Lenten Tea revisited

Thanks to a wonderful online friend, Alice over at Cottage Blessings, I was able to put together a second Lenten Tea that added a wonderful dimension to our Holy Week festivities.

We tweaked her tea a bit to make it hearty enough for Good Friday dinner. Here's what we did:

• The King's Crown -- softened cream cheese spread in a purple pyrex pie dish; Dorito's "scoops" around the edges for the tips of the crown
• Out of Envy -- bowl of guacamole to add to the cream cheese and Dorito's
• Purple Cloak -- took one can each of light and dark kidney beans (drained), added some chili powder and cumin, microwaved the beans for about two minutes. Then mashed with a fork. Made a low fat, refried bean-like mixture that was excellent with the earlier ingredients.
• Crown of Thorns -- odd accompaniment to the other menu items, but String Bean (who would live on peanut butter) thought the peanut-butter and pretzel covered Ritz were the best things she'd eaten in a long time!
• Golgotha Eggs -- what would a Lenten meal be without some hard-boiled eggs? These had skulls penciled on them, but the kids just thought that was pretty cool!
• Vinegar to drink -- as Alice suggested, gave each of the kids a taste of vinegar; Brikhead was the only one that thought it was good (guess he's finally maturing up!)
• Grape tomatoes cut in half (EXACTLY 100 piled on a plate with the smooth rounded helmets up), flavored with the Robbers' Herb (basil) and the Vinegar
• Tomb Rolls -- crescent rolls folded into 3-d rhombus to imitate the empty tomb. Drizzled honey in them as a reminder that the dark hours of Good Friday presage the sweetness of Easter Sunday when the tomb is found empty!

This was a great way to teach the kids the Good Friday story. Now they remember very clearly what "golgotha" means, how many men make a "century" and that poor Jesus being given a sip of vinegar was, in the words of Bam-Bam, "not nice, mommy!"

Thank you Alice for another wonderful living the liturgical year idea!

Kids and Writing!

At someone's suggestion on one of my many lists, I recently borrowed The School Story, by Andrew Clements from the library. This is a wonderful story about a girl who wants to publish a book, her friend who believes in her and becomes her agent, and a teacher who believes in the girls and their book and wants to help.

This is a story with a wonderful explanation of the publishing business -- the blood, sweat, tears and laughter of getting a book from what you THOUGHT was a finished draft to publication; the relationship that grows between an editor and a writer; all the small missteps that could stop the book in its tracks.

Along the route, the reader meets characters who are drawn so true to life -- parents who love and support their children, children who are respectful of their parents, and teachers and school's who WANT to nurture children. This is one of those books that are being printed today that celebrate children and family without overdoing the schmaltz.

This is definitely a keeper!

Easter Project starts

I posted about this last week, and now I have started the Catechism-in-a-Year project. My dear husband will be "along for the ride" -- altho he's so knowledgable he could probably WRITE the next revision!

Here's this week's schedule of readings:

WEEK ONE

Each Saturday* CCDB posts a weekly list of daily CCC reading references that match the daily readings as found in the Coming Home Network's Guide { PDF } and assigns them a calendar date. The following are linked to the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH SECOND EDITION at scborromeo.org

READINGS FOR THE WEEK OF SUNDAY APRIL 16 - SATURDAY APRIL 22

Sunday	APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION
Monday	I. The Life of Man - To Know and Love God (#1-3) II. Handing on the Faith: Catechesis (#4-10)
Tuesday	III. The Aim and Intended Readership of This Catechism (#11-12) IV. Structure of This Catechism(#13-17)
Wednesday	V. Practical Directions for Using This Catechism (#18-22) VI. Necessary Adaptations (#23-25)
Thursday	SECTION ONE: "I BELIEVE" - "WE BELIEVE" (#26) I. The Desire for God (#27-30)
Friday	II. Ways of Coming to Know God (#31-35) III. The Knowledge of God According to the Church (#36-38)
Saturday	IV. How Can We Speak about God? (#39-43) IN BRIEF (#44-49)

Book Read-Aloud Wish List

Thanks to Kelly at Big A Little A, I've just started a wish-list for books that sound like must-haves:

1. Just released, The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter promises to be one of those classic books about words and a must-have for my growing shelves of books.
2. Kelly also recommends, Word Wizard by Cathryn Falwell. This is a wonderful book teaching kids about anagrams -- and, at the end of the story, has great ideas for kids to play with words too.
   

There goes my book budget again!

Word of the Season:

Here's the word-a-day for today -- I thought it extremely appropriate as we start the Triduum today:

anabiosis (an-uh-bi-O-sis) noun. A return to life after death or apparent death.

[From Greek anabiosis (coming back to life), from anabioun (to return to life), from ana- (back) + bio- (life).]

Somehow, "resurrected" sounds better than to say Jesus "anabiosed", doesn't it?

Check this out!

This came up on Wordsmith.org:

The word of the day is IMPOST -- from Latin imponere (to impose), from ponere (to place).

I think it's interesting that the same word that means "A tax or a similar mandatory payment" also means "the weight a horse must carry in a handicap race" or "the top part of a pillar of a wall, usually projecting in the form of an ornamental molding, on which an arch rests".

Isn't English an amazing language!

New Project to Start the Easter Season Right!

Thanks to mention on Amy Welborn's blog, I think I'm going to try to do this. Starting on Easter Sunday, this group will read through the Catholic Catechism daily for a year.

Here's the information from the group's blog:

Our Purpose as stated in the sidebar Overview:

A group blog for devotional and practical dialogue with sacred Scripture and sacred Tradition via the Catechism of the Catholic Church to the glory of God, for unity with the mystical body of Christ, for personal growth and the new evangelization.

Our aim is to inspire as many people as possible to make reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church as regular part of their daily life and to create a dialogue between Writers and Guests of this blog. We encourage everyone to become a consistent reader of the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Why a blog devoted to the CCC?

Despite the depth of wisdom within its pages, the essential practicality, its deep historicity and its surprising devotional aspect the CCC is largely ignored by lay Catholics other than Catechumens and apparently it is ignored by not a few priests and bishops. Man, that's gotta stop.

The CCC can be read daily along with sacred Scripture as a tremendous resource for both belief and behavior and again, its strength as a devotional guide must be underscored.

Format

* The blog is co-authored by volunteers with a passion for the CCC.
* Daily posts are made with CCC readings using the Coming Home Network's Guide { PDF }
* Any given day may have more or fewer posts. It all depends on our contributing Writers and the Holy Spirit, of course.
* The posts reflect the individual thoughts and writer's voice.
* Comments are extremely welcome and are not moderated so please exercise wisdom and charity.

Our Writers are not authorities or professionals* but volunteers passionate about their own faith journey who desire to worship and live in union with the Catholic Church and to live out our faith more effectively for Christ. We are in but not of this world, even as our Lord prayed on our behalf.

*However, numbered among our Writers is an ordained priest and two in training.

The text used by our Writers is the Catechism of the Catholic Church Second Edition English Translation in an edition approved and distributed by a Conference of Catholic Bishops local to specific regions.

OK, but who started this anyway? Owen Swain initiated this blog and invited others to join as co-authors. He is a recent convert to the Catholic Church following many years as a Protestant Minister. He is also a visual artist and keeps the luminousmiseries blog.

Just click here: to access the group's blog.

Anyone care to join me with trying this out?

Holy Week and A Lenten Tea

I blogged about this in March when Alice over at Cottage Blessings first mentioned her idea for a Lenten Tea. Now, I really liked her idea but didn't want to exclude my dear husband who earns the bread we'd be eating -- so I decided to change it into a light Holy Week dinner.

Well, this is exactly what we did this past Monday -- the first day of Holy Week. In lieu of "Grace", I explained each item on the table, reading the Scriptural reference and stressing the quote. While we served ourselves, including the making of many "Cock Crows Twice" sandwiches, we talked about the change in the people from Palm Sunday to Good Friday; we talked about what Peter did and why he cried and what Judas did and why he went off by himself. This was a wonderful start to our Holy Week.

We took Alice's suggested menu and just tweaked it slightly:

• Palm on the Road -- became Heart of Palm salad (the recipe on the can was excellent) and Wasa Cracker Bread


• Costly Oil -- flavored olive oil with fresh garlic and tarragon; drizzled this on the Wasa


• Mount of Olives -- tried to get the kids to try black and green olives -- only dh and I like them which is actually fine (because we LOVE them!)


• "Cock Crows Twice" Sandwiches using:


• 30 Pieces of Silver -- used 50-cent sized biscuit cutter to make 30 pieces of Muenster cheese


• Unleavened Bread -- pita (or pocket) bread


• Cock Crows Twice -- sliced roasted chicken and turkey deli-meat


• Gethsemane Figs -- fig newtons (which it turns out EVERYONE loves, go figure!)


• Judas' Kisses & Clouds of Heaven -- fresh strawberries dipped in Vanilla Yogurt
  


• St. Peter's tears -- tic-tacs as suggested (and the kids thought this was awesome because we never buy those!)

This was a very memorable meal -- the kids are still talking about it a few days later. Brikhead said he felt like he was in the Middle East or at a Seder Meal.

We'll do Alice's Lenten Tea 2 on Good Friday for an early dinner before heading over for a Maronite Good Friday "veneration of the Cross".

Have a blessed Holy Week and a marvelous Easter Season!

Amazingly wonderful read-aloud

Whenever some folks recommend a book for me to read to the kids, I always pre-read or at least find out as much as I can about the book before "exposing" my children to the words.

But, there are a few trusted friends (on- and off-line) who recommend books and I don't have to pre-read; I always know the read is going to be just right for my kids. One of these on-line friends is Melissa Wiley over at Here in the Bonny Glen. Usually if she or her kids like a book -- mine love it. One she recently recommended, that we started Friday is:

PENDERWICK, by Jeanne Birdsall

This is an amazingly wonderful read-aloud. It's our lunchtime read-aloud which means the older kids are hearing it too. Everyone at the table is loving this book! The story is a pretty standard one of a family of girls who go for 3 weeks to a vacation cottage with their widowed father and a boy that joins them in their summer adventures. Sounds pretty common right?

But the beauty of this book is in the words -- Ms. Birdsall has truly written a book that hits at every child's heart. My kids keep saying things like "that's just what Cousin ... would say" or "I'm so Rosalind", or "hey, Batty is just like String Bean". Her dialogue between the sisters is just like the dialogue we heard between my children minutes before we sat down to lunch. It's so refreshingly natural -- but the kids aren't smart-alecky, sassy or rude. They're good kids! They're mom has died, but their dad is a great and loving dad! There is no "reality" problems like in so many of the books today.

Big Hat Tip to Melissa for this recommendation! This is going to become a family classic here in this house!

I know, I've been remiss

For any of you out in cyberspace who actually read my jottings ... I've been pretty bad lately with postings. But organizing a move to Austria, trying to keep the house neat to "show", hauling stuff to various family members for long-term storage, packing/sorting/tossing three years' worth of accumulated "must haves", organizing final visits, trying to find inexpensive airfare ... and in the midst of it all....still homeschooling!

So bear with me as we continue on this journey. Send up a prayer if you have a chance that we all stay sane for the next few months!

Another Lenten Tea

THANKS go to Alice at Cottage Blessings for another great Lenten Tea idea. she even suggests it could be used as a light dinner for adults fasting on Good Friday.....I think Miss Alice needs to start writing up a book of these things, don't you?