Oh, What to Do with Those Plastic Eggs?

It's Eastertime and those bags of plastic eggs are everywhere.  So apart from putting candy into them for your children's Easter baskets, here are two other ideas for you to ponder.  So put on your crafter's hats, ladies, and here 'ya go:

Resurrection Eggs

Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are fun and exciting to some and I grew up in a household that celebrated both.  Who wouldn't love a big furry bunny giving you an entire basket of candy or a jolly old man who brings you a satchel of gifts?  I mean, come on!   However, now that I have kids of my own, we do still keep the surprise of these magical characters going in our household (until they start school and, I suspect, will discover the truth), but we also want them to understand that these holidays are about so much more than Santa and an overgrown bunny.

So this Easter I discovered from some friends this coined term of "Resurrection Eggs," which are 12 plastic eggs that each dislay a different station of the cross on the path to Christ's Crucifixtion and Resurrection.  I became curious and Googled and well, one thing led to another.  Next thing I knew, I had craft materials spread all over our kitchen table and I was gathering items from around the house to put together a set of these special eggs for both our family and a friend's family as a gift.  This seemed like the perfect visual for my children to memorize the details of Christ’s Crucifixion and Resurrection.  It's like the ultimate Bible story in an egg carton and to us, this is so important for my children to learn so they can understand the real meaning of what we’re celebrating at Easter.

Resurrection Eggs are available at your local Christian bookstore for about $15, but making them yourself is less expensive, more personal and so much more fun.  It took me about 2 hours to make two sets of these eggs from start to finish so this is not a long-term committment.  Even if you are not a usually crafty person, I suspect you will be able to tackle this one.  Trust me, they are easier than making dinner on some days with a few fussy kids underfoot :).

A web site I had found created this PDF with the verses so you can print them out easily for your own use:  Resurrection Egg Verses

On the night before Easter, my family all sat around and opened all 12 eggs, one by one.  We read the verses, let the kids look at the visuals inside each egg and discussed what was happening in each verse.  Since our children are so young (5, 3 and 1), we actually used their Easter story book as an aid for several of the longer, more tedious verses and instead read that page of the book to them.  For other verses, we used The Message so that it would be easier for them to understand.  All in all, they really enjoyed them and the five year old, especially, was asking questions and seemed to recall parts of the story afterwards since he could relate it to the object inside one of the specifc eggs.

Enjoy!  I pray that you and your family find value in this project so that you, too, can enlighten your little ones on the amazing story of Christ's Death and Resurrection!

Here are our eggs:

Day 1: Palm branch. I cut up an old fake ivy leaf that I had around the house.
Day 2: Perfume. Put some perfume on a cotton ball.
Day 3: Towel. Cut a piece from an old towel.
Day 4: Little piece of bread or a cracker (matzo, Carr cracker, etc.)
Day 5: 3 dimes because Judas was paid 30 silver coins when he betrayed Jesus. And a sword, which can be made with a toothpick and foil.
Day 6: Crown of thorns. I just used a rose branch from our yard.
Day 7: Dice and a little robe cut out of a piece of cardstock or fabric.
Day 8: Cross and nails. I just used 2 little sticks and bound them together with embroidery floss.
Day 9: Sponge with a little vinegar. I soaked it in vinegar and then squeezed it out. The smell remains, but your sponge doesn’t stay wet.
Day 10: Spices. Use whatever whole spices you have. Cloves, Cinnamon sticks.
Day 11: Rock. Any small pebble will work.
Day 12: Leave empty so symbolize Jesus' body not being found in the tomb.



Easter Egg Topiaries

Well, here we are at our church's Easter fair amidst all of the splendors of Spring...live baby chicks, giant Easter eggs on the walls, carrots and Easter Egg Topiaries.  What?!?!  What is that, you say?  Well, if you are in need of an elegant decoration for your house that won't break the budget and will be complete in a few hours, then here you go.  Unfortunately, I do not have step by step photographs of the process, but these are very easy so I'll just attempt to explain it.

First, gather a tall container or display pot of choice.  Fill with floral foam and poke with a medium girth dowel, which you can paint brown or white if desired.  Fill the containers up with fake Easter grass and poke a 6-10" styrofoam ball on the top of the dowel.  Gather MANY Easter eggs; this takes more than you think.  I believe we had about 50 of them for each topiary and we used the 6" styrofoam balls.  Heat up your hot glue gun and begin placing the eggs around the styrofoam with hot glue, about 1-2 inches apart.  Once all of the eggs are on the ball, you can place a blob of glue between two eggs and then press a small handful of Spanish moss between the eggs.  Repeat until the entire surface is covered with eggs and filled with Spanish moss in betweem them.  Voila, that is it and now you have a lovely decoration for your home.

April MOPS Coordinator's Article

April is our annual Tea and Testimony event at MOPS. Today we will enjoy a tea party brunch while listening to two women share the spiritual testimonies of their hearts. It seems only fitting that our session this month is entitled Botony 101. Like the growth of a flower, women need to have the seed sowed, be nourished and start to grow before they can bloom into who they really are.

As a woman in her early thirties who is mother to three small children, I sometimes feel as if that blossom is clouded by dirty diapers, school field trips and folding laundry. The monotonous becomes routine and that growth—as a woman, a wife, a mother and a disciple of Jesus—seems to elude me. At least it seems that way when you focus on the day-to-day details. Should I make chicken or beef for dinner? Pampers or Huggies? Should I mop over naptime or do some office work instead? The idea that doing these everyday tasks could possibly encourage spiritual or personal growth just doesn’t seem possible. Where’s the growth that results from packing a lunchbox each morning or scrubbing a toilet?

Well, the truth for me is that when I look back over the past few years as a wife and mom the spiritual and personal growth is everywhere. I just have to take my eyes off of the details and look at the big picture to see it.

"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” (Colossians 3:12)

Each day as I change diapers and direct the children in everyday activities, the Lord is giving me a lesson in patience. My, how I have grown from a once impatient person to someone who can listen to the dreaded why question from morning until night.

He also has instilled in me a compassion beyond what I ever thought I’d have when God made me a mother. It is not that I was not compassionate before I had children but this virtue has increased threefold now that I physically know what it is like to know unconditional love.

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.  We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.” (Romans 12:4-6a)

It is amazing how God has allowed me to grow and flourish by way of the spiritual gifts and talents that He has given to me. I have discovered passions and skills that I never knew I possessed in my walk as a mother. It truly is awe-inspiring to know that God made me a mother and at the same time gave me specific gifts that would only shine in this new maternal role. Whoever would have thought that I would develop such a heart for other mothers of preschoolers and would come to lead the MOPS organization at BranchCreek? To me, that truly is a God-given gift and one that was only able to prosper once I became a mother myself and was in a position where I could relate to other mothers. Surely, God “knitted me in my mother’s womb” so He already knew that one day these gifts of mine would shine; it only took becoming a mother myself to bring them out.

So this month my challenge to you is to embrace your motherhood—spit up, laundry, dirty diapers and all—and ask God to grow you as a woman and mother in your role. In fact, as you look back on your time with your children, chances are that you, too, will be able to see just how much you really have grown. God works in funny ways like that. He knows exactly the right woman he wants to grow in her role as mother to your children: YOU. He will get you through these preschool years, and then the teenage years and adult years after, and will equip you for all circumstances. You are His child just as much as your little ones are your own children. So let Him guide you and grow you as a wife, mother and woman in Christ. He’s watering your soil so that you will blossom into all you can be.