Monday of Holy Week: Cleansing the Temple

My little African Lion opening the second egg.

On the Monday of Holy Week, we open the second egg.  Inside my son finds a small plastic dove (you can often find these on the wedding aisles in craft stores).  I ask:  Who remembers a Bible story about a dove?  And everyone answers all at once:  Oh, when Jesus turned over all the tables!!!  I remember when Jesus was baptized by John the Holy Spirit was a dove!!! The cages...there were lots of cages!!  

We read aloud Mark 11:15-18, and because my children are a bit older we also read the parallel passages:  Matthew 21:12-16, Luke 19:45-48, John 2:13-16 (which appears to occur earlier in Jesus's ministry, but wondering about this I make a mental note to do some research into the question later....this is how I learn!).

Each child receives their own dove, and attaches it to the tree.  One is even in a cage that my oldest son made when he was 6.  You can see in the picture that he really tried to engineer a fancy cage...and he grew up to become an engineer, no surprise!  He's happily married now with three children, so you can see how long we have been doing our Holy Week tree.  Quite a while!

I want to call attention to the fact that this is World Autism Awareness Day.  Please support families who are loving an autistic child by accepting and affirming their unique children.  I love this quote:

"Autism (with a capital “A”) to me, says that I accept my child wholly. I celebrate his differences and his quirky-ness. I advocate diversity. I try to empower him. I am proud of his successes, no matter how small they seem. I hope he holds onto the compassion he has in his heart into adulthood. I do not think he needs “fixing”. I am proud that he is my son, and sometimes I am humbled by that very same thought."~ mommy-dearest at The Quirk Factory:  Resistance is Futile.