French Toast Easter Scavenger Hunt

We are on the countdown - just 4 more days until Easter! For me, I want Easter to be meaningful for my family, and yet not too complicated or busy. We always decorate eggs and have Easter egg hunts but this year I was looking for just a little bit more.

So when I was asked to participate in the #Hallelujah Easter campaign, I was thrilled. SugarDoodle.net provided all the traditions I would need. Our Easter Family Home Evening was a success with all of the activities and printables I shared yesterday, and now all my focus can be on this weekend. If you are looking for a simple, meaningful tradition for your family's Easter, perhaps you can join me and my family as we use the beautiful resources below:

In an effort to use a basket full of fresh backyard eggs, Colette from My Computer is My Canvas started experimenting with a French Toast Bake Recipe that has quickly become a family favorite.  Plus, with Easter just around the corner and the #HALLELUJAH Initiative gaining steam, she recently related each of the ingredients to the Savior; making this recipe not only a great Easter-Eve Lesson, but also a delicious Easter Morning Breakfast Tradition!

To get started, print off the Scripture Scavenger Hunt PDF and let your kids dive into the New Testament to learn more about the Savior as they fill in the blanks to complete the recipe!  A couple of the scripture clues are a tiny bit tricky, so be sure to use Page 2 to find extra clues.

Next, it’s time to get baking!! After many attempts with this recipe (and fails) – Colette finally identified the perfect bread for her French Toast Bake... bagels! They are soft AND dense which allows them to effectively soak up the egg mixture and maintain their shape for soggy-free baking. A fun twist to this might be Cinnamon Swirl bagels or even gluten-free ones for those intolerant.

From there... just follow the recipe! Cut bagels into 1⁄2” cubes, make and beat the egg mixture, then pour over the bread.

Be sure to recruit your kids to help you, they’ll have fun making the recipe with the clues they found! Colette likes to mix the cubes and egg mixture in separate bowl to make sure the bread gets well coated – in fact, for that step, she relates how the tempest was raging and the Savior calmed the storm... so get those cubes tossing and turning like a ship at sea!  As noted in the image above, this is a “make ahead” recipe and it should be refrigerated overnight.  This allows extra time for the bread to adequately soak up the egg mixture. Then, before baking, prepare a brown sugar crumble and “spread” it across the top, just like the Palm Branches were spread for the Savior as he entered Jerusalem! (Crumble recipe included on the cards.)

Colette has provided lots of printables for us...just click on the following links:
Recipe cards + an easy toprint PDF to do the Scripture Scavenger Hunt with our families!

The final step? Take a picture of your family making it, baking it or eating it and share it on Social Media with the #HALLELUJAH!

Lastly, as the final highlight, I knew I wanted to include this new, spectacular video in our family's Easter festivities.

May your Easter be festive and focused on the Savior of the World, is my hope for you my dear friends!

XOXO,

Jamie

A Simple Easter FHE #hallelujah

Easter is fast-approaching and we've started our annual family traditions for this glorious holiday.

Last night for our family home evening lesson, we opened the glorious gifts that our Savior has given us with these gorgeous nesting envelopes created by Heidi Swapp. As we reflected on the gifts of Easter, the Spirit filled our home.





{You can download these free printables for the nesting envelopes here}

Then, for our Family Home Evening activity, we made these adorable Easter baskets courtesy of Melissa Esplin. Our children chose the recipients of these Easter goodies and we plan on delivering them in the next few days. Not only are these little baskets absolutely darling, but they are decorated with symbols. {You can find the free printables here.}

{As a little side note: we've made a goal this year to do one service project per month as a family. Last month on Valentine's Day we visited the local care center to sing songs and this month for Easter we will be delivering these Easter baskets.}

UPCOMING TRADITIONS:

This weekend we have plans to decorate Easter eggs, go on plenty of Easter egg hunts, and do a few new traditions that I will post about tomorrow.

What Easter traditions does your family celebrate? Please take a moment to share below - I love to read your ideas!

XOXO,
Jamie

The Race of Grace

More than ten years ago, the spring snow still frozen in icy patches here and there on the yellowed grass, my body was poised in runner’s lunge on the rubbery track, every muscle quivering in anticipation. I filled my lungs with cool, spring air, and the gunshot blasted — sending me off on the 400-meter dash.

My old, weathered gym shoes methodically hit the track and my steady breathing kept time with my steps. I started out strong, like I always do in this mid-distance race, leading the pack as we rounded the first bend. Even so, it was hard to judge how I was doing when the lanes play tricks on your perception.

The straightway stretched further than I recalled and I questioned my sanity in running the race that requires an all-out sprint for the whole quarter mile — the race deemed “the killer race.” Just the thought reminded my legs how tired they already were.

Still I ran on, hoping that maybe this race would be different.

Today, I know you’re weary. You give your all day after day, but this race of life is more taxing than you ever expected.

I know. I've been there too...

***To read the rest of my post, click here and join me over at DaySpring's (in)courage website where I am so honored to be guest posting today. {And while you are there, don't forget to sign up to receive free daily encouragement delivered straight to your inbox.} 

Join me today as I share a lesson I learned from a dear high school track teammate. And as you read, let the words breathe encouragement into your heart.

Inspiration for your Valentine's Day

This has been an epic Valentine's for our family. So much love and sweetness, my heart can barely contain the sentiment.

But to end the day, I just wanted to share with you 3 little tidbits that I found so inspiring on this day of love.

First, can you feel the corners of your mouth turn upwards in a sweet grin as you see what this young man did for the girls in his school on Valentine's Day last year? My heart just melts with his kindness.  {Click here}



Second, with all of the love-giving on this amazing holiday, perhaps you might take a few minutes tomorrow to send a little love to yourself? Sometimes we forget that we must love others as we love ourselves. If we want to increase our love and charity towards our fellowmen, we need to increase the love we show to ourselves. Watch this heartwarming video clip below or {Click here} to view on YouTube. This truly brought tears to my eyes. Perhaps you might consider the power of a personal love letter?




Lastly, take just a moment to enjoy my little family's Valentine to YOU! (We created this video two years ago, and it melts my heart to see my sweeties look so little!) Watch below or {Click here} to view on Vimeo.


Valentine's Day 2014 from Jamie Johnson on Vimeo.

Happy Valentine's Day my sweet, wonderful friends & family! May you feel my love for you and most importantly, the love of your kind and ever-near Heavenly Father.

Secrets to a Heartfelt Valentine's Day

Is there a way to elevate Valentine's Day from one of high expectations and disappointment to one of meaningful, heartfelt memories?

I've experimented over the last nine years to find the secret formula for the perfect Valentine's Day. These 5 simple tips below are the essence of what I have found.

1. Give Love. First and foremost, change your focus from "getting love" on Valentine's Day to "giving love." This tip is the single most important thing I can offer you.

It will change your world.

Dream up all the ways you can make this day magical for your family, friends, and loved ones, and watch your heart expand and open. This one simple shift in thinking will allow you to receive more love than you can possibly imagine.

2. Celebrate YOUR Family. I could easily call this tip, "Don't compare," but I don't like the negative statement. Instead of allowing yourself to get caught up in all the ways your friends, neighbors, and social media photos celebrate Valentine's Day, be unique. Be authentic and create your Valentine's Day in a way that brings you and your family joy. It doesn't matter how anyone else is celebrating. Honestly take stock of what is important and meaningful to you and cut out the rest guilt-free. This tip is vitally important as you read the rest of my tips. I offer our family's celebrations as mere ideas. Please don't feel like you have to do or be like me. Just be YOU.

3.  Simplify Traditions & Decor. Not all the loving plans and gifts we dream up will be realistic or even feasible. Hone your list of dreams to the very most meaningful ways you can make Valentine's Day special.

{Our simple Valentine's Day celebrations include gifting the children a bowl of candy and chocolates when they wake up, along with a new book or two that I have recorded reading to them so they can listen anytime they would like. My husband and I take turns planning our evening date for after the children go to sleep.

My Valentine's decor is very simple, yet lovely. I fill my red glass basket that belonged to my grandmother with Valentine's chocolates, and place an empty chocolates box on the table. This empty box is sometimes filled with love notes that we write to each other. This year I am on the lookout for when my children are kind and serve one another. I write it on a little heart and place it in the box. On Valentine's Day I will assign one of the children to be Cupid, and they will get to pass out the hearts to those who did the service. I hang on my shelves a simple banner of 5 vintage Valentine's cards on red & white striped twine. And the final touch for me is a big bouquet of fresh flowers. This is the icing on the cake for me...my flowers have yet to arrive this year, but I will be posting a photo on Instagram when they come if you follow me there.}




4. Create a Heartwarming Meal. Now, this meal doesn't have to be fancy or glamorous or even homemade. Plan a meal that will bring you joy (and not much stress). If our holidays are so consumed with busyness, they lose their sparkle and cease to be a joy and delight. Make your menu, then don't second-guess yourself. If a night out at a special restaurant would be more joyful to your family than hours in the kitchen, don't hesitate. But if you prefer a gourmet feast with all the trimmings, follow your heart. There is no right way to create a heartwarming meal. The key is to make sure whatever you do is heartwarming to you and those you love.

{For breakfast we are trying out a new tradition of a special Valentine's cereal bar where the children get to create their own bowl of "cereal love" (Rice Crispies topped with heart-shaped marshmallows, tiny dehydrated marshmallows, and sprinkles). Dinnertime always involves hearts of some kind. Some years we make a heart-shaped pizza, but usually, we have heart pancakes.

This year the menu will be: heart-shaped pancakes topped with strawberry or raspberry jam & a dollop of whipping cream, along with cherry pomegranate juice, bacon, eggs, raspberry pretzel salad, and chocolate-dipped strawberries for dessert.}

5. Let this holiday be a pattern for your life...

If Only You Believe

I keep thinking about Lazarus. How the impossible became possible when Christ raised him from the dead. But can you imagine the agony his sisters Mary and Martha must have endured for the four days before the miracle?

If only Christ would have been here. If only we would have sent for Him sooner. If only all of this would never have happened. The if only's must have run rampant through their hearts during those four long days.

And when Jesus came to Bethany, Martha uttered her grief: "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." If only.

But if only is never part of the plan. God's ways are always higher than our ways, and our lives unfold exactly according to His will for us. Not because He wants us to suffer. But because He always has something greater in store.

For Christ himself told his apostles before they traveled to Bethany, "...I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe..." The death of Lazarus was not a heavenly oversight but a vital part of the heavenly plan to show forth the glory and power of God.

Even so, Martha still doubted. She worried that the body of Lazarus would stink having lain in the tomb for four days. Christ's response is both humbling and hopeful: "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?"

We know the rest of the story by heart. Lazarus comes forth from the tomb, alive and well and "many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him."

The question is, do we?

It's easy to believe in the miracles that Christ performed in the Bible. We have hindsight. But do we believe in the midst of our own daily struggles? Faith is not true faith until is tried.

I have wondered time and again if my faith is strong enough to withstand horrendous, terrible blows. With the grace of God, I have overcome many challenges, yet even still I often wondered if my faith was strong enough to endure even more?

But that afternoon in September, just a few months ago, when we were broadsided by a car, I found out what my faith is really made of. There were at least a dozen thoughts simultaneously running through my head seconds after the wreck. But the one I remember the most is the resolute, steadfast faith that came to my aid. I silently stated to my heart, "This happened for a reason and somehow the Lord will turn this to our good."

In the coming days the if only's ran through my head on replay, but they were always combatted by an unwavering faith that the Lord was with us and would not abandon us.

The blessings we received because of the accident far, far outweighed the trouble it caused us. The Lord showed forth His glory and it was all for our good.

Last week our bathroom flooded, and while there were a million inconveniences this caused, we knew that somehow, in some way, the Lord would turn this experience to our good as well. And He has. We are not finished with the remodel that has ensued as a result, but in the end, I have faith that there are no accidents in heaven. Everything the Lord asks us to pass through will sooner or later, show forth His glory and turn to our good. Sometimes it doesn't happen for several months or several decades, but this I know: the Lord will compensate in ways we can't even imagine.

I have many trials in my life and I know you do too. My message to you today is to take a step back and find your faith. Silence the if only's and put your trust in the great God of heaven and earth. The promise the Savior gave to Martha is extended to us even today:

"...If thou [wilt] believe, thou [wilt] see the glory of God."




{All scriptures quoted from John 11}

Finding Christ in Christmas.

I pondered in the stillness, cuddled on the cushions of my white couch. It was late October and Christmas felt just around the corner. This year I determined to keep Christmas centered on Christ. As I gazed out the window, I briefly recalled Christmases past....

I remember the Christmas when I spent dozens of hours creating two twin quilts for my toddler boys. It started as an act of love, but as the days turned into weeks, and my boys watched movies while I painstakingly picked out stitches, measured endless yards of fabric, and hummed that little sewing machine for all it was worth, I realized how very much I disliked sewing and how very much time I was not spending playing with my little boys. It broke my heart and I vowed to never repeat that season.

Another Christmas, guilt consumed me because with all the festive traditions of cookie-making, light-seeing, gift-giving, and Christmas-caroling, I couldn't keep up. I thought I should do all of these amazing traditions and I over-packed our days like a too-small gift box. Most of the well-intentioned activities I had planned fell by the wayside. I felt like a failure, and I promised myself that a too-busy Christmas wouldn't happen again.

Last Christmas I felt stirrings in my heart to make the season memorable and joyful. But discouragement and discontent crept into the corners of my heart and all I could think about was how my walls were the wrong color, my decor wasn't fitting, and how my house didn't feel like home. This was the worst Christmas of all.

But this year, I vowed, this year would be different. Despite our crazy autumn packed to the brim, Christmas glimmered off in the distant December with a promise of hope.

To read the rest of my post and discover how I am intentionally creating more joy & peace in our Christmas, take a stroll over to Simply For Real, where I am guest posting today.