Longing for Lent

"Longing For Lent"

Yeah, I know what you are thinking.  No way, Jose!

But, yeah, I mean it.  Our oldest is 15 years old, I mean 15 years "young".  ;)  So we have been doing this Lenting thing as a family for quite some time.  That doesn't mean I'm getting old, does it?  Nah - I'm forever young.  We have many traditions that we have carried through many years.  These traditions bond us and shape us as a family.  They help form our faith and plans for different seasons of the Liturgical year.  And for some reason, I'm always "longing for Lent".  So ready to begin.  Not that I'm 100% ready and set up and prepared to begin.  But my heart and soul is ready to jump in.  Same with my kids.  They can't wait.  Even with the giving up of things - tv time, electronics, sweets, coffee, pop, etc... and doing/giving more, they are ready to jump right in and surprise me with their sacrifices each year.  These sweet kids have a heart to give.  A heart to love.  And a heart to sacrifice.  The Holy Spirit dwells so beautifully and shines during Lent - in the love, sacrifice, and family bonding.

So, what do we do?  Let me share a "few"...

CROWN OF THORNS
**pictures and tutorial found here of how to make a table top display and tool for keeping track of our Lenten sacrifices

LENT SONG
**Lent song for kids (and review of Dogma Dogs cd) found here

REPENT CROSS WITH HANDPRINTS AND LENTEN CALENDAR
**We make the large cross out of brown constructions paper and tape it to a door or wall.  Each family member traces their hand on construction paper, cuts it out, writes their Lenten promises on it, and  tapes it to the cross.  We also hang up some printable Lenten calendars, where the kids color a square each day of Lent, counting down the days to Easter.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS
**Multiple times a week, we march around the house with flashlights and pray the Stations.  The Stations we use are these posters and they are hung up throughout the house, so we can march from room to room as we pray them.

LENTEN DEVOTIONALS
**See my post over at Cuppa Catholic on our favorite Lenten devotionals

JESUS TREE
**You can buy a kit here to make this beautiful Jesus Tree felt tree and ornaments, which ends up being a Family Lenten Bible Study - starts at Genesis and leads up to the Death and Ressurection of Our Lord

LENTEN LEGOS
**Let your kids build away!!  Here's a look at some of our Lenten Legos.

CATHOLIC WEIGHT LOSS
**A look at my fasting from last year

HOLY THURSDAY TEA
**food and scripture to teach the meanting of this day

GOOD FRIDAY TEA
**food and scripture to teach the meaning of this day

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Linking this post up with Siena Sisters, which will have a Lenten Blog Hop

Click on the image below to get more ideas for Lent this year!