Into the Free...

I found this site today while looking for free online translations of Luther's House Postils:


Into the Woods

I am looking forward to exploring the site more!

What have you been doing this Eastertide?  If you haven't noticed, I gave up blogging for Easter (unintentionally--I wondered what would happen to my blog during gardening season...)  Did anyone observe any of May's feasts and commemorations?  Tell us what you did!

Coming soon: Book Reviews, Pentecost and Ascension activities, summer devotions.

Seven Weeks of Easter

How are you observing this Easter Season?  Here are some ideas:

From The Word Among Us:
[There are fifty ideas, but these are my favorite]

• Light a special Easter candle each night at dinner to represent Christ's presence after His resurrection.
• Sing an Easter song ("Alleluia song") or three Alleluias before blessing your meals
• Keep a baptism theme: tell your children about what you remember about their baptisms, who their sponsors are, what you did afterward to celebrate.  Make a point to remember your baptisms daily.  Thank God we received new life in Him--that we were born into eternity--at our baptisms. 
• Drape crosses and crucifixes with white
• Place a resurrection icon in a place of honor.
• Prepare a cake decorated with "red flames" to honor the Church's birthday at Pentecost

Similar ideas at Faith at Home

Family in Feast and Feria highlights: (more here)

• Using the phoenix, butterfly, bee, peacock, bursting pomegranate, swallow, Easter lily, and the egg for decor (many represent Resurrection or Eternal Life).
• Do time-consuming crafts and detailed Easter project <i>during</i> the Easter season, not just in Holy Week (much less stressful!)
• Eggshell mosaics
• Tie routine Spring activities (picking flowers, planting gardens) to Easter and New Life in Christ.
• The author compiled a nice Prayers and Hymns for Easter booklet. I am going to print and laminate some of these (such as "At the Lamb's High Feast We Sing") to help us learn the hymns.

He is Risen!

Sorry for my blogging absence!  Here are some pictures of how we observed Holy Week:

Hot Cross Buns on Friday morning

A Resurrection Garden on Friday night (I placed figurines in it on Sunday morning--didn't get a picture of that, either)

Easter baskets we made on Saturday

On Friday we had a Plumbing Incident, and I completely forgot to cover the crosses, etc.  I also did not decorate much at all (beyond some tulle and cut flowers).  Check out your local craft/Hobby Lobby/fabric store for discount remnants and clearance items. I bought a bunch of gauzy black fabric and about 4 yards of white tulle for under $3.  I also found some gold (3") letters I am going to use to make an Alleluia! banner for next year. 

(If you ever have a Plumbing Incident, especially the toilet kind, set up little preschool chairs just outside the bathroom and your toddlers will watch Dad work FOR HOURS.  They just sat there quietly and especially liked 1) the hole under the toilet 2) the toilet cracking 3) getting a new toilet--there were requests for pink, but we settled on white.)

Sunday night