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Celebrating Lent

This last December my family celebrated the season of Advent in order to prepare our hearts to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We did this through weekly devotions centered around our Advent wreath candles. It was a wonderful family time and a good learning experience for my children.

One of the sites that I gleaned good information from was Advent for Evangelicals which was written by Lindsey of Just Enjoy the Journey. I like many had hoped that Lindsey would start a similar blog for Lent. Apparently, I was not alone as she recently posted on JETJ that others had been asking for the same thing. Well, she is not creating a blog but she will be posting on JETJ about her family's observance of Lent this year. She has recently posted several links to sites with information about Lent.

For those of you who may be wondering about Lent there is an excellent article about why many Protestants don't celebrate Lent but should here. Lent is the church season before Easter designed to prepare Christians to celebrate the death of Jesus. It begins next Wednesday on Ash Wednesday. Easter is really the big celebration for Christians as the death of Jesus as a repayment of our sins is what makes us right with God and secures our eternal life with Him. Much as the Jews slaughtered lambs for their sins, Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for us.

I'm looking forward to finding ways to spend time with my family observing Lent and remembering the sacrifice Jesus made for me. I hope that you will join me as well!

Responsiblity

Tammy Cardwell, a self publisher, has written a very thought provoking article on her website. It's about the responsibility of homeschoolers to honor copyrights. When I was teaching in the public schools teachers were held to strict standards of what they could copy or not copy from textbooks and other materials. But there is no office staff looking over the shoulders of homeschoolers. Many of the people whose materials I have reviewed and we all love to use are written by people just like us, homeschooling parents in search of just the right material to teach their child. Many publish their materials to help support their families and keep a mom at home to teach the children. So in support of these authors, I urge you to take a minute to read this article, "Theft By Any Other Name."

Praiseworthy Book Review: My Brother Martin

For every holiday I get a stack of books out either from the library or my own personal collection. I leave them out so my kids can grab one for a free reading or I can read it to them. It's a great way to learn more about history and important people and events. I get this book every year at this time as we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This book looks at the early life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. through the eyes of his older sister Christine King Farris. It’s a delightful glimpse of the simple life in the Sweet Auburn community of Atlanta, Georgia where the King family lived. Mrs. Farris talks about MLK from his birth sharing family stories and recreating the world of MLK’s early days. She shows us his family, a loving Christian father, mother, Grandfather and Grandmother that taught the children obedience and love. A world that formed him into the great man he would become.

This book touches on racism and is an excellent introduction to the topic of racism in America. My daughter loved it at 6 years old and at first didn’t believe that the America described was our United States of America. My Brother Martin was an excellent vehicle to start this discussion with her. The tragedy of his death is not described, but since I know the full story I found my eyes welling with tears several times during the reading.

The illustrations of the children’s early life are sentimental and sweet. The colors are brilliant and the style is realistic. When showing MLK later in life the images switch to black and white and are the familiar images seen frequently in books and on television. This is an excellent tool to help children connect MLK the iconic historical figure to a real boy that grew up to tell the world of his dream.

The first time we read this my then 4 year old son, 6 year old daughter and I loved it. The text makes you feel like you are at the knee of your own Grandmother and the illustrations are beautiful and make you want to linger over each page. It is a book we will read again and again.

One Hour Craft

That title got your attention, didn't it!!!! But, I'm not actually posting a craft, I'm posting a link to a wonderful blog called One Hour Craft. If you haven't been there before you will love this site! There are so many fun things posted there and so many are projects to do with your kids. I was especially excited today to see that the owner has posted the first in a set of three tutorials on teaching your child to sew. My daughter loves to sew and I've been looking for just the right lesson plan to show her how to use a machine. I think this might be the one!

Praiseworthy Recipe: Kelly's Orange Rolls

When I was a girl we attended a Church with a great bunch of people. On of them was an older woman whom we all loved. This is her recipe for Orange Rolls. They aren't really rolls though, they are biscuits...well, sort of. Here is the recipe just as my mother wrote it down years ago:

Kelly’s Orange Rolls
2 cans flaky biscuits (hungry jack 24)
½ stick margarine.
Add two heaping Tablespoons frozen orange concentrate to melted butter. Grate rind of two oranges into ¾ cup white sugar. Separate biscuits, roll each in butter mixture then sugar mixture. Stand on edge in greased pan. Any stuff leftover can be poured on top. Cook 275 for 40 minutes or 325 for 30 minutes. Turn upside down to serve.

Now, I did things a bit different but the results were still delicious. I made biscuits from a recipe on the back of a package of self rising flour. And I made them with cream. Cream never hurts anything! Then I followed the rest of the directions. My rolls were more like a cake as I had to slice them. They were soft, delicate and so they fell apart easily but they were delectable!!! Most praiseworthy indeed.

paper dolls - muñecas de papel

paper dolls - muñecas de papel,
originally uploaded by munieca.

My daughter loves paper dolls. The truth is I love paper dolls!!! Well, I recently found a free download for these adorable paper dolls. They were created by Maria Andrea Sardo. She suggests you print them on cardstock which will make them sturdier. Unlike many paperdolls these are large, full 8.5 X 11 sized dolls. They would be appropriate for younger children although my 8 year old daughter went crazy for them. So, I suggest you head over to Lulu and download and print them out today!

Praiseworthy Audio: Christmas Music

I love Christmas music and last year I started finding some like minded bloggers. These dedicated people buy up old albums at thrift stores, bring them home, check to see if they are available on CD and if they aren't they digitize and upload them to their blogs to share with other crazy people! Bongobells is one of the best. I feel that he makes a dedicated effort not to break copyright laws and graciously shares what he finds with the rest of us. His selection is eclectic and I have found many nice albums there. In addition today he had a special message reminding us all to remember why we are celebrating this time of year. To remember the birth of our blessed Lord and Saviour. I encourage you all to check out his site and perhaps you may also find something interesting there as well.

Praiseworthy Recipe: The Best-Ever Almond Toffee

For about 10 years now I've made Almond Toffee every year at Christmas. The very first time I made it was a success. Every year after a failure. I'm not sure why, but I could never recreate that first success. A few days ago on one of my favorite blogs, Cookie Madness, I found this recipe for The Best-Ever Almond Toffee. She wasn't kidding. It came out perfectly. Better than I have ever made. So, if this is a candy you have been wanting to master I suggest you head over to Anna's blog and try this recipe here. I wish you success!