Holy Week Calendar

This is a special week in our family. It's a week of reflecting on the greatest gift we've been given - salvation through Jesus Christ. In order to rightly focus on the week and the significance of the upcoming holiday, we're using a Holy Week calendar. Each day, beginning yesterday with Palm Sunday, we read and remember the events that led to Christ's death and resurrection. I didn't do this last year. Instead, we just read about the events from Boo's bible. I wanted to do something more hands on this year and my friend, Shannon, told me about doing a calendar. She gave me this handout with specific ideas that she got from church. I love it! I've modified it a little and you can too.

The idea is that you read through the scriptures that tell the accounts of Holy Week. Then, assign different events {in sequence} to each day of the week leading up to Resurrection Sunday. For each day, we're reading the accounts in scripture, singing relevant songs, doing a corresponding craft, and going over a related memory verse.
If you're curious, here's the breakdown for our week {mostly based on the handout my friend gave me}...

Sunday
TOPIC: Palm Sunday
READING: Mark 11:1-11 and Luke 19:28-44
CRAFT: construction paper palm leaves
MEMORY VERSE: "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" Mark 11:9
SONGS: "Hosanna!" by Hillsong, "Hosanna! {Blessed is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord}" by Michael W. Smith

Monday
TOPIC: Jesus Clears the Temple
READING: Mark 11:12-17
CRAFT: construction paper table cutout with pennies taped on top
MEMORY VERSE: "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." Mark 11:17/Isaiah 56:7

Tuesday
TOPIC: Teaching at the Temple
READING: Luke 19:47-48
CRAFT: scrolls made out of paper and two sticks
MEMORY VERSE: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." Psalm 119:105
SONG: "Thy Word" by Amy Grant

Wednesday
TOPIC: Praying for Anything and Remaining Watchful
READING: Mark 11: 20-26, 13:32-37 and Luke 21:34-36
CRAFT: trace child's hands to represent praying hands; watchtower or eye to represent remaining watchful
MEMORY VERSE: "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be ours." Mark 11:24

Thursday
TOPIC: Communion, Garden of Gethsemane, Judas' Betrayal
READING: Mark 14:17-26, 32-35, 43-50 and Luke 22:14-23, 39-53
CRAFT: saltine cracker and construction paper cutout of goblet; sack of coins
MEMORY VERSE: "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done." Luke 22:42

Friday
TOPIC: The Cross
READING: Mark 15:16-39 and Luke 23:26-49
CRAFT: 3 popsicle stick crosses
MEMORY VERSE: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23:34
SONG: "When I Survey The Wondrous Cross" by

Saturday
TOPIC: Laid in the Tomb
READING: Mark 15:42-47 and Luke 23:50-56
CRAFT: construction paper tomb and stone
MEMORY VERSE: "[Joseph] came from...Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God." Luke 23:51

Resurrection Sunday
TOPIC: Resurrection
READING: Luke 24:1-12
CRAFT: folded linen cloth and a picture of an angel
MEMORY VERSE: "He is not here; he has risen!" Luke 24:6
SONG: "He Lives!" {lyrics by Alfred Ackley}; "Christ is Risen" by Matt Maher

I love this concept of a Holy Week calendar. It would be great done on felt too. Maybe I'll try that for next year. And the great thing about this calendar is that it's depth can grow as your child grows. It would be wonderful to incorporate other events from Holy Week as the kids grow: the woman anointing Jesus with perfume, a Seder meal and its significance, Jesus washing the disciples' feet, Jesus talking about his return, etc. Also, you could read a greater amount of text and compare the different gospel accounts. We plan on just reading from one book each day, though I listed both Mark and Luke for many of the days.

Do you have any other suggestions for songs or crafts? The crafts were primarily based on the Family Time Training handout I linked above. I'm terrible about thinking of songs, so these were just the first ones that came to my head. No doubt there are dozens of others that would be great. Also, I don't have all of these songs, but I searched on YouTube and was able to find most of them so we could sing along with the music.

I'll post a picture of our completed calendar next week.

Jesse Tree: Ruth & Boaz Ornament

Another one done.
I found some dried grain stalks at JoAnn's on clearance the other day and made this "sheaf of wheat". We'll use it as the ornament for our Jesse Tree devotional on Ruth and Boaz. It symbolizes God's provision: Ruth gleaned barley from Boaz's fields to provide for herself and her mother-in-law, Naomi. God also provided for them both when Boaz married Ruth and they had a son.
I'm so excited about our Jesse Tree this year and the cooler wheather is reminding me that I need to finish up with these ornaments. Christmas will be here before we know it!

Jesse Tree: Store Bought Ornaments

Although I'm making most of the ornaments for our Jesse Tree, there are a few that I have purchased.

I found this ladder on sale at a local Christmas store in January. It is for our Jacob devotional during Advent and symbolizes Jacob's dream. I love how big it is and the rustic gold look. Instead of hanging it, I'm just going to tuck it in the branches of our tree.

This clay jar was only $0.99 from Goodwill. We're using it for our Gideon devotional. It is the closest representation of what I imagine their clay pots looked like. I'm going to put a small votive candle inside of it.

This nativity scene ornament is from Hobby Lobby. They have them right now. I've had a hard time finding a good nativity ornament for our final devotional during Advent: the birth of Christ. Most of the ones I'd come across were kind of ornate or gaudy. I love this one.

I'm working on a few other homemade ornaments, one of which is a wooden pirate ship converted into Noah's Ark.

Jesse Tree: Jonah Ornament and Other Ideas

Oh, I love how this one turned out! Here is the Jesse Tree ornament for our Jonah devotional during Advent. I used a pattern from this Softies book: I just scaled it down to ornament size and omitted the little bird from the top of the whale. Cute, huh? And the cost, less than $1.50, makes it even cuter somehow.

Hey, I'm making a pretty good dent in these ornaments. Hopefully I'll get them all finished before December rolls around. We'll see.

My friend Becca had some great suggestions for other ways to create a Jesse Tree. She thought of buying a bunch of picture frame ornaments and putting a picture of each symbol in them. This would make quick work of assembling a set and the tree would have a very uniform look to it.

Another of her ideas is to use a tree branch instead of a large Christmas tree. You could hang gift tags with the symbol drawn on them instead of ornaments. She also suggested using this wire card holder as the "tree". These are great ideas if you don't have the space for a Christmas Tree. Thanks for sharing, Becca!f

Jesse Tree: Lamb Ornament

I just finished the lamb ornament for our Jesse Tree. The lamb {or ram} is the symbol for our devotional during Advent about God calling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and then providing a ram instead.

My mother-in-law and I were at Crate & Barrel after Christmas this year and found this little guy on sale for like $1.

I snatched him up and brought him home with plans to transform him from a shabby gray sheep into a nice white lamb {ram} for our Jesse Tree. Even though I didn't start from scratch, you easily could if you want to make something like this.

The following is what you would need:
One small sheet of white felt
White yarn
Small wooden knob
Black and white paint
One small dowel rod
Hot glue
Fishing line

Here's how I transformed this little guy. First, I tore him apart and gave his old gray fur a toss.

I cut out two circles of white {or in my case, off-white because I already had some} felt and hot glued them together.

His legs are 2 1/2 inch lengths of dowel rod painted black. I glued those onto the felt circle. Ignore the remnants of gray yarn and dried hot glue from his previous life.

I'm thinking for the head, you could use a small piece of wood or even a small wooden knob. Paint it black and make two white dots for the eyes. Cut two small ovals out of black felt and hot glue them to either side of the head for ears. Glue the head to the center of the felt circle on the same side as the legs. I obviously just put his old head back on.

For the fur, hot glue thick white yarn to the felt circle. Start near the head and coil the yarn around as you glue it until it covers the entire circle. Do the same for the back side.

I had some white yarn already that I wanted to use but it was a bit thin to just glue on as is. Instead, I knit a cord of it for either side, making it thicker and fluffier.

To hang, thread a strand of fishing line through the top of the ornament with a needle and tie ends together.

That's it. Little time, little money. That's my kind of project!

I have a couple more of these ornaments in the "nearly-done" phase and I'll post them here soon.

Jesse Tree: Creation Ornament

I found the perfect ornament the other day for our Jesse Tree. I'd had been looking for a globe/world to represent our Advent devotional on Creation and I finally found one I like. It's a decorative globe ball from World Market.

I love the muted tones of it and that it's made out of paper. I'm really trying to go for a hand-made, subtle look with the ormanents and am planning to decorate the tree with browns and blues to go with the decor in our family room. So this is perfect.

I just drilled holes in the top and bottom and threaded it with a brown satin ribbon. It's ready to go. One ornament down....twenty four to go.