Ideas for Getting Ready for Lent

Is Lent Okay? Should I practice Lent?

There appears to be a resurgence of interest in Lent among various Protestants. I did not grow up practicing Lent and I do think this is a decision that should be considered thoughtfully. Many
people practice giving something up as a check list or a societal expectation or a game.These are not good reasons to practice Lent. We do not practice Lent to please God or make Him like us more.

But here are some resources I put together for those of us thinking about Lent and/or incorporating our families into Lent.

Here is a lovely article about the why of practicing Lent. This is geared for us adults growing in our practice of Lent or considering using it for the first time.

Here is an article about talking with your children about the season of Lent along with some of the
difficult conversations about sin and death that arise from the Lent season.

Another article about bringing your children to an Ash Wednesday service.

And here is another article with some resources for family devotions during the Lent season.

Last but certainly not least is a site with free printables that follow along with The Jesus Storybook Bible.



I hope you enjoy these resources as much I enjoyed finding them. Blessings!

Are You Good Enough?

I had one of those once a year 2 hour phone conversations with my brother a few weeks ago. We talked about many things, but one of the topics that came up was his concerns if could be a good parent. I of course told him that no one can ever really be ready to be a parent and knowing you don't have it all together is a great first step. But I also told him what my husband and I remind ourselves all the time. "You don't have to be a perfect parent, just good enough."

Everyone feels the pressure before the first child is born. Will we be good enough? What are we not doing right? I MUST DO EVERYTHING CORRECTLY! Will non-organic cotton sheets harm my child? What if I miss something something really major that I don't even know about?

You have done things imperfectly and you will continue to not be a perfect person. You won't be perfect, but you can be good enough.

The various parenting research we have done shows that kids are resilient, and will do okay in life as long as you don't do something to horrible to them. So we aren't the perfect parents, we don't even try to be. We just try to be good enough.

Tip of the Day #2- School lunch

I have three children, one in Kindergarten and the other two are home with me. We  choose not to put our 3 year old in preschool this year for a host of reasons and he is home with me during the week. The evening before school days or the morning of when I am packing my oldest his lunch, I pack my 3 year old's luch too. If you are throwing together one luch, it's not anymore trouble to throw together two lunches and saves me time later in the day. Most of the time I go ahead and pack it in a luchbox with a spoon and napkin.

Thomas loves it! He gets so excited about his lunchbox, and can't wait to find out what he is having for lunch that day. If we are out and about that day, I bring his lunch and we are not tempted to grab fast food while running errands. If we are at home and I am involved in a project and he wants to eat lunch, I can simply hand him his lunch box and I can finish what I am involved in. Doing this simple time saving tip has made my life easier, cheaper, and my child more excited about lunch. 

What are some things that have worked for you and getting lunch for your kids?