Eastering

“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told."  Habbakuk 1:5

In a world that seems dark and scary and even  hopeless right now to so many, Jesus sits enthroned on high, the Light of the world, Creator of daffodils and microbes, Ruler of rulers, Redeemer of Nations and Peoples, Orchestrator of all good.  

We need not look far for Hope.  We need not look far for freedom from fear, from pain, from sadness, from sin.  Jesus bore it all and then He conquered it.  What a reason to rejoice.   We have Jesus.  And that changes EVERY SINGLE THING.  Not every single thing 2000 years ago.  Every single thing 2000 years ago and every single thing today...and every day in between and every thing to come.

It changes how we look around us.  It changes how we LIVE.  It changes how we look into the future, free from fear and full of hope.  This Easter, like every other Easter...and every other day- there is reason to REJOICE!  

And so we do... we hope you did too!  Happy Easter!

Pictures from the day:

While the face of this boy is a delight... it would be a shame to miss the incredibly impressive legs dangling down.

He has neither knees NOR ankles- and he is STILL charming.

I spent all day on Saturday cooking food ahead of time which meant that there was time to spare before the actual Easter feast.

Like 5 minutes.

Ever notice how no matter how early you begin preparations, you always work right up until a party?  Yup.

HEY!  No whispering secrets at the table!

Bonus points if the baby color coordinates with the tablecloth.

This little speed demon found all her eggs before I could snap a picture of her hunting!

I did the hunt in rounds- with little children going first, then middles and then the biggles hunting last.  When children found 15 eggs, they checked their spoils and the next group got started.  It worked well because the hardest hidden eggs were left for the biggest kids.

Easter clothes were a sad state of affairs for anyone over the 4 year old age range.  We all just scoured our closets for SOMETHING to wear.  Adele' and I both had a hard time finding something that fit us in our closets.

Adele', because she is growing UP.  Me, because I am growing OUT.

There was a bit of a panic in the morning- and then Corynn passed the blue dress torch down to her sister, saving the day.

I never had a chance to get a family picture- or even one of all the children together- but I did try to get at least one snap of each of the children.  As soon as I pointed the camera at her, Corynn did a silly dance.  And SO...

let this be a lesson to them all.  

Doing a silly dance does not equal no blog photos.

It just equals SILLY blog photos.

(PS.  I love that grin.)

Baby gets extra photos because I just love me vintage baby outfits.  Moses and Ineke both wore vintage clothes bought for a pittance at a flea market and Salvation Army.  Moses' outfit I have since Andrew was a wee one.  It makes me happy to have a new boy to squeeze into those special duds of days gone by.

Also- WHY aren't clothes nowadays so classy?!

 After our meal, I sent these three children off to give an Easter feast and flowers to some neighbors, while I cleaned up the kitchen.  

I love it when bigger brothers hold hands with littler ones.

It is kind of amazing that I got this photo.  Or ANY photo of Moses these days.  And here's why:

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It's hard, people.

A post shared by Rebecca (@thehopesteadhome) on Apr 13, 2020 at 5:42am PDT