Memorizing Monday

The verse this week is very timely (but aren't they all?)  James 1:22 says "Do not merely listen to the word.....do what it says."  Today alone the girls have been blaming each other for things, telling on each other, hurting each other, etc.  So I explained that we shouldn't just listen to what we should do, but actually do the right things.  We shouldn't just hear someone say to be nice, but to really BE nice.  Think it will work?

God's Truth

It occurred to me today that the girls probably already hear satan's lies in their head.  I need to equip them to recognize what thoughts are true!  Even as an adult, I struggle with lies in my head, so I know it is never too early.  We played a game I made up to learn what is true.  I asked these questions::
1. Your friend at school doesn't want to play.  You think you must be a bad friend.  Is that from God?  Does He want you to believe that?
2. Your room is dark at night.  A voice tells you that you are alone.  Are you really alone?
3. You get a question wrong at school and feel dumb.  Are you dumb?
4. Mommy tells you you are beautiful.  Is this what God wants you to believe?
5. You draw a picture that Daddy says is wonderful.  Are you talented?
6. Your sister shares with you and tells you she loves you. Does God want you to know you are loved?

We were able to talk about these things and know that God wants us to feel loved and smart versus alone and bad.  They did so well they "won" and got some candy.  :)

Ruth Was a Georgia Fan!

I let the girls pick out a page to color from a Bible coloring book.  They both picked out pictures of the story of Noah and I picked Ruth.  I put her in red and black (because everyone looks good in Georgia colors!)  Well, at least until Kaitlyn "helped" finish mine.  We talked about the story of Ruth in the beginning and then just colored. 

Memorizing Monday

The verse this week is Luke 11:1 "Lord, teach me to pray."  We have been praying with them all their lives, and now both girls like to talk to Jesus.  However, there is a difference in what they say.  Lauren will copy things she has heard me say.  Kaitlyn always starts by listing all the names of family and friends and then something that happened that day.  Or just counting or saying colors.  Sigh. So today was a good day for a lesson.  We talked about things we say to thank Jesus or requests to ask Him.
On an different note, Lauren showed me today that she listens to me!  We were talking about how our neighbor (who is in her class) was not in a good mood today and took it out on Lauren.  I made sure she was still nice to Kendall.  She spouted back to me "Yes we treat people the way we want to be treated."  She gets it!

Trust God and Respect Authority

David was a good example to share with the girls of putting enemies in God's hands.  I told the story about David and Saul and how even though David knew Saul wanted him dead, he didn't kill him when he had the chance.  God puts people in charge of us and we have to listen to those people.  We may not like them or what they have to say, but God requires us to respect them.  Thankfully Lauren has always loved her teachers, but I am sure she won't always!  We listed people she has to listen to: Mommy and Daddy, her teachers at school, her bus driver, the child care workers at the gym, and Sunday School teachers.  We had a great discussion and I pray she will remember this when she needs to!

David and Goliath

We of course had to make the first story of David week be the one when he was just a boy.  The 3 of us read the story together and then talked about it.  We looked at a slingshot and I explained how it works.  Then I told them that David was able to hit Goliath in the exact right spot because he had practiced.  Being a shepherd had a lot of downtime, so he had time to sharpen his slingshot skills.  We all have skills that we can practice and maybe God will use them one day. (Thanks Rebecca for helping them relate to the story!)

Memorizing Monday

Today is the start of "David week."  I actually chose the verse in Psalms that was written by him before I decided that!  The verse is Psalm 31:14 "I trust in You, O Lord."  Lauren and I discussed what trust means and I think she understood the comparison that she trusts Mommy and Daddy like we trust God.

Dance Party

I have been sick for most of the last 2 weeks and finally have a little energy.  It seemed to be a good day to do some praisin'!  We have CD's of our Church worship.  I cranked it up and we sang and danced (and giggled) like fools.  I am so glad they are still young enough to enjoy this and not notice my bad singing voice.  Don't worry, I kept it short so I can keep getting better.  :)

Sharing the Love

We decided to show our neighbors we love them by making cookies today.  They are chocolate chip, and once they cooled we delivered to 2 families.  This was the first time I let each girl get out and give the cookies by themselves.  It was great to let them see the joy of giving and to have them get the "thank you" instead of me.

Memorizing Monday

Last week went well, and now we are back to Monday again.  This week's verse is Matthew 22:39 "Love your neighbor as yourself."  We learned that loving God is most important, and now the lesson is to love each other.  We talked about how God says that loving others is a way to show God we love Him.  Every chance I get this week I will remind them that their sister is their neighbor!

Makin' a Rainbow

With girls who have heard the story of Noah many times and love rainbows, today seemed like a perfect day to SHOW them!  We headed out to the very sunny driveway and I turned the hose on them.  After a few minutes I started to see a rainbow had formed.  After I showed them that one, they ran around pointing to the ones they saw.  We talked about when the first rainbow appeared, and the story seemed more alive.  Plus it took me back to the days I used to run around in the sprinkler.  Good times, good times.

Encouraging

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says to encourage one another and build each other up.  I explained to the girls that this means to be a good friend and help make someone feel better.  Two years ago this weekend my cousin Lee was killed in a car accident, and my aunt and Lee's wife are having rough weeks.  I put Lauren's coloring skills to use and had some pictures made.  Aunt Vivi loves to get new creations to hang on her fridge!

Memorizing Monday

Today is the first of hopefully many Memorizing Mondays!  Growing up we were memorizing for Church and school, so I thought I would start this at home while my girls are still sponges.  I got sets of laminated cards last year and plan on using them now.  (www.comfortfood4thesoul.com)  We are starting with Mark 12:30 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart."  Every day this week we are going to recite it multiple times and talk about how to apply it.  How can we show God we love Him with all our hearts?
Maybe next week we will do a verse about being nice to your sister.....

The Golden Rule

My other grandmother loved talking about the Golden Rule when I was young.  Today we talked about the verse Matthew 7:12 "do to others what you would have them do to you."  We talked about examples the girls might get into (especially Lauren in school.)  We talked about people in the Bible and whether they were good or bad or both.  Adam and Eve-bad.  Noah-good.  Jonah-bad then good.  David-good and bad.  Jesus-always good.  Then we made a list of our own rules.  And by "our" I mean "Lauren's!"

Don’t drive on people.

Be nice to Mommy and Daddy.

Don’t pick other people’s flowers.

Don’t take anyone’s trees.

Don’t hurt anyone.

Use nice words and inside voices.

If someone is mean, don’t be mean back.

The girls have been more ready for this than I thought they would be and we have had fun this week!

Fruit Anyone?

Today's lesson involved my grandmother, Mimi's, favorite verse.  Galatians 5:22 says "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."  Lauren and I talked about what each of these words mean and that this is how Jesus wants us to be.  Some words she understood better than others, and some I had a harder time explaining in 5 year old terms.  I got out paper and crayons and let her draw fruit, to give her a visual.  I started to make it more complicated by thinking about what fruit should represent each trait.  Peace is definitely a banana to me.  They are bland and not exciting and peace is calm.  Joy is orange, because of its color.  Love is a strawberry, since everyone loves strawberries.  In the end she drew fruit she wanted and they are both happily playing with Play-Doh again.  Hopefully the words will stick when they are playing together.  I just want some gentleness and kindness!

Let's Start at the Beginning

So what do we do the first day?  Why, Creation of course!  If it was good enough for the Bible to begin with, it is good enough for us!  My girls have heard about God creating the earth, so today we focused on things they can see that were made by God.  I started by cutting 2 roses from our bush and smelling them.  We have them as reminders for the next few days.

Then the 3 of us went out to the front yard and found things God created.  They didn’t get much past the basics of grass, leaves, trees, bugs, etc.  But the fun began when we went inside and created with Play-Doh.  Kaitlyn made a snake, a rainbow, and a blue apple.  Lauren also started with a snake and ended up with a picture of Mommy and Daddy and a heart.