Every year the Quad Cities hosts a Komen Race for the Cure, a fundraiser to fight against breast cancer. This year their race was quite significant to our family because my mom was the Honorary Survivor Chairperson. Almost exactly 18 years ago, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has a pretty cool story, actually. She went to a Circle meeting at her church and there was a lady there talking about how to do breast self exams. She had a dummy there where the women could actually feel what a lump was like. My mom discovered the lump on her own body because of that experience at her church. She initially had the lump removed and then a mastectomy. She also endured six months of chemotherapy. It wasn't fun for any of us. But here we are 18 years later and she is cancer free and quite healthy.
This Honorary Survivor Chairperson role allowed my mom to share her story and encourage others to take the necessary precautions to catch breast cancer early. She got to speak on the radio and tv. There were articles in the newspaper and other speaking opportunities. My mom is such an outgoing, energetic, and happy person that she was perfect for the position. The organization she works for got behind her and formed a team for the race and raised the most money as a group for the cause.
The day of the race was an early morning for us, but it was well worth it to hear my mom share her story and to see all the people who have been touched by breast cancer. I was blown away by the survivors who participated in the race, as well as the people who wore shirts with pictures and "In Memory" messages. It made me wonder why I was so lucky that my mom lived and those people's relative or friend did not. But I have seen countless times how my mom has been able to use her experience with cancer to inspire or encourage others. And I've seen how her outlook on life is totally different now.
Sometimes it is really hard to understand why God allows horrible things to happen, but my mom is living proof that good can come of them. When times are tough, God wants us to rely completely on Him and then use what we learn to bring Him glory. And my mom has done just that.
My mom got to go up in the lift with the starter of the race
Aria liked all the dogs
Aria needed a lift for part of the way
Water stations along the route
Grandma and Papa don't know how to say no
People along the route decorated their homes or yards and came out to support the runners/walkers
Back in April, when Aria asked Jesus to be her Savior, we purchased a white rose to recognize the event. That was on April 17. A few weeks later, the rose was pretty much dead and I was about to throw it out. However, I noticed two little sprouts growing off the original stem. They were not there when we purchased the rose, but they now had two little rose growing from them. This week, one of those new roses bloomed.
I find it incredibly amazing that the petals of the original rose have never fallen off even though they are dried. And, even more amazing, is the new growth of yet another beautiful rose. It reminds me of two verses.
"I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me--and I in him--bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing." John 15:5
"So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away --look, what is new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17
Such beautiful lessons from God's beautiful creation and the beautiful life we get to live in Him.
Back in March I came up with a plan for my own version of Resurrection Eggs to help Aria grasp the meaning of Easter more clearly. I made my plan similar to what we did last year. I wanted to tell more than the Easter story; to focus on Jesus' life on earth. My goal was to help Aria understand her Savior beyond His death. After completing all of our reading and activities, I think Aria has a good four year old grasp of who Jesus is. She understands a little about Jesus' time on earth and what he did while he was here. We read the Bible so often that she knows so many of the stories very well. So note to self, next year I want to go back to focusing on the story of Jesus' death and resurrection around Easter. We can go into more detail and deepen her specific knowledge of those weeks.
Back to this year. I came up with 20 eggs. Each egg had a Bible verse and an object clue. We started with Jesus' birth and ended with the Holy Spirit coming. My goal was to read from the Bible every day and do some sort of craft or activity to connect to what we read. Aria loves doing crafts and they are great physical reminders of what she learned. She also loves to act things out, which definitely helps plant the story in her mind.
One thing that came of our eggs this year was Aria learning how to read verse references. We talked about Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John being the Gospel and the books that tell about Jesus' life. She learned how to read the number references for the chapter and verse, too. We read the verses from my Bible every day. Sometimes we read the story from one of her storybook Bibles, too. Here is my list:
1. John 3:16 and the story of Jesus' birth. We made a star like the one over Bethlehem when Jesus was born.
2. Luke 2:49. The story of Jesus as a boy in the temple. We built a temple out of toothpicks and marshmallows.
3. Matthew 3:16-17. Jesus' baptism. We made stick people Jesus and John and acted out the baptism with some gold glitter and a dove.
4. Matthew 4:19. Jesus calls his disciples. We made 12 notes for friends and family to tell them Jesus loves them like the disciples did.
5. Matthew 6:9-13. Jesus teaches how to pray. My goal was to learn the Lord's prayer, but Aria was not interested so it didn't stick.
6. John 9:11. Jesus heals a blind man. We acted it out like this:
7. Mark 11:7-10. Palm Sunday. We made palm branches and acted out Jesus' triumphant entry to Jerusalem.
8. Matthew 26:14-16. Judas agrees to betray Jesus. My original idea was to find a place to give our money to do the opposite of what Judas did when he accepted money to betray Jesus, but we ended up not doing that. I think we had a busy day and we just read the verses.
9. John 13:6-9. Jesus washes his disciples feet. We washed each other's feet.
10. Exodus 12:12-14. The story of the Passover in the time of Moses. I included this to help Aria connect what Jesus was celebrating with the disciples and the same sacrifice He made as the lamb was used for in the time of Moses. Aria really likes the story of the plagues and knows it well. I think she somewhat grasped the connection to Jesus, but it is definitely an idea to explore further. We made a cotton ball sheep because they sacrificed a lamb and because Jesus is the Lamb of God.
11. Luke 22:14-20. The Last Supper. Of course, this is the day that Aria told us she asked Jesus to live in her heart! We ended up not baking bread together like I originally planned because we were celebrating Aria's faith!
12. Luke 23:46. Good Friday. Jesus died on the cross. We did an Easter unbasket this year. I will post more about it later, but we wrote our sins on rocks and placed them in our basket. I was amazed at Aria's sincerity with this activity. She wrote sins she really struggles with. It was wonderful symbolism.
13. Mark 15:42-47. Jesus' body was placed in a tomb. We wrapped up our Jesus stick person in cloth and placed him in the garden tomb we made and closed it up.
14. Matthew 28:5-6. Easter Sunday. Jesus is alive! We made Resurrection rolls. We discovered Jesus was not in the tomb. We found all of our "sins" in Jesus' basket and blessings in our basket. It was a great day!
15. John 20:10-18. Mary sees Jesus near the tomb. We planted some flowers as a sign of new life.
16. John 20:24-31. Thomas doubts that Jesus is real. We made holes we could put our fingers in like Thomas did to Jesus, only ours weren't in our skin.
17. John 21:4-6. Jesus eats fish with the disciples. We ate some goldfish, too. We were going to make a fish craft, but didn't have time.
18. Matthew 28:19-20. The Great Commission. We put stars on a world map of places where we donate money to help others learn about Jesus.
19. Acts 1:7-11. Jesus is taken to Heaven. I found a really cool craft where you use a plastic cup and a piece of yarn to pull Jesus up into the clouds. I didn't take a picture, but it turned out really cool!
20. Acts 2:1-4. The Holy Spirit comes as flames on the disciples' heads. We made a picture of 11 faces to represent the disciples and tissue paper fire on their heads.
Yelling.
Impatience.
An accidental bump.
Wrongful accusation.
"I'm sorry, Aria. Will you forgive me?"
"Yes."
Her forgiveness always happens and it is always instant. She never hesitates.
Yet another lesson I've learned from my daughter.
There are certainly times I don't feel like forgiving her right away. There are especially times I don't want to forgive others right away. I was wronged and I want to be angry. I want my opponent to feel true remorse.
But God forgives me right away. If I come to Him with a repentant heart and ask Him to forgive whatever wrong I have done, He does. It is instant and it is guaranteed.
Just like my daughter demonstrates to me.
Her heart is tender. She is full of trust in me. She loves me unconditionally. All pure examples of the love of our Heavenly Father.
Aria's forgiveness doesn't happen just for me. She is quick to forgive her friends, too. One day we were goofing around and Aria got frustrated and bit me. I don't ever recall her biting anyone, so it really caught me off guard. I told her I didn't want to play with someone who bites me. Then I asked Aria if she would still want to play with a friend (I picked a friend as an example) if she bit her.
She said, "Yeah because she is my friend."
She can get past infractions and injustices because of her love for her friends and her family. She sees the heart and knows the ugly that sometimes comes out is not the true form of a person's character. What a beautiful representation of 1 Samuel 16:7. "But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."
Thank you, Lord, for giving me this beautiful daughter who teaches me so much about you.
During the last two times I've been in charge of the bedtime routine in our house, I've been asked the following questions:
What if I die first and have to go to Heaven by myself?
Where will we sleep in Heaven?
What will we eat in Heaven?
How do you get to Hell with Judas? Do you have to climb a hill?
I'm really glad she is thinking and asking questions, but I have to wonder if she knows she can pull these out a bedtime to prolong her evening.
I don't care. I want to have the conversations and help her understand as best I can. The most interesting thing is that she doesn't want surface answers. For example, with the Judas question, I told her that people who don't love Jesus and don't ask Him to live in their heart go to Hell. She responded with, "Yeah, but how do they get there?"
I don't know how to explain that. I don't know if I even know an answer for myself. Nor, in that case, do I want to find out.
I stumbled around something about your soul, which she has no idea about, and eventually finished with 'when you die, if you believe in Jesus and have asked Him to be your Savior, then you go to Heaven. If you don't believe, you go to Hell.'
It is just crazy to me that my four-year-old thinks about things like this. I know it has a lot to do with how much time we spend reading Bible stories and talking about them, but it is still refreshing to have evidence that she is listening and that God is working in her heart.
And I've also discovered that it is fun to talk about Heaven with my four-year-old because we can talk about things that make us really happy like eating mac and cheese every day. I don't often dream like that. I need more happy in my life and there usually isn't anyone better to bring it than my awesome little girl (and her Daddy, too).
I am exhausted. I have laundry piles. I have no idea what we will eat tomorrow for supper or lunch or breakfast. I should go to sleep.
But, my heart is full. And I must capture this moment while it is right in the front of my head.
I feel like I just returned from the most amazing spiritual retreat ever. I have a renewed confidence, a deeper faith, and a serene, peaceful attitude. I have a little bit more knowledge about how deeply God loves me.
About 7 years ago, God formed a small Bible study group of 4 couples, married about 2 years, all within a couple years age of each other. It was a call from our church to do a 6 week study on a topic I don't even remember. These couples were a part of an ABF class at church together and knew each other a little bit.
Our first meeting was on August 31, 2006. I know the exact date because it was the day after my 25th birthday and Erin, the host of the evening, made cupcakes to honor the occasion. I didn't even know she knew it was my birthday. I probably didn't even consider her my "friend" but more like an acquaintance.
That has definitely changed.
Over the years, another couple joined the group and then one had to step away and yet another one joined. We continued to meet on a weekly basis, studying God's Word, sharing our triumphs and struggles, and eating a lot of yummy food. We met as couples at first, then added kids so we met as families. We also started a separate "girl time" for the 6 women. We experienced all aspects of life together.
We formed a bond, deeper than any friendship I have ever experienced, built solely on our love for God. And that is what makes this group so special.
Beginning in 2011, one family moved back to their Texas home in May and another, again back to their Texas home in October. In May of 2012, the third family left the state to move closer to family in Minnesota. And finally, in August, the last of the moves for a family to a different community in Iowa. What was once a core weekly group was now spread out all over the country.
I felt the need to spell this all out as I reflect upon our recent trip. The roots of the group are so key.
Today we returned home from a 5 day retreat with 5 families in a 6 bedroom, 6 bathroom house. We had 10 adults and 8 kids, aged 5 and under. We had not all been together for almost 2 years. Children have been added to families in those 2 years. Jobs have changed. People have moved. Life has gone on. New friendships have been formed.
But this friendship has remained the same. I was ecstatic to see friends that hold such a special, special place in my heart after so long, yet it felt like they never left. Our conversations, our level of trust, the way we used to live life when we all lived in the same town, was just the same. And our kids played with each other. And our kids played with the other adults. We laughed. We cried. We visited some caves. And we ate lots of yummy food.
As I said in the beginning, I feel as though I was at the most amazing spiritual retreat, ever. Yet it was not technically a spiritual retreat. But my friends, the best friends I've ever had, spoke God's truth into my life and strengthened my faith, just as they did for all those years we met every week. And it's not like we did Bible studies the whole time. Or at all. But they showed me who God is by the way they listened, the way they parent their kids, the way they strive every day to live their lives according to God's purpose for them.
I am a constant work in progress at being confident in who God made me. I struggle with comparing myself to others and wondering if I am good enough. I am good at putting up a guard and not letting people all the way in. But I don't have those problems with this group. They are real and they let me be real without judgment. It is absolutely wonderful.
For a long time I have mourned all of my friends moving away. But as we got together this weekend, I realized something significant. Back in 2006 when God brought our group together, He knew it would not last forever. He knew people would move away. Yet He knit our lives together and formed a bond as strong and as deep as Him. I think God formed this bond between us so that it would stand the test of time, distance, and change. God made these friendships so special because he knew they would have to be in order for us to maintain them.
I am so thankful for the time we spent as a small group and the bond that we formed. I am thankful that we are still committed to spending time with each other, so much so that people took off work, drove thousands of miles, dealt with whiny kids and sleep deprivation, and paid hundreds of dollars to spend quality time together.
This was the best trip ever, not because of anything we did, but because of the time we got to spend together. I think it was God's way of giving us a glimpse at eternity. Beautiful fellowship with people who love God. Oh how He loves us all!
My people, thank you. I love you. I can't wait until we do it again. You filled up my heart and helped me remember who God made me.
On Valentine's Day I decided to do one of the devotionals in Aria's Bible about love. It was from 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. We had a good conversation about love, but the most powerful part came from the suggestion at the end of the devotion. It said to have your mom read how God describes love in the rest of 1 Corinthians 13. It suggested reading it through once and then on the second time putting in Aria's name where it says love. This is the result...
Aria is patient and kind. Aria is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. She does not demand her own way. She is not irritable, and she keeps no record of being wronged. Aria does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Aria never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
I had done this exercise before as a part of a middle school lesson, but I had not thought to do it with Aria. It's impact was evident. At first, during the positive attributes, Aria was a bit bashful to hear that she is patient and kind. Then, during the negative attributes in which she is not, she got a real funny look on her face. She commented that sometimes she does do those wrong things. But we talked about her not doing them very often. Then we discussed how these verses are a description of how God wants her to live and talked about examples of how we can exhibit those things. It was incredibly powerful to make it so personal to her by using her name.
I find it incredibly powerful to use Scripture for prayer and to make it personal by inserting your own name. I did this same exercise today with my Elemental Bible reading of Ephesians 2:4-10. It went like this...
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved me so much, that even though I was dead because of my sins, he gave me life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's grace that I have been saved!) For he raised me from the dead along with Christ and seated me with him in the heavenly realms because I am united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to me in all future ages as an example of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward me, as shown in all he has done for me, who is united with Christ Jesus.
God saved me by his grace when I believed. And I can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things I have done, so I cannot boast about it. For I am God's masterpiece. He has created me anew in Christ Jesus, so I can do the good things he planned for me long ago.
Let me say that again.
I am God's masterpiece.
He created me anew in Christ Jesus, so I can do the good things he planned for me long ago.
It gave me the chills. How powerful is it to read what God has done for me! Because even though Paul was writing to the Ephesians, all those things he said apply to me, too. And when I read that I am God's masterpiece, it gives me a whole new self image. I am not anything this world calls me. I am God's masterpiece. How incredible!!
I will definitely make personalizing Scripture something I do for myself and with Aria more often. And, I will be using it to pray for many others, too. Why try to come up with my own things when God has given me a whole book full of what to say?!?
There are many moments in parenthood where mom and dad feel completely helpless. Common examples include when your child is sick, when someone hurts their feelings, when they get hurt, or when they refuse to follow a certain behavior request by the parents. Or when your daughter spends more than an hour coughing in the wee hours of the morning on her birthday.
Aria has one of the worst coughs she has had in her entire four years. It really seemed to begin about 4 am on her birthday. She woke up coughing and could not get settled back down. We got water, Vicks, the vaporizer, propped her up on another pillow and none of it seemed to help. And the birthday streamers and Minnie and Daisy dangly things in her doorway were not in the way at all for the 14 trips in and out of her room. At 4 am.
Once I knew we had done everything we could to try to help her with the cough, I laid in my bed praying over and over and over, "God, please help her stop coughing. Give her rest. Don't let her feel yucky on her birthday."
I felt completely helpless.
I wanted to go in Aria's room and remove the cough from her chest and place it in mine. I wanted to take on her pain and suffering so she didn't have to feel those things. First of all, I remember my parents, my dad in particular, wanting to do the same for me when I was young. My dad would endure all kinds of suffering if it meant I didn't have to. Or Aria. It is amazing how becoming a parent helps you understand your own parents so much more.
And then there is the great parallel. Jesus took on my suffering so I didn't have to experience it.
Aria's suffering wasn't by choice, but a virus that infiltrated her body. But my sin is something I choose. I deserve punishment and suffering. Jesus took it for me anyway. That's why I am not hopeless.
I know Aria's cold will eventually go away. I know her suffering won't last forever. But in the middle of the night, lacking sleep and not being able to do anything about it, it is easy for me to lose sight of that. On night two I got frustrated and angry. But then I realized that God is in control and He would give me the love and endurance I needed to care for my girl, whatever that might entail.
Suffering from a cough in the middle of the night is not fun. Living as a saint who sins isn't always great, either. But I have hope in Jesus Christ and eternal life with Him someday. And when that day comes none of us will have to feel helpless again.
Last year, as I was slightly dissatisfied with our Advent activities, I came up with the idea of doing an A to Z for Advent this year. So I compiled notes throughout the year and looked over things I've done in the past and put together this year's Advent activities, or Jesus crafts as Aria calls them. I called it, "Christmas is Jesus A to Z." I don't claim to be any kind of expert and I don't plan to publish what we did, but what we did worked for us. I think Aria had fun and learned more about Jesus and it kept our focus on Him this Christmas season. I couldn't ask for much more.
After changing my mind a zillion times about what word to use for each letter and what order I wanted to go in, I made a chart for Aria to glue up the alphabet cards as we did them. Here is what our completed chart looks like:
We didn't go in alphabet order, but I tried to have kind of a through the Bible order. Here is what we did:
B is for Beginning. We read the Creation story and talked about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit being the only ones there at the beginning. She really got it. We made this craft, which is supposed to be the Trinity up above that created the earth below.
S is for Sin. We read the story of Adam and Eve and talked about sin entering the world. We talked about needing a Rescuer at that point. We made a snake out of pipe cleaners, which will be in a picture shortly.
O is for Old Testament. We looked through the Bible and discerned what part was the Old Testament and what part was the new testament. I made a "book" out of a box and Aria glued pictures of Old Testament stories on the OT side of the box.
D is for David. Instead of reading David and Goliath that she was familiar with, we focused on David being king and from Bethlehem. She got the connection there. Aria made a harp out of craft sticks and rubber bands. Here is a picture of those three things:
I is for Isaiah. We read about Isaiah's job as a prophet, to tell people that they needed a Rescuer and that He was coming soon. She enjoyed the connection of the Scripture that prophesies about Jesus. We made a megaphone to show that Isaiah told lots of people about Jesus coming.
R is for Rescuer. We looked back at the story of Isaiah (in the Jesus Storybook Bible) and talked about why Jesus was coming to rescue us. We played a game where we used Aria's swimming tube with a rope tied around it and "rescued" her dolls and her when they needed help in the "water." I think it was a good connection point.
X is for eXcited. There is a good story in the Jesus Storybook Bible about getting ready for the Messiah to come. We read that and talked about other things we were excited for.
This is a good time to mention that some of these took 30 minutes and some of them might have only taken 5. It depended on our time for the day. We also did some days with two letters.
N is for New Testament. This was essentially the same as the OT craft. We looked through the New Testament stories and Aria glued pictures of them on the NT side of the book. I was blown away that she immediately recognized the picture of Saul/Paul. She really knows a lot of Bible stories!
Now we move into the actual Christmas story. I didn't plan for it to turn out like this, but we ended up making puppets for each of the characters of the story. We did many, many, many puppet shows with them throughout those two weeks. It totally boosted her knowledge of the Christmas story. A video is coming...
Z is for Zechariah. Aria enjoyed being this puppet when he could no longer talk!
E is for Elizabeth. We used a puff ball for her baby and Aria had fun making the baby leap when Mary came to visit.
A is for Angel. This was my favorite puppet with a gold sparkly dress and white feather wings. We counted, angels appear in the Christmas story 7 times.
M is for Mary. Jesus' mom on earth. Enough said.
J is for Joseph. Jesus' earthly father.
T is for Trip. We looked at a map of Nazareth to Bethlehem and talked about how far it was. It is about the distance from where we live to my hometown, so that was an easy way to explain it to Aria. And of course we did puppet shows.
K is for King. I struggled with not doing J is for Jesus, but decided I needed Joseph in the story and we could talk about Jesus as the King of Kings. We made a baby Jesus puppet with a crown. We talked about leaving Heaven and becoming poor.
Here is our puppet show from our Christmas celebration as a family of three using all the above characters (warning: quite long):
U is for Under the star. This was for the star the shepherds saw above Bethlehem when Jesus was born. We made a big, shiny star.
L is for Light of the world. We added a little key chain light to the tail of our star and hung it above our nativity scene and shined it on Jesus. We also started learning John 8:12, "Jesus said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life."
It is kind of hard to see the light at the bottom and I will explain the cross in a minute, but this was a hit addition to our nativity this year.
P is for Pray. Now we moved into Jesus' time on earth and our relationship with Him. He taught us how to pray. We spent some time praying.
Q is for Quote. Another way we can talk to Jesus is to read the Bible and memorize the verses. We continued practicing our new verse and reviewed several of the ones we already know.
W is for Worship. We talked about how it feels good to get compliments and that God wants us to praise Him. We talked about what we could praise Him for and then we sang worship songs. This was a day where I was struggling with some stress and it felt so good to worship my King and give it all to Him. Amazing how God works in our lives.
F is for Friends. Jesus wants us to love God and love others (that is our preschool verse). So, we loved on a few of Aria's friends and made them some homemade play doh and delivered it as Christmas presents.
C is for Cross. The whole reason Jesus came to earth as a baby at Christmastime was to die on the cross for our sins. I hit this hard this year and I think Aria understood. We made a cross and used alpha beads to put Jesus' name on it. When we were trying to find a place for it, we thought of attaching it to the star above the nativity to remember that was why He came. (See star picture)
V is for Victory. We read the story of Jesus' resurrection and talked about how he won over death. We had to explain what victory was by comparing it to playing a game and winning. We did this letter on the same day as...
H is for Heaven. We read the Jesus Storybook Bible story of Revelation and John's description of Heaven. Then we drew pictures of what we thought Heaven would look like. We talked about going there someday. This was done as a family and was really fun!
Y is for You. We reviewed all the things we did for these A to Z activities and read the very last part of the JSB where it says that "it is your story, too." We talked about how much Jesus loves each of us and did all of those things in the Bible because of His love for us.
G is for Give. This was our family of three Christmas celebration day. We incorporated this into our celebration which included a puppet show, opening a present from God that was baby Jesus and a cross, and picking out presents for Jesus from the Samaritan's Purse catalog. We also give each other three gifts at Christmas, which match the wise men gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And that is the end of our "Christmas is Jesus A to Z." It was excellent for where we were at this year. I would totally do it all again, but then again I never do the exact same thing when it comes to special learning and activities.
It's Monday. We just had a lovely 4 day weekend. Let it all come crashing down. It's a dog vomit, bathroom accident, entire body break out in hives, cry because you don't know why, at least the largest stye ever is finally healing with a headache kind of day. It's days like today where I think I need a vacation. Oh wait. We just had a 4 day vacation from the normal routine.
What I need is Jesus. Only he can bring me peace. Only he can ease my stress. Time spent with him on a day like today makes it all okay.
And I need to remember. Once upon a time I longed for this. I dreamed of this. I thought I would never get to have this.
Okay, I didn't long for my dog to vomit and my body to be full of hives and for my daughter to be too busy to make it to the bathroom. But I did long to be a mom. And let me tell you, to get to be a mom makes all that worth it.
Because sometimes I forget that I could hardly stand to look at a pregnant person.
Because sometimes I forget that I cried nearly every day wondering why I couldn't be pregnant, too.
Because sometimes I forget that baby showers and newborn babies still send me running in the opposite direction.
And that I once had a teaching job that I stressed about. I loved those kids so much but couldn't love my own. I coached basketball and poured my heart into those players because I couldn't pour my heart into my own.
Once upon a time I thought all this was not possible and I would grow old never knowing what it felt like to feel my baby kick inside my belly. To hear her first cry. To decide who she looked like. To have someone depend completely on me. To hear her call me mom.
But it was possible. Because all things are possible with God. He gave me this little girl. He gave me the honor of being her mom. He gave me the privilege of learning to deal with vomit and urine and hives. And learning to rely 100% on him.
If you haven't heard of Operation Christmas Child, you need to click on this link and read about it and pray about it and then hurry up and pack a shoebox. We found out about this awesome opportunity through our church and had a wonderful time packing our boxes together as a family last weekend.
Let me back up and say that we did a shoe box with Aria last year where she got to pick out things for the box, but I'm not sure how much she understood as a two-year-old. It was a good experience and Aria claimed she remembered doing it last year, but I'm not so sure.
This year was a whole different story. We started our Saturday morning at Perkins as a celebration for Aria's completion of our church's obedience challenge. (I should write about that, too.) With full tummies we headed to the dollar store to pick out our supplies. This year we decided to each fill a box. Aria and I chose the 2-4 year old girl category and Justin chose a 2-4 year old boy.
Before we started our shopping, we talked to Aria about a couple of things. First we told her we were only shopping for our shoe boxes that day, not for ourselves. Next, we told her we needed to pick things that would fit inside the box. We also talked about choosing more than toys and selecting things like toothbrushes, washcloths, and socks. We encouraged Aria to choose things that she likes because the present would be going to a little girl her age who doesn't get any presents.
I could tell she really felt compassion for the kids we were building shoe boxes for and she did a fabulous job picking things out. She chose a baby doll, a package of pretend jewelry, markers, crayons, a book about baby Jesus, fingernail polish, stickers, bubbles, a ball, Hello Kitty toothpaste, and a few more things. All of those things are very much her favorites. She also wanted to help us pick things for our box. She really got into it. She didn't like it when the person checking us out mixed up the items that were supposed to go in each box. So, when we got home we had to immediately sort and pack our boxes with the correct items. She didn't even want to play with the things once we brought them home and never once asked for anything for herself.
The last piece of our boxes were handwritten notes to the kids. I wrote the note for Aria, but she told me what she wanted to say. She talked about things she likes and told the girl that Jesus loves her. It was a very sweet letter. We also included a picture of Aria and a map that shows where we live.
On our church's monthly family night we brought our boxes to turn in. She carried her own box in and added it to the pile. I love Aria's heart because she asked if we could deliver the box to the girl ourselves. I explained that we would drop them off at church and they would have them delivered for us because they are going far away. We filled out the form online to track our boxes and I am excited to find out where they went and learn a little more about that country. Hopefully that will help Aria remember the experience even more.
I hope this can just be a start to helping Aria and Justin and I to care for people all over the world and love them like Jesus does.
There is never a dull moment when conversing with a three-year-old. I love her honest perspective of the world. I try to write things down when she says them, but it never fails I forget a few. Here are some I have captured recently.
Out of the blue one night at supper...
"When I get bigger I am going to fly airplanes and be the director of the airport."
Sounds like a good goal, however just the other day she told me she doesn't want to be the director anymore.
_______________________________
From some other room in the house, "Mooooo--oooom, what are you dooooo-ing?"
"I'm folding the laundry, Aria."
"Well hello folding the laundry! How are you?"
_______________________________
"Mom, are you going to take a shower this morning?"
"Nope. I took one last night right before I went to bed."
"Why did you do that?"
"Well, I ran on the treadmill and I was all sweaty so I wanted to be clean before I got into my bed."
"And you didn't want to get your smell on Daddy."
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Our recent at home preschool lessons have been focused on the Creation story. This morning I got interrupted with...
"Mom, God had plans for a whole week!"
And, reading the Jesus Storybook Bible the other day, the text said the first thing Adam and Eve saw when they were created was God's face. I asked Aria what she thought was the first thing she saw when she was born. She pointed to me. I said...
"That's right! Right after you were born, the doctor put you right into my arms and I said, 'Hi Aria! I love you."
Aria then said, "And I was like 'What in the world is this place?"
Yesterday, August 7, 2013 I was baptized! It happened at our church's annual picnic and baptism at Palo. I am really thankful for the whole experience and feel extremely blessed to be a part of an awesome church family.
My journey to baptism really started shortly after Aria was born. We participated in a child dedication service at church for Aria when she was three months old, but didn't have her baptized like both Justin and I were as infants. After that, as with many things in parenting, I really wanted to know why I didn't baptize her. I started doing some research online and in the Bible about baptism. I blogged about that research here. Well, that was over two years ago and I've been wrestling with being baptized ever since.
This spring and summer, God has really been providing some encouragement for me to get baptized. The subject of baptism just seemed to come up a lot. And every time I thought about it on my own, there was always a message or a mention of someone I knew being baptized that happened shortly there after. I knew it was time.
Why did I want to be baptized? After learning that infant baptism was not something that came from the Bible, I really felt it was necessary for me to declare my faith through baptism. I know my salvation was secure before I was baptized, but I also felt like I hid from my faith a lot and I don't want to do that anymore. Being baptized is a way to publicly declare that I love and follow Jesus and I think it can be the start to me publicly declaring that all the time.
I am so thankful for our church family at New Covenant Bible Church. I have developed some sincere, deep friendships. I have been challenged spiritually. I have been supported tremendously. I often speak of the small group we were a part of for almost six years. Those people really taught me about God, pulled me out of the depths of despair and back to Him during infertility, and loved me like He does. Another thing that has really helped me grow is being a middle school sponsor. I signed up for it because I loved teaching middle schoolers, but I really had no idea how to share my faith with them. But the middle school pastor, Mark, has really challenged me and help me grow in my ability to share my faith and help those middle schoolers grow in theirs. I am very thankful for him, his support, his friendship, and serving in the middle school ministry with him, which is why I chose Mark to baptize me.
I don't know that I can really put into words what it felt like out there. There were 38 people who got baptized last night. We were split into 5 groups. Each person shared their testimony on the beach to the big crowd then headed out to the water to be baptized. I was in a group with two middle school girls that I know very well, which was really awesome. I am so proud of them for speaking in front of a large crowd and placing their trust in Jesus! Once in the water, we each had our turn. I could tell it was a special moment not only for those being baptized, but also for those doing the baptizing. The water was cold, but it didn't matter. It was also very clear and beautiful. The sunset was beautiful. Where I once was afraid of being in front of so many people, I didn't even notice they were there. I just kept asking God to make it all about Him and He really did. I stood next to Mark and he said something like...
"Julie, having heard your public profession of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, and your desire to passionately follow Him, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Dead and buried with Christ (go down into the water) and raised to a new life in Him (raised out of the water).”
It was very emotional. I had tears in my eyes and I was choked up, but I was extremely happy all at the same time. Justin, Aria, my parents, and Justin's parents were standing right on the shore watching, along with our really good friends the Ryons. Plus I had many other friends out in the crowd there to support me, too. It meant a lot to me to have all those people there. It is a moment and an evening I won't ever forget.
Most of all, what my baptism means to me is that I have decided all on my own to follow Jesus with my whole heart. I want to proclaim his good news to the world and love others like he does. I will make mistakes and I won't be perfect, but I will strive to glorify him in everything I do.
Last week Aria and were playing a game of tag in our yard. Actually, she refers to it as "chase me" but it is tag all the same. She ran one way around her play house, so I ran the other way and she jumped right into my arms as we collided. She instantly wrapped her legs around me and I spun her around as she laughed. All of a sudden it was as if the world stood still. It was a beautiful day with sun shining all around us and I was holding my beautiful daughter, laughing and enjoying the moment. It was in that moment I knew it was all going to be okay. As I looked into her eyes, I saw a little girl well beyond her baby years, yet with many great life adventures ahead. I saw beautiful big brown eyes glistening with her smile. I saw her adoration for me, the one she counts on the most, and I realized how blessed I am to be her mom. I count my blessings often, but this time it was really different. I thought about how special and precious my time with her is, as she grows up way too fast. I thought about how lucky we are that I can stay home with her and spend every minute of every day with her. I thought about what a privilege it is that I was given the opportunity to be her mom. Not that I didn't already want to do so, but I vowed again, right then and there, to be the best mom to Aria that I can be.
Last summer we began thinking about the probability of having another child. It took a lot of thinking on our part because it doesn't come easy for us. I still have trouble completely describing the whole situation to people who seem to scoff at my comment of getting pregnant being incredibly difficult. It really is not easy. Yes, I do know and believe that anything is possible with God. I have a child that I once thought may be impossible to have. But our path is not one of having sex, missing a period, and taking a pregnancy test. Nope. It is one of shots, blood draws, ultrasounds, genetic tests, and terms like high risk. It is not the path I would have originally chosen, but it is one I have come to accept and appreciate. At least I can say that now.
We were all ready to move forward and go through in vitro again last August. If it happened once, it can happen again, right? But a cyst and a "wait two months and check to see if it is gone" changed that plan. Then there was some question if my body could do the whole in vitro transfer and pregnancy again. That questioning sent me into full "we are done, let's sell all the baby stuff" mode. If it was not possible, let's get rid of everything that makes me think about it. But there continued to be a "what if" in the back of my mind. I'd like to blame it on every single one of our friends having a baby. You think I'm exaggerating? I'm not. Quite literally every other couple, except one, from our ABF group at church had or will have a baby in 2012 or 2013. It was baby central and I felt like being a part of it. Aria wanted us to be a part of it, too.
So we talked to the IVF people again and got a green light to give it a try. I even started the first drug. And then I lost it. I went into hysteric mode. I was completely afraid of all of it; in vitro, pregnancy, having a newborn, dividing my attention. I wasn't in the right frame of mind, so we stopped. We put the topic on the shelf for awhile. Then I began to live in a constant state of maybe. Maybe we will do this. If we have a baby, we will do this. If I am pregnant, I can't do this. Let me tell you, that was not the place to be. I got so tired of wondering and lobbying back and forth in my mind, I knew I needed to make a decision.
Let me just brag on my husband here for a minute. The emotional mess I described above could not have been easy for him. One minute I wanted a baby. The next minute I wanted to adopt. Later I just wanted to be a family of three. He was so patient, supportive, and loving the whole time. I never really asked about his feelings much because I couldn't sort out my own, yet he remained calm and even keeled.
One day, I let it all out while he was home for lunch. It ended up being more like a two hour lunch where I released all the thoughts I was having about it all. I felt like I had to have another child because everyone else was. I felt like I had to give Aria a sibling and play mate. I felt like I needed to attempt to give Justin a son. I projected all my short comings onto Aria if we make her an only child like me. I felt like I had nobody to talk to about it all because all my friends were having babies, my mom has me as an only child and wouldn't understand my desire for another, and I couldn't influence Justin's decision with my emotions. All false, but what I thought in that time. Ultimately, what I really felt was I did not want to go through in vitro again.
We have had so many conversations about how happy we are to have Aria and how blessed we feel to be parents. We haven't had any deep yearnings that someone is missing from our family. We liked the prospect of having another, but also liked the prospect of being a family of three. That journey was so different from our original infertility journey. We were completely desperate to have a child the first time around. I wanted more than anything to feel what it was like to be pregnant, to hear someone call me "mommy." I was ready to do anything to have my very own child. We didn't have those feelings this time because we do have a child. I found myself saying way more often "why can't we just have sex and get pregnant like everyone else?" Before I was a little naïve and didn't know what the whole process would entail. I didn't care what I had to do to have a child. Well, now I know and I am truly thankful for the process, but to do it all again? With a few further complications? That was a hard decision to make.
One thing we knew through it all was that God was there. God would be a part of a decision to go through in vitro. God would be a part of adoption. God would be a part of our family of three. I didn't feel like I had to choose which option God had planned for us because I knew we could honor him with whichever option we chose. Even though I was often not at peace about it all, God could still bring me peace. It was a bit of a strange state to be in.
Finally, with it all out on the table, we discovered it was okay if we chose not to do in vitro again. It was okay to not be like all the other families we know with more than one child. It will be okay if Aria grows up as an only child. She may not be like me at all and even if she is, that is okay, too. We didn't have to force something that didn't feel right for our family. So, we made the decision to not do in vitro again. It was tough and I grieved. I feel on the verge of tears right now, but I also know it is the right decision. The biggest blessing is we can move forward and not live in the constant state of maybe.
Someday I know it will be difficult to respond to, "why didn't you have any more kids?" or "why don't I have any brothers or sisters?" But I am confident God will be right there with us for that, too.
Aria, we feel so lucky to be your parents. We love you so much and thank God for giving you to us. You are beautiful, smart, kind, sensitive, musical, funny, and a wonderful child of God. We felt God made our family perfect when he put you in it and we wanted to soak up all the time we have being your mom and dad.
If those aren't the words, then God will give me some more to help her understand.
This is a long, loaded, personal post. It has been one I've been trying to write for a long time. Ever since I started this blog I wanted to be real about our journey through infertility in hopes that it might help someone else feel better about theirs. But this has been the hardest to write about. I wrote about the first part after the fact and I was trying to write this in the middle. Now we are moving forward. We made one decision and are at peace. I still know nothing is impossible with God and I look forward to what he has in store for our family. I will continue in my journey of motherhood and I will soak up every game of chase me with my precious, beautiful gift from God.
It all started back in April when Aria learned Galatians 5:22 for FX night at church. I posted about it here. I was so excited and so impressed that she learned the memory verse so easily I was ready to teach her more. At first I thought we would just focus on learning the FX verse each month, but a month is a long time, so I decided to do more. Galatians 5:22 was easy because it is a song, but the other ones have been learned pretty easily, too. It is that three-year-old sponge brain. I tried to pick verses that went with some of the lessons we were doing in our weekly Bible studies. Sometimes we've spent two weeks on a verse and sometimes we've been busy with other things and haven't done a new one. I don't really have a magic method of learning the verse. I write the verse out on paper and draw pictures around some of the words as clues. That sign then hangs on the refrigerator. It helps, but I think our repetition of saying the verse out loud is what helps the most. We have made it part of our bed time routine. Sometimes we just say the newest verse. Sometimes we pick random ones to say. Sometimes (when we are really stalling) we say them all. It is pretty hard to deny her the chance to practice her verses! :) We also repeat the verse at other opportune times during Bible reading or when something in our life applies to it. My favorite part about this whole process is that the verse memorization is something we are doing as a family. The verses I pick are not necessarily ones I have previously memorized. A few of them are and a few are not. I also try to use versions with words that will make the most sense to Aria, while maintaining the message from the verse. Justin and I cannot teach Aria a verse to memorize if we don't memorize it ourselves. It is great to have these things written on my heart. I hope to have the opportunity to use them somehow. I hope Aria does, too. Most of all, I hope memorizing these verses helps Aria gain a better understanding of who God is and how much he loves her. At the very least they are hooks in her brain that she can grab onto as she gets older and more capable of deeper understanding.
Here are the verses we know to date:
Galatians 5:22 "The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."
Psalm 34:8 "Happy is the person who trusts the Lord."
Genesis 1:31 "God saw all that he had made and it was very good."
Proverbs 20:6 "Many will say they are loyal friends, but where can you find one?"
Psalm 145:13 "The Lord always keeps his promises; He is gracious in all he does."
John 3:16 "For God loved the world so much, he gave his only Son so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life."
I've been trying to be more intentional about doing some preschooly lessons with Aria. I've found that I succeed the most when we base our lessons on Bible stories. The method I have come up with is to study the same story for a week and do some activities with it. Back in April we focused on Noah's Ark for a week. My big idea for the story was to keep track of our weather for 40 days since it rained for 40 days while Noah and his family were on the ark. At first, I thought it was going to rain for 40 days here, too. I think it rained the first 8 days we were keeping track. For our records I simply wrote the numbers 1-40 on separate sheets of paper. Each day I asked Aria what the weather was like. Sometimes she drew pictures of the weather and sometimes she just told me and I wrote it down. And sometimes we forgot a day or two and had to make it up the next day. Then we hung them up consecutively on an empty wall in our kitchen. The small lessons I liked from this activity were: reading numbers up to 40, paying attention to the weather, coloring and writing, and a couple months focus on Noah's Ark. We only read the story every day the first week. After that I just periodically asked Aria why we were keeping track of the weather for 40 days. She knew every time.
Our forty days were up last Sunday. To tie the lesson back together, we read the Noah's Ark story again, only I focused on the end and what happened after the flood. We talked about the rainbow and God's promise to never flood the earth again. Then we put rainbow streamers in front of our weather pages to symbolize how God's promise brings new life after the flood. Here is what our wall looks like:
I used the lesson about God's promise to Noah as a spring board to a theme on God's promises this week. So far we revisited Noah, did some activities with Abraham, and have just read through Joshua and Jericho. I plan to do this theme for about two weeks and hit the big promises, like eternal life, from the New Testament. I really enjoy doing these activities with Aria and seeing her learn and understand. Just tonight I asked her a few questions about God's promises right before bedtime and she could answer every one. I hope this will lead her to understand more about God, who loves her so much!
So, yesterday was the ten year anniversary of my college graduation. TEN. YEARS. What? I feel so old!
It is actually quite weird. Usually I have this surreal "it seems like yesterday, yet it seems like forever ago" moment with these types of things. But it doesn't feel like yesterday. It feels like a lifetime ago. Yet when I say I've been in the real world for ten years, that seems too long. I think the main reason I've been reflecting on this so much is that I am a totally different person these days. That girl in the picture up there, she recently got engaged, recently got a teaching job, and had a whole life planned out. If you would have asked her where she would be in ten years, I guarantee she would have said still teaching at Linn-Mar with two or three kids. I know I didn't picture myself as a stay at home mom then and I thought I would eventually be one of those crazy people getting a 30 year service award. I loved my job and I loved the district. I couldn't imagine doing anything else.
Now I can't imagine doing anything else, either. I know it doesn't work for some and it is just personal choice for others, but I cannot fathom how I could possibly leave Aria in a day care and go to work all day. Could not do it. So glad I don't have to. Not only has it been the best for Aria, but it is the best for me, too. God knew I needed a pride and selfishness check. He knew I needed to see the world from a different viewpoint. He knew I needed to give up control.
While I still struggle with relinquishing control, I have come a long way. There is a totally different person sitting at this keyboard than the one staring back at me in that picture. Some say I look pretty much the same, but the inside is totally different. The biggest change? My faith. Thankfully we were pointed to our amazing church family and have been growing ever since. I never knew how much I needed God in my life. I never realized how valuable an Adult Bible Fellowship group could be. I didn't know what true, amazing friendship really meant until I joined a small group. But God had that all planned out for me. He knew that girl in the picture would struggle to have just one child. He knew she would give up her teaching and coaching and love for all those students to love the one precious child He gave her. He knew. And He knows where I'm going in the next ten years, too. I look at myself and laugh at how different I am from that picture. Maybe I should take a picture of myself today so I can look at it and laugh in ten more years.
Ha! No need to wait ten years to laugh at that! I do wonder what the future holds. Aria will be 13 in ten years. Holy cow I'll have a teenager! I will have a student the same age as the ones I loved so dearly when I was teaching. Maybe I will be teaching again. Maybe I won't. Maybe we will still live here and be a part of a lot of the same things we do now. Maybe we won't. Whatever is in store, I know I will trust God a lot more than I did ten years ago.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
I bet the percentage of wedding ceremonies that include 1 Corinthians 13 is very high. It was in mine. There is a paraphrase of the verses hanging on my wall. Verses 4 through 8 are committed to my memory. So, when 1 Corinthians 13 was listed as my daily reading for the E100 Bible Reading plan my church is following, I almost just skimmed over it. I've read it numerous times. I know what it says. But I decided to be diligent and read it carefully. I'm reading from my new Bible, which is the NLT. I don't know if it is this translation or just that I don't normally focus on verses 1-3, but I was blown away and challenged, yet again by this chapter.
"If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
Wow. Love is pretty important. But what is love? The note in my Bible explained even further:
"Love is more important than all the spiritual gifts exercised in the church body. Great faith, acts of dedication or sacrifice, and miracle-working power have little effect without love. Love makes our actions and gifts useful. Although people have different gifts, love is available to everyone.
Our society confuses love and lust. Unlike lust, God's kind of love is directed outward toward others, not inward toward ourselves. It is utterly unselfish. This kind of love goes against our natural inclinations. It is impossible to have this love unless God helps us set aside our own natural desires so that we can love and not expect anything in return. Thus, the more we become like Christ, the more love we will show to others."
That hit me right between the eyes and bounced all down my body. I am a people pleaser. I love doing things for people and seeing them smile. I love a good thank you note from someone. I'd like to say I don't do things in anticipation of their response, but that would be untrue. "God helps us set aside our own natural desires so that we can love and not expect anything in return." That means I have to not expect even a thank you. That means I have to love people even if I know I won't be any gain for me. Unfortunately that is a hard concept for me. I really do want to love others as a reflection of God's love for them. I want people to see who God is through my actions, but a lot of times my selfish pride gets in the way.
Verse 13 says, "Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love." Love is the greatest commandment I have been given. It is above all other spiritual and worldly gifts. But love doesn't mean what the world says it means. Love is defined by God. Love comes from God. It is His love that I am supposed to share, the way He meant for it to be shared.
This is why it always pays to read the Bible carefully. What a powerful lesson I got from a passage I had previously read hundreds of times.
My pseudo-resurrection eggs have been generating some excellent conversations with Aria lately. She is really thinking about Heaven and what it means to follow Jesus. Today, she wanted to know where you went if you didn't go to Heaven. So, I told my three-year-old about Hell. I wasn't going to avoid the question. I told her Hell was a dark, scary, lonely place with a mean guy named Satan. She didn't think it sounded very good at all. I don't either.
On a lighter note, we've had a lot of fun acting out events from Jesus' life. Here is a picture of the people from Jesus' baptism
Orange is John the Baptist, yellow is Jesus, and white is the dove. Aria really enjoyed dunking Jesus and John the Baptist in the water. Her favorite part was making Jesus sparkle (with glitter) when he came out of the water, as the text in her Jesus Storybook Bible stated.
Today we read the story of Jesus feeding 5,000. Aria ran out and opened the egg before I got out there with her and she ate the two fish, so I had to replace them. We set the 2 fish and the 5 loaves of bread on the table and she agreed that wouldn't feed 5,000. She got a kick out of me dumping a whole bag of fish and a loaf of sandwich bread on the table to show how much more Jesus made it into.
There is so much learning going on, I am kicking myself for only doing these types of things to lead up to Christmas or Easter. I need to do a better job of planning special activities to learn about Jesus each week, regardless of time of year. Hopefully the questions Aria is asking and the conversations we are having will inspire me to keep going with the learning!
At first I thought I would just do the same Resurrection Eggs I did last year for Easter, slightly modified for Aria's greater capacity to learn this year. But I was unsettled about it. I couldn't figure out what was missing until I started thinking about what message I wanted her to get out of a Resurrection Egg-type activity. Ultimately I realized I wanted to help her make connections about who Jesus is. The baby God sent us at Christmas is the same one who dies on the cross. He is also the guy who calms the storm, heals the blind man, and feeds 5000. We sing about him in Jesus Loves Me and Zacchaeus. And, he is the same one who made the whole world and lives inside our heart. That last one will take awhile for her to grasp. I'm not sure I can always wrap my mind around it. So I came up with a plan to highlight some things from Jesus' life and also hit the significant details in the Easter story. I have objects that fit in an Easter basket with some eggs. We open a special egg and read and/or act out a story each day. Here is my plan:
Monday 3/18 Jesus' birth; baby Jesus in the egg
Tuesday 3/19 Jesus stays at the temple as a boy; picture of temple in egg
Wednesday 3/20 Jesus is baptized; dove in the egg
Thursday 3/21 Jesus calls his disciples; 12 friends in egg(s)
Friday 3/22 Jesus feeds 5,000; bread and fish in egg
Saturday 3/23 Jesus heals blind man; man and mud in egg
Palm Sunday 3/24 Jesus' grand entrance to Jerusalem; donkey and leaf in egg
Monday 3/25 Judas gets 3 coins for betraying Jesus; 3 dimes in egg
Tuesday 3/26 Jesus washes the disciples feet; washcloth in egg
Wednesday 3/27 Last Supper; make loaf of bread together and juice for egg
Thursday 3/28 Jesus goes to garden to pray; praying hands in egg
Good Friday 3/29 Jesus dies on cross; crown, cross, and nail in egg
Saturday 3/30 Jesus' body put in tomb; linen cloth, spices, and rock in egg
Easter Sunday 3/31 Jesus is alive! empty egg
Monday 4/1 Mary tells the others about Jesus; Mary and flower(to show new life) in egg
Tuesday 4/2 Jesus eats with disciples; fish in egg
Wednesday 4/3 Tell others about Jesus; map and megaphone for egg
Thursday 4/4 Jesus goes to Heaven; cotton in egg
Friday 4/5 Holy Spirit comes upon disciples; flames in egg
We've done two days with great success in terms of Aria's enjoyment and understanding. I'm looking forward to making many connections as we go along!
