Summer Brain Time

Okay, so it's summer.  Are your kids bored yet?  lol Mine have already told me more than once that they are.  Apparently that's normal, so no worries.  :)  I want to share an idea I came up with last year.  It was successful and the kids are already asking for it this summer.

I call it my "Brain Time Bin."  Over the years my kids have come home with end of the year school projects.  These were things like a color wheel to practice their colors, flash cards to practice letters and numbers, etc.  I never really did anything with them at first; just set them aside somewhere.  Well, last year I realized we had a lot of this stuff and maybe we could use it over the summer.  I threw all their projects along with some teaching tools I had collected over time from the dollar spot at Target into a large bin and decided to call it our "Brain Time Bin."

The kids loved it!  Almost every day, we would have "brain time."  I'd pull out the bin, set it on the table and let the kids pick out whatever they wanted to do.  We had a hang-man game, which my 1st grader loved to play (and little did he know, he was practicing his spelling at the same time).  We also had flash cards, some lacing cards for my preschoolers, and more.

This year with all three kids having been in school, I created a "Brain Time Bin" for each kid.  We have already started having "brain time" throughout the week.  AND if I forget, the kids have been asking for it themselves.  Amazing.

Community

I took a short break from my blog.  Yes, I've been a busy mom, but I've also been in prayer about this blog and honestly, just been trying to work through some hard times.  In the past month, God has continued to remind me of our deep need for community.

I began the idea of this blog and reaching out to other moms after hearing a sermon on Mark 2:1-5.  This is the story of Jesus healing a paralyzed man.  The story tells about a paralyzed man who wants to be healed by Jesus.  Since he is paralyzed he cannot get to Jesus by himself; he must rely on the help of his friends.  The story gets even better because his friends go all out for him.  We are told there is a large crowd and they are unable to get to Jesus.  Do his friends give up on him?  No!  They take him up to the roof of the house where Jesus is, dig a hole in the roof, and then lower the parlayed man through the roof to Jesus!  Wow!

We too can be "paralyzed" in our lives and we need to lean on the help of our friends in Christ.  Do we need to ultimately lean on Jesus?  Of course!  But sometimes we need some help getting there.  Do you ever feel "paralyzed" as a parent?  So overwhelmed you just don't know what to do?  Or even in any part of your life, not just parenting.

A couple weeks ago, I was very blessed to be reunited with some dear friends from graduate school--our discipleship small group.  We became very close during our years of grad school together.  I had been struggling a bit with community in my life.  But when I was reunited with this group, even after not seeing each other for four years, I was greatly blessed, encourage, and ready to be who God needs me to be.  Refreshed as a woman, wife, and mom.

Then, last week I heard the sermon again from Mark 2.  God is reminding me I need community.  I need friends to be real with, to count on for help, and to keep bringing me back to the Lord.  I cannot do this whole mom thing on my own.  So, I remind myself and you of my purpose for this blog:

Moms need community and ideas. Lots and lots of ideas! I believe God created us to be in community and relationship. We cannot do this whole mom thing on our own, no matter how hard we try. We need Him and each other. So, I've decided to create this blog along with a few other moms to share our ideas and our journeys. We hope to pass along our faith from one mom to another as well as to the next generation. 2 Timothy 1:5


I also created this blog because I know how hard it can be as a busy mom to get out of the house with our friends!  It's sometimes impossible.  Therefore, I hope this blog can help to provide that community we all need.  Feel free to comment and chat with me.  I love hearing about what other moms are doing.  :)

Wheaton DSG Reunion 2012