Holy Week + Easter

Happy Easter from our hearts to yours!

An Easter Morning Tradition

It's tradition around these parts to bake something that RISES on Easter morning!
How about you? Any special traditions for the Triduum?

It is really just a simple, but delicious, visual of what RISING to NEW LIFE
looks like for kids. Mix, pour, place in dark oven - which in the wild imagination is really
a tomb - and wait for it... the GLORY of risen baked goods!!!

If you're in the market for some gluten-free happiness coming out of your "tomb"
this Easter morning here are some of our favorite recipes that rise...

CINNAMON ROLLS

CHOCOLATE CHIP BANANA BREAD

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

APPLE CIDER DOUGHNUTS

PUMPKIN SPICE BREAD

Don't miss the $50 GIVEAWAY to Matilda Jane Clothing!!!

Would You Take Your Child to Calvary?

A body beaten and bruised - stained and re-stained - with blood flowing forth
from a heart - beating, steady then failing, but winning the battle for YOUR soul.

With every movement - He cries in pain under the weight of the cross He's bearing -pressing, pushing deeper into the gaping wounds - those lashes. And that crown of thornsdriving further into His skull - as visions of YOU living in His great love comebefore His tear-filled eyes. Wiping away the crimson sweat, blinking faster, breathing harder,determined to accomplish the mystery - to beat death with death so that life with YOU,with us all, could be so sweet in the bitterness of all the brokenness.Even hell could not see it coming.
And I want to be there.
I want to collect every pebble, every stone, before His bare feet fall under the weightof such sin. I want to be Simon of Cyrene - looking the Savior in the eye - incapable of fullyunderstanding, but still somehow sharing a glimpse into the crushing beauty of redeeming love.I want to be there consoling Mama Mary - who knew she bore the Son of God so that He could die.She knew. She knows. I fear I would have no words and she would be the one consoling me.Roman crucifixion, a humiliating - suffocating death for criminals. I want to bethe "good thief" on the cross hearing saving words in the moment...

the moment He wins.
"Jesus answered him,'Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.'" - Luke 23:43
I want to be there crying out that I do believe.I love you, Jesus.Thank you, Jesus.

And this Lent, with Good Friday approaching, I find myself yearning to be there atthe original Good Friday. To let Him know that I am here trying so desperately tosatiate His deep thirst for souls by giving my whole life... throwing it all in - as measlyas the widow's mite - as ugly and broken as the next sinner - as needy to be healedas the hemorrhaging woman, the blind man, the centurion's servant...
I wonder, if I could go, would I take my children? Would I take them to Calvaryto be there as the God of all creation breathes His last breath - a painful, horrifying tragedyof holiness - to save us all? Would Jesus want them there?
Like many Christian parents, I find myself wondering, praying through the heart of our faith -discerning, waiting, pouring out the richness of such mystery into the tiny souls of my children...
in time. When it's time.

I just want them to know the magnitude of that sacrifice.I want them to know, I want to know, how much He really does love us.Because He does.

Would you take your child to Calvary?

I'm Failing this Lent

If you opened this post expecting to find oodles and oodles of "super fun" Lenten ideas
and projects, links out the wazoo, or what-not for little ones and families...

you best just close this window now. Move on. Not much, not much at all, to see here.

Try the next "Catholic" mom blog and see what she's got cooking - because y'all it's pretty dry
and arid over here. Like "rice" every day. I mean we don't even have a "countdown to Easter" calendar,
one that you can print right off the Internet, anywhere in our house. Nada. Nil. None.


Bless me friends, for you won't believe this... Ash Wednesday rolled around and yes,
I drug my little Catholic family to mass for some traditional ash shmearing and remembering
of the "dust" we are, but I didn't even know what I wanted to "give up" - let alone
how I wanted to share the meaning, significance of Lent and Easter with my children
this year. I mean it's just the epitome of our faith... #Catholicparentfail

Truth is, my house still had a mixture of Christmas and Valentine's Day decorations looped and
strewn from room to room. I'm used to creating a barren space, a clean-surfaced "dessert", for
me and my family to prepare our hearts for Easter. But you know what? Instead of shades of "repentance"
purple around here, it's a little too cluttered for my liking and there are STILL blue Christmas lights
hanging on the window in the boys' room. Blue is symbolic for something, right? Like water. Baptism.
A sort of death into new life in Christ... which is pretty much Easter!?!?! I'm trying here!

The first week of Lent rolled by and I seriously wanted to throw in the towel. Facebook and all my
friends were reminding me, not on purpose of course, that since I didn't have a salt dough crown of
thorns and a plan of action for the Stations of the Cross I might as well give up and wait til next
Lent to redeem myself. I don't know. I get in weird funks. Like everyone else, right? You better get
in funks too or our friendship is OVER. I'm kidding. But really.

And then there was a rainbow in the middle of my "I'm failing Lent" storm and the angels broke
through the clouds holding the letters of my name sewn together perfectly on a chambray and leather
banner beckoning for me to "come and not give up"! ...as my two year old jumped in my lap
making me spill my Tension Tamer tea all over the place. Oh heaven! Oh reality!

That's when I decided to SEIZE LENT and just take it one week at a time...

for Jesus came for the "falling apart" right? He came and died on the cross for all of us who are
far from running the "perfect show." It seems silly now that I just wanted to forget it all and just
blitz through this season without at least trying to be mindful - all because I didn't have a "plan"
together right out of the gates. Oh you didn't know I'm an "all or nothing" kind of girl? It's a
blessing and a curse. There have been many a tragic outcome due to this fun fact.


LENTEN ACTIVITY + EASTER PREPARATION

I'm recycling my approach to Advent for Lent.
And that's to do one activity in remembrance of this season of preparation, repentance, and
longing for a Savior and one activity to prepare our home, hearts for Easter.


Salt dough crown of thorns // where we pull out "thorns" when we do acts of love, service, or
repentance to help "ease" the sufferings of our Lord. My boys are particularly thrilled with this
activity and on their own started whispering, "I love you, Jesus" every time they pull out a
toothpick. I am humbled to be their student.

Easter egg garland // we put up the Easter egg garland and talked about the joy we have each year
hunting for candy-filled eggs. I want to create this sense of excitement as this major holiday draws
near! There is much suffering - but there is also much celebrating!


I honestly don't have a plan for next week, but I'm trusting that those angels with the chambray,
leather banner are going to come back and hit me over the head with some powerful stuff! I do feel like
I'm failing, at least a little, this Lent...

but it's good for me.

It feels good to remember that Jesus doesn't want me to be "perfect" - even though I want myself to be
perfect. He just wants me to show up, ask for forgiveness, and pick up our relationship where we left off.

This year I'm going to Calvary in beautiful disarray.
I hope you're coming too.

:: Come Awake ::

Easter. What a blessing.
What wondrous love... to live, die, and rise for someone.
Talk about romance. My heart will flutter over this for life.

We remember. We celebrate. We believe.
We shared a seder meal & washed each others' feet.
Let me be your servant.

"Oh happy fault that won for us so great a Savior..."
We kissed Jesus' wounds and laid Him in the tomb.
Let our lives be an offering of thanksgiving for this sacrifice.

Joy comes in the morning!
Easter egg hunters.
"We remember how You loved us to Your death
and still we CELEBRATE for You are with us here..."

Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia. We sing, Alleluia.
A glorified tomb! He has risen from the dead!
Easter morning. Come awake! Come awake!

A time of celebration. Our salvation is confirmed.
Nathan led us in songs of praise and adoration!
"Oh death, where is your sting? Oh hell, where is your victory?
Oh Church, come stand in the light...
Our God's not dead HE'S ALIVE HE'S ALIVE!"

May the joy of Easter be yours.
With love from our family.
Let's celebrate!

Let's celebrate this season of Easter
this season of Spring
with a GIVEAWAY!!!

Happy Easter.

Going Bunnies for Jesus

Yesterday I took the kids to peer at the Easter Bunny at the mall.
I say "peer" because there was NO WAY I was paying $10 bucks for my children to have
a moment on the bunny's lap that would most likely only lead to tears and night terrors.

We've been talking about the "Bunny" lately. He is EVERYWHERE.
He and Santa Claus have some serious PR reps. Job well done. My kids have noticed!

Our family has decided that bunnies can be part of Easter in a fun, Spring-is-here,
fluffy, feel good kind of way. But we have opted out of the commercialized Easter Bunny scene
to give our kids the chance to revel in the mystery of Holy Week and Easter morning with
ideas, images, and stories of the miracle that truly took place.

Am I worried that my kids will not believe in God
if we allow them to believe in the Easter Bunny?
(Because when they find out the Easter Bunny and Co. are
not real that must mean that Jesus isn't real too???)

Uhhh... definitely a concern, but not the main reason.

Our desire is to connect these special holidays with Christ and His saints,
REAL PEOPLE, so that our children can visualize, live, and thrive in the body of Christ.

Does that mean we can't celebrate the season with traditional flare?
I don't think so! We have been busy getting ready for Easter morning...





And here is a snapshot of reality. It was messy! There was tension and tears.
But we had fun!!! Broke a couple eggs in the process. Second breakfast, anyone?!
This is good though. A perfect representation of our souls before Christ...

broken... and crying out for a Savior!



We knew that we wanted our kids to have Easter baskets too, but decided to call them
"RESURRECTION BASKETS" instead! Here is how it is going to work...

A lovely friend of mine had this beautiful idea to build a "tomb" in the
house to place Jesus in on Good Friday.
The only question I had was,
"How do I keep my BOYS (she has girls!) out of the TOMB... "TENT"... "FORT" ... for a couple days?!

Here is our solution. We let the boys play with this for a long time last night.
They loved crawling in and pretending to be Jesus. Hours of entertainment!
But we made it small enough (storage box with black cloth) so that we could
keep it UP HIGH for viewing purposes... and to prevent tomb raiders!



They will also be placing their Easter baskets in the tomb with Jesus...
and on Easter morning... Jesus will be gone - RAISED FROM THE DEAD -
and their baskets will be RESURRECTED with lots of special treats!!!

Thoughts? I know you parents out there have them!
Especially when it comes to traditions and holidays with kids.
What's your jive? How do you bring Easter to life in your home?

P.S. we are LOVING this book about the THREE trees that were part of Jesus' life!
Thanks, Uncle Mattman!

The Tale of Three Trees

Do you go bunnies for Jesus at Easter too?!