Celebrating the Resurrection

Happy Easter to all and we have much to celebrate with the resurrection of Christ!   In Poland, everything shuts down for Easter. So we ended school on Wednesday with an Easter program and then fun activities for the day.  I was part of the small group who prepared for the festivities.  The pictures and captions will speak for themselves.  It's Monday, a day after Easter, and it's snowing.  In fact, it's been snowing since Easter morning! Thankfully, since everything is still shut down, there's no people out on the roads, etc (not that a whole lot of plowing takes place here anyways!)  We worshipped with the Tomy church on Friday evening for their Good Friday service.  Members of the church shared their stories and tied it into how Jesus's story wasn't finished on Good Friday, although many at that time thought his story was finished.  It was an amazing worship.  Then yesterday, we all gathered back together and celebrated His resurrection.  It was a packed place again and some had come for the first time.

As I was sitting in the church on Friday evening, I was sitting behind this family.  I was just thinking about "their" story and how so many people sitting there that night had their own story.. just like I have my own story and so do you.  How often do we think about our story and reflect on all the ways God has beckoned us to Him?  Jesus' story was written for me... for you.

For myself, for Josh and the girls, our story includes God's call for our family to move to Poland and serve Him alongside an amazing group of people.  Josh and I were just looking through photos while the girls were playing outside in the snow on the small little balcony.  Adjustments? Challenges?  Pain? Yep, but the opportunity to witness His work, His beckoning, His love here in Poland is priceless and we've gotten to be a part of it.  We are so blessed and for many of you reading this, you need to realize that you should feel equally blessed as you've joined with us in this journey.  We love you all... Happy Easter.

The first part of the morning we had the children go through 4 stations.  The first station was a monologue of Mary talking about her son, Jesus from birth to his trial. 

The second station was a Roman soldier talking about what he did to Jesus during the trial and crucifixion and how he wondered if he, too, could be forgiven for what he did.

The third station was our principal (Alicja) leading the children into a time of prayer and reflection.  Each student took a stone and placed it under the cross .

I love this picture showing such a tenderness in prayer among children.

Finally, in the last station, the angel showed that Jesus had risen from the tomb and he was no longer there!

 In each room, the children received an "egg" (a cut-out that included a symbol from that room and scripture) and once they finished going through the stations, they were able to color the eggs and put them in their baskets they had made a day earlier.  I went through the stations with the last group of students and although it was all in Polish, it was incredibly powerful. I felt God's presence there and knew I was a part of something honoring to Him.

Then, we gathered all the students in the gym and played games. Thankfully there was time to process everything and make a transition from "serious" to "fun".   See the pictures below!

I have to admit that it  seemed weird to play "pin the tail on the bunny" (yes, I got to put my artistic talent to use, ha ha, and I drew and painted this bunny myself!) after having such a spiritual experience with the stations!

We were tricky to Kaylor!

A group from Central Christian College in Missouri were here for the week, so they brought plastic eggs to do an easter egg hunt with the students.  Here are the spoils of Lauren and her classmate!  Top American candies brought (and not found in Poland):  starburst jelly beans, anything reeses pieces!  All the students had such a fun time with the hunt-- and since it's been so snowy and cold still here,  each class had their hunt in their room.

You would've gotten a kick out of seeing our tiny little kitchen and 7 eggs hanging from the cabinets.  I had gotten a cold (courtesy the girls), but had to make these eggs for the program!!!  I  did paper mache over balloons and then each class decorated one.  Here they are hanging before getting "whacked"!

Lauren's class eagerly awaiting!  Everyone dubbed their egg the "bird's nest"!

Kaylor's class (lucky for her and the two boys there, the rest of her class were home sick!)

Let the whacking begin!!

On Saturday, we went to our friends' house and colored eggs with the American group.  Coloring/dying/painting eggs are a tradition in Poland and done on the day before Easter because Catholic tradition is that they take their eggs to the priest and have him bless the eggs.  Then they bring the basket of eggs back to their homes and set them on their table as their center piece.  On the Monday after Easter (called "Wet Monday"), the holy water used is thrown out!

After coloring the eggs, we all enjoyed a wonderful meal!

These are the eggs we colored and brought home!

Easter morning!  Although Easter baskets are not a Polish tradition, the girls did find small little baskets when they woke up.  Not sure how it happened, but we don't have any pictures of them yet!