God-Parenting

This is my Body

2010-03-03T15:22:00.002-05:00

I was out on Family Leave during part of the "Good Shepherd" Cycle. Now I'm back, and we're doing "This is my Body" from WorkshopCycles, with changes and additions of our own.

Our one-room Rotation classroom schedule includes the regulars and a few fun additions. The children will be making pita bread in Kitchen, and will do body tracings for Art.

Here, the youth studied "The Last Supper" then put on costumes to reenact the painting:

Our children sure don't mind coming to Sunday School. And we have so many adults involved in one way or another. Rotation Model can't be beat for adult involvement!

Miracles of Jesus I

2009-10-27T14:37:00.003-05:00

Oh, my goodness. I can't believe how long it's been since I posted here.
Well, we've just completed the Miracles of Jesus Cycle from WorkshopCycles. The kids made a great book on the miracles:

Jesus walk on water:

Jesus calms a storm:

Jesus heals someone who is blind:

Jesus provides a miraculous catch:

Jesus heals someone who is paralyzed:

continued in the next entry...

Miracles of Jesus II

2009-10-27T14:30:00.002-05:00

Jesus multiplies loaves and fishes:

Jesus turns water into wine:

Our Workshops for this cycle included the normal movie, games, computers, and music. Some extra-fun Workshops included:
-making a 3ft by 10 ft poster of the miracles
-making this book
-making tornadoes (from pop bottles)
-making sponge cakes (the miracle of taking a little and making a lot)

OEC@K Children's Program

2009-07-05T08:20:00.003-05:00

Harcourt Parish hosted the Children's Program for the Ohio Episcopal Celebration at Kenyon. We had a great group of kids and helpers and although the program was simple, it was a great success (reminder to self!!).

The Eucharists at OEC@K attempted to be family-friendly. Luke tested that theory, and it was well-received. All the children were invited to join the bishop celebrant around the altar.

Our program theme was based on Jamie Lee Curtis' book "Is there Really a Human Race?" We found a ton of fantastic activities based on the book here.

And of course, we made up a few activities ourselves. One of the things we did was give each child a disposable camera and help them do a photo scavanger hunt to take pictures of people and things that help the human race. (The 2-year old's pictures contained a lot of grass and sky!)
Here are some of our group posing with a Gambier firefighter, definitely someone who helps the human race:

Another activity we did was offer free cold water to folks on this hot summer day. The kids loved this activity, and I think the adults did, too.

In the car a week later, little Luke began saying "Free cold water! Free cold water!" Young brains are sponges. I'm glad we're filling these kids' brains up with the Good Stuff.

12 Who Changed the World

2009-06-22T13:01:00.003-05:00

Our last WorkshopCycle for the school year was "12 Who Changed the World" and, of course, was about the disciples. The kids did a lot of nifty things, but my two favorites were ones that weren't in the WorkshopCycle curriculum (which is making me consider writing my own rotations instead of using canned ones...)

Instead of a plain-old drama, I thought we could liven things up by having the kids create some sort of puppets. As I surfed the web looking for great, easy puppet ideas, I decided up on Kitchen Untensil Puppets. You can find directions here. I dug through my kitchen drawer and went to Goodwill and found a nice assortment of items. Then I dug through my "fun fabrics" pile, got some yarn and googlie eyes and pipe cleaners, and was good to go.

The kids used info they had gathered about different disciples to make the puppets. They had a great time making the puppets one week, and using them the following week. They turned out so well!

And then our final week was the week I was looking forward to most of all (well, eating bugs last December came in a close second!). We were going to print t-shirts with fish. REAL fish!!!

Well, it turns out you can't buy real fish in the grocery store around here. Sigh. So we used fish stamps, and the kids still had an amazingly fun time.
I bought a bunch of white kid's t-shirts, and dyed them ahead of time with several colors of blue and green, and God helped out because when I hung them on the line to dry it rained and the shirts turned out even more ocean-like than I'd imagined!

It was a beautiful day, and we set up outside. I lured my friend and amazing fabric artist, Jo Rice, into helping lead the day (thanks, Jo for leading and for taking most of the following pictures!)

Here's Jo with Maggie and Emma at the table with the Versatex paints and stamps:

Here's a close-up of one of the shirts:

And here they all are, hanging to dry on the church lawn.

Excellent!

Easter Creations

2009-06-22T10:08:00.002-05:00

On Easter we have a combine Sunday School and they do a fun craft project. This year, they made egg carton caterpillars (and we had plans to make tissue paper butterflys, but time got away from us). The caterpillar/butterfly image is a Christian image of resurrection, perfect for Easter morning.
The kids really enjoyed making their caterpillars beautiful!

Play Altar

2009-06-22T09:56:00.004-05:00

I usually don't make blanket proclaimations, but Every Church Needs A Play Altar. Really. We added one to our preschool classroom a couple of years ago, and it is a favorite activity week in and week out.
Ours is a side table that was just sitting around. A sewer in the congregation made simple altar cloths in the liturgical colors with matching stoles (actually, they're reversable, one color on each side, 2 sets):

We added an inexpensive brass communion set and a couple copies of Gretchen Prichard's Alleluia, Amen. Occasionally, we'll have some wafers. But the kids go *crazy* when they have wafers and would go through a roll a week if we let them. So it's a special occasion thing.

I grew up with a Children's Altar, but it was as Revered and Transcendent as the main altar. Just like kids like to have a play kitchen or a play workshop, they also like a play altar. If you need any help figuring out how to make it work at your church, just ask!

Esther Cycle

2009-03-03T16:40:00.003-05:00

WorkshopCycles includes Esther as a cycle. This wouldn't fall into my top-50 Bible Stories of all times, but they've got a cycle ready to go, so we're using it!

Week 1 was the Art cycle, and kids made noisemakers out of empty water bottles. I wish I'd gotten a photo of some of the kids and their creations, but we'll just have to deal with this.
1) Start with an empty water bottle:

2) Add beans, rice, rocks or anything that will make a good shaking noise. Screw the lid on (put a bit of glue on it if you want to make it permanent).
3) Decorate! We chose to decorate them as people. I cut up a few old polo shirts and sewed them into covers with arms and legs, then the kids added decoration.
4) Add a head--you may use a styrofoam ball, or we used quick-dry clay
5) USE! As the Esther story is re-told, shake your noisemakers to drown out every time the name "Haman" is said.

Our other workshops for this cycle include:
-Computer activity
-Purim Drama
-Games (red light/green light, rock paper scissors, etc)
-Kitchen: making Hammentaschen for coffee hour

The Beatitudes Cycle

2009-03-03T16:32:00.003-05:00

Harcourt Parish Recently completed our WorkshopCycle on the Beatitudes.

Our activities included: Making a Blessing Cup out of quick-dry clay, Computer and Movie workshops (always a hit), fun with the Doxology, and making Blessing Cookies for coffee hour (like fortune cookies, but with blessings inside).

Presenting: John the Baptist!

2009-01-29T16:05:00.003-05:00

This year we ordered our Children's Pageant from Creative Communications. It was a pageant mainly about John the Baptist (and thus helped my High Church side be comfortable that we presented on on Advent 4!).
The pageant was simple, very elastic (easily changed to work for a smaller or larger group), and inexpensive. We would happily purchase something from them again.

Here is Zachariah and Elizabeth being introduced:

Although it was a Children's Pageant, we did also use some adult actors. Here's our daddy holy trinity of John, Gabriel, and Zachariah:

And here are the children performing their "Big Number:"

John the Baptist: Science

2009-01-29T15:49:00.003-05:00

I hope to add more Science Workshops into our program. This was our first one, focusing on "arise, shine for your light has come."

In this Workshop, the Leader put together solutions with different chemicals that create different colors of flame. Here, you can see the bottles of solution, and the children with their long wooden qtips:

The children listen as the Leader explains how there are many different colors of flame, but they all possess attributes of heat and light. Just like each one of us have our own unique gifts, but all those gifts can be ways for us to show God's love to others:

Prep for John the Baptist

2008-10-27T14:56:00.003-05:00

I'm preparing for our long-advent WorkshopCycle on "A Voice in the Wilderness: John the Baptist."

The Story Cycle teaches the children to tell the story of John's life using a variety of stickers, which I purchased here.

And I didn't like the suggested Kitchen Cycle, so am writing my own which will include offering the children to task real honeycomb and bugs. Did you know you could buy edible bugs at Amazon.com?!?

CROP Walk

2008-10-27T14:47:00.004-05:00

Harcourt Parish has completed our CROP Walk Cycle and it went very well. The granola bars from the Kitchen Workshop were a great success both at coffee hour and with the walkers. The signs the children made decorated the sanctuary for several weeks, and then some signs were taken to the walk itself.

It was fun to see how much of the 5-mile walk our young children could do. I think our family made it about 3 1/2 miles. Not bad for our first time without strollers. Here, you see that Luke (age 2) had more energy than Ella (age 6):

And here's many of our walkers with our altar party and signs right after church:

CROP Cycle and Children's Choir

2008-10-01T13:26:00.002-05:00

Last Sunday was our first week of Children's Choir. We had a FANTASTIC turnout. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves--and the catchy tune hasn't left my head all week. (AKK!)
They will be singing for the congregation on Children's Sabbath Sunday, October 19th.

The Gradeschool classroom is currently doing a Cycle on CROP Walk. I created this cycle myself, so e-mail me if you'd like the lesson plans. The cycles include:
Movie (CROP Walk Video)
Art (Making signs and banners for the walk)
Drama and Music (older children rehearse a short play, younger children create a song)
Kitchen (making energy bars for the walkers).

Shameless Plug: To donate to CROP to help stop hunger around the world, just click here.

MDG Day of Prayer, Fasting and Advocacy

2008-09-25T10:51:00.003-05:00

September 25th is a national day of prayer, fasting, and advocacy for the Millennium Development Goals. Whatever day you happen to read this post, please take a moment to DO SOMETHING to support these.

There are about 1 BILLION people in the world living on less than $1 a day.
Every 3 seconds, a child dies of preventable, treatable causes (diarrhea, malaria, etc).
Some things you can do include:

Go to the Hunger Site. Click there and food will be donated by the sponsors just because you saw the advertising on their page. You can also sign up to get a daily e-mail reminder. I've been doing this for years. It takes about 10 seconds a day, and it gives someone food for the day.

Sign up to receive Action Alerts from EPPN or another group. When you receive one, it will take you about 1 minute to complete a form to send a statement to your legislators about issues around poverty and justice.

Loan $25 (or more) thru KIVA.org. It is really fun to look through their lists of people approved for micro-loans and choose the actual person and business you'll support.

Donate money to the Heifer Project, ERD, Curamericas, or the charity of your choice that helps "the least of these."

Have you DONE something yet? If not, stop right now and do one of these things.

I thank you, and God thanks you.

Samuel Rotation Sunday School

2008-09-25T10:49:00.001-05:00

Harcourt Parish is again using WorkshopCycles for our 1st-5th grade Sunday School this year. It's quite affordable, but is best when you have a church member spend some time with it to fit it to your group. This year I'm investing more by creating short summary lessons plans for each of the workshops.

Our Samuel Cycle included:
Story (a game and a drama from WorkshopCycles)
Music (learning the torah ora hymn "God has spoken to his people" and a circle dance)
Art (decorating pillow cases--because Samuel was sleeping when God called him)
Kitchen (from WorkshopCycles-making rice krispy treats, a mix of loud and quiet food)

I was lucky enough to be able to lead the Art Workshop. It was tons of fun. After reading the cycle story, we talked about prayers we knew, scripture verses we knew, things we might like to hear God say to us, etc.

I had gathered a bunch of pillowcases from our parish rummage sale, washed them, and put cardboard in them to make a nice, flat surface. The children used painters pens, sharpies, and fabric markers, all of which worked really well.

The girls set up a table and did a great job decorating with dots and squiggles, writing scripture and prayers.

The boys drew pictures and accented with words.

Here is a fantastic monster being drawn (on the blue pillowcase). We paired it with the words, "you shall not be afraid of any terror by night" Psalm 95:5a . He could hardly wait to use it!

Next week we begin a rotation on CROP Walk that I created. Fun!

Prayer...In Action: Last Day

2008-08-04T10:01:00.003-05:00

Again on Saturday, we had about 30 volunteers. I'm just overwhelmed at the turnout for this event. If I went back to work myself, Chapman would have had 3 workdays from me. Instead, by inviting others to join in the effort, they have instead had over 100 work days from all the volunteers this week! FANTASTIC.

After I heard about the tornado, I called my childhood best friend to check on her parents. They lived across the street from the school district office that was demolished. She said her house didn't have much damage. So I was brought to tears when I saw this "not much damage" on our way into town the first day:

Almost every window is boarded up around the house, the deck has damage, and that black line is a gouge in the siding that was one of many.
But when you compare this to the rest of the town, it really is "not much damage."

On Friday, we watched a 2-story house around the corner be demolished by a crew. It took them about 45 minutes. I was glad to hear that family has already purchased this house and will be making the minor repairs to it to make it livable.

One of the first tasks we did today was to help the Lutheran church move their things into storage trailers. Here is some stained glass they salvaged. The bottom piece is mostly intact. But the upper pieces are mostly just twisted lead from the windows that got blown out and re-sculpted. Amazing.

And our major task for the day was moving and cleaning as many chairs as we could.
We could not find a flatbed trailer to help with our job, so we borrowed a truck from Londeen's (Hardware and Furniture Store) for the day. We took many small trips, but got a lot done.

Once again, there was a heat advisory and again the volunteers did a great job getting lots of work done but also keeping hydrated and taking shade breaks.

THANK YOU to everyone who helped out in any way!! You are a blessing to me, to Chapman, and to God.

Prayer...In Action Day 4

2008-08-04T09:10:00.002-05:00

We had 30 volunteers today!!!

I didn't get photos of today's big tasks. One was moving everything except 5th grade and cafeteria stuff from a pod to St. Michaels. The other was taking absolutely everything out of another pod, locating a specific secretary's computer that is needed for Monday's enrollment--and then putting EVERYTHING back into the pod.

It was an extremely hot day with heat advisories in effect. But our volunteers were real troopers and didn't complain at all. Everyone stayed hydrated and took shade brakes and we got the jobs done.

We also continued to work on the debris pile beside the daycare center:

And was able to make the alley completely clean again:

Thanks to all the helpers from St. Michael's and All Angels in Kansas City, Grace Cathedral in Topeka, and the Boy Scout troop from Witchita.

Prayer...In Action Day 3

2008-07-31T12:05:00.003-05:00

My Day 3 (Wednesday) was mostly spent preparing for Day 4 (Friday). But I did get some pictures first thing in the morning. We began the morning picking up the yard around the school. Here is the house right beside the gradeschool, on the main drag for all the volunteers to see as they drive into town:

Here's the school yard we are working on. For those of you who knew Chapman before, you can easily tell the destruction. For others, you can see how the tree in the foreground has basically been peeled, and that under the green tarp part of the gym is missing. We are in the playground area, picking up metal and glass that is everywhere.

The tornado was 6 weeks ago, and new life is springing forth. All the trees that were ripped and peeled are now sprouting new leaves. They look so strange! I wonder what they will look like several years from now.

Here's some evidence of the power of the storm. These metal signs have been folded up, and the metal sign is bent almost to the ground:

Many of today's workers have been with us all week and planned to just work a half-day. But we started a big project just before they were to leave, and so they stuck with it and continued with some really hard work of carrying book boxes and other equiptment from storage pods to a trailer, and from a trailer to the Parish House where the grade school will be.

I am overwhelmed at the outpouring of help especially from members of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas as well as other family friends. When the tornado hit, I knew *I* wanted to go back and do something. But now instead of having one worker each of these days, there are 10 or 14 or...maybe even 30 on Friday/Sat. There's a parable in there!

Thursday is a day of rest. Shawn and I are visiting family, the youth and college students who have been helping are driving down to a youth Happening event in Wichita. Craig Loya, the campus missioner, is busy doing the rest of his week's work in this one day so that he can be present every day of our trip.

Prayer...In Action Day 2

2008-07-29T21:41:00.002-05:00

Tuesday, day 2, it rained all day.
Two volunteers dropped out before we began because we didn't have our contingency plans in order until around 9:30. Luckily, they'll be able to work for a bit on Saturday instead.

Today, we were able to move more cafeteria supplies and food. The cafeteria went from 0% to 90% complete in the 2 days we've been here:

One problem with getting work done is finding enough trucks and trailers to haul stuff. Another issue is that there are too few dumpsters and volunteers can no longer take stuff to the dump for free.
Today, the daycare finally got a dumpster. It took us about 20 minutes to fill the dumpster, and we still had the same amount still sitting in the alley, and 4 times as much in the basement to be taken out:

By the end of the day, we had gotten through our other work but still had some time. So we started going door to door cleaning the markings off of homes:

I hope we're done with rain for the week. There is SO MUCH still to do to prepare the schools.

Prayer...In Action Day 1

2008-07-28T17:46:00.003-05:00

Today is the first day of "Prayer...In Action" in my home town, Chapman Kansas. A tornado hit on June 11th and wiped out all 3 schools and many homes. When I heard about it, I felt I had to do something. So I planned a mission trip from our church in Ohio to Chapman. At one point, 9 people were going to attend, but later on only our family could go. So we put out the word in the Diocese of Kansas. We advertised this as "A Mission Trip You CAN Do" and encouraged people to come for just one or two days. We've had a great turn-out.

Early in the day, we went to one of the storage buildings, and saw a french horn that survived the tornado...sort of...

When we drove in this morning, Alice Louden's house was standing. When we went back to the pod in the afternoon, it was being demolished. She was one of the best gradeschool teachers ever, and a friend of mom's. She died several years ago, and in a way it was nice she didn't have to see her family home like this:

We didn't have enough vehicles to move all the things we needed to, so we moved several things 4 blocks walking down the street:

Prayer...In Action Day 1 famiy friends

2008-07-28T17:37:00.002-05:00

I have been talking up "Prayer in Action" with everyone I'm connected with. I've been talking to old school friends. Here are a friend's 2 sisters and nephew who came to help out. They are farm folk and were a great help. Here, they're running a magnet over the playground to pick up nails. We found lots of nails, glass, roofing, etc:

It was great to have their truck! We were able to unload some of the cafeteria stuff from the pod and into St. Michael's kitchen:

And here they are. Thanks, Nancy, for inviting them!

Prayer...In Action Day 1 desk and chairs

2008-07-28T17:13:00.003-05:00

Here we are moving desks and chairs from a pod to St. Michael's catholic church lawn to be cleaned:

Scrubbing chairs can make your back pretty tired:

Even almost-two year olds can work:

Traveling VBS: Day 5

2008-07-06T12:08:00.003-05:00

Day 5: Akron to Alliance

St. Paul's Akron put everyone up in their church rather than homes. We thought our kids might bother others so we stayed in a motel again this night.

The bikes had a short day, so the kids and took a quick trip to the Akron Zoo (I really noticed how hilly it was as I pushed 2 kids in a stroller up and down their paths!). Here, the boys get an up close look at Ariel.

I got lost on my way from Akron to Alliance. I truly believe my map didn't match up to the actual roads. However, with some phone assistance from the SAG coordinator, we did finally arrive at Trinity Episcopal Church in Alliance (no website found). The church members had a wonderful welcome for everyone, and a yummy lunch. There were signs and friendly faces and lots of congratulations.

Most of the bikers were in by noon or one, with the last few arriving mid-afternoon. As we watched the last riders slowly make their way up the slight incline, I was reminded of finishing my marathon 5 years ago and how grueling those last few miles were--and how appreciative I was of the few people still left to cheer me in.

Day 5: We looked at all we had done and called it good.

And on the 5th night, we rested!

Traveling VBS: Day 4

2008-07-06T11:50:00.004-05:00

Day 4: Lorain to Akron

Our day began in a motel because there weren't enough parishioner homes for all the Bike and VBS participants to stay. Needless to say, we didn't make any new friends nor gain any wonderful new breakfast recipes. ;)

The weather had been nice up until today, but today it was rainy. We felt sorry for the bike riders as we drove to the Carlisle Reservation. We ran in to the visitor's center and the kids had a great time playing in their kids space. They packed a whole lot of fun into a fairly small space, and it was fun for all our kids, from 20 months to 11 year olds.

We intended for the Raptor Center to be the main focus of today's field trip. And when the rain let up, we did get out to see the kestrals, owls, hawks, and even a bald eagle.

We were allowed to use a wonderful space for our VBS work time. We sang songs, talked about the story of Noah's Ark (appropriate with all the rain!), and then made dragon kites:

Because it was rainy and the kids didn't have as much time running around, we pulled out the parachute and ran some energy off that way:

We didn't get a chance to try our kites out because of the rain, but here are most of the kids showing off their handiwork:

Day 4: We looked at everything and called it good.

Traveling VBS: Day 3

2008-07-06T11:29:00.004-05:00

Day 3: Fremont to Lorain

Our family and the bishop stayed overnight with Tina and Tom. They served breakfast of homemade granola bars that were so yummy, we've already made a batch at our house!

Ann Orr's Granola Bars
3c quick cooking oats
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
2TB melted butter
1c flaked coconut
1c slivered almonds
1c mini semisweet chocolate chips
1/c dried cranberries
Mix all. Press into greased 9X13 pan.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, more if you like them crunchy.
(you may substitute your favorite ingredients for the add-ins)

We began Day 3 back at the church where the 8 kids played together and the adult chatted. Then we got on the road and went to the Deer Park. Besides having a whole bunch of deer in the enclosure you walk in, they also have a variety of exotic deer, goats, sheep, large bird (emu, rhea, etc), and peacocks. I think the peacocks were the hit for the group. Here's one a the top of a pillar.

And who knew that deer could be intimidating? But when you've got a bag full of food, the 2 dozen + deer are not shy and did intimidate a few of us. Here we are after all the food is gone:

We had a picnic again under the trees at the park. Then we went in search of berry picking and frozen custard at a stop along the bike route. When we arrived, there was plenty of custard to eat, but their berry crop had been ruined by the recent rains. So we bought a bit of pre-picked produce, ate some yummy custard, and were on our way.

When we got to the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Lorain (no website found), there weren't many people there. We found out they had planned dinner at a nearby waterfront park, so we drove over there and had our VBS lesson in a pavillion at the park. We invited some nearby kids and adults to join in our singing, then we heard the creation story and talked about the Fruits of the Spirit and how we can live each one of them in our lives.

Day 3: We looked at everything and called it good.

Traveling VBS: Day 2

2008-07-06T11:13:00.003-05:00

Day 2: Maumee to Fremont

Our family stayed with Stephanie and Steve overnight. Stephanie made a wondeful big bowl of fresh fruit salad, and Steve made pancakes so scrumptious that I asked for the recipe.

Steve's Mostly Healthful Pancakes
1/2c whole wheat flour
1/2c oat flour
1/2t baking powder
1/2t baking soda
1/2t sugar
1/4t salt
1 1/2c sour milk or buttermilk
(optional: add blueberries or chocolate chips)

Our VBS then met at The 577 Foundation in Perrysburg. We had an hour-long tour and then dug for fossils, checked out the bee hives, and had a picnic on the grass. One of the interesting things in their greenhouse was that they had a group of carnivorous plants, and also a sensitive plant that wilts when touched.
Here, the children are testing different types of basil to see if their nose can tell which one is chocolate, mint, or geranium.

The 577 Foundation also had a really great compost set-up. They have 4 bins, each with a 8ft pvc pipe sticking up out of the middle. These pipes have 1 inch holes in them at several points, and help air reach the compost for faster decomposition.
They begin their compost by mixing 1 part green (grass clippings, food) to 2 parts brown (dry leaves, straw, etc). The next week, that compost gets turned into the next bin, and the compost in that bin gets turned to the next bin...so that at the end of 1 month, the compost is ready to be sifted and used. Here is the sifting table:

We then went to St. Paul's Fremont for singing, crafts, and our lesson. We invited the bicyclists and parishioners to join us in a lesson about time and God's omniscience. And the VBS was invited to lead singing during our pre-dinner worship.

Day 2: We looked at everything and called it good.

Traveling VBS: Day 1

2008-07-05T13:52:00.004-05:00

Day 1: Defiance to Maumee

Our small but mighty VBS began at the Whitehouse Butterfly House. It was fun to be surrounded by so many butterflies. If you look carefully, there is a bright blue butterfly flying right in front of Charlie in this picture:

Besides having a great indoor butterfly house, the grounds were beautiful and had lots to do. We enjoyed a fish pond, some sculptures, a butterfly meadow walk (which the children ran), and the kids even made their own corn maze in the waist-high corn (it will become a true corn maze in the fall when it's tall).

Later in the afternoon, we settled in at the church and worked on some team building games, singing songs, and decorating our bags and water bottles. Today's lesson was about community.

St. Paul's in Maumee has a wonderful adult respite day care program. We asked if we could sing for them, and were greeted warmly by the staff. We sung a few songs, ending with one where we shake hands, rub backs, and give hugs.
What a great way to reinforce that we are part of a bigger community!

Day 1: We looked at everything and called it good.

Traveling VBS

2008-06-23T12:17:00.004-05:00

Each year, our diocese has a Bishop's Bike Ride across Ohio. This year, the ride's theme is From Defiance to Alliance. It's the first year my husband will be riding, and the first year we'll be offering a traveling Vacation Bible School for children along with the ride.

Last year, there were this many riders:

And my husband and a few others have these great biking jerseys:

So far, we only have 2 families confirmed as attending the VBS, but we'll go ahead with it as the Beta testing of a traveling VBS.

Each day, we will take a field trip to local points of interest, and have an activity that relates the field trip with something about God. Our trips will include a Butterfly House, the 577 Foundation, Berry Picking, a wilderness area, a zoo, and a pool.

The other coordinators and I are pretty excited about it. Hopefully it will go well this year and we'll have a big increase in enrollment next year.

Living the Cathartic Effect

2008-06-19T13:46:00.002-05:00

Alright, like many things on the internet, I've now discovered that the tornado picture in the last post was of one several days earlier in a different state. Still a pretty amazing photo.

But here are some actual photos of my home town, taken by an old friend of mine.

When I was very young, I hung out with two other friends and we were called, "The Three Musketeers." This is the home one of the Musketeers grew up in. Only a wall left standing:

Here is what is left of the High School auditorium where I had my Senior Recital, was part of Bye Bye Birdie, and many other productions:

And this is the Lutheran church across the street from the school. The pews on the left are a mess, but the pews to the right of the aisle were untouched. I've also been told that the walls of this church were green, but the wind stripped them. Wow.

Even though I no longer live there, and the house I grew up in sustained no major damage, I'm still having disaster dreams most nights. I have to carry my mom on my back away from a tornado. My son and I watch a passenger jet crash a few blocks from my house, etc.

So although I normally hate scary movies, last night my husband and I decided to go see "The Happening". It was scary, and more gory than I prefer. But it helped. I was able to say, "That scary thing isn't true," and to let go of some of the real scariness that has been overly affecting me.
It gave me a good reminder about why kids sometimes like to be scared by movies or playing around--it helps them put their real-life fear in perspective.
Thank God for the Cathartic Effect

The Episcopal Church Welecomes You

2008-06-15T08:18:00.002-05:00

I've been thinking recently it's time to re-activate this blog. Maybe not confine myself quite as strictly to just children and spirituality.

And then a tornado hit my hometown (yes, this is a picture of the actual tornado that hit Chapman):

Luckily, there was only 1 death and few injuries. But the loss of buildings and "stuff" is tragic.
Several friends' homes are gone, and several others have walls, roof, etc missing.

It's been a rough week trying to process this from afar. Then I drove to church this morning, and look out my windshield and see this:

If you can't quite see the window, here's a better look:

Jesus invites us in. With whatever baggage we may have. Set it down. Stay a while. Grieve. Heal. Then go back out into the world to help others.
Amen.

Stations of the Cross by Coloring

2008-03-21T12:39:00.002-05:00

Because our Grade School WorkshopCycles class has been studying the Stations of the Cross, I encouraged parents to bring their kids to our noon Stations service.
Very quickly, I realized how boring it was, being 3 feet tall, listening to someone talk and talk, and having 30 people between you and a 4 X 6 black and white woodblock print place high on a wall.
So I ran downstairs and got the coloring pages (VERY slow to load, but well worth it!) that we used for "fillers." There is a page for each of the 14 stations. I made quick booklets and the children then were able to follow along, coloring each page and talking about what was happening in them.

Even the 4-year old picked up very quickly that when the group began to sing, it was time to turn the page.

I highly recommend using these coloring pages and inviting families to attend Stations of the Cross together. The parents can walk the stations as one adult sits with the children and talks about each coloring page.
WOW.

No-Nag Great Idea

2008-01-30T16:07:00.001-05:00

Our EFM group voluntered at a Hot Meals program last night. This program has many people who volunteer only occasionally. As I took the tortillas out of the oven, I turned around and saw the refrigerator covered with 3X5 index cards with brightly colored words.

Each card held a task that needed to be completed before we were "done" for the evening. It was SO MUCH better than a typed out list because:
-Easier to read than a page or two of duties and descriptions
-No one had to be "in charge"--each of us could find something to do
-Each of us could choose the tasks that were most interesting to us
-They were in bright colors
-They included things like "Smile!" and at least 3 of them said "Dance!" ;)

What a great way to help volunteers, or occasional users of any sort, to be successful in what they do.
Also, what a fun way to have a weekly Family Chore Hour. ;)

Lent Preparations

2008-01-28T16:38:00.000-05:00

I've spent much of my day working on Sunday School, and I'm very excited about both of our classrooms.

I'm excited about Godly Play because we had 10 children in class yesterday--too many to even fit around the table! But they were very attentive during the story time, shared well during work time, and were easily redirected when needed.
Things are going well there, and I'm working on cutting down another table to go into their room.

I'm preparing materials for the Stations of the Cross cycle of WorkshopCycles, and there is so much great stuff in there. For their journal pages, we're going to have space for kids to draw the station they're learning about that week and ask them to complete a phrase about the week (ie "nails are...")
I have such hope about all the children will be learning--they could really lead their families and the rest of the congregation in the observance of a Holy Lent.

Back to work!

Drawing our prayers

2008-01-21T11:37:00.001-05:00

I taught Godly Play for the preschool classroom this week. I took a long piece of paper and put it on their small table and we drew our prayers for the first activity of the morning. The kids did a really great job of it and stayed on task.
They then brought the paper forward at the Offertory, and we laid it under the altar for the rest of the service.

Prayers for my cousins:

For the wooden car I'm making with my grandpa and dad:

For Granny E who died (she's wearing the sweater I gave her for christmas):

For my fish. (And that big circle? "It's the thing that connects all my prayers.")

What do your kids want to pray about today? Take out some crayons and find out.

God in the Family

2008-01-06T12:29:00.001-05:00

The kids we spent Thanksgiving with (have I mentioned how happy I am to have my new computer mostly under control?) are 2nd generation Greek. The parents are a delightful gentle southern Episcopal man and an animated soul-ful Greek Orthodox woman. I remember the first Icon he was given by her family. He wasn't quite sure about what to do with it or how to "use" it. And now, their house is full of Icons in the most normal, everyday sort of way.

Living with them for a week, I came to understand Icons in a new way. As they are scattered about in their home, these icons are less Holy Things To Be Revered and more Family...less Church People and more There's A Great Story About This Person...less unsettling and more comforting.

Their children are growing up with icons all around them just like the family photos that are all around them. It's a way for God's World (which some kids only get when they go to church) to intersect all the time with Our World.

What a gift to give your children.

New Computer Lab

2008-01-03T13:40:00.001-05:00

Miraculous things happen in all sorts of ways. Our little church recently received the big blessing of a Computer Lab for our WorkshopCycles (Rotation) Sunday school.

A long storage area was cleaned out, and over the course of 6 weeks 6 computers, 2 long tables, and a printer found their way into the space.

Here's a photo from our first day in the Computer Lab:

And an illustration created in the lab:

When I proposed moving to Workshop Rotation Model last spring, I thought we were pushing our limits, but I also felt it would really enrich the whole parish if we could pull it off. I can't believe how far we've come in 9 months. Our Sunday school is full, we have willing and able helpers, and children are really enjoying their time in Sunday school.
I'm so thankful for all who have helped get this program up and running, and for all who keep it working from week to week.

(I'm also glad to be back in the blogging saddle after my computer updates)

2007-12-20T17:02:00.000-05:00

I'm learning how to deal with a new computer.

When I learn how to upload pics to/from my new Mac laptop, I'll post my backlogs.
Target date: January 10.

Blessings!

Chidren's Place in Church

2007-11-13T16:57:00.001-05:00

Our parish has coffee hour in the crossing of our nave. It makes our church building feel much more like home.
Although our children don't do this during worship, I delight in the places our children are drawn to after the service.

Under the altar:

And under (and often in) the pulpit:

I believe grandpa God is chuckling.

Writing a Letter on a Torah Scroll

2007-11-04T15:42:00.001-05:00

Recently I was part of a profoundly moving event. A trustee has donated a Torah scroll to Hillel at Kenyon College. This scroll was hidden during the Holocost by a Roman Catholic priest, and a few years ago was salvaged by a Rabbi whose life calling is to save and refurbish scrolls lost in the Holocost.

Around 100 of us were invited to write a letter of the scroll. The rabbi spoke to us beforehand about his calling, his group, and this scroll in particular. And then, he helped us write the a word on the scroll.

In Jewish understanding, writing a Torah is about as close to God as you can get. The Rabbi said that as we are writing our letter, we will be as close to God as the Rabbi that is giving offering in the most holy of holies (the most interior space of the temple). Jewish lore says that anything you pray for while writing a Torah will be heard and answered.

We said a prayer before we began, I washed my hands, and then together the Rabbi and I used a turkey feather quill and blessed ink to fill in several letters at the end of Deutoronomy on this scroll. It was a holy moment, and I am so thankful for having the gift of the invitation to do this.

The Profound Theology of Lilo and Stitch

2007-10-24T14:41:00.001-05:00

At first I didn't like Lilo and Stitch. After watching with Charlie for a year or so, yesterday I was suddenly and profoundly moved by the story. Let's see if I can capture the revelation I had.

Lilo lives with her older sister as her legal guardian in Hawaii. They don't have a lot of money, and they have big noses. Lilo gets teased a lot, and her sister is stressed about keeping her job and having enough money to get by.

Aliens Stitch, Juma, and Pleakly move in with Lilo and her sister. Stich becomes Lilo's best friend.

Jumba is an "Evil Genius Scientist" and had for years created more and more evil experiment creatures to wreak havoc on the universe. Stitch is the last of his 626 experiments. Each experiment is catalogued by number and by it's evil ability. Jumba is now working for good with Lilo's team.

Pleakly is a 3-legged gender-bending neat freak. I think Pleakly is a boy, but he likes to wear Lilo's sister's clothes. He often also takes the role of mother hen of the extended earth/alien family.

Here comes the theology:
Lilo and Stitch are on a mission to track down all of the 625 Evil Experiments before the evil Dr. Hamsterweil does. Lilo has figured out that every experiment has "One True Home" where it's gifts are used for good.
There is a shredding experiment thats one true home is mowing the grass. And a too-much electricity experiment whose one true home is an abandon lighthouse that will always now have electricity. And on and on and on.

"God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good." (Gen 1:31a)

I'm taking a Qi Gong course and two weeks ago the instructor told us to release the bad energy on our exhale and take in the good energy when we inhaled. It concerned me all week. I didn't want to be a litter-bug, sending out all sorts of bad energy into the world. So I asked him about it, and he told me the idea was that the energy was "bad" because it was in the wrong place, but when you release it into the universe, the universe gets it into the correct place where it is good and helpful energy.

So whether it's the bible, or a children's show, or a system of Chinese energy work: everything, in its proper place, is good. Amen!

Great Video: Ancient Mesopotamia

2007-10-12T22:25:00.000-05:00

With 36 hours until showtime, I've found a great video for our Movie rotation for our All About The Bible rotation. It's called Ancient Mesopotamia. It's geared specifically for 3rd-6th graders, runs 23 minutes, and although a little hokey in places, it kept my husband and I interested and even taught us a thing or two. You can see a clip from it here.

Now, the only issue is we've got it on VCR and we only have setup for DVD. So much for a day off with Absolutely Nothing To Do. Jesus turned water to wine--surely a priest can turn VCR into DVD!

St Francis Day Pet Blessing

2007-10-09T15:25:00.001-05:00

Every year I've been a priest, I've lead a St Francis' Day service with a blessing of the animals. This year's event was the most well-attended. We had a total of 46 humans, a couple dozen dogs, and a few cats.

Everyone was well-behaved during the service. It is fun to watch pets and their owners find their spot for the liturgy. They seem to have an innate sense about how close they can be to others.

Although humans are physically far from one another, these pet blessings seem to me to be one of the more intimate services we have. There is something so precious about the bond between pet and human. I know my dog has often been a physical reminder for me of God--comforting me when I'm sorrowful, dancing for joy when I return home, convincing me to play and exercise when I get too wrapped up in work...

Thank you, God for all the animals in our lives.

Sunday School Carpenters

2007-09-19T15:24:00.001-05:00

The Art workshop for the "Jesus as a Child" workshop in WorkshopCycles is a carpentry project. The project as it was originally conceived didn't have much carpentry involved. However, I had A Great Idea. I decided our children should make wooden prayer benches, and found free directions (that seem to no longer exist). Here is another site with directions on how to make the prayer benches.

As the time drew near, adults were beginning to get nervous about combining children and power tools, and about the ability of the children to get this project done in the alotted time. However, since Charlie has helped Shawn with carpentry projects since he was 2, and since Shawn was leading the workshop, I was confident things would be fine.

We pre-cut and routed the wood, so the first things the children did were to put the legs in the grooves and sand the pieces:

Next, Sly helped the children used a drill press to drill pilot holes for the 4 screws that hold the legs on:

Some children also tried using hand tools to make the pilot holes:

They then screwed in the 4 screws and their benches were complete:

The workshop went wonderfully!! I was able to be around for it, and the students were very engaged in the project. It was a delight to see.

I had intended for the children to leave the benches here at the church, as a donation of their time and talent to the worship in this place. However, I forgot to make that clear to my husband. So the children took their benches home. Today, I heard that one student is now having her dolls pray.

What could be better!?!

Rally Day

2007-09-17T09:29:00.001-05:00

This is the first year we've done a Rally Day at church. After the service, we invited everyone downstairs to see our classrooms and interact with our curriculum. I didn't get any good photos of people visiting our Godly Play room, although they did. But here are some shots from our new Workshop Rotation room.

We're a small church and only have one multi-purpose room that we use for Workshop Rotation, so different areas have different feels.

This is the area which is also used for other groups during the week. It's a good "lounge" area and we have displayed our printed WorkshopCycles curriculum here for folks to examine:

(I have no idea why this is underlined...)
Next, we have the entrance to our Tent. Today, it is set up for a Computer Rotation. However, we use this space for many different things. It is a great place to read the story at the beginning of each Workshop. It is also a good place for drama, movement, and games.

As you can see, the students were very excited about showing us the Computer games they have been using.

All in all, a good day.

Multiple Intelligence Self-Test

2007-09-07T21:44:00.000-05:00

Sunday is Rally Day at our parish. It's the first time we've done a Rally Day in who knows how long. We're doing it specifically to introduce the congregation to Workshop Rotation Model Sunday School, which we began 3 weeks ago. Workshop Rotation Model is based on the idea that people learn in a number of different way, called Multiple Intelligences.
I took this quick self-test and found out that my learning styles are as follows:
1) Intrapersonal
2) Interpersonal
3) Kinesthetic
4) Naturalistic
5) Musical
6) Linguistic
7) Logical
8) Visual/Spacial

Maybe one of the reason I am so excited about Workshop Rotation is because there are 5 modes I learn better in than Linguistic (the one traditional Sunday Schools use most).

What are your top learning styles? How about your children's?

Any Regrets?

2007-09-05T18:37:00.000-05:00

When my husband and I had been married a few years, we took a group of youth on a mission trip. Near the end of the trip we went white water rafting and there was an accident. Half of our raft got thrown out in a Class IV rapids. The guide and I were able to get back in almost immediately. But a teen and Shawn were out longer. I watched Shawn tumbling and tumbling down the rapids in front of us, clearly not getting all the breath he needed. And the girl was stuck under the raft. All of us in the raft were holding on, feeling under the water for the girl. After what seemed like an eternity, the guide felt her paddle, pulled on it and got her back in the raft. About 100 yards down river, we caught up to my well-battered husband. I was the one that took hold of his life vest. I wasn't strong enough to pull him in alone. With the help of 2 others, we hoisted him in and he fell on me: bluish-white, bloody, and breathing ragged. But breathing! And no bones sticking out. Everyone was safe, thank God.

During the time that Shawn was tumbling in the river and I was watching helplessly, I had an amazing realization: There was nothing I regretted about our life together. There was nothing unsaid that needed to be said. There were no choices I would have made differently. If he were to die, I wouldn't grieve any choices I made.

Since that day, I have striven to keep this up. Regularly I will review my life and consider those I love and imagine one of us has died. Is there anything I would regret? If so, I try to shift my life so that I can always say at any moment, "there is nothing I regret."

Creating a Sunday School Tent

2007-08-25T15:24:00.000-05:00

Today Penny and I met to redo our Sunday School area. We were on our 3rd plan of how to update this space:

We found these bright jewel tone fabrics at a great price, and made them into panels to make 2 sides of a tent:

However, as soon as we began fiddling, we realized there was no way our 3rd plan was going to work either. Luckily, Penny brought along her Favorite Handyman (to whom she happens to be married) and he got us all squared away. Instead of wall-to-wall bars to hang our curtain panels, he built a pvc structure:

We hung the fabric:
And voila!

I think the kids are really going to like it.

We had been planning to jump into our first rotation tomorrow (Computers). But we were so excited about our new space and our new curriculum that we thought the children might be as well. So we punted (AGAIN) and decided to spend tomorrow doing an introduction to WorkshopCycles and the elements in includes, like Shepherds, Workshop Leaders, Journaling, and the different workshops.

FUN!

Friday Five

2007-08-24T15:12:00.000-05:00

I'm proud to say I'm now part of the RevGalPal Blogring (you can check out others by clicking on the sidebar).

One of the things they do is the Friday Five. This week, it's 5 things that have helped you on your spiritual journey. Here's my list, with a childcentric spin:

1. Book
I go back again and again to 2 series, Madeline L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time series and C.S. Lewis' science fiction trilogy (Perelandra, etc). Each time I read them, I am reminded about God, humanity, and our relationships in wonderful ways. Wrinkle in Time can be read starting around age 7-8. I believe I first read Perelandra at age 13.

2. Music
Why Not Sea Monsters have created the world's greatest biblical-based music. They may be "children's artists" but their theology can stand up to many a ThD. If you haven't heard them, check them out NOW. Their song about Job had me weeping tears of joy. They are able to convey the overwhelming love of God in a way I've seldom heard.

3. Art
My own. We are all artists, and are able to understand a little bit about the creative aspect of God by being creative ourselves. Spend a little time with your kids and art this week!

4. Film
There's an old film, possibly made in the 1960s or 70s called The Music Box. It's about a hopeless man in a hopeless world. He finds a music box that brings joy into his life. He tries to hide the change in himself and also hides the music box. A really great band of funky singing angels come to share the joy and teach him to share. First his family, then his neighborhood, and then the world become hope-filled.

5. Unusual Engagement with Pop Culture
I love The Brick Testament. It takes (usually the goriest or sexiest) stories from the bible and tells them through legos. It has a rating systems for the stories, including N (nudity), V (violence), S (sex), and C (I'm not sure what C is for). Not for young children, but I would think that especially older boys might really enjoy it. However, parents may not want to have to try to explain these "stinky parts" of the bible to their children!

Now, post a comment and share your nominations in these categories.

The Real New Year

2007-08-21T10:50:00.000-05:00

Sunday school starts this week. Our preschool group has been using a modified Godly Play model for years, and it is still working well.

This year, we're beginning to use WorkshopCycles for our gradeschool Sunday School. It's a WHOLE LOT of work to get up and running, but I think it's going to be a fantastic program.

Our Sunday School Space currently looks like this

We are hoping to change the boarder, add better lighting, add cubbies, and make a 2-sided tent around the rug of brightly colored fabric hung from rods attached to the wall. Oh, and some pillows or meditation benches for sitting upon.
This area will be used for story telling, drama, and other similar activities.

For journaling, computers, and some of the art activities, we'll be here at the nearby table.

For our kitchen workshops, we'll be working several blocks away in our Parish House kitchen:

And our first art (carpentry) project will be these benches. FUN!

One woman's struggle with perinatal death

2007-08-14T22:03:00.000-05:00

A friend at my last church has given me such a blessing by sharing with me the story of her daughter that died in utero, and how she continues to remember and deal with it. On both of my birth plans, it said to call her in case of any serious problems. I've referred other women to her when they were grieving a baby's death.

Here's her post about it. Please pass it on.

To polish his tarnished reputation

2007-08-09T19:55:00.000-05:00

I feel I need to share a few more quotes from C, so that you know the kind of kid he normally is. I don't want you to get the wrong impression of him from the previous post.

Tonight he was washing his hands getting ready for bed, and wasn't standing on his step stool, so I helped him reach the soap. He said, "Thanks mom. I appreciate you."

Yesterday as we were hanging out in the evening, he turned to me and said sincerely, "You're a good mom."

Man, I love this kid!

Were Rodgers and Hammerstein Wrong?

2007-08-03T19:08:00.000-05:00

I've mentioned that we've had lots of house guest recently. Charlie is about at his limit. Our last small guest left today. This morning, Charlie was yelling for me and when I arrived he said, "I hate her!" When I asked why, he said "Because she has long hair. She is different."

WOW. Talk about prejudice, xenophobia, or almost any sort of -ism!
"Hate" is a very strong word in our house. We never use it for people. So Charlie was really saying something strong.

Later, Shawn explained to me that the visitor didn't get along well with Charlie's friend M who had been over to play. And Charlie took M's side and stood up for her, and it came out as "I hate that girl because she has long hair."

When we got the full story, we helped Charlie put other words with it that were more accurate. He and the new friend made up, and things were good.

But my professor has been singing this song in my head all day:

ARTIST: Rodgers and Hammerstein
TITLE: You've Got to Be Carefully Taught
Lyrics and Chords

You've got to be taught to hate and fear
You've got to be taught from year to year
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a different shade
You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taught before it's too late
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught
You've got to be carefully taught

Teaching Envrionmental Sustainability with Salsa

2007-07-30T13:56:00.001-05:00

On Thursday, the Kenyon Conference Kid's Program learned about Environmental Sustainability by visiting an organic farm, learning about Worm Poop and using vegetables from that garden to make salsa:

Not only did the kids have a great time learning about taking care of natural resources and eating locally, they also made a really FANTASTIC salsa. There were 3 tables, so one made mild, one medium, and one hot.

Here's our recipe:
4 medium tomatoes or 4 handfulls of cherry/grape tomatoes
1/2 medium onion
1/2 green pepper
1 clove garlic
(for medium salsa, add 2 spicy banana peppers. for hot salsa, add 1 spicy bananna pepper and 1 jalapeno)
Chop all into small but varied-sized pieces. mix in bowl.
Add:
1 TB fresh parsley or other green herb
3-4 pinches salt
3-4 pinches sugar
juice from 1/2 lime.
Eat.

YUM!

Workshop Rotation MDGs

2007-07-25T16:23:00.001-05:00

The Episcopal Church is very interested in the Millennium Development Goals
I'm helping with the Children's Program at this year's Kenyon Conference, and we are doing Workshop Rotation Model with the MGDs for the children this year. It's fun and exhausting, and really delightful what the children are teaching us.

Here is Tracy from LeaderResources teaching our preschoolers about how girls fetch water in other parts of the world.

And here is my Charlie playing a great game the kids did using small cups going to a "river" (blue tarp with pan of water) and returning to fill up a gallon jug.

And here is Charlie at the Elevation. Since he was just over 2, he has broken crackers or cookies or whatever he has and wants us to say, "Alleluia, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us...Therefore let us keep the feast. Alleluia."

The kids just LOVE playing church. Surprisingly or not, it seems to be the kids whose parents are in full-time ministry that always want to play the part of priest. But even the kids who aren't jostling to be preist are still very engaged in the play.

Charlie's First Tomato

2007-07-21T11:17:00.000-05:00

We did a little container gardening this year for the first time. We have planters on our deck, and we eat dinner their most nights. Every night, Charlie will show us each plant and the new growth on it.

By helping care for these plants, Charlie is learning the basics of caring for another. He can see the results if we forget to water it, or if caterpillars start eating them. And he can see what happens when he chooses to help the plant by watering it or picking off the bugs.
The things he's learning this summer at 3 1/2 with plants will grow into an ability not just to take care of plants, but to take care of pets, nurture friendships, and someday be a caring, helpful partner.

900 Messages a Day

2007-07-21T11:10:00.000-05:00

Educators, parents and others get fairly anxious when they realize that average child see or hears 900 messages from the media and advertisers each day. They agonize over ways to counter those messages. Suddenly this week I had an epiphany:

God gives us way more than 900 messages a day, if only we attend to them.

I realized this after I had called Charlie away from his play to look at a tiny down feather I found on our deck. It was blue near the quill, beige in the center, and brownish red at the top. It was beautiful and tiny, and I wanted to share it with someone. The next day as we were walking out to the car after a rain, I saw that the moss on our fence post had bloomed, and we got out of the car to look at it, and compare it to the moss on the other fence posts and generally take some time looking at really tiny things.

We are surrounded by beauty and miracles. We can choose to attend to them, and encourage our children when they do. That is how to counter 900 media messages.

Amazing Prayer Request

2007-07-10T22:14:00.000-05:00

Charlie had a rough night tonight. Being 3 1/2, it seems he sometimes just needs to melt down. He lost it just before he and Shawn were to play their nightly ritual of "Tickle Monster" which involves running around our king bed, lots of "ug!" and "Ha!"s and much giggling.

They went downstairs to get calmed down, and as that was happening, baby Luke fell asleep and I put him in our Amby (which was Charlie's until a month ago).

Poor Charlie, when he came upstairs ready to go, they couldn't play Tickle Monster because baby Luke was asleep in our family bedroom. And to add insult to injury, he was sleeping in (Charlie's) Amby.

Charlie cried some, but was able to hold it together. We snuggled into his bed and I asked him what he wanted to pray for. The one thing he said?

"Thank you that baby Luke grew in your belly and came out."

Luke's Baptism

2007-07-05T09:49:00.000-05:00

Luke was baptized on Sunday, and it went beautifully! When it came time for the baptism, the congregation sang Wade in the Water and then we all walked over to a statue of a couple of dancers where an empty bowl and a whole lot of small watering cans sat.

After the questions and prayers, it was time to add water to the baptismal bowl/font. The children were invited to do this, and we talked about how God's love for us is overflowing just like this bowl of water. Then the children joined me in blessing the water.

Oh, yes. And one of Luke's Godmothers couldn't make it to the service so we called her on my cellphone which I had in my breast pocket under my stole. Luke could hear her singing and responding, and kept wanting to grab the phone and talk to her.

Even though the water was very cold, Luke enjoyed being baptized and sealed with holy oil. Then, at the peace I told the children that it is traditional to sprinkle the congregation with the blessed water after a baptism. It didn't take long until the bowl was empty!
What a joyful baptism.

Baptism Preparation

2007-06-26T15:23:00.000-05:00

Baptism Preparation is one of the areas where clergy often have strong feelings, and divergent practices. Some clergy believe that parents and godparents need to go thru hours of instruction before their children may be baptized. Others believe that anyone who wants to be baptized (or have their children baptized) should be allowed to, no barriers at all. I know few clergy who are on the fence about this.
I used to fall into the first catagory. I now fall into the second catagory. I won't go into the theological arguments I've used for both positions. I've got a clergy group for that!

We're preparing for Luke's baptism on Sunday. He was born last August. Our church worships outside in the summertime, and I think it's delightful. So we decided to wait until summer to baptize Luke in the beauty of creation.

Preparing for this baptism makes me realize how much I've grown and changed since Charlie's baptism 3 1/2 years ago:

Then, Charlie was baptized on the first Holy Day to arrive, when he was 6 weeks old
Now, Luke is being baptized, oh, sometime, summerish, when some friends and family can come for a visit...

Then, motherhood was rocking my world and I was not catching on.
Now, mothering 2 doesn't really seem to be any more difficult than mothering 1 (thanks to an AMAZING husband, and a great job!!!!)

Then, I was Determined to be Only Charlie's Mother and not a clergyperson at the baptism.
Now, I am Determined to be Luke's mother answering the questions on his behalf, and ALSO the priest blessings, baptizing, and sealing baby Luke.

Then, Charlie's baptismal outfit was lovingly made by my mom before he was even born.
Now, last night I just realized that we don't have an outfit for Luke this Sunday. (We pulled out Charlie's, which was huge on him at 6 weeks, and we think we might be able to squeeze Luke into it at 10 months!)

Then, I was Mommy OR Priest OR Wife OR Friend, Or Or Or Or.
Now, I am Mommy AND Priest AND Wife AND Friend and and and and.

Thanks be to God.

Immitating Christ

2007-06-25T11:41:00.000-05:00

Last night, Charlie came up to me while I was working on the computer. "Mommy! Mommy!" He clearly wanted me to look at him.
There he was, face squnched up, one eye closed, and working on his fingers. He's working...he's working...there. He's got a "thumbs up" on the left hand and a "gun-pointer" on the other hand.
He's holding the pose...and it's... Buddy Christ, from the Dogma movies.

We have lots of different Jesuses around the house. Earlier in the day, he climbed onto a pew in the corner of our dining room to look more closely at an icon an EFM frend wrote of Jesus as a child with Joseph. And we've got The Brick Testament's (some scenes not suitable for the young or prim) Holy Trinity which is another favorite of ours.

We've got lots of images of Jesus around the house, just like we've got multiple images of Grandpa Charlie (who died before the kids were born), or friends that we rarely see. It's a little sign that God is a part of our lives just like these other friends and family.

Bedtime Prayers

2007-06-23T08:42:00.000-05:00

Charlie and I have a simple bedtime prayer routine. It used to be that I'd give the topic and he'd fill in the details. But these days (it's a 3 1/2 yo thing), he wants me to do the whole thing. It's a simple Thanks, Confession, Supplication, Adoration formula:
"Dear God,
We thank you for all the blessings of this life (fun things today, list of friends, list of family).
We are sorry for everything we've done wrong. We know you forgive us and will help us do better when we ask (sometimes mention something specific here--usually MY confession)
Please be with everyone who is sick or sad or lonely, especially _____. For the people who are sick, make them well. For the people who are sad or lonely, make sure they know you are with them, and give them a friend. Help us to be friends too.
Give us a good night's sleep (any special intentions for ourselves).
We love you God, and we know you love us.
Amen

More recently, I've tacked the Lord's Prayer onto the end of it because I realized he needed to learn it at home and this seemed like the most logical way to do it.

The other night we were praying for a friend of mine who is an amazing teacher and doesn't know where she'll be working next year. So I said, "Be with __ who wants to teach, but doesn't have a place yet." Charlie stopped me and said, "She could teach kids to ride bikes!!!!" I told him she really likes math and would like to help kids learn to work with numbers. Then Charlie began counting to the tune of the ABCs and it was clear he somehow felt he was helping her by doing this.

Praying with your child is an amazing thing!

Are those pictures of God?

2007-06-22T13:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I had Charlie and one of his friends with me and I needed to stop by the church. The college (they own the building) is having the stained glass windows repaired. So I was showing them where the windows had been removed and they just left white paper instead. Charlie's friend looked around at the windows and said, "Are these pictures of God?" "No, they're friends of God."

Godly Play

2007-06-19T15:09:00.000-05:00

Our younger children's Sunday School uses Godly Play. They have used it for a generation (our youth group were the first kids to use it). Last year, we did a major re-vamping. One person was in charge of updating the room and keeping the supply boxes in good order. Another person was in charge of scheduling the stories, teachers, and shepherds. And we had about 10 people involved as teachers and shepherds. This spread the work out so that no one became exhausted with their task, the parents knew much more about what was happening in Sunday School (because they all took part in one way or another), and it was simply a really great year.
Thanks to the dozens of people who helped out this year!

"The Spirituality of Parenting"

2007-01-15T17:38:00.000-05:00

I've always been a fan of the radio program Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett Recently, I listened to the episode entitled "Spiritual Parenting" http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/spiritualityofparenting/index.shtml and it inspired me to begin this blog. If you are a parent, grandparent, caregiver, or godparent I encourage you to find an hour to listen to this on your computer (at work, while surfing the web, while reconciling your checkbook) or on your MP3 player (in the car, while working out, while waiting for your child's practice to finish).
This segment is an interview with Rabbi Sandy Sasso. I have several of her children's books in my collection, and loved their beauty and insightfulness the moment I saw them. For her, spirituality is both simple and enormous, challenging and embracing, joyful and serious.
I hope that you make the effort to multi-task this podcast into your life over the next few weeks, and then take a moment to respond here about your thoughts.

The best Kid-Friendly Service yet!

2007-01-15T17:22:00.000-05:00

Harcourt Parish had a fantastic Kid-Friendy Service on the morning of Sunday, December 24th. Children were an active part of our simple Eucharist which began with all the children processing pieces of the crèche to the front. After some singing, Amy (Ella's mom) read “The Nativity” storybook as our gospel. Next, all children were involved with our Christmas Pageant. Tarin, Kennedy, and Mark played a family with questions about the nativity and various other youth and children were our manger scene answering their questions. Prayers of the People included coloring pages and fill-in-the blanks. Parents were encouraged to take these home and complete them with their children as an aid to prayer in the home. Children then sang “The Little Drummer Boy” with the older children singing the words and the preschoolers singing the ‘pa rum pa pum pum’s. Children were then invited to come forward for the Eucharistic Prayer and were very well-behaved while behind the altar. Most children took part in the elevation and were able to lift up their own host (bread) as Rector Helen lifted the wine at the concecration.

Several pre-schoolers have been asking to come to church since, and at least one has decided that behind the altat is the proper place for him to be during the Eucharistic Prayer (even if it makes his mom--me--nervous)!