Keeping up on our ABC’s this summer…Bible verse style

The kids’ teachers have all been emphasizing how important it is to keep the kids reading, thinking, learning, and reviewing over the summer. I’ve got summer school binders all set and ready to go, but after a conversation that revolved around making sure we choose to read, look at, and think about things that are good, and lovely, and pure, and true etc with my daughter’s *gasp* public school teacher yesterday, (yes, you can talk about God and the Bible in public school) I was inspired to add this activity to our summer curriculum. It’ll be a challenge to ALL of us, myself included! I found a list of verses online, then changed quite a few to throw in some we’ve already learned, or that I really want my kids to have hidden in their hearts.

Our challenge: to have all of these memorized by the end of the summer!

A ll have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
B elieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. -Acts 16:31
C hildren, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. -Ephesians 6:1
D epart from evil, and do good; seek peace and pursue it. -Psalm 34:14
E ven a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right. -Proverbs 20:11
F ear not: for I am with you. -Isaiah 43:5
G od is love. -1 John 4:8
H e who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm. -Proverbs 13:20
I n my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. -John 14:2
J esus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life: no one comes to the Father, except through me.” -John 14:6
K eep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. -Psalm 34:13
L ove the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. -Deuteronomy 6:5
M any are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. -Proverbs 19:21
N o one can serve two masters. -Matthew 6:24
O give thanks to the Lord; for He is good. His love endures forever. -Psalm 118:1
P ray continually. -1 Thessalonians 5:17
a Q uiet answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger. -Proverbs 15:1
R epay no one evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. -Romans 12:17
S eek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. -Matthew 6:33
T rust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
U nto you, O Lord, we give thanks, for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds. -Ps 75:1
V erily verily, I say to you, he who believes in me will have everlasting life. -John 6:47
W hen I am afraid, I will trust in you. -Psalm 56:3
EX cept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. -John 3:3
Y ou are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden -Matthew 5:14
Z ion hears, and rejoices. -Psalm 97:8

(I haven’t printed and put these in the binders yet–so if you have any suggestions for changes–especially for “Z”–I am totally open to them, please share!)

Devotions for my kids–PEACE week 3

Read 1 Samuel 25 with a study buddy–this is a looooong story, hang in there!

Draw RED lines to the words that describe Nabal and BLUE lines to the words that describe Abigail

Brave

Rich

Mean                                                                                                                 Nabal

Beautiful

Fool

Clever

Wise

Selfish

Generous                                                                                                             Abigail

Humble

Proud

What would have happened if Abigail had not done what she did?

What could you do in these situations to show courage like Abigail and make peace?

• You get to the playground and run over to your favorite swing! You have one hand on the chain of the swing and are getting a piece of mulch out of your shoe with the other hand. A little girl hops onto the swing you have in your hand and asks for you to give her a push. What can you do to make peace?
• Some neighbors come into the yard and start playing with your soccer ball and get into a fight over what game to play with it. What can you do to make peace?
• You eat an extra serving of broccoli to earn the last chocolate chip muffin at dinner, but your play date doesn’t like what your mom cooked and asks if they can have the last muffin. What can you do to make peace?
• Your pause your Wii game to go to the bathroom and when you come back your cousin started a new game and lost all of your points. What can you do to make peace?

It won’t always be easy and it might mean you have to lose, give up something, but as we can see from all of these Bible stories you should do whatever you can to make peace. Look up Matthew 5:9 and see what God promises to those who are peacemakers:

__________________ are the peacemakers,
for they will be ___________ _______ _______ _____ ______________.
Matthew 5:9

Can you write Romans 12:8 here from memory?

Devotions for my kids–PEACE week 2

Read or listen to Genesis 26:13–33 (NIV) or click here to read a children’s version of the story at http://childrenschapel.org/biblestories/wells.html

Circle the reasons different people in the story asked Isaac to move:

• jealous of Isaac’s wealth
• he was living on someone else’s land
• his flocks were too big
• Isaac was mean to everyone
• scared Isaac would take over their land
• Isaac was raising dangerous animals
• herdsmen fighting over the wells
• Isaac was cursed and causing the drought

How many times did Isaac move in this story?       2      4      6      8

How many times have you moved in your lifetime?

Is it easy or hard to move? (If you’re not sure, ask a grownup!)

Isaac ended up in the place God had prepared for him, where he could live in peace and to continue to prosper despite there being a drought in the land. If Isaac had decided to fight and stay at one of the other wells, he might have missed out on the awesome ending to his story.

The coolest part of this story (besides Isaac ending up in the perfect place to live) is that at the end of the story (vs 26-28) Abimelech the king–who originally told Isaac he had to move because he was becoming too rich and powerful–came to Isaac and asked if he could make a peace treaty with Isaac. Why? Because the king saw that God was blessing Isaac for making wise choices and for being peaceful instead of fighting. The king was impressed with Isaac and wanted to be a part of what he was about. As Isaac’s story shows us, peace is more important than winning.

Memory verse challenge game Cut out the words to the verse below. Flip them over and mix them up. Then turn them over one by one and put them in order.

Like running a marathon…in a space suit: a metaphor wrapped in an analogy

It’s been an interesting week.

An organization that I am volunteering for had its first meeting.

And it was fascinating.

For someone who triple-heart loves rules and policies and procedures, I’ve decided that in this arena some* olde rules and ways of doing things are actually a huge encumbrance to our being able to forge ahead. I described it to Dan thusly, “it’s like we’re trying to sprint a marathon while wearing a space suit”.

What I mean is we have a small amount of time to fit in an exorbitant amount of work. No one on our team is really experienced or seasoned. All of us were initially just “willing”.

I told someone recently that the reason I signed up for this volunteer work was because I didn’t have money to give, but I do have time and a few skills that might be useful. And it’s something I believe in very much and feel is worth my time doing. And anything I put my name on I am determined to do WELL.

Right now, though, I’m sitting here wishing I were made of money because it would be so much easier to just write a check or throw a couple of bills at the monstrous project hovering over me and my team and run away. Far, far away. To run fast, not having to run wearing the space suit someone else decided we all ought to cloak ourselves in for this task.

I did not choose for us to have to run this race wearing the space suit, I would have chosen to run unconstrained. But the decision was made for me and my team and handed down to us, so I’m climbing into the suit. But there will probably be times when I take off the helmet to gasp for some air, shed the boots, or figure out how to run a leg or two of the race purely in the nude.

But don’t worry, I’ll figure out how to do that without offending anyone or disqualifying our team from the race or earning us a penalty. Because, remember, I do love me the rules.

Never thought this would be me, but it is. And I’m ready and raring to run…even if it is in moon boots.

*almost all, or at least 99.76%

Devotions for my kids: PEACE

PEACE=finding a way to work it out
Memory Verse: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Romans 12:18 (NIV)

Read about a family fight in Genesis 13:5–18

What was the problem? (verses 6 & 7)

Who was the argument between? (verse 8)

Who worked it out? (verse 8)

How? (verses 8 & 9)

Set up a scene to show the disagreement between Abraham and Lot using Legos, Barbies, stuffed animals, real or paper people and make a short video with mom or dad’s iphone or photo booth. Make sure you narrate the story so we know who is who, what happens, and how it ends.

Have you ever had a fight with someone in your family?         YES         NO

Describe it here:

How did you work it out?

How did you feel during your fight?

How did you feel afterwards?

Have you ever heard me say, “Hey, stop arguing with each other! You’re family, so you’re stuck with each other for life and you’re going to have to figure out how to get along”? Well, it’s true. Friends will come and go in and out of your life, but family is forever. If you don’t believe me about friends changing, name the following:

• your BFF from when you were 3 years old ___________________ (mine was a Cabbage Patch Kid named Christopher Michael)
• your BFF from preschool ___________________ (I don’t remember the names of any kids at preschool, only one kid who threw up his lunch almost every day, ick!)
• your BFF from Kindergarten ___________________ (I loved my teacher, Mrs. Rinker)
• your BFF from 1st grade ___________________ (I think mine was cousin Danny)
• best friend in your neighborhood ___________________ (whatever missionary kid’s family was home on furlough: Julie, Tammi, Jeff…there were lots and they were different every year!)
• favorite friend at church ___________________ (mine was the pastor’s son named Mike)
• who you would like to have over for a play date today ___________________

Get the idea here? Friends in your life will change, but your family will always be your family and will always be in your life. That makes it even more important to work things out with family members and to learn how to get along with them.

Can you imagine what might have happened if Abraham and Lot didn’t figure out how to work out their problem? They could have ended up arguing, then getting their families and servants to take sides and argue too, then get so frustrated and angry that they decided to fight it out and go to war against each other, which could have resulted in people being killed. Thankfully, they made peace BEFORE things got out of control and before anyone got hurt. Don’t fight with your family. Always work things out as soon as you can and keep the peace.

When you and a family member get into your next disagreement, what will you do to help you remember to make PEACE right away?

The little one stops to check the time…

Liam Daniel turns 9 today. I was nearly gripped with panic yesterday as I realized that will begin the countdown to having a child in double digits just one short year from now. I just don’t like the implications of that on my own age…

I liked to call Liam my “burrito baby” when he was little and now tell him that since he was born on cinco de mayo, there will always be a party on his birthday. I’m starting to get a little more scared about telling him this the more he grows up and starts to understand how a lot of people celebrate cinco de mayo. Knowing him, though, I think (and hope) he always chooses bowling and cake instead.

I’m honestly loving watching Liam grow up. This boy is the most kind, thoughtful, sincere kid I’ve ever met–his name, meaning “protector” fits him perfectly as he makes sure his little sisters are safe on the bus and at school and that his little brother is treated well by others. He’s all boy, loves the outdoors, soccer, Legos, Star Wars and reading books, and in his quiet way he deeply loves people too. He is always thinking, those wheels are always spinning even though he is quiet and frugal with his words. He watches and remembers everything. I’ve loved watching him dive into God’s word and quietly begin to apply the virtues he is learning.

I cannot keep enough books in the house for this kid to rip through. He takes reading breaks to go outside and kick a soccer ball around or run laps around the house. When he’s done outside he settles into a reading spot where either Dan or I are in his line of vision before he nose dives into another 30-45 minutes of ferocious page-turning.

I hope this isn’t the year that he stops coming into our bedroom at night to talk our ears off, giggle at our making up silly puns and jokes, play board games with us or just crawl in between Dan and I with a book and read until bedtime comes and he gives us gangly, awkward hugs before he marches off to bed. For my quiet, non-huggy boy, these special nighttime rituals are precious to Dan and I.

Liam, I love you to pieces. Thanks for bursting into our world and making us parents. Your insatiable curiosity, boundless energy, positivity and love of life gives me wind in my sails. I love how passionate you are about everything and I’m excited for the untapped potential year 9 holds for you.

Shoe dots

I vividly remember the day I got rid of ALL the diapers in the house, pawning the random leftovers off on an unsuspecting new mom. That was almost 3 years ago.

I’m so close to having four independent kids that I’m itching for even more of my ever-increasing freedom. So much so that sometimes I forget that I still have a pre-schooler who needs my help. But, rest assured, he reminds me. Often.

Many times a day while he is trying to put on his own shoes, I will hear Taye shout to me, “Mah! Is this the right way?”

I’ll admit I got really tired of having to drop whatever I was doing, go look at his shoes and figure out which way they needed to go.

Then instead of simply putting his shoes on for him, I would try to explain to him that the toes of his shoes curved in towards each other when you had them “the right way” and away from each other when they were backwards.  This often yielded a 4 year old staring at me with his eyes glazed over as if I were speaking to him in alien. Then he’d ask me a question that showed just how brilliantly my explanation had gone over such as “but how can my shoes point when they don’t got no fingers?”

One day, I was struck with an inspiration. I remembered Elli’s ballet teacher patiently putting stickers on the insides of her ballerinas’ feet then saying, “let me see your stickers!” to get them to clank their ankles together and point their toes outward resulting in a perfect “first position”.

Stickers would fall off immediately, if not sooner, so I simply used  a Sharpie marker to draw two dots on the insides of the soles of Taye’s shoes. No one will ever notice these, I told myself as I colored in the dots. (except for you 6 people who read my blog  

I then instructed Taye to “put the dots together so that they are touching each other. When the dots are touching, then you know that’s the way your shoes are supposed to go and you have them on the right way.”

It works, people! Every. single. time. Now, I can enjoy the freedom of  reading a book in my La-Z-boy while texting, eating a Snickers bar, and sipping sweet tea without being interrupted to go do shoe duty!

In all seriousness, this stroke of brilliance was more of a gift to my little guy than it was to myself  because of how independent and confident he is in his newfound ability to be able to properly shod himself. And ok, it’s kind of a gift to me too. Now I’m sharing it with you. ENJOY!