by Kimberly | Sep 19, 2015 | creatives, mothering, parenting, Shepherding Children
Our sweet boy turns three today. There is so much to be said about the joys and challenged of being his momma, a momma to a preschooler, but this post isn’t about that.
This post contains a prayer that I did some #praynames art for last night. I love doing pray names art for birth gits or wedding gifts – to pray over the person I’m doing it for – and to get Scripture in their homes. But, I had never done ones for our boys. So, last night, before the balloons and the wrapping paper, the pancakes, and the cupcakes, I sat down and prayed this for him:
You are a faithful God who delights to give us good gifts.
Elijah is definitely a good gift!
We thank you for giving him to us for such a short time.
I pray that you would capture his heart and his mind early.
That you would use his creativity and imagination for the glory of your great name.
Take his compassion for others – for the hurting – and use it to bring peace and healing in the world.
Use his words and his sweet touch to be strength and comfort to those in need.
May he grow to be a man of God who is captured by all of your beauty.
May he never lose his desire to dance when no one is looking.
I pray that you would break his little heart for things that cause you to weep.
May he one day be a husband who leads his wife faithfully
and a daddy to littles who will look to him to show them Christ.
Most of all, I pray that he would love you more dearly than anything else in the world.
You are good.
Amen.
by Kimberly | Aug 28, 2015 | Bible, Books, Shepherding Children
Something my husband and I are learning how to do (and we are talking about progression, not perfection) is having more time where we talk with our boys about Jesus and the Bible.
And if you have preschoolers, then you know that their attention spans for non-televised viewing is fairly short (one of the pitfalls of our media-driven culture). So, unless you have creative animals, paid sound effect personnel,and a storyboard producer – your nightly devotions might not live up to Daniel Tiger or the Octonaughts.
But, getting the Bible into your children, teaching them about Jesus, and loving them the way Jesus would love them (by the Spirit’s help) is the most important thing you could ever do for your children.
So, currently, my older son is just about to turn three. He loves books. So each night, we put our younger to bed (we read Good Night North Carolina and Goodnight Moon and a Sandra Boynton book and pray with him) and then scoot over to our older son’s bedroom and read a book with him. We are reading Read and Share 5 Minute Bible Stories (that I just got from Tommy Nelson – thank you). Our son loves it. It is short, great vibrant pictures just like in the Read and Share Bible which we also like, and its big (so even if he doesn’t have his glasses on, he can follow along. I love how even now (we are in the Moses story) it focuses on the work of God throughout the Bible – and not the men on earth who fail and are sinners. The whole Bible points to God and Jesus who died on the cross for our sins and the Spirit who indwells in believers. I want that to be what our son gets from reading the Bible.
So, when you are just starting out:
- Be simple and short. Attention spans are short. Keep your kids’ focus by reading something, asking questions, and praying. It doesn’t have to be long – just consistent.
- Utilize good resources. There are so many out there. I recommend this bible story book, and catechisms for kids. So many other tools out there, especially as your children get older.
- Be faithful. God will reward even the smallest. He wants your children to know Him too.
- Pray that God would capture your child’s heart! You can’t do it yourself. The greatest parents in the world can’t make their kids love Jesus. Only He can!
If you want to win a copy of the Bible story book I talk about here, then all you have to do is answer the question: what is one way you are teaching your children about God? I’ll pick a winner Sunday night!
by Kimberly | Aug 20, 2015 | Books, flowers, Kids r Readers 2, Shepherding Children
One of the big trends in birthday photos or memory books is to talk about the child’s favorite foods, words, people, toys, books, etc at each time they have a birthday. I wish I had the chalk-lettering skills to do one for my boys’ birthdays coming up, but I will leave that to the experts.
But, if I were to do a chalkboard letter sign for my younger toddler, his favorite word would be “mine.” And seriously, we didn’t teach him that word. Its not like my husband and I go around saying mine mine mine in the house. But, knowing we as his parents are sinners,I’m sure he did pick it up from us at some point along the way.
Mine is not a word we want said a lot in our home. I usually answer him back with something like that: “Bubs, nothing is yours. God gave us all things and all the things that we have are from him. He gave them to us to use and share. We need to be kind and share the gifts that we’ve been given.” I want him to learn a few things from this conversation (that happens at least 10 times a day):
1. God is the giver of all good gifts. James chapter 1 says that and many times in the Psalms it says that everything in the world is the Lord’s. We may have been given a gift from our parents, grandparents, friends, etc but ultimately all good things come from God.
2. God does want hearts full of gratitude. God desires our hearts to be overflowing with praise for all that He has done for us. And out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks! So, if we can train our children to be thankful, then as they get older, maybe a heart of thankfulness with take root in them by the power of the Holy Spirit and their little mouths will bubble forth with praise!
3. God does want us to be kind. Kindness is fruit of the Spirit, so that makes it something that God desires in us. Kindness is not something we naturally gravitate towards. No, we all naturally gravitate toward taking care of ourselves first. Kindness is showing special care and grace for someone else. Even in toddler world, that may mean sharing the last cookie or giving up a special toy because another friend wants to play with it.
There is a new book by Tommy Nelson that helps preschoolers not only learn a crucial life skill of counting, but also, more importantly, how to express their thankfulness. Count My Blessings 1-2-3 is a perfect little shapes book that is durable and fun and rhyme-y. My boys have loved this book series. When we read it together I can help them think of specific cases of each blessing (like friends).
If you would like to win a copy of this book for your toddler, all you have to do is tell me one thing that you are thankful for in being their mommy or daddy. That shouldn’t be that hard – and it will help continue to grow a spirit of thankfulness in you as their parent.
by Kimberly | Aug 13, 2015 | Bible, Books, Shepherding Children
When I was in college I served with Young Life, a great inter-denominational ministry that worked with middle school and high school students to build relationships with them and show them the glorious gospel. One of the main truths of Young Life that I still completely believe and affirm and try to practice today is “It is a sin to bore a kid with the gospel.” Jesus is not boring. Why should we bore a kid, a teenager, or an adult with the wonderful news of Jesus?
I’ve been hearing about a new book that Crossway was putting out by one of my favorite authors, Kevin DeYoung entitled The Biggest Story. I opened up my mailbox today and there was a brown package from Crossway and I definitely knew it was going to be a great mail day. I read three chapters of it sitting in the parking lot of Wendy’s while the boys were eating their junior frostys and I read the rest of it in the gym locker room before working out. Yes, it was that good.
It was witty.
It was full of adventure – cliffhangers mind you.
It was truth.
It was concise.
It was displaying the gloriousness of the gospel.
The pictures are so well done and fit in well with what is in the secular market right now (journals, etc).
It is not a Bible – but tells the beautiful story of the Bible to school-aged kids in a way that won’t bore them.
This is not a Bible. Its not even a The Message type Bible. It is a story. A true story. It shapes the readers mind around one single figure: Jesus. Just like in the Jesus Storybook Bible where Jesus is the hero of every story – and the whole Bible points to Him. Same way here. Kevin, in his masterful, comical, somewhat sarcastic, pastoral, daddy way – he skillfully weaves the truth of Jesus, the reality of sin, the fallenness of the human race, and the relationship that God will remedy one day – all into a lovely books that you need to get when it comes out the end of this month.
Here is just one example of how you can use this (if you are a parent):
One of my greatest hopes for you (if you have a family) is that you will figure out what family devotions looks like for you. Right now, for us, we read part of a Bible book for toddlers and pray with our older son before going to bed. It literally takes 2 minutes. But, that will change as both of boys get older. If you have grade-school kids I think this would be a perfect book to read with them and talk about the implications and truth that it shares. I would also pair it with a Bible story, from the actual Bible. Crossway has a great children’s Bible that I just did a review on. I would take the time to read the chapter that you are covering that day in The Biggest Story and pick just one of the stories that it talks about and read that story out of the Bible. Then just ask your kids questions about that. Pray with them. Turn their hearts to their need of Jesus and the great gospel.
Two disclaimers about this book as I was reading it.
1. DeYoung says that Adam ate from the only tree. Well, of course he did. It caught me off guard that he didn’t say Eve ate it (which she did). I know he knows that. My only thought it that either he is stressing male leadership and that Adam sinned or the Adam being the head of the human race side of things. Either way, no biggie, just wanted to share.
2. Also, most books you’ll read, especially around Christmas time is that Jesus is the greatest gift. In The Biggest Story, DeYoung says that the Holy Spirit is best present of all time. He so strongly talks about the Trinity (yay!) and having read J D Greear’s book Jesus Continued I can see why he would say this.
All together, I would give this book to absolutely anyone. I can’t wait to read it with my children more and have them understand it. I want to get another copy of the book just to cut out the pictures and frame them. I want my home to be filled with more books like this – the books that point to the magnificent gospel!
by Kimberly | Aug 2, 2015 | Bible, Books, Shepherding Children, Uncategorized
How many of you have more than 10 Bibles in your home? That would definitely define our home – we have so many, and many in boxes. The ones in boxes are probably from our childhood. They are tucked away to help us remember what the Lord has done in our lives by the help of His word. That is actually why I encourage note taking, prayer highlighting, etc in your Bible.
One of the ways to teach children, especially starting in the toddler years, even before they can read, to love their Bibles (the very Word of God) is by getting a little Bible made just for them. The new Tommy Nelson Bible,the Just for Me Bible, complete with round board book edges and a bridge red handle, is a perfect example.
You can teach your toddler to look in the Bible. You can teach them to take their Bibles to church. You can teach them to turn in their Bibles when the pastor instructs the adults to turn in their Bibles. They may not even be able to read yet and yet they will be learning a valuable discipline of loving the Word of God.
If you would like to win one of these for your toddler: tell me what was your favorite Bible story when you were little.
Thanks Tommy Nelson for the book: all thoughts are my own.
by Kimberly | Aug 1, 2015 | Bible, Books, Shepherding Children
Toddlers: they are the funnest and hardest part of my day. This afternoon when I was eating Chickfila with my boys on the back porch – watching my older one get so excited about dipping his fries in the sauce or hearing my younger say “coke coke” begging for a sip of my diet coke – I looked at both of them with a huge smile – telling them I love you. And then there are moments when I just want to put them to bed and have a moment of silence to myself. And I’ve learned that is ok. Grace comes with bedtime.
But, grace also is imparted to our children by them learning about spiritual disciplines. One of the disciplines that we are teaching our boys is prayer. They clap and say yay when we are done praying at dinner.
A great new resource to help your child learn how to pray is the Say and Pray Bible. It is by Tommy Nelson resources and is a board book with great illustrations for your toddler. One of the aspects of this Bible that I love is that it helps them identify objects in the story (learning new vocabulary, helping them learn how to spell). This is purely educational. But, when tied in with a Bible story and prayer guide – this is a great resource for your toddler – probably my new favorite.
One of the ways I intend to use this as my boys get older is create worksheets that they can do as we read along with the story. I want to pull of the words and give them space to learn how to write, draw pictures of the words that they can match, There is a variety of creative games or word searches that you can do to help your children learn how to read, spell, match, and learn the Bible.
If you would like to win this resource for your children – just leave a note here or on Social media and tell me one verse that you are teaching your kids to pray.
That’s all.
