As a little girl, Easter was always my favorite holiday.\u00a0 I enjoyed Christmas, but Easter always made my heart just jump for joy.\u00a0 I loved picking out the perfect Easter dress, bonnet, shoes, and those oh so adorable white gloves.\u00a0 I still love gloves today. There is just something so genteel about little white gloves. <\/i>\u00a0Growing up down South, we had egg hunts outside and sunrise services where we didn\u2019t freeze to death.\u00a0 When Easter morning arrived, I could hardly contain my excitement.\u00a0 The items in my basket were always good, but for me the pure joy came when we stepped through the doors of our white church.\u00a0 He is risen!\u00a0 He is risen indeed!<\/i>\u00a0 Those hope-filled<\/strong> <\/em>phrases were used in place of hello, and they echoed from every corner of the sanctuary. Easter is the definition of HOPE<\/i><\/b>. Maybe not according to Webster\u2019s, but it really should be.\u00a0\u00a0Recently, I have been grappling with the reality of Easter.\u00a0 For any believer who has lost someone, the significance of Easter is a clinging hope.\u00a0The only hope that makes sense.<\/em><\/strong> It is the\u00a0promise that through Christ\u2019s sacrifice, we will see those loved ones again.\u00a0 His incredible gift to humanity has made that possible.\u00a0 When I was a little girl singing with her church family, I would often get choked up on Easter morning.\u00a0 The chocolate bunnies and Peeps were nice, but even then I realized that someone gave his life for me.\u00a0 Lately, my conflict has been are we recognizing what Jesus really did? He didn\u2019t just give up extra cream in his latte or get bumped off a flight.\u00a0 He gave his life in a cruel, brutal and foretold way so that we could know the lavish depth of His Father\u2019s love. If you have ever felt unloved, this is why you shouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 He loved you enough to go through with the most horrific of deaths. \u00a0If you ever feel left out or rejected, please know that he chose me (and you and everyone else) – loved me\u00a0enough to lay down his life.\u00a0 But even more significantly, he would have done it even if I was the only one who needed to be saved, and that alone fills my heart with hope.<\/p>\n oneperfectbite.blogspot.com<\/p><\/div>\n This has been a gift for several years from our friend, Karla Adams.\u00a0 She is an amazing cook, seamstress, volunteer, and friend.\u00a0 Actually, I don\u2019t know much she isn\u2019t good at. Kandy\u2019s kiddos have always loved when the Easter \u201cknock\u201d comes and there she is with the gift of this bread.\u00a0 It always looks beautiful on our Easter table.\u00a0 Delicious, fun, and something the whole family will love.<\/p>\n Ingredients: <\/b><\/p>\n 2 Frozen loaves bread<\/p>\n 5 raw eggs<\/p>\n Food coloring<\/p>\n Powdered sugar frosting<\/p>\n Dye eggs with food coloring. Add food coloring to 1\/2 c water. Dye as desired. DO NOT boil eggs first.<\/b><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n When bread is thawed and just starting to rise,\u00a0 make into ropes of dough. You will have 2 long ropes. Take the ropes and twist them together. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Shape into a circle and pinch the end together to form this circle. Place the dyed eggs into the braided gaps. This will look funny at first. But as the bread rises it will look more like a nest.<\/p>\n Spray dough with cooking spray. Try not to spray eggs. Place a flour sack towel over it. When bread has doubled in size, bake @ 350 for 25\u2013 30 minutes or until golden brown.<\/p>\n Cool completely. Drizzle with powdered sugar frosting. Leave it white or color it. Sprinkle with Easter colored M&M\u2019s or robin egg candies.<\/p>\n NOTE: Before making the ropes I like to roll out each loaf of bread and add some butter and sugar with cinnamon. This gives it a little extra look and taste.<\/p>\n February Challenges: The February newsletter\u2019s theme was love.\u00a0 We encouraged our readers to Did you love your neighbors? Did you encourage a young person last month?\u00a0 If so we would love to hear from you.\u00a0 <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n The best laid plans . . . well, we didn\u2019t get the neighborhood soup night accomplished. \u00a0\u00a0The mission\/tagline of this ministry ~ Real women ~ Real lives ~ Sweet Grace isn\u2019t just something we say, but it is how we really operate on a daily basis.\u00a0 We want to be genuine and real, even when we come up short on goals.\u00a0 Instead of soup night, we cleared snow off of driveways following a recent snow storm.\u00a0 Our neighbors who were out of town returned home to clean driveways and were able to just relax.\u00a0 I did accomplish the writing of letters for challenge #2.\u00a0 I chose six teenagers to write letters of encouragement and told how proud I was of them.\u00a0 Most importantly, I told them how I was glad they were in my children\u2019s lives. \u00a0After I had mailed them, I told my kiddos that I had done it, in case any of the recipients said anything to them.\u00a0 A few did, and I received a call from one mom.\u00a0 The best was the one who caught my eye (didn\u2019t say anything), but made sure I noticed her after the school band concert.\u00a0 It felt really good to do it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So much so, that I think it is going to become a habit.<\/p>\n Life is full of uncertainties, disappointments, and moments of despair. However, even when times get difficult and intimidating, as long as we keep hope alive, we can continue to move forward with confidence.<\/p>\n When you have hope, you believe and have faith that things will get better and you will persevere. Hope is a powerful attitude which opens doors where despair slams them shut.<\/p>\n The Webster definition of hope is the “feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best” or the “feeling that something desired may happen.\u201d<\/p>\n How does hope help us in our life?<\/p>\n 1. Hope helps us to feel stronger. When we truly believe things will get better, we are willing to do whatever it takes. With hope we can look to the future with confidence and excitement, and we can begin to do more than we ever imagined.<\/p>\n 2. Hope helps us focus on the positive. Whatever we focus on grows. When we maintain our focus on the positives in our life, more positive things come into our life. Hope allows us to look forward to all the wonderful things in life.<\/p>\n 3. Hope helps us envision possibilities and solutions There will always be difficulties, but hope helps us to visualize good outcomes. It allows us to expect good things to happen.<\/p>\n 4. Hope gives us the desire to learn and grow. Hope helps us regain interest and get involved more fully in life. By growing as a person we will make improvements that lead to greater life-satisfaction and well-being.<\/p>\n 5. Hope helps us to take an empowered view toward life. A hopeful attitude helps us see the best, work for the best, and, ultimately, experience the best in life. Hope increases our joy, courage and level of success in life.<\/p>\n No matter what you face in life, always think hopefully, speak hopefully, work hopefully, and act hopefully. Do all you can to make hope a daily habit. Remind yourself that regardless of what happens in your life, you always have the option to choose hope.<\/p>\n For the last few years, Kandy’s and Brenda\u2019s families have gotten together to dye Easter eggs.\u00a0 We all look forward to it.\u00a0 Last year, I think we dyed eight dozen eggs.\u00a0 We decided the four dozen from the year before just wasn\u2019t enough. Everyone gets involved.\u00a0 There is a lot of creativity \u2013 including planning for the next time we do this. Conversations of I saw this cool idea in Martha Stewart magazine or on Pinterest come up more than once. We dream, we plan, but mostly we laugh.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think anything tops the laughter from the year we created a mural with the left over dye.\u00a0 After admiring everyone\u2019s creations, we lamented about how the dye was just going to go to waste.\u00a0 As a teacher, I am always up for a new experiment.\u00a0 With a twinkle in my eye, I ran downstairs and grabbed an old white sheet that was destined to become a plant protector when the fall frosts threatened my garden.\u00a0 We took those coffee cups filled with dye and splatter painted that sheet.\u00a0 It was amazing.\u00a0 It was so much fun that it lands up there with catching fireflies, playing in the sprinkler, and running to meet the ice cream truck for this Southern girl.\u00a0 Of course, the most laughter came after the sheet dried and we noticed the now Easter dyed lawn.\u00a0 Oh well, a little collateral damage was worth the fun we had.<\/p>\n We would love to hear of your families Easter traditions. Please respond to this post with what Easter traditions you and your family hold dear.\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n We decided to see repeat a\u00a0blog from last year because it was such a wonderful activity that our whole family enjoyed. Our littlest one took pride each day in spritzing the garden with water.\u00a0 As the garden grew, she delighted in trimming the lawn with scissors.<\/p>\n![\"Lil'](\"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/03\/dsc_0829.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0 Christmas is wonderful, but it if you want to see joyful Christians come to church early on Easter morning.\u00a0 I like contemporary Christian music, but I was raised on good old Southern gospel hymns. Each Easter, joy and hope exuded from every pore as we sang \u201cBecause He Lives\u201d and \u201cChrist the Lord is Risen Today\u201d. \u00a0Even today, I still get goose bumps when I hear the organ roll leading into the chorus of \u201cUp from the Grave He Arose\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n
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Family Cooking: Easter Bread Nest<\/span> <\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/a>Making hope a habit is\u00a0the lesson from our guest writer this month.\u00a0 Our friend, Fay Prairie has blessed us with a great piece on choosing hope.\u00a0 Fay is a speaker, writer, counselor, wife, mom, and friend.\u00a0 You can learn more about her at her website http:\/\/www.fayprairie.com\/<\/a> I have enjoyed getting to know her, and she has been a huge encouragement to me as I have decided to follow God\u2019s leading in forming all of this.<\/em><\/p>\nHope Can Advance Your Life <\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
Family Traditions<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
\u00a0Family Easter Garden<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n