Lent begins

It's Ash Wednesday and so lent begins. We have created a few family traditions in the last few years during this time of fasting, prayer, and alms giving. Last year, we used beans to encourage sacrifice and good deeds. As the boys would do something nice, they would add a bean to a jar and then on Easter the beans were replaced with jelly beans. This year we decided to do something similar but instead we made a crown of thorns. We made ours from a salt dough and then put toothpicks in it. For each sacrifice, they will remove a toothpick. Hopefully all of the toothpicks will be removed before Easter. We will decorate the crown for Easter with jewels or flowers.

Maybe I should have made the crown out of playdough instead. The salt dough looks a little like bread dough. Every male in this house asked if it was something we could eat. It didn't surprise me too much but it did make me laugh a little when they all asked about it.

We have not been doing a good job of teaching and praying the rosary to our kids. We hope to say a decade of the rosary together each night. Nate does not know the prayers well enough yet to really be able to join us completely but we'll continue to try (and that's why we'll only say one decade with him).