Summer Break!

School is ending and summer is FINALLY HERE!!!

We have found some great resources to make the most of summer break. These resources are FUN things to do as a family this summer with purpose!

1. First and Foremost....Take time to rest! You and your kids deserve it after a long school year. 

2. Thriving family puts out a FREE activity calendar every summer (remember last year's around the world calendar - click here). This year, they have a detective kit where you decipher clues, crack codes, participate in fun family activities and solve 21 "Who am I?" Bible mysteries. Click here to download. SO EXCITING!! (that link also has previous years calendars if you are looking for something else!!)

3. Remember to sign up for  B&N Reading Journal Program or PBK Reading Challenge! Have your child read through the Jesus Story Book or other books that help your child learn who Jesus is! Bring in the journals to the appropriate store to receive a free book!

4. Make a purposeful summer bucket list....we have one on our blog but also check out Compassion International's Make Summer Count List or Missional Women's 25 Summer Missional Activities for kids. Remember to have the kids journal their activities!

5. Feel free to comment to share any other ideas you have for purposeful summer pointing our kids towards Jesus!

St. Patrick's Day at Home

St. Patrick's Day is coming up on March 17th!

I have heard that the true story of St. Patrick is actually one of a great inspiring Christian man. I wanted to learn about St. Patrick so where else would I turn to as a reliable source than to Veggie Tales. Check out this 8 minute super cute video of the story of St. Patrick. 

Didn't I tell you it was super cute. Now on to some fun St. Patrick's activities that keep the focus on God. 

#1 First set the stage. Dress up in all green and talk in your best Irish accent. Top of the mornin' to ya!

#2 Start your morning with a healthy green smoothie for breakfast (1 banana, 1/2 cup strawberries, 1/2 cup of spinach, 1 cup water - blend well) or you could go a little less healthy with these green mint chocolate chip pancakes.

#3 Compare and contrast Noah's rainbow vs the Leprechaun's rainbow. Although St. Patrick was a man of faith who became a missionary in the very place he was sold as a slave, Irish folktale tells a very different tale of a silly leprechaun. The tale states if you catch a leprechaun, he will tell you where the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is. Their rainbow leads to a pot of gold. Our rainbow found in the Bible is a rainbow that leads to God....a rainbow of promise not luck. A promise that God will always protects us and be there for us.

There are thousands of rainbow crafts or recipes you can do if you search on-line but the one that we did was print a rainbow template and fill it with the rainbow colors of froot loops.

Then we got out pipe cleaners and made candy or rather froot loop bracelets.

They loved eating their bracelets - I couldn't even get them to stop eating it to take a picture! Did you notice the subliminal message of Noah's Ark in the background....stay with me people :)

#4 If you have lucky charms at home - this is a cute activity (found at this link) to do with your kids. St. Patrick shared the Bible with as many people as he could in Ireland. Find the different marshmallows in lucky charms (lets be honest the marshmallows are the only part of lucky charms that the kids eat anyways) and talk about the different promises of God found in the Bible.

#5 Compare the 4 leaf clover vs the 3 leaf clover. On St. Patrick's day you often hear about the lucky 4 leaf clover. However, St. Patrick used the 3 leaf clover to talk about the trinity. Just like the 3 leaves on the 1 clover leaf, there are 3 parts to the trinity - God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit but only ONE God. Again, I would take God over luck any day! Coloring sheet here.

#6 St. Patrick was known for his intense prayer life. Take time to pray to God as a family today!

#1512Challenge

February is such a fun month to focus on love because the resources are endless! I love decorating the house with scriptures on love and looking for ways to show God's love to my family. If you haven't signed up at the Welcome Center for our upcoming FAMILY ACT OF KINDNESS Challenge, then please do on Sunday. You will receive a text every morning with a Family Challenge for you to accept and then document it with a picture and post it on our FM Facebook page with #1512Challenge (This comes from our scripture focus for February from John 15:12 "My command is this: Love on another as I have loved you.")

There are also a lot of other fun resources that you can do on your own at home... here are a few of my favorites.....

1.]  14-days of God's love: A Valentine's Day countdown for kids with scripture about God's love. (ours is pictured above) You can print these off and hide one every morning for the kids to find and look up.

2.] Here are some fun printables for your house:Greatest of these is LOVE, 1 Corinthians 13, and Everlasting Love.

3.] Cute John 3:16 computer desktop

4.] Fun Valentine's Day Family Activities: Dinner Conversation Hearts, Family Love Coupons, Tabletop Valentine's Day Minute-2-Win-It Games

Adoring Him.... all season long.

 

I love Christmas music.

I usually wait until after Thanksgiving to turn on the Christmas radio station, but the kids have been begging, so I put it on earlier than usual.

It was great.... for the first few days.

I'm convinced they just rotate the same 20 songs every year.... and most of them give more honor to Rudolph than my Savior. I've tried to be really been strategic this year to re-focus our family on the love of Christ and Christmas music is a perfect avenue.

Here is our New Life Family Ministries Grooveshark Christmas Playlist.... for those who are tired of hearing about hippopotamuses and would rather hear about Emmanuel.

Some of my personal favs this holiday:

"Adorn" and "We Sing, Immanuel, Thy Praise" by Allie Rogers

 "O Come Let Us Adore Him" by Shane & Shane

"My Soul Magnifies the Lord" by Chris Tomlin

"He is the Reason" by Fred Hammond

any given Sunday...

I received these pictures this week from one of our amazing teachers in our Preschool/Kindergarten class. It's just a wonderful reminder of some of the incredible things that are going on around our church on any given Sunday morning. Teachers preparing rooms that will facilitate children learning about the love of God, numerous kids excitedly running down the hall trying to get to class faster and parents checking their kids in with confidence that their children will be poured by adults and teens that are invested in their kid's lives way beyond that next 2 hours.

It's fascinating.

It's vital.

It's making a difference.

So although these pictures are just a small snapshot of what goes on every Sunday, they remind us that God is allowing each of us to be a part of raising up a generation that loves Him deeply. What is a bigger calling than that?

(thanks Michelle R. for the pictures... and for loving our kids like Christ loves them!)

The Frenzy 2013

Family Ministries is so pleased that Fall Frenzy 2013 was another successful event!!

Over 200 people from our church, our daycare and our neighborhood came together this Sunday for a fall fest that put us in a fun frenzy :)

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Everyone came in their best costumes

We had a pumpkin patch

 

and pumpkin painting

a photo booth....view your pictures HERE!

 A velcro wall

 

Bounce House

with obstacles :)

a hay ride

 

yummy fall food

 balloon animals!!

which always had the longest line!!

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face painting, temporary tatoos and hair dye!!

 and other events....jenga building blocks, candy guessing jars, candy in a haystack, bowling, spider web, and many other gems :)

 and of course....every kid got to go home with a BIG bag of candy!!!!

 Look back at previous Fall Frenzy events HERE!!

We might not be in South Africa, but we can still change the world.

I LOVE talking to our kids about missions. It's so much fun to see their eyes opening to a world beyond our front door, and how they can consistently shine the light of Jesus wherever they go. Here are some resources to engage your kids in the world God has created that is so desperate for Him.

Also, please keep our South Africa team in your prayers this upcoming week as they travel into the adventure God has planned for them to reach kids that need to know the love of Christ.

Mission songs for kids that I'm loving right now:

Mission APPS for kids that I'm loving right now...

View The Story APP
 Check out THE STORY, told for kids to understand.


Jesus Film APP

 You can get The Jesus Film in any language, no matter where you are.
They also have The Story of Jesus for children.

JP Unreached APP
This APP gives you a specific group of unreached people to pray for.



Resources to help give a mission-mindset that I'm loving right now....

Growing Up Wild
by Wild Brother Productions


Children's Atlas of God's World
by Craig Froman
 

The Mission-Minded Family
by Ann Dunagan
 

back-2-school... KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!

Just a couple of resources for those families who have kids heading to the public schools next week. You might have been convinced that prayer & Bibles have been taken out of the public schools, but that is just not true. YOU HAVE RIGHTS TO BRING JESUS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO! Here is a synopsis of the rights each student has and links to help you out if you run into some opposition.

 

STUDENT RIGHTS:

1.  Students may witness to and pray for their classmates during any student interaction time.
2. Students may read their Bible during school at times when any non-instructional reading is allowed.
3. Students have a right to organize a Bible club in their school. The club should have the same privileges as any other club held at school. The only difference is the teacher sponsoring the club cannot control the meeting. The club may contain any religious activities such as prayer, Bible reading and worship.
4. Students may do speeches, write papers, or do English themes based on Christian topics.
5. Students may use pencils or notebooks that display their faith.
6. Students may wear apparel that promotes their Christian faith.
7. Students may pass out flyers or Christian tracts during non-instructional times.
8. A student may pray before they eat.
9. Christian students may excuse themselves from activities they find objectionable.
10. Graduation speakers can mention their faith and/or read the Bible in their speech.
11. Baccalaureate services may be held in public schools if they are held by private groups.

 

Here is the link to "Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools" by the US Department of Education.

 

Here is the link for a short legal analysis prepared by ACLJ attorneys on prayer in schools.

 

Here is the link to the AFA where your student can order free Bibles to give away at school.

Water Baptism for Children

Our annual New Life Water Baptism Service and Church picnic is coming up Sunday, August 18th at Stoney Creek Metro Park. With the baptism around the corner, I have been having numerous conversations with families about the age in which their child should become water baptized. Chris and I have been discussing this with Isaac this past year as well, and I was so blessed by what Pastor Mike shared in his message today. If you missed it, please listen to it here... he starts talking about water baptism at the 23:20 point, and specifically talks about the age our children should be baptized at the 37:00 point.

We also had a Water Baptism class in Small Town last week and have print-outs available. Please see Keri Sheerer or Jeni Cupp for a copy to discuss with your children.

CONNECT: SCS Fireworks

Last Wednesday was our annual SCS Fireworks CONNECT. The kids were more than excited to pass out free glow sticks to the kids in the community. We could barely keep our eyes on them because they were so excited to run around and generously give to others. What a wonderful night to hang out together, giving out a little love.

some of my favs this week... enjoy!

I'm always looking for things that encourage and challenge me during the phase of life I am in and through the opportunities God has afforded me. I just read through a few blog posts lately that I thought were really good and I wanted to pass along. 

 

The 1st one is entitled "Capturing the Heart of your Teen Daughter" by Victoria Mininger at Fearless Heart Ministries. I read it to get some tips on interacting with the girls in the youth group, but ended up realizing they are things I can use with my daughter right now. I just re-read Day 3 and it changed our entire day. It's a 15-day series, but well worth your time if you have a daughter.

Day 1: The Heart of the Matter

Day 2: Time: Quality vs Quantity

Day 3: Attitude Adjustment/Refocusing Our Hearts

Day 4: Dreaming- Between Now and Growing Up

Day 5: Tackling Fear and Letting Go

Day 6: Pointing Her Heart

Day 7: Modesty Becomes Her

Day 8: When Looks Matter

Day 9: Her Greatest Strength

Day 10: When She Runs

Day 11: A Father's Heart

Day 12: When He's Absent

Day 13: A Daughter's Perspective

Day 14: Her Value and Worth

Day 15: Looking Forward

The 2nd resource is from Missional Women called "8 Helpful Tools for Raising Missional Kids" by Laura Krokos. This particular article has many resources in focusing your kids to look outward and reach the world around them, including a neat music series for young children called Songs for Saplings, Kids Around the World Prayer Cards and Stand For Kids resources.

...and if you have a few minutes, check out the quick little article "Happily Ever After" article by Nicole Howe as well.... such a good perspective of marriage.

 and lastly, an article that challenged me hard-core this morning titled "Pursuing That Which Takes Time" by Ruth Simmons. It's a good reminder for those of us who are just trying to make it through the day with our sanity in check.

my daily prayer cards.

I am a firm believer in praying scripture.

I can't think of any words that I can come up with that would be more powerful than the Word of the Lord that has already been given to us. I have been really focused on praying scripture over my kids lately and decided to make prayer scripture cards to go through each morning during my prayer time. Some are scriptures that would be great to pray over all children, and then some are specific to things my kids are going through right now.

Pray scriptures relevant to your children.

Pray scriptures that cause your faith to rise.

Pray scriptures that speak life into their future.

Pray scriptures that display the heart of God.

I kept mine pretty rustic, but skies the limit on how fun you can make these. You can keep them by your bedside, by your Bible or even hang them on the wall for the family to see each day. The important part is to use the power of prayer to speak life into your kids!

You might also have the kids come up with their own prayer cards. How fun would it be for them to come up with scriptures that they want to pray over themselves!

 

Airtime Trampoline Park

Our 4th and 5th grader discipleship and leadership team had our end of the year celebration at Airtime. What a bouncy, fun experience! Each of these kids are amazing and grew in leadership this year!!