Resources for Growing in the Here and Now

On Monday I talked about meeting God in your mothering because your parenting and your spiritual life are not mutually exclusive. Now, there are some great resources out there to help you along the way.

• The Jesus Storybook Bible - This children's picture Bible does a great job creating a whole narrative out of the Bible that all connects and points to Jesus as the Savior of the world. Not only will your children love it (it's written for mid-elementary school children, but my two-year-old has recently reached the point that he loves to listen to it). And you will probably see Scripture in a new light and from a new angle while you're reading!
• YouVersion and Bible.com - The Bible App is available for all your electronic devices. It's great to have your Bible available just about anywhere, but what I particularly want to point out here is that most translations have an audio version available built directly into the app that you can stream and listen to during the day. 
• Seeds Family Worship - Bible verses set to fun, modern, praise-and-worship style music. I keep some of these both in my car and in my sons' room. You will find that not only will your kids think they are fun, but you will catch yourself memorizing Scripture too!
• Thriving Family - Put out by Focus on the Family, this magazine and corresponding website are offered totally free! Each month's issue offers practical tips on how to fit faith in to your family and point your children to Jesus. They also have a great archive of family devotional activities that you can do during meals, on a walk, or even in the car!
• Quiet Waters - This church-wide spiritual retreat happens twice a year at Two Rivers Church, and the fall 2013 event is next week! This is an event that we regularly attend as a family. While you may not normally think about taking your children to a retreat, we are always blown away by how excited other people are that we are exposing our children to this type of event (instead of being annoyed by them, like we might expect). Try out just a couple of sessions together, or take a leap and try the whole thing!

What other ideas or resources do you use to seek Jesus as a family? Leave other ideas or links in the comments so we can all benefit from them!

Treasured Possessions

Ok, I have to bring you back to the Happy Home Fairy one more time this week. Why? Because not only does she offer lots of fun crafts, activities, and snack ideas regularly, but she also loves Jesus and really tries to bring their family's faith into every tradition she creates for her kiddos - and St. Patrick's Day is no exception!

Besides the traditional story of St. Patrick (you can read it here), she takes it a step further by incorporating the idea of treasure (like we see all those Leprechauns trying to hide away!) as well. Here's one more fun craft you can do with your kiddos, while teaching them about how special they are to God at the same time!

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And if you missed Pastor Brad's sermon on the same topic recently (minus the Leprechauns), you can watch it here. Don't forget to wear your green to church on Sunday!

St. Patrick's Day Craft Roundups

I hope you got some fun ideas from yesterday's post on St. Patrick's Day themed foods. If you're looking for more inspiration (or you have kiddos on spring break this week and you're desperately trying to fill the hours!), here are some roundups of fun - mostly easy - crafts to try out this week.

Spoonful has a list of fun crafts that might be best-suited for older preschoolers or those spring-breakers around your house:

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iVillage has a group of more preschool-friendly crafties for you:

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SheKnows adds a few more to look through:

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And, of course, my always-favorite Happy Home Fairy is the queen of easy, all-ages-friendly crafts for even the most artistically-challenged momma among us:

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Do you have any favorites to add to this list? 

Organizational Bliss

While I was pregnant with my son, I didn't have a whole lot of energy - ever. So I didn't do much "nesting." But now that #2 is on the way, it's a whole different story. I have become a crazy woman in the last few months - doing everything from refinishing furniture to refolding all of our socks. My husband laughs at me, but we all know he secretly loves the cleaning going on!

Being the beginning of the year, I know I'm probably not the only one in a mad organizing frenzy. Be honest now: how many of you made organizational New Years resolutions? If you did, I want to tip you off to a great resource: IHeart Organizing.

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If you spend much time around the blog scene, you've maybe already seen Jen Jones' awesome chronicle of organizing her life, home and family of five. If not, she has ideas on getting everything in tip-top shape from your junk drawer to your play room. I know 10-20 minutes with this blog in the morning or during nap time is enough to motivate me for a couple hours on one of my own projects! If you need a jump start with your own organizing resolutions, check it out!

*Disclaimer: I don't want this, in any way, to become a comparison game for you or to perpetuate some of those lies you are working so hard to dispel. You are not a bad mom when your house inevitably doesn't look like these blogs! I live in a small, aging apartment with stock finishes that I can't change and my home looks absolutely nothing like any of the pictures you will see in these links. I've simply been inspired to think outside the box and make our home work best for our lives and hope you will find some helpful information too!

Devotions On The Go

When you have little ones at home, it can feel pretty impossible to fit anything into our days beyond just the bare necessities of survival! It's even more daunting, then, when we think about trying to add spiritual training and resources into our day. Luckily, the Bible tells us to do it while we are doing everything else (check out Deuteronomy 6:7)! Need some help getting started? Here are some great resources for you:

Thriving Family magazine, put out by Focus on the Family, has new "On the Go Devotions" in each month's issue. These are quick, age-adaptable activities that can be done in the car while you're running errands! Check out their archives for lots of ideas (including some meal-time devotions too). And by the way, if you haven't subscribed already, this magazine is totally free!

Here are five great devotion ideas for your on-the-go activities. Take a few minutes to browse through the site, and you'll find some other great ideas, too!

While you're going through your Eat This Book plan, encourage your children to get involved too! There is a children's plan available here, and it's a great way to get your kiddos into the habit of reading from their Bibles every day. Even little bits can get in on the action - I read The Jesus Storybook Bible aloud to my newborn son three times cover-to-cover during those early long nursing sessions! If you have a newborn and older children too, this can be a great time for everyone to be together, hearing the Truth.

Above all, don't be frustrated if things don't go exactly as you envision or not everything sinks in. There will be days when your littles don't hear a word you say. There will be times when you get frustrated. There will even be days when you fail. But don't give up! You never know how God will use and bless your efforts to draw your children to Him.

What are other ways you teach your children to love Jesus?