Easter with My Foster Peeps: War, Peace, Enlightenment and Traditions

Hi friends, We wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter, and share a post from last year for those of you who are new to our blog. We hope it brings a smile to your face... 

by John
Easter started with a bang.

The boys were fighting. One of the boys could not find his Easter basket, and the others had, so it was not so peaceful this Easter morning.

I had to step in and break up the fight and send the boys with their baskets to their rooms… This was all before 6:30am mind you. 

I gave my other foster child a hint as to where his basket was, and when he found it, and headed happily back to his room, I went groggily up for a shower.

By the time I came back downstairs the boys were all up, faces covered in chocolate bunnies and sugar coated peeps and said they were sorry. They even had my coffee ready for me. I smiled.

So, now I sat them down and asked them if they knew what had happened last night and early this morning.  Two of the boys had no idea, but the one foster boy who has been with me 6 years told me the Easter story.

I knew he should know it. He has heard it 6 times now but this was the first year he told it to me. I thought to myself, “ I LOVE IT! THANK YOU GOD! He can learn!”  (This is especially significant as this foster son has significant memory and learning difficulties stemming from fetal alcohol syndrome amongst other things.)

Next, I asked the boys if they knew what the Easter basket was meant to represent. The two boys who were being naughty at the crack-of-dawn this morning didn’t know. The other boy, again, showed that he could remember and recited all the symbolic meanings behind the Easter grass, and the candy.

Then I asked if the boys knew the meaning of the basket itself. None of them could remember so I reminded them.

I said, “It was empty last night, right? Nothing good was in it and nothing was in it to give hope, just like the tomb that they had for Jesus. The basket is like Jesus’ tomb.  It was empty but in the morning it was full of hope and love. You boys were just like the apostles, running to the tomb to see if it was true, to see if he had risen. You were looking for your baskets this morning the same way… hoping that they were full of all the good things you were dreaming of and when you found them you were so happy, you were laughing and loud, just like the apostles were when they found out Jesus had risen. “

So, then we went outside to do something I started a few years ago. I yelled as loud as I could three times “Jesus has risen, Jesus has risen, Jesus has risen!” The boys all had big smiles on their faces. They began yelling, “Happy Easter, Happy Easter!”  and our family grew a little closer because we shared our Easter together with traditions both old and new.

Don’t be afraid to start new traditions with your foster kids. You will create memories that they may cherish the rest of their lives. Invite them to share traditions that bring back good memories for them as well, from their former life, if they have them, or try to incorporate traditions from their culture. Sharing traditions helps build bonds amongst all the family members and creates new memories they can share and build upon.

Oh, and don’t worry, I did feed them an actual breakfast… on top of the chocolate bunnies and peeps.

Image: Flickr:  License

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