The Easter Story Egg: Colorful Nesting Toy with Resurrection Book Review

I received this free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Star Kids Company was created by momprenuer, Natalie Ard, in 2014. She is a wife and mom to 3 kids. The first product she created was Star from Afar, a wooden game counting down to Christmas, then other products were born...including The Easter Story Egg. These children's toys and gifts help bring meaning to play. These also build good character and values.

The Easter Story Egg is a great tradition that is done with family around Easter time. It consists of 7 wooden eggs that nest within each other and a hardcover book. The Story Egg book begins on Palm Sunday and ends on Easter Sunday. Each egg has a coinciding story that rhymes in the book and pertains to one of each of the seven days of Holy Week. This shares the story of Jesus' final days on Earth in a thoughtful and meaningful way to children as they open each egg and read the corresponding story. This can be done daily throughout Holy Week or all at once. You can choose.

The Story Egg Nesting Eggs include:

• Palm Sunday (largest egg with a palm leaf painted on it)
• House of Prayer Monday (next largest egg with a temple painted on it)
• Teacher of Love Tuesday (next largest egg with a heart painted on it)
• Give and Take Wednesday (next largest egg with a jar filled with perfume painted on it)
• Last Supper Thursday (next largest egg with the Last Supper painted on it)
• Good Friday (next to smallest egg with a cross painted on it, Jesus died on the cross for all our sins)
• Holy Saturday (smallest egg that is painted grey like the stone rolled away of the tomb)
• Easter Sunday (open the smallest egg to reveal emptiness, much like the tomb of Jesus because He is Risen!)

Zari with The Easter Story Egg Kit.

What We Thought:

The Story Egg is a ostrich size egg that opens up like a Russian nesting matryoshka doll. Each egg is panted with a different picture to help tell the true meaning of Easter throughout Holy Week. It comes with a lovely hardcover book with rhyming words and colorful pictures.

We received The Easter Story Egg and proceeded to try to open the egg to see all the littler eggs inside. I had major trouble getting the first egg open. I looked at their website and they have an instructional video on how to do this. They say not to twist, but to pull the egg apart. They made it look pretty simple. Zari and I had much difficulty with this and I had to get my husband to pry it open. The egg was very hard to grip and it was slippery. He tried to pull it apart like it said and he couldn't even do it...then he used a razor blade and went around the seam with it, then tried again. He rocked it slowly back and forth until it finally popped open. Some of the eggs inside were just as difficult to get open. I feel like if some wax was applied to each lip inside the seams then they would come apart much easier, but I do not think that with as much trouble we had, a small child could do this on their own. It says on their website that because the eggs are brand new, hand carved, and made of natural wood that still has some moisture they might be hard to open at first. We let them set out to dry for a few days while they were closed like they said to and after a few more times opening and shutting the eggs, they started loosening up.

The Easter Story Egg apart.

The book is a wonderful addition to The Story Egg. Zari loves reading the rhyming pages and looking at the pictures. It starts out with a poem about why we celebrate Easter and what the egg is for. Then it goes through and tells the story of Jesus' final days on Earth. At the end of every story it has a scripture from the Bible associated with it written in New International Version, NIV. The book is multicultural as well as it shows multiple skin tones throughout the book. It ends with the resurrection of Christ.

Resurrection book, showing how it is multicultural.

I love the idea of this product. I hope that the eggs loosen up after using more so that they can be enjoyed. I would love for this to become a tradition in my home for Holy Week. We like the idea of it counting down to Easter Sunday, much like an advent calendar does for Christmas. It seems like a wonderful way to help teach the true meaning of Easter in the home or at Sunday School. This would be a great addition to an Easter basket or as an Easter gift.

BUY IT
Buy The Easter Story Egg on Amazon.



DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this product for free to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

My Experience With Inner Peace #PrinceofPeace

My church, The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints, is inviting everyone to find peace during Holy Week and Easter by following the Prince of Peace and his example. Mormon.org will include ideas and resources for people to find their own inner peace through eight principles of peace that Jesus Christ lived and demonstrated during his life here on Earth:

• Faith
• Compassion
• Forgiveness
• Repentance
• Gratitude
• God’s Word/Scripture
• Prayer
• Hope 

All of the Easter materials on Mormon.org will be available in English and Spanish.This campaign launches on March 31st and can be followed with the hashtag #PrinceofPeace.

Here are some other great articles on Holy Week...
Easter: https://www.mormon.org/beliefs/easter
Palm Sunday: https://www.mormon.org/beliefs/palm-sunday
Good Friday: https://www.mormon.org/beliefs/good-friday
Resurrection of Jesus Christ: https://www.mormon.org/beliefs/resurrection-of-jesus-christ

Tatiana and her beautiful smile. Make a picture with this filter to share with others how Christ brings peace to your life.

MY PERSONAL STORY OF INNER PEACE

When I was pregnant with my third child, Tatiana, my family of 4, almost 5, was struggling with finances while we were living in Winchester Bay Oregon. We had moved into a little trailer on the same property as The Rusty Frog, a store that sold frog trinkets, chainsaw carvings, etc. We had been promised by our landlord when we moved in that we would be able to put my husband, Brian's, Shopbot, computer controlled router, in one of the back rooms so that we could make our living making wooden things that were carved. This never came into fruition and we were faced with a hard decision. To move somewhere else and sell Brian's Shopbot and other things or stay and try to make the best of things. My daughter was born, we were having trouble paying the bills and our semi-new Honda Civic had been repossessed.

About that same time we got an invitation to Brian's sister's wedding at Walt Disney World in Florida. We placed our trust and faith in our Lord and prayed about our situation. The spirit gave us the feeling to drop everything, go to the wedding, and move to Florida. So that is what we did. We sold off as much as we could, put the rest of our stuff in storage at a friend's place, and bought plane tickets to Orlando bringing only what we thought we needed as essentials.

When we got there we rented a vehicle for a few days, got settled in a hotel, bought two bicycles and a bike trailer that seated our two small boys, and season passes for the whole family for Sea World. The wedding was beautiful and I am so glad we got to make it there to be a part of it. After the wedding was over we lived in Orlando for several years, we got on government assistance until Brian found a job and we moved into a condominium down the street from the Mall and Grocery Store.

Until we got a car, we would bike all over Orlando to get groceries, go to medical appointments, and all the way to Sea World as a family. I would have Tatiana in a baby carrier with a sunhat and sunscreen while I biked with the two boys in the covered bike trailer that doubled as a stroller. Sometimes we would also take the city bus. It was great getting out of the house and hanging out with dolphins all weekend and the kids loved it.

While in Orlando my daughter, Tatiana, was diagnosed with a brain tumor (Juvenile Pilocytic Astrocytoma) stemming from her optic nerve and engulfing her pituitary and carotid artery. We were very fortunate to be in Orlando when she was diagnosed because we received exceptional medical care for her and had the best brain surgeon, Dr. Eric Trumble. We were definitely in the right place at the right time. We hoped and prayed that things would go well with the surgery and for Him to guide the surgeon's capable hands.

When she was operated on to resect the tumor she was only 6 months old. We were told that worst case she might not regain her sight and that she might only live a year because it had metastasized to the brain lining. Dr. Trumble assured us though that he had gotten the majority of the tumor out and cut the blood supply to it without severing the optic nerves. We had faith in the Lord that everything would be fine.

Tatiana's life was riddled with multiple medical problems and hospital visits/stays. She had seizures, total blindness, cerebral palsy, and numerous endocrine issues. This, however, did not dampen her sweet spirit. She was a gorgeous little girl with a head full of red curly locks and bright blue eyes. She loved hugs and blowing kisses to anyone she met. Even getting poked with needles and prodded by nurses didn't get her down. She would always make me smile. She was the happiest, most loving child we have ever met and we love her so much!

Our beautiful Tatiana lived for 6 whole years! We attribute her longer life to faith, a lot of prayer, Dr. Trumble, and a special healing device we called the light box, a precursor to FLO De-stressing Technology, that we took her to. She never had to go through radiation therapy or chemotherapy and the tumor never grew back. She passed away suddenly because of lobar pneumonia. Here is the post I wrote of her passing.

We are so glad to have had her in our lives and that she got to be a part of our family. We miss her dearly, but we know she is in heaven and we will meet her there someday. I am so grateful for Christ and our Heavenly Father and the blessings they have given my family. Knowing that families are forever and that the Lord is always there for us even in times of trial and hardship brings my family and I inner peace.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I wrote this post to let my readers know about this great opportunity to find inner peace through the #PrinceofPeace. I did not receive any compensation for writing this post. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else.