Thinking about Kids Time at Church

There seem to be quite a few blogs around linking to the new online Briefing magazine, so I might as well become one of them. 

Just read a very interesting article: 'Maximizing the kids' spot at church' 

The purpose of kids time as stated in the article makes a lot of sense to me: 

To quote my minister, the aim of the kids’ spot is to “make a cultural statement about who we are as a church”. The fact that we send kids out for most of the service could give the impression (to them and to the adults) that church is not for children. However, we know from the Bible that children are valuable to Jesus (Matt 19:13-14) and are able to know and understand the sacred scriptures (2 Tim 3:15); after all, they receive specific teaching from Paul (Eph 6:1; Col 3:20). Having a kids’ spot says that together—kids and big people—we are God’s church in this place. It says to the kids “You belong at church, you are part of us”, and reminds the adults that this is so. Having kids in church for at least some of the time, and having a segment to serve them in particular, reflects the unity we have as the people of God, as the body of Christ.¹

(emphasis mine)

For the last year or so (or since we started doing whole-sunday-school programs each term, rather than each class working through different material), our kids talks have predominantly been from the church4kids leaders revising last week's material or introducing this week's material. I love that it keeps the adults informed about what the kids are learning, and I hope it fosters connections between the adults and kids, and says to the whole congregation that what the kids are doing is important. 

But there are so many great ideas elsewhere in the article that I'd love to try! Even though some sound quite scary. Like interviewing a family on how their home bible reading is going - yikes, but how cool!

Food for thought. 

Secret Hiding Spot

SP's secret hiding place for Daddy's Fathers' Day present: 

Good thing the bag didn't give much indication of the contents!

Quote of the Day

SP slips off the bathroom stool: 

"I dropped myself!"

I spent 3 minutes and 40 seconds on the bus this morning

It used to be about 10-15 minutes. 

I LOVE our new busway :D

Projects, projects, projects

I think I must be an ideas person. I never really thought of myself as such, but yesterday I turned to SP and said 'I've got an idea' and he gave me the exact same look that Dave does. A look that says "Oh, here comes another crazy scheme, what will it be this time..."

So I thought I'd share some of the 'ideas' that have become 'projects' that I'm currently working on. 

• A little something for Fathers Day. I will say no more here, because said Father will read it. But chances are he's already guessed that something is coming. 
• A photo prayer diary for SP. 
• A hutch dresser for SP's cardboard kitchen. It really needs some more storage space!
• A tray table for SP for our road trip. Haven't got past the planning stage with this yet, but I'm modelling it on this one.  
• A button toy for SP, also for the road trip. A button on the end of a bit of ribbon, with lots of squares of felt with holes to button on. I saw this on a blog but can't find the link right now. 
• An overhaul / computerisation of my recipe box, to fit with my new routine of monthly Aldi shops. 
• A display board for SP's artwork. I just decided yesterday that a newly-organised corner needs one.
• Christmas crackers for our family celebration (yes, a while away, but still in my thoughts). 
• Converting our long, narrow sleepout (ie. study / library / reading area) into 2 partitioned rooms, one of which will be a nursery. This actually involves a fair few smaller 'projects', but there's no need to list them all here!

I think this will keep me busy for a little while :)

Free nappies & giftcards anyone?

I've just registered my interest with Q&A research for this product trial. Sounds good to me!

Mothers, of babies that are in the weight range of 10-15kgs, who use disposable nappies to trial 3 brands of nappies over the next 2 weeks.If you participate you will receive 3 x 25 nappies and after the completing the questionnaires, you will receive a $20 Coles Myer Gift card. The trial will be from Monday 29^th – 9^th September.If your child fits the criteria above or you know anyone, please pass along our details and ask them to call  or you call on 07 3119 8003.And just mention the NAPPY TRIAL.

John Piper Live

I loved pretty much everything about QTC's John Piper evening yesterday. 

I'd just finished reading Piper's 'Don't Waste Your Life' and it was really helpful to hear bits that I recognised in his talk but have them expanded and expressed differently so I understood them just a little bit more. And lots of new material too.

Colin Buchanan is such a professional. As much as I enjoyed his music, and I did, I also learned so much from him as a song leader. It's actually okay for the song leader to totally stop singing and let the congregation take it away. Very cool. 

My 'high' for the evening: If singing praises to God sounds that good with 3200 people, how great is heaven going to be!!

Yep, I'm now one of those parents

I always cringed at people who post their kids saying memory verses on youtube, but now I have one of my own...

Click here to hear SP, age 2 years 3 weeks, singing our current Church4Kids memory verse, Isaiah 12:1-2. With just a couple of prompts from Mummy. 

There's something so special about hearing him randomly singing around the house "Surely God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid..." Even if he doesn't quite get what it means yet. 

And no, I did not do hours of coaching to get this recording! We sing it around the house a bit (but not that much), and he started singing it at the dinner table so I got my phone out. And turned into a puddle of proud-mummy-goo :)

Oops

Today's lowlight: Paying $150 for a suitcase we don't need or want, because SP was playing with it in the shop and it got scratched. 

For the record, I'm not blaming the store or their staff at all, except that it's unfortunate that they had concrete flooring. I let SP get too far away from me. I was letting him play more vigorously than he should in that environment. It really was scratched all over one side. And it should have cost us $180; they gave us a discount because they felt sorry for me!

Not my proudest parenting moment. 

I'll try again tomorrow. 

SP's Quotable Quotes

At just over 2, SP is full of words, sentences and ideas. And he cracks me up! Here's some recent quotable quotes:

When we were in the back yard and all the afternoon tea food was inside: “Better go upstairs then.”

When I was a bit slack on the admin side at playgroup: “Nametag Mummy!”

“S______ get on his trike and put his helmet on and ride to work and carry his trike up the stairs in Daddy’s foyer.” All said through tears - he really wanted to go!

While climbing up on stool: “Climbing up like Jack and Jill climbed up the hill to get some water.”

Any time he wants something that he thinks isn’t going to happen: “Today or not today”

eg. “Mummy get in your cot.”

            “Sorry, Mummy doesn’t fit in your cot.”

            “Mummy get in your cot today or not today.”

Any time he doesn’t understand the conversation: “Mummy and Daddy are talking about..."

Hello there baby!

We finally had a scan this week :) All looking pretty good at this stage. This baby has the same ectopic heartbeat that SP had in utero, although it's more pronounced and earlier this time. We're praying that all it will mean is extra monitoring between now and birth, rather than any pre- or post-birth complications. 

SP did a great job sitting with Dave through the ultrasound, with only a little bit of distraction needed, and he did seem genuinely interested in what was going on. At one point, I told him that we were looking at the baby's nose and asked him where his was - he pointed to his nose then the baby raised its hand to its face too. We told SP that the baby was copying him, and he looked very chuffed at that. He's now a bit confused about the baby's location though - previously he knew it was inside Mummy, but now he's seen it on a TV screen he doesn't seem so sure! He's still convinced its a girl though. And no, we didn't find out and don't want to :)

Bliss

SP had his first proper sleepover on Friday night, at Grandma's house. 

Dave & I had a sleepover too - at the Stamford Plaza!

It was an early 5th wedding anniversary celebration, as our actual anniversary is 2 weeks before Baby is due. 

I loved the luxury of the whole thing, and the relaxed morning was particularly wonderful. We finally appeared at the buffet for breakfast after 9am. At home that's morning tea time!

Thanks honey :)

The Birthday Party - finally

As I hinted earlier, SP had a Winnie-the-Pooh birthday party for his second birthday. For the occasion, we turned the backyard into the Hundred-Acre Wood, and were very blessed by the beautiful sunny morning.

The inspiration for the Hundred-Acre Wood idea was a big forked branch that came loose from one of our trees a few weeks before the party. It became the doorway for Eeyore's house. 

We made Pooh and Piglet's houses with a couple of big cardboard boxes, thanks to the helpful people at the Harvey Norman warehouse, then re-named the sandpit as 'the Sandy Pit where Roo Plays' and the herb garden as 'Rabbit's Vegie Patch'. 

SP's essentials for a birthday party: streamers, balloons, party hats and cake with candles to blow out.

We certainly satisfied the streamer aspect of things! Just a few balloons, as blowing them up is currently making me nauseous and Dave was 2 days post-wisdom-tooth-removal. For party hats, we printed some Winnie-the-Pooh pictures and let the kids decorate with crayons & glitter.

   

And of course, a Winnie-the-Pooh cake! SP and I did the baking (all fructose free, including the icing!), then Dave showed that spending his days working under a microscope produces useful hand-skills for real life too. I'm very proud of his decorating. 

My favourite party moment happened before the party even started. Dave and I set up the backyard while SP  was having Independent Play Time in his room. When we were done, we brought him out through the front door to see the balloons on the gate and the Hundred-Acre Wood sign. Then down the side... 

"Streamers!" "Eeyore's house!" "Pooh's house!" I pray I'll remember the look of wonder on his face forever. 

For those with the password, here's some more photos...

Last 3 lessons done!

Just in time for the meeting tomorrow. 

But I'm not going to get to the blog post tonight. 

Maybe tomorrow, if the census doesn't take too long. 

Thanks for your patience. 

Birthday Boy

Just to let you know, I have a birthday post planned, but I'm not going to let myself write it until the next lesson of my Isaiah Sunday School material is done. 

It'll have to be before my meeting on Tuesday. 

Noises from naptime

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero...

"Blast off!!"

Thank you, Colin Buchanan, for teaching my son to count. Even if it is backwards. 

Party Prep

There's a Winnie-the-Pooh birthday party in the works. Here's a sneak peak...

Show link to video

Our afternoon

I had a fair few jobs that needed to be done this afternoon. I was feeling pretty unmotivated, and couldn't decide where to start. So I let SP decide. 

This was our afternoon: 

A daytime sleep!

Another sleep-related post! Fellow parents will not be surprised, given how much sleeping seems to affect everything else. I'll try to post about something more interesting soon - so much going on at the moment that I don't seem to have the brain space to write about it!

Anyway, SP's having a day sleep for the first time in a week! Turns out it's REALLY important at the moment that he's in bed by midday, and too many days of the week we're just getting home & starting lunch about then. 

Time for some better time management strategies, I think...

A sleep in!

On an average weekday we're all up at 6, and we'll stretch it out a maximum 10-15 minutes on weekends before SP becomes insistent. When Dave turned to me this morning and said it was nearly 6:30, I just about fell out of bed. 

He reminded me of a conversation we had on the Saturday after SP was due to be born (and a week before his actual birth): he wanted to get up and get things done, but I suggested we rest a bit longer because post-baby we might not have the chance for a long time. I was right. 

But today, we didn't hear SP until about 6:45. Then it became a challenge to stay in bed until 7 just to see if we could. 

When I went in to get him (which is usually Dave's job), he was sitting huddled in bed with his sheet over his knees and his beloved wrap held around his shoulders, granny style. My gorgeous boy :)