I love the verse we learned this week! It’s an easy one that is a staple in Sunday Schools and Children’s Church and for good reason! In fact, this was one of the first verses I learned as a kid! It’s a scripture that reminds us of the importance of reading, knowing and using God’s Word:

I have hidden Your Word in my heart so that I won’t sin against you. Psalm 119:11

I thought a scavenger hunt would be a good connection to this verse, since it says “hidden”. {You get the connection, right?} Anywhoo, I wrote the verse on a piece of paper and put a little picture prompt to help her remember each phrase. Then we cut it up (actually, I drew lines on the paper and let her practice her scissor skills!).

I hid the papers around the house and let her hunt for them. Once she found them she had to put them in order. Asa got in on the scavenger hunt and they both loved it! You would have thought we were searching for chocolate covered gummi bears!

It was so fun, Lydia wanted to take a turn hiding the scripture strips. She did such a good job she never found “I have hidden…” again!

This is a fun way to help kids memorize and to get them excited about God’s Word. And for this verse it was the perfect visual for how we should seek God’s laws and desire them in our lives! I was impressed at how quickly she memorized the verse and put it in order by the pictures. She even said it to her Daddy last night at dinner. So, I’d say she’s got it hidden in her heart!

Kids (well, all of us really) are continually compared to others–older siblings, peers in class, kids on their ball team. It can be very easy for children to think of themselves in terms of what they can’t do. 1 Peter 4:10 “Each of you has received a gift in order to serve others. You should use it faithfully.” It’s important for kids to learn and realize that God has given ALL of us gifts and talents. And these gifts are to affect others around us–we can serve others with them!

To help Lydia memorize this I made a cute little gift. I wrapped a shoebox with brown paper (my fave!), let her pick a ribbon (pink-of course!) then wrote the reference on the front…with a few dotted lines…which led to more of the scripture and more dotted lines…

We flipped the box around following the lines and saying the verse until she could say it by herself! I did have to draw some picture prompts to remind her of what the words said. It was the perfect visual tie-in since the verse is about gifts. But you could easily do this with any verse and I can see a long verse wrapping around the box several times. It would be a cross between a rubicks cube, a maze and scripture memory!

Memorizing scripture is so important. And with kids? It’s easy!! Here are some of my favorite ways to do it—some I’ve done with my daughter and others are from the archives of my Children’s Pastor experience!

1. Motions

Make up motions to each word (or phrase) in the verse. They don’t have to be real sign language–just whatever prompts your memory. Here’s Lydia doing motions to 2 Timothy 1:7.

2. Giant Dice (thanks to Kris for reminding me of this one!)

This was one of the kids’ favorites at church. I found a square box (probably 4-6″) and wrote instructions on each side: act like a chicken, hold your tongue, say it fast, spin around, stand on one foot, etc. Kids roll the die and then have to say (or read) the verse doing whatever the die tells them to do. It’s hilarious.

3. Bookmarks

For your upper elementary students, simply print the verse on a bookmark. Or have the child write it and decorate it. Place in a Bible–or maybe even more helpful–among their regular books. This is also good for daily Bible reading; you can list several scriptures on one bookmark and check it off as you read.

5. Song or Rhythm

Put the scripture to music! If you’re not musical you can always just find some scripture CDs like Seeds Family Worship or Scripture Rock. You can also easily do a rhythm–a basic pat your lap, clap your hands rhythm is easy for kids of all ages.

6. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat.

Just say it all the time. While you’re making dinner, when you’re getting in the car, cleaning the house or going to bed. Hmmm…sounds kinda familiar…

7. Fractured

If you’ve been around children’s ministry–especially if a puppet was involved you’ve seen this one. It’s when you start quoting a verse like…

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, Batman created…”

Well, you don’t get very far before a kid corrects you on that one. So you try again:

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created popsicles and oreos…”

Again, your kids won’t let you go too long with a crazy mixed up Bible verse. It gets you (and them) repeating the verse but more importantly actually listening to it!

8. Take It Away

This is by far one of the most effective for your elementary aged kids. Write or print the verse with one word on individual pieces of paper. Read the verse once while pointing to each word. Then let your child take one paper away. Read the verse again, continuing to point to each word–including the empty space. Continue taking one word away at a time until you are saying the entire verse from memory while pointing the blank spaces the words used to be!

9. Hang It Up

If you’ve been around this blog for any amount of time you know I’m a big fan of making signs and banners with scriptures on them. My daughter can’t read the verse yet, but we still see it hanging up around the house. And it gets it into MY mind and into MY sight so I can do one of the above techniques with her! I want God’s Word to be everywhere in our lives–even on our doors and walls!

What’s your best memorization technique?

Every morning we (try) to do a “5-minute clean”. We cart the timer around to every room and clean for 5 minutes. If the room is already clean, we find something else to do in there–straighten a drawer, dust, reorganize something, etc. It started off as a really fun thing for the kids to do because it was so fast. Granted, doing the whole house takes about an hour. But doing it 5 minutes at a time is pretty easy.

This morning (and for several mornings in a row) when I say, “OK, let’s do our 5 minute clean!” Lydia says, “I don’t want to clean! I’m tired! I don’t like it!” I usually say, “I don’t either. But it feels good when we’re done!” I decided we’ve got to figure out a way to understand that cleaning up is part of giving back to our family–in fact, is a part of being in our family.

Anyway, I was racking my brain this morning (after the 5 minute clean) for a craft or a verse to memorize. And I kept getting back to “I wish I could find a verse that talked about working hard!” And then it hit me—a verse, that is. I remembered a verse, not that I learned as a kid, but that Lydia just learned at CAMP PRIMO.

Have I told you about Camp Primo? I don’t think I have! EEK! My parents’ do a 2-3 day “cousin camp” every summer for the grandkids (all 3 of ‘em). They go hiking, creek stomping, build fires, make walking sticks, do crafts and more. And they always study a specific Bible story or theme. This year at Camp Primo, they talked about ANTS. I honestly couldn’t remember all the words to the verse so I asked Lydia to tell it to me. She immediately started saying the verse with hand motions. I promise these are not posed. You can see Asa walking in and out of them. I just snapped as she talked. Can you guess the verse?

Did you catch it? OK. Maybe not. It’s Proverbs 6:6…

You people {point to people}
who don’t want to work {cross hands out in front of you},
think {point to head}
about the ant {make crawling ant on hand}!
Consider its ways and be wise {hold one finger up like a wise person}!
Proverbs 6:6 {6 fingers & then 6 fingers}

I decided we’d make a big banner of this verse to remind ourselves (me included!) that working is considered WISE! After I wrote the verse on a giant piece of brown paper (which is my favorite way to do anything, just tape that paper to the hardwoods and let the kids have at it!) we pulled out our stamp pads and the kids made fingerprint ants.

Of course, Asa is always a little more aggressive. He just stuck both hands straight into the ink and then crawled down the paper making his mark. His poor shorts are ruined!

Lydia told me she counted all the ants and there were 30 of them. I didn’t double check but regardless, we made a nice big colony to remind us to be wise and work!

How do you instill a love of work in your children?

ps–Here is a past Camp Primo post…I promise it is worth a read! I was thinking about having my mom post her philosophy on Camp Primo and some of the fun stuff they did. Would you be interested in hearing that? You could at least forward it to your parents, right?

I struggle with finding good Bible resources for my three-year-old. Usually, the things I see are beyond her developmental stage or are just really boring!

So, I was excited to come across this site the other day: ABC, I Believe Christian Homeschooling and More. It offers a comprehensive set of activity ideas, lessons, and printables to go along with a Bible verse. Each verse corresponds to a different letter of the alphabet.

This is not simply a “print out a worksheet” sort of site. Each letter has a set of detailed instructions and explanations for various activities in the areas such as penmanship, art, science, math, etc. There are even lists of recommended books that go along with each animal. (You know I love that!)

The lessons are divided into different age groups, so you can focus in on your child’s specific needs and abilities. This appeals to me so much because I rarely do something the way it is suggested in a book. I love having options, taking them all into consideration, and then crafting something specifically suited to my daughter’s interests and abilities. This site makes that process so much easier!

I have to tell you, I was super excited when I first started looking through the site, but then was a little disappointed when I realized that only the first four lessons are free. After that, you have to pay for the rest. The cost is $12.95 which seems to be a bargain for the massive amount of printables, crafts, and step-by-step instruction provided. I don’t know yet if I will buy the rest of the series. I’m waiting to see how Juliet responds to the first four lessons.

At any rate, I wanted to share this great resource with you. Maybe you’ll fall in love with it like I did and buy the set, or maybe you’ll just enjoy the first four lessons! There’s enough in those to keep you busy for a few months, I think!

Do you have any great online Bible resources for kids to share with me?

We’re moving on from Intelligent in our “God Wants Me To Be” book to Ethusiastic (still taken from our Christian Characteristic Traits list)… 

Enthusiastic – Being excited and zealous about life!

Isn’t that kid enthusiastic?  I believe he is jumping on a bed…  What kid wouldn’t be enthusiastic about that?  It’s really easy to be enthusiastic about fun things, like jumping on a bed, or running through a sprinkler, or chocolate.  But when it comes to things we’re not so keen on…

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not men.” Colossians 3:23

The Word says “Whatever you do…” and “work at it… as working…” – God calls us to be enthusiastic about everything.  Everything we do – whatever we do.  In play and work.  In chocolate and…

…learning from your mother.  Yes, enthusiasm flowed very nicely from my last post about intelligence.  Remember?  God wants us to be intelligent – someone who is eager to learn!  Our first day using our new curriculum was Monday.  And it was like pulling nails.  We started off very simple – I asked him to circle the date on a little calendar I made for him.  And he started crying… saying he couldn’t.  That he didn’t know how to – when I know full well he circles everything under the sun on a normal day!

This actually has been a phrase he’s been repeating recently: “I can’t!” From putting down the toilet seats to drawing circles on a calendar – all things he has done many times before… When he doesn’t want to do it, all of a sudden he “can’t.”

We stopped right there, with red crayon in his hand, tears running down his cheeks.  Since this was an issue of control, not of actual ability, I grabbed up a Bible and read to him Philippians 2:14 (fresh on my mind from Amanda’s post ): “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” I gave him a huge hug, and I told him that when I asked him to do things, I knew he could do them!  I wouldn’t ask him to do something I knew he couldn’t do – and if I did, I would help him do it!  God wants him to have a happy heart at all times, not a complaining (crying) or arguing (angry) heart.  When Daddy or Mommy asked him to do anything, he should do it with a happy heart!

Elias started laughing through his tears – all it took was hearing that God wanted him to have a happy heart!  He took his red crayon and drew a careful circle around the date, and then we continued on with our little lesson – no more arguing or crying!  I dare say he even had fun doing our “school time” together.  Later that morning, we came up with a new chart for him:

When he does things with a happy heart, he gets a mark under the happy heart side.  If he argues, complains, or disobeys, he gets a mark under the angry heart.  Granted, right now the angry heart is winning out.  But he is working on it!

For example – today was Elias’s 3rd dentist appointment ever.  The first two times were rather unsuccessful – no cleanings involved, and last time, he wouldn’t even open his mouth.  But today… boy!  We had some “trial runs” in our bathroom during the past week, starring me as a dentist, and we talked the way there about being brave and excited about seeing the dentist.  We even talked about not arguing with Mommy while we were there or complaining to the dentist.  The appointment was wonderful – with a little breakdown in the middle, between cleaning the bottom and top teeth.  He started crying and saying, “I can’t!” again.   But with a prayer and some encouragement, he got the top teeth cleaned, too!  He was very enthusiastic about the whole appointment afterwards, and he has told everyone we’ve seen for the rest of the day about it.

It seems like a silly example – being enthusiastic about seeing the dentist.  But that’s a part of “whatever we do” – a part of everyday life.  It’s not always going to be fun and chocolate.  It’s going to get boring and painful and un-fun for Elias at times.  If his heart can be happy in all things, at all times, in playing cars and in homeschool, he will learn a part of Philippians 4:11: …for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

What else can we do to help our children be enthusiastic about the un-fun things?  How can we help model this character trait for them in our lives?

this post submitted to Your Life Your Blog!

I love the Olympics!  I love everything about them – the excitement, the competition, the athletes, the sports themselves – and every two years when they come around, I watch them vigilantly.  When I was younger, I used to dream about being in the Olympics – specifically in the gymnastics or ice skating competition (this is particularly laughable, as I often trip over my own feet while walking across a room).

I think what always made the Olympics special to me was the potential. The media always highlights a “regular Joe” who trains for the Olympics after school/in between 2 jobs/taking care of a sick relative – last year, the “regular Joe” was an unknown, but this year, he won the gold medal!  It made me feel that everyone had the potential to win a gold medal if they worked hard – yes, even a clumsy, un-athletic girl like me.

Now that the athletes in the Olympics are closer to my children’s ages than mine, the potential has shifted.  Yes, my Olympic dreams are over… but my boys?  It’s a possibility!  Elias with his crazy-creative karate moves (which also double as his break-dancing moves) or his 4 year old throwing arm…. Donovan with his freaky-fast-for-a-2-year-old running speed… They are both untapped potential for…. WHATEVER!  Isn’t that dizzying to think about? (I just pray they get their father’s athletic abilities and not mine…)

As I’ve been thinking about my children’s athletic potential, Junior Asparagus’s voice has been ringing through my head, singing “I am a promise…” from this CD – it’s his voice because I did not learn this song as a child.  In fact, I just started learning it with my kids lately, and the only part that I know by heart are the first four lines.  So I looked the words up online to see what the rest of the song says….

I am a promise
I am a possibility
I am a promise with a capital “P”
I am a great big bundle of potentiality
And I am learnin’ to hear God’s voice
And I am tryin’ to make the right choice
I am a promise to be anything God wants me to be.

I can go anywhere that He wants me to go
I can be anything He wants me to be
I can climb the high mountains
I can cross the wide sea
I’m a great big promise you see!

I am a promise
I am a possibility
I am a promise with a capital “P”
I am a great big bundle of potentiality
And I am learnin’ to hear God’s voice
And I am tryin’ to make the right choice
I’m a promise to be anything God wants me to be
Anything God wants me to be!

Isn’t that fabulous?!  Anything God wants me to be! And guess what?  God’s reality for my children is greater than anything I can dream up for them!!!  Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” Even if I try to dream up potential futures for my kids, or if I try to project my frustrated musical ambitions (or Olympic dreams) on them, God’s plan for them is far above anything that I could imagine!

God’s Word includes another promise… “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).” I clung to these words after graduation, when I had no idea where I was going – but I didn’t think about clinging to that promise for my children.  And what is our hope, our future?  Christ Jesus is our Hope (1 Timothy 1:1)!

The Lord may not have the Olympics anywhere in my children’s futures – He may not have Broadway, Hollywood, or Mount Everest anywhere in there, either.   What if my sons’ high mountains are mountains of pain or depression?  What if the wide seas in their lives are loneliness or grief?  “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful… (Hebrews 10:23).” Praise the Lord that He is faithful! The promise, possibility, and potentiality that is in my children right now is already fulfilled by the Father – and what ever high mountain or wide sea that will be in their lives they will be able to overcome in Christ – He has promised, and He is faithful!

The thing that I crave for my boys is that they become men of God – that is the potential I want to be fulfilled in their lives.  It would be wonderful if they wound up on Broadway or in the Olympics – there is nothing wrong with those possibilities!  But that they know God and have His life in them…  With God in their lives, they can do anything! Talk about a great big bundle of potentiality!

Will you pray with me for the potential in our children? No matter what the dreams that you have for your children, we want to stand with you in lifting your children up to the Lord (here are some great prayer resources you can look into to help with praying for your children).  I hope that we can continue to watch the potential grow in our children together!

Full of Grace – unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification – Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines Him to grant merit where it is undeserved and to forgive debt that cannot be repaid.

Ephesians 1:5-8

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us…

The story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) is an amazing parable showing us God’s grace.  The message is simple: we should never be afraid to ask for forgiveness.  This parable can give us courage that God is nothing but gentle and loving when we repent.  God has unlimited grace for us no matter what we’ve done.

Lord, we are so thankful for Your grace!

In preparing this year for Advent, I researched the purpose of the season and many ways to celebrate Advent.  I decided to focus this Advent on the names and attributes of God – helping my family learn more about our Lord and Saviour, preparing our hearts to celebrate the birth of Christ, and allowing us to press closer into Him through knowing Him more intimately.

Ever since this post from Amanda (2 years ago!), I have had the idea of a mini Christmas tree in the back of my mind.  And when I started thinking about Advent this year, a miniature tree seemed to fit the bill… part Advent calendar, part new family tradition…

Remember this sneak peek that I gave you a couple of weeks ago?  I made mini-ornaments for our little Advent tree, adding a name or attribute of God to each one.  Each day, we’ll hang a new ornament on the tree, read some verses associated with the name, and do a craft or activity to help Elias and Donovan learn more about God and prepare their hearts for this special season.

We started with the name and attribute Almighty.  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defined “Almighty” as God.  Praise the Lord!  It also said that “Almighty” means having absolute power over all.

One of God’s names in Hebrew, El-Shaddai, means “God Almighty.”  God who is all-sufficient and all-bountiful—the source of all blessings, fullness, and fruitfulness – is also all-powerful and worthy to be praised!

Some verses that we read about God as Almighty are…

Genesis 49:22-25

²²“Joseph is a fruitful bough,
A fruitful bough by a spring;
Its branches run over a wall.
²³“The archers bitterly attacked him,
And shot at him and harassed him;
²⁴But his bow remained firm,
And his arms were agile,
From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob
(From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
²⁵From the God of your father who helps you,
And by the Almighty who blesses you
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

Psalm 91:1
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 Corinthians 6:18
” And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Revelation 1:8
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, ” who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

When I think of the Almighty power of God, I think of the stars – the amazing might of the One who created such beauty and such power in themselves!  So we made a star for the top of our Advent tree… I glued popsicle sticks together to form a star, and Elias set about decorating it with glitter glue.

I used a heavy-duty craft glue (E6000), and I’m glad I did.  This star has already taken a beating, and there’s no sign that it’s coming apart at all.  I also “clamped” the star together with binder clips while the glue was drying – again, I’m glad I did that, because the star shape was shifting all around and popping apart where the popsicle sticks were not touching each other directly.

When the glitter was dry, we topped our little tree with Elias’s star, and we hung two others that we made in the window with the tree… and we have a visible reminder of our Almighty God!

*

I am already loving our Advent tree – it is in our dining room, which we use for all meals, and is frequently played in throughout the day.  Elias and Donovan are quite smitten with it – lots of “Oooo’s” and Ahhh’s”, and I overheard Elias explaining to Donovan how God made the stars in the sky, just like he made the stars on top of the tree.

God is ALMIGHTY!

*yes, that is Mary and Joseph in the school bus… and apparently the 3 wise men were waiting to be picked up, too.

Continuing on our theme of respect, we are learning to respect God’s word!  I have a couple verses we will be sharing about God’s word, and we started with a new memory verse… Do not merely listen to the word.  Do what it says.  James 1:22

I really want to impress on Elias that God’s word is truth, and we need to not only listen to the word (stories, rules, promises, etc), we need to actually do what it says.  I want this to help lay the foundation for respect and obedience to God.

So in the spirit of doing, we did a memory verse activity game – something to get Elias moving and doing…

To prepare, write and cut out 2 sets of the individual words in the Bible verse… we’re doing another matching game, so the different colors for the words help a lot.

Then we placed one set of words at the far end of our living room, and I sat at the other end and handed Elias the words of the Bible verse in order, having him run to the other end of the room to match up the words and bring them back.  I have a video to illustrate (and some words to say about the video: see note at bottom of post):

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Elias had a lot of fun doing this – and despite Donovan’s fussing in the background, he had fun, too – once I made sure he had 2 pieces of paper in his hands, just like Elias.  If you have a chance, double check yourself with the words – I was missing a couple words on the coffee table, so the nice little edit you see in the middle of the video was actually me running to the other end of the room to figure out what I did wrong, tripping over both boys in the process, and generally creating mayhem.  Ehem…

After the activity, we strung the words together to hang our verse up – this is so easy!  I’ll be making banners like this for everything in the future!

All I did was punch a hole in each top corner of the word and string them on some yarn – WAY too easy!  Not as pretty as some of the bunting that is out there right now, but a quick and fun alternative!

I really like that this is out in the main rooms of our house for everyone to see – I already have it memorized, and it is a constant reminder for me to set a good example for the boys, and really work on obeying God’s word in all I do.

**Note on video – a quick apology for the state of my living room – you get a far away view of my sewing corner… and the coffee table is pushed over to the side like that to prevent the boys from playing with my sewing stuff.  It’s just how our home functions on a daily basis, and it’s not the showcase I’d like it to be… and now I know why Josh thinks I talk too loud.  Man – I am loud!  OK – enough apologizing about the video – I’m just nervous because it’s my first time to post one… and now I’m over it!