I love celebrating Resurrection Day! God is so good to allow us to never "know it all" so we have the fun of continuous discovery when we dig into His word.

Both of the Bible studies I'm in (Matthew and Psalms) have taught me new things I never knew about Jesus' last Passover and His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. For instance, Beth Moore taught us that Psalms 113-118 were sung at Passover. These are the Psalms that Jesus and His disciples probably sang after the Last Supper. Matt. 26:30 says, "When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives." (to the garden of Gethsemane). Now read Psalm 118:24, "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Jesus may have sung these words knowing He could count the hours before He hung on the cross for our sins. Makes me think of that Psalm in a whole new way.

I'm looking forward to the rest of this week's and next week's studies with my children as we read and learn more in scripture about how Jesus lived out His last days incarnate. I'm putting my lesson plans together for Holy Week. Normally, this is when I do Easter vacation, but this year I'm shifting our break a week later so I can teach my children more about the events of Jesus' life during His last week on earth. Here's what I'm planning so far:

Reading Benjamin's Box by Melody Carlson. It was written to go along with Resurrection Eggs® from FamilyLife ministries (familylife.com). FamilyLife also has other wonderful ideas for celebrating; go to holidays, then Easter.

Other books we'll read, or at least I'll have available for the kids to read are:

The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt,

The Easter Story by Patricia A. Pingry,

The Matzah that Papa Brought Home (Passover) by Fran Manushkin, (I may have them sample some Passover food)

The Story of Easter (a Happy Day coloring book),

Easter is...For Me! by Christine Tangvald (uses symbols of spring  to explain the Resurrection story),

Easter Fun activity book by Judith Stamper (recipe for hot cross buns and some fun science ideas), and

Close Your Eyes So You Can See by Michael Card.

We'll be doing various activities to bring to life the Bible stories from Palm Sunday through Resurrection Sunday that are posted on Christianity Today's website (christianitytoday.com/holidays/easter/features/activities.html).

I also printed out some fun math, grammar, and reading comprehension activities from abcteach.com.

I made my own sheets for them to do acronyms from "resurrection" and "He lives".

We'll probably do a family Lord's supper as a three-fold communion (foot washing, meal, communion).

I would make resurrection cookies (annieshomepage.com/resurrectioncookies.html), but my kids don't like to eat them! Maybe we'll do it anyway so I can enjoy them and they can learn again (I'm not sure Elijah remembers doing it). Maybe I'll try resurrection rolls instead.

One last resource I'll mention is from BSf International (bsf). Since our whole family is in this Bible study, I have access to their home training lessons. Their suggested reading for the week is Mark 14:32-50 (Gethsemane), Mark 14:53-15:15 (Jesus' trial), Mark 15:16-32 (Crucifixion), Mark 15:33-47 (Jesus' death and burial), and Matthew 28:1-10 (Resurrection).

I will also be teaching them a hymn or two that is traditionally sung at this time of year. My daughter enjoys (surprisingly) the hymns she sings at BSf (our church does hymns and contemporary, but we listen to mostly contemporary at home).

We'll be celebrating through reading, singing, science, math, and anything else I can think of! If this isn't enough I just may be picking up another idea or two from my friend Cindy from whom I already got the links for abc teach,  Resurrection rolls, Resurrection baskets and Christianity Today. Visit her blog westard for more great ideas. Whew! This is a lot but I think we'll have fun learning about JESUS!

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Greetings on this Three Kings Day! Some cultures, mine included (Puerto Rico), celebrate Epiphany much like we do in the States with Christmas gift giving. Although we do Christmas, I also give my children 3 gifts on Epiphany, 12 days after Christmas, as a celebration of the Wisemen finding and giving gifts to Jesus.

My pastor gave a great sermon this morning on this tradition. We can all understand why they gave Jesus gold for their recognition of His Kingship. But do you know what frankincense and myrrh were used for? Frankincense was used with grain offerings to thank God. We can certainly thank God for His Son Jesus! Myrrh is the most intriguing gift of all. It was used for embalming the dead. The way my pastor explained it was this: "who would give a casket for a baby shower gift?" In essence, that is what the Magi were doing. Did they know of the prophecy that Jesus was born to die for our sins? Or was it just a common sense statement that everyone who is born will die someday and they wanted to give something for the future burial of the King? I don't know, but it sure is something to think about.

If you didn't at Christmas, why don't you spend time today (or whenever you read this) to think of what you can give Jesus. Is it your time, attention, love, or most importantly, your heart? If Jesus isn't the King in your life, invite Him to be! He loves you deeply and came to save you from eternity apart from Him. He would love to spend today and the rest of time eternal with you. His gift to you is this: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Ephesians 2:8. In John 1:12 God's word assures us: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in His (Jesus) name."

God's blessings to you this week as you seek Him with your whole heart.

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