong. We sang a lot of songs I have collected for Easter. I played the piano and sang with the others. It was so delightful. (See the April section of my Family Devotionals ebook for these songs. Here are my favorites of all of these:

–“Gethsemane” by Melanie Hoffmann

–“Jesus is My Shepherd”

–“The Miracle” by Shawna Belt Edwards

Photo Credit: deseretbook.com

I didn’t set up my Immaneul Wreath until Sunday so we crammed going through all the names of Christ in one night. We read the scripture, lit the candle, and talked about how we see Jesus show up in our life in that role. It was so wonderful to have my recently returned missionary son be there to do it with us. He got to report on his mission that morning at church, which made Easter Sunday extra special. He shared how the grace of Jesus can change all of us. He told the story of a grumpy old man in his mission who was changed by Jesus as he learned of him and got baptized. I am delighted to know that my son spent the last month of his mission memorizing the Living Christ proclamation.

We got to sing this song as part of our Easter Sunday morning church service, “There is No Other Name” by Lynn S. Lund. This song is so beautiful! The song keeps repeating in my mind, “Only He is able, to make men holy…” I definitely felt the Holy Spirit welling up in my heart filling it to overflowing. It is such a movingly, touching, achingly tender song. Tears came to my eyes as I sang. There’s nothing like singing praises to Jesus with a group of people, singing different parts but all in harmony. It is so amazing! I am so grateful that we can meet as a church choir, post-plandemic. I get to have a former professional opera singer as our church choir director. This is so terrific!

I found my Resurrection story eggs that have little tokens in them with scriptures to tell the Easter story. I had forgotten that I have them all in robin’s egg blue color, in a ziploc bag, until I went looking for them. We had an Easter egg hunt for eggs filled with candy and then read the scriptures from the eggs that night, after having a bountiful dinner with my extended family at my sister’s home, 30 minutes away.

Image Credit: Unshaken YouTube Channel

It was such a beautiful Easter! The week before, we had a great prelude to Easter, when my missionary son came home, along with two of his brothers. So we get to be with them all for General Conference. It was a great family reunion. We were just missing my daughter and her little family, who had visited two weeks before. Soon we will all be together for my firstborn’s wedding, the end of May. I am so grateful that because of Jesus, we all have something to look forward to. Truly, He is Risen!