Passover for Kids

I teach our Kids Bible club on Wednesday nights at church. This year, I have been telling the stories of Moses and the Exodus. It's so amazing what these kids remember - even when I think they haven't heard a thing I've said all night!

Last night, though, they were all ears (well, mostly.... three out of four isn't bad - especially when there is such an age gap, oldest to youngest!) :)  Tonight was an important night. We learned about the Passover, and how it looked forward to the New Testament. How the lambs died to protect the Israelites from death, and how Jesus died to save us from eternal death.

As part of the lesson, I set up a "Passover table." It wasn't exact, and there could have been much more detail, but these kids are picky eaters! :) Here's my table all set:

(I had a sheet over everything until it was time.)

On the left is haroset. (Talk about yummy!! The grape juice gave everything such a nice flavor!) The bowl on the tray is salt water - representing the tears shed by the Israelites wanting to leave, and the Egyptians at the loss of their sons. The roll in the bag was thrown out - to get rid of the leaven. :)  The little plate on the tray is crackers - our unleavened bread. I didn't serve lamb, so our little stuffed lamb stood in with the "bitter herbs." (Although he wasn't quite spotless... he's had a little too much loving!) :)  And of course we had grape juice. We also had a rock (not pictured) that represented Pharaoh's hard heart, and ours as well, if we choose to not serve God.We ate around the table standing up, and I held my "staff."

Here's a close up of haroset:


After our Passover "meal" was finished, we had "new life cakes" - cupcakes with "eggs" on top to represent to new life we have when we believe in Jesus.

Hopefully it was a lesson they won't soon forget. I know I won't! I think it would be a great tradition to have in my home. Sarah did a lovely Seder meal with her family - Thanks, Sarah for the ideas and the explanations! Maybe you would like to have a Passover (Seder) meal with your family this year? I'd love to hear about it!

The Revolutionary Paul Revere

Have you ever heard of Apollos Rivoire? I hadn't until I read this book. Apollos Rivoire is the father of Paul Revere. In 1715, at the age of 13, Apollos was put on a boat to escape the persecution of the Huguenots in France. After arriving in America and learning English and the silversmith trade, he changed his name to Paul Revere, a name he later passed on to his son. The son is the one who is so famous for his Revolutionary ride. However, this ride wasn't Paul's only effort for the Revolution and for America. In his book, The Revolutionary Paul Revere, Joel J. Miller gives us a good description of the life that Paul lived for his God, his family and his country. That night ride wasn't the only one that Paul took, he made several journeys delivering letters for the cause. Not only did he serve as a delivery man, but he also was one of the lead "Indians" at the Boston Tea Party. He constructed a powder mill to provide gunpowder for the war effort as well as commanded the fortifications at Castle Island. Quite the busy revolutionary! After the revolution, Revere continued to be quite the visionary. He was a success in many different efforts - even supplying copper sheeting to a young inventor named Robert Fulton.

I enjoyed reading about Paul Revere. It was interesting to read more about this time in history. I liked the size of the book - not a huge tome and not too intimidating to read. The book is also a lot more "reader friendly" than many historical books. It was well researched; I was interested to see the notes telling what books the author used for his research. I did, however, find the author's sometimes frequent use of metaphors and similes a little distracting - such as "After repeal of the Stamp Act, Parliament was up Debt creek without a farthing." (page 96) and "Like seeds cast down in bloody soil, the dead sprang up as thorny brambles all throughout town." (page 112) ummm. Okay. But all in all, an excellent read. Would I recommend it? Certainly! It has enough depth to interest a more in-depth history "person" - like me! but it is not so academic to intimidate a more casual reader. Thumbs up!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Sunday Blessing

O for a thousand tongues to sing

My great Redeemer’s praise,

The glories of my God and King,

The triumphs of His grace!

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,

That bids our sorrows cease;

’Tis music in the sinner’s ears,

’Tis life, and health, and peace.

From: O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing

by Charles Wesley

Finished Object Friday

Happy Friday everyone! I'm glad it's Friday, how about you? This is a special Friday for me (and my family) because my Grandma got in from Idaho last night!! We gals have a fun day planned! :) But as for here, let's share some of our projects!

I finished the "object" back in December, but I wanted to give it a while for a "test run" before I shared! :)


Laundry soap!! I've heard of several different recipes for making laundry soap. This recipe appealed to me because it is dry, just stir together and it's ready to use! :)  (Thanks for sharing, Shelley!)

2 bars fels Naptha or Zote

1- 4 lb box Borox

1- 4 lb. box Arm & Hammer wash soda

4 lbs. Baking Soda

grate soap: add all ingredients together,

mix well in large container.

(I added some Oxyclean as well... about a cup.)

use 2-3 tbl. per load

 

Here is the bar soap after I got it grated... fun, huh? :)  

I used Mom's big hand crank grater - it sure helped! :)  

So what's my opinion after using it a couple of months? I really like it! It's cheap - although I didn't keep a tally of the costs - I'll try to do that next time I make it. I did discover, when washing on the cold cycle, that there was a white residue on my clothes before they went in the dryer. I now start the load with hot water to dissolve the powder, and I haven't seen it since. My clothes smell great, and I don't have any complaint about cleanliness. And besides, it's prettier than regular soap! My next thing is to find a pretty jar to store it in my laundry room. I did find a fun scoop as you can see in the top picture. :)

So have you be up to anything "crafty" recently? I can't wait to see all of your projects!

It's starting to feel like spring!!

... or is it just me? :)  Well, if you are in Texas, it certainly is spring!! I'm so glad... this has seemed like a long winter to me! I think all that cold weather was getting to me! But it certainly has been beautiful the past few days! And so many things are starting to bloom! I just love East Texas in the spring!! :)

With all the "springy-ness" going on outside, I wanted to bring some inside! I have been wanting to redo my mantle decor for quite a while, and haven't exactly been sure of what I wanted to do. Well, the past couple of weeks, I finally figured it out!



I am loving it! For reference, this is what my mantle looked like last spring:

I have been tired of the clock/candle combo and I was soo ready for something different!! :)

Here is my "think about it" picture... trying out sized etc...

I liked the size of the mirror, but there wasn't enough contrast. I priced some mirrors and had the sudden revelation that I had the right mirror for free!! I just used some paint I had on hand.

I really like the depth that the layering gives it.

Now to get the rest of my house ready for spring... :) Oh, and to put OUR picture in the small frame! heehee!