Happy Easter!

On top of being a fun filled family holiday, today is traditionally the highest attended church day of the year in North America. But, just in case you didn't make it out to a service (or are like me, and stuck home with a fluey child), let me offer you an Easter message right there in the comfort of your home.



The pastor on this video, besides having a real heart for the Lord, is my big brother - so I'm comfortable vouching for him. He's stepped away from the pulpit this year, to work with a church planting ministry, so this is last years sermon - but it's still relevant for today.

Happy Easter!

Resurrection Cookies

One of our night before Easter traditions is to make Resurrection Cookies together as a family. Each ingredient has a symbolic significance assigned to it, and a verse from the Easter story to be read, as it's added. It's sort of a Christian version of the Seder dinner.

The author of the recipe has been lost along the way, I printed instructions from here. Little Page Turners has a printable version as well, with the verses typed out from the Holman Contemporary Standard Bible - the one's I've included below are taken from the New Living Translation.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole pecans
  
• 3 egg whites
  
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 1 tsp. vinegar
  
• 1 pinch of salt
  
• mixing bowl
  
• wooden spoon (we used a wooden tart maker)
  
• Bible
  
• Ziploc bag
  
• tinfoil
  
• cookie sheet
  
• tape

Place the pecans in the Ziploc bag, and let the children beat them with the wooden spoon, into small pieces, then put them aside (do not add them into the bowl, yet!!!). Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was beaten by the Roman soldiers.

John 19:1-3 Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. The soldiers wove a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. "Hail! King of the Jews!"they mocked, as they slapped him across the face.

Let the children smell the vinegar, then add it to the mixing bowl. Explain, that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink.

John 19:28-30 Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, "I am thirsty." A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, "It is finished!" Then he bowed his head and released his spirit.

Add egg whites to the vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life for us.

John 10: 10-11 The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.

Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand, and let them taste it, then brush the rest into the bowl. Explain, that salt represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin.

Luke 23:27 A Large crown trailed behind, including many grief-stricken women

So far, the ingredients have not been very pleasant, but their is a sweet side to the story. Add 1 cup of sugar, and explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died, because in our place, and because He loves us.

Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

John 3: 16 For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 15-30 minutes, until stiff peaks are formed. This part always takes forever - and is a good time for the children to get their pajamas on, and prepare for bed (this year I snuck in a teaspoon of cream of tarter, to help with this stage, too). Call them back when you have stiff peaks, and explain that the white color represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.

Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let's settle this," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.

John 3: 1-3 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader, who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening he came to speak with Jesus. "Rabi," he said, "we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you." Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God."

Fold in the broken nuts, and drop by rounded teaspoons onto a greased, tinfoil covered cookie sheet. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.

Matthew 27: 57-60 As evening approached, Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea who had become a follower of Jesus, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. And Pilate issued an order to release it to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. he placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left.

Put the cookies in the oven. Close the door, and turn the oven off (very important!!!). Have the children seal the door with strips of tape.

Matthew 27: 65-66 Pilate replied, "Take guards and secure it the best you can." So they sealed the tomb and posted guards to protect it.

Send the children to bed. Explain, that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed. (I thought the children did a pretty good sad trudge off to bed.)

John 16: 20 and 22 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.

In the morning (if everything has gone right), the cookies will be hollow.

Matthew 28:1-6a Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint. Then the angel spoke to the women. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He isn't here! He is risen from the dead just as her said would happen."

Amen!

An Easter Basket for the Children's Miracle Network

Debbie at Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn, just passed this Easter Basket to me. It's part of a blog hop being put on by Hershey. For every blog, that participates, and links back, Hershey will donate $10 to the Children's Miracle Network - but it ends tomorrow, so we have to hurry.

The rules are:


1. Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
2. Create a blog post giving a virtual Easter Basket to another blogger — you can give as many Virtual Baskets as you want!
3. Link back to the person who gave you an Easter Basket.
4. Let each person you are giving a Virtual Basket know you have given them a Basket.
5. Leave your link at Better Basket info in the comment section. You can also find the official rules of this betterbasket blog hop and more information about Better Basket with Hershey’s there.
6. Hershey’s is donating $10 per blog participating in the Better Basket Blog Hop to Children’s Miracle Network (up to a total of $5000 by blog posts written by April 4, 2010).
7. Please note that only one blog post per blog url will count towards the donation.

We're in a hurry this morning rushing off to one last Easter program rehearsal, and then into the big city (I'm not sure if Missoula, Mt really qualifies as a big city - but it passes for one around here), to find some proper shoes, and tights, and the like for tomorrow, but I wanted to pass this along to at least one other blogger.

I have no idea who has already received it, and who hasn't, but I didn't see Super Mom on the list, yet - so I'll pass this off to The Fantastic Five, and anyone else who is reading this, and hasn't yet received the basket, and would like to participate. Just remember, time is short!

It's great to be a homeschooler.

What My Child is Reading - April 3, 2010

Our Easter reading, this week, consisted mainly of the biblical text. The events are spelled out pretty clearly there, and are about as easy for children to grasp, as the available, "for children" versions. Death, sacrifice, and resurrection are complicated subjects for young children, no matter how you package them.

Of course, my three year old spent most of the week insisting there needed to be a princess in the story. I guess any story with a king, must also have a princess. I told her she was the princess, but she decided the people probably killed the princess, too. And, she's been mad, that we don't have a princess figure for our nativity/resurrection scene.

We did get to three story books, though. I've already mentioned Liz Curtis Higgs The Parable of the Lily. I appreciate it, because it's a parable, and not a legend, so while it uses the lily to describe the gift of Easter, it doesn't assign it any special value, or try to place it in the original events.

And, we pulled out our Easter themed Arch Books. You really can't go wrong with Arch Books, when it comes to retelling Bible stories. Occasionally, the rhymes are a little forced, but generally, these books are excellent, and they cover almost any biblical topic you could want.

The big hits of our non-Easter related reading were Lisa Shulman's The Moon Might Be Milk, which we read for our stART project this week (and yes, to anyone who didn't notice my note in the comments of that post - the cookies were very good), and Fool Moon Rising, by Kristi and T. Lively Fluharty.




This is one I'm thinking about purchasing for our home library. It's an excellent lesson in false pride verses humility (with the Bible verses to back it), and the illustrations are out of this world, adorable.

Find out what other's are reading at the What My Child Is Reading link up, hosted at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Sugar Cookie Easter Church - Disaster?

I'm not sure if it was the scattered snow showers, outside, today, or the repurposed nativity scene in the living room, but I had a sudden urge to make a gingerbread house, tonight. Of course, this is spring, so I settled for a sugar cookie creation, instead. And, feeling ambitious, decided to try my hand at a church, for Easter (click here for the Gingerbread by Design, church template).

Unfortunately, sugar cookie dough spreads a bit more, while baking, than gingerbread, making the pieces a tricky fit. And, sugar cookies are pretty brittle, so they tend to break when they fall over.

But, the nice thing about working with sugar cookies is even as a pile of frosting covered rubble...

...they're still delicious. And, if nothing else, the Jolly Rancher, stained glass windows, turned out beautifully.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

The Moon Might Be Milk - Story and Craft

Debbie at Children Grow, Children Explore, Children Learn, recommended Lisa Shulman's The Moon Might Be Milk, a while back, and we finally got around to checking it out from the library, this week.

We were not disappointed. In fact, we were thrilled by fanciful text, and the cheerfully colorful illustrations by Will Hillenbrand.

A little girl asks several of her animal friends, what they think the moon is made of. Cat thinks it's milk. Hen thinks it's an egg, hatching tiny chick stars. Butterfly thinks it's sweet, sparkly sugar. Dog thinks it's butter. And, Mouse thinks it's flour, which blows off to form fluffy clouds.

They all agree to ask the little girl's grandmother, who is, as it turns out, just preparing to make cookies. As she mixes the ingredients together, it is decided the moon is a giant sugar cookie in the sky. Leaving only the question - "What is the sun made of?"

Now, if you've read this blog at all, you probably already know we followed the recipe, at the back of the book, to make the cookies.

But, while the cookies were baking, we did a little art project, too.

The girls drew moons, and stars, with crayons, on black construction paper.

Then, they rubbed on some flour clouds...

...and, added glue for sparkly, sugar sprinkles.

For more story stretching fun, be sure to check out this week's stART (story+art) link up, at A Mommy's Adventures.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Knitting Nell a Book to Inspire Action

I love books, that inspire action (okay, I love most books, but I really love books, that inspire action!). Knitting Nell, by Julie Jersild Roth, is just such a book.

I picked it up at the library, after seeing it in the side bar of another blog. I can't remember which blog, but if you have it in your sidebar - thanks! I flipped through it briefly, noting it was a story about a little girl who knits a lot, not just for herself, but for others, too. The story ends with Nell, earning a prize for her knitting, at the county fair, and receiving an award for community service.

There's more to the story than that. It's also about friendship, finding your place, interpersonal relationships, and not only serving, but inspiring others, too. Pretty good for a 30 page, children's picture book. And, that's what I picked up from skimming through it.

I didn't get to read it until later. It disappeared into the girls' room, shortly after we returned from the library, resurfacing later in the day...along with my favorite pair of knitting needles.

It's great to be a homeschooler.