He Lives!

This Easter we were challenged with an inquiring 3 year old that wanted to know "why those men put Jesus on the Cross". I knew the day would come when all of our talk of Jesus at home would ignite his curiosity.  I mean can you imagine a 3 year old wondering who this person is that we talk about all of the time but never see?

Isn't that a great question?

It has really given us an opportunity to talk to Matthew about a Savior that loves us and lives in us.  I was glad that Easter was more than an egg hunt this year.

What a gift we have as parents to get to teach our kids about a God that loves us unconditionally and sacrificed his life to make us whole.

So why did those people put Jesus on the cross?

We really had to come up with creative ways to simplify our answer.  Instead of shying away from talking about death, we embraced it and told him that Jesus died. But the good news is that three days later he rose and walked out of the tomb.  We actually called it a hole and a cave because he didn't understand tomb.

We started out by saying that those men did not know Jesus. They were very unkind.  They did not know that Jesus loves them very much.  Jesus loves us even when we disobey. We kept our explanation very short and simple. After all, he is only three.

Then we asked him where Jesus lives.  He placed both hands over his heart and smiled.

And we smiled too.

It will be exciting to expand on this story as he gets older...to talk about how Jesus overcame the cross and now is alive in us. To tell him Easter is about new life...overcoming death.  And that my friends, is so exciting! A man died on the cross for us, rose from death...conquered death...and is alive today...because he loves us!

How exciting that we have an opportunity to know that person every single day and I get to teach my kids about him...about how wonderful he is...about how he loves us and lives in us.

We all had so much fun hunting eggs this year. Samuel got to join in on the fun.

Matthew got the most.

Patrick did a good job of hiding them all over the place...on the fence, in the trees, on the truck, on the water table.

...even in a pot.

Matthew did a good job of hunting all of the eggs before he started eating chocolate.

I can not say the same for Samuel.

We did manage to get a few good pictures of the boys though before their mouths and hands were completely covered in chocolate.

We had a wonderful Easter. Lots of candy. Two happy boys...who could ask for more?

Dear boys,

As you grow older I am looking forward to more opportunities to teach you about our Lord Jesus. He is alive and lives in us. We have a Savior that wants an intimate relationship with us. He is interested in all that is going on in our lives. He will never leave us or forsake us.

Love,
Mommy