Resurrection Sunday/Easter Day!

I stepped outside at sunrise this Easter morning, and this is what I saw...a golden sun rising in the east...

I changed the cloth on the cross from the purple robe to the white robe, and added the sign that says

"Alleluia, Jesus Lives!"

This song was in my heart to sing out loud:

Low in the grave He lay

Jesus my Savior!

Waiting the coming day

Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose

With a mighty triumph o'er His foes

He arose a Victor from the dark domain

And He lives forever with His saints to reign

He arose! (He arose)

He arose! (He arose)

Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Vainly they watch His bed

Jesus, my Savior!

Vainly they seal the dead

Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose

With a mighty triumph o'er His foes

He arose a Victor from the dark domain

And He lives forever with His saints to reign

He arose! (He arose)

He arose! (He arose)

Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Death cannot keep his prey

Jesus, my Savior!

He tore the bars away

Jesus my Lord!

Up from the grave He arose

With a mighty triumph o'er His foes

He arose a Victor from the dark domain

And He lives forever with His saints to reign

He arose! (He arose)

He arose! (He arose)

Hallelujah! Christ arose!

I was hoping we would sing this in church today, but it was not one of the hymns chosen. However, these same words were actually sung in one of the songs our choir sang in the cantata, "Redeeming Love Has Been My Theme"...you can listen to the whole program right here if you would like:

This was recorded at our dress rehearsal earlier in the week.  I think all things considered we did a pretty good job and I pray that God was glorified in this presentation of His Word in song. We had a packed house this morning at church...a very glorious and lovely Resurrection Day!  

I hope you have had a wonderful Easter day with your loved ones and/or your church, or however you choose to celebrate the day. We had a quiet day today after church because we actually celebrated with our family yesterday (Saturday).  Our daughter in law Rose had to go to work today right after church, so it was best to have our dinner yesterday.  Here's some pictures from our family celebration:

This little Easter decoration was actually one of those foam art kits from Dollar General. Rose put it in my Easter basket, and she and I had fun putting it together. Isn't it cute?  I love it!

We had a delicious ham dinner...the ham was cooked by Rose, along with the deviled eggs. I made the scalloped potatoes au gratin, peas and carrots, and bought the Hawaiian Rolls. It all turned out great.

For dessert we had this "Bunny Cake", a.k.a. an Oatmeal Cake.  HERE is a link to a post that has the recipe for this delicious cake!

Of course, if you've been around me for a while, you know that our family tradition (ever since I was a little girl) is to hunt for our Easter Baskets! No, not just the Easter eggs, but the whole basket!  It's a lot of fun that our grown up kids look forward to every year! They would be really disappointed if this was left out of our Easter celebration!

And true to course, Rose found her basket first! She has a real knack for searching these things out no matter how difficult the hiding place...

Next came Scott finding his basket...

And finally Benton found his.  It was all good fun and lots of laughs.

And this year Benton and Rose turned the tables on us and hid baskets for hubby and me too:

Hubby found his right away

And then I found mine.  They had packed them full of fun things and games...and no candy 'cause they know we can't really eat candy...so they were very thoughtful of us old folks!

After dinner and basket searches, we went outside and did our annual family picture:

Son Scott is good at setting the timer thingy on my cell phone camera and then running into place before the picture snaps...that's why he looks so excited...he had just run and jumped into place really fast!  Oh, do you see our sweet grandpups? Benton is holding Sugar and Rose is holding Spice. We couldn't leave them out of the family portrait!

Now do you remember the other day when I told you about some surprises?  Remember Lily Grace had received a lovely package in the mail with a beautiful yellow parasol for Easter? She was so excited to get that sweet gift and has had such fun with it!

Well, this week brought her another special surprise!  One of the ladies in our church, who happens to be a snow bird and only here for a few months, told me last week that she loves to make doll clothes and she asked me what size my doll was that she has seen on my blogs and Facebook page. I told her that she's a 14" doll. She asked if there was anything she needed, and I jokingly said that she needed a new Easter Dress since the one she was wearing is several years old and she's "outgrowing it." Of course, I never expected anything more to come of it, because I know this lady is getting ready to go back north in a few weeks and their time here is short and busy.  Can you imagine my surprise this past Friday night before the Good Friday service when she dropped a bag in my lap and disappeared quickly before I could look inside or say anything.  When I looked inside the bag, there was this absolutely perfect little Easter Dress and Jacket made to fit Lily Grace! I was so amazed I had to go find the lady and hug her and tell her how surprised and thankful I was. She was like, "Oh, it's nothing! I just wanted to do it!"  My goodness...this would've taken me a month to figure out! LOL. Look at this darling outfit:

Here's Lily Grace modeling her new dress and jacket.  Isn't it just adorable?  Oh, and her yellow parasol goes very nicely with this dress as well!!

Of course, Lily Grace was just ecstatic and had to write a note to the lady right away to thank her. I think the lady thinks I'm a little bit kooky, but hey! She must be just a little bit kooky too, because it was her idea!  Anyway, I love all the special friends that Lily Grace has attracted over the past three years that's she's been here with us.  She hasn't been writing her own blog for a little while, but maybe we just need to get back to doing it, because there really is something very special about her, don't you agree?

Oh, another follow up to the story about the beautiful red flower that suddenly appeared in our yard...Yesterday I was in the yard with Scott looking at some little magnolia trees that are sprouting up in places where they need to be moved from before they get too big, and I was showing him the flower too, and our neighbor lady was over in her yard on the other side of the fence, so I called her over to the fence and showed her the flower and asked her if she had ever seen one like it before. She said that yes, she actually has some in her yard, and apparently this one must have "migrated" under the fence or squirrels planted some of the seeds from it or something. These flowers have bulbs, and they do have a tendency to spread underground, so that must be what happened!  Here is how it looks today:

It has more buds getting ready to open up and bloom!  It really is a beautiful flower and quite a fun surprise, but at least the mystery has been solved! Still, it's a blessing from God especially for Easter!!

Here's a couple of the small magnolia trees that are sprouting up and need to be moved. There are more if you want to come dig them up and move them to your house! Just let me know when you are coming and I'll put the tea kettle on!

Today after church hubby and I came home and before we changed our clothes to fix a quick leftover lunch  and take a much needed nap, I said we need to take a "selfie" of us in our Easter outfits.  Well, I guess we didn't figure out how to get much of our clothes in the picture, but we have our smiling faces for you to see. LOL>

 Since we couldn't figure out how to do a selfie of both of us with more than just our faces showing, hubby took a picture of me in my new Easter dress that I bought last week at Beall's Outlet for around $10.00 after all the discounts. It was comfy and cool under our choir robes, which of course I had to wear for the whole service, so there really wasn't much point in having a new dress, but it still felt nice and wasn't too hot, which was key.

So now we have come to the end of this beautiful Resurrection Day, and some may be wondering, like the Disciples of old wondered, "What's next?"    After Jesus had shown Himself to them, some were fearful, others doubted, and mostly they worshiped Him and wanted Him to stay...but here's what He told them before He ascended back up into heaven:  (Matthew 28:18-20)

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 

20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” 

Amen.

This passage has come to be known as "The Great Commission", giving believers everywhere instructions for what we are to be doing until Christ returns again....Go and make disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all things that He, Jesus, has commanded us...  Just because Resurrection Sunday is over doesn't let us off the hook for another year...we have our work cut out for us...there are still many lost souls out there who do not know Jesus or believe in Him as Savior and Lord.  I do believe that Jesus is coming back soon to take us, His Bride, the Church, up to heaven with Him...and we need to be ready to go at any moment. The signs of the times are everywhere you look...so let us spread the Good News everywhere...He is Alive!

May God bless you and yours in this joyous Easter season. Good night friends!