Happy Easter to All!

Last year we had such a fun time with an Easter egg hunt that some friends in Beijing put together, I was determined to do it for Carson again this year. Of course, I'm not much of a party planner or organizer, and so we only had one other family over, and no one was wearing anything cute like bunny ears. But it was sufficient for the children. (The two little girls pictured above are actually our upstairs neighbors who also came out to help Carson find his eggs.) Carson was excited to find his football eggs. It took a little prompting at first to get all the kids to actually HUNT for the eggs ("Look over there--no, THERE!...Carson, look UP!...etc") But eventually they all got the hang of it and made a real egg killing. And we managed to find all (except possibly one) of the eggs before it started raining.

Later that evening, we went up to Paul and Aleta's new house in West Valley to celebrate Paul's birthday. I'm so pleased for my "little" brother. He's married, has a great job, and just bought a house. We've visited twice, and it is so pleasant to look around and see how well they are doing. Happy birthday, Paul. And once again, way to go!

I really wanted an Easter family picture, and I felt that, although it would be a bit of a time crunch, that it would be better to take them before church rather than after. That way we'd still be fresh, and no one would be hungry or cranky. Austin and Carson kindly cooperated. My decision proved to be advantageous as Cora decided, in the last hour of church, to destroy her little white Easter dress. Let's just say that everything about her digestive system is working spectacularly. SpectTACularly. The diaper, however, left much to be desired.

I've had an interesting realization lately: My son doesn't just automatically know how to, say, read. Or count! And he doesn't know on his own the true meaning behind Christmas or Easter! He actually needs to be taught! Austin has been doing an excellent job teaching him his letters. And the nursery leaders at Church have done wonders in teaching him aspects of the Gospel. For example, today Carson brought home an Easter egg with a little picture of Jesus inside and told me about how the "bad guys put Jesus in the cave" and then "the angels came and rolled the stone away and then Jesus peaked out". But it really should be up to me, his Mother, to teach these things to him. I do want him to join in all the fun and hoopla of the holidays--Christmas trees, Santa, Easter eggs, presents, and treats--but I also want him to be well-grounded in the principles behind these things. I hope that he can experience the same type of well-balanced upbringing that my parents provided for me.

And so, after talking much about Jesus and his death and resurrection over lunch and dinner today, we rounded off our day by watching an old mission favorite: "Finding Faith in Christ." This movie was produced by the Church and came out while I was on my mission in 2003. Over the following year and a half, I must have watched that movie well over 100 times. I could quote all of it, and was pretty sure I could probably sing the entire soundtrack while quoting it as well. And yet, even after having seen it so many times, it still is one of my favorite depictions of the Savior. So, thanks to the technology-savvy of our Church, I found it online and was able to share it with my husband and son. You can click on the picture to watch it yourself.

Carson was mesmerized. I explained to him everything that was going on, and he asked questions all thruout the movie. After it was finished, I asked, "Carson, what did you learn about Jesus?"

His response was not what I expected: "Jesus taught me how to shoot a basketball! And how to run FAST!"

Well, perhaps I should leave the teaching up to the nursery afterall.