Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Nahum & chicken pox

Well this last fortnight has certainly been challenging with both Toby & Lily having chicken pox. But we finally got the chance to have our "Super Family Bible Night". This week it was Lily's turn to lead and she chose the story of Nahum and his healing (her choice may have had something to do with her hating chicken pox).

Lily & Adam reading the story of Nahum together for us

Lily asked us why did we think God put this story in the Bible, we all had a chance of answering, I thought I'd be funny and say it's in the Bible because God thinks it's important to wash and clean ourselves 7 times every day  - the reply was blank faces, *sigh* "mum, don't be silly" - well I thought it was funny & some good practical elements too. hehe...

Then Lily shared her view. She thought it was in there because Elijah was God and Nahum is us, and sometimes God asks us to do funny things like wash ourselves 7 times. But we always need to listen and obey God - Profound for a 6yo!!

Lily had each of us draw the story in our own way but with strict instructions, we were NOT to copy anyones work. So off we went drawing away...

Lily drawing her Nahum artwork

Toby sharing his artwork with us

The artist, Adam, shares his picture - impressive


Lily finished with a simple prayer - which of course included a prayer for her chicken pox to be healed - bless her - poor thing. (I tried to secretly video her prayer but I got sprung - not so sneaky)



This week we also put up the Christmas tree and decorations. I can't believe how it's nearly Christmas already! What a year!



Love to hear your comments and thoughts on Family devotions.

Enjoy your week.

From our family to yours - blessings
xo

More information:
info@milktomeat.com.au
www.milktomeat.com.au

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

David & Bathsheba as told by a 9yo

Well this weeks Super Family Bible Night was certainly interesting, to say the least. Toby chose the story of David & Bathsheba, I think because he liked the war pictures in his Bible when Uriah & Joab were on the battle field. Little did he know the bigger context of the passage... Made for interesting discussion.

Thankfully we'd had some discussion on adultery last week, so we are to use last weeks chat and this weeks passage together. Obviously we spoke about it in an age appropriate way.

After we'd read the story, we came to practical illustration time and can I say truthfully .... I was unsure what Toby was going to have us draw. Thankfully his focus was about drawing what we thought God's temple would look like or draw David's crown.

Tonight was certainly challenging but again fun, and about releasing our kids to engage God's word in their own way.

Why not have a go with family nights with your family this week.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Moses & the drawing tablets

Well its been awhile since I've uploaded a 'Super Family Bible Night' we've been still enjoying our family nights just slack in uploading. So with a new phone and a blogging app there's really little excuse. Enjoy our family antics.

Tonight's theme was the 10 commandments. Adam's plan was to read to ask the kids which ones they remembered, they did remember 3 but got fixated on one in particular 'do not kill'.

Adam read through the rest of the 10 commandments, and was doing really well with his explanations until... 'do not commit adultery' ... How do you explain that to a 6yo & 9yo...

Each of us drew a picture of one them, Adam drew resting on the sabbath, Kylie drew coveting someone else's stuff, Toby drew someone stealing his new toys but the most interesting was lily's she decided to draw do not murder. Mmm...

Great fun, easy night. Why not explore Family Nights with your family.

For more info on Bible Engagement go to www.milktomeat.com.au

Friday, October 14, 2011

Friday, August 26, 2011

Saul does number two's


This week was Adam's turn to lead 'Super Family Bible Night' and it was acting night! And the story was Saul and David. Where David had the opportunity to kill king Saul when he went to relieve himself in a cave but decided not to and the apologised to Saul.


Of course Toby wanted to be king Saul, and opted to wear Santa's hat as a crown. Adam read the story (edited version) and we each played our part in the story - Toby especially liked the being allowed to make wee and poo noises while read the Bible.





The lesson we considered was how we can respond to others. King Saul wanted to kill David, and David had every opportunity to retaliate against Saul. Even David's friends encouraged him to kill Saul, but David chose differently. Sometimes people do things to us that we don't like - how do we respond (we even talked about the afternoon's sibling argument about Beados) and what we could have done differently. Great teaching point.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Gideon's 3 army men

Ok, so I'm a little behind on posting (or rather writing blogs) but we have been having a fun time with our 'Super Family Bible Night'. So here's a little update.

This week we looked at the story of Gideon from Judges 6-8. It was a little tricky to find 30,000 army men, so we worked with 30, then 10, then 3. And of course we used army men. The kids thought it would be impossible for Gideon's army of 3 to win over an army of 30, but to their amazement God's army won!

Great way to interact with this story with Toby's favorite toys - I always try to find ways to help the family engage with the story in a way that they will remember and understand.



Wednesday, August 24, 2011



This week we looked at how Israel separated into the 2 Kingdoms, the Northern & Southern Kingdoms. We decided to do a drawing timeline of the kings and when and why the kingdom separated. Toby & Lily love drawing so it was an easy idea for them to draw the different kings, and which king followed who (eg Saul, David, Solomon, Rehoboam). This idea helped us all get a bigger picture of God's overarching plan of redemption.



The learning point was about who we follow - when the people had good kings they were good and followed God, when the people had bad kings, they rebelled against God and did bad things. As a family we talked about what it means to follow good and bad people - and how to do good even when people are bad. Making good choices - even under peer pressure.

I knew this would be a big topic and challenge but getting everyone involved in the drawing and timeline was really helpful. Even a few days later Toby recites to me the kings and that Jonathon was David's best friend. Amazing!





Monday, August 22, 2011

Engaging God during holidays

God's beautiful creation

Even in the midst of holidays, there is opportunity for 'Super Family Bible Night' Recently we holidayed in Queensland with another family, and together we shared bible stories, fun, laughs, and experiencing God while on holidays.


We are blessed as a family to have another family who love God and encourage us to invest spiritually in our children. So it was a priveledge recently to go away on holidays with them.

On a number of nights we'd read bible stories as 2 families and share thoughts, insights & questions. One funny moment was around the story Jesus told about the man who built his house on the rock and another who built his house on the sand. The rain came down and washed the house on sand away. My friend asked the question, what can we learn from this story, and 3yo Joanie replies "Jesus wants me to learn how to swim". Classic! Even a 3yo was engaged in God's Word!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Zacchaeus up a Lego tree

This week it was Toby's turn to lead 'Super Family Bible Night' and it was a little hectic and rushed this week, but with limited time Toby pulled off a great night. We looked at the story of Zacchaeus a short man who climbed a tree to see Jesus.

Toby read the story to us and we talked about what Zacchaeus was like - he was rich, he was greedy, he stole from poor people and he wasn't like very much. So why would Jesus have lunch with a man who wasn't liked. Because God loves everyone - not just the 'good' people.

We also talked about what Zacchaeus was like after he had lunch with Jesus - he gave away his money, he paid back those he'd stolen from. He was different because he'd met Jesus. We too are different because we know Jesus.



Toby's activity this week was to make Zacchaeus' tree out of Lego - this was a little tricky - not just making the tree but also because we had just that week confiscated some of Toby's Lego (behaviour issues) and so he didn't have any brown or green Lego - and so we had to be creative in how we made Lego trees - however, the kids did an amazing creative job with limited Lego!



For more information on bible engagement go to www.milktomeat.com.au

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Jesus walks on placemats!


This week it was Lily's turn to lead 'Super Family Bible Night' and she decided she wanted to do the story where Jesus walks on water because she didn't believe that someone could really walk on water and she wanted to see whether the bible really said that. And she found out it did!!

Lily began the night with a grand welcome (imagine theatre arms & voice) "Welcome to Super Family Bible Night and tonight we are reading the story where Jesus walks on water" (insert groan from Toby).

We read the story and Lily explained to us that the reason God put this story in the Bible was so that we need to pray like Jesus did on the mountain and that we don't need to be scared when we walk on water - Hmmm....

We did talk about the importance of prayer & the faith it took Peter to step out of the boat - but to keep his eyes fixed on Jesus.



Lily's activity was for us to make place mats representing the story we had read. I think we all did a good job (altho now I'm going to have to use a placement for the next few weeks)







For more information on bible engagement go to www.milktomeat.com.au

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Elijah & the Lego Prophets

This week's Super Family Bible Night was the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18) and it was a fun night of Lego creation! We'd done a few weeks of drama and so tonight it was time to get creative. Lego creative...
We read the story together, thoroughly enjoying how Elijah teased the prophets of Baal and imaging how Elijah's altar was burned up by the fire of God (imagine lots of boom, crash, burning noises by Toby) . We then got about creating Lego altars, Toby was particularly excited as he loves anything to do with Lego and the thought of making an altar that would be destroyed at the end was exciting. What I didn't realise it that it is actually really hard to make a altar out of Lego but we had fun trying. And much to Toby's disappointment we didn't burn the Lego afterwards.








If you'd like further information on bible engagement go to www.milktomeat.com.au

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Tongues of fire and ... chilli, salt, pepper, garlic...

Last night was Adam's turn to lead Super Family Bible Night and we started with a tasting game. With a mix of spices both sweet, savory and spicy we rolled the dice and began our tasting. It wasn't to bad a first, a little salt and garlic but then we rolled a "2" and that spice was HOT cayenne pepper!!!! Which sent us all running for the bathroom and a glass of water (nasty daddy!).

But it was a good illustration as it really illustrated the point of the story, our tongue can be like a spark that can start a blazing fire (our tongues certainly were burning).





This week we talked about how we can use our tongue for good things and for bad things, we explored bad things first - which the kids took great delight being able to stick their tongue out at us, and explore the mean and rude things a tongue can do and say. Thankfully we didn't spend too much time there we moved onto the good things our tongue can do and say. Things that are kind, compassionate and thoughtful. Then we used our tongue for good and devoured a delicious chocolate pudding Lily had made. Yum, yum.

It was a fun night, with lots of laughs and some rude bits but I think we all got a greater understanding of the importance of such a small part of our body and the impact it can have both good and bad.




James 3:5-6 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

For more information on bible engagement go to www.milktomeat.com.au


Sunday, May 8, 2011

Stuff happens! How to avoid "stuff" to read the Word.

I've been reading a great eBook this week called "Don't ask stupid questions" by Tim Brownson and I was particulary challenged by a chaper called "Stuff happens!!"

He starts the chapter off reflecting on his day... "I was determined to take it easy and just relax. I had worked every day for 10 straight days and envisioned a day by the pool maybe even with a cold beer and a good book. I like relaxing, it’s enjoyable and good for you so why wouldn’t anybody do it as much as possible?

I’ll tell you why, because of.... Stuff, that’s why.

Stuff is designed to stop you doing what you really want to do, Stuff expands to fill available time, Stuff arrives when you least expect it and Stuff does its utmost to throw you off track. It has a contract to adhere to because its job is to test you to the limits of your endurance and then just a little bit more. Like a maternal aunt that doesn’t realize she outstayed her welcome in 6 months ago, Stuff will hang around ad infinitum if you don’t throw it out."

As I was reading this a thought dawned on me, that "stuff" interfere's with all areas of my life, but I was particulary struck with how "stuff" interferes with my bible reading and time with God. I start the day with the best intensions, but then "stuff happens"... the laundry floods, the kids are sick, an urgent email comes in, but not all of my "stuff" is bad, I have friends pop over for coffee, I chat on the phone to family, I fall asleep on the couch. But it's all "stuff" and it has taken over my day. I was pondering this and feeling a little overwhelmed when I read the next paragraph from Tim's eBook.

"Can Stuff be beaten?
Oh yes, it surely can if only we remember how. Unlike nature, Stuff loves a vacuum. It loves it because that’s its job, to fill it and fill it quickly. So don’t give it chance! Plan out your day, even the ones that do not involve work. If you need 4 hours to chill and relax then write it down in your planner or on your calendar as you would any other appointment, the same goes for the gym, or meditating or even watching TV if that is what helps you relax. Be selfish with your time when you need to be.

This sounds like a lot of trouble and if Stuff never manages to get its talons in you then it may be unnecessary. However, if you are the type of person that gets to the end of the day and wonders where it went and why you didn’t get much done. Then you need to act and act quickly."

Question: Is Stuff dominating your life and if so, what do you intend to do about it?

I realised I need to plan ahead and to set my time with God as a higher priority than it has been and to not let "stuff" get in the way between me and God.