Our Blessed Nest: Holy Week.

Christ is Risen!

Today, this Easter day, we celebrated our Jesus' victory over the grave. As we sang in church, "Death has no sting, long live the King!".

Since this day is what separates Christians from the rest of the world, Matt and I both have a desire that our Easter holiday would honor the Risen Christ. I love that we can reflect and celebrate throughout the week in ways that are hopefully both meaningful and memorable.

Here is a look at our Holy Week 2015.

One tradition we've done for the past five years is Resurrection Eggs. I threw these together five years ago by just scrapping things together from around the house and writing the coordinating verse on a piece of scrap paper. I intended to make them "nicer", but haven't. Turns out they get the job done, and now the older kids anticipate what is in each egg. They may be disappointed if there wasn't a Ritz cracker in egg 1 to represent bread. :) (Yes, the cracker has been in there five years. It still looks good...gross.) Even Nathan, 8, looks forward to opening an egg. There are 12 eggs, so we start 12 days before Easter, and each kids gets to open 3 eggs. Next year I may add more eggs.

Okay, so this next tradition is not really meaningful, but just fun. The past two years we've gone to an Easter egg hunt at a local toy store. Each kid gets to collect six eggs, then you hand the eggs in for small toys and crafts.

I enjoy this egg hunt because:

1. Most prizes are educational or crafty

2. The kids are then occupied most of the afternoon completing their crafts or playing their new games

3. There is a donut shop next door

As you can see, even Matt got in on some sticker crafting.

For the 3rd year, our family was able to host our small group on Maundy Thursday for a Christian Passover meal. Christian because we focus on the truth that Jesus is the Messiah who has already come and is coming again. Also, because I've never actually experienced a Jewish Passover meal, and I'm pretty sure there are parts of it I'm not doing right.

It has become one of my favorite days, not just of Holy Week, but of the whole year. The Passover is seething with symbolism. I love that we can literally taste and see that the Lord is good.

The kids and I spent the entire day preparing the food and the house. Many offer to help, but I turn it down. There's something rewarding about the labor and love that we get to pour over this meal.

I was first inspired to host a Passover after my Mom passed away. The sting of death was fresh and painful. I needed more focus and purpose in my Easter and I wanted my children to experience Christ as their Passover Lamb.

I found this while digging through a box in the basement a few months ago.

It belong to my Grandpa and Grandma Garner. I thought it was appropriate.

Following the Passover ceremony, we enjoyed a full dinner together featuring lamb (of course).

(I've followed the same Passover guide all three years. I print it off so everyone call follow along.)

Moving forward, we come to Good Friday.

Our church has a service at noon. We've gone every year, and it's a great time to focus on the cross and our own sinfulness (or if you're like me the sinfulness of your children who are not sitting quietly during said church service...). But, in all seriousness I love this service and I'm thankful our church has it.

This year, Matt took the afternoon off on Friday so we had some extra time together as a family. The kids love to make things with "real" tools, so we used some scrap wood to nail together a cross.

Matt and I put in two nails to secure the wood together, then each child got to put in a nail.

For Evelyn, Matt pounded in her nail most of the way before passing off the hammer.

After finishing the cross, each person wrote down a behavior or attitude they've had the past week (or day, hour, whenever) that wasn't pleasing to God.

We then nailed our sins to the cross.

The kids liked it because they got to use the hammer and nails, but it was also a good time to confess sins and thank Jesus for paying the penalty for our sins.

Finally, the Saturday day before Easter, I took the kids to another local church for "Sonrise Saturday". Matt wanted to get things done at the house, so it worked out well for us to go and not be in his way.

The church set up many different rooms to tell and act out the crucifixion story in tangible ways for little ones. The children got to participate in things like lifting a life-size cross, casting lots, touching a crown of thorns, and many other activities. It was fun and something we'd do again.

One of the final stations at the church was "new life" where they had baby chicks and a lamb.