Pete and I set aside the week approaching Easter for intentional family time.
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| Some after school jacuzzi time |
We enjoy a kid-version of Jesus' last meal (similar to the Passover Meal, Jesus had with his 12 best buds). Each food reminded us of God's promises and how each promise was fulfilled (in Jesus).
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| We serve lamb (gyros meat is our yummy favorite) as the main course. The Israelites were instructed to slaughter a lamb and place its blood on their door posts. This is what prevented the Angel of Death from taking the first born of the household. He would “pass over” instead. *Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. |
In the past, I'd pick up a Passover Meal guide (Haggadah) in the grocery store or search Christian Seder online. This year, I found a child-friendly link from Jelly Telly. It was just my style! Here's the
link if you are interested in details.
We broke bread, reminding us of Jesus whose body was broken for us. Yeast represents sin in this word-picture. The bread has no yeast, it's unleavened - Just as Jesus is free of sin.
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| We tasted haroset (ground up apples, raisins nuts and honey) which symbolizes hope. *Jesus is the hope of the World. He is sweeter than the honey of the honeycomb! |
We like to laugh and joke as we go, making faces as we put bitter (horseradish) or unfamiliar flavors in our mouth. Our heart attitude is still one of great respect for what Jesus did.
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| We dipped parsely in salt water before eating. This symbolizes the tears shed by the Israelites, and the parsley symbolizes new life. |
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| *We are reminded of the sorrow we feel when we think of Jesus dying on the cross, but are filled with hope in the new life we have in Him. |
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| We serve grape juice. |
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| *This reminds us of the blood Jesus shed for us on the cross. |
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| We wash one another’s feet to show love and to serve each other. |
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| Pete says a prayer over each of us too |
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| Then the boys and I give also. This was too cute for me. Josh prayed back a prayer that Pete often prays during bedtime prayer -- that "Daddy will be the best daddy (he can be)". |
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| This young man prayed that he and his dad would be BFFs. That is darling for a mama to hear. |
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| And I'm just praying for God's big plans for Pete |
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| We just have fun together! The tradition is a bit different each time, as we grow with the changing seasons of life. |
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| For the first time, we read the book "Benjamin's Box" . It is a boys' - eye view of the treasures found during this week. We anticipated reading each day, wondering what would happen next. |
We share our beliefs with our children -- through experiences -- and as we did so, I came to realize just
that. This week, the
impact was greatest on my own
heart and Pete's own
heart individually. We are simply sharing our faith with our kids. They decide if they will own it as their personal faith.
