This Lent has been laid back, relaxed, but so far wonderful and precious. The kids and I have been learning about Lent in little man's kindergarten curriculum and making little crafts and discussing the faith. It's so beautiful to watch our children's spiritual lives blossom right in front of our eyes, and to hear them talk about God, or Jesus, so naturally like their best friend. Having children makes you truly understand what Jesus meant by saying we need to have faith like a child.
At the beginning of Lent we talked to the kids about sacrifices and what it meant to "give up something for Lent"... why we do it (to show Jesus how much we love Him) and also explained that we're trying to prepare our hearts for the resurrection- Easter! (Easter, to the kids, still means- CANDY so that's very exciting of course!)
Josiah has always been naturally very spiritual so it's especially exciting to watch him grow in faith. This year we had a little box marked "Goodbye for Lent- See you on Easter!" and we asked the kids to think of something they may be able to give up for Lent. (We figured one small toy or something would be fine... afterall they are just 4 and 2 yrs old.) However, Josiah said, "you're going to be so surprised, wait until you see what I'm giving up..." he ran to his room and got "Poppy" - the beloved popple which has been his favorite bedtime friend the past few months. We were so surprised, asked him if he was sure and told him we were really proud of him. He told us the first day that he missed him, but so far they've been amazing about it! He also gave up a movie that he likes, but not his favorites ;) Lydia gave up her baby doll "Ally". Michael is doing his special diet/fast again, and I gave up all TV and movies (long story). Anyway, we each traced our hand and hung up what we were giving up along our piano.
we also made a "crown of thorns" out of playdough and toothpicks. The idea is that each time anyone makes a sacrifice for Jesus they can remove one of the thorns. By Easter all the toothpicks are removed (hopefully!) and the crown is covered with flowers! Josiah is VERY excited about this! He has come up with sacrifices all on his own... (one day he gave up watching playhouse disney in the morning, another day he gave up juice and drank only milk and water.) Most of the time we let them pull one out when they do something nice, like help their brother or sister, or clean up their toys. So far they've really enjoyed this tradition and I think we'll stick with it. Having it sitting on the center of our table- kinda like an Advent wreath would be during Advent, has also kept out hearts in the season and has helped me to stay focused on Christ too...it's nice.
(Bowl in center is where they drop the toothpick after pulling it out. I took these the night we made it-- Ash Wednesday, when Lent began. We are about half way through the toothpicks now!)
Hubby and I bundled up the kids in their jammies tonight and went to confession. That too was wonderful, always good to bear your heart and soul and claim the forgiveness Christ promises us.
We're looking forward to celebrating a new beginning as Easter rapidly approaches!
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