From the Mouths of Babes...

This morning, as my "2" and "3" were playing with their magnetic trains, I could tell that my "3" was frustrated that the train cars kept coming apart. A few minutes later, I overheard him say shout to his little brother "I can't play with these anymore! They are too delicate for me!"

Delicate. That is the word of the day!

Our Resurrection Cross - A New Easter Tradition

A few days ago I started showing you some of the changes that we have made in our home for the Easter season. Today I'd like to share one more with you.

This year my husband made a large wooden cross with the boys during the season of Lent.

On Good Friday he talked to them about how Jesus was nailed to the cross and about His immense love for us. He took out 3 nails, let the boys look at them and hold them, and gave them a little poke on each of their hands and feet (don't worry...it was just a small poke) so that they would understand that it HURT Jesus. Then, they nailed 3 nails into the cross.

On Holy Saturday, we placed a cloth on the cross.

And on Easter Sunday, we began to decorate the cross with beautiful signs of life (i.e. paper flowers, butterflies, ladybugs, bees, etc) to celebrate Jesus' Resurrection.

It is now our Resurrection Cross and we have placed it in a prominent place in our living room, to remind us of Christ's love for us, and His victory over sin and death.

It is such a joy to listen to the boys as they tell everyone who comes to visit about their "Easter/Resurrection cross". They'll say things like,"Jesus is not dead anymore","Jesus got on the cross because He loves us so, so much", and "Jesus is risen and His boo boos don't hurt Him anymore". Precious.

Here are a few pictures...

Good Friday Cross

Holy Saturday Cross

Easter Sunday!!! - Resurrection Cross

 

Note: I have to give partial credit to Kimberlee and Dana for the inspiration behind this project (...the rest was Divinely inspired). Thank you for your beautiful ideas!

Lift High The Cross

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim,
Till all the world adore His sacred Name.

Led on their way by this triumphant sign,
The hosts of God in conquering ranks combine.

Each newborn servant of the Crucified
Bears on the brow the seal of Him Who died.

O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree,
As Thou hast promised, draw the world to Thee.

So shall our song of triumph ever be:
Praise to the Crucified for victory.

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim,
Till all the world adore His sacred Name.

Words: George W. Kitch­in; mod­i­fied by Mi­chael R. New­bolt in 1916.

Music: Crucifer, Syd­ney H. Ni­chol­son, 1916

The "D" Word

For the last several weeks our "(very) nearly two" has been using the "D word" ALL of the time. Every day, several times a day, he'd shout "you bammit!".

As you can probably imagine, this concerned me. And I was completely puzzled as to where he'd learned it. I mean, my Mr and I don't very rarely swear (blush), their little friends don't swear, and they don't watch "that kind" of television...hmmm...???


Well, yesterday, it came to me all at once, from a most unexpected source. As we were watching Peter Rabbit, Mr McG started running after Peter and shouting "(Come back here) you varmint!" and sure enough my little man echoed "you bammit!".


Aha! My little guy was saying "you varmint"!


No suds for this little boy...thanks to Mr. McG, it seems we won't have to resort to the soap-in-the-mouth technique after all. Ha!

From the Mouths of Babes...

Yesterday, as we sat down to pray before lunch, I noticed that my ten month old folded her hands when the prayer began, and kept them folded until the prayer was done. I made a comment to my boys about how lovely it was that their little baby sister was praying with us. Without skipping a beat, my "nearly three" said "Oh yes. That  makes Mary so happy".

What an awesome privilege and blessing it is to be a mother!

From the Mouths of Babes...

Early this morning my "nearly two" got a boo-boo on his finger which I promptly washed, kissed, and mended with a Band-Aid. Later this morning my "nearly three" noticed his brothers' bandaged finger and said:

"Mommy, did my brothers' finger get wrecked?"

Precious.

...and I have to tell you...when selecting Band Aid designs my son passed up Spider Man, Blue's Clues, and even Cars Band-Aids for...

Yes. My "nearly two" is sporting a pink Dora the Explorer Band Aid today!