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Easter Week
Easter in our world today a lot of times means eggs, bunnies, and chicks. These things are fun and entertaining, but this year we are seeking to have our kids remember the true meaning of Easter. Here is a look at our week of Easter Celebration.
Sunday: Palm Sunday, Jesus is treated like a King as people wave palm branches and lay their coats down so he didn’t have to walk on the dirty road. They also shouted Hosanna (Save us). Today we will be making our own palm branches and talking about how Jesus is the true King!
Monday: Jesus cleans the temple. This is the day Jesus found people making the house of the Lord a place to make money. Jesus was upset that they weren’t respecting His Father’s house. He took out the things that didn’t belong, and cleaned house! Today we will paint Easter Eggs and get really messy…then show each other how we need Jesus to clean us up, just like he saw dirty things happening and clean house.
Tuesday: Mary pouring perfume of Jesus feet, what a great display of love and adoration Mary showed for Him. Today my kids and I will make reed diffusers to spread the wonderful smell around our house, see more at http://impressyourkids.org/mary-anoints-jesus-feet-easter-for-kids/ I saw this idea and loved it! (We ended up making Easter cookies instead due to family life, this worked better for us, we talked about the wonderful smell of the cookies baking)
Wednesday: Money Hunt: Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Today my kids and I will hunt for 30 coins hidden over our house. Once we find them we will count them and give them to our church!
Thursday: The Last Supper: We are actually going to our church tonight to celebrate Jesus’ last supper with his disciples, with our fellow believers. We will also participate in communion together.
Friday:Good Friday: Today is the day we will talk about Jesus dying for us on the cross. He did it out of His deep, unconditional, love for us. He chose to die for us. Another idea I saw on impress your kids is to draw a red dot on their hands (representing the nails) and also writing their names above the dot to show he loves Ayla, Isaiah, Michelle, and Trevor. He died for us.
We will also make our own crown of thorns (saw this idea on Pinterest). Use a paper lunch sack and fold it down so it looks like a circle/nest. Glue all over the top, add sticks to it and you are done.
Saturday: We are going to make resurrection rolls (Easy). Take a large marshmallow (Jesus’ body) dip in melted butter (oil)and roll in cinnamon and sugar(spices). Roll a crescent roll (tomb) around it and bake. When they are done the marshmallow (Jesus) is gone! It is quite yummy too!
Sunday: He is Risen! We will be at church, celebrating our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I am so thankful for His love and death for me a sinner, who is undeserving, but ever so thankful. We will also get to spend time with family.
Have a meaningful Easter!
Turning 7!
My first born turned 7…7! It is hard to believe, but it is true. I am so thankful for the young man he is and is becoming. I love my son. Isaiah is such an amazing kid to be around and parent. Here is my prayer for him.
God, I pray that Isaiah will always know he is deeply loved by You and by us, his family. I pray that he will live a life of rich faith and trust in You Lord. I pray that he will experience deep relationships that honor you and that he would grow in his passion and love for You. Give him the ability to persevere in hard times and to find joy in life serving You. Fill him with the generosity, gentleness, joy, wisdom, self-control, hope, faith, peace, patience, faithfulness, and love. I pray that Your protection would be around his life, physically, emotionally, yes, but even more, spiritually. Do not let anything draw him away from You and Your truth. Bless him, use him, guide him. Give him godly friends and role models that will love and support him. I am thankful he is my son, what a true blessing he is to my life. Help me to show that to him daily.
Amen.
Lent
As we begin this season of focus on Christ and His life, death and resurrection, my husband and I were considering what to do with our kids to make it meaningful for them as well. Our family has decided to add in praise and worship each night with our kids along with our Bible reading and prayer. Instead of taking something out, we thought we’d add something in. The kids are really excited about this and it is a great way to prepare them for the praise of Easter! What does your family do during the season of Lent?
Eggs to Remember Martin Luther King
I love how our kids do not see people as different. Living where we do, they been exposed to people of different races, ages, and socioeconomic status so to them they don’t see much of a difference. As my daughter says, “God made everyone!” Today I showed my kids a brown and a white egg and asked what was different about them. The colors are different. What about the same, both eggs, same shape, you can scramble both, both are tasty, etc. I asked if they thought they’d be different on the inside. They weren’t sure so we cracked them open and saw how they look exactly the same. We talked about how God created all people, there is not one who is better if they have blonde hair, brown skin, or live in a certain part of the world.
Creating a Meaningful New Years
I love it that New Years is a time to reset. Reset my goals and priorities. It gives me a time each year to self reflect and get a “do-over”. This year we are focusing on things we desire for our family and life as we follow Christ. Here are some questions we will be asking each other.
How did we see God work in our kids in 2011?
How did we see God work in us as a couple?
As a family?
What would you like to see God do this next year?
What are some ways you desire to grow as a follower of Christ?
What are some big prayers we desire God to answer this year?
How can we serve others (school, neighborhood, friends, family, church, etc)
We also chose a family motto/verse that we will seek to follow this next year. Our motto is going to be “What needs to be done?” This is broad but it is a way for our family to be others focused and be a servant like Christ commands us to be. This could be something as simple as what needs to be done in our house, picking up toys, putting shoes away, etc. It could also be when we are out and about looking for ways to serve and impact others. Not being so caught up in our own lives that we disregard what God can do in others through us. I am excited to see how this gets developed.
I will be making a painting and placing it up in our house to remind us of our family focus.
What are some meaningful ways you enjoy New Years?
Christmas Songs Countdown Day 28- Born in Bethlehem
Third Day helped me discover this song. I cannot believe our countdown has come to an end! Thanks for sharing in this with me, my family has truly been blessed, I hope yours has as well!
Baby Jesus, born in a stable, humble Savior’s birth.
You left your throne in Heaven above, to live here on the Earth.
Baby Jesus, lying in a manger, crying for the world.
The Angels told the Shepherds of the Good News for us all.
Halleluiah, the King is here, given for all men.
For today the Holy Son of God, is born in Bethlehem.
Come now Sinners and you Saints, all peasants and all Kings.
And bow before the Earth’s Redeemer, let all voices sing.
Halleluiah, the King is here, given for all men.
For today the Holy Son of God, is born in Bethlehem.
Why does Jesus matter? That is something we’ve talked about a lot this Christmas. The whole reason we celebrate is Jesus but why is that special? He came to save us. Sinners and Saints, Peasants and Kings. Praise God for sending Him to save us!
Our family fun activity for today is a tasting party at our church before the service. We will be bringing goodies to taste and tasting many ourselves! Yum!
Christmas Songs Countdown Day 27- Born is the King (It’s Christmas)
Christmas Songs Countdown Day 26- Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
I recently rediscovered this song! Love it. Here are the lyrics.
Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.
Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.
We will talk through the lyrics. What does it mean to expect and wait on something. What are some things we’ve had to wait on? Is it hard or easy to wait? We are also going to use our nativity box we have, What Jesus Wants for Christmas (available at Amazon). This is a great tool. We read the story and open a box one at a time throughout the story.
Our fun activity for today is going to the Nutcracker! I am taking my daughter to see her first ballet today and the boys are going to have man time!
Christmas Songs Countdown Day 25- Hallelujah Chorus
This song takes me back to high school since we’d sing this each Christmas. Here are the lyrics.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
The kingdom of this world
Is become the kingdom of our Lord,
And of His Christ, and of His Christ;
And He shall reign for ever and ever,
For ever and ever, forever and ever,
King of kings, and Lord of lords,
King of kings, and Lord of lords,
And Lord of lords,
And He shall reign,
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings, forever and ever,
And Lord of lords,
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!
This is such a fun song. Hallelujah means “praise Jah” a form of Jehovah, the most high God. We are going to sing along with it several times to really learn it. We are also going to make crowns since He is King of Kings!
Our family fun activity is delivering cookies and candy to our neighbors. I love involving my kids in this!
Christmas Songs Countdown Day 24- I heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Our new favorite thing to do with these songs we are learning is to hum them and have someone else in the family guess which song we are humming! We have been doing this at dinner, in the car, on a walk to school, etc. I love it! Here are the lyrics for this song.
I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
We are going to make bells out of soup cans and old flower pots…not sure how this will go, but I’ll post pictures! We will play our bells as we sing and praise Jesus.
Our family fun activity is making peppermint and gingerbread playdoh. These are festive and fun to have to play with during our break.
Always Growing 