I didn't get any great photos of Kate in her Easter finery this morning, but I did my best considering that she will not stand still for anything, especially not today. There was quite a saga surrounding this dress, one mostly caused by my own stupidity. We picked up her dress more than a week ago one day when we were out running a bunch of other errands. Score one for me for being prepared, something I did not do such a good job on when it came to buying an Easter basket. I did that last night at Albertson's at about 8:30 p.m. Unfortunately, Kate saw, tried on and fell in love with the dress the day we bought it so of course she proceeded to ask when she could wear it starting from the minute we left the store and continuing for the next two days. Fortunately, my mother-in-law saved me from myself. A couple of days after we bought Kate's Easter dress I went to the baby shower that a friend hosted for Isaac and I. Not only did my mother-in-law send gifts for Isaac, she sent one for Kate -- a great little dress perfect for playing. So Kate forgot about her Easter dress long enough for it to be Easter, and I did not have to talk about her Easter dress every minute of every day for a week. Seriously, that's what was about to happen. We did tell her last night right before bed that the next day was Easter and that she could wear her new dress, and so the first words out of her mouth this morning when Dan went to get her out of bed were "I wear my dress?"

We did also talk to her a lot this week about what Easter actually means aside from new dresses. Last week's Palm Sunday service and Sunday School lesson helped her grasp the ideas, I think, as did this Sunday's festivities. But it's still really hard to explain the concept of resurrection to a two-year-old, mostly because they are so literal and immediate about everything. Right before church started today, I was telling Kate again that today was a special day, that we were celebrating because Jesus rose from the dead and is alive. Her response to this was "Yes! And we see Jesus at church today!" She was looking around the sanctuary, like He was going to walk through the door any minute. So then we had to explain that umm, no, probably we won't see Jesus at church today because Jesus is in heaven and we don't know when He's coming back.

But it got me thinking that my two-year-old might have a little better grasp on how I ought to look for Christ's return than I do. When I tell her that Jesus is coming, she looks around for Him. She believes it with no trouble. I hope she always does.

Having learned from our mistake with the dress, we did not tell her about Easter eggs this morning. But we've got a basket and have hidden some eggs filled with candy, so it's time to go introduce her to that part of the day as well. Based on her joyous reaction to special Easter cupcakes in Sunday School today, I think she's going to be pretty pleased. Happy Easter everyone. Christ is risen!