Sunday, March 23, 2008

Happy Easter!



A few weeks ago, Julie asked me to share how we are teaching the boys about God and Jesus. Easter seems like an appropriate time to talk about that, and a funny story to go with it.

The day we got home, we took the boys to the Christmas Eve service at church. We snuck in late and hid in the balcony. We started out praying before every meal and now the boys always ask to pray before we eat. They also pray before eating at school, so sometimes we say their school prayer as well. Shortly after arriving home, we started reading at night before bed which includes two books and a Bible story from their preschoolers' Bible. In fact, we finished the Bible this week and the boys were very upset that they weren't going to get to read it anymore. I let them know we were going to start over again. They will understand a lot more the second or third time around since their English is so much better now.

For Easter, we've been talking about Jesus and that He died and came back to life (that's currently the best way I can think of to explain resurrection with their limited English!). Dima brought home an empty egg from school to talk about Easter. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask his teacher exactly what they talked about with it, and he isn't able to tell me. I'm guessing that the empty egg represents the empty tomb. So the boys and I were talking about the egg over dinner, and I was explaining the empty tomb and Jesus not being there and that it was like the empty egg. I had the egg in my hand, and Zhenya looked at it and said "little man", in awe that Jesus fit inside an egg. :) :) I explained that Jesus was a man the same size as Papa, not little. So we're still working on who Jesus is.
We did our neighborhood Easter egg hunt yesterday, and they had a small (indoors--it's been snowing) one at church today. The boys love finding the eggs but they have no clue about the Easter bunny. We left the neighborhood hunt before the Easter bunny showed up, and we didn't have one at church, and we don't celebrate with Easter baskets or anything like that at home, so they haven't heard anything about the Easter bunny.

6 comments:

Julie said...

Thanks for answering my question. I've always been so amazed at how small children grasp God's love so quickly. It's such a wonderful experience as parents to see Jesus through their eyes.

I love preschool Bible's! We did the same thing with Michael. We read it over and over. Now, he's just moved up to a 'real' Bible that we read each night. It was an great transition.

I just learned this week about the eggs. They're called Resurrection Eggs. You can buy a 'set' or make them yourself. You open each one, in order, and it helps to tell the story. I haven't seen it actually done, but I think I understand the basics of it.

There's a nail in one, thorn, donkey, and other things. I'm going to make them for the kids for next year. Maybe even Christmas. I haven't looked online for it yet, but I'm sure you're quite savvy you would find them really quick!

Courtney said...

Julie, here's a link for you:

http://www.rainbowcastle.org/resurrectioneggs.html

Mrs. H only sent home one empty egg with the kids, so I don't know if they did the rest of the set at school or if they just talked about the empty tomb.

Julie said...

I knew you'd be able to find a website. Thanks so much for sharing it! I'm excited to make my own. I like how this one shared the verses to go along with it. Maybe I'll do it like we did with advent.

Debora Hoffmann said...

I love that the boys were upset that you had finished reading the Bible to them. :-) I'm excited that they'll learn more each time you read it, just like us grown-ups!

Happy Easter! Christ is risen!

Tonya said...

My kids are always confused when adults ask them about the easter bunny and santa clause. Micah told one man "Our dad is santa clause and all the presents are on the top shelf in my dad and mom's closet":):):). Lyra just looked at the grocery store clerk like she was crazy when she was asked if the easter bunny visited her! LOL!

The WORST is when they spill the beans to kids who DO believe in santa. Our 7 yo neighbor girl was in tears, demanding that I tell Silas and Solomon that santa was real while S&S stood there adamatly telling me to tell her the truth. sigh. I told her to go talk to her mother about it. You have that to look forward to:):):).

Anonymous said...

It's neat to hear how you're teaching the boys about Jesus. Even Alex, at 12, has a hard time understanding the whole thing. We just keep repeating the story and explaining in as simple terms as we can muster. He prays with our family and in Sunday School regularly now, so I have faith he'll understand and fully know the Lord soon - Anna, too. Keep up the good work, Mama & Papa!