The Cross is Bare, the Tomb is Empty, the Throne is Occupied

Hallelujah! What a statement! What a truth! The title of this post is taken from the lyrics to a song by Ron and Patricia Owens. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of our Savior, but what good would His birth have been if it wasn't for His death? But not just His death, His resurrection! Hallelujah, oh what a Savior!

Celebrating the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord is what makes Easter so special for Christians. It's not about a mythical Easter bunny, hunting eggs, Easter baskets, etc. But while remembering what Christ has done for us, we often participate in some of the other traditions. As we did this year with my family.

Before going to church, we gave Abigail her Easter basket from us. No Easter bunny myths for her. :) Her basket this year was actually a Georgia beach bucket, designed by, Just Say It Signs. A friend of mine, who I played softball with growing up, is part owner of the business. Check out their Facebook page here. Anyway, the bucket was filled with a Dora beach blanket, Tangled, and her favorite Easter candy, Reese Pieces Eggs and Robin Eggs. She was so excited about the towel most but loved it all. In addition, she had already received an Easter basket from her Meme and Granddaddy and would receive another Easter basket from Nana and Papa after lunch. Can you say, SPOILED?!

It was so great to go to church with my family this year on Easter. It is always a privilege to sit under my dad's preaching and so it was on Easter Sunday. Check out his blog here. After church, we headed back to Gracville, changed clothes, and went over to my brother, Justin's house to eat lunch. We had a smoked turkey, ribs, potato salad, deviled eggs, peas, corn fritters, green bean bundles, and maybe some more stuff. I can't remember. We had an Easter cake for dessert.

After we ate, the men hid some eggs for Abigail and Marlee to hunt. They had so much fun hunting eggs together. After the egg hunt was over, we took some family pics, ate some cake, and Ryan, Abigail, and I headed back home to Pearl River. The next week would be super busy for us because we were moving the very next weekend.

Overall, we had a great vacation and Easter Sunday with family. Here are some pics from the day.

Abigail and her Easter basket.

The girls in their Easter dresses both from Etsy.

The girls with their loot from Nana and Papa! :)

Hunting Easter eggs.

 A family picture.

And last, the yummy Easter cake that we ate before we left. Cake courtesy of Hannah's parents who spent Easter day with us as well.