Prayer Tree

We have always said prayers with Ellie at bedtime but since Ellie is getting older and starting to ask questions about God I wanted to do more then say our regular prayers. When Chris or I put her to bed we stick to our basic Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep prayer and Chris will add a special prayer for our family. I recently came up with the idea to do a prayer tree for her. I cut out a tree trunk from a roll of paper and then cut out a tree top from poster board. Then I bought fabric leaves from the dollar tree and had Ellie name people she would like to say extra prayers for and I wrote those with a marker on the leaf. I got a roll of magnet and cut little strips and attached them to the tree and also to the leaves and let Ellie stick the leaves on the tree. Every night after she says her regular prayer she gets to pick a name off the prayer tree and say a special prayer for that person. After she is done she sticks the leaf in a basket and then picks a different name the next night until all the leaves are off the tree and then it will start over. Originally we were having her pick a name and then put it back on the tree but she kept picking the same name, Aunt Rhonda of course, so we decided to put the leaves in the basket.

The other day she asked a question about Jesus and I said that he loves us very much and she said yes SHE does:) She even emphasized the She. Bet you didn't know God was a girl:)