He is risen!

Well, it might be a little late for an Easter post, but it is always a good time to celebrate the resurrection, right? :)  Easter here began with a sunrise-ish service at 7:00am out at the fire pit, sans fire.  It was a nice informal service where the music was a capella and the message was based on John 12:24 - "Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."

Following the service I returned to my apartment to make final preparations for a day of Easter egg decorating with 45 kids and teenagers.  Thankfully last year my sister brought me plenty of egg dye (painting Easter eggs is definitely not a Mexican tradition and not something you can find supplies for in stores here), so I was ready for the day.  What I didn't anticipate, however, was that I would be standing up the whole time.  By the end of the evening, everything in my body seemed to ache.  It was a lovely time though, and I am glad it worked out well.

Little girls

Little boys

Teenage boys

Teenage girls

With 45 kids decorating eggs, I boiled 150 eggs ahead of time in hopes that each would get to decorate at least 3 eggs.  It took a while, but I got it done in the days ahead of time, and I was glad that the apartment downstairs is vacant because I was able to store all those eggs in the fridge down there.  Coloring that many eggs with that many children produces some unique designs.  Here are a few of them that stood out to me.

These smiling eggs were done by a girl who used to scowl all the time.  It's good to see her smile more often now.

This girl struggles with literacy, but she wrote on her eggs "God died on the cross"  "For our sins"

Pretty design

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This young woman used tape to write Jesus on her egg.

Cool idea!  This boy reminded me that I had forgotten to put out rubber bands for unique patterns on the eggs.  Unfortunately I couldn't find any in the house.  The big question now, will I be able to remember next year....? :)

I'm not sure what the goal was here, but I like how it looks like a dinosaur egg!

Fun characters.  The one on the right is a cow that looks very similar to the one on the paper towels they we using. :)

Minions are big here in Oaxaca.  Unfortunately this teenager wasn't quite finished and soon this turned into what looked like a zombie minion, but at least I got a photo while it was still cute. :)

Someone found the golden sharpie :)

The teenage girls' eggs turned out to be more about friendship.

This egg (pictured below as well) was painted by a young woman who as been at the home since she was three years old.  She continues to have many struggles, but it is good to also see the ways she has grown.

The young woman who painted this egg attempted suicide three times the week before she was brought to the children's home.  She has been here for over a year now, and while there are rough days, she has grown so much and hope seems to have blossomed in her.  Her egg says "Jesus I love you."

This young woman wanted to write Jesus in different languages on her egg.  I'm really hoping Google Translate didn't fail us on this one. :)

5:00pm - finished decorating eggs, but the day is not done.  I've had a longstanding date with the teenage girls on Sunday nights for the past few months.  I first volunteered this time in order to help the teenage boys' housefather have a break.  We have been without a steady teen girls' housemother for 4 months now, and so he takes care of all the teenagers on the weekends.

The girls and I always bake something together and then enjoy whatever we made while watching a TV series, Once Upon a Time - very addicting, even when you're a teenage girl and have to read subtitles :).  That Sunday I handed a few of the girls a brownie mix with the ingredients and left them to it while the rest of us cleaned up the kitchen.

They talked me into letting them watch three episodes that night, since there were no classes in the morning. I talked them into trying deviled eggs, which some of them promptly gagged over - apparently deviled eggs are another Easter tradition that hasn't made it from the U.S. to Mexico. :)

And that's a wrap!  The next morning as I walked to the dining hall for breakfast, I chuckled to see some egg shells along the path.  I guess someone didn't care so much about the decorations on the egg as they did about the boiled egg for eating :).

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May we discover more each day what these verses mean for our own lives:

"Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me." John 12:24-26