Lent Calender-Easy! Just Print!

I am so excited that I found THIS great Lenten Calender!

I was hemming and hawing on doing one this year. I did one last year and I had to do it a few times over for it to fit the paper! Then I made Holy Week a week early! It was a bit of a mess and we all laughed a lot about it...which I guess is good-laughing at oneself! I did not want to mess up this year again and I have been trying to figure out a way to show how long the 40 days actually is. My little ones don't have that concept yet and keep asking if the 40 days is over and if Easter is here! Haaa haaa!

So, that site is my remedy- THANK YOU for doing that fun calender for the rest of us art-illiterate folks, this year!!!

We are also doing a Lent Bean Jar-each sacrfice and/or good deed we do, we place a BEAN in the jar and on Easter, the good ol' Easter Bunny changes the jar from kidney beans into Jelly Beans! My kids are loving this idea and are working hard on filling up that jar. To my surprise, it is filling up quickly in only one week. I wonder if the Easter Bunny would mind a few jars! My 3 year old has been grabbing fist fulls of beans and putting them in...I don't have the heart to correct him-it is so cute! (duh, Mary! that is the reason the jar is filling up! haaa haaa!)

With each Lent and each additional child, I am learning not to get over zealous about Lent with little ones in our house. No matter where we look, there is ALWAYS a sacrfice to offer our good Lord. Our crosses we bear are sometimes...right in front of us....but these crosses are our ladders to Heaven.

Dear Lord, please help me to accept willingly and lovingly the crosses You give me. Only You know how much I can endure. You give me only what I can handle. Thanks for reminding me. Lord, let these crosses allow Me to praise You and Love you. All for Your Greater Glory!

God bless,
Mary