The Widow shares her food with Elijah (and gets her hair pulled)

We read the story of Elijah getting food from the widow today. When she shared her limited supply of oil and flour, she never ran out! Alyse enjoyed acting out the story and scooping the "oil." Of course, she never tires of playing in the water. Knox enjoyed playing in the water as well.

Gideon

Today we read the story of Gideon. This is one of my favorite stories because it is so fun to see how God makes such a point of shrinking God's army until the Israelite win could only be attributed to God's power. I often think of this when circumstances seem impossible. If God chooses to change things then, it will be so obviously his power. After all, we are here for His glory. I had also forgotten that God had put fear in the hearts of the Midionites even before Gideon ever showed up to fight. One of the Midionites had a strange dream, and another one interpreted it saying "that means God has delivered us into the hands of the Israelites." Oh how we forget that God is always working to fulfill his purpose-- he is not limited.

We made trumpets and dropped Legos on the tile to make the sound of breaking jars. I guess it was loud enough because it scared Knox and he started crying. We also retold the story using a dry erase board. We covered it in stick figures to represent the Israelite army. Then, we erased portions of the army men as God made cuts in the army. It really helped visualize what God was doing. I guess this could also be done with a bunch of blocks or actual army men if you have any.

Bible in the Bath

I recently heard an idea that sounded fun. Why not teach the kids Bible truths while taking a bath? Bathtime is already regularly scheduled, what a great idea to use that time as an informal teaching time. I like scheduling a formal "Bible Time" but also having a chance to talk about the Lord throughout our day. I tried it the other day. I just started off by telling Alyse, "did you know the earth used to be all covered in water like this tub?" She looked up at me with surprise (even though she has heard the story of creation.) Because it was such a part of our normal conversation, I think it had a different affect. I was surprised how many illustrations we found while taking a bath. Talking about breathing under water before God created the air, trying to swim everywhere before God created land, etc. Of course the natural flow of conversation shows how smart God was to create the air and the land before he created the animals and people. Very cool.

Jesus lost in the temple at age 12

Today we did the story of Jesus getting lost in the temple when he was 12 years old. It was time to nurse Knox at the same time so I didn't really participate as much as I like. After reading the story and singing the verse, Von (age 6) and Alyse (age 3) wanted to "find Jesus." Von wanted to use his "crock-tot" he got from Sonic to be Jesus. He hid it and Alyse walked around looking for "Jesus." But of course when it was Alyse's turn to hide "Jesus" she wanted to use her Snow White doll. We did emphasize how Jesus was not actually trying to hide from his parents. I hope they got the point... Von had a thought provoking comment. He noted, "it wasn't sin for Jesus to do that." It caused the mother in me to quiver... I sure don't want him wandering off on his own. But he was right. Because we know Jesus never sinned, we can be sure that his staying in the temple without his parents knowing it was not sin. However, I couldn't resist a quick lesson on telling/asking Mommy and Daddy when you want to go somewhere. :)

Things started falling apart since I was stuck on the couch nursing, so we also did the other activity for today's story which had a link to science. Von turned on some music and we tried to figure out ways to use a piece of paper to make the sound louder-- to emphasize listening in order to obey. I had in mind to make a cone shape to amplify the sound (small end on your ear.) However, we discovered that while a cone with a wadded up end will not work, a cape shape WILL work. A paper cone also makes a very nice pirate hand/arm/hook...