We Ought To Obey

It was just me and "P" in Bible Class today but we still had a good time of learning about obeying.  Our story was one of Jesus' teachings in Matthew 21 about the father who had two sons and told them each to go work in the vineyard.  One obeyed  after first telling his father that he would not go to work.  The other son said that he would go to work in the vineyard but then did not go.

We talked about which son really obeyed and did as he was told by his father.   "P" said that she liked to help water the plants at home after we talked about what the sons in the story might have been doing in the vineyard.

I used other examples of how we obey our parents.  I said, "When momma says to come  eat your supper, you should say, "Yes, ma'am." and then obey her."  She agreed.  Then I said, "When momma says it's time to take a bath, you should say, "Yes, ma'am" and then obey her." She again agreed that is the right thing to do. Next, I said, "When momma says it's time for you to clean your room and pick up your toys, you should say, "Yes, ma'am, and then clean up your room."  She wrinkled up her little nose, frowned and said, "Cleaning up my room makes my tummy hurt."  I thought to myself-Me too, sister!  She wasn't going to be a part of that if she can help it!

The Peter and the other apostles answered, We ought to obey God rather than men. Acts 5:29

Happy Birthday To Me!

Last weekend Allan and I celebrated our birthdays with  a party at Roma's with our church friends.  We have a great group of friends that turn out to celebrate each other's birthdays and we always have such a fun time!

So, on Sunday morning, one of my little girls mentioned that it was my birthday.  I told her that yes, my birthday was on Saturday.  She asked, 'Miss Cheryl, just how old are you?"  I said, "I'm 35 (Ok, we all know  that I'm not 35)." She looked at me with these huge brown eyes and said, "35???? Oh my goodness!  You're going to be dead soon!!"  Out of the mouths of babes!  I'm glad I didn't tell her my real age!  No telling what she would have thought or said then!  I can remember when I was a child and thinking that most adults were really really old, so I know where she's coming from.  Still, it made me laugh!

Acts of Worship

Last Sunday morning, one of my little girls got to class kind of early and I wasn't quite ready ok, I really wasn't as prepared as I should have been.  I was scurrying around trying to get things set up for Jesus to walk on the water.  She asked me if she could look at this picture wheel that shows all the acts of worship.  I said ok and told her to tell me about each one.

She said, "We come to church to learn."  I said, "Yes, we do.  We learn in Bible Class and in worship when the preacher is teaching us."  "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight."  Acts 20:7

She turned to the next picture and said, "We sing."  Again, I said, "Yes and even the children can sing in worship to God."  "Speaking to yourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to God." Ephesians 5:19

She continued on, saying, "We pray at church."  I said, "Yes, we do and the children can pray too."  I ALWAYS stress to them about how to act, QUIET, during the prayers in our worship time.  "These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer..."  Acts 1:14

Next, she said, "And we put money in the plate."  Once again, I agreed we should all put money in the collection plate.  "On the first day of every week, each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.  I Corinthians 16:2

THEN, she came to the last picture on the wheel and said, "Oh, and there's crackers and grape juice."  I said, 'Yes, and is it for the children?"  She said, "No".  I went on to say, " It's for the grown-ups that are Christians."  She said, "Yeah, cos us kids have to bring our own snacks."  CRACKED ME UP!!  She seemed to think that this really was snack time for the grown-ups!  When I eat a snack, I for sure want more than a pinch of cracker and a swallow of grape juice!  She asked if she go through the wheel again, and I said, "Yes".  She gave about the same answers but when she came to the last picture, she said, "This is only for the Pilgrims."  Again, I laughed!  She knew it was for some group of people!  "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he come."  I Corinthians 11:26

It Isn't Any Trouble Just To P-R-A-Y Pray!

I've really, really neglected this little blog for way too long!  I  really don't have a good reason since the kids are always providing me a lot of material, so I'm going to try to do better and share some of the sweet and funny moments that happen in my Bible Class.

Today, we learned about prayer and Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray.  I love talking about prayer with young children.  You never know what they're going to say and it really gives you an incite to what is in their minds when they start thanking God for random things.

We learned that you can pray anywhere and that you don't have to get on your knees to pray.  You can talk to God anywhere and any time!  I mentioned that you can pray at church, in the car, outside riding a bike.  I was quickly told that you shouldn't close your eyes to pray if you're riding your bike because you might crash and get bad scrapes on your knees.  I agreed that yes, it was ok to keep your eyes open in that circumstance.  

We talked about praying before we eat our food, always thanking God for what we have to eat.  "A" told me that sometimes she is just too hungry and gobbles up her food so she doesn't take the time to pray.  

I think most kids are taught to say a bedtime prayer, at least I hope they're being taught that at home.  I talked about praying when we're happy, sad, scared or just thankful for something good that has happened.  I know that when I end my day with prayer that I'm really comforted by the thought that I've told God whatever was in my mind and on my heart and know that He really does hear me.  

We made a handprint craft (I'm crazy about handprint crafts!) where I listed anything they wanted to pray about.  "P" quickly spouted off 10 of her family members!  She was saying them as fast as I could write.  I thought it was sweet that she wanted to list herself and I told her that yes, we pray for ourselves to be good and obey our parents.

"A" really elaborated about specifics that she wanted to pray about.  She wants ALL the sick people in the world to be well.  She is thankful for all of her toys and to quote her, "I have a whole lot of them."  She wanted to pray for the "whole wide world that God made".  Along with family members, she said, "I want to  pray for you!"  Melt. My. Heart.  She said it without any prompting from me which made it even more special!  What really got me was what she said about Nan, her great-grandmother.  Nan is the one that brings her to church so she is a pretty special person.  Here is what she said about Nan:  "I'm going to pray that Nan will be young again and not be so old."  PRICELESS!  I could hardly wait to show Nan what she made and tell her the story.  Nan LOVED it, as I knew she would!  

Another tidbit of information that "A" randomly told me was this:  "If you say bad words, God will take away your voice."  Alrighty then!  A while back she told me, "If you say bad words, your tongue will fall out."  So, funny!  

"..ask and it shall be given unto you..."  Luke 11:9

Papa Don't Lie!

Sunday was a beautiful day here in SE Oklahoma!  I had a great day with my Bible Class.  I began by reviewing the story from last week about Paul's nephew giving a warning about a group of men plotting to kill him.  "L" said, "I remember that story.  And that was the day my momma got baptized."  I said, "Yes, it was!"  She said, "She got baptized to wash away her sins."  I answered, "That's right!  Did she explain that to you after you got home?"  "L" said, "No, my papa did and HE DON'T LIE!"  So funny!  I'm glad that she believes and trusts that what papa says is true!  She also added, "He always keeps his promises too!"

I went on with the story to remind them about the soldiers being there to guard and protect Paul from the enemies that were trying to kill him.  The Bible says that they boarded a ship to take him to a new town and to protect him.  While they were out at sea, a storm came up and the men were scared they were going to drown.  They began to throw things overboard to help the boat stay afloat.  Paul kept telling the men to take courage and have faith.  God would take care of them.

The storm got really bad and finally it crashed into some rocks.  The ship fell apart and began to sink.  The men were very afraid.  As I was telling this, "P" said, "I almost drowned one time."  I said, "How did that happen?"  He answered, "Well, we were at that swimming pool and I was in the kiddie pool and a kid PUKED and we had to get out to go to the big pool.  The water came all the way up to my chin and I almost drowned!"  I said that I was glad that he didn't drown and that we always have to be careful around the water.  "L" said she almost drowned one time too but her momma grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out.  I told her I was glad that she didn't drown either!

The story continued on with Paul and everyone on the boat making it safely to land.  The people that lived on the island made a fire to warm up Paul and the men and to dry their wet clothes.  They fed them and took care of them while they waited for another ship to come to get them.

"Therefore, keep up your courage men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told."-Acts 27:25

Mother's Day

I hope everyone had a fantastic Mother's Day!  I was so thankful that my two kids were able to come for a visit this weekend.

Since Ashley was here this weekend, she helped me in Bible Class on Sunday morning.  Our story was taken from Acts 23 and "B" immediately started thumbing through her Bible to find it.  She found it BEFORE I could even get to it!  Then she went around the table, looking up the scripture for everyone else.  That just the sweetest thing!  As she was finding the passage for the last child, under her breath but still loud enough that I heard it, she said, "I don't know why I'm always the smartest one." It was so funny!  She didn't say it with a bragging or haughty tone, just sort of matter of fact which made it even funnier!

The story in Acts 23 is about Paul preaching and as usual, there is a group that doesn't like to hear what he has to say.  Paul was very bold in his statements and this really angered some of the crowd.  For his own protection, he was taken to a safe place by the soldiers.  Paul's nephew happened to be near the group of men that were angry and he overheard their plot to kill Paul.  The nephew went to where Paul was being guarded and demanded to talk to him.  He was allowed to do so and he told Paul about the plan to kill him.  Paul sent him to the chief captain to tell him about this plan.  So, he did and Paul was secretly taken to a safer place.  

I emphasized to the kids that this young boy was able to save his Uncle Paul.  I told them that it's very important to tell a grown up when you see or hear something bad going on or if someone is about to get hurt. One of the girls said, "But if you go tell too much, then that's being a tattletale."  Something tells me she's been reminded of this quite often!  So, we had to talk a bit about only telling important things and not every little thing.

During the last few minutes of class, Ashley and I helped them make a card for their mother/grandmother.  I thought the cards turned out so cute!

This little guy did the absolute sweetest thing that I think I've heard of from a 6 year old boy. I had given them instructions on making their cards-glue down the green strips(which someone quickly corrected me by saying, "They're called stems."), next, glue a colored square, then scrunch up a square and glue to the center of the flat square.  They were busily doing this when I noticed "P" was doing something different with one of his flowers.  I didn't say anything to him but just let him create his flowers how he wanted to.  

After class, I went to talk to his mom and she said she loved that he made her favorite flower-calla lily.  THAT'S what he was doing!  He was folding that purple square into a cone shape and working so hard to fix it just right.  Mom said that when he gave her the card he said, "I made your favorite flower-a funnel flower." MELT. MY. HEART.  It made me tear up to think that he EVEN knows her favorite flower and then to take the time to figure out how to make her one.  Absolutely priceless!  He is just so sweet!

All of the kids were so proud of their cards and couldn't wait to hand deliver them!  I didn't get a pic of "L" with her momma after church.  Her momma was baptized during services so they were busy with people  congratulating her.

I made a card for my momma too!  She put it on her fridge like every good mom does!

At services on Sunday night,  these two sweeties brought me bags of rose petals!

Their MeMaw has one of the prettiest yards in town.  Beautiful rose bushes that are just loaded with blooms right now.  I hope they didn't strip all the gorgeous roses off MeMaw's bushes but it was so sweet that they gathered petals to bring to me!  As they were leaving church, one of them hollered back to me, "Don't forget to put some water on your flowers!"  OKAY!  

"Honor your father and mother..."-Matthew 19:19

Warnings!

We had a beautiful Sunday here in SE Oklahoma yesterday.  I love this spring weather!  We got to church and soon after, my kids began to trickle in to Bible Class.  After singing "Jesus Loves Me" and "The B-I-B-L-E", I began the story.  Over the last few months, we've learned about the Apostle Paul and how he suffered many trials and persecutions while teaching about Jesus and God.  In our story today, the Prophet Agabus was giving Paul a warning since Paul was about to leave the area and head to another town to teach and preach.  I gave a few examples of what 'warning' meant by saying that when a parent says to not play in the road that they're being warned about the dangers of doing that because they could get really hurt.  They began to give examples of warnings of their own.  "P" said rather emphatically, "You should NEVER go near any guy that is wearing a skeleton mask cos he's a bad guy." Well, I had to laugh.  I just couldn't help it.  He continued, "On NCIS they ALWAYS have bad guys on there with skeleton masks, so just NEVER go near one if you see one."  Just to see what he would say, I asked, "Well, what about at Halloween when people are dressed up wearing costumes?"  He said, "No, you still should stay away from him because he's probably bad.  On NCIS and CSI, they're always the bad guys."  Too, too funny! But a good warning though...I guess!

"P" with his Agabus puppet

One of my girls gave a couple of "warnings" too.  She said, "Since I was two weeks I've known how to do a lot of things, like eat like this." She proceeded to act out eating with her mouth closed.  She then said, "You should always chew with your mouth closed so no crumbs can pop out of your mouth."  I agree that this is good advice but a warning? haha  Then she said, "Whenever there is a tornado or bad storm, you need to get close to your momma.  Get close to your momma and get in a closet with a sheet over your head." She's so serious with her advice/warnings.
I think my cover was blown today:(  Since I've started this blog, I've kept either my phone or some paper next to me while I'm teaching so that I can quickly jot down the things the kids say so I don't forget it.  Several times they've asked me what I was writing and I just usually say that I'm writing myself a note.  Well, today I jotted these stories down, tore the paper off of the notepad and began to fold it to put in my purse.  "P" looked at me with a little sly grin and said, "So, where's your list?"  I said, "What list are you talking about?"  He grinned and said, "The list where you write down the funny things I say."  CRACKED ME UP!  I just laughed and continued to put the paper away in my purse.
I finally got to where I could finish the story.  After hearing all of Agabus' warnings, the people cried and begged Paul to not go.  They didn't want to hear of him getting hurt or killed.  Paul told the crowd to stop the crying and begging him to stay.  He was going to go anyway and he wasn't afraid.  God had taken care of him through his other troubles and He would take care of him if anything else bad happened.  The people stopped their crying and accepted that God's will would be done.

And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, remarking, "The will of the Lord be done!"-Acts 21:14