{"id":790,"date":"2013-04-07T03:54:37","date_gmt":"2013-04-07T03:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.com\/?p=790"},"modified":"2013-04-07T03:54:37","modified_gmt":"2013-04-07T03:54:37","slug":"an-eggcellent-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/?p=790","title":{"rendered":"An eggcellent tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few years back our honorary son and his girlfriend called us up asking if we had plans for one of the days of Easter break.\u00a0 They were free from college courses\u00a0and wanted to come over and love on \u201ctheir\u201d younger siblings.\u00a0 For us the definition of family is those who we choose to love.\u00a0 I think Jesus would be okay with that definition.\u00a0 Josh had been a part of our kid\u2019s lives since they were teeny, and after Reed\u2019s death and later Andy\u2019s death, he had assumed the role of oldest brother in this family.\u00a0 It was something for which we are forever grateful.<\/p>\n

That call led to an epiphany moment, \u201cWould you want to dye eggs with the kids?\u201d.\u00a0 Always up for an adventure, Josh and Nicole both happily agreed.\u00a0 Egg-dyeing is one of those traditions that was hard to go back to after losing a child.\u00a0 So began the new tradition.\u00a0 Since that first year,\u00a0 we have had many memories as we embraced all of Josh\u2019s extended family into the tradition.\u00a0 We have had stuff stuck in trees (long story), splatter painted sheets with leftover egg dye, and gotten downright funky in our egg-dyeing techniques.<\/p>\n

This year was no exception.\u00a0 While we missed two members of our merry band, the rest of us \u2013\u00a0nine total –\u00a0gathered around a table first for dinner, and then for the annual egg-dyeing eggstravaganza!\u00a0 When we broke bread (yes- the homemade kind), we read from a devotional that shared about Good Friday.\u00a0 It was divinely appointed that all of our birds (white pigeons which resemble doves) flew out of the cote exactly at the moment we read, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d John 19:30 (NIV)<\/p>\n

The thought of those sweet words being a Victory shout brought tears to the eyes of a few of us at the table.\u00a0 Never had I thought of those final words as victorious.\u00a0 It was a humbling moment for\u00a0my heart.<\/p>\n

After supper we were up to our elbows in eggs \u2013 eight dozen to be exact. We did try old favorites of using those hole protector stickers to create designs on the eggs.\u00a0 Who knew we had so many white crayons?\u00a0 We upped the ante by using electrical tape for some pretty bold geometric shapes and designs.\u00a0 Erin even pulled off a methodical and tedious checkerboard pattern using that same tape on one egg.<\/p>\n

\"eggs\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Once the last egg was dyed, the laughter and creativity lived on.\u00a0 Since our yard still had quite a bit of snow cover and I did not want Easter egg colored dogs, the sheet idea was O-U-T!\u00a0(Sometimes a momma just has to\u00a0put her foot down.) \u00a0I remembered that we had some small blank canvases in the basement art stash.\u00a0 The wheels began to turn.<\/p>\n

Out came the stickers and one canvas!\u00a0 Next came the paintbrushes . . . followed by a big dose of creativity.\u00a0 Everyone painted a small area, and in the end it was a beautiful group art piece.<\/p>\n

\"Easter<\/a><\/p>\n

What was even more beautiful was the creation of our hearts.\u00a0 Even though all present miss Reed, we have been able to go beyond the societal definition, and rise from the ashes of tragedy to create a masterpiece of enormous proportions \u2013 a family<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n

The link to our devotion:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/odb.org\/2013\/03\/29\/shout-of-triumph\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few years back our honorary son and his girlfriend called us up asking if we had plans for one of the days of Easter break.\u00a0 They were free from college courses\u00a0and wanted to come over and love on \u201ctheir\u201d younger siblings.\u00a0 For us the definition of family is those who we choose to love.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[168,172,174,201,263,274,313,323,516,626],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}