The Sack-a-Rice Jesus Made

Today was Easter Sunday.

aw...so sweet & innocent...see that's exactly how the disney princesses got their kiss, they look so angelic, the prince must kiss her...and then BAM! their awake...and they want you to run through the forest talking & singing all day long.

Don't you just love trying to get a photo of your children on holidays? It's even more awesome when you have a son named Jacob Michael and he hates to sit still at all.

We have just decided amongst ourselves that we are simply just attempting to document the event, and that frills, smiles, and eyes and heads looking the correct way is just plain stupid to expect. Apparently so are shoes.

We do get the two oldest in a shot, and so there you can see the outfits because I am that matchy matchy mom...see the gingham theme? The blues, whites, khakis, greys? I'm that mom.But beyond that, we set our expectations pretty low. We now have Jake, and he's really just a doll, as you can see.

We did better with the whole reason for the season this year in regards to Kendall to some extent. Last year if you remember, in great theatrics...I tell you, I am sending her to the auditions at Sight & Sound to play Mary Magdalene, 'but that is terrible, why would they have my Jesus hang on a cross and laugh at him, and make him wear a sticker bush on his head, that's terrible!' I mean there was heaving sobs. And its sweet, right? She felt it. She felt the anger and the emotion of the entire event at 4 years old. Yet, I could not speak of Easter without her getting extremely emotional and theatrical for weeks before and after.

So this year, you know, I prepare for it. My kids ask tons of questions they want to know what we are doing and why. Kendall is now in preschool at a church. And I sat with the phone at my side for the past 2 weeks she was in school waiting for the phone call from the master of the preschool, to come and pick her up because she is hysterical while they are learning about the true meaning behind Easter. It was really that bad, I had to sit with her and rock her and hold her in my arms last year. 'My poor Jesus!'

And she was right. How do you sugar coat that story and make sense of the entire thing to a four year old? I believe I just rolled with the punches when I was that young, until I could truly conceptualize the great sacrifice that Jesus has made for us. But I knew the end, I knew that he rose, I knew that he returned, I knew that he was alive. I think it was fast forward learning in Sunday School when you were that young, ' and we wave the palms, Jesus eats with his disciples for one last time, Jesus died on the cross,' and then press the pause button and big emphasis on...he rose from the dead, the stone has rolled away, he is alive ! Kendall, could not get past the horrific events that led to this to even hear what a miracle had occurred, that he was ok, that he loves us so much. So I prepared myself, made sure I had the tissues.

I sign her up for the Lunch Bunch, this is staying for lunch afterschool for a few hours, that is about Easter. She thinks that she is going to see the Easter Bunny and is going on and on about how she is just going to wave to him and not sit with him. I tell her that Easter is not really about the Easter Bunny, and that the Bunny is fun and all, but that Easter was more then that. I told her to listen real closely at Lunch Bunch and then to tell me what Easter was really about, and that the Easter Bunny would not be joining her for lunch.

I prepared, like I said for the worst. She gets in the van at pick up, she has a wooden cross that she painted, and she hands it to me with specific instructions, 'uh Mommy, we must hang this in a place where we will see it often and are reminded of the great sack-a-rice Jesus made for us.' MmmHmm, that's right, she said sack a rice, like sack of rice. This entire thing took on another complex twist to it. It's never easy right?

I ask her if she had learned what Easter really was all about and she says to me, 'Jesus, Mommy, it's about Jesus,  (and she huffs, like I am stupid), but Mrs. K (her teacher) says that it is still alright for us to have an Easter Egg Hunt, so please make sure of that.' I just love the age where what your teacher says to you is law.

So at bath time we are talking about Easter again, and I am asking Kendall some questions about Easter and having Ethan join in the conversation. And I am saying how Jesus gave his life for us, and because of that when we ask God for forgiveness for that we did that was wrong, he forgives us. And Kendall looks at me and says, 'uh, Mommy, no Jesus made us all a sack a rice.' Ethan asks, ' Jesus gave us rice Kendall?' 'Yes a sack of it.'

This may actually be worse then the emotional breakdown the previous year because now there is the hard headed stubborn 5 year old correcting me and my theology. And really, does she even know what a sack of rice is anyway? Where is the Cadbury Egg Bunny?

So I nicely explain that it actually was a 'sacrifice,' and explain what the word means and I go into the story explaining it to Ethan and Kendall. And she is not saying 'sack a rice' anymore, which is encouraging. And as I am explaining the crucifixion to them Kendall interjects for her brother, 'now don't worry Ethan, Jesus is ok in the end. He has risen, he came back and was alive again.'

Ethan looks at me and asks, 'so can our fish come back alive again too?'