Finding Courage

  Our whole purpose of teaching our children about Godly characteristics is, of course, because we want to see those characteristics in them. The more they understand about each one, the better they can choose how to act in every situation life puts them in. I was so excited when Jayce was able to demonstrate COURAGE during the very month we were talking about it. He had his first dental check up! New situations can be scary for our little warrior and he didn't like the sound of going to the dentist one bit! As we discussed what would happen, we told him that it was okay to be a little nervous, but, this was a time he could show courage! With a few tears in his eyes, he climbed into the big blue chair. :)

 The hygienist was AMAZING and made little Jayce feel right at home. He loved being able to wear the cool glasses they gave him and when she let him feel her special tooth cleaning brush, he forgot that Mommy was even in the room. He followed every direction she gave him and he had a great check up! It may be a little step, but, it helped our little guy understand a little more about courage, and we were so proud to see him display it so well!

 

 

  For our fourth and final week of learning about COURAGE, we were blessed to be able to get a personal tour of a FIRESTATION!! I wasn't sure how Jayce was going to do when we went and I wanted him to understand as much as possible, so I started prepping him a few days before. We talked about fire safety and what firemen do and why they drive the special trucks they do.

 

 Our good friend Troy Fox from our beloved church was happy to give Jayce a one-on-one tour and show him the how and why of the whole station!

 Haha, when the lights and siren went off, it got really loud and Jayce wasn't too sure what to think about that!

 We all got to sit inside of an ambulance, Siah got to ride on the stretcher!

 We also got to look at, and touch, some of the special tools the firemen have to use sometimes to get into the houses. The tools were VERY heavy.

 More tools!

 This is what goes on the end of the hoses they use.

 The hat was too heavy for Jayce to wear, so Mr. Troy held it up for him.

 Both of the boys got to sit in the front of the firetruck and learn about all the special switches and buttons.

 Daddy got to try on one of their special coats.

 Mommy too!

We learned that when fully dressed to go to a fire, the fireman's equipment weighs about 100 pounds! They need to make sure they are ready and fit ALL of the time!

 

 

  We had a great time learning about all the big and little details that go into protecting others. Troy also told us some of the scary situations he's been in and how he truly puts his life on the line everyday! WHAT COURAGE! After our trip, I talked to Jayce about how Jesus was also courageous and that is the number one reason we want to have courage, is because we want to be like Christ. Courage is a big word and holds a lot of meaning and we hope to see it more and more in each of us as we grow. Thank you Father for this opportunity to learn more about who YOU are!



The Courage of George Muller

  So, I made the comment on a post last week or the week before about how it can be difficult doing these Bible teaching times because we don't always know if they're listening or learning, but after learning about Togo, Jayce, a couple days later, saw a picture of a sled dog and asked Daddy, "Is that Togo?" He remembered! He listened!! Praise the Lord!! Just a little encouragement for all of you out there trying to instill valuable lessons into your little one's hearts and minds :)

  For Warrior Wednesday this week we learned about the courage of George Muller. Muller was the founder of five homes that accommodated  over 1,722 orphans. Muller never made any requests for financial support. Many times, he received unsolicited food donations only hours before they were needed to feed the children, further strengthening his faith in God. So often, faith in God takes great courage. Even when it's hard to see the good, or the answer, we need to have courage and faith that our God will provide.

 

Grammie and PopPop were able to join us this week. It was hard to get Jayce to fully focus with two of his favorite people there, but we are focusing on consistency and small portions of information each week. This way it's easier for Josiah to be a part of this time too, and as time goes by, we can do more together as we grow in age and patience :)

 

We ended the night by watching the Veggie Tales movie "Gideon" which has a portion about George Muller in it. Since this video is familiar to the boys, it was a very easy way to make the lesson stick a little more.

Next Wednesday will be our last Wednesday studying courage and we are hoping to make a trip to a firehouse to learn about the courage of firefighters. We are so excited to start this new tradition with our family, and although not every night has been perfect, we know God is faithful and we are looking forward to the new lessons He is going to teach us each Wednesday.

 

Celebrating Love and Courage

  For our Warrior Wednesday, we are still learning about COURAGE and we chose to focus on an animal that showed courage. This was GREAT because both of our boys LOVE animals! The animal we chose was Togo, a Siberian Husky who played an instrumental role in saving many lives in an Alaskan village. Togo's sled team ran the longest and most dangerous leg of the relay (91 miles) to bring medicine to help a potentially deadly diphtheria epidemic.

 

 

 It was so neat watching Jayce pay such close attention to the story.

 We looked up videos of actual sled dogs racing through the snow to show the boys what it was like for Togo.

 Josiah loved the videos of the "gogs" (dogs).

 Then we colored pictures of sled dogs together.

 

  We enjoyed our time together learning more about courage and what it means to God and for us. Warrior time is still very much a work in progress as we learn what works best, the best time frame, and how we can get the MOST out of every time we have it. It can be hard sometimes after you put so much effort into something because you're not really sure how much they're actually retaining. We trust that the Lord will take these moments and sow them into the hearts of our little warriors and it will some day bring forth a harvest!

 

A Little Valentine's Fun







 Jayce LOVES to bake! So, we made cookies for all of our family and friends for Valentine's Day to let them know how much we love them and God loves them.

For our Valentine's breakfast, we had heart-shaped pancakes, Jayce mixed up the batter for us!

Josiah's Cat in the Hat Valentine, his favorite!

 

And here's Jayce's little Calliou Valentine, it's a paper doll, or as Daddy prefers, a paper friend.

 

We're spending today learning about God's love for us and how He demonstrates it EVERYDAY and how we can show our love for others as well. We hope you all have a Valentine's Day full of the love of Christ, it's the best kind of Valentine to have!!



Warrior Wednesday

  For a while we have tried to focus on one Godly character trait a month so that the boys are not just learning their ABCs and 123s, but learning the importance of having Godly character through all stages of life. For God's Word says "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6
  It has proved to be a challenge as we've tried to find the "right" way to approach this time. It is something that's very important to us, but we just couldn't seem to find the right time or be consistent with our approach. So, we've started a new experiment called "Warrior Wednesdays". Every Wednesday we spend focused time after dinner, as a family, learning about the character of the month in creative ways.

 We start off our warrior nights by reciting the warrior way. Just a little spoken reminder of how we should be living everyday. Pray. Read the Bible. Obey our parents. Put others first. Just a few simple statements that they can be reminded of during the day while playing, cleaning up, eating dinner, and so on.


 

Here's Daddy and Mike the Knight reading the Warrior Way

 

 

  We decided this Wednesday to "act out" the story of Joshua and the Wall of Jericho using Little People. (We really thought David and Goliath would have been a little more appropriate but Jayce is a little scared of the giant in the story and tends to freak out whenever we even mention it, so we decided this story would work too.)

 

 

We used blocks to make the "wall" of Jericho.

Jayce and Daddy making Joshua and the Israelites march around the wall.



After the wall fell down, Josiah thought it looked like fun so he got down out of my lap to help.

 

Then we colored pictures of Jericho from www.whatsinthebible.com

 

 

  The definition of COURAGE that we chose from Character Sketches is "following difficult instructions in the face of danger." We talked about how Joshua did that and how God honored and rewarded his courage and obedience. We finished up our night with an ice cream treat and look forward to next Wednesday. We know there is so much more to learn and hope that this just becomes an exciting routine to look forward to and build upon.