With Valentine’s Day approaching, I have been trying to choose books about love for my daughter, Juliet, and I to read together each night. I want her to know how deeply and unconditionally I love her and also how God’s love for her far surpasses my own great love.

As I looked at our shelves the other night, The Runaway Bunnyby Margaret Wise Brown jumped out at me. “That’s perfect!” I thought to myself. We’ve read this book a million times before, but we’ve never had a conversation about how God loves us as unwaveringly and as fiercely as the mother bunny loves her little bunny.

If you’ve never read the book, it begins like this:

“Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away. So he said to his mother, “I am running away.” “If you run away,” said his mother, “I will run after you. For you are my little bunny.”

“If you run after me,” said the little bunny, “I will become a fish in a trout stream and I will swim away from you.” If you become a fish in a trout stream,” said his mother, “I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you.”

The story continues in this way with the little bunny coming up with another and yet another thing to turn into and his mother responding with how she will chase after him and find him NO MATTER WHAT. It’s a beautiful story of unconditional love.

As I thought about the picture of love presented in this book, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the love stories of the Bible such as the book of Hosea, the story of the prodigal son, and the greatest love story of all: Jesus coming to earth and becoming human just because He loved us so much. No matter how far we ran from him, and no matter what we became, He was willing to leave heaven behind and give up His life because we are His children and He loves us.

I thought to myself, “This is going to be great! We’re going to read a great book together AND have a meaningful spiritual conversation!”

It didn’t exactly turn out that way. Here’s what happened:

As we began reading the story together, Juliet asked me, “Mommy, why is that bunny running away? and I said, “Why do you think he is running away?” and she said, “To join the circus!” (Towards the end of the book, the bunny tells his mother he will join the circus.)

I took this moment to tell her that I was like the mother bunny and that if she ever ran away, I would always go after her because she was my little bunny. She just sort of nodded and then we continued reading.

A few pages later, Juliet suddenly jumped up, and exclaimed, “I’m the little bunny!” and ran away. I put the book down and proceeded to chase her down the hall and tackle her in my room.

I again reminded her that I would always catch her because she was my little bunny. She smiled, giggled, and then announced, “I’m a butterfly, I’m going to fly away from you!” and ran down the hall. I responded with, “I’m a net and I will catch you!”

We played this spontaneous little game over and over again—she was a little bird; I was a nest. She was a lady bug; I was a little girl with a bug-catcher. She was a roley poley, and I was a pile of dirt. Again and again, she ran away from me, and again and again I caught her.

Then we sat down, finished reading the book, and got ready for bed. As I tucked her in, I said, “God is like the mother bunny, too. No matter what you do, no matter how far you run away from Him, He will always come after you because you are His little bunny and He loves you.”

And she said, “Hey. You have hair in your nose.”

So maybe we didn’t get the meaningful spiritual conversation in, (we did have a discussion about the benefits and purposes of nose hair) but we did make some memories and invented a fun, new game! Even though she wasn’t really ready to talk about God’s love for her, I think the seed was planted.

And like that mother bunny, I’ll keep chasing her down and telling her tirelessly about God’s love, over and over again. And the best part is, I don’t have to do it on my own. He won’t stop His pursuit of her either.

Vanessa is a regular contributor to Impress Your Kids. She is a stay-at-home mom to an energetic three-year-old, Juliet. They spend their days together reading books, attempting crafts, and occasionally beating tree trunks with large sticks. You can read more about their adventures at Silly Eagle Books.

Lydia turned four in January. I feel like it may have flipped a switch inside her. These last 2 weeks have been the most unbelievable—she argues, whines, pouts, stomps her foot and keeps her hair in her face to hide from me when she’s in trouble. Is she 14?!

The last few days have been so bad, I finally pow-wowed with my husband to think of a new way to discipline her. Nothing in our regular bag of tricks was working. We decided to try a little now-and-then discipline. If I had to get onto her 3 times, then my husband would discipline her when he got home, too. (Not as a “mama can’t handle it” but as an additional punishment.)

DID. NOT. WORK.

Then we thought a little positive reinforcement/reward stuff might be better. So I made a chart. It’s not lovely. But it has a few important points…

1. Scripture. I didn’t want a chart that said, “Lydia’s Behavior” or “Don’t Be Naughty”. So, I put Exodus 20:12 in “Lydia’s version” so it said, “Lydia honors her father and mother.”

2. Positive and Negative. I have issues with negative and positive reinforcement. I like the positive stuff but didn’t want to give rewards for false positives (ie. “Wow, you’re smiling, Lydia! You get a sticker!”) and I don’t want to make her think she’s earning my love and approval. And of course, negative reinforcement can always be rough. So. I’m doing a positive AND negative…I put hearts on it for when she does something very awesome (sharing with Asa, obeying immediately, etc.) and blue circles for times I hear her arguing, etc.

3. Her Involvement. I had her write her name at the bottom. I wanted her to be involved and know that she is a part of this chart. We read the verse together. I reminded her that this chart was to show when she was obeying God’s Word. She was very excited and wrote her name with pride!

4. Length. This chart is only for 3 days. I know I can’t expect a 4 year old to be perfect for 2 weeks. But 3 days will be a easy for her (and me!) to pay attention to!

5. Reward. If we deem her chart worthy (I haven’t actually decided how many heart/circles count), she gets to go to a inflatable game place with her Daddy and Asa this weekend.

It’s only been a couple of hours, so I haven’t filled anything in yet. I’m not sure how it’s going to work, but we’ll see. I’ll keep you updated.

Do you have any great ideas about creative discipline and behavior?

for more fun tips (and ones that have actually been, you know, tested visit Works for Me Wednesday!

Amanda really spoke to me with her post about making time to craft and play with your kids….  Unfortunately, it has taken me almost a month since her post to make the time!  Sickness, birthdays, more snow, and everyday living took over here for a while.  I wasn’t picking times or topics – I did pick some brains, though, and I sure did pick up!  Spring cleaning got started with the putting away of Christmas decorations and hasn’t stopped.

Look at what I found while picking up!  My fridge – hey, it’s white!  Buried under the family pictures, children’s drawings, delivery menus, and football schedules were some wonderful resources that I forgot I had (Wise Words for Moms found here).

How could I have forgotten this sheet of paper?  It was just given to us during our parenting class last fall….

I remember thinking that it would be awesome if my sons had all of these “Christian Character Traits,” but wow, that seems like a lot of work!

Ehem.  Remembering again why I am here with my sons, the paper was moved to the front of a clean(er) fridge, and has been staring at me for a couple of weeks until a light bulb went off in my head.  Here is my topic!  Granted, it’s huge… and intimidating, but so is parenting, if you really think about it {{shudder}}.

The List is 51 character traits with simple definitions and Bible references to help… It’s in alphabetical order, but I’m going to jump around a bit.  I hope to get really creative (hey – that’s one of the traits!), and sometimes I might do two traits together (“neat” and “orderly” seem like they go hand in hand to me!).

We start with “Exhorter – Definition: Urge others towards love and good deeds.” Hebrews 10:24 (NIrV) says, “Let us consider how we can stir up one another to love. Let us help one another to do good works.”

In our house right now, we have a lot of exhorting going on… to jump on beds, throw toys in the house, disobey in whatever way a 4 year old big brother wants his 2 year old little brother to get in trouble…

So I drew a simple picture for each of the boys – one boy running to do “something” while the other speaks LOVE to him.

While we colored, we did a bit of role playing (Elias and I did… Donovan colored away while I prayed that this is soaking into his heart, too)… “What is your brother going to do?” “Run away!”  “What are you telling him in this picture?” “Go away, Donovan!”  “Well, look at the ‘words’ coming out of your mouth? Are you saying nice things or mean things to him?” “…nice things.”  “Great! What kind of nice things are you saying?” “I love you, Donovan!”  “Wow, that is nice!  Now, Donovan is pulling all of Mommy’s books off of the bookcase… now what nice things can you say to him to help him do good things?” “Donovan, don’t do that – you’ll get in trouble!”

We colored and talked some more… we hadn’t done any role playing yet with Elias, but I think it did work really well.  I also substituted some words in and out to help explain what “exhort” means.  The Bible versions I used (NASB and NIrV) use the words “stimulate,” “stir,” and “help” – I also used “urge,” “encourage,” “tell…” all interchangeably.

So this is a start.  Not the most creative start, but sometimes we just need a start of some kind…

It has taken me a whole month to even begin my New Year’s goal of waking up before my kids. Asa regularly wakes up at…wait, he doesn’t REGULARLY wake up. Some days its 5:30, sometimes 6:00 and when we’re really lucky it’s 6:30. Nonetheless, I was feeling grumpy regardless of when he woke, I was taking showers at 5:45pm and not getting my day started until naptimes!

So, I bit the bullet and decided I had to wake up early. I wasn’t so deluded to think that I’d shower, exercise and make breakfast before the kids woke up. Oh no, I just decided I had to get up early enough to do ONE of those things. I didn’t care which one.

I’m going to be completely honest and say that this is only the 2nd day I’ve woken up early. I was staring at my clock at 5:59 this morning. Begging it to stay there. Finally at 6:02 I crawled out of bed, grabbed a blanket, my Bible and a notebook and sat at the kitchen table.

I wrote a little, read a little and then decided I’d make a list of people and situations to pray for. Then I remembered! I have a calendar of prayer points—to pray for your children. And who else do I want (NEED) to pray for than my kids? You’d think as a mom, you’d pray for your kids all the time, right? Sure, I pray for them. But mostly it’s, “please let him stop crying.” OR “please help me figure out how to help her obey” and “God is great, God is good…”.

Today’s prayer was labeled: SALVATION.

*sigh*

Isn’t that my goal? Isn’t that the reason I stay home? Teach my kids Bible stories? Do crafts? Play games? Sing songs? I do these things to show them Jesus so they will look for and receive SALVATION from Him! And I thought this getting up early thing was going to be so I could get a shower in! The prayer was a simple one based on Isaiah 45:8 and 2 Timothy 2:10…

Lord, let salvation spring up within my children that they may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

So. Now my goal in the morning is not to get a shower, to make breakfast or to do yoga. It’s to pray for my kids. It’s to read that little prayer, get it into my heart and mind so I can focus on it the rest of the day. So I can do my “job” of being a mother with the leadership of Jesus.

And for the record? This morning I read my Bible, exercised, took a shower AND made breakfast before the kids got up!

:: :: ::

More amazing and totally worth your time resources to help you pray for your children:

Prayer Calendar from Mom and Loving It {scroll down, it’s a pdf on the bottom of the page}

The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian {her blog is filled with resources, too!}

Inspired to Action blog and free ebook, Maximize Your Mornings {you MUST click and look around. such good stuff.}

Seven Prayers a Day at Bring the Rain

Lifting Hands {a prayer-a-day blog. it’s not updated daily this year, but you can use the previous years!}

Praying for Our Children by The Other Mama

Printable Paper Dolls from How About Orange {pictured above}

Weekend Make and Takes: Valentines from Make and Takes {shees, I haven’t even done ONE Valentine’s Day thing yet!}

Made by You at Skip to My Lou {a fun Valentine’’s Day Link Up!}

Feed Me Books Friday at The Adventure of Motherhood {a fun kids’ book link up!}

Strut Your Stuff at Somewhat Simple {yet another fun link up–this one’s about anything cool you’ve made!}

My friend Christine from Dates to Diapers is challenging herself to make a craft every day this week with her kids. (And this is quite a feat considering she has six kids and she homeschools and runs a hugely popular blog!) To help her out, I’m guest posting about a fun winter craft Lydia and I did this week. Your kids will love it. We have the dyed fingers to prove it!

Check it out and if you don’t already read Chrsitine’s blog make sure you click and get to know her. She’s fantastic!

Last night I was bored with our bedtime stories. I didn’t want to search through the shelves and shelves of books we have to find something that sparked my interest. So, I picked up my Eeboo Tell Me A Story – Mystery in the ForestStory Cards. I know, it’s a long name but basically it’s a huge deck of beautifully illustrated cards that help you tell a story to your kids.

With my best magician impersonation, I let Lydia pick five cards. I glanced at them and tried to put them in a logical order. There was none. So, I held up the first card and started talking.

Our story began with Princess Perriwinkle and her best friend/confidant/servant Petunia the Pig. Petunia the Pig and Mr. Squirrell the Milliner tracked down a thread theif. The contrite thief, Little Racoon apologized for being disobedience and worked hard to rectify his misbehavior.

If you didn’t quite get the progression there, don’t worry, there were lots more details and five beautiful picture cards to illustrate. Lydia was enthralled and when it was over, we actually had a teachable moment about Little Racoon’s repentance. How’s THAT for a good bedtime story?!

There are so many ways to use this deck of cards. You could just pick one card at a time and tell a funny story based on what pops up. Lydia loves to pick a few out and lay them on the ground, then tell a story about what she sees. Asa just likes to pick up the cards and look at the pictures. Today we laid them all on the floor and tried to jump over them—so, whatever works!

I just love this because this whole idea fosters creative writing, imagination, comprehension for a pre-reader and understanding of sequence. Not to mention bring in some art appreciation with the lovely vintage-y illustrations! But my favorite part is that you get to spend a few minutes creating something for your child. It will be a one-and-only story that’s just for that moment. It’s a gift!

You should check out Eeboo’s website. You will want one of everything. And in case you were wondering, this isn’t a paid post. But it should be. Seriously. I love these things.

What do you do when you are bored with bedtime?

For more great products check out Diaper Diaries Things I Love Thursday!

I’ve told you about Camp Primo? That’s Cousin Camp or Grandma Camp to the uninformed. My parents host Camp Primo every summer for all two of their grandkids. To add to the fun, they host a Camp Primo Retreat in the fall/winter. This year it was Camp Primo: The Winter Wonderland Retreat.

They strung their living room with Christmas lights, made snowflake crafts, sewed fleece hats on the sewing machine, made snowglobes from mason jars and even went to a petting zoo. But my favorite thing they did was play BINGO. And not just any BINGO. Oh no, this was “It’s A Wonderful Life BINGO!”

The campers girls are 5 and 3. They’d never seen the movie It’s a Wonderful Life and in keeping with the theme, my mom thought this would be a good movie. However, it is VERY long, in black and white and WITHOUT a princess. So, she made a BINGO card with pictures of scenes from the movie.

Grandmama introducing BINGO to the girls!

As the girls settled into their giant bed on the floor with popcorn and M&Ms, they also had to pay attention to their BINGO cards. As every scene played, they put a sticker over the picture. They had to cover every picture in order to win. And of course, everyone was a winner!

Isn’t this a great idea? When the girls are with their grandparents, it’s usually a free for all. So, even though they’d fall asleep watching a movie at home—at the grandparent’s house they are more apt to run around and jump on the bed. Playing BINGO made them have to sit down and stay in their beds. Plus, it helped them stay focused on the story.

I think you could use it in so many other ways:

• To help a younger kid pay attention while older kids and/or family watch a movie together.
• Using pictures of sites you will pass on a road trip.
• Have a BINGO card for a long un-kid-friendly event that your kids must attend and stay quiet.
• Play at a slumber party to keep kids in their beds.

What creative ways do you help your kids pay attention?

Want more fun tips? Visit Works For Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family!

bingo photo by hownowdesign

How To Use a Family Mission Statement by Family Life Blog {found this via We are THAT Family}

Kids Email! Safe Email for Children at Mom Spark {this is a giveaway, too!}

Simple Solutions for Everyday Issues by the Nester {one day I will be this smart!}

How Should Parents Respond if Their Child Disrupts An Adult Event by Robin at Pensieve {I have to agree!}

How To Create Simple Flexible Family Routines at Simple Kids {nice and practical!}

{{hmmm…didn’t link to one craft. you can see where my brain is this week….}}

Today Asa pulled a blanked into the bathroom as I was brushing Lydia’s teeth. She thought this was quite funny and said, “Mommy! How does a blanket get into a bathroom if no one is carrying it?”

Me: I don’t know.

Lydia: It rides on top of someone! *bursts into laughter*

This hilarious joke began a whole slew of jokes following this same formula. “How does a panda get into a closet if no one is carrying him…how does a chicken get into a store…how does a cow get into a farm?” She giggled and guffawed for twenty minutes.

I honestly was hoping she’d never discover jokes because for whatever reason kids LOVE to make up jokes. And repeat them. Over and over again. But this joke was actually kind of (KIND OF) funny because she got it from a book called Miss Hunnicutt’s Hat.

My friend Becky bought me this book at her school’s book fair because Hunnicutt is my maiden name (TMI for the internet? Oh well, it’s on my facebook page…). And lucky for us, it turns out to be an adorable book regardless of the name! The illustrations are whimsical, funny and very detailed—you could look at them for days!

The story is what sparked my Lydia’s funny bone: Miss Hunnicutt is just a normal woman who decides to be very UN-normal one day. On the day the Queen is to visit her little town of Littleton, Miss Hunnicutt decides to wear a chicken on her hat. It causes quite a fuss as the entire town thinks she should remove it before the Queen comes to visit. Hilarity ensues as Miss Hunnicutt stands her ground. But what happens when the Queen stops to look at Miss Hunnicutt’s hat?

We haven’t read the book in months, so today when I got to the final page, Lydia laughed out loud at the ending! She thought it was hilarious. And it was still on her mind a few minutes later when she made up her “it rides on top of someone” punchline. Thanks to Miss Hunnicutt for letting her chickens ride on her head!

He will fill your mouth with laughter. Shouts of joy will come from your lips. Job 8:22

PS: I found this cute online joke booklet from Clubhouse Magazine. In case you want your kids to know some actual jokes: Lots O’ Laughs.

photo by malenga