St. Patty’s Crafts + Chats
As I mentioned in my other St. Patty's Day post, I think it's important to make decorations and holidays unique to your family whenever applicable. With St. Patrick's Day, I felt like our family couldn't connect, considering we're not Irish, and clearly, we won't be visiting an Irish pub as a family. The extent of acknowledgment was a green outfit, but Kennedy had more questions, so it meant I needed to find more answers.
After a quick Google search, I was surprised to learn that St. Patrick's Day started as a religious holiday to honor the death of Patrick the Patron Saint of Ireland and to celebrate Christianity arriving in Ireland through his life. I had no idea, and it's been fun to add this to the list of holidays in our home.
Here are a few things that we've been doing to learn more about the holiday and tying it into our faith throughout homeschool.
LOVED, NOT LUCKY!
"Loved Not Lucky" is the saying that I've come up with for our home. We made a cute banner for our occasions bin basket; if you're interested in making one check it out here. This language resonated with me as I thought about what God says about His children. When I think of scriptures that say things like:
Jeremiah 1:5 - New International Version
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
Proverbs 16:9
“A man's heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”
1 Peter 2:9
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
I think the conversation around "luck" changes when we look at scripture. Our lives are not about the luck of the draw, but God uniquely and purposefully orders our steps because He loves us.
God's love for the Irish people sent St. Patrick on this sacrificial journey that ultimately leads to a mission trip to spread the Gospel. His story is a beautiful example of the lengths God is willing to go to for us to make sure that every nation has an opportunity to know the good news of Jesus.
I found this easy read on Amazon that Kennedy and I will go through together:
Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland
CRAFTS
Honestly, these days I will do just about anything to keep the girls off of screens. I had a couple of crafts planned that we haven't got around to yet, but I've saved them on my Pinterest board HERE.
I set up a display of all kinds of craft supplies that other day and let Kennedy go to work with the hot glue gun. She made all kinds of gifts for friends, and it kept her busy for hours. So don't overthink it; sometimes, setting up the atmosphere for creativity is more than enough.
I made the cute little clover, I plan to make one for each of the girls, and it'll be a small gift for them on St. Patrick's Day. I cut out two clovers on green felt, did a very sloppy stitch around the edges, stuffed the clover with some leftover poly-fil, and stitched it close. I hot glued eyes and called it a day. Be sure to check out my Instagram page next week; I'll do a step-by-step video on this little project.
St. Patrick used the clover to explain the Holy Trinity, so this is a great craft to use to have that conversation.
TREASURE
Everyone knows the myth of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. In order to keep their golden treasure safe, leprechauns are said to spend their days scurrying from one end of the rainbow to the next, constantly moving their pot of gold to avoid capture.
This is actually such a perfect example to talk about worry and treasure. We often can look like leprechauns worrying and scurrying to save our possessions when scripture tells us the exact opposite.
Matthew 6: 19-21
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 19:21
Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."
Philippians 4:6-7
6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.