Lenten Wrap Up

Our Lenten journey came to an end and I learned a lot!  Since this was the first year really getting into Lent with the boys, I wanted to write down some of the things I learned.  This way I have something to look back on for next year. 

The Lenten Calendars-
The ones I did with Noah and Caleb were great.  We hung them on their walls in their rooms.  At first I put them by their doors, then after little siblings kept messing with them, we moved them to by their beds.  They both sleep on top bunk beds, so it kept the little ones away.  Every night they would take the sticky note that we added and move it to the next day.  We also put a sticky note for Friday’s when they were going to give up video games.  It was a good idea, we need to do again.

As for Ian and Eli’s calendar, not such a good idea.  We hung it in Ian’s room and I don’t go in there very often, so I would forget about it.  Also, Ian wasn’t good about reminding me.  The poor little lamb never finished getting all of his wool.  Nor did it always get it’s daily wool.  When I would finally go into Ian’s room, we would sometimes have a week’s worth of cotton to put on him.  If we try it again next year we have to put it where we see if more often.

The Stations of the Cross-
We only did the Stations once, but I think they went really well and I learned a lot.  Makaela, Eli, and Ian were not ready for it.  They just couldn’t stay focused.  We all started them together reading the prayers and looking and talking about the pictures for each station.  Then slowly Makaela went to play, then Eli, Ian left and then came back.  Ian wanted to be like the big boys, but he is easily distracted.  Noah and Caleb seemed to be interested.  We didn’t start off doing it exactly like in church, but at one point Noah did ask.  So, I explained what would happen if it was being done at church.  I explained where you would also genuflect.  Then we continued with the next station and Noah decided to genuflect from then on.  I have a tendency to tear up whenever I focus on the pain, agony, and sacrifice that Jesus made for us.  As we got towards the end, the tears started to fall.  Which sparked more questions.  I tried to explain that I cry because I am in awe over how much God loves us.  How much Jesus went through to give us a chance to go to heaven.  And how sorry I am for all my sins that added to Jesus’s pain and suffering.  They became very serious and we continued.  We finished and they asked if that was it.  I assured them, that we had completed the stations just like they would have in church.  I asked how the liked it and they said it was neat.  Next year, we need to do this one more.

The movie- He has Risen
We watched this movie right before Easter since it showed the death to the Ascension. It was a good way to “see” what was going on during Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and of course Easter Sunday. They will catch parts of the movie in the readings on Sundays and say I remember that part.

The Bean Jar-
I think this Lenten practice was the BEST!  Best meaning the one we kept up with the most and the boys seemed to learn a lot from it.  We did have a few times where we would have to catch up on our beans.  I also have it to thank for my boys creating on their own a habitat of saying the blessing before meals.  This has continued even though Lent is over.  The beans were such a good visual of how many nice things they do in a day.  Ian will still ask me “Can I get a bean for that?”  Since they are young most of their beans came from saying the blessing before meals, prayers at night, prayers before school if time allowed, going out of your way to be nice, and doing things without mom and dad asking.  Noah towards the end of Lent realized they had a long way to go if they wanted to fill the jar before Easter.  He tried his hardest to get it filled, but didn’t.  I still think they did really well for their first year and being so little.  Next year John and I did talk about adding taking beans away for bad bahavior.  I think it will be effective since now they know about the jelly beans and will be more inclinded to try and fill the jar.  The Bean Jar might be a new family tradition.