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!

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? 

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?

Operation Christmas Child

We are excited to announce that Two Rivers MOPS will once again be partnering with Children's Ministries and all of Two Rivers Church to participate in collecting shoe box gifts for Operation Christmas Child.

Operation Christmas Child is a ministry of Samaritan's Purse, an international Christian relief and aid organization, that shares the love of Jesus with underprivileged children around the world through simple Christmas gifts. This is a great, easy, way for you and your family to give back at Christmas time and teach your little ones about giving to others.

Here's how you can participate:

• Fill a shoe box... or several! Have your children help. Create a family assembly line one night around the dining room table, or have each child fill a box for a child their own age and gender. You can find more information on what to include in your boxes here. Be sure to label what age and gender your box is packed for!
• Fill out the form. You can fill out a paper form and include it with your box along with the $7 recommended donation for shipping costs, or you can register your box online to get a tracking number and follow your box around the world to its final destination!
• Drop your box off at Two Rivers Church between November 3 & 18. There will be tables in the lobby and the children's ministry wing during those weeks. If you can't make it on a Sunday morning, you can drop your boxes off during office hours throughout the week (9-5 Monday-Thursday and 9-3 Friday), or you can bring it to our next MOPS meeting on November 13. 

It's that easy! Have you participated in Operation Christmas Child in the past? What has been your experience? How have you used it to teach your children about giving during the Christmas season?

Fall Leaf Garland

While scrolling through fun fall art projects recently, I came across this idea for a fall leaf garland craft. It was easy, cheap, and required supplies that I would bet a lot of you already have on hand - definitely a must for family crafting in my book! I knew I wanted to share it with you. But to make it a little more fun, I thought I would try this one myself first and show you the process!

I started by drawing leaves onto coffee filters. Mine were the brown, unbleached kind. They worked just fine, but white filters probably would have produced brighter leaves in the end. 

And just to show you that yes, you can craft with little bitties, here's Gavrel with his watercolors - he's 18 months old.

In all fairness, he was far more interested in dipping the paintbrush in the water cup than actually painting the leaves. He did manage to make it through all 12 leaves - 6 coffee filters - before signing "all done."

This step wasn't in the original directions, but I thought it would be fun to add the letters for "happy fall" to our garland. 

I just free-handed our letters, but it would be just as east to type them up, print them off onto card stock, and cut them out from there. I cut all these out while Gav was painting our leaves.

Once the leaves were dried, I cut them out and punched holes through them and each of my letters. Then I strung them all on a piece of yarn. The original directions say to knot off each leaf, but I just double-threaded each piece and it worked out fine.

Since it's so light-weight, I just used Scotch tape to hang it from our mantle. Isn't that fun?

With older kids, you could let them do the stringing. It's great for hand-eye coordination, my little-bit just isn't quite there yet!

My favorite part is that I can tell guests that Gavrel made it himself! :-) Happy Fall everyone!

Ideas for Your Christian Home on Halloween

If you haven't already met her, let me introduce you to one of my favorite mom bloggers out there - the Happy Home Fairy. She loves to create memories and traditions for families, all with a Biblical approach. I love the way she looks for and finds Jesus in everything she does!

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As we approach Halloween, we all have a variety of ways we deal with this holiday in our own families. If you are looking for ways to celebrate and honor God together, she has some great options for you. First, check out her explanation of how she approaches her celebration.

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A great way to teach your children about anything - including holidays - is through Scripture! She's compiled lists of relevant verses, ready to print, for you to use with your own little ones. And they're FREE to print!

For trick-or-treating, you can print these FREE stickers to put on your candy before you pass it out. And if you want a fun costume ideas that your kids - and you - won't totally roll their eyes at but can still learn a lesson from, she has some really cute and practical ideas.

And for a fun, Halloween-inspired craft that still turns back to and draws from Scripture, here's something fun for all you crafty moms!

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Fall in the Mountains

Maybe your family is new to Knoxville and you're still getting to know the area, or maybe you've lived here your whole life but have recently gotten too caught up in your busy days to get out and about. Either way, here's a great resource for you!

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park, an easy drive south of the city, is one of the most diverse and well-known national parks in the country. And park admission is free! Who doesn't love free? This fall, they have a great line-up of activities: guided hikes, craft fairs, historic exhibitions, and traditional Appalachian music. There are some great fun - and educational! - opportunities for your whole family:

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Check out their calendar of events or the special events pages for more information. 

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Do you love fall colors? Did you know that, every fall, the National Park Service posts reports about colors in the mountains? They will tell you what elevations have the best colors each week, and when they expect peak colors to show. Take your whole family for a drive to see the beauty of God's creation!

And if you are a plan-your-own-adventure type momma, then the park's home page has some great resources for any kind of trip. Our family's personal favorites are the waterfall trails located throughout the park. 

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Happy Fall to you and your family!

Counting Down

With the start of school and the onset of fall, there is a lot coming up to look forward to! School events, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and maybe even a birthday. Kids especially feel the anticipation. One fun way to help your kiddos look forward to upcoming events without constantly asking if they're here yet is to make a countdown paper chain together!

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The Happy Home Fairy made this fun back-to-school paper chain that you could use to look forward to a field trip or other fun school party or event.

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Ten Kids and a Dog used this Christmas chain and a sweet poem instead of an advent calendar.

Consider helping your kids write things they are thankful for on a Thanksgiving countdown paper chain. Or use the same theme as a birthday party to make a birthday countdown chain. The possibilities are endless! The visual and physical element also helps preschoolers understand how much time is left before a greatly anticipated event. 

What events are you and your family counting down to this fall?