Our in depth conversation

Today would be Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Following in the tradition in which I was raised, I abstain from eating red meats on Ash Wednesday and every Friday during Lent. And now I'm working on instilling these traditions into my children. So, our morning went something like this:

I spent about 20 minutes fighting with Hunter over what he could wear. Gym shorts & a t-shirt were a NO and the kid flat out didn't want to wear anything else. I finally just had to dress him myself. We grabbed shoes and rushed out the door at 11:15 making a quick pit stop at the Store for a coke. The boys started the mantra of "We want McDonald's." But I was holding my ground. We, meaning 'they' included, were not going to eat meat today. So I started with, "Boys, we are on our way to church for Ash Wednesday. There, we are going to get ashes on our forhead to remind us that Jesus died for our sins. Ash Wednesday also calls for us to fast and not eat meat. We also won't be eating meat on Friday's. Only fish. And guys, chicken nuggets are meat. We aren't going to eat them today." You can see the shock on Hunter's face and he panics,

"OH MY GOD MOM, did Jesus die because he didn't eat meat? I don't want to die. I just wanna eat meat."

"No, Hunter, Jesus died for our sins. Giving up meat is just a small thing compared to what he did."

"But can we still have chicken nuggets today?'

"Hunter are you listening to me at all?"

"Mom, I'm sorry for hitting Jayden. If I confess all my sins can we have chicken nuggets?"

"Hunter, lets go to church and listen to what they say about lent and Ash Wednesday."

"Mom, can I give the church the lint out of my pockets? Is that what they are going to put on my head?"

"No dear, we gave the church our palms from last year and they burned them to make ashes. That's what you will be receiving."

"But why do we have to eat fish?"

here's where I start to stumble..........................being a Sunday school teacher comes in handy.

"Well Hunter, remember last Sunday when we talked about James, Peter and John fishing. And they caught all those fish."

"Yep..............oh wait mom, are we going to be eating all the extra fish they caught? Cause that would be cool. I could not eat meat then."

Finally we are at church. Thank goodness. Praise the Lord. Now I just have to make it through with both kids. And I'm feeling pretty confident. Until I go to get Jayden out of the car and I realize he's missing one shoe. Turns out he threw it out the window when we stopped at the store for a coke.


As for giving something up for lent, I've made the brave descision to not only give up fast food but chocolate.

And after I spent all morning trying to teach the kids about not eating meet, Kreg calls to tell me he had Wendy's for lunch. There went setting a good example.