How to create an Advent Star Tree

Advent greetings and blessings to you!  As we all prepare for the coming of Jesus this season I wanted to share about one of our traditions - the Advent Star Tree.

7 Simple Ways to Celebrate Jesus at Easter as a Family

Easter is this Sunday and while yes, my kids are excited to go on Easter Egg Hunts and have their share of Chocolate Easter Bunnies, they are also excited to go to our church's Maundy Thursday Seder and AGAPE Meals tonight and go through our Resurrection Eggs again.  Here are seven ways we focus on Jesus every Easter at our house.

Attend Lent and Holy Week Church Services

Our family enjoys participating in our church's worships and activities throughout the Lent season to help us all to focus on Jesus.  From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, there are many learning opportunities for our entire family.

One of my favorite things that our church does is that we have our weekly Lenten services "on the road" after different area nursing homes.  It is very special for our whole family to participate in those church services not only for us, sharing the Lenten message with others in the community, but the residents at the homes love seeing children. 

Lent Calendar

 A couple years ago I picked up a Lent Calendar for our family and for all of our Godchildren.  Each day from Ash Wednesday to Easter there is a simple activity for everyone to do or to talk about.  Things like - Help a friend, brother or sister, Pray for your family, Read 2 Corinthians 13:14, etc.  All of the activities, prayers or scripture readings don't take a lot of time, but it gets the entire family together to focus and celebrate Lent.  We go over the activity every night at supper because that is when we are all together.  Here is a link to a similar calendar and a link to a Holy Week calendar activity.

Resurrection Eggs

We bring out our Resurrection Eggs at the start of Lent every year and go over them periodically throughout the Lenten Season.  We keep them on our coffee table in our living room and our kids love going through them.  If you've never seen or heard of Resurrection Eggs before, it is a set of 12 plastic Easter Eggs that when you open them they have a miniature symbol from Holy Week inside.  There is a book that comes with the set that explains the significance of each object and is great for helping your kids fully understand the story of Easter, as well as opens up discussion about Jesus.

Share the Easter Story

Growing up I will always remember my Grandma sitting down all my sisters, cousins and I to hear the Easter story every year after Easter dinner.  This still takes place, this time with her great-grandchildren, but we also make sure to share the Easter Story through books and movies throughout Lent.  

At the beginning of Lent we bring out all of our Easter books and set them on the coffee table with our Resurrection Eggs.  Some of my kids favorite Easter books are:   The Story of Easter, The Berenstain Bears and the Easter Story, Jesus is Alive and My Easter Basket.  My friend MacKenzie of The Hen House also has a great list of Easter books that her family loves that you should check out too (she also has great resources and posts for sharing Jesus with your kids all year long).  We also breakout movies like The Greatest Adventure - The Easter Story and Heaven is for Real during this time of year, and My Farmer and I always watch The Passion of the Christ too.

Resurrection Rolls

We love making Resurrection Rolls with our kids each year.  We usually make them Saturday night before bed and have them as a small breakfast before heading to Sunrise Service at our church (and then we eat the rest of our breakfast at our church's senior high youth breakfast).  The Resurrection Rolls are both tasty and a fun way of sharing the story of Easter.  Jesus is the marshmallow in the rolls, you roll the marshmallow in butter and cinnamon sugar that represent the spices and linen they wrapped Him in, and then you put the marshmallow in a crescent roll which represents the tomb.  After they bake, the marshmallow is gone, to show how Jesus rose from the dead.  You can get the recipe here from Around My Family Table.

Easter Lily Memorial

Every year our family donates an Easter Lily to our church.  Not only does this help decorate our church, but it is a great way to share a memory and talk about our past loved ones who are now in heaven.  We also love to read The Parable of the Lily with our kids when we do this.

Bible Verse Egg Hunt

Our kids love our family's annual Easter Egg Hunt with their cousins after Easter Dinner.  One way we make our hunt more than just candy and spring toys, is in several of their eggs, there is a paper with a Bible verse on it.  The kids either read their Bible verse out loud for everyone to hear or bring it to someone to read it aloud for them.  We also have slips of paper that say things like, tell your Grandma that you love them or give a hug to your Uncle.  Little things to share love on Easter.

Easter and the entire Lent season is the perfect opportunity to not only share the sacrifice of Jesus but the love he has for all of us with our children.  My Farmer and I work hard to teach our children about Jesus and to have our family walk with Him.  Here is a link to 3 Simple Ways we Celebrate Jesus at Christmas that you also might like.

What are some of your Christ-centered Easter traditions?  I'd love to know!  Be sure to Comment for a Cause.

***Full disclosure - all links in this post aren't compensated at all.  My family and I truly just enjoy them and believe they are great ways for all families to celebrate Easter.***

Wordless Wednesday - Everything is Better Ala Mode

Everything is Better Ala Mode

Service with a smile from our church youth group at our
church's annual Ice Cream Social this past Sunday

This past Sunday was our church's annual Ice Cream Social.  This event is definitely a community effort!  Members of the church make homemade pie for the dinner, if you don't make pie then you bring browned hamburger for the beef burgers, a select group of ladies make the potato salad with the official church recipe and the youth group makes the ice cream.  So many people work together to make this event happen and I'm so proud to be apart of it.  I made an apple pie and a pecan pie for the social.  Overall, the best part of the Ice Cream Social, hands down, is picking out your slice of pie and getting homemade ice cream put on top of it - because everything is better ala mode!

My Favorite - Homemade Pecan Pie and Homemade Ice Cream

What is your favorite flavor of pie?  Be sure to comment here or join the discussion on my blog's Facebook page.  Mine is pecan, but I do have to say hearing other's favorites on Facebook such as apple, banana cream, peach and cherry, has made me decide all pie is delicious and that I just love pie!

Easter Blessings From My Family To Yours

I hope you all had a great Easter yesterday.  We were very fortunate to be able to celebrate the Resurrection with so many family members.

Our Easter Sunday started early, as my Farmer and I are youth group leaders for our Senior High Youth at church.  This means we have to open up the church in the morning and start the egg bakes and cheesy hash browns for the Easter Breakfast.  The Senior High Youth is also incharge of the Sunrise Service.  I love putting together the service for the youth and this year's service was based off a poem I found quite awhile ago:

A baby's hands, in Bethlehem,

Were small and softly curled.

But held, within their dimpled grasp,

The hope of all the world.

A carpenter's hand, in Nazareth,

Were skilled with tool and wood;

They laid the beans of simple homes,

And found their labor good.

A healer's hands, in Galilee,

Were stretched to all who came.

To Him to cleanse their hidden wounds,

To cure the blind and lame.

Long, long ago, the hand of Christ,

Were nailed upon a tree.

But still, their holy touch redeems,

The hearts of you and me.

This poem made me think of the powers of our hands, which then made me think about our five senses - sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch.  It was great to have my Mom and one of my sisters and brother-in-laws able to come to the Sunrise Service.

The Youth Group members that helped with the Sunrise Service

Following the Sunrise Service and Easter Breakfast, LP got to participate in the church Easter Egg Hunt for the first time.  A fun thing about the hunt was that after he would find an egg, he'd throw it on the ground to open up the egg to retrieve the candy.  Gotta give him credit for finding a way to open the eggs!

LP gathering Easter Eggs during the church hunt

Our Family Easter Photo - waiting for the second church service to begin

When we got home from church, LP got this Easter basket from My Farmer and I.  He also received a couple items from other family members too.

LP with his Easter basket

Then it was time to go to my in-law's house for Easter dinner.  At my in-laws we had a great dinner with many family members, LP and his cousin went on a scavenger hunt and everyone enjoyed watching the NCAA tournament.

LP and his cousin before Easter dinner
(We didn't even plan coordinating outfits but they went together quite well!)

The Easter Egg Hunt had to be inside the shop this year
(It was hard to keep LP's attention on gathering eggs rather than wanting into tractors...)

LP found an egg!

My Farmer and LP on the Easter Egg Hunt

What was your favorite part of your Easter celebration yesterday?

Mother's Day

I had such a great Mother's Day yesterday!

LP (14 months) and I enjoying the beautiful afternoon yesterday

We started off the morning with church, where my Senior High Youth group led the church service.  They did a great job.  I was very proud of all of them.  The service focused on both Mother's Day, as well as a recognizing our graduating senior.

These members of our Senior High Youth group led yesterday's church service

 Following church, we took My Farmer's Mom, as well as Dad, sister, sister's fiance and sister's fiance's daughter out for Mother's Day dinner (whoa! what a mouthful...)  It was good to catch up with everyone and to eat a lot of great food.

My Farmer, LP and my Mother-in-Law

Then we enjoyed some time at home just the three of us!  It was very nice and considerate of My Farmer to take the whole day off from the field, especially since we hadn't finished planting yet.
*** Update on progress *** As I write this blog entry we are finishing planting our last field of corn!  We'll be moving onto soybeans next.

We finished the day off by going out for supper with my Mom, sisters, brother-in-law and one of my sister's boyfriend.  It was another great time hanging out with family and another filling round of good food.

My Mom, LP and me

And the best part of yesterday was what My Farmer and LP gave me - a day of eating by myself, where I didn't have to share my food with anyone or feed anyone beside myself AND a day of being able to go to the bathroom with privacy!  They might sound like funny and small things, but it was the best gift they could give me - it's a Mom thing!  I also got some beautiful flowers.

Thanks for a great Mother's Day!

Wordless Wednesday

There have been so many fun things happening lately, I figured I'd do a "Wordless Wednesday" to show a few things my family has been up to from the past week.

      

 Last week LP went to his first Nut Fry.  

Here is a photo of our friend Rusty, LP, My Farmer and our friend/neighbor Merlin in Conrad for the Nut Fry.

LP started using silverware by himself this past week.

 We got to visit some friends this past weekend who have a little girl just three months younger than LP.

Our church had it's all church birthday party this past weekend.  Each birthday month has their own specially decorated table and special cake.  I was incharge of January.