Good Friday: Kaylie had 2 of her friends over for the day and we painting eggs, played at the park and went for a walk - we are really loving this Spring weather! That evening we had a Good Friday service that I was able to go to with my friend Kim, while Jeremy stayed home with the kids and finished packing for his Saturday departure.
Saturday morning, after getting Jeremy on his 5:58 am train, the kids and I went to our friends Angela and Jeroen's first (annual?) Easter egg hunt and brunch. The kids had a great time playing with the other kids, including egg on spoon races and pin the tail on the bunny. I met some great new friends, and was able to catch up with others.
Saturday evening we had the youth cell here at our house and they played a fun Easter guessing game and then had a good discussion about why Jesus had to be a blood sacrifice and die for us so that we could be reconciled with God.
Sunday morning the kids woke up eager to find the Easter eggs that I had hidden downstairs. Kaylie's teacher had told her that the Easter Bunny does not come to Holland and that the parents hide the eggs. I told her it was a good thing she told us, because otherwise, we would have been disappointed that morning to find that he hadn't come, and luckily I could do it since I knew now that the Easter Bunny can not hop this far - he doesn't have a sleigh that flies to the whole world like Santa :)
They had a ton of fun finding the eggs, and then dressed and went to our Dutch Church for service and a finger foods potluck snack afterwards. The service was very good and our guest speaker really caught my attention when he compared Truths with parts of the Lion King movie. He pointed out that Simba, the lion cub, had been convinced by the evil Scar that he had done wrong, and so had left, finding what could be considered a "good" life in different place. But that even there, where things seemed good, he could not shake who he was or what his destiny should be. He was the child of the King. He was challenged, by a monkey friend ( I know some of you have these friends in your life :), and was told, "Remember who you are" and encouraged him to return to where he should be to reclaim his destiny. In the end, he triumphs over the evil Scar and fulfills his role. So we were challenged, to never forget who we are and the destiny that comes from being a child of the King and how that is given with the sacrifice of Jesus. Are you a child of the King? Are you living it? 
In the evening, we went to the English church for their service, but only after we hid and found the eggs a few more times! Luckily, K and Keir have decided that it's fun to hide them for each other. At least, until on Keirics turn to hide them, he dumped them all into 1 bush - K didn't think that was fair :)
Here in Holland, Easter is a 2 day holiday and they have 1st Easter Day and 2nd Easter Day. This morning, on Easter Monday, the English church held a Easter Egg hunt and lunch with a special children's message from our friends Tagg and Susan (fellow GEMers). Susan interviewed "the rock" that was in front of Jesus' tomb and he had a very interesting story to tell. The kids loved it, and I was very entertained too! They used the verse that says, even if no one praises God - the rocks will cry out, and that when you meet Jesus it changes your life.
Though it was hard to be away from family during this time - Easter is my favorite holiday - It was wonderful to celebrate spring, new life and Resurrection with friends.
1 comment:
Kaylie is making a Heather face in the picture with the little red head girl. It's cute!
Can't wait to see you all in real life in 5 days!
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