Hidden Eggs and Lots of Smiles

So like many of you this Covid stuff has really changed your life. Our family is right there with you. This means that the adventures with travel and getting out to try new things has drastically changed as well. But I believe with everything in life there is always something you can learn and take away from those experiences. Well I definitely have learned a lot during this time, but one of those things that really sticks out has been to live in the moment and enjoy the smaller things in life. Well Easter was one of those times

It was leading up to Easter Sunday and Krissie (my wife) and I were trying to figure out what we were going to do. At this time we were right in the middle of the world shutting down, and we were trying to do our part to help stop the spread. So we had spent a lot of time at home, and we were only going out for the most important things that we would need to live. You know the toilet paper, the food, and now the Easter gifts.

Each year we normally do the same things on Easter. We decide which church we are going to go do, Krissie picks out matching outfits, we take way too many photos, hunt for Easter eggs, and give gifts to one another. Well this year we were not allowed to go to church, so we don’t need to buy matching outfits, we are in our pajamas so we do we need to take photos? We still wanted to have candy and hunt for those eggs, and we should probably get our kids some gifts. So here we are trying to figure out what it is we are going to do, and how are we going to make this Easter egg hunt work?

Thank goodness my wife is amazingly creative. We decided to load up on the candy and eggs. We then would hide them throughout the house while the kids were sleeping, and when they woke up BAM! They would be ready to go. Their baskets held their Easter gifts, and would double as their treasure chests to hold the candy loot they would find. This was such a great plan, and man we stayed up all night to hide those eggs. Poor kids were going to have to wait until noon for us to wake up and let them hunt for those eggs.

One concern that we did have though was the ages of our kids. We have a 13, 11, 8, ad 6 year olds. So would they enjoy hunting for eggs? Do they even still believe in the Easter bunny? What do we do? Is there all for nothing? Well I can tell you that hunting for Easter eggs is exhilarating. Even for adults finding treasure is exciting. I mean think about when you find that $5 in your pants pocket while doing laundry. Or even browsing the radio station and your favorite song from the past comes on. Each time it is like a gift from heaven! So I don’t know why we were worried. They all loved it. It was one of the first times since our lockdown that our kids really enjoyed doing something together as a family. And it just made our week. Maybe even month. We wanted to live out meaningful moments with our family, but were at a loss of how to do that.

So that brings me to a couple lessons I learned during this Easter from home. The first is that adventures and moments of remembrance don’t have to be expensive trips across the country or even the biggest most expensive gifts that money can buy. They can be $5 worth of candy, and some dollar Easter eggs. We sat on the couch in our pajamas, watched church, and ate our candy. I may have been my favorite Easter of all time, and I really believe that as as family those memories will be something we will all look back on and just smile.

The second thing I learned is that when trying to love someone and love them well there has been one tool that has helped me tremendously. That tool has been a book that was suggested to me called “5 Love Languages” by Gary Chapman. I have learned how to love my wife, my kids, and the people around me in a more real and meaningful way. The concept is that each person has a love language, or a couple go primary ones, that they feel most loved when loved in those ways. They are words of affirmation, gifts, quality time, acts of service, and physical touch. And this Easter I saw my kids’ eyes glow up with some of their primary love languages. We got to spend quality time together and I got to give meaningful gifts to them that speak to what they love at that moment.

This concept of loving others how they want to be loved is very important when trying to live out our adventures, and loving others always. You see I could have gotten each child a gift and not put much thought into it. Or I could have not allowed the time to have what I would call a “silly egg hunt”, and just done what I wanted to do. But as I am learning to adventure at home, I am starting to realize that I need to live in the moment and be intentional in the way I live my life.

So remember to treasure those little things and times with your family, and to love in a way that is true to the person’s heart you are loving on. It will go much further and will be much less effort on your part. So go out and Adventure from Home, and Love Always!