First, a tiny bit of backstory. We have the pleasure of hosting a family home group for our church. Each week on Friday five families with children get together at our home to have some fellowship, enjoy a cooperative meal (the ladies take turns in teams of two), and learn from the Bible. The kids are cared for by a couple of fantastic volunteer sitters downstairs in our spacious playroom. There are 10 kids in our group and 10 adults from all around the world (Venezuela, UK, Romania, Spain and of course, US). It's this group plus 3 more families that got together for the Easter celebration. I am blessed beyond belief to have all these friends quite litterally fallen into my lap. Someone mentioned wanting to join / start a home group, we said, hey we'd love to host and that's how it happened. We've been meeting together for a couple of months now and I feel like we've finally got our footing being surround with a little family of believers.
Now, I'm sure it was the combination of some ladies itching for a creative outlet, the fact that I didn't get to 'do it up' for any other major holidays this year (since our belongings arrived after Christmas), and the lack of any Easter festivities here that resulted in this big party. At first, I was thinking 'What did I get myself into'? But now that it's all done I realize that if there is any holiday worth really celebrating, it's this one! My savior has risen and that's a lot to get excited about.
What with entertaining 15 kids and feeding as twice as many people we had a lot going on, so the few pics I didn't snap (when I wasn't desperately searching for my camera) will have to do.
The kids warming up with a few games in our garage exercise room.
Good thing being silly works in every language. I don't even know how many languages we had going, but those kids were troopers and played right along. We had some guests from Africa whose kids didn't speak English or Spanish... but they had fun anyway.
The men breaking in Josh's new european grill - birthday prize.
Resurrection eggs, we told the Easter story with the help of these fun toys. K'Lynn, mother of five was our amazing story teller.
Each child colored six eggs and got to take them home to eat later. I like the jewel tones that brown eggs produce even better than the pastel ones we are used to.
This was the first time many of our guests, adults and children had experienced egg coloring.
Huge mason jars, lots of apple cider vinegar, hot water and 3 ampules of food coloring is what it took to get that rich color quick - we only had 15 minutes to work with each group as they went through the stations.
We practiced the night before, so little bit was all ready to go and was an egg coloring expert!
Part of our celebration involved showing off American Easter customs, the other learning about traditional Catalan food. We enjoyed our first calçotada -a gastronomical event in which the calçots (a speciic variety of onions) are grilled and served with romesco sauce. Here you can see our new native Catalan friend preparing "el pa de tomàquet". - grilled bread, rubbed with whole raw garlic cloves, then rubbed tomato, then drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with a bit of salt - delicious.
My dear friend Kathi spooning out the most delicious sauce to accompany the calçots.
Apparently when you eat these in restaurants they give you a huge bib to go with it. It's a mess, but a fun and tasty experience.
Sergio and Joana, our friends from Romania who were the masterminds behind the calçotada event.
The kids enjoyed egg salad sands, some fresh veggies and rice crispy treats complete with uber expensive imported marshmallows!
Little precious ones exploring one another.
We rounded out the crafts and games with a huge egg hunt. Thanks to my husband stuffing his suitcase full of plastic eggs and American candy, a bit of creativity and some begged eggs we were able to hid 25 eggs for each child in their own special unique color. This was great because we could fill them age / gender appropriately, and because each child got the same amount. Not so great when we had a couple of older girls who wouldn't give up on finding the last egg. The Daddy's hid them too well.
Not sure if these pics do our work justice. Can you see those cute baskets? Well, they don't sell Easter baskets in Spain! The girls and I got together and in an afternoon were able to turn 11 shoeboxes into cute personalized, sturdy easter baskets that hold a lot of eggs. We used whatever craft supplies we could find around the house since um, their ain't no Michaels down the street. I'm sure there is a craft store somewhere, but I've never heard of it or seen it.
Counting up to make sure there are 25!
The little one sit down in the sun to inspect their treasures.
The bigger kids begin their hunt, this one lasted much longer.
Kathi and I enjoying the fruits of our labor, smiling kids!
The striped shirt gang, these boys stuck together the whole day.
Annika made a new friend that speaks only Spanish and a tiny bit of English. She is excited to have her over for a playdate soon.
New friends, chatting while their kids are happily engaged.
After all the excitement the kids relaxed with a couple of Easter DVDs on the couch. I love how they are all piled up on one another and so at ease together.
Josh remembering how small ours used to be. He is holding Samuel, one of my personal favs in our group!
One of the best things about having the keyboard/ piano in our home is the spontaneous worship that happens when Nes and Nick are here for group. Nick sits down to the piano and pretty soon a little group forms, complete with parents dancing with wee ones in arms, Annika practicing her best voice and me singing out of tune. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!
I hope your Easter Celebrations were glorious as well. Much Love, Nicole
