David slays Goliath with the help of God... and sheep???

Well this week's 'Super Family Bible Night' didn't start out as planned, it started with me excitedly asking Adam when he got home from work "Have you got something fun planned for Super Family Bible Night' tonight?" Answer: "Oh, I hadn't given it a thought at all". Not such a good start! However, lack of preparation was certainly made up for in creativity and excitement (this week's was probably one of the most fun and interesting weeks). So, with props ready and bible in hand Adam began our journey of discovery.

With a grand opening line "Welcome to Super family Bible Night" (imagine the voice over at the theatre) "tonight we are looking at the story of David & Goliath." (Cheers from the crowd, well all 3 of us anyway). "Please take your seats". Adam, reverting back to his normal voice, begins to read the story of David and Goliath, of course we need a Goliath (the obvious choice is Adam as he stands 6'3" (190cm) tall), with his battle armour (a puffy jacket and cap) and his sword (a broom handle).

The next part to be allocated was that of King Saul (which of course I put my hand up for – lol), leaving a battle of siblings (between Toby & Lily) as to who would play David and who would play all other parts. The debate was settled with David being the youngest of all his brothers and so Lily being the youngest in our family played the part of David – much to the protest of Toby 'but David is a boy, and Lily can't be a boy'. As we read through the story we acted out each part, when we got to the part where David put on Saul's armour Lily put on Adam's huge coat, cap and we used a broom stick and plastic lid as sword and shield. It's looked hilarious on her, and she moaned, 'Daddy do I have to wear this it's too big' then promptly tripped over the jacket and fell flat on her tummy (thankfully she didn't hurt herself so we could all have a laugh) but it illustrated the point perfectly – David couldn't wear Saul's armour - it didn't fit.

Now we were at the interesting part of the evening – just what did Adam have prepared for David's sling? Adam had found a couple of pieces of scrap material and some string and we cut out makeshift slings with string attached (very clever) although I think Toby may have found a new "toy" to play with outside, probably aiming at some poor defenceless animal. As we made the slings, Adam chatted about what David did, looking after the sheep and that lions, tigers or animals would prey on the sheep to eat them, and so David would often use his sling to kill or scare off the predators. David got very good at using his slingshot and probably practised often in his time in the wilderness. Then once we'd finished making the sling, of course we had to have some practise shots (warning – find a soft ball to practise with especially if you are inside and near glass or mirrors).

Back to the story, David met Goliath, found it 5 smooth rocks, aimed at Goliath and threw it and... hit the wall behind him... then the chair... then backwards into the laundry... until finally (with mummy's help) hit Goliath and knocked him down. Then, of course we had to enact out David cutting of Goliath's head and holding it up (to Toby's delight) but as soon as Lily had acted that part out, she ran over to Adam and said "I'm sorry Daddy I didn't mean to cut your head off, did I hurt you?"

Now to the application part of the story: it came in 2 parts. We chatted to the kids about that...

1. God has created each one of us individually – and that we aren't made do things exactly the same as everybody else. Just like when David put of Saul's armour – it didn't fit him. Sometimes we do things differently and that is ok. We don't have to be the same as everybody else.
2. Who did David trust in? Toby (obvious answer) - "God". Lily's answer – "the sheep" (interesting). Not sure where that came from, but at least she was listening.

So, in summary, a great fun night had by all, and very memorable for the kids. That goes to show you don't have to be super organised to run a fun family bible night.

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

Jesus likes window biscuits

Week 3 of 'Super Family Bible Night' and it was Lily's first turn at leading the night. What would a 5yo have in store for us tonight???... All week Lily had planned for 'Jonah and the whale', she'd planned a cubby to be the whale's belly and who was playing each part... but then... window biscuits!! "Window biscuits?" I hear you say – where did that come from? Well, over the weekend our church ran kid friendly services during the school holidays and gave us a booklet of ideas and activities to do with our kids, one of those activities was making window biscuits. As soon as she heard that – Jonah was ditched pretty smartly and all she wanted to do was 'Jesus is the light' so she could make window biscuits!

 So with a last minute scramble, we looked up Matthew 5 – you are the light of the world. She needed a light (candle), a bowl, a dark room and of course some window biscuits. First stop - kitchen for biscuit making (see recipe below), the recipe was really easy and Lily was able to make them on her own (with some instructions along the way). So with the biscuits in the oven we headed to the kids room for 'Super Family Bible Night'. Lily had positions for everyone to sit (we all sat on the floor – while Lily sat on the bed, no surprises there). With lights off, candle lit, the time began. As we read the passage we pretended that we were in the bible times and had no electricity – how different it would be to read a book, to play with toys and even clean our teeth. Then Lily put the bowl over the candle and it was dark. Toby remarked "why would you put a bowl over a light? That's a silly idea! I can't see anything." BINGO! Point made!

We shared about what it means to shine God's light to others – by being kind and thoughtful to others, doing good things, sharing God's love with others. But to cover up the light with a bowl means not doing those things or being nasty or mean to others. We began a great discussion together and just as it was getting good ... beep...beep...beep the oven timer went off. Window biscuits ready. The discussion abruptly finished... biscuits were ready :)

The biscuits however weren't as successful as the bible time. The holes we'd put in the middle were far too big for the lollies inside and so we only had ½ a window pane, and I used dodgy baking paper and so the lolly centres stuck to the paper, so we ate paper covered window panes (mental note: add baking paper to shopping list). In spite of that the biscuits were a great hit for Lily (she's still talking about shining God's light like light shines through a Window biscuit).

Summing up: very fun night together, a bit of preparation in the baking and a tricky passage to explain to a 5yo and 7yo, but Lily and Toby loved it and remember it, so that's the important part, even if it was just the food they remember. Oh, and it's worth eating all the biscuits within 24hours cause after that all the lolly centres begin to melt and there's no window anymore :)

Matthew 5: 14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Window Biscuit Recipe
115g soft unsalted butter
55g caster sugar
185g (1 ½ cup plain flour)
1-2 tbs milk
1 small bag boiled lollies (or life savers)
Icing sugar, to dust




Method:
Preheat oven to 180deg. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and creamy. Sift in the flour and stir in the milk. Use your hands to form the mixture into a soft dough and roll it out onto a lightly floured surface until ½ cm thick. Use a cookie cutter and cut into shapes. Cut a 1-2 cm circle (or any shape) from the centre of each biscuit. Carefully transfer the biscuits to the lined tray. Place boiled lolly in the centre of each hole and bake in the oven for 15minutes. Set aside on the tray to cool. Dust with icing sugar.





Great website: Found a great interactive website this week with stories and activities for primary aged children based through discovery and family time. Check it out: http://www.biblesnackpacks.com/

Jesus fed the 5000 with fish and lollies??

Well its week 2 of 'Super Family Bible Night' and what a night it was!! This week it was a bit trickier to make sure it happened, between work commitments and Lily's kinder "dad's night" we nearly postponed it – but that wouldn't be a good start – one week in and having to postpone already. So we pushed through and began at 8pm (probably not the best idea!).

This week was Toby's turn to lead the night. We'd chatted to him throughout the week about what bible story was he going to do and what ideas he had. He swapped between Mary and Martha, Jonah and the whale but finally decided on Jesus feeding the 5000 bread and fish (in Mt 14; Mk 6; Lk 9 and Jn 6). He'd been reading it and thinking about it for a few days and then spent about 45minutes "preparing" his ideas. I tried to go in and offer help and suggestions but told in no uncertain terms that "I'm fine mum, I know what I'm doing, and you'll just have to wait". And so with great anticipation (and slightly concerned about what we were in for) we all sat down waiting the 'super family bible night' as prepared by Toby...

Toby had prepared parts for each of us to play (and of course Toby was again to play the part of Jesus) mummy was 'the disciples', daddy was the '5000 people' and Lily was 'the little boy'. Toby had assigned a place for each of us to sit and gave us little green slips of paper with our reading lines on them, that we were to say out loud when it was our turn. He had even thought through the use of props, he wanted to have some 'real food' to represent the bread and fish, and thought that lollies would work best because we'd need lots of lollies to feed 5000 people. Mmm – I think this was just a ploy to eat lollies but I went along with it anyway! Toby began by reading from his Kids Bible and we needed to act out the story as he went and reading our lines as directed. All was going along very smoothly until a very tired 5yo decided she wanted to eat the lollies early, the stern reply from Toby – "no we haven't got to that part yet". Which of course meant that we had an absolutely, beautiful, polite response – NOT! "I want to eat my lollies now" while lying on the floor kicking her legs. The finishing of the story sped up a bit quicker and we all got to eat our bread and fish (lollies) and our 5yo was nice again.

Toby finished off by talking to us about God's power to multiply the bread and fish and also the little boy who was willing to share his lunch and finished off with prayer. Quite profound insight from a 7yo!
How did I think it went? Well... initially I was very unsure about how Toby would cope, what he'd say and do. But he really loved it and got into the night enthusiastically and is looking forward to his next one. I was surprised at how much he wanted to do on his own and then how much he actually knew. I think he actually learnt more about God and the bible by doing this himself than when we do it with him.

We will definitely do this again ... well actually we have too... This week was such a success in Lily's mind that it's her turn next week. Stay tuned...

Super dooper rocket looper family bible devo

Yesterday the Butler family embarked on a new adventure: the world of "family devotion time". We have read the Bible to our kids (Toby 7 & Lily 5) during story time. We've regularly chatted to them about God as we go about our day and prayed together, but we wanted to start interacting together as a family with the Word.

I'd often heard about family devotional time (and truthfully thought them geeky) so when Adam (my hubby) and I started chatting about family devo nights we wanted them to be fun, active, to read a passage and for every family member to be involved and have a go. How on earth were we going to do that???????????

So begins the journey...


After dinner yesterday we chatted to the kids about what we wanted to do and the first decision was what to call our new family devo night. The voting was on... the debate began... what was the best name and why... the finalists were "family night", "super family bible night" and "super dooper rocket looper bible family night". And the winner is... "Super family bible night" with daddy proudly announcing that his name won because we are a super family! lol (daddy joke)

With that we all thought daddy should go first (hehe). He had to think quickly but came up with a brilliant idea. An interactive drama of Matthew 8:23-27 Jesus calms the storm. We needed a some water (our blue rug did the trick) and a boat (we moved our couch onto the rug), and everyone jumped onto the ship(couch). Adam read through the passage and we began. The drama began with the disciples (Lily & me) played scared as the storm raged and swayed from side to side and many times nearly falling off the couch (I mean out of the boat). Meanwhile Jesus (played by Toby) was sleeping (sort of, as he was continually distracted by the imaginary jellyfish and stingrays). The disciples yelled out to Jesus 'Lord save us, we're going to drown' and suddenly Jesus (Toby) awoke from his slumber (or stopped being distracted by the stingrays), prompty stood on the side of the couch, arms outstretched and calmed the storm (reminded me of the movie Titanic, I could imagine the dramatic music playing in the background)

After the laughter subsided we chatted about the importance of this story and why God wanted us to know that Jesus can calm the storm. We talked about how afraid the disciples were and the times when we are afraid and that we can know that even when we are afraid, God is with us.

Verdict on first "super family bible time" = Great fun!! Very little preparation and props needed and (much to the delight of the kids) involves the whole family.

Next week Toby has his turn... this could be interesting.