Resurrection Eggs

Around Easter a favorite activity is going through Resurrection eggs. My girls will ask to do them numerous times a day! Well at a regular price of $15-$20 for a set it can be an expensive purchase.

I recently spoke at a Mom’s group in Columbia and going with the theme of saving money that day they had a great make your Resurrection eggs activity. I quickly asked if I could share it!!

What you will need:

* 5 plastic eggs of various colors
* Picture of a donkey (print one from your computer)
* Goldfish cracker, or other cracker your child likes to eat
* 2 small nails
* Small rock (grab one from the yard)

Hopefully you should have most of the items already so if you have to buy the eggs the whole activity should cost around $1.

Below is the scripture and story about each egg. If your family is like ours you might want to make a set for each kid. They love to open the eggs themselves and eventually will love tell you the story.

Open the blue egg.
Let the child hold the donkey. (Use a picture of a donkey printed on your computer to go in the blue egg)
Read Matthew 21:1-9
Jesus was coming to Jerusalem for Passover. Some people cut palm branches from trees and handed them out for people to wave. Some people laid their coats on the street like a carpet. Jesus rode into the city on a donkey. “Hosanna! ” the people cheered as they waved their palm branches. Some people cheered, “Hail to our King!” Jesus rode through the town on a donkey because when a king rode on a donkey it meant he would bring peace. God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to set us free and bring us peace.

Open the purple egg.
Let the children eat the piece of cracker. (Use a gold fish, a ritz bitz, or any cracker your child likes) Matthew 26:17-19, 26-30.
Jesus and His disciples (the 12 men who helped Jesus tell others about God) celebrated Passover together. They went upstairs to a room in a house in Jerusalem. Jesus washed His disciples’ feet to remind them that they were to care for others. Then Jesus and the disciples shared a special meal. Jesus knew it would be His last meal with His friends. Jesus knew He had to follow God’s plan for His life and die for our sins.

Open the yellow egg.
Let the children hold the nails. (Show them how to make the 2 nails into a cross.) John 19:16-22
Jesus had to be nailed to the cross to die for our sins because it was God’s plan. The people who loved Jesus were very sad. Jesus did not deserve to be punished. He had not done anything. Jesus died so that we could be forgiven. The Bible says in John 3:16,”For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

Open the green egg.
Let the children hold the rock. (Use a rock from your yard)
Matthew 28:1-2
After Jesus died one of his followers wrapped Jesus’ body in cloth and put it in a tomb. The tomb was a special tomb cut into the rock in a hillside.. A big stone was rolled in front of the tomb to close the entrance. Guards were posted to guard the tomb. Jesus followers were very sad that Jesus had died.

Open the orange egg.
It is empty.
Matthew 28:5-8
Early the next morning a lady named Mary Magdalene went to visit the tomb. When she came to the tomb the big rock had been rolled away. The tomb was empty. It was good news! Jesus was alive! Jesus went to heaven to be with God. Jesus was punished for our sins so that some day we will get to go to heaven to be with God and Jesus.

Service Opportunities

The other day I thanked my neighbor profusely for something she had done for me, and her response was, "Hey, it was really no big deal!" It may not have been a big deal for her, but it was HUGE to me!! I love thinking about ways that MOPS can help those around us in ways that to us seem small and insignificant, but to those on the receiving end it is HUGE!

We have two opportunities right now to contribute a small amount to make a big difference. The first is the Home 4 Me closet. They are in need of you type-A women who love organization (you know who you are!) to help sort and organize the many donated items that come in weekly. If you're interested in donating a couple of hours a month to help out, there will be a sign-up sheet at the next meeting.

The second opportunity is to help bring Easter to a local boys' home. Check your emails for more on that, and consider how you might be able to help. Items are needed by the next meeting, so don't wait! Easter sales are on NOW, and as long as you're buying for your own clan, why not share the love with some boys who desperately need it?! What a great way to help spread the Easter story!

Obey First...A Parenting Tip

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Here is the most recent one...and I really liked it...so I am sharing!

Obey First and Then We'll Talk About It

When parents give an instruction but children don't want to comply or it's not convenient for them, sometimes they need to learn to "obey first and then we'll talk about it." This emphasizes obedience.
If little Brian has pulled a chair over to the counter and is climbing onto it, you may say, "Brian, we don’t climb on chairs.""But I was just…""No, you need to get down. Obey first and then we'll talk about it." Once he gets down, discuss the problem and find a solution together."Karl, go get your pajamas on.""I don't want to go to bed.""No, obey first and then we'll talk about it."To some parents this may sound like blind obedience. We've all heard stories about people who were led into cultish activity because they couldn't think for themselves. No parent wants a child to fall into a pattern of blindly following a leader's instructions, but evaluating instructions is an advanced skill. Many parents have gone too far in the other direction ending up with children who can't follow simple instructions without a dialogue. Parents sometimes believe they have to talk their child into wanting to obey. Inadvertently, these parents teach their children that if you don't like a request then that's enough reason to resist it. These children make poor employees, develop selfish attitudes about following someone else's leadership, and have a difficult time in relationships because they haven't learned how to sacrifice their own agenda for others.Talking is important but sometimes even we, as adults, must obey first and then understand later. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son without fully understanding and then considered it faith for him to obey. Peter didn't know why he was to go to Cornelius' house but went anyway only to discover that God wanted to bring salvation to the Gentiles. Philip was asked to leave a revival in Samaria and go out into the wilderness, not knowing why, but when he got there he led an Ethiopian man to Christ.Evaluating instructions is an advanced skill and will become important later on but children need to learn that sometimes we all must "obey first and then we'll talk about it."

This parenting tip comes from the book Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes, In You and Your Kids by Dr Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN.

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