Outdoor Hour Challenge: Winter Fun

This has been a good month to go outside.  It has been a little bit warmer this month than last.  With the stomach flu hitting our whole family (and a few members twice), any opportunity we had to get out and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine, we’ve jumped on it.  We slowly worked on our January Winter Fun Grid this whole month.  Here are our results:

Find two evergreen trees… Can you find a cone? Describe it with words.  My kids made it their mission this month to find a pine cone.  Normally, that is no trouble, but for some reason, several of the parks we visited at first had no pine cones to find.  Thankfully, Grandma’s backyard turned out to be a treasure trove of pinecones.  Mystery solved!  Here is where all the pine cones from the entire county ended up.  For some reason.  Their words for these pine cones: “Sticky.  Smelly.”

Pincones

Look for a tree with  no leaves. We looked at many trees with no leaves.  My personal favorite we found yesterday at a park we haven’t visited before.  The branches twisted and curled in curious ways.  It was a fascinating tree.  The grid suggested that we draw it in our nature journal, but the kids really wanted to draw their pine cones instead, so that’s what we did.  I hope to draw my tree sometime later this week.

Can you go out on a cold day and see your breath?   Yep!  We did that!  My kids were confused and asked, “But Christmas is over. Why can we see our breath?”  That line of thought stumped me for a minute until I remembered what I myself had told them previously.  You see, I had excitedly announced back in November when we could first start seeing our breath in the early mornings as we waved goodbye to Daddy as he drove off to work: “Look! You can see your breath!  That means Christmas is coming!”  So I had some explaining to do.

Take a closer look at frost or ice with your magnifying glass.  Nope.  We didn’t do that.  I’ve looked every morning, but alas, there was no frost on our grass or sidewalk this month.  I think there were a few mornings where there was some frost on our car windows, but I only (barely) noticed this on mornings we were in a hurry (of course).

Observe tree needles…. Smell the bark of a tree.  We observed needles and smelled a few pine trees.  You can tell from the picture who enjoys the smell of pine and who does not.

Excited about his finds

We did not have a chance to listen for birds (though I did this in Maui! when I spent a week there with my sister to celebrate her birthday) and we did not take a friend on a nature walk, though we hope to do this soon.  It has been too difficult to coordinate park dates with so many people getting the flu.

Carrying her nature collection home

But the kids did have a lot of fun this month enjoying nature and collecting things like feathers, pebbles, and leaves.  In fact, my daughter told me today that she wants to be a “Nature Girl” and do “Nature Things” and study “Nature” and collect “Nature Things.”  As we discussed the various branches of science, she was vacillating between being a botanist (because beautiful FLOWERS!) and gemologist (because beautiful JEWELS!- there’s a theme here) and eventually settled on botanist since she has not found too many jewels in nature so far.  I think that’s fair.  X-man announced that he wanted to be a meteorologist today.

Junior Nature Boy likes to follow his big bro and sis on their Nature Adventures and Searches

Finally, I think that winter fun should include snow angels but since we live in California where Snow is a destination, rather than a daily reality, we had to settle for Sand Angels.

Sand Angels

Discipleship with Children- 7 Principles (Part I)

Last summer, the night before my mother moved across the country to care for her aging and ailing parents, she took me to see the movie Brave.  It was a very appropriate movie for a mother-daughter date, especially when said daughter has herself a head of vivid red hair and a very lively and determined personality.  However, the most powerful moment of this film for me was one where I identified not with the daughter but with the mother.  A violent, vicious bear charges toward the girl and Mother Bear hurls herself between danger and her daughter.

Don’t all of us- mothers, aunts, sisters, teachers, nurses, women-  identify with this mother?  Who of us wouldn’t do whatever it took to save a child in our care?

And I’m sure it is the deepest cry of every Christian parent’s heart to desire their child’s salvation more than anything else they want for that child.

I’ve been studying the book of Mark in my own personal Bible study time lately.  During this time through, I’ve been taking special notice of how Christ taught, mentored, and nurtured his disciples.   Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest has a great definition of discipleship.

“Discipleship means a personal, passionate devotion to a Person, our Lord Jesus Christ” (from July 2)  and  “The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ” (from June 19).

So here are three of seven principles I gleaned from the book of Mark to help develop devotion for Jesus in yourself (which must come first!) and in your children.

1.  A Teacher Takes Time to Develop a Relationship with His Disciples

Jesus chose twelve men (in Mark 1:17 and 3:14-15) to be his constant companions.  He spent three years living, working, traveling, eating, and fellowshipping with them.  Therefore, He had many, many opportunities to teach them about Himself, encourage them in their faith and to show them how they should live.

We must take time to develop our relationship with Jesus.  We need to spend time with Him every day through prayer and reading His Word, for “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3).  Personally, I get up early in the morning (thanks partially to the encouragement of the Hello Mornings challenge, described in my post about Making the Most of my Mornings), before my children wake up so that I can spend a little time with the Lord.  This practice gives me the strength to take on my day.

We must also do this with our children.  They are our companions for a few years on this journey called life.  Investing time in developing a relationship with our children is vital that we may be given opportunities to disciple and shepherd their hearts.  Play with them.  Read to them.  Make fun memories with them.  Talk to them.  Listen to them.  Most importantly, encourage them to spend time developing a relationship of their own with Jesus by modeling it, providing them with a Bible and journal, teaching them how to pray, and giving them time.

2.  A Teacher Identifies with His Students

Mark chapter one describes how Jesus entered and identified with His creation: He became a man, was baptized, and suffered temptation.  He identified with us, became like one of us, so that He could not only most importantly die as a substitute for us; but he could also therefore sympathize with us and help us in our troubles.  Hebrews 2:18 says, “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”  Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”   The author of Hebrews then encourages us to boldly approach Him, our King, in our time of need.

That Jesus would let go of His glorious and divine attributes to become a humble man so that we might live and lean on Him is amazing.  This should spur us on to greater love and devotion as His disciples.  And encourage us to go to Him when we are in trouble.

As teachers and disciplers of our children, we can learn from Christ’s example.  We should take the time to identify with our children, to sympathize with them in their struggles and weaknesses.  After all, we were children once.  We know how powerless and frustrated they feel.  If we take the time to think about things from their perspective, we can sympathize with their anger or sadness.  As we sympathize with our children, trust is built and the relationship is strengthened.  Then when they are in trouble, they know they can come to us.  We have thus been given a precious opportunity to point them to Jesus.  For it is in trouble when we all see most clearly our need for Jesus.  Then we can carry them or walk with them into His presence through prayer and by His Word.

3.  A Teacher Uses All Opportunities to Teach Truth

As Jesus walked through Israel with His disciples, completing His mission with them as His companions, there were many “teachable moments”  where He took the time to reveal truth and meaning to His disciples.  When He spoke in parables to the crowds (Mark 4), His disciples were curious as to what His stories meant.  Jesus used that opportunity to explain the truths behind His teachings to them.  He performed many miracles and taught a lesson to His disciples in many of them.  During their holiday feasts and celebrations, Jesus took the time to explain the deeper meaning behind their traditions.

Many of these “teachable moments” were written down by the disciples so that we have access to them in the gospels.  Christians also have the gift of the Spirit that reveals truth, helps with understanding God’s Word and reminds us of Jesus’ teachings.  This deeper understanding we can have deepens our devotion as disciples of Jesus.

As parents, we have a captive audience in our children.  As homeschool moms, we have even more time with our children and therefore so many “teachable moments.”  This past week, I’ve helped a child through a fight with a sibling over toys, a compromise in what game to play, and how to do a difficult task.  Things may come up in line at a grocery store, at a play date at a park, or while watching TV that give an opportunity to share the gospel, explain a truth or wise principle for living, or just point to the glorious grace of God.

Pray for your eyes to be open to these “teachable moments.” Pray that you do not get caught up in academics, or a To Do List and ignore this precious opportunity to do the work of the Kingdom.  These moments where are children are open, asking questions, and curious are moments when their hearts are soft and their ears receptive to truth.  Let us seize those moments and rejoice in them.  And let us not worry about the things that don’t get done instead.

Next week I will talk about the final four principles for discipling children.

Homemade Alphabet Book: T

T is for tissue paper, tiger, turtle, toad, trucks, tractor, and Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Teaching Among Tornadoes: Trick #7, Seashells

It has been a long while since I posted any tips for teaching with preschoolers around.  Life got a little crazy with illness, birthdays, holidays, company, parties and all that fun stuff.  However, school has started up again so I am back to working on ways to keep my preschoolers happy and occupied so I can squeeze a little school into my day.

My list of tricks so far:

1. Watercolors

2. Stamping

3. New Toy (i.e. Hot Dots and Sorting Pie)

4. School Supplies (i.e. safety scissors & construction paper, dry erase board & marker)

5. Leap Frog videos

6. Pipe Cleaner Sculpture

And now, Trick #7: Seashell Sorting

I gave him two jars filled with seashells and spent an amazing amount of time for a kid who is only a year and a half dumping the seashells out and filling the jars back up.  Next time I will use plastic tupperware instead of glass jars, for my own peace of mind (and for the sake of my ears!) and probably add a few cups or other items he can use to scoop.

Conclusion: An excellent open-ended activity that was actually not terribly messy!  We will try this again for sure.

 

Choosing Peace

 Hands Full of Crazy- and awesome- Kids

I really love to plan.  I enjoy planning school- lessons, field trips, schedules.  I love planning vacations, new schemes for house cleaning or organization, and ways to invest in or raise my children.  So it is really not all that surprising that I like making New Year’s Resolutions.

I like the idea of a fresh start in the New Year.  The busy holiday season is behind me and I am facing a New Year full of possibilities and opportunities.  I usually take my time to think and ponder and pray about what I want to focus on- or hopefully, what the Lord wishes to work on in my heart for that year.

This year, however, it did not take me very long at all to figure out what needs to change in my heart this year.  In fact, I have felt this desperate need deep in my heart for months, though only really recognized it in the crazy weeks preceding Christmas.  I am desperate for peace.

A Rare Moment of Peace

As you can probably imagine, in my household with four young children (three of which are crazy boys and one of which is a dramatic girl), days characterized by calmness, quiet, cleanliness, and organization are nonexistent.  In fact mere minutes characterize by any one of those things are incredibly rare.  I keep thinking that if I can get a better organizational system, or finish getting settled, or get rid of half of my possessions, perhaps then I can have some peace.

It was in the beginning of December that it struck me.  I was thinking about it all wrong.  I was thinking that peace depended on my circumstances.  

Peace is not a clean house and perfectly behaved children.  Peace does not only occur when you are on vacation and out of cell phone service range.  Peace is not achieved by being  financially solvent.  You do not earn peace through your good, responsible, right behavior.  Peace is a gift.  And peace is a choice.

The angels heralding Christ’s arrival to poor shepherds watching their flocks at night declared, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” (Luke 2:14)

Peace is not a clean house

There are two kinds of peace.  The first is the absence of strife between people.  Christ came to bring peace between God and man.  Man had offended God’s law and Christ satisfied the law and the punishment.  Therefore, we now have peace with God.  We can also have peace with one another as any wrong doing or offense has been paid for on the cross.  This peace is breath-takingly glorious and is ours in Christ.

Peace is also an inner state of untroubled, undisturbed well-being and security.  Ah, this is what I long for.  To feel inside my heart that I am secure and that nothing can trouble me or disturb me.  The first peace is a gift from Christ to us.  This second peace is too.  It does not depend on our circumstances.  In fact, Christ’s peace is more fully revealed and recognized in trials and troubles.

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” (John 14:27, NASB)

Peace despite his casted leg and his box top bedding

So how to get this wonderful peace?  Luke gave us a clue in the tenth chapter of his gospel when he describes the scene of Jesus visiting the home of Mary and Martha.

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.  She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,  but few things are needed—or indeed only one.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”   (Luke 10:38-42)

We must sit at the Lord’s feet, fill our minds with His words, talk to Him and listen to Him.  Peace is a gift He gives us, but we must choose to accept it.  We must choose to present our requests to Him (Phil. 4:6-7).  We choose to think about things that are good, true, and pure (Phil. 4:8).  We choose to meditate on Scripture so that is what flows out of our mouths when we speak (Col. 3:15-16).  We choose to be thankful in every circumstance (I Thess. 5:16-18).  We abide in Christ and let His words abide in us (Jn 15:7).

Paul lets us in on the secret.  The secret to peace and contentment:  “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Phil. 4:13)

So, this year, my resolution is to choose peace.  To fill my mind with God’s Word and pray for His peace to guard my heart and my mind.  When my house is messy, the kids are going crazy, and my schedule is in shambles, I choose peace.

Choosing peace even in the midst of chaos