Celebrate Easter – Have Only One Fear ::: Why is ‘Fear Not’ Scripture’s most oft spoken command?

Our Greatest Celebration ::: If Jesus is risen from the dead, we should be celebrating in a big way on Easter morning!

A Gift Given ::: As we gather together in the coming days off, consider in Whose honor you rest.

Figuring Out the Cross-Centered Life ::: Nail pierced grace will never let you go and Christianity is a lifetime of becoming who you really are.

I've seen several people writing lately about how contradictory it seems to call Good Friday "good". 

And I understand. Of course I get it. 

It's a day that we remember something horrific.

But…

What I've found myself considering is this: maybe the contradiction isn't in calling this day "good", but in our perception of what "good" means.

My girls don't like taking medicine when they're sick. They fight it and whine and moan and think I am out to torture them. They don't understand that it is good for them. They forget that all I want is what's good for them.

I think too often I confuse the word "good" with "happy" or "pleasant". 

And they are not synonymous.

I want "good" to mean those things, but it doesn't always.

Good Friday is not happy or pleasant. But it is what we needed. All that we needed. And God knew.

And hard love is the kind of love that gives a child what is good, even when it isn't happy or pleasant.

For more thoughts on hard love, visit the Gypsy Mama.

I've been reading a lot lately about the ideas of Charlotte Mason regarding children and education. All very thought provoking and inspiring. 

One of my favorite tidbits so far is her essential guidelines for educating your children:

What is the best curriculum for a well brought up person?
Whatever the specifics of the curriculum used in your home,
be sure that your children each day have:            

Something or someone to love

Something to do

Something to think about

(A Charlotte Mason Companion pg. 24)

Well, I've been trying to keep these ideas in mind through our days as I think they are very wise.

Today we added a little more to the "something or someone to love" category.

Meet Cecily Parsley.

Or, as Miss A will clarify for you, "Her name is Cecily Parsley, but we can just call her Cecily".

We're all in love. She's completely adorable, and so far has a very sweet and mild disposition. 

All this would of course mean we have now officially entered the new world of pet owners. This is very big for us. Something we've put off for a long time. But I have high hopes that this will be a gentle transition into life with animals for all of us.

Now of course, I have to share the inspiration for her name, just because.

I never knew this, but apparently Beatrix Potter wrote a small collection of nursery rhymes. When I read them today I knew this had to be our sweet new bunny's name, and all the girls were in agreement that they loved the name.

This is Miss Potter's little Cecily Parsley, and here is her rhyme:

Cecily Parsley lived in a pen, 
And brewed good ale for gentlemen;
Gentlemen came ever day,
Till Cecily Parsley ran away.

This is probably the most ridiculous nursery rhyme I've ever heard, but I thought it was hilarious. And I really do think it's an adorable name.

And now we are blessed with another someone to love!

I've been reading so much online lately about different ideas for special traditions to go along with Easter. Things that emphasize what it's really all about.

Lots of good stuff. And I've found myself thinking, oh we need to do this! And that! And this! until I'm completely overwhelmed and start to feel like maybe we just shouldn't do anything!

Then I was reminded….we already have our own tradition for Easter. Our thing that we do every year. The thing that causes us to pause and focus our attention where it should be.

And just because it's not one of those things that I've been reading about other people doing doesn't make it any less special or meaningful.

SO, I decided to stop being so silly, comparing our traditions with others, and enjoy what we do.

Which I want to share with you now, but only to give you an idea if you are looking for something to do. If you already have your own wonderful traditions, I want to hear all about them!

Ours is very simple.

It started with this book, which was a hand-me-down from my mom.

It has a devotional, Bible reading and a couple of easy little projects to go with each day of "Holy week".

We are starting to use the book more as a whole now, as the girls are getting bigger. But in the beginning I just took two things from it: the daily Bible selection, and the Easter poster.

Basically you just divide a poster into eight sections, and the kids get to draw a picture each day that goes along with the section read from the Bible. 

The stories covered are : palm Sunday, Jesus cleansing the Temple, the greatest commandment, Jesus anointed with oil, the last supper, the crucifixion, the tomb, and the resurrection.

We read a story each day, discuss it a bit, the kids draw their picture and hang it on the poster, and that's it.

It's so easy. I think maybe that's why I've been tempted to think that it doesn't count….because for something to be special it needs to be a lot of work. But of course that's not true.

My kids love doing this. They start talking about it weeks before Easter. And with the older ones I've noticed that they are starting to just know a lot of details about  Jesus' last days, death, and resurrection. Only from repeating this simple thing every year.

(Sadly) I haven't taken a picture of it every year, but even with some gaps, the pictures are fun to look back at too.

Little Miss A, the first year we made our poster.

Miss E's first year joining in.

Miss I's turn to get in on the fun.

There's other little things we do the same every year of course, but this is the one I would consider our special tradition.

What traditions for Easter do you have in your family?