Teaching Small People About Tiny People

Our church recently completed a unique drive.  It's called the "baby bottle campaign" and its purpose is to raise funds for our state's right to life organization.  The baby bottles are passed out to church families on Mother's Day, filled with change (or "soft money"), and then collected on Father's Day - drawing attention to the fact that both a mother and a father are involved in creating a child's life...and that both are invaluable in making a child's life complete.  The campaign is unique and keeps the right to life issue in the forefront of people's minds.

I receive a "mom-tips/devotional" via email from MomLife Today (a division of FamilyLife Today) and this past week one posting included some creative and sweet ways to introduce or reestablish the value of an unborn baby's life to our children.  I loved some of these ideas and thought you all might as well. These ideas could also easily be incorporated into a Sunday School or children's church setting.  Click here to read the article in its entirety, then if you would like to, feel free to share here on this posting ideas of activities you have used with your children to reinforce this concept that is so vitally important in our world today! 

Thank you to all who take the time to read this blog regularly and especially to those who take time to let us know you are out there!  May God bless you as you continue your ministries for the Kingdom and as you enjoy these hectic summer months with your families!

 

Remembering the tiniest ones,

 



A Visit to the Zoo

Today we hit our own city's zoo. In the past, locals have joked that you can see a variety of species of house cats there, however we saw some bigger cats, a bear and a lot of other neat animals that certainly wouldn't live in my house! The kids enjoyed themselves which is all that matters.

My little penguins

Jessica driving the explorer truck

Jeffery on the jellyfish climbing wall

And what was Jerrod doing all this time? Riding around in the zoo cart, looking around, until...

Going...

GONE!

A Little Bit of Everything Day

The second day of our "staycation" was quite an adventure. I'm beginning to think that everything one does with three children under 7 is an adventure. :-) We spent our morning making jam and pizza dough.

The fruit of our labors

After making a horrible mess in the kitchen, we went out to eat! :-) We ate a delicious buffet for the price we usually pay at McDonald's and we were stuffed! Even Jerrod wholeheartedly enjoyed himself (and also began playing patty cake today!).

We decided to finish up our spring nature walks since this is the last day to complete them for our pin. On the way, we had to stop and air the car tire because it almost went flat. (Well, it looked like it to me anyway!) Our GPS led us to a completely different place than we were supposed to go. My husband was following on his motorcycle and almost ran out of gas because we were wandering around trying to find the place. The kids kept a running commentary from the backseat:

"I will never trust that GPS again! Will you, Jeffery?"
"No!"
"We need to pray that we can get to a gas station on time. Will you help me pray, Jeffery?"
"Not right now, I'm busy driving my motorcycle." (accompanying motor noises)

(Female/male conversation patterns start early.)

"Dear Lord, We aren't asking you for food or anything. Just give Daddy some magic gas until we get to a gas station. Amen."

We did make it to a gas station and then decided to just go home. On the way home, we found the park. Go figure. When we got out of the car, Jerrod was sound asleep and it had started to sprinkle. We walked the mile trail anyway with my dear husband holding the baby in his arms.

After we got home, everyone recovered from their day...kids played in their room, Jeff played with the baby and I went shopping! Just for a short time, of course, but it was nice to be able to look at a store without an eye on children at the same time.

After our late supper of homemade pizza, the kids did sparklers on the porch.

I hope tomorrow has a little less adventure!

Strawberries and Waterfalls

Our first day of "staycation" went pretty well. I slept in an hour and half later than usual. It felt sort of weird and I had a lot of catch up to do, but the rest was good.

Our kids' top activity preference for the week was to go berry picking (they chose this over an amusement park or a science center). So, in the very last week of berry season, we packed up and drove a half an hour to one of the few strawberry patches left open. After finally getting the last child smeared with sunscreen, I was helping my husband get the baby into the carrier and noticed that his diaper--for the first time in his 9 months--had leaked all the way up his back! Although I had plenty of wipes, I did not have an extra set of clothes (of course), so we had to strip him and slather him with more sunscreen. I was able to save his pants, thankfully. All in all, it went well and we are looking forward to making jam together tomorrow.

Jessica, my little worker, diligently filled up a basket several times.

Jeffery probably trampled more strawberries than he picked. Here is a rare moment being still.

Jerrod, getting in on the action.

After a snack and a few detours (I found the neatest natural foods market!), we went on a nature hike. The kids found a bird nest in the parking lot and a beaver beside the falls at the end of our hike.The picture's not real great, but you can see the waterfall.

It was so pretty, Jerrod was mesmerized by it, so I had to snap this adorable picture.

Words for Mother's Day

My Mom
I love you, Mom!

Me and my daughter
I love you, too, Rosebud!

For us mothers:

I can't say it any better than this...thanks for sharing, Courtney!

And for us daughters, go here and scroll to the bottom of the post. Watch the video and remember your mom or purpose to treasure the one you still have. Inspired me to maybe get writing myself?

Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

In My Home This Week

In the kitchen...I cleaned my refrigerator as soon as I got home from the grocery store, got out my grandmother's pretty dishes and filled them with my fruits and vegetables. I wanted to take a picture of my refrigerator and counters, but every camera in the house was down. Grr!

We've enjoyed our VitaMix and green smoothies. I made the Raspberry Syrup from their website for my pancakes Monday morning. Yum! I'm also attempting to replace my breakfast with a green smoothie every morning. It would work pretty well if the kids would stop drinking them all before I get any!

I tried this recipe for Peanut Butter Granola Bars and they were yummy, but I couldn't get them to stay together. We ended up having to eat them as regular granola. The only thing I did different from the recipe was use butter instead of margarine and natural peanut butter. Any suggestions?

I didn't buy any bread this week, but I'm not sure it's saving us money. We could eat a loaf a day of this bread! And so easy...just how I like it.

In the bedroom...I finally got all my furniture moved in! It's such a comfortable, inviting place. All I have left to do is decorate the walls. Trying to get up the nerve to actually drive nails into those walls that hadn't been painted for too many years!

In the kids' room...We moved in the tall bookcase and did some (more) rearranging. I'm so excited to have a bookshelf that is not spilling over...at least until we fill it up! Did anyone know we love books at our house? Just wondered.

On my nightstand...Speaking of books, I am currently reading Food Is Your Best Medicine by Henry Bieler, M.D. I'm also still in the middle of The Plug In Drug by Marie Winn and Traveling the Pilgrim's Path by Craig and Janet Parshall.

In the yard...My wonderful husband brought me flowers this week! No, not some roses that will die in a few days, but flowers for our flower bed. (Romance grows more practical as we approach our 10th anniversary!) He also brought me some herbs for my windowsill herb garden. He and the kids planted them in a little greenhouse contraption he brought home and will transplant them outside when the weather is just a tad bit warmer.

In the schoolroom...We have completely finished Science and at the end of this week, we will be finished with Bible, Heritage Studies and Spelling! Only three more subjects to go. I'm counting down...20 more days...Lord willing!

Big lesson learned...If you're not sure what that spot on the carpet is, resist touching it with your finger. It probably is what you're hoping it's not!

Now it's your turn! Do an In My Home This Week post on your blog (or in the comments, if you don't have a blog) and link back here. Go ahead, be creative and make your own categories to reflect what has been going on in your home. I'm looking forward to reading them!