LeeAnn G Taylor - Embracing the Mosaic Life

Trusting our broken pieces to the Ultimate Artist

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The Legend of the Sand Dollar – An Easter Object Lesson

March 6, 2021 By LeeAnn G. Taylor

legend of the sand dollar

Type of Activity: Hands-On Activity

Supplies Needed: Sand Dollar  

Don’t live near the beach? You can purchase sand dollars here.

Biblical Truth Shared: God’s creation reminds us of the truths of the Easter story (Romans 1:20)

Have your child look at the sand dollar and all its unique properties. Ask him or her to describe what they see then read the Legend of the Sand Dollar poem.

Have your child break open the sand dollar to find the beautiful doves inside. My mother did this activity with my kiddos and we both were fascinated and have a new appreciation for the reminder in Romans that God’s creation speaks clearly about his power!

legend of the sand dollar
There’s a lovely little legend
That I would like to tell,
Of the birth and death of Jesus
Found in this lowly shell.
If you examine closely
You’ll see that you find here,
Four nail holes and a fifth one
Made by a Roman’s spear.
On one side the Easter Lily,
Its center is the star,
That appeared unto the shepherds
And led them from afar.
The Christmas Poinsettia
Etched on the other side,
Reminds us of His birthday
Our happy Christmastide.
Now break the center open
And here you will release,
The five white doves awaiting
To spread Good Will and Peace.
This simple little symbol Christ left for you and me,
To help us spread His Gospel Through all Eternity
Broken sand dollar

Scriptures:

John 19:34: “Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.”

Matthew 2:2: and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

Matthew 2:10: “When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.”

Matthew 1:23: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”–which means, “God with us.”

Matthew 3:16: “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.”

Luke 2:14: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

Looking for more Easter activities?

10 Ways to Teach Your Kids About Easter (at Home — COVID-19 Edition)

Parenting With Purpose at Easter

Parenting With Purpose at Easter

March 24, 2016 By LeeAnn G. Taylor

With Easter upon us in a few short days, I wanted to share a few ideas we’re using this year with our kids to make sure we’re focusing on Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, the true meaning of Easter.

Parenting with Purpose at Easter

But first, here’s a glimpse into our reality right now with three kids ages 6 and under. This was our attempt at teaching them to share last weekend. I’ll let you guess how long that lasted…

kiddos drinking milkshakes

Sharing or not sharing, we still attempt to teach them, right?

It’s the same with Easter. While I know my kiddos won’t understand everything about Jesus’ death and resurrection while they’re still so young, I can still begin to teach them at an age appropriate level.

Now don’t get me wrong; we still enjoy our church’s Easter egg hunt too, complete with bounce houses and face painting because my 6 yr old thinks getting her face painted is truly the best thing ever and who am I to deprive her of that joy?

But it’s so important to us to make sure we’re planting the seeds of truth in their little hearts and minds during a time when the world around us already recognizes that there’s something special going on.

daffodils

 

We started this with Salem, our oldest, when she was tiny, just 2 years old, by reading the simple board book What is Easter? (thank you Noni!), a book that acknowledges the bunnies and eggs kids see during this time of year while at the same time introducing the concept that it’s really Jesus that we celebrate. This year it’ll help Kai, our 3 year old, remember that Easter isn’t just about candy and eggs.

toilet-paper

I’m trying something new with him this year too. It’s a simple activity called All Wrapped Up Like Jesus. Now, you need to know that I will never, ever, ever call myself a “crafty mom” but this is the kind of activity that only requires supplies you already have on hand. Okay, are you ready, fellow non-crafty moms? This activity’s supply list is….toilet paper. That’s it! Here’s the drill, and I promise, your young kids will love this “active” activity!

  1. Read Matthew 27:57-61.
  2. Take the toilet paper and wrap your child up in “grave clothes”. If you have more than one child, have your kids take turns playing the part of Jesus and wrapping one another up.
  3. After each child is wrapped up, have them try to break loose from the toilet paper. Talk about how Jesus’ followers must have felt when they found out that Jesus was alive.

My older daughter’s favorite Easter activity is to make Resurrection Rolls. These little treats are baking-challenged (that’s me!) mom approved…just 4 ingredients…crescent roll dough (from a can!), marshmallows, sugar and cinnamon. Resurrection Rolls

For this activity, start with reading the Easter story from the Bible. Our favorite Bible for preschoolers is the Jesus Storybook Bible. As you work through the steps of the activity, remind your child about what you just read.

  1. Spread out the crescent roll triangles individually on a baking sheet. These represent Jesus’ tomb.
  2. Next roll one marshmallow first in butter and then in the sugar/cinnamon mixture. This represents Jesus’ body being prepared for burial with oil and spices. If your child is like mine (not okay with cinnamon), then try using red sprinkles to represent blood.
  3. Place the spiced marshmallow in the center of the crescent roll, wrap it up, and press the edges together so the crescent roll seals. This represents the tomb being sealed with the stone.
  4. Bake the crescent rolls according to the directions on the package.
  5. After they cool a bit, let your child open up one of the rolls. The marshmallow is gone – Jesus is alive!

We also use some of the activities from the e-book A Sense of the Resurrection to help bring the sights, smells, and tastes of the Easter story to life. The author, Amanda White, has been a children’s pastor and is fabulous at breaking down complicated concepts into tangible activities that impress God’s Word on our kids’ hearts! She very generously has offered us a discount – use the code MOSAICLIFE for 20% off. This is also great curriculum to use in churches with kids at Easter!

Finally, one of our favorite traditions we started last year is to have what Amanda calls an “UnEaster Basket” or what we call a “Jesus Basket” instead of the traditional Easter basket.

I felt like this was the first time they really “got” the concept of Jesus paying for our sins. I know personally I learn better with object lessons and this one was impactful to my adult-heart too!

uneaster basket

 

I just love it when we can use what’s happening in our world around us to teach biblical principles to our kids and Easter is the perfect time for it!

Whatever you decide to do, I pray you are able to sow seeds of truth into your little ones’ hearts this Easter!

LeeAnn


Setting Scripture to Music :: Seeds Family Worship

October 7, 2015 By LeeAnn G. Taylor

As a busy working mom, with so many tasks, responsibilities, projects and ideas swirling around in my head on any given day, memorizing scripture is difficult for me. 

Memorizing much of anything has never been my strong suit but since I’m committed to planting God’s truths in my heart and in the hearts of my children, finding a way to keep God’s word front and center in our lives is so important.

Did you know our brains are wired to remember words set to music better than just text on a page?

The Wall Street Journal explains in an article describing brain function that “information set to music is among the easiest to remember.” If you think about it, one of the first things we teach our young children is their alphabet with the A-B-C song.

If you followed along with my Parenting with Purpose series last year you’ll remember my love for scripture set to music, (including ways to get it for free). While memorizing really is tough for me, when scripture is set to music word-for-word, it’s so much easier to recall it when I need it most.

In our home, Seeds Family Worship is a definite favorite! There is nothing that compares with hearing your kids in the backseat of the van singing “The Word of God is living and active” and “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers!”

Love scripture? Love music? Don’t miss this FREE @seedsworship album available this week!

Click To Tweet

Seeds Family Worship is celebrating the launch of their brand new website and THIS WEEK ONLY they are offering a FREE download of the entire Seeds of Courage album. That’s 12 songs straight from scripture. 

My personal favorite (and one I need to listen to OFTEN) is #2, Do Not Be Anxious (Philippians 4:6-7), because really, don’t we ALL need this reminder?

So…what are you waiting for? Go grab your free Seeds Family Worship album. I promise it’s music both you and your kids will love!

 

P.S. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the new Seeds Family Worship page. You’ll see this green bar at the bottom – enter your email and you’ll get the free download!

Parenting With Purpose: Creating a God-Centered Home

October 1, 2015 By LeeAnn G. Taylor

 

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Last year I joined in with hundreds of other writers online in The Nester’s 31 Day Writing Challenge. I really loved sharing this series on Parenting With Purpose: Creating a God-Centered Home, as I have a heart for intentionally impressing God’s Word upon the hearts of our children.

This year, I’m back at it again! I just love-love-love connecting you with tools and resources to help make your job as intentional Christian moms just a tad bit easier. I can’t wait to share some of what I’ve compiled with you.

Parenting With Purpose - Creating a God-Centered Home

If you missed the series last year, you can find all of last year’s posts here – 2014 – Parenting With Purpose: Creating a God-Centered Home. 

There are a 5 things I’d like you to know about me, my family, and our topic for the month:

  1. My kids are 6, 3, and 9 months old. We have a house full of “littles”.
  2. This means I haven’t gone through all the stages of parenting and still have lots to learn!
  3. I struggle daily to sort out the conflicting messages of what parenting “should” look in our home.
  4. I’m learning the importance of seeking God personally first before I seek to impart godly wisdom to my children.
  5. There are hundreds of tools and ideas available as you seek to create a God-centered home. I’ll be sharing just a few of them, so this won’t be an exhaustive list!

What To Expect:

You can expect posts focused on:

  • practical parenting tools & resources for creating a God-centered home
  • parenting-focused scriptures
  • reviews of Christian parenting books, CDs, and DVDs
  • printable resources to use right away with your children
  • inspiration & insight from other Christian parents {guest posts}

What Not To Expect:

  • perfect or prescribed solutions
  • judgements about specific methods of parenting

How You Will Benefit:

Learning often happens best in community!

By following along with the series & participating as you’re able in the comments section or the private Facebook group, you’ll:

  • gain fresh perspectives on opportunities to create God-focused moments in your home
  • learn about a treasure trove of resources to draw from
  • enjoy interaction with other Christian parents & grandparents with similar goals

Ways to Stay Connected:

If you’re not already receiving blog posts by email, you can sign up to have the posts delivered right to your inbox so you don’t have to remember to click over to the blog each day. 

If you like to follow along in a blog feed-reader, you can connect with me on BlogLovin’.

You can also connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

If you’d like to dig deeper into the topic each day, join the private Facebook group to connect with other moms and grandmothers who are also passionate about creating a God-centered home.

If you have a friend who would also be interested in this series, please use the social sharing buttons below to invite them to join us on the journey! You can also pin the series button to Pinterest to refer to later as you grow in your parenting.

Parenting With Purpose - Creating a God-Centered Home

Do you have a favorite resource you want to make sure I don’t miss? Contact me!

Dear Frazzled Mom, You Are Not Alone!

September 3, 2015 By LeeAnn G. Taylor

Today I’m sharing a guest post from my sister, Meghan. She is a work-from-home mom living in Franklin, TN with her husband and three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5, and two black labs. She spends her time serving at her church, putting back together things her son has taken apart, remodeling her fixer-upper home, and giving up on trying to keep shoes on her kids.

frazzled mom

Dear Frazzled Mom, (…from one Frazzled Mom to another…)

For those of you feeling a little down today or like you just can’t get things right, let me give you a little grace and humor by basking in my failures today.

Picked up RK (3) from pre-school today and her teacher informed me that:

1. her pants were on backwards (because she dressed herself this morning) and

2. she didn’t have any panties underneath said backwards pants (because she dressed herself this morning…and her drawer was empty b/c the clean panties are in a basket on the floor).

Evidently, she provided all the teachers with a good laugh today b/c her pants were a little big, so there was a lot of plumbers crack today in class. Bless.

After pick-up, I realize my gas light is on and I have exactly enough gas to get to Costco to fill up. Pull into Costco as it rolls to “0 miles” on my tank. Yay! Until I realize I have my Costco card, my drivers license, my checkbook, but not my wallet with the only form of payment Costco accepts (cards).

How does that even happen??

I don’t have enough gas to get back home or even to another gas station. I don’t have cash to pay someone.

So today I was “that person” who got to humbly ask the person next to me if I could use his credit card to put $10 in my tank and I would write him a check for $10 because I had no gas in my tank. He looked at me like I was crazy, I acknowledged that yes, it was a crazy request, but I didn’t know what else to do.

He mumbled something about things like this happening at the Wal-Mart gas station…not Costco. Then graciously accepted my check for $10 while I tried to avoid the stares of the other 6 people who overheard the conversation. I seriously considered showing him a screenshot of my bank account so he would believe me when I told him the check was good.

Oh. my. goodness. What has happened to my brain? And y’all. This is not an isolated incident. Things like the first example (not the second…that one’s a little extreme) happen all the time.

So if you ever think that the rest of your friends have it all together and you don’t, think twice, my friends. It’s a facade.

Let’s be real with each other, admit our failures, and extend grace to one another. It makes it easier to laugh instead of cry when we have to bum $10 worth of gas off a stranger to get home.

family pic

Encouraging Back to School Bible Verses {Free Printable}

August 22, 2015 By LeeAnn G. Taylor

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It’s back to school time!

We’ve managed to accomplish all the usual back-to-school activities:

✔ new tennis shoes (summer = worn out shoes!)
✔ new clothes (yep, kids grow in 3 months)
✔ school supplies
✔ Open House
✔ ice cream with the grandparents to mark the occasion

crayons

It’s back to school time! Time to spruce up our morning routines.

Now we’re working on our morning routine since in our family, mornings are our “around the table times”. Hubby works afternoons and evenings  during the week as a pastoral life coach, so eating dinner around the table together usually only happens on the weekends when we aren’t out exploring or traveling.

Parenting With Purpose

Each year has seasons, and for us, the back-to-school season is a great time to refocus on intentional parenting with purpose.

Now that our “big kids” are a little older (6 and 3), this year’s morning routine after our kids wake up will include asking them to:

✔ get dressed independently
✔ put lunch in backpack & backpack by the door
✔ sit at the breakfast table with the family (sometimes sitting is the hardest part for them)
✔ write something you’re thankful for in our family gratitude journal
✔ work on scripture memory as a family

It’s simple on purpose since our kids are young.

Your Morning Routine

Your morning routine will look different in your home, but I’d encourage you to take a few minutes to think about what kind of morning would be your ideal morning. Then work backwards to put systems and routines in place to make that happen.

Let’s be real. If you have a beautifully planned schedule for your mornings and you have littles, middles, or even big big kids, your mornings probably won’t go 100% like you plan. But as the saying goes, failing to plan = planning to fail.

So this school year, let’s be intentional in determining the type of environment we’d like to create for our family and take some action to make it happen. Then remember to give yourself and your kiddos grace when it doesn’t work perfectly.

To help you get started, I’ve created two downloadable printables with encouraging back-to-school Bible verses. Please feel free to share with anyone you think would benefit from these as a jumpstart to intentional, God-centered mornings.

Blessings,

Signature

 

 

 

encouraging bible verses for back to school

Click the image to download a printable version.

 

encouraging bible verses for back to school

Click the image to download a printable version.


Need a little help getting meals on the table now that school’s starting back up again? Try out my “secret weapon” — HomeChef!

They deliver pre-prepped ingredients and easy-to-follow recipe cards (with pictures…so helpful!) for meals I’ve picked from their weekly selection right to my door! Want to see if it is your “secret weapon” too? You can try it out with a free $30 credit!

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Use the social share buttons below to share these free printable back to school Bible verses with your friends. Many blessings for another wonderful school year!

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