Yesterday we played Blind Man’s Bluff. It’s just like tag, only “It” is blindfolded. I was “It” first, of course. The second I put on my mask (which was one of those scarf-muff thingies you put around your neck), the kids scattered screaming and laughing. I kept my hands stretched way out in front because I knew I’d hit my head on the wall if I didn’t! Soon, I grabbed a little body racing by me and it was Asa’s turn.

He barely moved his little feet, just danced up and down laughing with glee. But he finally caught Lydia and she had to wear the mask. Lydia had her hands out way in front and didn’t stray too far from her first position. They loved reaching out to find their hidden prey!

After we played a few rounds, we sat on the ground to read 1 Corinthians 5:7,

We live by faith and not by sight.

It’s a simple little verse and I think one of the most fabulous word pictures in the Bible. After reading the verse a few times, I told them about a time my husband and I had to live by faith and not by sight:

When I found out I was pregnant with Lydia, I went to my first ultrasound with my parents and my husband. It was a celebration! But it soon turned into one of the worst days of my life as they could not find a baby inside me. The doctor told me I had probably miscarried and the baby was dead.

They suggested I come back a few days later to check my horomone levels and do a second ultrasound, but they didn’t sound very hopeful. My doctor told me not to eat breakfast the day of my next appointment in case they had to do surgery and take the dead baby from my body.

We were stunned. Our baby, dead?

The next day I went back to check my hormone levels. They had not gone up enough to give the doctors any hope of having a baby inside me.

That night, my husband and I stopped by our office because we remembered a list of Scriptures about healing we had there. When we got home that night, we laid on our bed and read through every one. The second verse was Exodus 23:25-26, “Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.” And suddenly we knew that verse was for us–for our baby!

We continued to read the rest of the scriptures. We prayed them. That night I hardly slept and felt like I was dreaming those promises from God. In the morning, I refused to think of anything else but God’s promise to not miscarry. I refused to think about the scary what-if’s. And I ate breakfast in defiance of the doctor’s report.

When we got to the waiting room for the ultrasound, neither of us picked up a magazine. We didn’t watch TV. We prayed silently, remembering the Scriptures we had read the night before. We walked into the ultrasound room, not part of the women’s center which just happened to be closed that day, but a different department entirely—with a brand new ultrasound machine.

The technician began the ultrasound in a tiny dark room and within seconds she heard a heartbeat. My little girl was alive. My Lydia.

My husband and I could have trusted the doctor’s original death report. We could have believed what we saw. But we decided to believe and have faith in God’s Word and His promises. Maybe Lydia wasn’t dead and brought back to life. Maybe she was just too young to be seen on a sonogram. But if the circumstances had been even slightly different–the old utlrasound machine, an appointment the day before, the doctor may not have seen her and done surgery to kill her.

We believe God’s protection and healing power was made ready for Lydia because her parents (even brand-spankin’ new parents) decided to walk and live by faith in His Word and not by what our eyes saw and our ears heard.

Lydia and Asa love hearing this story, they’ve heard it many times. But I think somehow remembering the darkness of chasing each other with blindfolds on their eyes, made them (at least Lydia) understand it a little more. It reminded me of what it felt like those few days of fighting for Lydia’s life–complete uncertainty coupled with a small flicker of hope–knowing that Someone was out there for me.

Do you have a story of faith? A time when you had to use your lightning fast faith to walk with God even when your eyes told you otherwise? Tell it to your children! Pass on the gift of faith to them! Their faith will be increased and encouraged from hearing your story.

While the kids and I were waiting for lunch to cook (bubble up pizza bites!) we did some Super Hero stuff! This week is about our conduct. And although I could hit every way our kids should act (be polite, say yes ma’am, don’t interrupt, share, don’t whine, don’t talk while I’m on the phone, pick up your toys without being asked, don’t roll your eyes, etc. etc. etc.), the truth of the matter is, kids will learn these things. What I want them to know is that their behvior, their conduct should come from one place–God’s Word.

So today we memorized James 1:22, “Don’t just listen to the word. You fool yourselves if you do that. You must do what it says.” We made up motions because if you’re gonna talk about DOING something, might as well have some motions, dontcha’ think?

{The “do” there is a Super Hero pose. And “what it says” is her pointing to her lips!}

Then we talked about the verse for a minute, about how just listening to God’s Word isn’t enough. You have to actually DO what you hear!

So, to practice doing God’s Word, I read some scriptures to them and let them act them out. Here’s what we started with…

Clap your hands, all you nations…

 

…shout to God with cries of joy. Psalm 47:1

photo source: angelina

This morning before school I pulled out all the blocks we had. The big red cardboard ones. The colorful foam blocks. And the traditional wooden cubes. I had the kids build as many towers as they could and make them as tall as they could. Invariably, they’d get a decent tower going and then with one additional block, the whole tower would fall!

After a few towers, I stopped them and said, “Let’s read our verse again and see if we hear anything about building.” We read it and they  jumped on BUILD OTHERS UP. I explained that our good and helpful words are like building a great big tower. But one whine, complaint or mean word is like knocking it down!

Then we took our biggest blocks and one by one added a block to the tower. And with each block, we said something kind or helpful about someone else. With a 3 and 6 year old it turned into a “Thank you for playing with me” kind of things. But I got to model some good affirmations like, “Lydia you are always quick to finish the dishes.” and “Asa, I like the way you love your sister!”

If I had older kids, I would have had them write kind words or affirmations on each block and then build up towers for each sibling. It would be a fun activity to do over the course of a day or week. How cool to see compliments and kind words building a tower of love for each other?

Anyway, as we made our huge tower, on her own, Lydia got down to hold it up so it wouldn’t fall. Then I lifted Asa up to finish our tower. And of course, it was knocked over immediately. But we got to talk about what it was like to knock it down after all those kind words were said—it was a bummer! It’s even worse when we let evil words come out of our mouth–it’s like knocking down someone we love!

The kids played with the blocks for a few more minutes while I ironed on their new SPEECH badge! And here’s the Super Hero badges for you! Two pages are included in the download–one page for stickers and one page for an iron-on!

If you are going to iron them on, make sure you use the badges that are turned backwards. If you iron on the front-ways words, they’ll be backwards when ironed on! Also, make sure you buy either white t-shirt or dark t-shirttransfer paper so your badges will show up nice and bright. Mine was white t-shirt transfer paper and you can see how they are kinda see-thru on the dark background. The dark t-shirt transfer paper would work better. Just my t-shirt tip!

If you’re going to use them as stickers, Buzzhive designed them to fit perfectly on Avery #8293. Or you can use full sheet sticker paper, too.

Or hey–just print it and mod podge it to something! Or duct tape it! Whatever works for you!

Hope you enjoyed SUPER SPEECH! Next week we’ll begin FANTASTIC LIFE (or conduct, I know you’re looking forward to that!).

Ooh, I forgot to tell you I compiled all the Super Hero posts onto one page for easy reference and sharing!