Easter 2013

The girls had a surprise waiting on them when they woke up on Easter morning!

Their Daddy was home and we spent the morning together!

This rarely happens since he goes to the church so early every Sunday. 

It's always a treat to have help on Sundays and ride together as a family.

We had to wake the girls or they would have slept the morning away.  

They came out and went through their baskets before we dressed for church.

Amelia received new notebook paper (girl loves clean paper to draw on), 

jump rope, candy, toothbrush, BOZ DVD, plate/cup, band-aids, purse & bunny.

I knew the bunny would be her favorite thing. 

She carried it with her all day and then left it at her Daddygrand & Nana's house.

We were driving to get it at 9PM last night. 

Thanks for meeting us with the bunny, Daddygrand!

Sydney enjoyed going through her basket all by herself!

 Sydney received yogurt covered raisins, boo-boo pack, fruit snacks, toothbrush, 

book, plate/cup, DVD, book, purse and bunny.

She loved her cup and book. 

Everything is a teething toy these days.

I tried taking a few pics before we left for church. 

This is a hard age to get them to stand still or even look at the camera. 

But I thought they looked sweet in their Easter dresses.

I seriously wanted Amelia's outfit for myself.

Love this girl.

And this was Sydney's pose/facial expression through most of the pics.

That's our Sydney!

HAHA! 

Our blue-eyed girl.

I cried through most of the service on Sunday morning. 

Just listening to the death/resurrection story being read is so emotional. 

We ended the service with communion. 

Our family of four.

This is my Averitt Family.

It was wonderful having them all at church on Sunday. 

We were only missing Alex's baby sister, April. 

We went to my in-laws for lunch.

Everything was yummy!

I took fried chicken, biscuits, bacon/cheddar deviled eggs, 

cupcakes and peanut butter cup cookies

My girls are blessed to have so many cousins that love on them. 

Victoria, Anna and Sydney.

Gracie and Amelia.

Me and my honey.

My in-laws always have an egg hunt for the kids.

All of the eggs have money inside. 

Amelia brought home over $22.

I asked her what she was going to buy with her money and she said

"oh ya know, all sorts of stuff!"

My brother said,

Ya know what we would have found if we had cracked open an egg as a kid?

A hard boiled egg. 

That's what we would have found.

HAHAHA! 

So true.

My in-laws even had an egg hunt for the adults.  

There was a riddle that led you to where the $100 egg was and I won! 

Sydney gave her Mama the best Easter gift. 

A nice nap!

Alex and I put the girls to bed and then watched The Bible finale on the History Channel.  We've watched every week.  It was viewed by 11.7 million viewers!  You can buy the series on DVD if you didn't get a chance to watch it.  Though not every detail was accurate or maybe something was added for the drama of television, I would still recommend it.  And you can get your Bible out and compare what is in the series vs in the Word!  The finale ended with Jesus' death and resurrection.

I cried the loud, ugly cry.  

It was so hard to watch - even though I know it was nothing compared 

to the reality of what really happened almost 2,000 years ago.

After watching last night, Alex and I were talking about how the disciples became more and more bold in their faith.  At first, I'm sure they felt completely lost without Jesus right there beside them.  But they had the Holy Spirit, just as we have the Holy Spirit, and they began to spread the gospel just as He told them to do.  They were bold.  They were unafraid of death.  Constantly beaten, arrested, tortured.  They were all martyred in Jesus' name.  

It just made me stop and realize (again) how He's asking the same of us today.  

To share the gospel.  

TO BE BOLD IN OUR FAITH.

"So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don't be ashamed of me, either, even though I'm in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News." 

2 Timothy 1:8

We all have a role to play in reaching the world for Christ.

We need to stir up the gifts of God that are within us!

If it doesn't cost us something - it's not a sacrifice.

On the cross, He died for our sins. 

In the tomb, He defeated death. 

I'm so incredibly thankful for what Jesus did for me.  

Because of Him - I have eternal life.

Love to all,