In years past, we've done different projects to help remember our fallen soldiers and to help us remember to pray for them in the coming weeks especially. This year, I revived an old project I came up with a few years back, cookie cutter painted poppies. Click on the link to see how to do the project (a simple easy painting project for the kiddos or for you!).
"We cherish too, the Poppy red.
That grows on fields where valor led.
It seems to signal to the skies,
That blood of heroes never dies."
-Moina Michael
Here are our finished products from this year.
Ava- 3.5 years
Elise- 5 years
Kayla- 6.75 years
Kayla also led her sisters in some red, white, and blue themed coloring. Hers is the flag, Elise's is a picture of a man and a woman holding a flag, and Ava's is...red, white, and blue! ;)
Today will be a low-key day around here. Chris is grilling brats later and we are making S'mores in our new fire pit. Chris won the March Madness pool at his former job, and used his Amazon gift card prize to buy us a fire pit for the backyard. What a guy.
We went for a nice family walk before lunch to explore the area a bit more. Kayla's new favorite walking/hiking "game" is to go through the alphabet naming things. We started with the U.S. states. Then we tried to think of flowers for each letter. Today we did animals.
And most important of all, today we'll be praying for the souls of those men and women who gave their lives for our freedoms. Thank you so much for your service, your lives, your bravery, and your sacrifice.
"May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace."
A blessed Memorial Day to you, family and friends!
I've always associated the "Remembrance Poppy" with the United Kingdom for Remembrance Day/Armistice Day (the 11th hour on November 11th), but I love the idea of incorporating it into Memorial Day for the United States of America!
ReplyDeleteYes, the poppy as a symbol of remembrance of fallen soldiers originated there. But in America, we use it for our "Remembrance Day"--Memorial Day. It's neat that it's become a beautiful international symbol of those who have given their lives for their countries. I love reading the poems to the girls each year and discussing our fallen heroes. <3
DeleteMy bad--I fact checked myself wrong. The Flanders Field poem was written in 1915 by a Candadian fighting on a World War I battlefront in the area of Belgium and France. A few years later Moira Michael read the poem (Flanders Field) and was touched and wrote her own response poem (both poems are in my original post with the poppy craft) just days before Armistice Day and some of her coworkers found it and eventually with a lot of effort on her part to spread the campaign for the poppy to be a symbol of remembrance, it has become an international symbol now. My friend introduced me to the Flanders Field poem back in our early days of marriage, and I've always loved it as well as Moira's response, but I didn't actually know the exact dates and places where these beloved poems were penned until I finally looked that info up today. God bless our fallen soldiers, today and always.
DeleteYes, I know the history on it. I've just always associated it with the United Kingdom and never thought to incorporate it here.
ReplyDeleteoh, I see. I must have misread your comment before. Sorry about that. I thought you assumed that it began there. I hadn't heard of any of it until my friend told me about 7 years ago about the poem and poppies for Memorial Day and then when we had little ones old enough to craft, I was reminded of it one year as I was thinking how we could better teach them about Memorial Day and that's when I wrote that first blog post and looked up the history. But even then, I didn't pay close attention to dates--I hadn't even remembered it that Moina (who campaigned for the poppies as a sybmol of fallen soldiers everywhere) had been American until I re-read my own post in it's entirety from 2013. Lol. My memory for historcal facts unless I've recently read about them is so poor....haha
DeleteThe Remembrance Poppy has deep roots in my Scottish/English heritage. Every year, Queen Elizabeth II leads Britain's Remembrance Sunday Service. When Big Ben chimes in at the 11th hour, a moment of silence is held -- this marks the anniversary of the end of World War I "at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month", and also honors those have died in the line of duty since then. Typically a poppy pin is worn. The memorial service has been televised on BBC since 1946. I grew up watching BBC quite a bit, so I tend to familiarize the poppy with Great Britain.
DeleteWell that's a beautiful tradition. It appears that in places like England, Moina's dream of the poppy being used in a beautiful way to honor the fallen is being used well. :)
Delete