Watch my children as they squeal with joy at the wonder of spring. Why not grab your camera and do the same? Try to get close-ups of green plants peeking up out of the soil, new buds on branches, and birds preparing their nests!
The Wonder of Spring
April 24th, 2011Passover Jewish Dancing Outtakes
April 20th, 2011I snapped some photos of my kids doing their Passover Jewish dancing. As you can see, they had a ball!
Easter Ideas
April 19th, 2011
This post contains affiliate links.
If you would like some Easter ideas, here is a video that will show you some fun and easy Easter crafts as well as ways to organize Easter from year to year. It’s helpful to keep all your Easter supplies in a clear pouch. You can get a durable pouch for free when you buy bed sheets or blankets. These are the items I keep in my Easter pouch:
- The Very First Easter – A book that explains the true meaning of Easter with colorful illustrations of the resurrection of Christ.
- Plastic Easter eggs and stackable baskets for each child for the Easter egg hunt each year.
- Unused egg dye kits and wire egg holders left over from other kits so that each child has a wire egg holder to dye their Easter eggs.
- It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown (a classic cartoon)
- A plastic bag or decorated folder with clipped magazine pictures for Easter crafts you might want to do with your children in future years.
- Resurrection Eggs (from Family Life) – The items are made from metal, and each item illustrates something from the Easter story. Lead up to Easter by reading a short devotional each day for the 12 days leading up to Easter. (Well-done and not cheesy.)
Here are some easy Easter crafts to do with your children:
1. Colorful countdown egg carton
- Cut off the top part of a cardboard egg carton.
- Put candy or the Resurrection Egg items into each compartment.
- Glue colorful squares of tissue paper to seal each compartment. With a black marker, write the numbers 1-12 on each piece of tissue paper before you glue it in place. Allow it to dry overnight.
- For the 12 days before Easter, your kids can tear through one number of the tissue paper, getting the candy or item, looking forward to Easter. This is sort of like an Advent calendar, except it’s for Easter instead of Christmas.
2. Paper sack and twig nest
- Scrunch down a paper sack to make the nest.
- Pour glue over the top.
- Have your kids glue the small twigs onto the paper sack. Super cute nest, perfect for your glitter eggs.
3. Glitter eggs
- Get a cold boiled egg from your fridge. Put school glue on the outside of the egg. (Make sure the shell is still on the egg.)
- Place the egg into a plastic bag with confetti. Shake the egg to coat it completely.
- Let the beautiful glitter egg dry in the fridge.
- Place it into the cute twig nest the next day.
Have a great Easter!
Guarding my Tongue
April 19th, 2011
I don’t know how many times I’ve gotten into trouble for what I’ve said. I don’t even do it on purpose. I just have nothing to hide. If people ask me a question, I tell them the truth. Sometimes I tell them the truth when they don’t want to hear it, or when they haven’t even asked.
One time, for example, many years ago, I was at a Bible study where absolutely nothing was glorifying to God. A woman from the Bible study was talking to me on the phone, and I said, “This Bible study is crap. Everyone is stiff, and their arrogance reeks to high heaven. No one is vulnerable, and everyone talks down to everyone else. I have learned NOTHING in an entire year from this Bible study, and this has never happened to me, because my deep love for God is so strong, I can always find something to learn. I don’t know how I’m supposed to grow spiritually under these conditions.”
When she hung up the phone, she called the Bible study leader’s wife, and gossiped about all the juicy information I had just said. The leader’s wife hung up the phone and called to gossip to the elders. Then the leader’s wife told her husband, who called my husband and punished us both by removing us from Bible study. My husband trembled when he got off the phone, and he asked me, “What did you say?!!”
I told him everything, and I got on the floor weeping, repenting in dust and ashes. My husband was reminded of the betrayal that happened to him in California, back when all his friends turned on him and his reputation was ruined. This was the worst time in his life, and he thought his life was over. Somehow I had made my husband re-live his worst nightmare. I had deeply wounded my husband, and I was so, so sorry.
I remembered the story of the Israelites, when they were wandering through the wilderness. They complained, and God’s fire flashed forth and burned them up because complaining is an offense against God.
As I lay crumpled on the floor, I asked God to purge me from my sin of complaining. And I would have done anything to turn back the clock and take back my words.
There was a meeting with six people where I publicly apologized for my sin. During that meeting, one of the men gave us unwanted parenting advice which violated the Word of God. (He noticed that my children had joy when they came to Bible study, and that we needed to make them more sober. And by the way, my children were silent during Bible study. If you know my loud children at all, you would applaud my husband and me for training our children in self-control in such an outstanding manner. We ought to have been encouraged instead of rebuked.) I saw his arrogance right there and then, and I looked at my husband to see if he’d noticed. My husband had a humble demeanor on his face, and he only wanted the ordeal to be over with. So I bowed my head and looked at the floor.
I usually only get in trouble for my words about once every two years; but when I get into trouble, it’s like an explosion, and my husband has to do damage control. People who “get” me don’t become offended, but they actually enjoy me. Some people even seek me out for advice because (ironically) they think I’m wise, and they know they’ll get the truth.
Last Sunday before going to church, I asked my husband if I could be myself again, or if I had to guard my words. He said, “Susan, you always need to guard your words.” I thought to myself, “But I have a blog… How can I write blog entries daily and guard my words at the same time? I would feel like I had shackles. I just want to breathe and live and be free. This is the United States of America. I should be allowed to have free speech…”
But so many times I wished that I could take back things that I’ve said, even if every word of it was true. Just because something is true doesn’t mean it needs to be said.
“Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.” Psalm 141:3
