What Easter Means to Me

To me, Easter is not about the Easter bunny (although, one did visit our front door on Easter morning bearing candy...seriously, not kidding...that was pretty cool!), its not about the candy (although, I do think its the holiday with the BEST candy...those Robin's Eggs, Peeps, and black jelly beans will get me every time!), its not about buying a new spring outfit to wear to church (I didn't even get one this year), and its not about being able to FINALLY wear white shoes (Florida gets warm and my white sandals have been itching to make their appearance, but I couldn't do it because my mom's voice would come to my head telling me that I can't wear white before Easter!), to me, Easter is about emptiness.

Yes, emptiness. Its because of the emptiness of Jesus' grave that the emptiness of my heart can be made full. If it weren't for the fact that Jesus died that dreaded Friday for all of my sins and then three days later got up and walked out of His earthly tomb, leaving it empty, I can't imagine where I would be today. That moment in history made a historical moment in my life many years ago when the emptiness of my life was filled with an eternal purpose. He LIVES, the tomb is EMPTY!

Since this was the first year Garin and I would be away from our families for this joyful day, we decided to invite our extended family, our friends down here, to come over to celebrate with us. So I prepared my first Easter meal...for 15 of our friends (make that my first holiday meal ever...we usually go over to my sister's or Garin's parents for holidays and they do most of the cooking). I was a little nervous because my cooking skills definitely aren't seasoned, but I think in the end it turned out okay. There was food left over so hopefully everyone had enough to stuff themselves (or maybe it was just too bad to go back and get seconds?? I hope it was the former!!). Below are some pictures of the festivities: