The Hunt

Early Easter evening, once all other activities are done, we send the kids on a search for their Easter baskets. For us, we prefer to do this after church and study, as well as family dinner so the focus of the day can be on the true meaning. We were finally home and the kids got in their pajamas and then the hunt began. Each searched high and low for their baskets which were hidden in some very unusual places. Then it was time for our “family egg” to be found.

Let me explain…Three years ago, after hearing about this idea in my Live, Laugh, Love Club One, our family found a large plain plastic egg that we decorated to represent us as a Party of Five. Then each Easter that egg is hidden and the kids have to search for it. Once found, they unveil the “family gift” inside.

Here's our egg:


This year’s gift inside was too large to fit in our family egg so we made a code for them to decipher. Baylee and Nathan loved having to be detectives to crack the code!
This is what the code looked like:

Easter 2009 has been a great one!

The Full Armor of God-Blast Xtreme 2008

Here are my soldiers, ready for duty in God’s Army! Have you been recruited? Each day last week, the kids and I enjoyed our church’s Vacation Bible School with this year’s theme, “God’s Army Training Camp”. I don’t know who learned more, the kids or me (as the 2nd grade class teacher). Here’s what we studied and the verses we memorized:

On day one we learned that Jesus calls the disciples, just as He’s called us and no excuses are allowed! It’s an invisible war but the good news is that Jesus is more powerful than Satan or anything!
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the Devil!” Ephesians 6:11

Day two we fastened our truth belts as we made the Belt of Truth and Breastplate of Righteousness. God’s belt of truth is important because it holds up when we’re being attacked with lies.
“He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.” Psalm 91:4

Day three, we made sure our feet were ready for the Gospel of Peace and the Shield of Faith was in our hands. We learned our marching orders! The footwear provided as part of God’s armor making us ready as well-ready to stand strong in the confidence that Jesus is LORD and share this news. We can have peace in our hearts as well as true peace to pass on to others. The shied is important to hide behind since there are flaming arrows being thrown by Satan (Ephesians 6:16)!
“Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.” Proverbs 30:5

Day four, we made our Helmet of Salvations and our Sword of the Spirit! God’s helmet keeps harmful thinking out of our head and loving thoughts in. And the sword of the spirit is the Bible, our special helper!
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-4

And on day five, we learned the importance of prayer, a special gift from God!
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7

On a side note, my class that I taught was amazing! The kids were wonderful and the teaching staff, the best! Three of us were on the same team last year, which made it great and Lesli joined us this year and we were blessed!
(Seena...we missed snapping a photo of you with us...ugh!)

Resurrection Tree

We've enjoyed two weeks of Spring Break...it's been needed in a BIG way! Today, in between four separate playdates, I've gone through our home to wipe off the dust collected in that time, vacuumed, mopped, and much more which were all things I set aside so I could really just focus on playing and enjoying my kids. I'm grateful to have them with me 24/7 and also for a husband who's been willing to look the other way to the condition of the home.

From my cleaning "frenzy", I decided it was time to pack up our Easter decorations as well, one of which was this Resurrection Tree. I use this wooden tree structure throughout the year for many reasons, this Easter holiday I was inspired to create it to tell the story of Jesus' last days and use it as a devotional study with my children. It's been really neat to hear them be able to recall and connect what each "symbol" means and I know I'll do it again next year.

I share this on the blog because all of my LLL2 sisters have this wooden tree structure too (a gift from my cousin Laura and myself during one of our monthly Live Laugh Love evenings) and often times we like to share with one another what we created from it.

My inspiration came from a gal on the http://www.happyhomeclubonline.com.

On our tree we placed many things...here's some of them:
~A Shepherd's Staff since He is the Good Shepherd
~A Donkey for the triumphal entry (Matthew 21)
~A Bottle of Perfume for when Mary anointed Jesus before the Passover (Mark 14)
~A Flat Bread Cracker to symbolize the unleavened break He broke…to remember His body (Matthew 26)
~A Cork from a wine bottle to symbolize what Jesus and his disciples drank at the last Supper…to remember his blood (Matthew 26)
~A Hershey's "Kiss" to symbolize the betrayal kiss from Judas to Jesus in the Garden
~A Bag of 30 Silver coins (dimes), the amount of money Judas agreed to take in trade of Jesus' identity...betrayal (Matthew 26)
~Soap since Pilot washed his hands of Jesus’ fate (Matthew 27:24)
~A Rope for the prisoner that was freed instead of Jesus (Matthew 27)
~A Feather to symbolize the rooster crowing three times
~Clipart of an Olive and Skull...location of this event (Matthew 27)
~A Purple Cloth that symbolizes the robe they made Him wear
~Chains
~A Nail since HE was nailed to the cross for our sins
~A Crown of Thorns the soldiers made for Him to wear as they mocked Him
~A Sponge that was dipped for Him on the cross as Jesus’ thirst (Matthew 27:48)
~A Dice for the lots the soldiers cast (Luke 23)
~A Lamb because He was the Lamb that was Slain
~A Sword (cocktail sword) that was used to pierce His side (Luke)
~A Tissue to symbolize the tears that were shed over His death
~A Sign that says, "This Is Jesus, King of the Jews" (Matthew 27:37)
~A Rock that was rolled away from the Tomb (Matthew 28)
~A White Cloth that they wrapped Jesus' body in to bury Him (Matthew 27:59)
~Cloves to symbolize the spices the women brought to anoint His dead body (Luke 24)
~A Happy Face to symbolize they joy that His death/resurrection has brought

If you have any other ideas on what I should consider adding next year, I'd love to hear it!

Leaving a Piece of Me Behind

Baylee and I are going on our 2nd annual weekend away. This year we are going to Girl Scout Camp together in forest of Prescott, AZ (our first camp experience together). Although I am excited to do this, I will miss the "men" (big and little) that I leave behind. In order for them to know they are deeply loved and missed, I've left the "While I'm Away Box" for them to open each day filled with little trinkets of adoration.

If you travel at all, I highly suggest this neat box from Once Upon a Family (the company my cousin and sweet friend April work for).