H A P P Y E A S T E R !!!
HEY!! Just wanted to wish everyone a very very Happy Easter. I hope you all got to enjoy some time with your families and had the opportunity to give some praise! Jesus is ALIVE y'all!! =)
This year we decided to start a new Easter tradition. Both Jerico and I come from families that don't have any Easter traditions other than going to church, obviously, and egg hunts/egg decorating. We wanted to have a tradition that was surrounded around the fact that Jesus is alive. What better way than to celebrate Easter than watching the start of a new day! Sounds perfect, right?!?!... Until mom brain kicks in... "We have to wake up at 6am to make it to the beach for sunrise.... If we wake Kai up at 6 am, he will be super cranky, plus he's going to be hyped up on candy which means... It will be a long day... Not to mention there will be sand everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE! If you have a boy, you know exactly what mean... As soon as we get home we will all need to take a quick shower to wash all of the sand off in order to make it to church on time... Since we are now in a rush we probably won't have time to eat breakfast...OH, and I still have to iron the clothes... Wait, do we even have anything to eat?! Most stores are closed on Easter!! Crap!" Okay, you get the point!
It's pretty difficult starting a tradition, deciding what you're going to do for the next couple of years, hoping to pass down to your kids that they too may one day take part in the tradition with their family... It's also difficult to stick to your word. This was a brand spanking new tradition we were implementing and I was already second guessing it, wonerding if we should just stay home because of the "hassle" that comes along with waking up early before church to watch the sunrise.
6:10 am... Jerico's alarm goes off. Barely awake, he fumbles with his phone hitting the snooze button... 8 minutes go by and his alarm goes off again. This time he jumps out of bed and goes straight for the coffee. But first coffee...right?! I'm not gonna lie, I didn't want to get up at first. It was my day off, it's still dark outside, and i just wanted to stay cozy in bed. Side note. Never make decisions based on your feelings because you'll never accomplish anything. (I'll save that for a later blog). We make it out of the house at 6:44am and the sunrises at 6:58. Luckily, it was a Sunday morning so there was no one on the road and zero traffic. We got there right when the sun was starting to break the horizon. It was a bit windy & chilly but what a beautiful morning it was. I explained to Kai that Jesus' mom came to Jesus' tomb early in the morning like this and found the tomb EMPTY! Kai and I danced around yelling "JESUS IS ALIVE!". The trip to the beach was totally worth it!! We plan on doing this every year, maybe more than just on Easter!
We listened to my favorite Easter medley ever (youtube video below). We played it over & over again!!! It's SO good! My favorite part is:
"Arise, My love, arise, My love
The grave no longer has a hold on you
No more death's sting, no more suffering
Arise, arise, my love!"
We took a moment to pray together as a family. Happy tears rolled down my face as Kai prayed "Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross and thank you for coming back to this life, I love you. Thank you for this whole world, my mom & my dad. OH! and thank you for me, Amen" =)
Kai couldn't keep his eyes open!! hahaha
Once we got home from the beach, we read his kids Bible, going over the fact that today is the day that Jesus came back to life and that is called his resurrection. I told Kai that Jesus dying on the cross was the greatest gift we could receive and just like Mary was surprised when the tomb was empty, you will be surprised to find some gifts are hidden around the house. His face lit up.
I know Easter isn't about giving gifts, We made it VERY clear to Kai that Easter is about the death & resurrection of Jesus. But I also wanted to make this special for him with things I knew he would like but hasn't asked for, a treasure hunt and with some arts & crafts. I want, no, NEED Kai to know that following Christ is a fun thing. We get to celebrate together! And that being a part of God's family, has privileges.
Instead of handing Kai an easter basket filled with stuff, I thought it would be funner (I don't thinks that's a real word, but it totally fits) to do a treasure hunt (a little side note: Kai has done an egg hunt at school & at church the last two days so we wanted to do something different on Easter). Last night, after Kai went to bed, I wrapped up some gifts I bought for him, Power Ranger themed (thats the newest favorite) and Jerico drew out a "treasure map" and the X marked the spots of the hidden gifts (and btw, Jerico did a fabulous job!!!). Oh and the next video was shot on my iPhone on instagram story (follow me @wallsofjericophoto to see what we do daily), DON'T judge the quality, hehe. ( The gift was a Power Ranger pez dispenser, remember, instastories only give you few secs. The struggle is real.)
Yes, that's a banana lego figurine... so weird. (it was one of those surprise figurine little bags)
At first, Kai didn't understand the map but he quickly became familiar with it. Once all the gifts were found and opened, we got ready for church. And what a great service it was. It's on Southpoint's website, you should listen to Pastor Russ' sermon if you have a few minutes. He talked about how on Friday, the Christ followers watched their leader die and the following day, Saturday, was a very sad day. Their leader was dead, gone. What will they do now? Were they wrong? They weren't exactly sure what to think, what to do, what to say. They were stuck in a confusion state of mind. BUT then, Sunday came and HE WAS ALIVE. The true believers' faith still had a purpose- " and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 Guys, we shouldn't be living in the Saturday, we know how the story ended! Let's live in the Sunday! (by the way, Pastor Russ' sermon is WAAAAY better, that recap doesn't do it justice, actually, I'm sorry).
Oh, and our amazing church had Cinotti's donuts today!!! They are our absolute favorite!!! If you live in Jacksonville and have never tried them, you NEED to go!!! Take Kai's word, well dance, for it.
I am just so thankful for such a blessed life. Thank you for taking the time to read this, to look through our work- THANK Y O U ! You have no idea how happy it makes us when we hear positive feedback or even just comments on our work and these blogs. I'm not gloating or anything, please don't misunderstand, it's actually quite the opposite, I get overwhelmed with emotions. This business is like our baby and we're nurturing it, growing it, learning as we go and when we receive compliments- we feel happy, proud, accomplished! I'm gonna be honest with you, there are days, like today, that I think no-one will want to read this. So to the people that continue to motivate and inspire us, thank you!!! I'm so honored to have this platform to reach & inspire people.
" To be inspired is great; to inspire is I N C R E D I B L E !!!"
H A P P Y E A S T E R ! !
Jerico, Kristina & Kai