Lenten Center piece

The Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, seems to be the night we always plan out our Lent. This year our discussion included reading the article by Fr. James Farfaglia at http://www.catholicexchange.com/ entitled Getting Serious About Lent. Then each child decided on a positive and negative thing they would do for Lent.

The oldest three kids chose to give up all computer and Internet games. It may not sound like a lot to some, but my kids really look forward to the little time they get to play on EWTNKIDS.COM , PBSKIDS.ORG , and LITTLESTPETSHOP.COM. These seem to be the safest and best sites, I've found that have fun and educational games. Our second youngest daughter, who doesn't get computer time, yet, decided to give up chocolate. I was surprised that she came up with this all on her own. She just turned 3 in January.

For the positives, the kids came up with all sorts of wonderful goals. Everyone is going to read their Bible at least 15 minutes every day. We will pray the family rosary at least twice a week (this is a challenge since dear hubby is gone very often in the evenings for night meetings). The kids wanted to return to visit the nursing home residents again at least 4-5 times during Lent. They also want to make a more conscious effort to be more polite and courteous to one another. My hubby and I added that the kids also work on right-away obedience. They have become a little lax over the past few months.

Lots of things to work on, but we love a challenge!To remind ourselves of what we need to work on, we put a list in our cupboard where we see it frequently.

We also made a Lenten Center piece out of salt dough. We made the crown of thorns together and the kids had lots of fun putting in the tooth picks. As the kids fulfill their Lenten promises they get to take out a "thorn" (toothpick). Once they have taken out all the "thorns" they will glue a silk flower over each whole left by the "thorn".

I got this idea from Adele over at www.journeytotherese.blogspot.com/

Here is the Salt Dough Recipe:

4 cups flour

1 cup salt

Water

Mix flour and salt together in large bowl. Mix just enough water in to make a stiff clay. (Warm water works best to dissolve the salt.) Knead the dough until smooth to remove any air bubbles. Split dough into three parts and roll each part into long rope. Loosely braid the three ropes together and then shape braid into circle. Make sure to connect the ends to one another. Stick toothpicks into the circular braid loosely by wiggling them a little after they are in position. This way they won't be embedded too deeply and you will be able to pull them out intact.) Bake at 350 degrees for at least an hour until dry and light brown.