Lego Night

We had another CONNECT night at our church. A family night filled with friends, fellowship, legos, building blocks, competition and tasty snacks. 

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another..."

...and we sang for joy

We did a fun and simple experiment today to talk about the joy of the Lord.

We made Jugs of Joy

The kids got so excited when they saw the bubbles start to come from the bottom of the jug. We talked about how God wants to give us joy in every situation and all the things the Lord has done for us to give us joy.

Here was the scripture we focused on:

Psalm 126:2

We were filled with laughter,
      and we sang for joy.
   And the other nations said,
      “What amazing things the LORD has done for them.” 

Here is what you need to make your own Jugs of Joy:

Empty plastic bottle

Water

Cooking Oil

Food Coloring

Fizzy Tablet (alka-selzer/airbornes)

Fill your bottle 1/4 of the way with water. Fill the rest with oil. Let it settle. Put in 10 drops of food coloring. Drop in 1/2 tablet. Watch the bubbles form!

To watch a video of how it works, click here.

Kindness Challenge

Yesterday, Route 412 went to the Lighthouse Outreach Center and helped distribute food to the elderly who are home bound. What an amazing experience to serve those around us.

Today, in Small Town, we learned about the Good Samaritan. I thought the lesson went perfect with our experience with the outreach. We now have a better understanding of what it means to "Love your neighbor as yourself" Luke 10:27. This week I challenged the kids to do 10 acts of kindness to others. Here is the challenge (for adults and children).....will you take it??!


1. Give someone a hug
2. Hold the door open for someone
3. Sit by someone new at church
4. Tell someone that Jesus loves them
5. Let someone go in line in front of you
6. Pick up trash
7. Send a card to someone who is sick or lonely
8. Thank your mail carrier or trash collector (if you don't see them, leave a thank you note!)
9. Say something nice to someone
10. Do another family member's chores

1 Thessalonians 5:1 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. 

Fruit: Some Yummy, Some Not...

Our church recently participated in a 21 day fast as an entire church body. If you have ever fasted before, you will know that God tends to reveal areas of your life that need some improvement. Well, He showed me that there were some character issues that were in desperate need of some serious work.

Matthew 7:18-20 were received as a challenge, a sober challenge yet exciting too. "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore they will be known by their fruit."

Yikes! That puts a new perspective on things in a blink. So if I want to be a good tree growing good fruit what does that look like? In a nut shell- Walking by the Spirit will produce...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control ( Galations 6:22-23).

I thought it might me a good time to actively and purposefully teach this to our children while I am learning too. Things are much easier to walk out when you are expecting others (ages 1 & 3) to do the same.

So a difficult process to live out has become a fun, new adventure when the kids are brought into it. Each week, we are picking one or two "fruits" to learn and work on. Wintertime puts a bit more difficulty into finding a variety of fruit but so far we are doing ok.

We began with Loving Lemon...


Kate LOVED the lemon with a face and throughout the week, if she made poor choices, we brought the conversation around to what Loving Lemon would choose to do instead. Kate totally got the concept...not that it was always the way she chose, but it certainly helped.

Loving Lemon was quickly joined by Obedient Orange (our version of self control) since Joseph was getting mighty jealous that his big sister was walking around the house with a cute piece of fruit.


They both are enjoying the fun invovled, plus they learning foundational principles that can be carried out through their lives. And it is super fun to think of all the crafts, delicious recipes, etc that can be incorporated into learning about Peaceful Pear, Kind Kiwi, Good Grape and the like!

Matthew 28:19

Our kids in Small Town, Big God (grades 1st through 5th) have learned a new song "GO" from Seeds Family Worship.  If you want to practice it at home, here is ROUTE 412 (4th and 5th grader leadership team) leading the kids in the actions. Feel free to  watch the video and join in. Come on - get up out of your seat and worship!!!!

To listen to the song or worship from home, click here!!

Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, 

baptizing them in the name of the Father and 

of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.