Easter

This year we made a concerted effort to talk about the Holy Week during, well, the Holy Week. I got a lot of our ideas from this post. I think it went pretty well because Eleanor especially seems to understand more about who Jesus is and what He has done for us.
 The most touching was on Easter Sunday when we watched this video that recaps the highlights of the Holy Week, particularly the Atonement and Resurrection. As we watched the portrayal of the soldiers whipping Christ, Ellie exlaimed, "What are they doing?! I don't like this part!" I held her and replied, "I don't like this part either. But Jesus us loved us so much He was willing to suffer and die for us. And after he died for, what happened?" She beamed and said, "He was resurrected!" It was a nice moment to share my testimony of Christ's love with my daughter and to see it reflected in her.

But of course we also did some traditional fun things like dye eggs and go to an Easter egg hunt party.
Here's the photographic evidence.

Our ombre eggs turned out lovely, except purple which was unceremoniously dumped into the dye cup.

 Here we are post egg hunt with our friend Robert.

His mother is in our ward and his father passed away last November. Ben has been their home teacher almost since we moved here, and we have been giving them a ride to church for close to 2 years now and Ellie and Robert love playing together, despite their one year age difference and the fact that Robert speaks considerably more Japanese than English. Kazuko, Robert's mother, is such a wonderful woman and I am so grateful to know her! We feel that this special family is one reason we are here in Japan and why we will be here for some time.