We raise our children to take care of books and not color in them.  So it was surprising for my kids to learn at an early age, that they could actually write/color in their Bible….with purpose, that is!  When they first received their chapter and verse Bibles, we also bought special Bible highlighters for them.    These were easier for them to use than underlining with pencil or pen.  Because I didn’t want them to go crazy with “coloring” or lose the highlighters, I kept them for them in a safe place.  

I’ll be honest and say that as the years have passed we haven’t been super consistent with marking all the verses that they’ve learned.  But, even with what we’ve done, it’s brought about the joy of familiarity with the Bible.  I remember as a child thinking the Bible was such a huge book!  However, the more I marked verses and wrote topics beside them, the more alive that book became.  Just as I did as a child, now my kids are also flipping through their Bibles exclaiming, “Oh, I remember when I learned that verse!”   

Those markings help that “Big Book” come alive!

You can tell from the markings in the picture, that it was from when my son was a preschooler. 
As your children get older, encourage them to also write topic words beside them. 

Love this idea from my ever creative friend, Elizabeth!

“I purchased the little tin mailboxes years ago in the dollar bin at Target.  The kids decorated their own box with pictures, stickers, and gems.  All family members are encouraged to leave each other little love notes and treats too. We put the little flags up when we have left something for someone to find.  My oldest has already been having LOTS of fun with this.  He even left me cash the other morning!   I try to have lots of little papers/notes they can use to create “mail.”     A bonus is that this helps with writing skills!  But more importantly, it teaches about thoughtfulness and what it means to do small things to make someone else smile.  Closer to Valentine’s Day, I plan to write “love notes” from God to them along with some sweet treats.  I will pick verses about love and substitute their names in them.”

Confession:  I am a Children’s Bible Junkie!   
I have collected just about every children’s Bible there is on the market and we’ve enjoyed using them at different phases for the kids.  I love the age-appropriateness of wording and length that comes with them, bringing specially selected Bible stories to life.   That being said, there’s nothing like a child having his very own chapter and verse Bible.  

Thing to consider when picking out a chapter & verse Bible:
*Think about whether your child is old enough to responsibly care for a “real” Bible.  When we bought ours, I knew my daughter was old enough, but not sure about my son.  So, I kept the Bible highlighters in my room so he wouldn’t be tempted to do any unsupervised “coloring!”

*Choose a version from which you would like him/her to memorize.   I made the mistake initially of buying an “easier to read” children’s chapter/verse Bible.  But, I quickly realized this wouldn’t work because it wasn’t the version I wanted them to memorize.  So when we went to underline verses in my daughter’s Bible, the wording didn’t match.  Too confusing for an early reader…or any reader for that matter!

*Choose a version that is visually appealing to the child.  I researched online ahead of time and then gave my children a couple of choices that would fit my parameters. 

*Buy from bookstore or online site that offers free engraving with the child’s name.   Keep an eye out for sales!

*Consider waiting to give the Bible to the child for a special occasion, such as Christmas or birthday.  If neither of those are near and you aren’t wanting to wait, make a celebration out of the Bible presentation day in some other meaningful way. 

Stay tuned for more tips on how to help make your child’s own Bible come alive for him or her! 
These are the Bibles that my kids picked out and love:  Zondervan’s NIV Adventure Bible.
              

I have a thoroughly new appreciation for that song now that I’ve read The Story of the Trapp Family Singers.  Though the movie Hollywoodized (I’m pretending that’s a word) some of “The Sound of Music,” I was surprised to see how true they stayed to the real story.  But there’s so much more!  If you have any love at all for the movie, I think you would enjoy this book.   The real Maria is a hoot and her personality comes through her writing, making the saga of her life seem more like fiction than reality!  What touched me most is the way she parented their children with Scripture and truly gave Glory to God at every turn. 

“Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. ”  1 Samuel 16:7b

This idea comes from the topic “Beauty” in Parenting with Scripture.  The children draw pictures of themselves and writes ways they are internally beautiful on the inside.   Then, discuss attitudes or actions that need a “make-over.”  (I had to explain the concept of a make-over to my kids.)   The children write these on strips of paper and attach them to their hands.  Pray together that God will help the children with their internal make-overs.  Post the pictures on the fridge as reminders. 

This has been a blessing for us because the children were the ones to come up with the areas they needed to work on.  So, instead of me badgering them about “kumplaning” or “timper towrd brother,”  I could just point to the fridge or gently remind them of the make-over.

Anyone have Christmas cards still floating around the house?  We’ve enjoyed using ours during our family prayer times in the evenings this month.  If your kids are like mine, they tend to get in a rut and pray for the same people and things.  This idea has brought a much needed freshness as we each draw from the pile of cards each night and pray for the people represented by the cards.

Most adults know this technique for dealing with anger, so I was curious to find out during our weekend family devotion on the topic “Anger” from Parenting With Scripture, if my kids were familiar with it.   They weren’t!   So, we had a fun time role-playing scenarios that are common to our household that arouse anger and practicing the “take a deep breath and count to 10” method.  It was also a great opportunity for the kids to see that we never outgrow God’s word.  Mom and Dad also have to remember that “a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”  Proverbs 15:1.  Taking a deep breath and counting to ten is a great practical way to help turn that harsh answer into a gentle answer!

Got your attention, didn’t I?   No, we’re not going crazy here at the Durbin household!  Those are just the topics we’re starting with as we tackle Parenting with Scripture topically this year.  Because the New Testament readings I recently blogged about are only five days a week, we decided that each weekend would be a perfect time to focus on a different topic from Parenting with Scripture.  The week days in between will allow us time to positively apply God’s word.  Stay tuned for highlights!

Happy New Year! 
Each new year my husband and I take time to evaluate the spiritual goals of our family and what we want to try to accomplish as we head forth into the coming twelve months.  This year was easy!  Our church has embarked on a plan to read through the New Testament in a year.  Our Children’s Director has encouraged us to either read aloud or help our children keep up with the reading so that everyone, young and old, will be engaged in this worthwhile process.  Though we have gone through just about every “children’s Bible story book” out there with our kids and have obviously read select verses or passages from the Bible, we’ve never taken upon such a challenge as to read straight through.  I’ve always been wistful of the days gone by when Papa would gather the children around the hearth and read God’s Word, straight from the Good Book.  So why has it never occurred to me that we could still do that?  Who knows?!  I guess it’s just that sometimes the most obvious things don’t occur to us until they hit us in the face!  Such was this year with the reading plan!  As our children’s director said, speaking of her first grade son, “How cool will it be that he, at eight years old, will be able to say that he’s heard the whole New Testament by the end of the year!”  Her intention was not that this would be a point of bragging.  Rather, that the Bible will have become accessible to him in a way that is not as often the case for our youngsters these days.  I remember as a college student, how daunting it seemed when I started reading the Bible through for the first time.  My hope for our children is that whenever they decide to take that challenge upon themselves, they will be more confident because of this year’s experience.  For now, we’re excited to see what fruitfulness God’s brings through the reading and hearing of His word through our NT2012 plan!

If you would like jump on in personally or with your family, check out http://www.youversion.com/reading-plans/project-345.  This details the NT read through we are doing, but the site offers many other reading plans and multiple ways to customize them. 

Happy Reading!

Whether your children are itty bitty, or teens, serving others by preparing and delivering meals can be blessing to your family as well as the recipient family.  We take meals for friends and family who have had surgery, babies, lost a loved one, or other situations where a meal would help bring relief.  I know first hand the huge help of receiving meals from church friends after we had both of our babies as well as from when my mom was on hospice and right after she went to be with the Lord.  And, while growing up I was blessed to have the example of a mother who made almost as much food for others in need as she did for us!

When my children were little, I set out to find the perfect recipe combination for our family’s meal ministry.
It’s requirements were that it be:
*child friendly to make
*not too eccentric so even young and picky eaters would enjoy it
*easily duplicable so we could prepare batches for our own family at the same time
*made from a number of pantry or freezer items that we could keep on hand.
*made from only a short list perishable ingredients so I could run to the grocery store and remember the items by memory and not have to pick up too many things.

Here’s what I came up with – Hawaiian Ham, Seasoned Green Beans, and Pumpkin or Strawberry Bread (sometimes I’ll throw in some packaged Hawaiin rolls, too!)

Hawaiian Ham

Fully cooked ham (about 2 lbs)  (Can be already sliced in pkg)

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

6 or more pineapple slices

Arrange ham in one layer or a little overlapping in an ungreased large rectangular casserole dish.  Combine brown sugar and mustard; spread over ham.  Top with pineapple slices.  Pour excess pineapple juice into bottom of the dish.  Bake in 375 degree oven for 10 minutes or until heated through.

Tip:  I usually just take this unheated and give heating instructions.  Whenever I find foil casserole pans on sale for 10 for $10 at our local grocery store I stock up for this purpose!  Be aware that the liquid can sometimes slosh out in transit.  To prevernt a messy car clean up, I usually set the pan on a towel in my floorboard.   Much easier to throw the towel in the wash than clean the car floorboard!  Can you tell I’ve learned from experience?!

Seasoned Green Beans

1 16 oz pkg frozen cut green beans

3 Tbsp water

2 Tbsp butter

7 tsp brown sugar

½ tsp salt

½ tsp chicken bouillon granules

In microwave-safe bowl, combine the first six ingredients.
Cover and microwave on high 3 minutes, stir, and then 3 minutes more.

Tip:  I put all the ingredients in a gallon ziplock (without cooking it) to make it easy to deliver.  That’s cheaper than trying to buy disposable tupperware.  The recipient can just dump the bag contents into a microwavable bowl and be ready to zap and eat!

Pumpkin Spice Cake (Our fall bread recipe.)

Duncan Hines Spice Cake mix (This brand is a must.  For some reason, the other brands don’t turn out as well for this recipe.)

1 can pumpkin ( about 15 oz.)

1/2 cup water

Optional:  Add Chocolate chips and/or nuts. (We love dark chocolate chips mixed in!)
Optional:  Sprinkle top with cinnamon sugar before baking.  (We usually skip this.  It’s yummy enough without it!)

Beat the cake mix, pumpkin, and water for two minutes in a large bowl.  Stir in chocolate chips or nuts if desired.  Pour into 2 greased and floured loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees about 45 minutes.  You can tell when the cake is firm.  This bread may also be frozen (but it never lasts that long here!)

Tip:  This recipe smells and tastes like the fall season!  Because of that, we only make it mid-Sept through December.  That helps it keep it’s special seasonal charm!  We are so in love with this recipe, that we literrally make a batch of this at least once a week throughout that time!

Strawberry Bread(This is our go-to bread recipe any other time than fall.)

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

1 pkg. (10 oz) frozen strawberries, thawed

4 eggs, well beaten (these can be beaten in the well of the big bowl)

1 cup salad oil

Combine and mix thoroughly all dry ingredients.  Make a well in center of mixture and add in liquid ingredients.  Mix by hand and add strawberries.  Pour mixture into 2 greased, floured (just spraying PAM works, too) 4×8 inch loaf pans.  Bake 1 hour at 350 or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  After cooling, refrigerate.   This bread may also be frozen.