40 Days Until the Ressurection

 40 Days Untill Ressurection Sunday

We don't practice Lent in our house.  Many do, and thats ok.  this post isnt about Lent, its about preparing for easter.  We do however practice the discipleship of training up our children in the way that they should go (because they will not depart from it!!!) as in proverbs 22:6.  We train them up in Christ.  And what better way than to teach them the gospel?  Not ONLY the gospel but the WHY of the gospel.  

I read this post yesterday morning:

http://www.psychowith6.com/whats-hot-in-homeschooling-this-week/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

That post led me to this one:

http://heartofthematteronline.com/observing-lent/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+heartofthematteronline%2FYoZh+%28Heart+of+the+Matter%29

And that inspired this......

I know, you saw this yesterday!  Today I'm expanding on it.

I wanted to make a tomb. With a stone and everything.  Batman eloquently reminded me that Jesus died on the cross.  Without the cross there would have been no empty tomb. Ok, Batman we'll make the cross.  

Here's what we did.  

Lay out some paper.  The kind on a roll works best, but you could piece together newspaper, scrap paper, construction or computer paper.  I think this had been used for packing boxes.  I don't know, I've had it forever.  We don't ever throw possible craft solutions away. 

Make a basic cross shape.  Tape it to the wall.  

Here are the really important steps.  Do this before any messy or potentially disastrous craft.

1. Set kids down criss cross applesauce.
2. Hands in their laps
3. Double check to make sure eyes are on you
4. Lay down the law, gently.  Let them know the boundaries and consequences.  DON'T SAY ANYTHING YOU DON'T MEAN.  It will just frustrate everybody.  Follow through.

I gave them markers, crayons and pencils. They mostly used markers.  Older kids could be trusted with paints or stamps too.  Younger ones might be better using crayons only.  Or stickers, you could even skip that step entirely if you wanted to be a guaranteed mess free idea. Magic erasers can get crayon up.  I hope it will get markers too because there were two accidental marks made.  No matter how hard they try, they are kids and they do make mistakes.  Great time to point out that they need to be careful and demonstrate grace.

Here's the 'finished' project.  Well, actually it won't be finished until Easter.  It's a work in progress.  Each night we will read a story leading up to the Ressurection.  We will start with a short story from this box of cards in the morning.  

Each card has a story and facts.  They're pretty cool.  I picked them up for free somewhere. I love free stuff!!

Then we'll do a related craft.  Yesterday we painted Earths on the boys hands and made prints on the cross.  We talked about my favorite single verse in the Bible. If I was only allowed one that is.  

"Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was HOVERING over the waters". Gen 1:2. NIV

I love that word hovering.  Indulge me in speculating please.  These are my own thoughts grounded on nothing more than my imagination and the fact that God is omnipresent.  

What was He doing up there, HOVERING above the waters?  Why?  If you picture a helicopter hovering you picture it floating above the ground but not flying around.  Now picture God... However that looks to you, I'm picturing the pillar of clouds that led the Israelites.  He's just hovering, not flying, or zooming.  He must be thinking something... What is it?  We don't know anything for sure, it just doesn't say.  Here's my speculation. He was watching the life of the world He was about create play through.  He KNEW.  He knew that Adam and Eve would sin.  He knew people would sacrifice babies to molech.  (Sorry, I'm reading through Leviticus lately...). He knew Jesus would die to save an undeserving people.  He knew I would be born.  He knew the detestable things I would do, even after putting my trust in Him.  He created the world anyway.  HE WANTED US SO BADLY that HE made us knowing how disastrously short we would fall.  And then, centuries later, He STILL chose to create me too. 

Ok, mini study over!  I suggest you contemplate it though ;)

Ok, back to the project at hand.  Each night we will read from this storybook bible.  The story of the Ressurection is the 40th story. How convenient!

We will be skipping a few since we started a little late!  

Each week I will post a 'wrap up' of sorts showing what we did each day that week, with possible crafts or activities for the days we skipped.  We'll be doing it yearly after all!

Day 1. The story and the song.  This is the story we would have started with if we had started on time.  It's a lovely introduction that should be at the front of EVERY bible.  The craft or activity would simply be setting up your cross or tomb or whatever. A permanent idea would be a tree of some sort. Possibly one made of found branches or a small Christmas tree.  I like the idea of bare branches.  

Day 2. The beginning: a perfect home

We did handprints, along with "the book of Genisis" from the card box.  

Check back later to see what we do next!