The Found Coin
The three room building and figures were purchased unfinished and I painted them, stained, and decorated the inside of the building. This parable is given in conjunction with The Found Sheep and very beautiful.
I bought a handicraft kit at Walmart which contained sequence and used a soft gold wire to make a necklace. I then put one on another gold wire to represent the lost coin. I made a small black pouch to keep them in so they don't get lost.
I glued down the little stools, tables,
basket, cup and bowl. Only the basket where I put the lost coin is not glued down. This is optional but it means a much bigger box. Also, the older children read the Scripture and want to set up the coins and figures. I think its distracting to fiddle around with all the furniture. My husband made the tables and benches.
It said in the scripture that it was an earthen floor, so I spread some dirt in the paint and swept the
excess out.
This is the box where the materials are kept.
The Real Presence figures (2 sets) were cut out by my talented husband. In addition were two sets of International figures. These were purchased. Two sets for two atriums.
Getting all the little pieces such as the chalices, patens, loaves of bread, altars, altar cloths for all four sets takes a while to do. That plus painting and labeling boxes where they will be kept and a couple of sheepfolds really adds to the time spent. If you don't stick with it until it is done, it gets too unorganized for storing and remembering where it is, for that matter.
I am really excited to get all of this out of the house today and into the atrium. This will complete the goals I made for myself this year. Now I can enjoy my family this summer.
I really love the multicultural city where I live. I realized in painting these that I had to represent almost as many different cultures as I did in the international set, so it was a challenge.
Speaking of different cultures, I had an interesting experience when putting these materials into the atria. A young and obviously homeless man was laying asleep on one of the three benches that my husband had built in front
of the atria. My approach startled him and he sat up immediately. I asked him if he were homeless. He didn't speak a word of English. However, with some body language and a few Spanish words of my own I found out he was from Honduras and was 21 years old. He looked a lot younger. I gave him a couple dollars, all I had, and asked him if he wanted me to help him. He said, "yes." I thought I'd call the Neighborhood Alliance which I thought housed people temporarily in need and fed them.
He was an illegal and that raised a question in my mind whether I am legally allowed to help him. However, as a Christian, I am certainly going to as it is my moral responsibility. But now I am curious as to how far we can go to help an illegal immigrant. I need to look into that issue.
Father Marco appeared and said he was helping him but I couldn't get too much information from him, so I simply said to Father, "If you need anything, please call me."
This is the box where the materials are kept.
