a gypsy caravan

ukrainian eggs

We have an art teacher who comes over one afternoon a week. He is a nice, young man who always has something interesting to teach the children. This week he brought supplies to make Ukrainian Easter eggs. The children had never before tried their hand at making those pretty eggs. I think they turned out beautifully! 

Easter 2008

~Happy Easter!~

A Very Happy and Blessed Easter from our family to yours!

Lenten Reading

This Lent, I am reading The Cross and the Beatitudes: Lessons on Love and Forgiveness by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. The book is a "correlation between the Beatitudes and the Seven Last Words". The first chapter is on Meekness.

"Blessed are the meek:
for they shall possess the land.

Father, forgive them,
for they know not
what they do."

"Violence says meekness is weakness. But that is because it does not understand the meaning of Christian meekness. Meekness is not cowardice; meekness is not an easy-going temperament, sluggish, and hard to arouse; meekness is not a spineless passivity that allows everyone to walk over us. No! Meekness is self-possession. That is why the rewards of meekness is possession (of the earth).

A weak person can never be meek, because he is never self-possessed; meekness is the virtue that controls the combative, violent, and pugnacious powers of our nature, and is therefore the best and noblest road to self realization.

The meek person is not one who refuses to fight, nor someone who will never become angry. A meek person is someone who will never do one thing: he will never fight when his conceit is attacked, but only when a principle is at stake. And there is the keynote to the difference of the anger of the violent and the anger of the meek person....

Our Lord is Meekness itself, and yet He drove the buyers and sellers from the Temple when they prostituted His Father's House; but when He came to the doves, he was so self-possessed that he gently released them from the cages. He is so much master of himself, that he is angry only when holiness is attacked, but never when his Person is attacked...that is why He addressed Judas as "friend" when he blistered His lips with a kiss. That is why Our Lord from the Cross prays or the forgiveness of his enemies. Their wrath directed against his Body he would not return, though He might have smitten them all dead by the power of His Divinity. Rather, He forgave them, for 'they know not what they do.'...

The first word from the Cross and the Beatitude of meekness both demand that we tear up self-love by the roots; love our executioners; forgive them, for they know not what they do; do a favor for those who insult us; be kind to the thieves who accuse us of theft; be forgiving to liars who denounce us for lying; be charitable to the adulterers who charge us with impurity.

Be glad and rejoice for their hate. It will harm only our pride, not our character; it will cauterize our conceit, but not blemish our soul--for the very insult of the world is the consecration of our goodness."

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Elizabeth’s Lamb Cake

For a number of years, I tried with much pain and effort, to make a lamb cake for Easter.  Usually the batter didn't spread to fill the mold or it stuck to the pan and broke when I tried to remove it.  This year Elizabeth posted a foolproof recipe for a delicious lamb cake, complete with hazelnut frosting.  I decided to give it another try, forgoing the poppy seed cake that I usually make.

I baked the lamb cake early in the afternoon on Holy Saturday.  Not only did it smell heavenly while it was baking but it emerged from the pan unscathed, just as Elizabeth promised.  The cake takes most of a day to cool. I, being a bit of a last minute person, began to ice it at 2 a.m. on Easter morning, only to find that I did not have the icing decorating tips needed to make the curly lamb's wool.  I then decided to frost it with a butterknife. 

The end results are a delicious tasting cake that, through my own decorating fault, looks a bit, well...sheepish. As I began to take a photo of the cake to post, two year old Mary Kathryn commented, "Say cheese, doggie!"

Nevertheless, Elizabeth's lamb pound cake and icing is truly scrumptuous.  Just don't try to frost it without decorating tips! 

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Vanilla Pound Cake

Follow the Wilton instructions for baking to the letter, including the cooling instructions.

Here's the recipe for a pound cake that is dense enough to fill the nooks and crannies, stand up alone in the pan half, and hold the shape:

1 1/2 cups butter
1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese
2 3/4 cups sugar
6 eggs
3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Have all ingredients at room temperature.
Beat butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat eggs, one at a time. Sift flour and add to batter. Add vanilla; mix well.
Place batter into a greased and floured pan; follow Wilton baking instructions.

Double this recipe and you'll have plenty to completely fill the lamb pan and some leftover batter for a little cake.

Hazelnut Frosting

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Shortening
1/2 cup Butter
5 cups Confectioner's Sugar
4 TBS Frangelico (or more to get the right consistency)

Directions:
Cream butter and shortening with mixer for 3 minutes on high speed. Add Frangelico. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. Mix on high speed for 5 minutes.

This frosting works to make star-swirls on the lamb. Use jelly beans and licorice for eyes and whiskers. Colored coconut on the plate is a nice touch for grass or just use Easter grass from baskets.

Our Good Friday

The children and I spent the late morning gathering plants, stones, and bits of moss to build our "Tombs of Christ".  Even little Mary enjoyed hunting for tiny "trees" to place near her tomb.  The end results are lovely (although you may notice one of the Three Musketeers guarding the tomb made by Christopher.

I read aloud the Passion of Christ from the gospel of St. Matthew outside in the yard while the children built their creations.  We spent some quiet time in the afternoon and finished our devotions with the Divine Mercy chaplet at 3:00.

Keeping the little ones engaged in the meaning of Good Friday can be challenging.  I find it easiest to keep them focused when their hands are busy.  We have made the outdoor tombs in the past and have also done some dioramas inside when the weather is inclimate.  I am proud of them for really trying to understand and respect this solemn day of the Easter Triduum.

Our Lenten Project is Blooming!

On Ash Wednesday, we searched the yard for some small bare branches that had fallen during the winter months.  After securing them in a basket, we decided what Lenten promises we are going to make each week.  I purchased many silk flowers that are kept in a separate basket near the project.  When the children keep their promise for the day, they are able to glue a silk flower to the bare branch.  By the end of the Lenten season, the branches are covered with flowers, symbolizing the new life that Easter brings.