9 Empty Easter Eggs

Our family has made it a tradition to visit Ethan's grave on the holidays.  We like to leave a little something on his grave as a remembrance of him.  With Easter approaching, we were wondering what we could leave for him.  We have a hard time leaving regular gifts, because we know that he won't use them, and then what do we do with them after?  But we wanted to do SOMETHING, we just weren't sure what.  As I thought about what we could leave him, I was thinking about everything that Easter represents.  I remembered a story about the empty Easter egg.  In short, this story is about a little boy who was handicapped.  At school, they were asked, in celebration of spring, to take home a little plastic Easter egg, and bring it back with something inside that represents new life.  The next morning as they were opening the Easter eggs, the teacher found this little boys egg empty.  The story then goes like this:

"Flustered, Doris (the teacher) replied, "but Jeremy  - your egg is empty!"  He looked into her eyes and said softly, "yes, but Jesus' tomb was empty too!"  Time stopped.  When she could speak again.  Doris asked him, "Do you know why the tomb was empty?"  "Oh yes!" Jeremy exclaimed.  "Jesus was killed and put in there.  Then his Father raised him up!"  

It was then that I knew what I wanted to leave on Ethan's grave.  Nine empty Easter eggs.  Each egg representing a member of our family.  Each representing that we will all be resurrected again, and that we will be an eternal family.

 People ask us how we are doing after the Ethan's passing.  the short answer, is "good", and we really are doing well.  We miss him every second of every day.  We miss his smile, his giggle, his spunky personality.  We miss the touch of his skin, and the feel of his breath on our face as we lay next to him. We miss building Lego's, and playing Lego Batman on the Wii or Xbox endlessly.  We even miss his stubborn personality, and the long days and nights in the hospital taking care of him.  There will always be a hole in our family.  It is almost like he is gone away to camp, but for a really long time.  With all of this, we are still "good", because we have hope through the resurrection of Christ that we will be resurrected too.  We have hope that through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the covenants that we make with him, that we will be an eternal family.  That we will have the opportunity to raise our little boy.  That we will get to hold him and kiss him again.

Until then, we will do our best to share the message of what we believe Ethan was sent here to do. We will share the message of hope, of the plan of happiness, and of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Merrill and I have had the opportunity to speak a couple of times since Ethan's passing, and we have the privilege of doing a fireside for a girls camp this June.  It is amazing how healing it is to talk about Ethan, and to share his story with others.  We have both felt strongly, and have had other undeniable experiences where we feel like this is what we are supposed to be doing. We are thankful for these experiences.

How grateful we are for this Easter season.  How grateful we are to our Savior, who suffered for our sins, our pains, and our heartache.  How grateful we are that we will see and hold our little Ethan again.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (Corinthians 15:22)