Valentine's Day/100 Day of School

This week we celebrated both Valentine's Day and 100 Days of School!  We kicked off the week with Valentine's Day.  We'd actually did a few activities and trays last week. 

Ladybug and Taz did a tray where they sorted candy hearts by colors and then counted them.  We discussed which color had the least, most, etc.  With Miss Priss we worked on poetry and she wrote her first little poem.  She also graphed candy hearts.  I have to admit Valentine's Day seems to fall a little short when it comes to great books but we read several, including my favorite:  The Biggest Valentine Ever. 

So come Tuesday, Valentine's Day, we just kept it pretty simple.  (Of course!)  As I've mentioned before, we like to create a special meal on Valentine's Day.   We started the day by making a Valentine Trifle for our Valentine meal.  It's easy, basically just layering so great to do with kids.

Taz adding in a layer of whipped cream.

Look Mom, we're pretending like it's snow!

That is unless you leave the cool whip container out and they decide to play in the "snow".  (Side Note: We were studying snow the week before and had a sensory bin of shaving cream and baking soda which looked very similar to cool whip and I had been allowing them to play in it.)

It wouldn't be Valentine's Day without cards, so we made those next.  I found this Polka Dot heart card from A Thrifty Mom.  The first couple went well but then they decided to venture off and just do their own thing and that was alright too! 

About half way through making our cards, Taz started to say he wanted me because his head was hurting.  He proceeded to just lay it down on the table and sit very still which is SO not him!  Sure enough, he had a fever.  When he's sick he just wants to be held.  (Is it terrible, that I sometimes like it when he's a little sick, so I get extra cuddle time and less cleaning up messes????) 

That kind of put a damper on anything else I had planned.  Instead, I went upstairs and watched Paw Patrol with him while the girls finished up their cards.  He fell asleep after about 30 minutes and I knew we just had a little time to finish preparing for our Valentine Day!   The day before after piano lesson, I had let the girls go in Dollar Tree and pick up a few decorations.  So for a grand total of $7 we were ready to decorate!  They decided they wanted the meal to be in their playhouse.  Since we hadn't been out there much this winter, it first had to be cleaned up a little.  So the girls started cleaning while I started pulling out the decorations we were going to use.  Then we all set the table together, added some candles in the windows, an electric fireplace, and we finished just a few minutes to spare before Taz woke back up! 

About an hour before Daddy got home, the girls started getting ready as they wanted to wear their princess dresses and make up.  I had planned on dressing up a little too, a shower at least would have been awesome!  But with Taz not feeling well - that didn't happen!  That's ok though!  Dinner was just as good in a t-shirt with juice spilled down it!

 

Fortunately by Friday everyone felt well for our 100th Day of School celebration and we even invited GiGi over for the fun.  She was a little offended and wondering if the kids thought she was 100, but joined right in with us!  Here's a few pictures from the day:

100th Day Breakfast

 

 

      

Redeemed: HIStory for my Life Wrap-Up

Here we are at the end of another study!  I hope you find yourself with a deeper meaning of being redeemed and a clearer vision for your part in God's story of redemption.  As a wrap up, I wanted to go back to some of the questions I asked in the first blog post and answer them.


What does it mean to be redeemed?

It means we belong to Christ.  He has bought us with His precious blood.  In doing so, we have been freed from sin.  Christ is constantly working on us, perfecting us until that final day of redemption. 

Why is redemption necessary?

Adam and Eve sold us out to sin.  (Genesis 3) We were condemned to a life of sin and death.  It's easy to blame them, but truth be told, if not them, then it would have been us.  We are all sinful by nature.  (Rom. 3:23)   Sin separated us from God.  Sacrifices of goats and calves were made but they only put the sin off temporarily.  Eternal redemption could only be obtained by the perfect blood of Christ.  (Hebrews 9:12)   

What does a redeemed life look like?

It looks like the children of Israel standing at the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army behind them and dry ground ahead, choosing to move forward in faith rather than return to a life of complacency. 

It looks like a young boy without fear, slaying a giant with just a slingshot.  Then a man who had an affair with another man's wife, but then came to sorrowful repentance.   

It looks like a child being afraid to sleep at night for fear of dying, and God saving her soul and giving her sweet sleep.  It looks like a teenager questioning God and God showing her without a doubt He's real.  It looks like a young married couple leaving everything behind and trusting their jobs, home and future to God and God providing.  It looks like a Mom with a messy bun, pajama pants, and a cup of coffee pouring her soul out once more so God can fill her up with what she needs for the day.   

The children of Israel were never without, even in the wilderness.  David had some heartache over his sin, but ended as being known as one of Israel's greatest kings, part of Christ's bloodline and a man after God's own heart.  And that child, young girl, wife, and mom - I can personally tell you out of those instances came some of her biggest blessings!  A redeemed life looks like a surrendered life.  

What is hindering us from being free to live the life God has called us to live?   

I think perhaps the more accurate question is as Paul phrased it to the church:  "...who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?" (Galatians 5:7)

The who is ourselves; the what is anything we are putting between us and God.  Christ has already freed us from all sin, so if we are holding onto it; it's not because Christ is wanting us to; it's because we are choosing to.  It may seem like the safe thing to do; but in reality it is the crippling thing to do.  It's stealing our joy, our peace, our freedom and the wonderful life God has for us. 

What is God's plan for the redeemed now and in the future?

His plan for the redeemed is to keep molding and perfecting us until the final day of redemption when He will return and we shall live with Him forever.  I think Paul does a great job in Titus 2 summing up God's plan of redemption:  past, present and future.

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.  These things speak, and exhort and rebuke with all authority.  Let no man despise thee.

Friend, I hope you've seen throughout this study the redeemed life is a good life, the best life!  It's not about being perfect.  It's about understanding that He has already conquered and freed us from sin.  It's not anything about our goodness, but it's about His.  God has a plan for us, but we have to get ourselves out of the way.  We have to realize that apart from Him we are nothing; with Him we have everything.  Being redeemed, is about being His.  Allowing Him to use our good, bad and ugly for His glory.  For one day our lives will be nothing but history.  Then once we do, we will experience the incredible journey He has for us - HIStory for our life!

I would love to hear what God has shown you through this study!

“There are cracks in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” ~ Leonard Cohen

P is for Penguins

We wrapped up our unit on penguins.  I've been teaching for ten years now and I don't know why this was my first time to do a unit on penguins.  They are so much fun!  We kicked off our unit by watching March of the Penguins.  I admit I didn't make it all the way through the movie, but then I rarely do now a days.  One thing I did realize though is that compared to penguins, parenting my little humans is a breeze! 

We spent the next week researching penguins - especially emperor penguins.  We labeled a penguin and recorded what we learned on these sheets.  We also explored the National Geographic Kids website for penguin information and some fun videos!
 

 


For our reading, we read a few non-fiction books we had checked out from the library.  Our two favorite fiction books were One Cool Friend and Mr. Popper's Penguins.  After reading Mr. Popper's Penguins we discussed what it would be like to have a pet penguin of our own.  Using the writing process, "Miss Priss" also wrote an opinion piece. 

We combined fine motor skills, colors, shapes and art together to create these awesome penguin pictures.  I loved how unique these all turned out!
 

 
 
We wrapped up our penguin unit with a family fun night!  We watched Mr. Popper's Penguins (which the kids and I were disappointed to learn that it was nothing like the book other than there is a Mr. Popper and he has penguins).  We also made some penguin cupcakes and had a relay race.  For the relay race we had to balance a ball between our feet and pass it off to our partner, much like the mom and dad penguins do.  We couldn't let it "hit the ice" or it would break and we lost! 
 

 
 

 
 
During our two week penguin study, we also did the letter "M" with my two youngest.  The highlight being playing in the mud and making mudpies!  We also made monkey puppets and had muffins and milk with Mom one morning! 
 

 

 

 


Fun times!  Now on to our snow unit!

The Best is Yet to Come: Keeping a Vision for the Future

"Where there is no vision, the people perish:  but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." Proverbs 29:18

I can't believe we are already on our next to last week of this study!  We've looked at the past and our present now this week we will be looking at what's to come.  It's easy to look around us today and the future looks rather bleak but (to steal a line from one of my favorite former pastors:)  "I have good news - I've read the back of the book and we win!" 

As a mom I worry about what the future holds for my children. However, the Bible tells me not to worry or be anxious about anything. So as the redeemed, how do we keep from being discouraged as we see what's happening all around us today? 

Helen Keller said, "The only one thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision."  I often find myself with sight but no vision.  Seeing all that's wrong, but not focusing on my Redeemer - the only one that can fix it.  When I look at my children and other children, I should realize more than ever there is still a cause.  My desire for them, more than anything, is to follow Christ.  What I'm doing today is affecting an eternity - and not just mine but theirs too. 

I absolutely love hymns and love hearing the stories that lie behind them.  One of my favorites here lately is "Be Thou My Vision."  If you aren't familiar with it, here's the first verse:

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art

Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

 

It was a hymn originally derived from lyrics from an Irish poet, Dallan Forgail.   Dallan was a blind man, yet he had vision!  In a world where all around him was dark, He had God as his light.  He is now known as the best Irish poet of the 6th Century and the words he penned are still comforting and bringing peace to us 1500 years later.  His desire was to see things through the eyes of God.  Can you only imagine what this life would be like if that was everyone's sincere desire?   

As we go throughout our study this week, we will be looking at some truths about our future as one of the redeemed:

1. We are sealed until the day of redemption.  God's plan of redemption is perfect.  As evil as Satan is and as evil as this world may become - nothing can pluck us from His hand.  We are His - focus on that!
2. We are a spiritual work in progress.  God is refining us and will continue to do so until the end of time.  Through the waiting, through the trials, through repentance we are growing closer to perfection through Him-focus on that!   
3. We will go through some trials here - Christ did and we certainly aren't above Him - yet hang in there it's all going to be worth it in the end!   The sufferings we go through down here will not begin to compare to eternal glory - focus on that! 
4. While it's great to think about the end - there's some good times ahead of us here too!  God didn't leave us alone.  We have the Holy Spirit with us to guide us and comfort us -focus on that!     
5. We should be looking for the day when He shall return.  A day when we no longer have to worry about distractions, worry or separations - but our eyes will forever be on Him - focus on that!

Our challenge this week is to spend some extra time studying and meditating on what is to come.  I think in this era of information and technology we are living, perhaps Satan's biggest weapon is distraction.  We get so wrapped up in the frivolous things of this world, we forget eternity!  We spend our time focused on things that won't matter tomorrow.  Don't let Satan distract you from keeping the end in sight.  Let this be a week of refocusing our vision.  When we have a strong vision of our final goal, then we will be able to prioritize and accomplish what needs to be done today. 

Let the Redeemed Say So!

Have you ever been pouring a drink but you aren't really paying attention and the next thing you know that cup has overflowed and the drink is everywhere?  Then you have a big mess to clean up.

 

That's kind of how we are with our own mouths sometimes.  We aren't really paying as close attention as we should be to what we are putting into our heads and into our hearts.  Before we know it, it's been filled up with negative statements, worldly issues, and tangible things.  So guess what spills out of our mouths?  Either offensive words or frivolous comments.

 

 

"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil:  for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh."  Luke 6:45

 

 

I'm writing this on Sunday afternoon and I imagine a good bit of us have spoken of Christ at some point today.  By the time you are actually reading this, it'll be at least Monday morning, if not later...what has our conversation been about now? 

 

We come in contact with our friends, colleagues and strangers everyday and we'd rather talk about our kids, their accomplishments, the latest sports scores, the weather, facebook statuses, any and everything but what really matters - Christ!

 

We look around and we wonder why there is so much hate and so little hope.  I believe it's not because Trump is our president; it's not because Obama was our president; I believe it's because we, as Christians, aren't showing Christ.   The redeemed of the Lord - aren't saying so!  Instead we sit quietly by-maybe out of shame, maybe out of being "politically correct", maybe because we don't want to hurt our friends' feelings.

 

This week our Bible study is entitled, "Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So!"  We will be looking at how we can share God with others, the attitude in which we should do so, and ways we can share Him even more with those right around us.

 

So as we go through this week, I pray that we all will slow down and turn our hearts and conversations toward Him.  May our lives reflect the hope we have found as one of the redeemed.   Let the redeemed say so! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Redeemed: Living Free

Ok, friends-it's about to get real this week!  We've been studying about the past:  about God's redemption plan through Christ and about the children of Israel's redemption story.  Now this week - we're going to look at the here and now.  We're going to see what all this means for us today.  Are we living the abundant, free life God has for us?

As I started preparing for this post and this upcoming week,  I knew there were are some sins that are holding me back from living out the life God has for me.  There are some things that hinder me from being completely and totally free.  So because I am a list maker and a planner, I started creating and searching for a "form" of how I was going to "do better" this upcoming week.  Maybe a checklist I could check off?  Well...nothing was really coming together.

Then as I started actually writing this blog post - in a complete different direction - it hit me.  I was trying to figure out a way I could overcome these sins when in fact - Christ already has! 

Freedom comes only through Christ.  It can't come through a case of "do betters".  It can't come through a check off list.  It comes through knowing and surrendering to Him.  My lists are no match for Satan but my God is!

Paul tells the churches of Galatia:

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1

Our freedom has been won; that's in the past.  All we have to do today is "stand fast" in it.  We've been released from the bonds of sin - so don't get tangled back up in it!  Sin is a price far more than we want to pay.  It's is a heavy load to carry.  It'll weigh us down and cause us to live far below the life God has planned for us. 

So, if you find yourself worn out from trying to overcome sin on your own, just give it to Him.  He's got this guys.  Whatever it is - big, little or in between - He's already conquered it.  We just need to quit trying on our own, declare the victory through Him, and rest.  

Don't believe me?  Take His word for it:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  Matthew 11:28-30 

Rest...easy yoke...light burden - now that's living free!  How do we get there?  By coming to Him, by resting in Him.  That's  our part of the redemption story.  

I started out dreading this week.  I thought it was going to be a lot of work for me.  However, I was going about it all wrong.  It's time to stop fighting a fight that's already been won.  Now, I'm looking forward to a week of seeking His truth, repenting and then resting in Him. 
 
 

Redemption Exemplified Through the Children of Israel

 

 

You can't really have a study on redemption without looking at the children of Israel.  So that's where we'll be this week!  They were in bondage and it continued to get worse.  Then the redemption price was paid and the blood applied to their doorposts.  Pharaoh finally said "Let them go!"  After over 400 years, they were finally free- free from being enslaved to the Egyptians.  God had freed them for a purpose. For the same reason we are freed, to fulfill their part in His story. 

But here's the thing, He didn't let them take the easy route, but he took them through the wilderness. He still had some work to be done before they reached their final destination. So they set out, but they didn't get far before Pharaoh and his mighty army were hot on their trail.  God was, once again, already ahead of them. He was leading them, providing ways, and even parting waters.  They had to take those steps of faith though and walk through. Even then God didn't force them.  

Does any part of this redemption story sound familiar?  Can you see yourself in the children of Israel? 

Maybe you're still in bondage?  Satan's hold much too strong for you to free yourself. 

Maybe you've been set free but Satan is right on your trail? 

Maybe you've made it to the Red Sea and God's showing you the way, even clearing the path for you but you're looking back wondering if you should return to complacency or take a risk of faith? 

Maybe you've made it through the Red Sea and a few other trials, but somewhere you've lost your way and now you're wondering aimlessly in the wilderness without the goal in sight.

 I can remember when I was younger reading about the children of Israel and thinking, "Did they just not ever learn?  How could they forget God's power so quickly?"  After all, it was only a short time between being set free and reaching the Red Sea.  Then time and time after that, they questioned God's power and provision.  Yet, the older I get the more I realize how much like them I really am.  (Ouch!)

God had redeemed them, and set them free from the Egyptians.  They were His chosen ones, the ones on their way to the promised land.  Likewise, God redeems us, we become one of His-no longer a servant to sin but an heir to the kingdom of heaven!

"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." Galatians 4:6-7

However, living so long in bondage can have some strong holds.  Just as the children of Israel had the wilderness to make their way through, we have this earthly life.  This week as we walk alongside the children of Israel, I pray you'll see a little clearer where you are in your own journey.  Our challenge is to spend some extra time in prayer and reflection.  Are we living a life as a servant to sin or an heir to Christ?