It is time to think about summer VBS.  I have found several amazing resource for low cost/free VBS programs.  This year our church isn’t holding a “VBS,” but we are using the Voice of the Martyr VBS curriculum for our summer Sunday School.  It will be fun yet educational for the Children and Adults.  We are also going to have a movie night for the Adults and show them Underground Reality: Columbia.  There is enough material to do two Sundays for each country.  If you have any of the Torchlighters DVD series, they would go perfectly with the curriculum. (A.K.A show Amy Carmichael for India and Eric Liddlle for China)  The VBS tells of the persecuted church in five countries: Egypt, China, India, Nigeria and North Korea.  It has some fun object lessons and snacks from the different countries.  Last year our church held an Underground Church service.  We met late at night, came in through the back door, and used flash lights.  It went very well.  I may do that again this summer.  The VBS is a great price at 45 dollars, but there are other free programs that would be a lot of fun for the kids and just as biblically sound.   The “Summer Sunday” button on my wed site has several Bible series that could work (Ps. the 10 Commandments are posted).  Here are a few I have found.  If you know of others, let me know.

 M.A.P.S. (Mission Adventure Preparation School)

 “BigHeart Farms”: The Fruit of the Spirit

 “Bible Boot Camp VBS”: The Armor of God

Chocolate Covered Easter Eggs with Almond butter Centers

Does Easter’s arrival make you nervous?  All that not-so-healthy, wonderful-looking stuff sitting right beside your seaweed and apples–it hardly compares.  It is so much worse for children.  We don’t mind being tortured every-now-and -then as adults, but they hate it and can’t understand how to suffer in silence.  I’m not sure there are very many people that suffer in silence well…anyway.  No one has to suffer!  Here are some relatively simple ways to spice up this wonderful holiday.

Chocolate Almond Butter Eggs

Allergy Free Chocolate Almond Butter Easter Eggs

Egg Filling

• 4 cups almond meal (try coconut flour if can’t have almonds)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp stevia leaf powder
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups almond butter (sun butter for nut allergies)
• 1/2 cup agave
• 1/2 cup coconut oil

Mix all the ingredients and form egg shaped balls.  Place on a wax paper cookie sheet and freeze the eggs.

*I use the dehydrated/blended leftovers of almond milk.

Melted Chocolate

Chocolate Coating

• 4oz. baking chocolate
• 2oz or 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 2 Tbsp agave
• 2 Tbsp coconut cream (top of can of coconut milk)
• 10 drops vanilla stevia

Set up the cooling rack.  Place a sheet of wax paper on a cookie sheet with a cooling rack on top (to catch the extra chocolate).  Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (a small pan placed in a slightly larger pan of water).  Remove from heat and add the rest of the ingredients.  The consistency is important.  You want the chocolate just to the point that the lines in it stay after the spoon passes through.  It is difficult to keep it there for long, so be sure to have the outside pot of the boiler near to adjust the consistency as needed.  Roll a frozen almond butter egg, one at a time, in the melted chocolate.  Pick it up with a fork and place it on the cooling rack to harden.  They can be placed in the refrigerator to help the process along.  Store eggs wrapped in wax paper and refrigerated.

Brownie Pops

Best Brownies Pops Ever: (Makes 18-20 Balls)

• 4 cups walnuts
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 20 drops french vanilla
• 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
• 2 cups dates
• 2 Tbsp coconut milk/ kefir

Grease sheet with liquid parchment. Blend walnuts, cocoa, salt, vanilla and flax seed meal.  Add dates, as they become smooth add milk. Form ball around the end of popsicle sticks.  Bake: at 350° for 5 min., upright

Raw: dehydrate for 4 hr. on 125

Choc. Coating: 1/4c. coconut oil, 1/4c. cocoa butter, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, yacon/agave

Gluten Free Resurrection Rolls

Here are some other ideas I got from pinterest:

Imagine an event in which the kids (both boys and girls) can dress-up, eat treats, have tea (kid friendly type), and be told of Jesus in a fun-loving, interactive way.  A great Easter event idea that can spread the real story of Easter and show the kids how much Jesus loves them.  A wonderful thing about this is that a group of any size can make an event like this possible (big or small church, neighborhood, family, scout troop…)

Items Needed:

• A set of Resurrection Eggs for each table (4-8 at a table) -FamilyLife Today has a great set of eggs.  Make your own (click to link).
• Tea (green tea, coconut milk (for dairy free), cream/whole milk, honey)
• Treats (try to keep it low-sugar, if possible)  sandwiches and fruit
• Flowers (daffodils from people in the church and/or balloons, depending on budget)
• Tables, chairs and napkins
• Tea cups and tea pots, plates and silverware (You may have people bring their own.)
• Hostesses (You will need one for each table to facilitate the story and help with tea.  I will be enlisting the help of our teens from the youth group.  It is a good leadership opportunity.)
• Kids Easter Movie (Veggie Tales: An Easter Carol, Miss Patty Cake’s Egg Strava Ganza, or God Rocks! Bibletoons: Rez the Rock that Rolled )

Attire: The boys dress up in “men of courage” costumes, i.e. firemen, astronauts, policemen, business men, engineers…  Ladies dress in “Lady of Noble Character” costumes, i.e. princesses, Ester, Amy Carmichael, Ruth…

Treats:  I’m planning fruit and flowers.  I will be using finger fruit such as grapes, berries, bananas… Maybe some triangle sandwiches.  Be sure to have gluten free/ dairy free options, for example rice cakes and Sun Butter (sunflower seed butter).

Tea:  Make up huge pots of green tea.  Be sure the tea is not too hot.  You should be able to touch it with your finger and not be burned.  Have a honey bear at each table and some coconut milk and whole milk/cream.

Activity:  At each table there is a hostess and on each plate there are 1 or 2 of the Resurrection eggs.  Also at the end you can have a sing-a-long with Christian children’s songs.

Parents: The parents can stay to take pictures, help serve the tables (get stuff for the hostesses), and help clean-up while the children watch the movie.

Order of Event:

1. Music as people come and are seated.  You can have some extra costumes/ hats for  those who forgot.
2. Have a Hostess for each table to facilitate the story of Easter with the resurrection eggs.  (“Who has the egg with a one on it?” Or you can use the color of the eggs to distinguish them.  Let that child open their egg and allow them to tell you what they think that item means to the story of Easter.  Go through all the eggs in order.  Be sure that every child gets to participate.)
3. Tea, treats and chatting (Hostesses helps with the treats, tea preparation, and make sure no one is left out of the conversation.  You want everyone to feel welcomed and loved.)
4. Sing-a-long (Some kid friendly Christian songs for the kids to sing together, i.e. Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children, My God is so Great…)
5. Say good-buy and glad you came to every child at your table.  If the church has enough flowers/ balloons give one to each child to take home.
6. Easter Kids Movie (Veggie Tales: An Easter Carol, Miss Patty Cake’s Egg Strava Ganza, or God Rocks! Bibletoons: Rez the Rock that Rolled )

***Clean-up:  Parents help clean-up while the children watch the movie.

Lenten Crown of Thorns

There is no better way to reinforce our trust in who God is, then to review the prophecies God made in the Old Testament and the fulfillment of them in the New Testament as it pertains to Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Great preparation for Easter!  My pastor wrote the devotionals and I drew the pictures.  (He is so gifted at writing in layman’s terms.)  I used the Lenten calendar as the bases for the time table.  The first 40 days (including Sundays) review a prophecy (Bible and Devotional), the last 6 days (Easter Week) include a hands-on object lesson that will help the children have fun while learning, along with the Bible reading.  This is a great way to bring in excitement and learning to our family devotional time(no matter the family size).  I have just completed  the Devotional Book.  If you would like to purchase this great resource for 7.00 (includes shipping),  just press the “Buy Now” below.

Directions for Crown of Thorns Centerpiece: A great interactive center piece!  Using a grapevine wreath, stick 46 toothpicks into it.  Each devotional time of Lent, light the candle and remove one of the toothpicks.  Easter day they will be all gone…He has Risen! (The centerpiece is not included in the price.)

Find Out More About Lent:  What’s in the Bible Website has a great post on the history and practice of Lent.

Holy Spirit Flame

It is important to prepare for the up-and-coming christ-centered holidays.  Here are a few ideas for Valentines, Lent, Passover, Easter, Mother’s Day and Pentecost.

Valentine February 14th – Hand print flowers

Lent starts February 22nd

• Prophecies of Jesus Devotional (40 Ways in 40 Days, plus Easter Week Object Lessons)–coming soon
• Pull out a thorn for every day of Lent, until Easter when all is made right.

Passover April 6th-13th

Passover with Jesus

Moses’ Passover, communion and Jesus’ Passover are under my Sin and Forgiveness lessons one and Sin and Forgiveness two.

Easter April 8th

• Resurrection rolls

• Resurrection Eggs

• Resurrection Eggs Lapbook

Mother’s day May 13 – tea cup with flower or candle

Pentecost May 27th

• Volcano: The Holy Spirit is like a volcano. Ordinarily it seems quiet, but there is much power when the spirit acts.

• Hair Dryer:  Can’t see the Holy Spirit, but you can see the things it does.  You can also float a pingpong ball over the hairdryer.

Holy Spirit Hair Drier

• Holy Spirt Top

Tree King's Day

This weekend, January 6th, is the celebration of Epiphany.  For a long time, I didn’t understand this holiday very well.  I have just more recently begun to appreciate it.  Imagine celebrating the revealing of Jesus’ devine nature to the gentiles…that’s me.  It is just beautiful!  The fact that God would reveal his plan to all the nations while Jesus was still very little.  The fact that how ever many magi there where…they traveled months, if not years, to see the Son of God.  Leaving the comfort and security of their homes to trek to Bethlehem.  I pray I have that type of determination and perseverance as God reveals His plans for me.

Free Magi Sunday School Lesson with craft (click to download)

Happy Epiphany!

*Photo created by Vectorportal.com downloaded from flickr.com

Interactive Puppet Show

 Interactive Puppet Show:  Everyone gets to dress up as shepherds or angels.  They act surprised/joyous when the head angel is speaking.

Christmas Necklace Craft

Christmas Necklace Craft: Easy Christmas necklace with Jesus candy cane and love hearts.  (Oriental Trade)

Baked Some-mores

Shepherd-Campfire Treat:  Baked some-mores.  1 layer of single graham crackers.  2 sections of Hershey chocolate bars, 1 marsh mellow on each graham cracker/chocolate.  Bake on 400 degrees until the marsh mellows are brown and soft.  Take out and add the top single graham cracker onto the marsh mellow.    They are very messy!  But very tasty!

Advent Good Works Chain

We are doing something that is super fun for the kids and the parents love it too! The Good Works Chain for Advent is a traditional paper chain with a twist.  -The kids have to earn the links.  It will be fun to see how many links they can collectively acquire.  I plan to string them across the room.  This is something you will want to be sure the parents know about.  The kids can do it on their own, but parents reminding them always helps.

Instructions for the Good Works Chain:

1.  Print each page of the Good Works Chain in alternating colors of red and green.  (as much as possible, you want the sum of papers to have equal amounts of red and green)
2. Give each child one set of Advent Good Works papers
3.  Each morning of Advent pick out one suggestion and complete it that day.
4. When it is completed, cut it out, staple it together in a loop in order to connect it to the last loop on the chain.  Try to alternate red and green.
5. Have the whole class bring in their chains they created during the week so they can be connected into a massive good works chain.  Hang it up on the wall.  How long can your good works chain get?

Good Works Chain (click to download pdf)

World mission: 

One hen  by Katie Smith milway  (How micro loans and improve the lives of many people and still maintain dignity of seeing their handy work.) Excellent

Beatrice’s Goat by Page McBrier (Such a sweet story of how a gift of a goat changed the lives of a extremely poor family.  The little girl was able to go to school and have a brighter future.)

Domestic Missions:

With the economic down turn, it would be good to alert the children of the needs of people in their neighborhood.  Often when we prepare them, they don’t over react when they encounter an opportunity.  The opportunity to show the love of Jesus to those in need.

Hunger and Homelessness by Cathryn Berger Kaye,  M.A. (This is a workbook to learn about homelessness.)

Uncle Willie’s Soup Kitchen by Dyanne Disalvo-Ryan (Uncle Willie shows his nephew what a blessing it is to serve in a soup kitchen.)

Fly Away Home by Ronald Himler (Homeless in the airport?  This is a story about a father and son that are homeless and live at the airport as his father continues to look for a job.)

Tight Times by Barbara Shook Hazen  (Tight times addresses the struggles of a small child when his families income decreases.  In the end, there is joy in the journey.)

December by Eve Bunting (Homelessness in the winter may sound desperate.  Even so, sometimes we can entertain angels without knowing it.)

The Lady in the Box by Ann McGovern (A story of how some children learned to be kind to a homeless lady. I know it is a crazy price at Amazon. Use the picture to know that you have the right book when you find it at the library.)

–If you know of books, on missions, you love to read.  Please share!  I would love to read them.

Jesse Tree Advent Devotional Kit

Tis’ the Season to Prepare for the advent of Christ’s birth.  Advent starts November 27th this year.  It is time to order the Jesse Tree Advent Devotional and Lapbook kit.  This is a super fun way to prepare your families’ hearts for Christmas.

What does it look like in our house:  We add Christmas lights in the dinning room along with the candles and often have special desserts (especially on Sundays).  Our kids love advent!  At dinner we turn off the regular lights, light the candles, read the Bible and devotional (included), put an ornament on the tree (included), and sing our favorite Christmas songs.  The kids love to blow-out the candles.  Your kids will love this tradition, and you will love that they are excited about the real advent of Christmas.  They will know that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday and have a lot of fun doing it.

 (Click to buy or get more information about the kit)

**There is a bulk discount for churches**

Some extra ideas to add to the celebration:

• Donate something each night
• Make special meals like red and green dinner (everything is red and green)
• Shepherd’s Night (I’ll explain on a future post.)
• Christmas Cards (decide who, sign and stuff, address…sprinkle it though out the week)
• volunteer at a food bank
• Creative Sundays on Sunday (SOS: make your own ice cream sunday)
• Christmas Cookie decorating
• Make Christmas presents for the animals (i.e. pinecone bird feeder)
• Make cookies for a widow/someone lonely) you know and go visit