A bible blog

I've struggled a lot with teaching my kids about God. The concepts are so difficult to explain to toddlers. I sing all the songs, and attempt to answer the questions, but thus far it's been a challenge to get them to understand. I know they learn things at church, but each week when I ask them what they learned their responses sounds something like, "We had a snack" or "I played with my friends." Without knowing what the lesson plan was, I have no way of reinforcing it throughout the week.

But let's face it, when it comes to teaching my kids about Christ, it's really my responsibility. and I wanted to take ownership of that. Recently I stumbled upon my friend Rachel's blog about the Jesus Storybook Bible. It was pretty interesting and several of my other friends had been talking about it. She had a giveaway contest on her blog and I entered. I was so excited when I won! We got it in the mail today, and immediately the boys were interested in reading it.

We started with the creation story and I was blown away by how well they grasped the concepts. In the end, even Noah was somewhat understanding what we were talking about. I just love listening to their little voices talking excitedly about God, and what He made. They were so thrilled they didn't want to stop with just one story!

Though we have a long way to go, I feel like this bible is a great tool in stepping towards that direction. I'm really looking forward to our reading times.

Potty Bootcamp: Where only the brave survive

So I have been dragging my feet on this whole potty training thing for a while now. Elijah has had some complications with it due to his hands and his development, so I decided to wait until it was summer. I was going to just train Elijah but then I decided to train Noah as well. People have commented on how crazy this is, but bare with me.

My boys have ALWAYS been competitive. Elijah is constantly spurred on by his brother trying it first. I have no idea why, but hey why fight it? So I figured, I try it with potty training. That why today I decided since it was 84 degrees outside, and I was SICK TO DEATH of changing diapers, that I would try Potty Bootcamp. It's not from a book I read, or a video I watched, or even a friend I know. It's more like a frame of mind. I gathered the potty up, every fun toy I could find and brought the baby out there while we had a potty party.
Within 2 minutes of Noah's diaper being off, he went in the potty... I was stunned. I had no idea he was even ready. Ofcourse, as predicted, Elijah could not be outdone and so the competition began. I let them run around naked all morning as we danced to Disney music and drank lots of juice. Ofcourse, we had our laptops out for when things didn't come out very quickly. I couldn't resist snapping pictures.

Even the baby got into it in her bouncey toy. She just loved being a part of the excitement, though she had no idea what it was about.

I am officially marking Day One of Potty Bootcamp a success. Now, to stay motivated. (Stay tuned for that one)

And sometimes God uses iphones

I admit it, I am that grouchy lady in church who growls at the people who pull out their IPHONES and use them as a substitute bible. It has always bothered me. Which is why it came as a complete shock that I actually used my bible app this week. I just recently purchased an iphone 3Gs. I know, how dare I purchase the older, non high-tech version? But it was cost-effective and I really wanted an iphone. I downloaded the classics like Angry birds, and tried a few new ones for recipes, a nice little GPS app, I was all set. Then, because I am a christian and it seemed fairly un-christian-like (is that a word?) to NOT download the bible, I caved and did.

BACKSTORY:

So, I have had a really tough time doing my devotions lately. I mean, during the day I try really hard to sit and read a chapter or two, while I put the boys in front of the tv and the baby down for a nap. My prayers always seem to sound something like, "Dear God, please speak to me in the 3 1/2 minutes I can get uninterrupted to read this passage of scripture." Sometimes it works, sometimes I have to stop everything and break up a boy fight.

CUT TO LAST WEEK:
I was feeding the baby and browsing through apps and came acrossed the bible app. The boys were outside, and it was somewhat quiet, so I thought I'd take a gander. That's when I discovered a very cool "recorded" feature, where a nice man reads each passage to you. Since Olivia's constant need for spoonfuls of food was distracting me from reading, I tried listening. Ofcourse, I hit the King James Version and some british dude started talking, which totally distracted me because I got to thinking about how strange it is that most movies depict Jesus having a British accent. And I quickly had to change the version to something with an American accent.

And as I sat there, watching the boys through the sliding glass doors, feeding my baby, sitting in my pajamas, the Lord spoke to me through an iphone app. Call me crazy, maybe a little bit of a hypocrit, but I actually got something out of a morning devotion I heard through a telephone. How strangely fascinating.

Out of darkness comes a little sunshine

The past couple of days have been kind of rough. I have been under an enormous amount of stress and high expectations. That kind of sucks since I just got back from vacation. So after I made all my deadlines, I took a moment to sit down and relax with my favorite stress-relieving activity: crafting.

Today's project was a hair thing for my beautiful neice Isabella's 6th birthday. She is a sweet little thing, and she's having a tea party for the occasion. I had to make her an over-the-top headpiece for the event. So here is her flower headband in pink and white damask print.

The Day I turned Five....again

There are so many times I dreamed about going to Disneyland in my life, I've completely lost count. It's an experience I wondered if I would ever get. The day I walked into the park I honestly could not BELIEVE it. Tim promised me by hook or by crook he was going to get me there. He's always so good at trying to make all my dreams come true. Standing in front of a castle I'd seen a million pictures of was incredible. Riding all the rides I'd dreamed of riding as a little girl was surreal. Spending time with people who understood the meaning of lost childhood dreams, and being on cloud nine was so impactful. They cheered with me as I walked through the gates, they laughed with me as I rode the teacups, and they cried alongside me as I watched the fireworks show.

Yes this was the day that taught me that "no matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish WILL come true." Yes, it really happened.