Jacob-what you sow is what you reap

Isaac and Rebekah have twins sons, while they were in the womb they were already fighting. Esau was born first but Jacob came out gripping Esau's heel, not wanting to let go. As the firstborn, Esau was to receive his family's birthright. This was the oldest son's right to the greatest part of the inheritance and to a special blessing from the father. Esau was a very carefree person who did not really care about his inheritance. Jacob on the other hand really wanted it and decided to take matters into his own hands.
One day Esau found Jacob cooking. Esau was hungry for some of his soup. Jacob knew this was his chance. He said, "First give me your birthright." Esau was so hungry that he agreed. Neither son told their father, Isaac of this trade. So my first treat tonight is chili soup.
Years later when Isaac was old and blind, he called for his son Esau, and asked him to prepare him a meal and then Isaac would give him his special blessing. Rebekah overheard Isaac, and asked Jacob to pretend to be Esau so he could get the special blessing.
Esau was an outdoors man who liked to hunt and was very hairy. So Jacob wore Esau's clothing so he could smell like him, and put goat hair on his arms and chest, so he could be hairy like his brother. He was able to trick his father since his father was almost blind. When Esau heard what Jacob did, he vowed to kill him. So Jacob left and went to his uncle Laban's house.

After Jacob arrived at his Uncle's house he met Laban's daughter Rachel and fell madly in love with her. Laban told Jacob if he worked for him for seven years he could then marry his daughter Rachel, Jacob agreed.
Rachel had an older sister Leah who was not married. It was not the custom for a younger sister to marry before the older sister, and since the brides face was completely covered, Laban was able to trick Jacob into marrying Leah instead of Rachel. It was also the custom to have more that one wife, so Laban again told Jacob that if he worked another seven years he could marry Rachel and he did. So we also are having wedding cake tonight.

Abraham

Tonight in class the students will meet the first patriarch, Abraham. God asked him to leave his hometown of Ur and travel first to Harran and then to Canaan. God made a covenant with Abraham that he would possess the land of Canaan, that he would have many descendants and that all the nations would be blessed by him. God took Abraham outside at midday and asked him to count the stars if he could and told him that he would have more descendants than there are stars in the sky and sand on the seashore. So my treat is apple cider jigglers.

Feast Day's of Mary

The Feast day's of Mary is always the students favorite class of the year. I have a symbol for each feast day and most of them are food. I apologize my picture is from last year and a few of the items are a little different, but I had a busy day and didn't get a new picture taken. So here are the Feast Day's:

Jan. 1-The Solemnity of Mary. What a better way to start the New Year than honoring Mary our Mother. I have a music maker for my symbol, since the feast is celebrated on New Years Day. This Feast day is so important that it is a Holy Day of Obligation.

Feb. 2-The Presentation Of Jesus in the Temple. Joseph and Mary are obedient in bring Jesus to the Temple to be dedicated. They are met at the Temple by Simeon and Anna. We know that Joseph and Mary are poor because their offering is a dove or pigeon instead of a lamb because they could not afford a lamb. So my treat is a chicken drummette to represent the bird.

March 25-The Annunciation. the Angel Gabriel asks Mary to be the Mother of God, and of course she says yes. Mary knew she was going to have a boy so my treat is IT'S A BOY butter mint.

May 31-The Visitation. Mary travels to meet her cousin Elizabeth who is carrying John the Baptist. When Elizabeth meets Mary, John the Baptist leaped in her womb. Elizabeth tells Mary Blessed is the Fruit of your womb. So my treat is fruit snacks.

August 15-The Assumption of Mary into Heaven. Mary's body did not decay in the grave like ours will, she was taken up to Heaven to be with her Son. I served cotton candy to represent the cloud that took her to Heaven. This Feast Day is also a Holy Day of obligation.

August 22-The Coronation of Mary. Mary is crowned queen of Heaven and Earth, so I have sugar cookies in the shape of a crown with gold sprinkles on them.

Sept. 8-The Birth of Mary. Even though we do not know the exact date of Mary's birth the church celebrates it on this date. I made white cupcakes, the white representing her purity, with blue icing, the blue representing her queenship of Heaven and Earth.

Sept. 15-Our lady of Sorrows. We recognize the 7 sorrows of Mary which are, The Prophecy of Simeon, The Flight into Egypt, The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple, Mary Meets Jesus on the Way to Calvary, Jesus Dies on the Cross, Mary Receives the Body of Jesus in Her Arms and The Body Of Jesus is Placed in the Tomb. So for my symbol I gave the students each a travel pack of tissues because when we are sad we cry and need a tissue.

Oct. 7-Our Lady of the Rosary. There are 59 beads on a rosary, so I gave the students 59 pieces of Trix cereal. I chose Trix because they are round like a rosary bead and are multicolored just like rosary beads are many colors.

Dec. 8-The Immaculate conception of Mary. This Feast Day is the one that the students have the least understanding of. This Feast celebrated that Mary was conceived without Original Sin. To be the Mother of Jesus she needed to be sinless. My treat is a solid white chocolate baby, symbolizing that Mary was pure throughout her whole body and for her whole life.

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden where they walked with God. It was the most beautiful place to live with plenty to eat and drink. They were told that they could eat from any of the trees in the garden except for the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Now the serpent was the most cunning animal that the Lord had made. The snake asked the woman, "Did God really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?" Eve replied, "We may eat from any tree except from the tree of Knowledge of good and Evil. God told us not to eat from that fruit or even touch it, if we do, we will die." The serpent replied "That's not true; you will not die. God said that because he knows that when you eat it, you will be like God and know what is good and what is bad." So Eve saw how beautiful the fruit was and gave in to the Serpent. She also gave some to her husband Adam. As soon as they ate the fruit, they were given understanding to know that they had done wrong.

After their sin, they were banned from the garden, and passed on their tendency to sin to all of their descendents.

For my treat I have apples and gummy worms. Some of the apples have the effects of their sinned tagged to the apples, those effects are; suffering, separation from God, death, unhappiness, destruction and conflict. The gummy worms represent the serpent. I have the statue of the Blessed Mother in the picture because after the fall of man, God had a plan save his people. He would send His Son and His Mother would crush the head of the Serpent.

Creation Story

In the beginning, when God created... Tonight we are going to begin our bible study with the first story of Genesis, the Creation Story. God in his goodness created everything out of nothing. And He was pleased with everything He made. When He created man in His image and likeness, he said it was VERY good.

These are the days that I used for my treats; on day two, He separated the bodies of water, so for my first treat I have a water bottle for the students. On day five God created the sea monsters and all kinds of swimming creatures, so for my second treat I have gummy fish. On the fifth day God created the living creatures, so for my last treat I have animal crackers.

When we study the creation story we also talk about the Creation ladder and how the Spirit Life is superior to us, and how Human Life is superior to the animal life and how the animal life is superior to the plant life. We also talk about being good stewards of the Earth, so the water bottles will be reused each week.

Scripture Cookies

In class tonight we are going to talk about how to read the Bible and how to look up scripture. To practice looking up scripture I have a recipe for Scripture cookies. Here is the recipe:

1 cup Psalm 55:21(after churning)
2 cups 1 Samuel 14:25
2 Isaiah 10:14
1 teaspoon each 2 Chronicles 9:9 (several kinds)
2 cups Leviticus 2:1
1 teaspoon Matthew 5:13
1 teaspoon Leviticus 6:17 (modern cookie form)
3 cups Proverbs 11:26 (one type)
1 cup 1Samuel 30:12 (optional)

Beat the first four ingredients together. Mix in remaining ingredients. Drop by teaspoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Answers: 1 cup butter (softened), 2 cups honey (I use sugar instead), 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla and cinnamon, 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda (leaven), 3 cups rolled oats, 1 cup raisins.

Because God inspired the authors of the Bible He is considered the main Author of the Bible.

Workers in the Vineyard

I am excited for another year of CCD, I only have 10 students so that will be different. For our opening prayer we always read the Gospel reading for the following Sunday. The Gospel for this Sunday, Mt. 20:1-16 (the workers in the vineyard) is what I am focusing my treat on.

This story is a parable, a story Jesus uses to teach us a lesson about the Kingdom of God. Here is the story; Their was a man who went out early in the morning to hire some workers to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a fair wage, a silver coin a day. He went out again at nine o'clock and saw some men standing doing nothing, so he told them to also go to work and he would pay them a fair wage. So they went. Then at noon and again at three o'clock the man did the same thing. At nearly five o'clock the man again went out and saw some men standing idle, they man asked them why they were not working and the men replied, no one wanted us. So the man also hired them.

When evening came the owner told his foreman to call the workers and give them their pay, starting with the workers who were hired last. All of the workers got paid one silver coin. When the workers who started early in the day saw that they got paid the same as the workers who were hired at five o'clock they were upset and thought it was not fair. Their Foreman asked them if they had agreed to a silver coin for a day's work and they replied, yes we did. The foreman said "Don't I have a right to do as I wish with my own money? Or are you jealous because I am generous?"

Jesus has the same love for all of us, even if we are late coming to know him.

So for my treat I have a silver chunk of chocolate representing a silver coin and grape juice to drink since they were working in the vineyard all day.