In this episode, Stephanie guides Christian moms in keeping Christ at the center of their celebrations in simple, meaningful ways. The easier it is to implement, the more likely it is that we will be able to be consistent, joyful, and peaceful! May you be inspired to focus on Christ with your children that blesses--instead of stresses--your family.

Don't forget to head to the Entrusted Ministries website to claim your four fantastic Entrusted with a Child's Heart freebies!

Scripture Mentioned:

Romans 8:1

Book Recommendations:

The Sparkle Egg

Benjamin's Box

Recipe To Try:

Resurrection Rolls

Resources Referenced:

Resurrection Eggs

Confetti Eggs

They're the joyful agains our children

shout on the swings, the exhausting

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agains of cooking and laundry, and

the difficult agains of discipline.

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So much of what we do

as mothers is on repeat.

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So what if we woke up with clarity,

knowing which agains we were called

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to, and went to bed believing we

are faithful in what matters most?

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We believe God's Word is

the key to untangle from the

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confusion and overwhelm we feel.

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Let's look up together to embrace a

motherhood full of freedom and joy.

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Thanks for joining me for another

episode of the again, podcast.

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I'm your host, Stephanie Hickox

and this is brought to you by

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entrusted ministries today.

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I want to announce officially that we

have some epic freebies available for you.

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On our interested ministries website.

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Go to the homepage and sign up and we

are going to send you a full lesson

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from entrusted, with a child's heart.

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We just want you to see what

does interested with the

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child's heart really entail.

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And this is going to give you

a fantastic taste of that.

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The second thing I want to

talk about today is Easter.

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I think something that is so discouraging

is when you see a fantastic idea for

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a tradition, but it's two days before

and you don't have time to prep.

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And you're like, oh man, if I would've

known about that a week ago, that would

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have absolutely been in our lineup.

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So I'm wanting to make sure

that I give you ample time.

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It's March 13th, you have until the week

of Easter and Easter is on March 31st.

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If you need a reminder, several

of these ideas you'll obviously

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want to do prior to Easter.

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But hopefully this is going to

give you plenty of time to get

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your ducks and your eggs in a row.

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For many of us with Easter being in March,

it will fall close to our spring breaks.

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And I hope that is an opportunity to make

it even more intentional in our homes

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and a more peaceful, joyful opportunity.

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Easter is a, my favorite holiday by far.

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I love it.

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All the warming weather, the pastel

colors, the Cadbury mini eggs.

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And of course the spiritual

implications, which humble me to my core.

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I even welcomed my first

born on good Friday.

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Boy did Jesus's suffering mean a

lot to me during that experience?

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I think Christmas is fantastic, but

there's usually so much going on.

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People often get so focused on the gifts.

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Easter.

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However is all about Christ.

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Sure.

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There may be some baskets of

goodies and some filled eggs, but

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I think the heart of the holiday

is easier to keep on the forefront.

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It's been so fun for me to celebrate

this life-changing occasion with my kids.

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And today I just wanted to share with

you a few things that we have done.

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In our home that.

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Point to Christ in his sacrifice.

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The first.

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Ideally I'd like to share is

a book or commendation that I

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heard of from my friend Holly.

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And it came just at the

perfect time for my family.

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So we started doing this.

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When my boys were younger.

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And it was, it came at a season where I

knew the Lord was stirring in my heart.

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Just asking if I was focusing

enough on grace in my home.

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Those who are near to me know that I often

struggle to accept my own weaknesses and

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failures and with all of the correction

and instruction I provide for my children.

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I just wanted to make sure are they really

understanding grace and forgiveness?

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I'm truly thankful for the Lord.

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Whenever you feel like your

parenting pendulum is tilting a

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little bit to one side, how he

makes sure to get you back on track.

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When a good friend shared the

following Easter activity with me, I

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thought this is such a great way to

make grace tangible to my children.

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Jill Hardy wrote a beautiful

story, entitled the sparkle, egg

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about a boy learning how Jesus

has sacrificed impacts him.

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The book summary is as follows.

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Easter is coming and Sam loves Easter,

but this year he's upset about a lie.

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He told his parents.

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Even though he apologized

and they forgave him.

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Sam can't shake the feeling that

he is a bad kid for what he did.

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Meanwhile, his parents help him make a

special Easter craft called a sparkle ag.

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His mom tells him to write

anything he feels sorry about or

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ashamed of on a piece of paper

and put it inside his sparkle leg.

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On Easter morning when he opens

his egg, expecting a surprise.

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Sam vines that it is empty.

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His parents explained that because Jesus

died and rose again, we are forgiven.

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Like the tomb that first Easter

day Sam's egg is empty and Sam's

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wrongdoing is completely forgiven.

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Once he accepts this forgiveness

fully, Sam realizes a truth.

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We can shine with God's light.

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When we let God's gift

of grace into our hearts.

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So the basic concept is that you read

the book with your children and then

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each person decorates a sparkle egg.

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I found.

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Some simple eggs at Walmart

that had glitter on them.

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And we bought those and then glued

beads or different craft items on them.

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And they all decorated them.

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Of course, mom's got a man the hot glue

gun, then I gave them each a piece of

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paper and explained that they were to,

depending on their ability level, they

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can draw a picture or write something.

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Down about something that they know

that they need to leave at the cross,

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that something that they're still

struggling to feel forgiven about.

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Now you don't want this

to feel forced or coerced.

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It's wonderful if they don't have

anything like that, but maybe they

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can't think of it right on the spot.

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And.

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And you might need time for little

ones, especially to think of that.

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But I always do this with my kids.

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'cause I find that.

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The truth and Romans eight one, there

is therefore now no condemnation.

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For those who are in Christ.

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Jesus.

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That is a truth.

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I need to repeat to myself often.

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And when the enemy tries to

remind me of mistakes that I

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know I have taken to the cross.

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That I need to continue to

preach the gospel to myself.

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So I always draw a picture or write

something down for myself so that That I

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can also embrace this miraculous truth.

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That Jesus died for my sins.

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So we fold up those little pieces

of paper and I don't ask my

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children to share them with me.

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And we put them inside the sparkle

egg, and I make sure that I remember.

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Which egg belongs to which child.

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Then when I'm preparing.

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Their Easter baskets.

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I removed the paper from the eggs and

close the egg backup and make sure that

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it's in the right child's Easter basket.

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You could of course do this idea without

the book, but I've found that the

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book communicates in a very clear way,

this amazing concept to little ones.

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Another powerful idea.

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That is.

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Been impactful for my children.

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Is that a week or two

before Easter, I get out.

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Homemade set of resurrection

eggs that I made.

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When I taught third grade,

I had a store-bought version

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that the students really loved.

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But I found, a set of pastel

speckled eggs at hobby lobby.

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One year and it was a great deal.

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I took these speckled

eggs and a gold marker.

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And made my own version making

a simple drawing on each egg.

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I put those in a basket and then

I use the book Benjamin's box.

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And I lead my children through

this fictitious little boys

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observations of the holy week.

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It is a powerful.

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Though, not overly graphic

method for teaching children

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about Jesus, his sacrifice.

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There are a page or two

that you might want to be.

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Careful about if your children

are particularly sensitive.

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But it's not as graphic as many

crucifixion depictions are.

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This will forever be.

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An activity that I treasure

above so much because my oldest

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actually accepted Christ.

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After we went through this

story, he really was able to

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see what Jesus has done for him.

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And why each step in this

story is so important.

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Each time you turn a page in the book.

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There is an item that

relates to that page.

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For example, there may be a

coin on the egg that corresponds

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to the page about Judas betrayed Jesus.

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I know that the store-bought version

of resurrection eggs are all over,

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so I'm sure you can find those.

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On Amazon or at a craft store and we'll

link to these books and resurrection eggs.

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In the show notes.

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Feel free to click on

that too, to make it easy.

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Another activity that is a must

do for us is every Saturday

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evening, before Easter Sunday.

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My boys and I have made

resurrection roles.

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These are a very simple way to show

children that Jesus was in the tomb.

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And then he wasn't.

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You and tomb a marshmallow with

the butter and cinnamon sugar.

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And this represents.

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The spices and involvement process.

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That the women.

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honored Christ's body with, and

then you wrap this marshmallow.

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You wrap it and place it

inside of a Crescent roll.

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So you're not going to roll the

crest and roll like you normally do.

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You're just going to fold

it over the marshmallow.

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I will tell you that it's.

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Absolutely important that you pinch

the sides together, super tight.

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Otherwise the marshmallow we'll see about,

and it will feel much less mysterious.

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You bake them for 10 to 12

minutes and then you leave the

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rolls in the oven overnight.

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When you wake up on Easter

morning, you get out the rolls.

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And when you bite in.

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You will discover that they are hollow and

that Jesus, the marshmallow has arisen.

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Instead you just have a delicious

and very easy cheap for the morning.

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Like I said, it's very

simple, but it's effective

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and a fun way.

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For kids to see what Christ has done.

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I'll also link to that

recipe in the show notes.

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Betsy always does an egg smash

every year after Easter dinner,

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she brings out a large basket of

beautifully dyed hard-boiled eggs.

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All the guests get into pairs and

try to smash their opponents eggs.

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So everybody only gets one.

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In your duel, you are allowed

to just hold the egg and smash

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it against your opponents egg.

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If your egg cracks, you are out.

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In almost every battle.

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One is going to crack and the

other is going to remain intact.

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This tournament continues.

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With the new pairings of uncracked

eggs, getting together until the last

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person doesn't have a crack deck.

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My uncle David usually really

goes for it and smashes hard.

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And sometimes that pays off

for him and he is the winter.

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It's fun to have a prize or a

little extra dessert for the winner.

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of course before all of

this, those hard-boiled eggs.

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serve as a beautiful

part of your decorations.

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Growing up.

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And even to this day, my mom loves to

make large sidewalk talk birthday signs.

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In our driveway.

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She does this for many holidays.

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And we really like to make

a huge, he is risen sign.

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On our driveway for Easter.

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Make it as big as you can,

as vibrant as you can.

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It's usually the first time it's

warm enough to break up the sidewalk.

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Talk again.

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So we really like to get

that out and to just declare.

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That he is risen.

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To all who walked by.

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And I think this would be a really

sweet went to even get neighbor

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kids, to participate in and have a

great conversation about why Easter

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is so important to your family.

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A truly simple and easy tradition.

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That is a must do for

us on Easter morning.

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Is our confetti egg tradition.

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I found these at Walmart

a couple of years ago.

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And I think we've used them maybe five

years in a row and they still have them.

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I'm so thankful.

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Each year I buy extra just in

case they stop making them,

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but so far I've.

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The big foot to see that

they're still there.

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And they're super inexpensive.

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So I buy these confetti eggs.

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And they are hollow eggs that

are filled with confetti and then

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sealed off with tissue paper.

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And I will put down a plastic

tablecloth and there are cuter

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options every year with these.

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I'll put a plastic, tablecloth

that down on the table.

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And then I set the table.

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With.

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Just maybe a fun napkins and

paper plates, because I have

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learned that is part of the key.

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To a peaceful holiday

morning with little ones.

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I just want to make sure that.

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Can we get to church on time and

joyful and all of those little

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things have really helped.

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With those items on the table, then

I will set out these confetti eggs.

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And it's nice because they have that

flat edge where the tissue paper is.

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So they will.

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Set nicely around the table.

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Then on Easter morning before we eat.

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We grab our resurrection eggs and

we shout as loud as they want.

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And then we smashed the confetti

eggs on the table and it looks so

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pretty with all of the confetti.

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I just always want my kids to

know I'm going to cheer louder

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for Jesus than for anything.

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And then we enjoy breakfast

together before we get ready.

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There are also some worship songs.

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That I like to put on in the background.

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Was it a morning like this, I love the

lyrics of that and the anticipation.

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That.

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Produces.

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Those are some of my favorite

ways to keep the focus.

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Of Easter truly on Christ, but to

make it really fun for little ones.

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Don't forget to head to our website

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We know you're busy, Mama, so

we are truly grateful you joined

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us for this episode of Again.

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If you're looking for more information

about building your home on the

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foundation of Jesus Christ, head to www.

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This scripture saturated study

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world, and we want it for you, too.

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Before you go, I want to pray

this benediction over you

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from 2 Thessalonians 1, 11 12.

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We're rooting for you.

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To this end, we always pray for you,

that our God may make you worthy of His

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calling, and may fulfill every resolve

for good and every work of faith by

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His power, so that the name of our Lord

Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in

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Him, according to the grace of our God.

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And the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Amen.

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Until we meet again.