Lent 2012

Now that Fat Tuesday is over, it is time to start Lent.  We decided to do two things for Lent this year.  The first is a prayer bulletin board.  Each day the children and I will be choosing someone or something to pray for and then writing it down on an egg.  It should be fun to see the Easter eggs adding up with prayers on the board. 

The second thing is more complicated.  I have heard several folks around the Internet talking about eating as they do in the Third World and then taking the difference in their grocery budget to put towards the poor.  I love this idea.  However, with our son's very special diet, we simply cannot do it.  The kids and I decided to set the table with a place setting that will stay up all though Lent.  My mother made the heart bowl in a pottery class many years ago.  This will remind us that many go without enough food and safe water.  We will be giving up a different item for each 10 days of Lent.  We will be giving up juice, chocolate milk, and soda (which my father and step-mother left in our home) for the first 10 days.  Then we will give up white sugar for the next 10 days.  We also plan on giving up all bread types (tapioca and wheat) and milk for 10 days each.  The money saved from not buying these items will be placed in the jar in our place setting.  I also plan on giving the kids challenges that will help them earn money for the jar.  The challenges will be things like carrying a jug of water for one mile, taking a sponge bath or washing all of your undergarments in a limited amount of water.  These are activities that other children in the world do who live in less fortunate circumstances.  The money they earn will go towards a share in a well through charitywater.org.

We will also be reading A Life Like Mine.  I am looking forward to guiding the kids' hearts towards charity with this new projects.

Blessings, Dawn