A Lenten Spiritual Journey, Regardless of Your Faith

Lent, the forty days leading toward Easter, is a sacred season of reflection for many Christians as they remember Christ retreating into solitude for forty days and forty nights where he resisted temptation and stood true to his connection to Truth and Light.

What is your truth? What, in your life, is tempting you? What is pulling you away from joy and light in your life?

Christ sacrificed his own popularity and acceptance by continuing to spread his teachings, which eventually ended in the ultimate sacrifice of his own life upon the cross.

“A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.” ~Mahatma Gandhi on Jesus Christ

Many spiritual leaders walk the path of Salvation through Sacrifice. The Buddha abandoned his family to find his Truth. During the process, he too, avoided temptation of evil but through the demon, Mara. To find spiritual truth, the Buddha detached from all material wealth and attachments including comfort, food, family and most human contact. He fasted and sacrificed these luxuries, not to bring pain upon his earthly body but to move away from the greater pain of attachment to the material world.

“The sacrifice which causes sorrow to the doer of the sacrifice is no sacrifice. Real sacrifice lightens the mind of the doer and gives him a sense of peace and joy. The Buddha gave up the pleasures of life because they had become painful to him.”

In both examples, Jesus and Buddha went off into solitude to find their path to spiritual enlightenment. We are unable to connect to our Source without the silent solitude necessary to feed our souls. We need time alone, time to meditate, time to reflect and time to feel God or our Inner Light.

When do you find quiet time for yourself? Have you made it a priority to give yourself and those you love this sacrificial gift? When we take the time to care for ourselves, we are more able to care for those we love.

Regardless of your own spiritual or religious beliefs, this time leading up to Spring is a good time to consider your relationship to ‘things’ and emotions that are no longer serving you.

What are your attachments in this life? Can you let go?

During Lent, we often hear of individuals ‘giving up’ worldly things such as television watching, chocolate or bad habits. And while these are all good tests of our will and free us to focus on more spiritual work and healthy lifestyle, we should also include a Lenten sacrifice that can be looked upon as more of an act of service, or joyful giving.

This Lent, we can be aware of the hold material things have on us. Many of the comforts in life can consume us and keep us trapped, away from the true beauty of simplicity. These forty days and nights, we can work toward freeing our spirits from attachment and allowing unselfish love to flow into our lives.

“To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance.” ~ Buddha

We can begin simply by giving others more than we give ourselves. This type of a ‘giving sacrifice’ can be in the form of a clothing or food donation, volunteering in our community or just simply turning off the computer or television and being present with our families. It is impossible for us to truly be with our loved ones or even hear the silence and be alone if we are constantly ‘connected’ to some form of technology.

In these modern times, are we ever really alone? Aren’t we constantly connected to something or someone via text, phone, computer, television or radio? Can we sacrifice the noise in our lives to lead us toward greater spiritual truths?

Those of us who yearn to find ourselves more deeply must first allow ourselves to be alone, free from material attachments and constant connections. At first it can be uncomfortable to be alone or sit in silence – but it is essential to our spiritual growth and physical health. Meditation and prayer are wonderful tools and especially fitting during Lent. You may also consider journaling each day of Lent as part of your Lenten ‘sacrifice’.

“The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you give. But the less you have the more free you are.Poverty for us is a freedom. It is not mortification, a penance. It is joyful freedom. There is no television here, no this, no that. But we are perfectly happy.” ~Mother Teresa

While the depth and meaning of this sacred time is not something we bring to the children with our words, the reverence we show in our homes this Lent will absolutely feed their souls. In addition, the sacrifice (or gift) of silent reflection and simplicity frees us to truly ‘be’ with the children each day… loving, eating, playing, learning, warming and sleeping.

What more do any of us truly need?

Crochet Easter Egg Pattern

These little eggs are so easy to work up and are a great way to use up extra yarn. They can be put on your spring nature table, given as gifts or even added in your child's basket. If you make enough of them maybe you can go on a hunt! You can do them all one color or you can keep changing yarn to make striped eggs.

Supplies Needed:

Extra Yarn

Play with Various Sized Crochet Hooks

Filling (wool is best)

Round 1: Ch 4, join with slip stitch to make a ring

Round 2: Make 6 sc inside the ring, join with slip stitch and add ring marker to help count rows

Round 3: *2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next 3 sts, rep from * around - the rest of the pattern will be worked in the round so you do not have to join with slip stitch at the end of each row... use stitch marker to gauge when to start next round.

Round 4: *2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next 4 sts, rep from * around

Round 5: *2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next 5 sts, rep from * around 

Round 6 *2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next 6 sts, rep from * around 

Round 7: * 2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next 7 sts, rep from * around 

Round 8: *2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next 8 sts, rep from * around 

Round 9: *2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next 9 sts, rep from * around 

Round 10: 1 sc in every st around 

Round 11: *sc 2 tog, 1 sc in next 3 sts, sc 2 tog, 1 sc in next 4 sts, rep from * again

Round 12: *sc 2 tog, 1 sc in next 2 sts, sc 2 tog, 1 sc in next 3 sts, rep from * again

Round 13: *sc 2 tog, 1 sc in next st, sc 2 tog, 1 sc in eext 2 sts, rep from * again

Stuff egg with fiber and continue to close off:

Round 14: sc 2 tog all the way around 

Close off with slip stitch at end and fasten. Weave ends. 

By the way, if you do not yet know how to crochet we have an amazing and very affordable online course for beginners. It is a full 5 week course which includes emails, a private group and video tutorials as well as personalized support from the instructor, myself and fellow students. You can start anytime and work at your own pace in the comfort of your own home.

We hope you join us and get HOOKED too! 

Easter Playsilk Basket Giveaway from Sarah's Silks

A warm March welcome to Little Acorn Learning's newest Sponsor, Sarah's Silks!

I can't begin to tell you how special Sarah's Silks have been to my family and business all of these years. It still amazes me how something so very simple can bring so much joy to a child like these beautiful playsilks do.

Not only have they been so special for the children in my life, they are also such a beautiful way to decorate for the seasons. I've used them for our nature tables, to fill our Easter baskets, under a pretty bouquet of flowers on our dinner table and so many other ways.

Some flashback photos:

Their simplicity is what is so amazing about them. They inspire free, creative and independent play that sparks the imagination. A blue silk can be a river, a green can be the grass.. I've used a pretty yellow silk rolled up as the sun in many of  my circles when I was teaching at the Waldorf school. I can't begin to tell you how many forts have been built in my little school and Kindergarten class with play clips and silks.

That's why I am so extremely excited about today's giveaway. Sarah's Silks is generously offering to give one free Easter Playsilk Basket (a value of $100!) to a lucky Little Acorn winner!  And just for fun, we've decided to throw in our April Early Childhood Curriculum too (a $18.75 value)!

Here's what is included in the offer:

Simple Easter Basket
Green playsilk
Blue playsilk
Playsilk Wings/Cape
Hair Garland
Two Play Clips
Play Wand
April Early Childhood Curriculum

Here's how to enter (as simple as 1-2-3):  

1. Follow Little Acorn Learning and Sarah's Silks on Facebook and Instagram
2. Comment Here, on the Facebook Post or Instagram Post
3. Tag 3 Friends if you comment on FB or IG or share the link to this blog post with 3 friends

Commenters on all three formats will be pooled together and a winner will be randomly selected and announced on March 26, 2019. Only one chance per person so you can comment wherever you wish. 

Best of luck!  

The Easter Bunny's Coming...

Would you like to know a secret?

Well, I'll tell you one I know:

The Easter's Bunny's coming,

My mama told me so.

He'll bring a basket filled with eggs

And leave it in my yard,

And I will find it Easter morn,

If I look very hard.

I shouldn't tell my secret,

But I think it should be shared.

You ought to know that Bunny's coming,

So you can be prepared!

This year we planted our own Easter Basket Grass. The girls soaked the Rye Berries overnight and then planted them in their baskets. The grass is already coming up pretty good and they are so excited. We will leave our empty baskets out for the Easter Bunny this weekend and he will fill it up and hide it. Then he leaves a Easter Egg hunt filled with clues that lead to the baskets. This is a really fun and easy tradition to start with your family and the grass grows amazingly quick. The girls love looking each day to see how tall it has grown and there's something really sweet about natural grass rather than the plastic kind.

Oh and tomorrow is the LAST day of the Spring Sale at Little Acorn Learning! Hurry up and get some wonderful e-books at 25% off!

Restore Workshop *Giveaway* for Lent with Elizabeth Foss!

A beautiful online friend of mine, Elizabeth Foss from In the Heart of my Home, has teamed up with Joy Messimer to offer a wonderful Restore Workshop during Lent.

Elizabeth is a Catholic homeschooling mother, blogger and author who's light shines through cyberland to many of us through her blog.  This course is designed for women of all faiths and denominations who have struggled with burnout and want to restore their souls during Lent.

We are so excited that Elizabeth will be offering one Little Acorn Learning reader a FREE spot in this amazing six week program (a $65 value!).  We know so many of you are busy mothers working so very hard to provide your children with a beautiful childhood.  You deserve to give yourself the gift of self-care.

In order to enter to win a space in this class for FREE, please leave a comment on this post telling us your name, location and what you are struggling with the most at this time in your life or what you hope to get from the workshop.

We will then choose a random winner on March 15th (a day before the workshop begins) and announce it here on our blog.

Best of luck to you all!
xoxo

What is the Restore Workshop?

The Restore Workshop is a six week online course geared towards adult women who have struggled or are struggling with or want to avoid burnout. It is for any woman who wants to nurture joy within her life and the lives of those around her. 

What content can I expect?

Each week is full to the brim with helps and tools. In Week 5, which falls during Holy Week, there will only be quiet time meditations each day.  There is a daily quiet time encouragement each day of the workshop, seven days a week. Each week has one podcast with writers and mothers who have struggled with burnout themselves. Elizabeth shares three in-depth essays per week, exploring the tools we must use to restore ourselves to His vision of us. Also included in each week’s content is a tutorial for creating something related to the topic of the week, something to lift your spirits and invite beauty into your lives.  Along the way, we hope you will be delighted by special gifts from our hearts to yours, like a place to journal and beautiful quote and verse printables to print out and hang. Perhaps most importantly, you will have a chance to converse and talk with your fellow participants, and with Elizabeth throughout the course, in a private, encouraging, and restful place, learning from and sharing your journey with others. 

Fleeting Moments

Oh these moments, they are so fleeting - aren't they?  I haven't been in this space for a long time and find it harder and harder to keep up with my blog.  Yet, I have a deep desire to once again keep this place active and updated and I hope to find a way to achieve that soon.  As I type this I am actually sitting in the airport waiting for a flight with my girls as we embark upon a fun family vacation together.  It will be their first time on a plane and they are both excited and nervous.  

As the days have passed by since I've been here last, I have been quite busy.  The most important event that occurred was that my sweet Keira turned 12 years old.  The years, just like the moments, seem to fly past me at times and I find myself blinking my eyes a few extra times to see if it is true that my girls are growing so fast or if it is just my mind playing tricks on me. 

We celebrated Keira's birthday in conjunction with Easter this year.  Family and friends filled our home with love and laughter and she enjoyed her special family celebration.  

She also had a party with some of her closest friends.  She had a glow-in-the-dark mini golf party which was a ton of fun.  The girls all were glowing in the dark and we found out quickly that 12 year olds giggle a real lot. 

 In between all of the celebrations and regular daily life, I've been enjoying my sweet daycare babies as always...

Oh and Sara Wilson and I have just completed another e-book celebrating the Late Spring Festivals.  It sure isn't easy finding time to write with such a busy life but I truly love the work that I do and I'm so grateful to be working with Sara on this festival series as we really support one another well and her work is phenomenal.  

This e-book came out so nice and is 130+ pages full with Waldorf crafts, stories, recipes, songs, circles and so much more - just in time for Earth Day, Mother's Day and May Day.  

We hope you enjoy it!  

The Easter Story by Annie Willis McCullough

It was late in the fall when Fuzzy Caterpillar gave up.

"I suppose this is the end of me," he thought in his little round head as he tried to wriggle across the road and couldn't because his back was so stiff. "Now I am an old man and I shall never see another summer. Good-bye." And Fuzzy Caterpillar rolled himself up in a gray blanket and hung himself on the end of a dried twig. "This is the last of me," he said once more as the dried little grub he now was rattled around in the cold.

All his beautiful furry coat was scattered to the winds. The path he had made in the dust grew narrower as it wound across the road. That was because Fuzzy Caterpillar had shrivelled as he crawled. Poor Fuzzy Caterpillar, who had so loved the outdoors!

The winter was white, and cold, and long. Then it was over, just as all winters are over at last, and Spring came. Spring came over the hills, in a pretty new green frock and with wild flowers in her hair. Sometimes she looked up at the sky, but oftener she looked down at the ground. Spring was looking for the little creatures that she loved so much; the tiny ants, the patient spiders, the cheerful beetles, and Fuzzy Caterpillar.

"Where is Fuzzy Caterpillar?" Spring wondered. She did not see him, all dried up and hanging in his gray blanket from the twig.

"Of course Fuzzy Caterpillar is here somewhere," Spring said to herself. "And wouldn't it be nice to celebrate the day he comes out with some kind of a surprise?" The more Spring thought about this, the happier she was, and the nicer she thought it would be. So she spoke to the grass about it.

"Long Green Grasses," called Spring, "I want to make outdoors pretty, and celebrate the day that Fuzzy Caterpillar comes out. Will you cover the ground for me?"

So the Long Green Grasses pushed their slender fingers up out of the earth and they covered the whole ground until it was bright and green again. But the Grasses looked everywhere, and they could not see Fuzzy Caterpillar.

Then Spring spoke to the trees.

"Patient Trees," called Spring, "I want to make outdoors pretty, and celebrate the day that Fuzzy Caterpillar comes out. Will you cover your branches with new green leaves?" So the Patient Trees burst their hard brown buds, and they hung new green leaves upon every one of their branches. But the leaves looked everywhere, and they could not see Fuzzy Caterpillar. All they could see was a little rolled-up gray blanket hanging from a twig.

But Spring was not one bit discouraged, and she spoke to the Laughing Brook.

"Laughing Brook," called Spring, "I want to make outdoors pretty, and celebrate the day that Fuzzy Caterpillar comes out. Will you run between your banks again, and sing a song?"

So the Laughing Brook began dancing and tripping over its stones again, and singing as it ran between its banks. Sometimes, though, it stopped in a quiet pool, and it could not see Fuzzy Caterpillar anywhere along its edge.

But Spring, who is very wise, was not discouraged yet, and so she spoke to the flowers.

"Sleepy Roots," called Spring, "I want to make outdoors pretty, and celebrate the day that Fuzzy Caterpillar comes out. Will you grow and send up plants that will bud and bloom?"

So the Sleepy Roots did just as Spring had asked them. They awoke, and they sent up leaves and buds through the earth, and the buds blossomed. So there were crocuses in purple petticoats, and daffodils in bonnets with yellow ruffles. There were tulips, red, yellow, pink, and white. They filled all the gardens, making them beautiful. And the fields were golden in the sunshine because the dandelions had bloomed again. But the flowers could not see Fuzzy Caterpillar anywhere.

Then Spring stood on the top of the hill and she looked all over the wide outdoors. It was very, very pretty again, so she decided that the day had come when she would celebrate.

"This is Easter Day," said Spring.

"But where is Fuzzy Caterpillar?" whispered the Long Green Grasses.

"Where is Fuzzy Caterpillar?" rustled the New Green Leaves.

"Where is Fuzzy Caterpillar?" tinkled the Brook so sadly that it did not sound like singing.

"Where is Fuzzy Caterpillar?" the wind sighed as it blew through the flowers.

Just then a wonderful thing happened. As if it had floated down from the sky, a beautiful moth flew and lighted on the tip of Spring's finger. It had all the colors of Easter in its wings, the green of the grass and the leaves, the blue of the waters, and the gold of the spring flowers. It was such a beautiful creature that only to look at it made one feel happy. But every one wondered about the moth.

"It is a stranger from far away," they said.

"Oh, no," said Spring. "Fuzzy Caterpillar has come out."

And this was true, for the gray blanket that hung from the twig was torn and empty.

Little Felted Chicks

The other day Brianna came home from her Waldorf Kindergarten with this sweet little basket and felted chick. I just knew I had to make little chicks with my daycare children so that's how we celebrated Easter together this year.
The children LOVED rolling the soapy wet wool into balls...


even the littlest hands helped...


Brianna's teacher told me to make the heads while the balls were still wet so I simply used stretchy beading string to tie a 'head' shape at the top of each little ball..
Then I simply needle felted a little wool for eyes and cut a small strip of felt and folded it and needle felted it in the center for the beak.
And we hatched five little chicks just like that.
Happy Easter!

The Tulip Fairies

(It is very simple to make these little Easter Egg Vases... Poke a hole at one end of an egg and carefully create an opening at the other end, empty the egg contents and rinse well... cut a flower short but long enough to bring the stem all the way through and find a little glass to fill with water and use as your vase.)

Once upon a time there was a good old woman who lived in a little house. She had in her garden a bed of beautiful striped tulips.

One night she was wakened by the sounds of sweet singing and of babies laughing. She looked out at the window. The sounds seemed to come from the tulip bed, but she could see nothing.

The next morning she walked among her flowers, but there were no signs of any one having been there the night before.

On the following night she was again wakened by sweet singing and babies laughing. She rose and stole softly through her garden. The moon was shining brightly on the tulip bed, and the flowers were swaying to and fro. The old woman looked closely and she saw, standing by each tulip, a little Fairy mother who was crooning and rocking the flower like a cradle, while in each tulip-cup lay a little Fairy baby laughing and playing.

The good old woman stole quietly back to her house, and from that time on she never picked a tulip, nor did she allow her neighbors to touch the flowers.

The tulips grew daily brighter in color and larger in size, and they gave out a delicious perfume like that of roses. They began, too, to bloom all the year round. And every night the little Fairy mothers caressed their babies and rocked them to sleep in the flower-cups.

The day came when the good old woman died, and the tulip-bed was torn up by folks who did not know about the Fairies, and parsley was planted there instead of the flowers. But the parsley withered, and so did all the other plants in the garden, and from that time nothing would grow there.

But the good old woman's grave grew beautiful, for the Fairies sang above it, and kept it green; while on the grave and all around it there sprang up tulips, daffodils, and violets, and other lovely flowers of spring.

~ English Folk-Tale

Five Little Easter Rabbits

Five little Easter rabbits

Hold up five fingers

Sitting by the door,

One hopped away, and then there were four.

Bend down one finger.

Hop, hop, hop, hop,

Clap on each hop.

See how they run!

Hop, hop, hop, hop,

Clap on each hop

They think it is great fun!

Four little Easter rabbits
Hold up four fingers
Under a tree,
One hopped away, and then there were three.
Bend down one finger

Hop, hop, hop, hop,
Clap on each hop.
See how they run!
Hop, hop, hop, hop,
Clap on each hop
They think it is great fun!

Three little Easter rabbits
Hold up three fingers
Looking at you,
One hopped away, and then there were two.
Bend down one finger

Hop, hop, hop, hop,
Clap on each hop.
See how they run!
Hop, hop, hop, hop,
Clap on each hop
They think it is great fun!

Two little Easter rabbits

Hold up two fingers.

Resting in the sun,

One hopped away, and there was one.

Bend down one finger.

Hop, hop, hop, hop,

Clap on each hop.

See how they run!

Hop, hop, hop, hop,

Clap on each hop

They think it is great fun!

One little Easter rabbit

Left all alone,

He hopped away, and there were none.

Hand behind back.

Hop, hop, hop, hop!

Clap on each hop.

All gone away!

Hop, hop, hop, hop!

Clap on each hop

They'll come back some day.

A Story for Springtime

Eostre, the Goddess of Springtime, was bringing Spring to the land when she happened upon a young girl who was weeping in the forest. The girl had found a bird who had frozen to death in the snow. Taking pity on her, Eostre went to the girl to bring the bird back to life but Eostre could not save the bird's wings so she turned the bird into a rabbit instead.

Having once been a bird, the rabbit retained its ability to lay eggs and every Spring thereon the rabbit would lay eggs in all the bright colors of Spring as a thank you to the goddess Eostre for saving its life.

And that is the story of the Easter Bunny and the tradition of why we decorate eggs in bright colors. Eostre was the Goddess of Springtime and fertility hence the further symbolism of rabbits (procreation), eggs (fertility) and chocolate (aphrodisiac).