Good Friday 2011

Continuing from the last couple of Easters I'll post some favourite Hymns of mine that reflect on the wonder of Easter.

There's a good chance, even if you've never put a foot inside a church that you have heard the hymn "The Old Rugged Cross".  Whether you go to church or not, there's good chance that when you heard it you thought it was a bit of a stodgy old hymn... it's not.  Don't get me wrong, I have heard it played so incredibly terribly... just a little google search to check I had the words right gave me a dozen more dodgy versions.  THE BEST version I have ever heard was acapella... no music... at all.  Fantastic.

So, without distractions... just the words...


The Old Rugged Cross
George Bennard (1873-1958)

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
the emblem of suffering and shame;
and I love that old cross where the dearest and best
for a world of lost sinners was slain.

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange it some day for a crown.

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
has a wondrous attraction for me;
for the dear Lamb of God left his glory above
to bear it to dark Calvary.

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange it some day for a crown.

In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
a wondrous beauty I see,
for 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
to pardon and sanctify me.

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange it some day for a crown.

To that old rugged cross I will ever be true,
its shame and reproach gladly bear;
then he'll call me some day to my home far away,
where his glory forever I'll share.

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
and exchange it some day for a crown.



If you want to know more about why this Friday is GOOD, why Jesus had to die, or if you have anything else you want to talk to me about... you can leave a comment or you can email me at MummyMcTavish(at)gmail(dot)com

 Take care over this long weekend!

Easter Excitement

I thought I should fill in the Easter gap here on the old blog so I can remember what happened in years to come...

The Tuesday before Easter was Kids Church at Dragon's kindy.  I try to make sure we go even if it's not his kindy day and because I think it is such an important thing for the kindy to be doing I will pass on our regular activities so that we can support them (and I will hopefully be more involved again with it once Monkey gets a little bigger).  Dragon's class was even presenting this time and he had been very excited about going into the church (attached to the kindy) to practice so I thought he would be very excited about actually being in their re-telling of "The Good Samaritan"... and he was excited, until he was actually up there.

Obviously my son is a bit of a "ladies man" at kindy... he sat down and all these girls came and sat with him!

He didn't join in very much and looked a little freaked out the entire time but he did join in when they did some action songs at the end.

The next day was the Easter bonnet parade at Lion's school.  They made their hats at school but siblings were allowed to join in and you could just make them a hat at home. 

They were so cute.  Lion was taking such good care of Dragon, I was so proud of him for making sure his little brother was okay and  knew what was going to happen and that it was okay if he didn't know the songs they were going to sing, he could still stand there with him.

Making sure Dragon was walking in the right direction... even if there was no chance to head off course.

I was soooo amazed and proud that they BOTH got involved in the actions and the songs.  Usually EVERY SINGLE OTHER CHILD is doing the actions and singing and having a great time and Lion and Dragon will stand there pretending that the world is spinning without them.  They joined in and had a blast.  This shot is "Little Peter Rabbit".

Yes, I made Dragon's hat.  He refused to glue, tape, draw, cut, ANYTHING.  But he HAD to have an Easter bonnet and when Lion suggested a crown like his "because that is what all my friends are wearing" Dragon was adamant he wanted something different "because I'm not your friend, I'm your Dragon".

One thing I try to do with the boys is make Easter baskets on Good Friday.  This year we made bunny heads.  The boys were critical of my design and said that the ears at the back of the basket should be a tail... I just suggested that possibly the top of the bunny's head was missing and we could pretend when they get their eggs that those are his brains.  My design was vindicated and the world returned to it's peaceful happenings.

They glued their whiskers, stuck on their noses, I stapled on the ears then they got to lather the thing in glue and stick on cotton balls.

SOOOO cute these boys!

Their stash from the EB.  BUNNY BRAINS!  Does Dragon look like he should still be sleeping???  That's because HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN!

So that was our Easter.  Things I don't have documented...

• We usually have brunch on our patio after the mega early Good Friday service so this year I figured why not invite the family around since we usually have trouble all getting together over Easter weekend.  Everyone turned up and we had eggs Benedict, fruit salad, apple and cinnamon muffins, coffee, juice... it was so yummy and filling I didn't even realise I had forgotten to put out the hot cross buns!!!
• The meltdowns over not being allowed to sit and eat every piece of chocolate they were given all in one sitting... some things are best not documented in photo form.
• The  Lindt Gold Bunny I always get from my husband... can't document it if I didn't get it!!!!!  (he's lucky I love him, I was almost tempted to buy up every last piece of Lindt Easter chocolate that Target had half price the other day, but I thought that might give him a heart attack when I brought it home)
• Lion being incredibly sweet (again) and letting Monkey use the little paper Easter basket he made at school because Monkey didn't need a big basket.

How do YOU do it?

Ya know, I used to carefully peel the foil off the eggs so it all came off in one piece, scrunch it into a ball and each subsequent piece of foil would be wrapped around that making a bigger and bigger foil ball. You know you've had too many when you can't get one piece of foil to go round the ball. (but then you just switch to bigger eggs with bigger bits of foil)

I'm finding that as the Easter chocolates wear on I'm getting less fussy, or perhaps more sugar fueled. I just tear the foil to shreds getting it off and scrunch all the pieces into one little wad to throw in the bin.

I've never thought about having an egg style (perhaps an egg-centricity, hahahaha, okay, it really wasn't funny, that one was all sugar fueled) but it's apparent that I do... or did. So what's your style?

♪I've got that Hippo feeling♬

I know I portray on here that I am so close to perfect it's scary (stop that snickering) but I thought I would share with you that even I have my moments...

Today I went shopping in my nice new maternity top (that still looks like a bit of a swag but it's better than nothing). I was feeling less like a hippo and more like a normal (rather round) person. I got home after an hour or so shopping, picking Lion up from kindy, BEING SEEN IN PUBLIC BY LOTS OF PEOPLE, I was eating my dinner when I felt something scratching my back... you guessed it, I still had the tag attached to the shirt, and I'm pretty sure the fluro yellow "SALE" tag if not the ENTIRE tag was visible through the fabric. Oh well, I'm back to that hippo feeling.

Now it's back to your not so regularly and not at all scheduled posts.

Since it's been Easter the boys and I have been singing the Colin Buchanan song "He Died Upon the Cross" a fair bit. The other day we got into a bit of a discussion about the song. Here's the lyrics as best I can remember them...

He died upon the cross.
He died upon the cross.
He died upon the cross.
For me, for me, for, just for me.

One day when I was lost,
He died upon the cross,
He died upon the cross,
For me, for me, for, just for me.

They laid him in the grave,
They laid him in the grave,
They laid him in the grave,
For me, for me, for, just for me.

One day when I was lost,
He died upon the cross,
He died upon the cross,
For me, for me, for, just for me.

He rose up from the dead,
He rose up from the dead,
He rose up from the dead,
For me, for me, for, just for me.

One day when I was lost,
He died upon the cross,
He died upon the cross,
For me, for me, for, just for me.

He's coming back again,
He's coming back again,
He's coming back again,
For me, for me, for, just for me.

So, all the questions started flowing...

"Mummy, what's a grave?" So we had discussed the tomb where they put Jesus body but there was no connection between Jesus death and any other death. It's the first time I have been thankful that my kids have experienced death. I was able to explain what happens with someone body after they die because Lion still remembers his Great-great-grandma's funeral. So we went through the special wooden box at the front of the church was for holding her body because she didn't need it anymore, then we went to a place called a cemetery and there was a big hole dug in the ground and they lowered the special box into the hole and they covered it all up and then it wasn't just a hole in the ground it was a grave. A grave is where someones body is buried after they die because they don't need their body anymore. But sometimes it's not a hole in the ground, for Jesus body they had a big hole in a rock with a giant stone to cover the entrance to the hole, usually we call that a tomb, it's a type of grave. They didn't realise Jesus would still be using his body for a little bit longer so they put him in a grave because they thought he was going to stay dead.

Dragon sings "Laid in grave, Jesus still need 'is body, laid in grave, for me, for me, for me, for me, for me, for me, for me, for me,..."

Lion asks why it says we are lost. So then I explain it's not talking about being lost on a street like mummy sometimes gets lost when we are looking for a new place, or being lost in the shops when you can't find your mummy or daddy but it means when we aren't friends with Jesus we are lost. Jesus died for us even though we weren't his friends because he knew that was the only way that he could make us his forever friends.

Dragon sings "one daaaay when I was looooost in the shops, Jesus died on the croooooss for me, for me, for me, for me, for me, for me, for me,..."

So a few more deep questions came out that I can't remember now. It was lovely, I am wondering however, if we'll need to have the same discussion again in a year or so to clear it all up for Dragon again.

Christmas in April?

As my boys sleep to the soft sounds of.... Christmas Carols???? oh well, they're sleeping so I thought I'd post the couple of Easter egg photos I have been told I must take every year because "that's what we always did" or something like that anyway. So this morning I got the last 2 photos out of the camera batteries before they died and had to go on to charge for our beach trip this afternoon. So let's not muck around anymore, my head hurts and I want to get to bed....

The Easter Bunny had a dilemma this year... where to hide the eggs so that they wouldn't be too hard to find but wouldn't be found and consumed before mummy and daddy woke up (he is a thoughtful little rabbit really). The answer...

IN THE BATHTUB!

He left a small trail leading from their bedroom to the hall outside the bathroom but not too many eggs in the trail so if they ate them all as they found them they wouldn't be too buzzed before breakfast.

He is a bit of a T.A. our bunny, there's not too many googies, but he does give a little non-dairy gift for the boys which was met with just as much delight as all their seasonal dairy treats.

(please excuse Lion's weird face... It's his "I'm sitting still and smiling like you asked now hurry and take the photo so I can go crazy again" face)
The boys found the eggs and Lion got INCREDIBLY excited and did a cute little dance singing...

"The Easter Bunny came,

The Easter Bunny came,

Happy dance, happy dance,

Happy dance, happy dance."

If you are a visual person and are imagining his cute little dance as you read this please turn off your imagination now because his next line was...

"Dance with me mummy"

So we did our "happy dance" in the bathroom while Dragon was hanging over the side of the tub drooling at their stash.

They made these baskets last year and they surprisingly survived to be put away for this year.

I realised this afternoon that I haven't eaten a single bit of chocolate at all this weekend. I think that is why I have had a headache all weekend, I've been in such close proximity to SO MUCH chocolate yet I haven't had a bite, my brain is rebelling. I'm thinking there must be something wrong with me to not have eaten any. Oh, except those two little eggs at the BBQ the other night, I know a certain someone will pick up on that if I forget to mention those.

He is Risen!

In Christ Alone

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

In Christ alone my hope is found;

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This cornerstone, this solid ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My comforter, my all in all—

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe!

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save.

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied;

For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain;

Then bursting forth in glorious day,

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory,

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;

For I am His and He is mine—

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—

This is the pow'r of Christ in me;

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand;

Till He returns or calls me home—

Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.

He is Risen indeed,

Wolf, Mummy, Lion, Dragon and Peach Blossom McTavish