Easter weekend - story # 4

Landon and Zach Rathje

    I promise - very last Easter weekend recap.  After a wonderful, no-rush Easter church service, we had a late afternoon and dinner with our friends, the Rathjes and the Robbins.  The Rathjes are a family that took me in when I was at my lowest, and desperate for people to surround me and love me.  And they did. My year or two living with them opened my eyes to how faithful God can be as they showered me, someone they hardly knew, with acceptance and care.
    Now, twelve years later, they still treat me and now Kenny and the kids like family.  And we are grateful.
     While it seems my kids would be plum worn out of egg hunts, we had one more to go. Every year, we all bring a ton of eggs filled with whatever we haven't already eaten and whatever change we can find in our car at the time, and the big kids (which we've decided are the kids in double digits) hide the eggs in the Rathje's perfect egg hunting yard.  Each year, it seems a new baby joins the ranks and hunts with the big kids.    I think I spent most of my picture taking time, watching and snapping photos of these kids because they were just so darn cute and because they stay close to the house holding a grown-up's hand while my kids were off somewhere racing through the trees. 
   I did finally catch up with Lanie, who in true form, cared little for eggs, but instead found a roly-poly.  I wish I could have recorded the simple joy and delight given over to this little creature. You can't see it in the picture, but that's what she's holding.  And in the second picture -  that's not bubble gum she's shaking in her egg, that's her roly-poly in his new home.

  So much better
     than candy.

The Ward Easter stories are complete, and our bonnets and baskets can go back up in the attic.  But I hope the celebration of our risen Lord is part of your every minute, every day, all your days.

He is Risen, Indeed!
    Alleluia, Amen.