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Easter with a Big Family: Traditions, Faith & What Matters Most · Praise, Prayer & Protein

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, I'm Kate, mom of seven, coffee lover, and believer in finding joy in every season of motherhood.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: This is Praise, Prayer, and Protein, where we talk faith, family, frugal living, and the real life mom hacks that make it all work.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Let's dive in.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Hey friends, and welcome back to the podcast.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: I am really excited about today's episode because we are heading into one of my favorite weeks of the year, and that is Easter.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought it would be really fun to just sit down and share what Easter actually looks like for our family, a big family.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Not the Pinterest version, not the perfectly planned version, just what it really looks like in our home.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in my room after church, in between going to Alpha.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: And we put our basketball net out yesterday, and it is literally right outside my bedroom window.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: So if you can hear that, I'm only semi-sorry because I'm so glad the kids are back outside playing.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Even though it is absolutely freezing, we have a few kids that love to shoot hoops.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm glad they're out there.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna yell at them to stop while I try to record.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: So today or yesterday, because you'll all be listening on Monday, was Palm Sunday.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: And for us, this always feels like the start of slowing things down just a little bit to turn our hearts towards Easter.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: I know some people think more like when Lent starts, that's when it happens.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: But for me, it's really about the Palm Sunday service.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now we go to church every Sunday.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: That is just part of our rhythm as a family.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: But there's something about Palm Sunday that feels a little bit more intentional.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, okay, we're entering into something that is really meaningful this week.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I just love being in a room uh with our friends and church community worshiping and having our kids learn about Palm Sunday as well while they're worshiping in their kids' church.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's something just so grounding about showing up, worshiping together, seeing familiar faces, and being reminded that we are not doing this life alone.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now, for you moms who are in the early years, I wanted to uh think back on what our Easter uh really looked different for us over the years, especially when our kids were really little.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: There was a very, very long season in our life where we just did not go to a Good Friday service.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: It just was not realistic for us.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: We had babies and we had toddlers, and it was just so chaotic.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of trying to force something that felt really stressful uh in those years, we made some really intentional decisions to stay home and we created our own way of um remembering what Good Friday was all about.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Friday became a very quiet and intentional day at home.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: We would watch a kid appropriate movie about the death of Jesus.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: One of our favorites was a couple recommended to us when we were young parents, it was called The Miracle Maker.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: It is a claymation film, but it tells the story of Jesus in such a beautiful, simple way for kids.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: There are a few scary parts in that movie, but they're not scary as in like monster scary parts of the movie.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're just um, you know, the crucifixion was not pleasant.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: So they try to do it as best as possible.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: We would also read uh the story about uh Jesus and the crucifixion from the Jesus Storybook Bible.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's a really great Bible.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have that and you are a mom with young kids, I love that book.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: I will have a link in the show notes and also the action Bible as the, you know, we as we had some kind of elementary age kids at that time too.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't fancy and it wasn't long, but it was really meaningful and it gave us a way to pause and reflect together.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Something I was thinking about this week was back then we really didn't have to think about all the same distractions the way we do now.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Our kids were so little, they didn't have their own devices, there weren't phones constantly pulling at our attention.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: But now that our kids are older, we have had to be more intentional and we have set some ground rules.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: So usually Sunday mornings in our house are no phone mornings.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like you don't get to go play any of the phone games that you like to play on Sunday mornings.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's because we have a very short time to get us all out the door to church.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so we just carry that through to Good Friday as well.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: So when you wake up, there is no going straight to phones, which we tend to have anyway.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: But some Saturday mornings they'll go to cartoons or they'll go to the TV, but that's a no-no for Good Friday.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: We just create space to be present and to reflect and to think about um the day a little bit more somber.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then as our kids got older, things began to shift again.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: We still had little ones because our youngest was born in 2020, but we felt it was time to bring them to a Good Friday service, especially it came after a season of the pandemic.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so it was just time to be back with a community of believers.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I will never forget that first time.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: It was actually so amazing amazing.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I think one of the good things that actually came out of the pandemic for our family was we learned how to worship together.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Even when church was online and it felt really awkward to just be singing in your home, we still did it.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And our kids learned how to worship and they learned the songs, they learned what it looked like to lift their voices.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: So when we went into that Good Friday service and we heard our kids singing with the church, it was so powerful.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: It was a very big full circle moment.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, moms, if you were in the season where your kids are really young and they're not understanding um the complexity of that service time, like don't feel shame or don't feel like you're not doing the right thing by being home and watching a veggie tailed movie on it, or watching the chosen for kids um on it, or finding something on um Angel Studios that has to do with Good Friday.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you can do that at home.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can be intentional with those things.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: You can just read a story to them, and that is sufficient.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like you are teaching them what happened on that day, even if you're not going and sitting in a service, like just waiting for them to be uh ready to go into that service and to be sort of attentive.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, our little one is still not really there, but because he has older siblings to look up to, um, it's a little bit easier for him.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Saturday is one of the most fun parts about the weekend because that is when we do our family Easter brunch with our entire extended family.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we do it Saturday because Sunday is just so full for all of us.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: So Saturday gives us the space to slow down and enjoy being together.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: We all meet at the building, uh, probably like early enough so we can cook together.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of us bring um dishes we've already made, but for the most part, we do do pancakes and coffee and all that kind of stuff at the building together.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: The kids just run around.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's just so easy and so fun.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And some of my favorite go-to dishes that I will make for that, if you are looking for some easy Easter dishes, are French toast casserole.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's always a big hit.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Baked oatmeal.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I really love this egg baked casserole that my cousin makes with like tater tots and eggs and ham and peppers.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: It is like my favorite.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to eat that all the time.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Greek yogurt and granola.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: And last year I just made some ham and smoked gouda croissant sandwiches that, of course, were delicious.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: And mini eggs always must make an appearance at the Easter brunch.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, then our kids do this big cousin uh Easter egg hunt.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: The older cousins go out and hide the hundreds of plastic eggs that me and Sarah have um filled together with candies and chocolate and all that stuff.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, there is a lot.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: We sometimes are still finding them in the summer that they haven't been found.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um last year we even did the trend that I saw going around where you duct tape some of the bigger eggs, like the kinder eggs, onto two older, faster kids, and the younger kids had to like chase them down and tag them in order to get one of the big chocolate eggs.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: The kids absolutely love um that part of Easter, of course.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Who wouldn't love to get some candy?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Then on Easter Sunday, it is all about church.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: We wake up, we do our normal Sunday church routine.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: We do not do um an Easter bunny, we don't do any Easter baskets.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: That stuff was all done on Saturday with the Easter egg hunt, but we get ready for church.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Most of our family is up and out very early in the morning because they all love being part of the Easter choir, which is so special.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: This year, uh, we are actually serving, we greet at church once a month.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's always the first Sunday of the month.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, Easter happens to land on that this year.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: So we will be at the door greeting.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you live locally and do not have a place uh of worship or a place where you would go to celebrate Easter, please come join us.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: We have three services at 9, 11, and one.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Bring your families.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be absolutely amazing.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, I'll be at the door to greet you if you don't know anybody.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I will be wearing my Easter hat.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: It was something I got as a little girl: an Easter hat, a new dress, some sunglasses.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I will be at the door rocking that this year.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Then after church, of course, we just take it easy on Sunday afternoons like normal, do whatever we want.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then we will have a family dinner with just our family.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'll do baked ham, mashed potatoes, which we are still using from our family garden.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: They are so yummy and I'm so thankful.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have carrots and peas and just all the yummy comfort food, and of course, lots and lots of chocolate with that.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: We also are big movie lovers around here and we love curling up on our coach to watch a movie.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Some of my favorites to watch during Easter are Peter Rabbit 1 and 2.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: I just love those movies.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: They're so cute and so fun.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And popcorn with mini eggs is an absolute must for that.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: So the kids can um use their Easter candy and their Easter chocolates, and we just do the sweet and salty bowls, and they are delicious.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Monday is a holiday.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: The kids don't have school, so we will be resting.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: There will be no rushing, no alarms, there will be sleeping in.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see if we get a podcast, another podcast done uh for next week, but I'm not 100% sure about that.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: But at the end of it all for this week, the brunch, the eggs, the chocolate, the tradition, what matters most is what Easter represents.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, I'm so thankful for what Jesus did on the cross.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: There was a time in my life where I felt completely lost.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: I was searching for something and just nothing satisfied what I was looking for.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't until I encountered the love of Jesus that everything changed.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: So my prayer for you this week is that you would take time to pause, to reflect, to remember, and that the love of God would be so real to you this week, and that you would know deep in your heart how much you are loved.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: That you would know that with all of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for being here today.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: If you loved this episode, of course, I would love for you to follow the podcast, share it with a friend, and leave a review.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Those things actually make such a huge difference.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to thank each and every one of you for doing that for past episodes.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the Mom Rage one, for the amount of shares that you guys have done on that is amazing.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: The amount of freedom moms are getting from that episode is absolutely incredible.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad I posted that one and that I listened and just did it.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: So every time you guys share the podcast, I definitely can see the bump in numbers.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: It is all you guys doing that.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: As always, thank you for messaging me, for encouraging me.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, as a words of affirmation girl, I love each and every one of those.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for being here.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Hope you have a great Easter, and I will see you all back here again next week.