Happy Easter Keagan David!

We had an excellent weekend celebrating this beautiful holiday with our baby boy. Thursday night, Gramma, Keagan and I went to a Tenebrae Service at church where Keagan got to hear the first part of the Easter story and then took communion for the first time. I was a little sad on this night; I couldn't quite put my finger on why but I think it was because I realized Keagan may never get to make the choice to commit his life to the Lord or never take communion. Gramma reminded me that he took it right along with me, and later as I processed my thoughts, I was actually joyful that if Keagan has as short of a life as doctor's expect, that he will be completely innocent and know nothing other than love, our family and friends, and God. I also know that Keagan's life is currently glorifying God and as parents, Roy and I have made the choice to give our son back to the Lord.

Friday night, we went over to Gramma and Papaw's to decorate eggs. Gramma and I do this together every year so I was glad to create this memory with Keagan. Papaw even decorated one to join in on the fun! We made sure to make one for each of the boys so they would all have one Sunday morning. Gramma mistakenly had Keagan's egg upside down when she wrote his name, but I said it was okay because we like being different :) She also had the idea to create Keagan's first Easter eggs that we could keep as keepsakes - this meant blowing out eggs. Another fun memory...and lesson for us as we had never done this before. I am very happy with how the eggs turned out, but even more so love the memory that we were able to create with our little guy.

Saturday morning, we went to the church to help hide eggs for the children's Easter egg hunt and then of course to watch them participate. Not only did I want to do this, but I thought it was a nice return of a gesture from when the kids made the signs for Keagan. After the crazy Easter egg hunts we have been having in our family recently, I told Gramma I wanted to hide eggs in the older kids section so I could have my turn making it a little difficult. I must say that I am proud that one of my eggs has yet to be found. I deemed myself "The Best Egg Hider Ever," but also realized it is a lot of (fun) work preparing for an egg hunt! :) Pastor Ryan, the picture below will show you where the egg is - hope there is chocolate inside for you!!!

This morning, Keagan and I went to church with Gramma and Papaw and enjoyed a very nice service. After church, we met up with daddy and spent some time with Grandpa Burton and Aunt Becky. This was followed by lunch at Papaw and Gramma's with the rest of the family. We got to see Drake and Carson do their Easter egg hunts and then Roy and I opened Keagan's basket. Gramma and Papaw gave Keagan a "First Easter" card (that of course made me cry!) and two stuffed animals, one of which also said "My First Easter." Aunt Jessica and Uncle Travis made up a little basket for Keagan, complete with Hot Wheels motorcycle, which was adorable and we appreciated so much!

After eating, it was time for the "big kids" egg hunt. Keagan got to participate in this one, and I think he definitely felt the effects. Gramma has been known for coming up with some great ideas for egg hunts, and Papaw is in charge of hiding the eggs/clues/gifts. Last year, we did a geocaching adventure that took us a half mile out into the woods and up in to a tree stand so we had no idea what to expect this year. Our first instruction was to, as a family, look in the common places from previous egg hunts to find one egg. Roy, Keagan and I were the last to find our egg - we even had to have "hot/cold" clues because it was taking so long! We then got to open our eggs where we found a "Word Mania" clue. It had four pictures, and we had to determine the word in common with all four pictures. Jessica and Travis found their gift on the flag pole, Brian's was on a mask on the tree, and ours....under the pool deck, taped on the back of a slide! How lucky :) We figured out our word was "slide" fairly quickly, but then I was at a loss because the slide we used to have had been taken down a couple years ago. Travis and Jessica told us the boys had a plastic slide by the house, so we went to check that, but nope! That would have been too easy! I then noticed the old slide under the pool deck. Roy gave Keagan and I the honor of climbing under there to find our gift, so Keagan was probably a little smashed for a while! As Roy said, Gramma and Papaw never fail to impress us with the egg hunts!

We are so thankful for this holiday and for our family who helped make Keagan's first Easter such a special day. We had a lot of fun and experienced a lot of joy today. To be honest though, I was a little saddened seeing all of the kids dressed up at church and all of the pictures of children enjoying their Easter baskets. I want Keagan to be able to do these things in the future.  But again, with some thought, I realized if Keagan is not physically present with us next year at Easter time that is because he is getting to spend it in heaven with Jesus and all of the angels and what could be more beautiful than that!

Happy Easter to all of you! I hope you enjoyed the day and remember the reason for this day! He is risen!