Praying for Triple Smiles

I have just spent about an hour and a half in prayer for my Triple Smiles. I was wide awake at 3:30 am. I got up, straightened up the kitchen, brewed my coffee…and sat down for a nice coffee talk with my Savior. Its now almost 5:30 A.M. I wanted to write my mom and some other dear prayer partners an email..and decided to share it on my blog instead as a hope to encourage another mom out there.  This entry may be long…bear with me…my hope is you will leave encouraged.

Gordon and I attending a Wednesday night Bible Study together. Last Wednesday night…a young mom shared about a struggle with one of her children..and when she knew nothing else to do..she went to her knees.

On Thursday, True Woman posted this post on praying scripture for your children.
My dear friend Vicki for Christmas gave me a flip book of scriptures with the children’s pictures beside each verse.  She bought the flip book here.
I have blogged before about the importance of teaching kids scripture.
This morning the topic on my heart is instilling the desire to learn in all my children, but especially now in Zachariah as he approaches Kindergarten.


I found this prayer in the book The Power of a Praying® Parent Book of Prayers (Power of a Praying Book of Prayers) and wanted to share it with you.
Lord, I pray that Zachariah will have a deep reverence for You and Your ways. May he hide Your Word in his heart like a treasure, and seek after understanding like silver or gold. Give him a good mind, a teachable spirit, and an ability to learn. Instill in him a desire to attain knowledge and skill, and may he have joy in the process. Above all, I pray that he will be taught by You, for you Word says when our children are taught by you, they are guaranteed peace. You have also said “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov 1:7) May he never be a fools and turn away from learning,but rather may he turn to you for the knowledge he needs.  I pray he will respect the wisdom of his parents and be willing to be taught by the teachers You bring into his life. Handpick each one, Lord and may they be Godly people from whom he can easily learn. Take out of his life any teacher who would be an ungodly influence or create a bad learning experience. Let him find favor with his teachers and have good communication with them. Help him to excel in school and do well in any classes he may take.  Make the pathways of learning smooth and not something with which he must strain and struggle. Connect everything in his brain the way it is supposed to be so that he has clarity of thought, organization, good memory and strong learning ability. I say to him according to Your Word “Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge “ (Proverbs 23:13) “May the Lord give you understanding in all things” (2Tim 2:7) Lord, enable Zachariah to experience the joy of learning more about You and Your World.
Amen….

Well Versed Family

As a Christian parent, I know it is important to teach God's word to my children. My head knows it, but somehow it gets put behind teaching shapes, colors, ABC's, and then there is the laundry, the list goes on and on. Over the past few days (a little over a week now) of hearing my friend Marsha quote scripture through email, voice messages, etc to pray over Brexton, I have found myself thinking, I wish I knew scripture they way she does. Wow...to be able to think of a need or situation and find a scripture verse to pray for my child. About a year ago..I was at Marsha's house and she encouraged her daughter to share her toys by quoting a scripture that not only encourages a child to share, but to share willingly. (I Timothy 6:18)

About 6 months ago...Carolyn Boykin spoke at my MOPS group. She has written a book on just this subject matter. I bought the book, and it ended up in the bottom of my dresser drawer with all my other well intend to read books...that end up collecting dust.

For some reason, I packed the book with my things to take to Tennessee. I was able to read most of the book one morning on my parents porch, coffee cup in hand, while watching the kids play in the Tennessee Sun. It encouraged me not to wait for Awanas, Sunday School Rewards, etc, but to start teaching them scripture NOW...even at 1,2 and 3 years old. Ms. Boykin has many many techniques and fun ways to teach scripture to your kids.

This is my first attempt....Proverbs 16:24

Pleasant words are like honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

(This was also their first taste of cereal with sugar!)

Our family is headed to the beach this week....I am planning on packing lots of Honeycomb...so I can pull it out to remind them if our words get yucky...and that goes for mom and dad too!

I will post other scripture memory activities from her book as I try them with my kids.

She quotes one teen and adolescent expert in her book who says
"scripture memory is the single most effective life shaping tool in a parents toolbox!"

Check out her website at
http://www.wellversedfamily.com/

Fishy Day

TGIF!!! The best part about TGIF is Mops...AKA Mothers of Preschoolers. We meet 2x per month at First Baptist Church Mckinney. Each time we have a topic or craft followed by discussion and prayers. I have grown to love each of the woman at my table in such a special way. The children are in Moppets and its so cute to hear LJ say " Hurry! Let's go to etts" Today the children's lesson was on Jonah and the "Big Fish" and they made these adorable crafts of Jonah inside the belly of the big fish. This was a huge lesson for the boys...and they got it! All day today, they told me "Jonah did not obey God!" After naptime, I took them outside and showed them that Jonah did not stay in the belly of that fish. We filled an empty OJ bottle with water, added some food coloring, put in some packing noodles to represent Jonah...and shook and shook that bottle! Then, Zachariah enjoyed pouring out the bottle and sending Jonah onto Ninevah! LOL! The last picture of all 3 happily playing with their fish in the water was interrupted by the boys tipping over the full water table onto their sister....who casually crawled away soaking wet!