Around the walls of a nursing home

Tonight was Lily’s turn to lead ‘Super Family Bible Night’ and after last week’s episode of army men mime – I was a little concerned. Lily flicked through her bible and chose her story because she like the pictures, interesting because the story she chose was ‘A wall falls down – Jericho’.

This week was drama week,  Lily played the part of Joshua, Daddy & Toby the 2 men sent to check out Jericho, mummy was narrator/Rahab and whoever else was needed along the way. As we read the story we acted it out along the way – although Toby was quite disappointed that he was able to really hid in the roof like the 2 spies did in the story, and disappointed he had to settle for sitting on a table.

For those who don’t know we are currently house sitting a large nursing home, (for about 6 months so - with no residents) so you can imagine the fun and noise we had when it was time to walk (we ran) around the walls of Jericho. Firstly once every day (6 times), then 7 times on the 7th day. All the while shouting and playing our pretend instruments along the way. There are a lot of walls to run around in our mini city and we were exhausted by the end of it and collapsed on the ground to listen to the end of the story and pray.

This week was certainly a week to remember, we had a lot of fun and Lily especially loved being in charge and playing the part of Joshua. Mmm... think there may be a leader in the making there.

Blessings to you and your family!
For more information on bible engagement or Milk to Meat resources please go to http://www.milktomeat.com.au/

Daniel and the army men

This week was Toby’s turn to lead ‘Super Family Bible Night’ and he was desperate to use his new Toy Story Army Men, so regardless of what story he chose those men were going to play a major role.  So with army men set and ready we all sat down for the night and ready for the night to begin. Toby chose to create a ‘show’ for us – illustrating the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den using a bucket and his army men. What was most interesting and intriguing was that he decided it was going to be a silent show, kind of a mime but using army men which have no facial expressions!

That created a challenge and Lily was totally confused because she had no idea what Toby was on about. I think Toby got the idea from a recent circus incursion at school which had the kids performing mime – however it should be noted that mime does not translate well when using mini army men. But he had fun and we all got to have a ‘turn’ playing out the story of Daniel and in more than one ‘turn’ the story changed and poor Daniel (army man) was eaten alive by the vicious lions (which were Might Beanz --- mmm they are very ferocious).

Summary – sometimes you just have to let the night go where the kids want to take it – they (eventually) got to understand the story and it’s importance but on the way there we had a lot of fun together and hopefully mime with army men won’t be an option again.

 

Blessings to you and your family.
For more information on bible engagement or Milk to Meat resources please go to http://www.milktomeat.com.au/

The Tower of Newspaper

Tonight was daddy’s turn to lead ‘Super Family Bible Night’ and what a fun night it was. Tonight began with a little competition, not a fair competition in my opinion but we were split into 2 teams of which Toby chose to go with daddy & Lily with mummy. We had newspaper & masking tape; we had to build the tallest tower that was able to stand on its own when the 5min timer went off. Now personally I thought we were going to lose this one – I know Adam’s played and won these game lots of times before with youth group kids, and his ability to make things stronger and stand easier meant I felt the girl’s team was starting from behind. So resolved that we would lose, sad I know. However what I didn’t take was that while Lily & I plodded along adding each piece to the tower as we went along – the other team where so fixated on making lots of pieces and making them strong that they totally ran out of time and so when the timer went off their tower wasn’t even close to standing – WOOHOOO!! Girls won!! And boy were we excited!!!

So after the excitement died down and we received our prize (a lolly J) we all sat down together to read the story of the Tower of Babel and how and why God confused the language of the people. We discussed what it means to make things and ourselves more important than God. Funnily this week Lily shared with us her ‘Love Chart’ which is the order of the things she loves, which I thought was quite fascinating.

Lily’s Love Chart

1.       God/Jesus

2.       Sheepy (sheepskin she’s had since birth)

3.       Mummy

4.       Toby

5.       Daddy (poor daddy)

Although the last 3 change daily depending on mood and how she’s interacted with that person on the day. But Sheepy is always at number 2.

Love to hear your stories and thoughts on how you involve your kids in bible stories. Share a comment below.

Of course afterwards we had a newspaper sword fight

More information on bible engagement or to purchase Milk to Meat go to www.milktomeat.com.au

Jesus and the popping sprinkles

Tonight was Lily’s turn for ‘Super Family Bible Night’ and we also decided to incorporate a special dessert into our Family Nights. The kids have been bugging me about making a special dessert for the family for weeks, but I have been reluctant after the last dessert Toby made for us which was: strawberry jelly & ice cream mixed together with a large dollop of Nutella on the top, then on top of that was marshmallows, Milo, musk stick and sprinkles onto was Star Dust (the kind of sprinkles that pop in your mouth). It was a massive sugar overload and the kids took a LONG time to go to sleep. So as you can imagine I was a little hesitant to allow Toby back into the kitchen again to make dessert. But with some guidelines Toby headed off to make dessert.

So as we all sat around the table, with wine glasses in hand, we began to wonder just what did our 5yo have in store for us tonight? Well, she had prepared well and sent dad off to the supermarket to get some grape juice and she shared the story of how Jesus to water into wine. Dad thought he might have been able to do that miracle too, just like Jesus but he just couldn’t make it happen. But as we sat outside on a warm night we were able to share and discuss the power and miracles of Jesus and that same power is still available today.

Afterwards we all scoffed Toby’s dessert – which was still jelly & ice cream but we did have a hint of healthy food with some fruit salad.

Well done Lily and Toby on a great fun family night.

Moses and the burning craft

Bunny ears

This week was Toby’s turn to lead ‘Super Family Bible Night’ and he was very excited (although totally unprepared). After sifting through the Children’s bible stories about 6 times he finally came to the story of Moses and the burning bush (I think he like this idea because he could think of an idea for a craft activity). Oh well I guess whatever works for him hey!

I wonder if my burning
bush will burn?

So we sat and read the story of Moses and the burning bush, and Toby asked his set 3 questions that he seems to ask every time he leads 1. What is important about this story? 2. Why is this story in the bible? 3. What prayer points do you have? And the quicker he could get through those questions the quicker he could get to his activity.

His craft activity was cutting out pictures from coloured paper and re-creating a scene from the story. Toby loves being able to do anything involving art – he’s quite talented in the craft area (he doesn’t get this from his mum that’s for sure!!). Although he would have loved to have actually set his craft alight to see whether it really did “burn up” – we decided against that idea. But he loved leading this week and we now have paper craft of Moses and the burning bush hung up around our house. And as you can see from the pics we had a lot of fun too

Why not share your thoughts with us on how your family engages the Bible together we’d love to hear your thoughts & ideas.

For more information on Bible Engagement, Milk to Meat or other blogs go to www.milktomeat.com.au

Boys, boys, boys...

Nought & crosses and 10 commandments

This week was Adam’s turn for Super Family Bible Night, we moved house this week so I’ve uploaded 2 weeks close together. So enjoy this one and also last week’s Samuel in a bunk bed.

Noughts & crosses

Adam started the night with a game of wooden noughts & crosses, the kids and I played against one another and then Adam played Toby. However, when Toby got 2 of his pieces in a row, Adam would change pieces and announce “I WON”, to which Toby would protest “NO you were circles and I was crosses and you just put down a circle, you didn’t win”. So they played again and Adam again put down one of Toby’s pieces, and announcing “I won”. “No” Lily and Toby shouted. “That’s not the rules”. Adam’s reply: “Who said? Who’s rules?” Lily: “That’s not the rules DAD, you can’t play like that. It’s not fair. You need to play the rules” Adam: “Who said?” Lily: extremely frustrated at this point not knowing the answer pulled out the big one “GOD SAID!”

Thankfully, Adam moved on before a brawl started and asked what would life be like with no rules, of which the kids answered “Cool. Amazing. Fun.” Until Adam asked what would soccer be like with no rules? What if someone took off with the ball or punched someone? Toby: “That wouldn’t be fun at all”. To Lily he asked what would ballet be like with no rules, if people could come into class and just dance whatever they liked and didn’t listen to the teacher. Lily: that wouldn’t be nice. Aaaah – point made!

Adam then read through the story of Moses receiving the 10 Commandments from God and what those commandments meant and what they mean to us today. To give us a framework to help us enjoy life instead of anyone being able to do whatever they want. They aren’t just a set of rules but how God wants us to live – to love God and to love others.

Summary: I was quite concerned early on in the night that Lily was going to reach over and soc her dad one for not playing the game by the rules but they certainly understood the point by the end of the night and I don’t think this is one Super family Bible Night they’ll forget.

It's not fair!!

For more ideas and resources on Bible Engagement or to buy Kylie’s ‘Milk to Meat’ book go to www.milktomeat.com.au

Samuel in a bunkbed

This week was my turn for Super Family Bible Night... well actually it was 2 weeks ago but we moved house and I didn’t get a chance to upload the last 2 weeks, so finally here it tis.

This week’s was based on the story of Eli & Samuel, we headed to the kids bedroom to use their bunk beds. I thought it’d be fun for them to swap beds for this drama – but unfortunately drama is what I got! Toby: “I don’t want to be in Lily’s bed – her bed’s pink!” Lily: “I don’t want to be here mum, I want to be in my bed, Toby’s bed stinks!” Mum: “Tough! Lily you’re Eli and you’re on the top bunk. Toby you’re Samuel and you’re on the bottom bunk! End of discussion!” Response: humf – sulk. This was not quite the start I’d planned for Super Family Bible Night, mmm.



Not happy Toby



I read out the story with dad playing the voice of God, and Toby and Lily quite reluctantly playing their part – that was until Lily got to tell Toby to “go back to bed” cause Samuel had woken Eli up 3 times (she enjoyed that part). I think in the end they enjoyed it, even if it was reluctant joy.

Afterwards we played a game of Chinese whispers – I started off and chose the tongue twister “Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers”, in reality I should have known better and that was way too much for a 5yo to handle, and it came back to me as “poo, poo, bum, bum”. The kids then wanted their turn but the saying didn’t get much better than “poo poo bum bum”. So it ended soon after that.

We did thankfully have some interesting conversations about it means to listen to God and different ways that we can hear from God, which the kids really got into. So was it a successful night – well they keep asking to play Chinese Whispers again – is that a success??? I’m not so sure!

Cheeky Chinese Whispers

Moses and the parting of the bath

Tonight was Lily’s turn for Super Family Bible Night and boy was she excited! She’d been looking forward to this night all week. There were a lot of secret talks happening between daddy and Lily as they began their preparations, Toby & I weren’t allowed to venture past the lounge room until they were ready.

Suddenly there was a ring of a bell and we were all ushered into the bathroom – mmm... just what did our little girl have in store for us?

The room was dark, with candles lit all around and we were instructed to take our shoes off and sit in that bath (decided this was not a good option in clothes so opted to sit on the side of the bath J). And so in the dim light of the candles Super Family Bible Night began – we read the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. Adam read the story, and Lily pointed out that the candles were the pillar of fire that led the Israelites at night, and that the bath water was the red sea. Lily tried so very hard to part the red sea (bath water) but much to her dismay it just wouldn’t stay parted. Toby was imagined himself walking along the bottom of the ocean and pictured himself reaching his hand into the side of the wall of water grabbing a shark or starfish out with his bare hands. “How awesome would that be mum, I could have my own shark!”. (mmm I’m not happy that he’s saving his pocket money for a pet Gecko so the thought of having a pet shark.... NO!)

Lily did a great job, very creative to have us all in the bath for this night – and even thinking of the candles – she’s really outdone herself this week! However,  more than once I was very worried that we’d all end up soaked from the bath water. But thankfully we all left the bath relatively dry and memories of a fun night together!

An Ark made of clay

Well what a distressing week it's been. This week has seen massive floods in Queensland, NSW & Vic and bushfires in WA. It's been a week full of disturbing images on the tv which our kids were exposed to as well, when national disasters happen it's really hard to shelter your kids from such events and so we in the evenings we prayed with them about the people, the homes and stories they'd seen. But I think it is these terrible circumstances that led to Toby's choice of bible stories for this week's 'Super Family Bible Night' – Noah's Ark.



Toby reading bible story


Toby had prepared well this week, he spent the evening before reading the bible and thinking creatively about his topic. After reading for much longer than usual, he promptly said "Mum I need clay for Super Family Bible Night". Interesting I thought, what does clay have to do with Noah's Ark but I went along with it anyway and so we spent about 2hours the next day trying to find baking clay. Thankfully, we eventually found some (I wasn't looking forward to having to make baking clay to appease an 8yo).



And so the night began, Toby read the story of Noah's Ark, asked some questions and prayed. He then produced a well constructed plan of just what we were going to do next. He had drawn the Ark, with explanation of the type of roof, the door shape, the amount of animals and how it was to be created. I was astonished as the amount of detail we were going to have to create with CLAY!!! (Maybe he's got some architecture in him??)



Toby's in depth explanation of clay Ark making



And so the creativity began... well.... the boys were extremely creative and made fabulous Ark's and animals, on the other hand... Lily & I decided to work together and make something that at least resembled a boat. It was a fun night and we had clay everywhere. Toby had done a really great job of unpacking Noah's Ark and letting us all get involved in the night.



I think Adam might be impressed with his creation



Toby's ark



On another note, you can now sign up to receive this blog via email, just fill in your email in email subscribe box to the right and you'll never miss our 'Super Family Bible Night' blog J

Enjoy your family and God this week.

You can also check out our other blog on bible engagement - tips, tools, and resources here
http://milktomeat-journal-kyliebutler.blogspot.com/

3 sauce bottles in a furnace

This week's 'Super Family Bible Night' was one to remember – a bit of pantry and video fun!

Toby with his angry men



Angry men are stuck onto 2-min noodles



It was Adam's weeks and he had a draw faces: 3 happy men, 3 angry men, 1 little king, 1 big king and an angel – and we were all interested as to what he was going to get up too. Obviously from the pic above Toby chose to draw the 3 angry men. We were even more intrigued when Adam pulled out 3 packets of 2-minute noodles, 4 sauce bottles and 2 Milo containers. Just what did he have in store?



Milo statue and Milo king



Sauce in a firery furnace



Well this week we started with the kids seeing how loud they could make their armpits burp and ended with video posts done by Toby & Lily on the story which are hilarious but unfortunately I can't upload them because a certain little 5yo refused to wear pants.

Thankfully, we were able to convince her to do it again the next day, with pants, so we could show you.

However, Lily did give an interesting retelling of the story (so please remember this is a 5yo retelling). The re-enactment goes a little bit wrong towards the end. But check out Lily's video of Super Family Bible Night, based on the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (or as Lily calls it Shadrach, Bendigo and Indigo).

Enjoy God's Word with your family this week and we'd love to hear about it! Send us a comment or email on your experiences.

Esther and a flute

We hope you had a great Christmas and New Year and during the break were able to spend time with your family and friends and especially able to connect with God during this season.

We've had a busy season, but have spent lots of time together swimming at beach, pool and enjoying BBQs with friends. One special adventure we headed to the Sand Sculptures for a picnic and family day which was great fun (although we all got burnt). The Sand Sculptures are well worth a trip if you're on the Mornington Peninsula this summer, however my kids are wondering why I can't do sand castles like them.

This week 'Super Family Bible Night' it was my turn and I decided to do one of my favourite stories in the Old Testament, 'Esther'. I did some internet searching and printed off the story with colouring pages. After reading the story together and asking a few questions about the story, we set about colouring the pages and putting it together into a book that we could put in the bookshelf to read again later. I thought it would be a good idea to have some boiled lollies on the table to be able to nibble on while drawing together but they were more interested in seeing how many lollies they could eat than on colouring.

Both Toby & Lily love making their own books and I often find my stapler missing because they've raided my stationary stash to create another book or "creative art". Being able to make a book was a great way to get them involved in the story and to understand it more.

After finishing our colouring we all prayed – Toby thanked God for his Christmas money and being able to buy a game and Lily prayed for her Auntie Jenny cause she's got a flute (flu).

So how'd the night go, well apart from the distraction of the boiled lollies, the kids really enjoyed the story and colouring in the pages of the story and putting the book together.