Judas Iscariot

Judas Iscariot.  This Easter season my mind has been focused on him.  I have decided that the one person I would like to go back in history and talk to would be him.  All for the why.

Why did you betray the Savior?  What would have happened had you not betrayed him?  What was you life like afterwards?  And again, WHY?

Growing up I saw him as greedy, selfish, evil, etc.  How could someone so close to Jesus act as he did?  WHY?

So I set out to answer the why.  Where was his mind when he betrayed the Lord?  Why settle for 30 pieces of silver?  And why the choose something as intimate as a kiss to mark Jesus.

*All of this is my own speculation*

What if Judas saw this as not an opportunity for personal gain, but a gentle push towards Jesus reign over the earth.  I bet he prayed about it.  He tried hard to get Jesus to use his power and unite the Jews.  After all, he knew what Jesus could do.  He had seen the miracles.  Nothing bad can happen, he IS the Savior.  But Jesus told him to be patient.  So he waited, and waited, and still nothing.  It had to be so hard to push aside his goals.  He had read the scriptures, he knew that Jesus had come to save the earth.  So why wasn't he? 
And then I bet someone mentioned a gentle push. He, Judas, could be the one who helped Jesus stretch forth his hand and show who he is to all the world.  End the suffering.  Bring the dove of peace.  Sometime thereafter, I imagine that a word or two was mentioned about receiving payment.  At first I bet the money ment nothing.  And then Satan got to work.  Wouldn't it be nice to buy _____ for your Mom, your Wife, etc.  You could take the money and put it all back into the church.  It would be helping Jesus.  A million thoughts, a million needs and uses.
And now we come to the kiss.  I like to think that the kiss was ment as a sign of love.  He thought Jesus invincible.  Now to just show him that it was all done for love.  What sadness did he see in Jesus eyes? Did he hesitate? Realizing that he was about to make a mistake?  Or was he confident.  He had the answers, only good could come... 
And then the agony.  Watching the next few days unfold.  Not as you thought they would, no, the opposite.  Was he Angry at God?  Confused? Hurt? And then Guilty. Ashamed.  Repentant.

As you read the betrayal story in the scriptures, it seems like such a clear cut case, he betrayed the Son of God.  He received payment.  And yet without his actions the Resurrection wouldn't have happened. 
God knew he was going to betray Jesus, just as he knew that Eve was going to eat of the forbidden fruit. 

For me, this Easter, the message is clear.  I know not the inner workings of another's heart, so how can I judge?

California Adventure - day 2

Our second day at Disneyland we went to California Adventure.  It reminded me a lot of Hollywood Studio's in Disney World.  It was a bit more confusing to navigate than Disneyland, it wasn't to bad.  They crowds were much more mild so it felt like we accomplished a lot more.

We spent the morning in bugs land. 
Girls loved all the rides, especially the bumper cars!

Rora was in such a great mood today! 

The spinning Frances bugs were a hit with all the girls...
Josh refused to ride them because he didn't want to get sick...
Yes, even Ella rode!

Just before lunch (while Rora was napping)
Kira saw Duffy!

After lunch Mommy rode Screamin' (single rider line took 5 min vs. 75!)
Daddy took all the girls on the carousel. 
Ella loved it, and looks so grown up!

Poor Rora was woken up for lunch...
All day she wanted to meet Ariel and wasn't even fully awake for it.

I didn't get a picture, but as we were leaving the restaurant no was was with Ariel
 and Rora was able to spend a couple minutes with her. 
I love how Disney Magic works!

Ella was scared to death of Minnie Mouse!

Rora jammin' with Phineas and Ferb's dance party

 

 

Rock on Rora :)

They were so talented! 

Mickey getting some air!

Sweeties!

This looked so fun! 

During the parade Rora couldn't contain her excitement.
 She couldn't sit still.  Kept jumping around and waving.
The magic is so real at 3! 

This was a really neat interactive room.

The 3 prettiest Princess's in Disneyland!

 

 

 

Josh's favorite thing we did today was our lunch at Ariels Grotto.  Until we got the check.  OUCH!  I thought the food was delish, but it felt rushed, which for the price, really disappointed me.

 

Rora's favorite was riding Ariel's ride.  It was really cute and on Thursday (day 4) she rode in 4-5 times in a row!

Kira's favorite was the Red Car Newsboys.  She was really focused the entire trip on dance and loved watching the talent of the actors!

My favorite activity of the day was watching Rora dance.  Kira was to afraid/nervous/timid to get out there and dance, but Rora went at it hard core.  I told her that it was her 'performance' and she rocked it!  

DISNEYLAND! - day 1

Here we go!

 

Oh this girl just melts my heart so much!!

 

We barely made it into the park when we saw Bert and Mary Poppins!

Love this girl!

Love the posing!

Deep in conversation

Aurora and Aurora!

They let us preview the Fantasy Faire -
It was very cute, I loved the focal point Rapunzel's tower made -
 That's her hair flowing down :)

These guys were amazing storytellers! 
They're getting ready to tell the tale of Rapunzel

I just love the action in this picture!
Rapunzel came to help them tell the story.

What a creative way to make a window

We were all thoroughly entertained the entire show. 
A definite must see!

First ride of the day: Alice in Wonderland!

Thank goodness we still have 10 years before Kira gets her license!

"It's a Small World After All..."

For some reason this picture wont rotate...

Hanging out in Mickey's house

She couldn't get any cuter if she tried!

Fairy Godmother spent extra time with Ella since she was a little nervous.
Ella really started to warm up to her :)

I love how exhausted Ella is in this pic.
She was so spoiled the whole trip and was NEVER put down!

Watching the parade. 
I love the excitement!

This one speaks for itself!



Rora fell asleep just before the fireworks. 
I love how curled up she is!

We had a great first day in Disneyland, we ate lunch at the Blue Bayou overlooking the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  It was delicious and the atmosphere was awesome.  Kira kept trying to figure out how it was night time and couldn't comprehend how it looked like we were outside.  Later in the trip while riding PotC for the upteenth time she finally figured it out! 

   It was fun seeing the difference's between the land and the world.  Everything was closer together, but it didn't feel closer.  I was very impressed with the use of the space.  The only thing that was a let down (to Josh, I've been before) was how small Sleeping Beauty's castle is.  It doesn't have anywhere near the wow factor of Cinderella's in the world. 

 

Kira's favorite from the day: Riding Pirates of the Caribbean

Rora's: Alice in Wonderland ride - I'm not surprised, she couldn't wait to ride it!

Josh's top five moments from day 1:

           Riding PotC

           Seeing my 3 girls having fun

           Eating a Blue Bayou

           Watching the parade - one of the floats broke down, we waited and waited for them to get a vehicle and tow it so we could watch the rest of the parade...yeah, it was the last float.

          It was neat getting to see Fantasy Faire before they opened.  And the show was good.

My top five:

            Disney Magic!  I just love the customer service at Disney! We had just arrived at the park and were immediately asked if we wanted a preview of Fantasy Faire.  It didn't open until the next day, they were doing a soft opening of sorts (lots of tv crews were there, I think they wanted ppl in the background...) It was so fun to watch the show and explore the newest area of DL!

            I loved Rora's excitement.  Being 3 is so fun!  She was so excited to ride Alice and every detail of the ride, even the exterior touches, brought ooh's and aaah's :)

            Our lunch at Blue Bayou was delish, but even more fun was Kira's bewilderment at how we were inside and yet it looked like we were outside - at night!

            I know it isn't "Disney" but I loved having the entire day with Josh and just being able to share the moment.

            The fireworks display in DL is much different from DW.  They incorporate the music from all the rides, it was neat to see how they matched the fireworks to the music, ie - They had the Haunted Mansion voice, "Is this room actually stretching?" accompanied by creepy green straight shooting fireworks in an octagon pattern.  It fit so perfectly and was amazing!