Ex-Pat Easter in Horizontina. . .

Our ex-pat family, minus Silvia and baby Jacob

It was a cool, windy day here yesterday. Emma sat outside for a few minutes, but it wasn't warm enough to have an Easter egg hunt outside. We ended up having it inside and she was still pretty happy!!

Happy Easter!!

My first attempt at a Seven-Layer Pea Salad. It ended up having eight layers and I skipped the dressing on top. It was awesome though and totally worth all the time I spent chopping veggies!!

Jacob slept through most of our Easter celebration and hardly made a peep. He was just a content little guy and he didn't mind that Emma found all the eggs!

Mollie boiled some eggs for Emma to dye and they had a great time together. I love how well the other ex-pats love on our daughter. Sometimes it's really hard for me to live so far from family and friends. I wish Emma could see her grandparents and cousins more often, but I am so grateful that God has provided some aunts, uncles and grandparents for Emma here:)

"Aunt" Mollie, or as they say here, "Tia"

I never did find plastic eggs like we have in the States. The eggs here are unique. They are real eggs that have been emptied of the yolk and white and then dried. Someone crochets a long strip of brightly colored yarn and then the yarn is carefully glued to the egg. I really think they are beautiful, but if an egg is squeezed too hard, well, it breaks. The yarn holds it together, but the shape isn't quite an egg anymore.

Happy Easter from the Schrags!!

We spent quite a bit of time last week talking about Easter and what it means. Every time we see a cross, Emma says, "Mommy, that's the cross that Jesus died on." One night after she went to bed, Kevin and I watched the Passion of the Christ (for the first time). The brutal reality of what Jesus did for me by dying on the cross weighed heavy on me. I kept thinking to myself, Why did he do that? Why did he let those people beat him and mock him and crucify him? Why didn't he just do something? I kept hearing the answer over and over, Because he loves you Sandi. Because he loves you. Because he loves you. He was doing something. At one point, I remember thinking, But nobody could love me that much. Not that much. My last thought isn't true. He does love me. So much in fact, that he went through hell to redeem me from the consequences of my sins. It was a very powerful movie and I think I'm more grateful this year than ever for what Jesus did for me. I don't deserve his love and mercy, but he loves me. He loves me. Oh, how he loves me. Thank you Jesus.