Family Friendly Apps Part 2

I have finally entered the world of smart phones (Yes, I am a late bloomer). Pastor Lori's recent post about this app sparked an interest in me to find more family friendly apps. 

#1 FOCUS ON THE FAMILY APP

I am a BIG fan of focus on the family so I was thrilled when I found they have a free app. This APP is A*MAZ*ING! It has 3 parts - focus on marriage - focus on parenting - and - focus on kids. 

Focus on Marriage has conversation starters, encouragement & tips, insights, and date night ideas. They also give you an option to send the article or tip to your spouse after you are done reading it ;)

Focus on Parenting has spiritual growth for kids articles, age appropriate insights & guidance, family activities (for example, during family tv night, press the mute button and make up your own dialogue... the wackier the better) and dinner table conversation starters...spin the spoon and whoever the spoon lands on has the answer the question that pops up! (LOVE!)

Focus on Kids has audios of adventures in odyssey to listen to, a clubhouse and clubhouse jr brush you spin to get a craft or activity, and jelly telly videos.

#2 PLUGGED IN APP

This FREE app is also by Focus on the Family. It provides the following:

• Watch or read Christian movie, music, TV and game reviews
• Use their Family Friendliness Rating and member ratings to quickly find the best movies for your family
• Watch movie trailers and Plugged In video reviews
• Find nearby theaters playing your movie and purchase movie tickets 

This app is great in finding an appropriate and family friendly movie. It makes it really easy to find out if a movie contains something specific you want to avoid. If you find a movie you like, you can go right to your local movie theater and look up times it is playing. It also allows you to add tv shows or movies you find to your netflix queue! This is a great app since Tommy and I tend to be last minute movie goers and are always quickly trying to find out if its appropriate to watch. Happy watching!!!

Family Scripture for the year....

We just finished a series in Legacy called JUMP: a faith so wild it will make you never look back. It was about overcoming the things that consume you from the past, pushing past the things that control your present, and getting rid of the things that are going to stop your future. At the beginning I read Isaiah 61 because I truly feel like that is the destiny that God has called each of us to... the purpose we are on this earth for. I've started reading this over my kids every morning... sometimes they listen, sometimes they don't... but I want them to get so sick of it that it makes it's way down to their little hearts.

As a family, find a scripture that you feel your kids need to grasp, and bombard them with it... write it around your house, speak it while in the car, make up a cute song to it that you sing over and over. My dad did that when we were growing up with Psalm 91 and Proverbs 3 and to this day I have both of those chapters memorized!

You may also consider making a family vision board for the year. I have a friend who makes some incredible ones and is in town for 2 weeks taking special orders... if you are interested, then please comment here for more information or email me. Here is the one he made for his family last year. He can make it any size you would like it and write anything on it that's important to you.

 

Our family scripture for 2013:

Isaiah 61:1-3

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

$1.99 of pure genius.

I purchased my 1st app today.

Yes... I am a "free app" kind-of girl.

This was worth giving up my daily Biggby drive-thru today!

Check it out: Parent CUE
 

There are weekly ideas for BED-TIME, MEAL-TIME, DRIVE-TIME and HANG-TIME... plus some extras for PARENT-TIME

Here's the 411 taken right from their mouths:

What’s a CUE? It’s a prompt. A nudge to talk about God, faith, life or to just have fun together.

It’s a way to incorporate conversations about God and His big story into everyday moments—during mealtime, while playing a game outside, and in the car.

These CUEs will help parents do three things:

Connect to God’s story. Uncover something about life.
Experience something together.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9 says: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."