Great Lent for Little Ones...

Last year, we created a Lenten calender to mark the days of Great Lent (the idea came from Jessica). This year, we are going to do things a little differently. While I liked the calendar to see where we were in the fast, we always forgot to do the stickers for each activity and church service. This year, I am going to keep things simple. We are going to work on three things daily this Great Lent: prayer (by learning a short prayer by heart - this is mostly for Sugar Plum since she is old enough), fasting (by placing one favorite food- one per child- into a basket each day and then emptying the basket in our church's food pantry box each Sunday before Liturgy), and almsgiving (by adding coins to a bank each day and emptying them into our church's poor box each Sunday before Liturgy). These are all simple ideas that I am hoping that I can follow through on that will hopefully help our little ones these next six or seven weeks.

Mary is planning on notebook pages for the Sundays of Great Lent, as well as three-part cards for each Sunday.

I would love to hear about anything that you are doing with your little ones this holy time of year.

Also, if you are not Orthodox and are wondering what I am talking about, you can learn about Great Lent here and find out why Orthodox Christians fast, here.