Fantastic Resource: Lenten Adventure!

On Fat Tuesday, I told ya'll about my husband and I's Lenten resolution to do a better job preparing our family prayer time in the evenings.

A few weeks before Lent started, I received a postcard in the mail about Lenten Adventure.  My curiosity was peaked and I actually managed to keep up with the postcard for a solid week before getting around to going to the website.  The first thing I read was:

"What is Lenten Adventure?FREE video, music, and fun activities delivered to your email inbox all through Lent! Join the Holy Heroes Adventure Guides for your Best Lent Ever!"

SCORE!!!  Even better, it's FREEEEEE!!!

I signed up and was excited to receive my first e-mail.  When I did, I was so pleasantly surprised!  It came with video's, stories, coloring pages, cross word puzzles, etc.  It seems to be run by a family with the kids doing the instructions and videos.  My kids really respond to seeing the other children so excited!

While the whole program does not apply to my kiddos (we're still learning letters, not quite putting them together), it provided this creatively challenged mama a platform to teach my kids about preparing our hearts for Holy Week and Easter.  They have loved the video's, listening to the stories, coloring their pictures, and talking about what is going on.  My kids look forward to it every single night!

What I have loved the most about this program is that it is teaching ME how to teach my kids about Christ.  It takes it farther than saying the blessing, night prayers, or going to Mass.  It has given me the opportunity to teach them about LIVING their faith, not just doing it. 

Little P is very serious about making sacrifices to 'prepare his heart for Jesus'.  I wanted to do something so the kids could see how much they are doing to prepare their hearts so we have started a paper chain.  Each time they purposely do something to prepare their hears for Jesus (i.e. listening the first time, not whining, letting the other sibling for first), we right it down on a strip of paper and attach it to the other links.  As the weeks go on, we can watch the chain get longer and longer as the excitement builds for Christ's Rising.  Then, on Easter morning, we can open all of them up and read everything we did to prepare our hearts for Jesus.  They LOVE it!

Even if you are not Catholic or do not usually celebrate the time leading up to Easter, still look into Lenten Adventure.  You can weed out anything that you do not want to use but man the benefits are endless!  My kiddos, especially Little P, is really understanding that there is something so much bigger than the 'here and now'.  It is really cool! 

And quite frankly, because of this program, so far this has been one of the best Lent's I've ever had!  I am re-learning so many basics that you tend to skip over as an adult. 

IT'S AWESOME!

So, what are you waiting for?  Hop on over and sign up!

www.lentenadventure.com

Happy Fat Tuesday!

I have never been to New Orleans or attended any sort of a real mardi gras party, but I LOVE Fat Tuesday!

For me, Fat Tuesday serves two purposes.  One, it's another mini-holiday to do fun things with the kids.  Today, we are making our very first King Cake (thank you Nana).  Secondly, I feel like its the calm before the storm that is Lent.

As a Catholic, Lent serves as a pretty big season of the year.  It's 40 days of preparations for Christ's rising from the dead.  Over the years, I have come to really love Lent because of the sacrifices that you do in preparing your heart.  As much as I always tried to convince my mom that I should give up school or homework when I was younger, that never really worked.  I always ended up giving up Coke, fast food, or chocolate. 

Now, as an grown woman, wife, and mother, it has turned into so much more.  I understand that the sacrifice or added commitment during Lent needs to be something that will open up more space for Christ to fill.  It's time for me to purge my heart of the things that shouldn't actually serve as such a high priority.  I need to make room.  Moreover, I need to find something that will help my family also prepare their hearts for the Risen Christ. 

So, in my discernment for lent this is what I have come up with.  During deployment, my laptop became of utmost importance to me.  It was my connection to my husband and my closest friends.  It also served as a journal and stress relief through my blog.  It became my companion.

Since P's return, I have struggled to put it back in it's place.  I know it sounds silly, but similar to many people and their I-phones, I am addicted.  (This is why I refuse to have a smart-phone.)

So, for my personal Lenten resolution, I am giving up my laptop.  I am not giving up Internet or facebook or blogging, but I am giving up doing those things on my laptop.  We have a desktop computer upstairs and that will serve as my new 'portal to the world'.  Using the desktop will really force me to prioritize my computer time and not spend so much time doing absolutely nothing.  Moreover, I will spend more time being completely present with my family rather than half there, half waiting for a returned e-mail, etc. 

Secondly, my husband and I have committed to better preparing our family prayer/bible/holy time in the evenings.  I have signed us up for this awesome program called Lenten Adventure.  I will receive e-mails with activities, stories, and other materials to get my kiddos involved in Lent and the preparations for Easter.  We have realized that the more we put into our kids learning about Christ (on a toddler level), the more we learn and grow ourselves.  We're supposed to be child-like, right?

So, there you have it.  As of tonight at midnight, I will no longer be writing via my laptop.  With this change might also come a learning curve so bear with me.  The desktop is in our guest room (which is where Little P naps) so I am going to have to be really smart with my time. 

So on this Fat Tuesday, we'll party it up with King Cake, Pancakes for dinner, and some Marti Gras coloring pages.  Are you doing anything special as you begin your journey to Holy Week and Easter?