Easter Surprises:)

Another Easter passes in the Nelson household!!!  We all really missed you--Abe, Lexi, and Macie!  I loved talking to you and seeing you drink coffee, Abraham, pretty cool phones you kids have!!!  I told Es you looked like the guy in "24" Jack Bauer!!! She got a kick out of that comment! Thanks for calling, I felt like you were almost there! I thought I would let you know how the whole weekend went since you were in Detroit WORKING!!!  (Who makes their employees work on Easter????) :)  Sadly, Nick had to work also.

 My Easter began Friday with an incredible Good Friday prayer time with a room of dear friends, sharing our hearts and thanking Jesus for our kids and all His blessings!

Sarah, Hannah and I have been attending a Saturday morning study with an unbelievable book--The Cup and the Glory  by Greg Harris which has been life changing this past month as we studied suffering from God's perspective.  A  must read especially for anyone going through some tough trials--which is probably everyone on this earth!!! With all the crazy stuff going on in our family with now, it has been a real encouragement to keep on trusting that God is in control!! This guy lost his twins, his health, his good friend, his job and tells how he grew through it all  (You can read the first two chapters online at www.glorybooks ministry.org):)

 


Sarah and Parnel ran a 5k that morning and I let her take my car for the first time to buzz home and get ready for the church picnic :) It was perfect Cali weather and so fun to watch six of our grand kids excitedly hunt for eggs.  Abby got the grand prize for finding TWO gold eggs!!!

Dad worked all day faithfully mowing and weed-eating our massive yard preparing it for a grand Easter egg hunt!  He even planted me some bright yellow flowers that just shout out "Spring!" Izzy and Rachel and I cooked everything ahead of time so we could enjoy the family on Sunday!  Izzy prepared a yummy Sea-foam Jello Salad and Rachel mixed up a Delicious Potato dish which was deeelish and probably a wee bit better than your Easter Cracker Barrel potatoes!!

Rachel's Delicious Potato Casserole

Ingredients:
2lbs frozen hash browns
½ cup butter or margarine (melted)
1 (10 ¼ ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1 pint sour cream
½ cup onion (peeled and chopped)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Cooking Instructions:


Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 11 x 14 inch baking dish with cooking spray (or lightly grease with olive oil or butter).
Step 2: In a large bowl combine hash browns, melted butter, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, onion, cheddar cheese, salt and pepper. Pour into the casserole dish.
Step 3: Place into the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until the top has browned.
(Makes 6 Servings)

SEAFOAM SALAD

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1 lg. can pears
1 lg. (6 oz.) pkg. lime Jello
4 small pkgs. cream cheese (12 oz. total)
1 lg. (12 oz.) Cool Whip

Heat 2 cups pear juice (add water to make 2 cups). Pour over Jello and mix. Soften cream cheese with 4 tablespoons milk. Add to Jello; mix well. Cool until thickened. Whip, add 2 cups mashed pears. Fold in Cool Whip. Pour into 9"x13" dish and refrigerate. Can be made a day ahead.

That afternoon Laura arrived home from Vista, and we all headed to her old church in Rocklin, Bridgeway--your old stomping grounds, Abe .   Quotes for the night included:

"Finally, let us remember that the time is short, and the coming of the Lord draws nigh.  A few more battles and the last trumpet shall sound, and the Prince of Peace shall come to reign on a renewed earth.  A few more struggles and conflicts, and then we shall bid an eternal good-bye to warfare, and to sin, to sorrow, and to death.  Then let us fight on to the last, and  never surrender."  -J.C. Ryle

"We must know that He is God, as He claimed to be. That He is the only way,  That His death on Calvary finished the work of salvation...That He rose from the dead as final proof that He had conquered death and sin and hell.  That He is coming again.  That He will judge the world.-Joseph Stowell

They presented an astounding rap "The Champion" of the Easter story which was pretty astonishing--Rach loved it !!! (You must check it out at http://vimeo.com/channels/230248) After church, sweet Sarah bought Rachel and Izzy an Easter dress and outfit from Crossroads which were darling!
 

Izzy's new Easter dress

Sunday morning we sat down to Dad's special coffee blend and "monkey brains"!!!! I loved blasting the radio with all the wonderful Easter songs that I hear only once a year. How super it was to have Laura home again and we all sat around  way too long chatting making us rush around to get ready for church.  Landon looked adorable in his new Easter outfit, and all the girls looked gorgeous!  We took up the whole row at church and didn't even have enough chairs--we're up to a row and a half now:)  I loved having Xander on my lap.  He was so quiet and respectful!!!

MONKEY BREAD - BEST EVER                

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24 Frozen Rhodes Rolls (dinner rolls)
1 cup brown sugar
1 box butterscotch cook & serve dry pudding mix not instant
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 stick butter, (not margarine)
pecans or walnuts, chopped, optional

Right before going to bed, or 10 pm, sprinkle pecans or walnuts into a greased Bundt pan, (I use Pam cooking spray), then put 24 frozen Rhodes Rolls into pan. Mix brown sugar and dry pudding mix together and sprinkle over frozen rolls. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top of that.Melt butter and slowly pour over rolls in Bundt pan, trying to cover all of the sugar. Leave on counter overnight and when you get up, the rolls should have risen nicely and you will put Bundt pan on a cookie sheet in a preheated 350°F oven and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and pour rolls upside down onto a large platter. Serve warm

Laura, Landon and Sarah

We spent the afternoon hanging out and putting together the last minute details for the Easter ham dinner.  It was a perfect Spring day and Dad took the grand kids on a walk while I pushed a duo on the swing. Paul was, as usual, the family photographer! (I will send you more pics as soon as he sends me them). The annual Easter egg hunt went fast as Landon and Keira headed the team out to the search!  The little kids decorated their tablecloth with Easter stickers and the young adults wrote questions for after dinner.  They did an amazing joy with questions like: What is your most memorable Easter? Why is Easter important to you?  What is your dream job? Who will be the next pregnant person? We loved Parnel's answer to his question, "Who at the table do you find most interesting? Of course, Hannah, was his quick reply with a lot of glowing and hilarious stories--one of them being he feels like a child molester now that she has her braces (for the tooth implant) and looks like she is 15!  Hannah's magnificent carrot cake was the grand finale to a day filled with family, good friends, and thankfulness.

The girls sweetly cleaned up the whole mess quickly and cheerfully, thanks to fantastic paper products, and we again just chatted and laughed so thrilled to have everyone, but your family and Nick, altogether for the day!

Much later on that night,  Hannah surprised us and came back over bringing her Quelf game. You must play it next time you are here-- we stayed up until 12:00AM being silly!  We all munched on Esther's appetizers she had brought, including the famous and beloved Spinach Dip with sourdough bread. Joanna had us  all laughing til our sides hurt.  We watched Mikel attempt to do the splits, Esther be a human X, and Rachel jog to "Chariots of Fire" in slow motion:)  

'Hoping we will all celebrate Easter together next year!!!!!!!  Love you all!