Our Morning at the Church

The boys and I headed out to play at the church instead of at home.  It was a nice change of scenery, and I enjoyed visiting with the people who were coming and going.  It was a great morning.

First, they made their own music.

Preached a sermon.

Played on the play structure.

Dressed up and pretended.

Stopped for a snack.

Dressed up some more.

Tried going up instead of down.

Monkeyed around.

And played with the trains.

Broom Activity

My boys love playing with brooms.  I let them play with the clean one in the closet by the front door, and on most days it is the object of heated sibling warfare. That said, when I saw this activity posted by the Activity Mom, I knew it would be a big hit in our home.

Micaiah, lover of beans, was in his glory.  He liked transferring the beans from the table back into the bean box.

The goal of the activity is to sweep all the beans onto the orange piece of paper and then into the dust pan.  It was a little advanced for Abishai.  Just holding the broom and the dust pan while sweeping at the same time was a challenge for him. I think I will try this one again.

Holy Week Giveaway!

Today is Palm Sunday!  It marks the beginning of Holy Week.  To celebrate, I will be giving away a brand new copy of "The Jesus Storybook Bible".  We like to read the stories from our own copy during meal times together.  Abishai enjoys it so much that he often asks us to read one more.  We usually don't... Always leave them wanting more, right?  What I like about this Childrens Bible is that it's one big continuous story.  The end of each story often leaves you wondering what's going to happen in the next story.  If you would like to win this storybook for your child, then all you have to do is post a comment at the bottom of this post, saying that you want to enter the Holy Week Giveaway.  I will be accepting entries until Easter Sunday, and will put everyone's name in a draw and post the name of the winner on Monday.

Abishai's favorite story.  David and Goliath.

Resurrection Tree

A couple of weeks ago we cut down our first Resurrection Tree (aka Jesus Tree) to get ready for Holy Week.  I hope to make this an annual tradition.  We decorated the tree with items we found around the house and neighborhood, items to represent different aspects of Jesus' last week of life, and his death and resurrection.  The boys like to look at and touch the ornaments.  When Abishai asks "What's that?" about a particular ornament, I explain what it means.  I got this idea from Noel Piper, author of Treasuring God in our Traditions.  I read it when I was pregnant with Abishai, and have eagerly waited until he was old enough to start putting some of her ideas into practice.  Some of the items that Daren and I came up with can be seen below.  We don't yet have an item for every idea we found in scripture, but as the years go by, hopefully we can keep collecting them, like we do with Christmas tree ornaments.

The cross and the hammer that nailed Jesus there.

The cup representing Christ's blood shed for us and the nail that pierced Jesus' hands.

The donkey Jesus rode on Palm Sunday and the passover lamb.

Jesus anointed with perfume and the angel at the tomb.

The fish Jesus and the disciples ate together after the resurrection and the rooster that crowed after Peter denied Jesus 3 times.

Grapes = wine at the last supper.  Bread that was eaten at the last supper.

 Judas' bag of 30 silver pieces

Ribbons.  Green = new life, Christ's resurrection.  Purple = royalty, Palm Sunday.  Black = death, Christ's crucifixion.

Other ideas we'd like to include:

Palm Sunday: Palm Branch, coat

Last Supper: Table, sifter

Garden: Praying hands, olive, sword

Crucifixion: vinegar, soldiers, skull, lots, sour wine bottle, King of Jews sign, curtain torn in two, fire pit, whip, purple cloth, loin cloth

Why We Grind Grain

We've been grinding our own flour for just under half a year now.  Why you might ask?  Why go to all the trouble?  Well, last summer, while on holidays, I came across some information that I just couldn't turn a blind eye to.  As soon as we got home from our trip, we went looking for a grain grinder that fit our needs and family size.  Grinder aren't cheap, but my husband and I agreed that the benefits of fresh flour far out weighed the initial start up costs.  What did I learn?

1.  Once the wheat (grains) is ground open the nutrients immediately begin to oxidize.

2.  Within one hour of grinding the wheat all the vitamin E is lost.

3.  Within 72 hours, 90 percent of over 30 nutrients are virtually gone.

This information astounded me!  I didn't just want some of the nutrients, but all the nutrients that God intended for my family.  So now, when I make bread, I grind only enough flour to make the bread, or anything else for that matter (pancakes, porridge, cookies).

 Psalm 81:16 “I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Clothespins on a Clothesline

The clothespins on this clothesline kept Abishai busy for a reeeally long time.  He loved it!  At first it was hard for him to open the pins, and keep them open while placing them on the line, but after a while he was doing it with ease.  Attaching socks is beyond his level at this point, so he just laid them over the line and spent most of his time putting the pins on.

Micaiah wanted to pull all the clothespins off, which was rather upsetting for Abishai.  I ended up holding Micaiah for most of the activity.  While being held, Micaiah made his own fun by dropping clothes pins on the floor.  He laughed and laughed each time the pin went "clunk" when it fell.

The Airport and the Bakery

Our weekend in pictures.

This always warms my heart, brothers playing together.

We visited the bakery with the gift certificate my husband received when he volunteered to help sand and put in the beams for Tall Grass Prairie's new addition on Westminster.  

Admiring the plant while we waited to be served.

Abishai picked out a raisin oatmeal cookie.

My girlfriend and her children visited the aviation museum the other weekend.  Even though it sounded like a fun place to go, I wanted to wait until Micaiah was a little older before we went.  Instead we decided to go to the airport for the morning.   In the observation tower, we watched the planes take off, land, board and refuel.  It was really fun!

We also found some time to play on their indoor play structure

And run around the airport

Our last sight before getting into the car to go home for lunch.

Abishai giving his flower garden picture to Grandma.

Lent: One more Sunday and the last one is blown out on Good Friday.