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

Happy Valentine's Day!

So, I'm curious, did anyone take the Valentine's Day challenge from my last post?  Our kids were so excited to collect food for our local food pantry as a way of showing God's love to others.  I forgot to count up all the bags of food, but I think we collected about 6 or 7 bags of food.  The most exciting part was when we took the food to the church for the food pantry.  The church had two large bins for collecting food for their pantry.  When we got there, the bins were completely empty!  We got to put our 7 bags of food into an empty bin.  Now that bin is no longer empty because we chose to follow the Spirit's leading in doing a Valentine's Day family project.  So exciting!

So, happy Valentine's Day!  Remember Jesus wants to be your first Valentine.  He loves you unconditionally, forever, and more than you can imagine!  He loves with a perfect love...

"Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Valentine's Day Challenge

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" ~Matthew 22:36-39

Happy February!  As I continue to think about ways I can teach my children to know and be more like Christ, I started thinking more about a prayer we say every night at bed time.  Every night we end our prayers with, "help us to know your love, Lord, and to show it to others."  We want others to know Jesus loves them unconditionally, forever, and more than you can imagine!  He is the best Valentine!  So, I got an idea I'm really excited about!  How can we show Jesus' love to others this month, in light of Valentine's Day?


My first thought comes from ideas I've heard on the radio in past years.  I've heard about youth groups collecting food for their local food banks from their communities.  And, in light of the "Souper Bowl of Caring," I thought why don't the kids and I get a group of people to gather food together for our local food bank for Valentine's Day!  


Here's the challenge: ask your family, friends, and/or neighbors to help collect non-perishable food items for your local food bank for the next 2 weeks.  Then, take the food over to the food bank on Valentine's Day, the 14th!  Or come up with your own idea with your kids.  Ask, "what can we do as a family to show Christ's love to others this Valentine's Day?"  Then, please post your ideas below.  I'm sure we can share ideas and come up with great ways to show Christ's love this month!

Hang Time

We started a tradition at our house of what would normally be called "date nights" with our kids. However, my son did not like the idea of going on a date with his parents so we have renamed the outings to "hang time". Hang time is a special one on one time with our kids. In our family we take one kid per month out to do something fun or have a special snack or whatever they want within a certain price range. We have four children, so one month I would take #1 and my husband would take #2 on another day. Then, the next month, I would take #3 and he would take #4. We could do every kid each month but that can get costly and time consuming. So we are doing it this way for now. The kids really enjoy their special time with mom or dad. It is nice to get away from the house and have some time to build our relationship. They look forward to this time (so do I). We think it is important to let each kid know they are loved and not lost in the crowd and chaos of family life and life in general. They can see that we desire to spend time with them. It also gives each kid a chance to experience mom and dad in different ways. What are some things you like to do with your kids? Do you have anything like this you do with them?

A Time of Traditions

According to Webster's dictionary, a "tradition" is, an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (as a religious practice or a social custom)," and "the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction."


As moms, part of our job is to teach our children, to pass down information from one generation to the next.  As Christian moms our job becomes to pass down the truths from the bible to the next generation.  


Christmas, I think, is one of the biggest times of year for tradition.  Think about some of your traditions and think about what is it you are teaching your children through these traditions?  This Christmas I would like to challenge you to add a new tradition.  A tradition to help further teach truths from the Bible.  


Last year, I was convicted on finding ways to "give Christmas away."  Of course, I already wanted to teach that to my children, but was really convicted about it after watching a new Veggie Tales movie and hearing a song by Matthew West and Amy Grant called, "Give This Christmas Away" .  I then went out and bought the book with the same title to get some ideas.  


This year we decided, as a family, to participate in Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse.  We collected 3 shoe boxes--one for each of my kids--and went shopping for toys, toiletries, candy, etc to fill up the boxes.  Then, we wrapped the boxes, designated who they were for (for example, my 6 year old boy shopped for a 6 year old boy) and sent them on their way.  Now, I admit this was a difficult task for my children to pick out toys for other kids and not themselves.  BUT, that is why we did it!  My husband and I are starting a new "tradition" of passing down and living out real Bible truths through this activity.  They are learning how to give to others in need.  Naturally, we are selfish people, so I am not surprised at all that this was difficult for them.  I am thankful though that they did it and for the most part did have fun at the same time. lol  They are also excited that their boxes will be tracked and we get to find out what part of the world they are going to!


Here are a few photos of our day.

So, I challenge you to find a way to "give Christmas away" this year.  You can buy the book, Give This Christmas Away to get lots of ideas.  Here are some more ideas as well:


Samaritan's Purse Gift Catalog
World Vision Gift Catalog

“Halloween” at the Wilson house

My post today will talk about what our family did for the time of Halloween this year. We are in the process of figuring out how we want to celebrate things and what things to celebrate and educating ourselves on the history of things and why people celebrate as they do, and how we can be a light of Christ or "missionary" in our community and culture, etc etc... We have always just done stuff because that's what we have always done or what we were taught, but I want to have and live with purpose and know why I do it and are having my kids learn and do it.

Well this year, a couple days before Halloween weekend I was led to do a lot of research on Halloween and I learned a lot of stuff. I even learned that Reformation Day is the same day. I had never really heard of Reformation Day. I knew about Luther and his theses, but I didn't know when he did it and why he did it that day. I could not believe that in almost 20 yrs of being a Christian, i did not know much about Luther, his theses, and the Reformation.  It was very saddening to me.  It is a very important moment in the history of the church.  We need to remember it!  This was all very interesting and enlightening. I was convicted to change our plans for that weekend.

We had just carved our pumpkin the night before and we had made it a witch. It was right after this that I started feeling weird and had a desire to research the holiday for personal knowledge as well as lesson planning for school (I had been putting it off). So first, I changed our witch pumpkin because I did not want to glorify the occult. Witches are real. They are not some made up fantasy that is just for fun. There is active spiritual war daily that we need to be aware of. Halloween is a wiccan holy day and the thought of having a witch on my front porch was grieving my spirit. The occult does not believe in God and spreads a false message along with serving false gods and so therefore they raise themselves up against him. So I did not want to display that at my house.

Then, I contacted a friend who I remember saying she was doing something at her house as an outreach. We joined them Monday night instead of trick-or-treating. The kids dressed up and we went to their house. They had a big display in the yard of a lighthouse which said that Jesus is the light of the world. They had a fishing area that the kids could go "fishing", catch a “fish”, and then get a full sized candy bar as a reward. Then they went to a table and made a witness bracelet that they then took home with them along with info. They also had popcorn, hot cocoa, and games set up. It was really neat. Our kids enjoyed themselves and it was great to serve others instead of going around being greedy with candy. The kids didn't even miss trick or treating.  We want to plan our own something next year.

I also planned a lesson for Monday all about Reformation Day and some history of Halloween. It was really fun. The kids enjoyed it. I used things I found online, nothing was my idea. What we did was learn some history about the day and do some games and activities. The kids did a maze worksheet of Luther finding his hammer; they colored the symbol the reformers came up with; we made a Door of Wittenberg, put it up on the wall and wrote simple statements reflecting the theses and the kids “nailed” them to the door; we played pin the beard on the reformer; and we had a special snack of worms(dirt pudding) due to the trial held in Worms Germany. It was a great day and we all learned a lot.

We plan on doing a lot more stuff like this as we go about the year and learn new things. I am trying to figure out what we will do for thanksgiving and Christmas. I am looking forward to it.  Anyway, hope you enjoyed seeing what we did.  

Chrissy