BIG GIRL MILESTONES

Avery will be 9 on Thursday -- it's birthday week! I guess she will officially be a "tween". This weekend marked two milestones that many little girls pass around this time.

On Saturday, Eric helped her ride without training wheels for the first time. She needs a bigger bike, but has to learn to ride first. She did great for her first try!



Today we went on an all girls shopping spree, including Michaels, Toys R Us and Claire's, to redeem some birthday gift cards. One of her gifts included ear piercing. She looks so pretty!


My little girl is growing up and I am so proud of the beautiful young lady that she is becoming -- inside and out!

WEARING MANY HATS

Last week Ella had the chance to "wear many hats".

Wednesday night was Awana CRAZY HAT night. After trying on several choices (Mexican sombrero, Jordanian head-dress) she decided upon this layered concoction.

On Thursday, Ella's class of first graders had their Community Helpers presentation . This month they have been learning about people who work in the community. Ella's group researched the suburbs and they all dressed as police officers for their presentation.

The "suburbs" was a village, made of decorated boxes.

Here is the shop that Ella designed.

Some of Ella's classmates dressed as doctors and nurses

And other friends dressed as farmers

A NEW ERA

era (noun): a period of time marked by distinctive character, events, etc.

From approximately 2001 - present our family has enjoyed a wonderful membership to the Strong National Museum of Play. Right about the time that Avery was starting to get a little bored with our weekly visits, they added an awesome addition, including Reading Adventureland and (our current favorite) Berenstein Bears. We have loved, loved, loved going there whenever we want, and feel so fortunate to have one of the 10 Best Children's Museums in the US right here in our hometown!

But we're transitioning into a new era (sigh). As Avery approaches her 9th birthday this month, she is not quite as fascinated by the familiar sights and activities that we have always enjoyed at Strong. She's looking for something new...

So last Friday we took a family trip to the Rochester Museum and Science Center (RSMC). This is not our first visit to RSMC, and now that we have purchased a membership, I imagine we will be there regularly.

Highlights of our first visit as members included:

Many cool activities in the Underground Railroad exhibit

Digging for "fossils"

Resting in the cloud room with Mom

Figuring out how things work with Dad

Rainbow shadows and other cool optical tricks

To see the full album of our first day of membership at RMSC, click HERE.

O HAPPY DAY -- EASTER SUNDAY!

The greatest day in history,

Death is beaten

You have rescued me

Sing it out Jesus is alive

The empty cross,

The empty grave

Life eternal

You have won the day

Shout it out

Jesus is alive

He's alive

Oh happy day, happy day

You washed my sin away

Oh happy day, happy day

I'll never be the same

Forever I am changed

When I stand, in that place

Free at last, meeting face to face

I am Yours

Jesus You are mine

Endless joy, perfect peace

Earthly pain finally will cease

Celebrate Jesus is alive

He's alive

Oh what a glorious day

What a glorious way

That You have saved me

Oh what a glorious day

What a glorious name

This is one of my favorite songs. To listen to it, click here -- Happy Day by Steve Fee. It's worth a listen, especially on Resurrection Sunday!

We enjoyed a GREAT morning -- HighPoint and big church.

Then we had a fun mid-day with Eric's family.

Ella enjoyed some special time with Grandpa. The Easter card that she made them read "Grandma's are special but Grandpa's are for entertaining!" And Grandpa surely did entertain today!

We made a special cross cake. It was red velvet (blood that Jesus shed) with dark chocolate icing (our sin). At the bottom of the cake was white coconut (our sins are washed away and we are made white as snow). There were red juju "wounds" and a pretzel "crown of thorns".

We didn't get to Easter baskets until late afternoon. It was quite a hunt this year, but fun to find them and get into them!

After the baskets were unloaded it was time for an egg hunt.

Is it possible to have too much candy??

Thank you, Jesus, that we have much to celebrate today! Our salvation was made secure over 2000 years ago because You died and rose again. We love You!

HOLY WEEK -- Saturday

RESURRECTION ROLLS

You need:
Crescent rolls
Melted butter
Large Marshmallows
Cinnamon
Sugar
Preheat oven to 350° .

Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls. The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.

Give each child a marshmallow. This represents Jesus’ body.
Have her dip the marshmallow in melted butter, which represents the oils of embalming.

Then dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar, which represents the spices used to anoint the body.

Then wrap up the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll (not like a typical crescent roll up . . . bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside.) This represents the wrapping of Jesus’ body after death.

Place in a 350° oven for 10-12 minutes. The oven represents the tomb—pretend it was three days!

When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, HE IS RISEN! (The marshmallow melts and the crescent roll is puffed up, but empty.)\

HOLY WEEK -- Good Friday

Hot cross buns for breakfast. A yummy treat with a simple message -- today I will remember that Jesus died on the cross to pay for my sins.

I have been reading a great book this Lenten season, "Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross", edited by Nancy Guthrie. Some passages that I've read these past couple of days have stuck with me. Here are a couple of excerpts:

What Jesus was doing on the cross was bearing sin, carrying sin, wearing sin. Jesus was taking the sins of the world upon his shoulders. It was as if God had taken a giant bucket and scooped up all the sins of his people -- all the jealousy and the anger and the lying, all the rebellion and the stealing and the incest, all the hypocrisy and the envy and the swearing -- and dumped them all out on Jesus Christ. "The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6). "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us..." (2 Cor. 5:21)... Once he had done that, God the Father had to forsake all that sin. When Jesus was wearing our sin on the cross, God the Father could not bear to look at the sin or at his Son. (Philip Graham Ryken)

At the moment that Christ took upon himself the sin of the world, he became the most grotesque, most obscene mass of sin in the history of the world. God is too holy to even look at iniquity. When Christ was hanging on the cross, the Father, as it were, turned his back on Christ... There was Jesus, the Son in whom the Father was well pleased. Now he hung in darkness, isolated from the Father, cut off from fellowship -- fully receiving in himself the curse of God -- not for his own sin but for the sin he willingly bore by imputation for our sake. (R.C. Sproul)

I'm forgiven because You were forsaken
I'm accepted, You were condemned
I'm alive and well, Your Spirit lives within me,
because You died and rose again

Amazing love, how can it be
that You, my King, should die for me?
Amazing love, I know it's true
It's my joy to honor You
In all I do
I honor You.
(Amazing Love, by Chris Tomlin)

That's what we talked about before we each hammered a nail into a piece of wood, remembering that it was our sin (specific and personal) that nailed Jesus to the cross.

HOLY WEEK -- Thursday

This is my favorite day of our Holy Week family devotions (at least so far!). It is the day that we remember the Last Supper and the Passover, and enjoy a wonderful meal that is "similar" to the one that Jesus and His disciples may have eaten the day before He died. Besides the obvious benefit of reminding us of Christ, celebrating Holy Thursday with a Passover-type meal is a tradition that I did in my family growing up. I love sharing this with Eric, Avery & Ella.

Eric started by reading the story of the Passover from Exodus, as well as the Last Supper with Jesus and His disciples. It was really neat to talk about these events with the girls, now that they are old enough to imagine it and discuss what it might have been like. As you can see, we are sitting on the kitchen floor. Avery thought it would be better to sit the way that Jesus and His disciples would have -- not on chairs!


We started with unleavened bread (saltines -- the Matzo didn't go over very well last year). This symbolizes the bread that the Israelites took with them from Egypt. In their haste, they did not have time to let it rise.

Next we ate "lamb" (actually chicken because lamb was soooo expensive and I knew they wouldn't like it!). The lamb was killed so that the blood could mark the doorposts of the houses of the Israelites. When the angel of death saw the blood on the doorpost he would pass over that house and not kill the first born child. Jesus is our Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

We tasted horseradish as a reminder of the bitterness the Israelites experienced while they were slaves. We remember how bitter our lives are when we are slaves to sin.

Haroset (apples, nuts & honey) is eaten as a symbol of hope. Jesus is the hope of the world. He is sweeter than the honey in the honeycomb. This was the girls' most favorite part of the meal and it was always my favorite as a little girl too :)

We dipped parsley into salt water and tasted it. This reminds us of the tears that were shed in Egypt. The parsley is a symbol of new life. We are reminded of the sorrow we feel when we think of Jesus dying on the cross. But the green reminds us of the new life that we have in Him.

I forgot to take a picture of the grape juice, but that was our drink. Jesus said this cup was a sign of His shed blood for us on the cross. Whenever we drink it, we should drink it in remembrance of Him.

As we finished up our dinner, I got the Bible back out and read the passage where Judas was entered by Satan and agreed to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. What a sad story. We talked about what it must have felt like, to Jesus, to have a good friend betray you. And still He showed Judas love and respect at the supper. We had a couple of sweet "silver" coins for our dessert.

HOLY WEEK -- Wednesday

Craft flop! Avery, Ella & I, along with our friends Kim & Gaby gave it our best shot. And actually, their craft came out okay. But as for the Connor's crafts . . .

What was supposed to look like a beautiful lacy Easter egg, never made it past this:

To use Eric's words, "the integrity of the balloon was compromised". That basically means that the glue we used somehow caused the balloon to deflate before the string was dry, and everything turned out lumpy and bumpy. Not egg shaped at all! Besides the fact that the balloon was totally adhered to the string and I couldn't remove it, even after popping the balloon. Just another confirmation that crafts + Maria do not = good results :) (Leah, you would have been so proud of my efforts!)

We did have a great time making them, although Avery must take after her mom in the craft department. Shortly into the messy glue-on-the-fingers project, she said "This is NOT fun. Do I have to do this?"

The point of all this crafting was to make a beautiful "Easter Affection Egg". After making our eggs on Tuesday, and giving them 24 hours to dry, our Wednesday devotion was from John 12:1-7 We read about the woman who washed Jesus' feet with perfume, and wiped them with her hair. She adored Jesus, sacrificing expensive nard (worth a year's wages!) and humbling herself to show great affection towards Him.

Our intent was to write down special ways that we will show affection for Jesus in the days to come, then place the slips of paper in our "affection eggs". The core of our activity remained intact! We each wrote down, on a small piece of paper, something we could do for Jesus (sometimes by serving each other) as well as a family act of service/love to do this week. They are now sweetly stored in a cute little basket, rather than lacy eggs.

HOLY WEEK -- Tuesday

"One of the teachers of the law came and heard the Sadducees arguing. He noticed that Jesus had given the Sadducees a good answer. So he asked him, 'Which is the most important of all the commandments?' Jesus answered, 'Here is the most important one. Moses said, 'Israel, listen to me. The Lord is our God. The Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind and with all your strength.' And here is the second one. 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.' There is no commandment more important than these.' " (Mark 12:28-31 NIrV)

Today we tried to live out the two greatest commandments. We added some leaves to our praise tree. "I love you God because . . ."

We love our neighbors (& teachers) too! A special treat to give away . . .

Avery, Ella & Gaby used a lot of muscle to get that cookie dough out of the plastic bowl :)

HOLY WEEK -- Monday

Homemade soft pretzels! Yeah, that's what our Monday of Holy Week family activity was! And what do soft pretzels have to do with Holy Week? Well, let's see...

1) We read the story of Jesus at the temple (Matthew 21:12-13) and shaped our pretzels into crossed arms to remind that God wants us to pray. "Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 'It is written," he said to them, 'My house will be called a house of prayer' "

2) Pretzels are a healthy treat -- important to take care of our bodies, the temple of the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 3:16, "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?"

3) Our pretzels were very salty, reminding us that Jesus calls us to be "the salt of the earth" (Matthew 5:13)

4) Every pretzel was different from the others. This reminded us of the unique & wonderful way that God has created each one of us. "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14)

The recipe (as well as some of the ideas we are using for Holy Week) can be found here.