LENT has always been a Catholic practice...at least in my upbringing and understanding...I think that in the effort to try to avoid the idea of "working towards salvation" or "good works will get you to heaven", any practice that seemed to advocate that, we were "sheltered" from...
And to a point, I agree with that...if my "salvation" is based upon what a good person I am...well, to whom am I comparing myself? If I compare myself to the mom of the one student in my daughter's class, well, hoo-wee, I'm good to go...but, what if I'm compared to my friend Terra? I'm sunk...she's amazing! Worst yet, what if I'm compared to Jesus...dang...I'll never get in...
Well...that's the point isn't it? That's why Easter is the most important holiday in the faith...without the fact that someone else (Jesus) paid the price for all the stuff I do and am...all the stuff that God can't look at because, well...He's God...and not only was that price paid (sacrificed)...but that sin & death got a good punch in the face when He didn't stay dead...We were given Hope...we were given ONE way, a secure, guaranteed entrance, IF we believe...not based on what we do, or who we confess to, or how patient I am or how many times I say I'm sorry...
Anyhoo...the point is...we introduced LENT to our family this year because we wanted to somehow take part in the sacrifice...to try to just get a teeny tiny glimpse at what it meant to give it all up...We do ADVENT leading up to Christmas...activities and fun things to remind us daily of what is coming...We used LENT to do the same thing...everytime we craved our "denied item" we would stop and say, "thank you Jesus for giving up so much more.."
I gave up Chocolate...which was hard because I pop chocolate chips every morning and Easter time also means Cadbury eggs...of which I ADORE!!! Sweetpea gave up candy, Peanut gave up chocolate with me...and Little Munchkin...well, she wasn't understanding the whole thing and as a 4 year old, I suppose just doesn't have much self-control...so she gave up "little suckers"...not big suckers mind you, just LITTLE suckers...Italian Stallion gave up everything that we did, along with soda...
It was a good experience for us all and we took away some great lessons...
However, on the flip side of everything...we were all nutso on Easter after saying Thank You and recognizing that He Is Risen Indeed...because we got to our Easter baskets...
Low and behold there laid my Cadbury Eggs...waiting to be inhaled and sucked down in a split second at O dark thirty in the morning!
I surprised Italian Stallion with a delicious and ever so scrumptious and "nutritous meal"...
I can't say that our Egg coloring even came close to that of our cousins in Michigan with their little pirate hats and themed set up...but, we skimped by with our glitter glue and color capsules that didn't dissolve properly...
But, by golly, we made cute deviled eggs out of them:)
The girls were excited to wear their new dresses...in years past, their Nana has made all the matching dresses for the granddaughters...but with 6 of them with ages spanning from 12 to 4...well, it just made it hard to find a pattern that worked for them all...so this year, we did our own shopping for dresses that fit our "styles"...I thought the girls did a good job in picking their colors and dress designs:)
So much for all that warm weather here lately, it was rather chilly on Sunday morning, so the girls opted for some leggings just to church and back:)
All in all, it was a wonderful day...thankful for the sacrifice...thankful for my family:)
