I’m taking off from blogging this summer, but wanted to leave you with some ideas from the past to help equip you to make the most of parenting with Scripture through the summer.

If you look in my blog categories (right column on my blog page), you’ll see that I’ve categorized all the topics for easy reference.

Click on “Seasons: Summer Fun” and you will find these ideas in addition to the posts from the last three weeks.  Enjoy scrolling through and see what might be a good fit for your family’s summer.  If you’re Type A like me, you’ll even make notes on your calendar so as to be purposeful and not forget to do your favorites!  😉

• Good Deed’s Day (a day centered on others)
• Media with Scripture (think library day)
• Playing with Scripture (think whipped cream!)
• Cooking/Snacking with Scripture (think Cheez-Its!)
• Singing with Scripture (what’s your sound of the summer going to be?)
• Praying with Scripture (think mail)
• Vacationing with Scripture (what’s your vacation Scripture going to be?)
• Do you have a spiritual growth plan for your kids this summer? (maybe these ideas will get you thinking)

I’ll be popping back in a couple of times this summer to share articles that I’ve been asked to write on the topics of “Motherhood” and “Legacy” unless I decide to save them for next Mother’s Day. I’m looking forward to sharing with you how my mom and others impacted my spiritual life growing up.

And, I’ll be back to my regular Monday morning posting schedule in September (aka – when I have time to myself again!)

Happy Summer!

Oh, and don’t forget that Parenting with Scripture: A Topical Guide for Teachable Moments could be an easy themed idea book for your summer!

I love expanding my kids’ concept of “church” by visiting other churches when we have occasion to do so.  They see first-hand that it doesn’t matter whether the church is big or small, has a building or not, worships with different kind of music than we are used to, etc.

The beauty in this teachable moment is that the church is the  PEOPLE!  And, we’ve found that worshiping with brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter the mechanics of the church, can be a precious experience.

Did you grow up with this hand motion rhyme like I did?  If not, click here to see it in action.
Here is the church.
Here is the steeple.
Open the doors,
And there’s all the people.

Well, my fabulous youth minister turned that around and taught us teens the more Biblically accurate, though non-rhyming version.

Use the same motions, just change the words…
Here is the building. 
Here is the steeple.  
Open the doors, 
And there’s the church! 

Use both versions for a fun way to teach your kids the truth of the “church = people,” NOT the building.

The blessing of visiting other churches while on vacation –
I have wonderful memories from growing up of visiting my grandparent’s church, my aunt and uncle’s church, and even a sweet little frame church surrounded by palm trees in Hawaii on a vacation my dad won.

We’ve tried to be deliberate about taking our kids to other churches as we’ve had the opportunity.  Our kids have had the experience of
– visiting their cousins’ huge church,
– their other cousins’ very formal church,
– Florida friends’ more contemporary church,
– Aunt and Uncle’s church in Indiana (where they quickly picked up we were from Texas because of our accents!)
– And our favorite…

–  The church pictured above is made up of travelers from all over who happen to be in Keystone, Colorado on a Sunday.  We worship, not in a building made by man, but in our Creator God’s majestic mountains!

The blessing is that my kids have seen first-hand and learned that it’s our common bond in Christ that matters and not the how, when, or where. 

This summer, consider visiting another church as part of your travel or staycation plans.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
1 Corinthians 12:27

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Romans 12:4-5

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:12

For more teachable moments, don’t forget to refer to your copy of Parenting with Scripture: A Topical Guide for Teachable Moments.

Summer’s comin’ and whether that means a vacation, staycation, or just some scheduled family fun nights, it’s easy to incorporate Scripture!

1. Pick a verse.
   Our family likes flipping through Parenting with Scripture: A Topical Guide for Teachable Moments to find a verse.
2. Write the verse on a notecard.
   A child or adult can do this depending on the ability of your kid.  My daughter likes to use different colored markers as she writes the verse.  Kids can also decorate the card.
3. Post it where everyone can see it frequently.
   We usually put it on the dashboard of our car for road trips and/or display it in the main living area of where we are staying.
4. Pray the verse as a family each morning. 
5. See how God’s wonderful Word blesses your trip! 
   Each day, thank or praise God through His verse and how it is helping your vacation.  At the end of the trip, imagine what the trip would have been like without the Scripture and compare it to your experience of vacationing with Scripture.

What does Vacationing with Scripture look like in real life? 

For a mini-trip to a drive-through wildlife park, we picked this verse.  We enjoyed praising God through our verse as we marveled at His creation of such amazing animals.

For a trip when I got food poisoning and was laid up for 3 days, I recuperated in bed looking at this verse.  Well, stink!  I guess I didn’t get a picture of the verse.  So, I’ll treat you to a snapshot of the fateful lunch when I ate some bad, bad, BAD fish tacos that caused the food poisoning!  I had Tim take the picture because I wanted to remember the moment of the beautiful day, open window, feeling the breeze, so happy…..if I only knew what was coming!

For a trip when my daughter didn’t feel good for most of the week, we had this verse to encourage us.

For a recent road trip to Colorado, we were reminded of being grateful each time we got in the car.  It even challenged us to find ways to be thankful as we were dealing with a flat tire on the 14 hour drive home!  This verse was such a blessing in general that we decided to leave it in the car after the vacation.

My all time favorite vacationing with Scripture experience is detailed here.  A close second is the first time I experimented with vacationing with Scripture.

Our family is big on traditions and this has become a must any time we head out the door for a trip.  I can’t understate the beauty, blessing, encouragement, and exhortation of being mindful of a specific Scripture while we travel.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes! 

Someone recently asked my kids what they are excited about doing this summer and Jake quickly and enthusiastically replied, “Video Games!!!!”   Oh boy, here we go again with another lovely saga of parents vs. electronics!  Which reminded me…

After one of my children was grounded almost all of last summer from electronics, I realized that even our carefully thought through electronic time limits were excessive.  Without electronics as a go-to, that child became more creative, initiated playing long-forgotten games from the game closet with the sibling, finished fun “projects” that had been started but abandoned, etc.

Side note:  Why was my child grounded from electronics for months? 
Because losing them for shorter periods of time was a consequence for a certain behavioral issue.  Once they were earned back, the child immediately lost them again.  Round and round we went with longer amounts of time for the consequence so that the total ended up being about 4 months.  I’m happy to say that the persistence in discipline, discussion, and much prayer from this mommy paid off as we have yet to see a repeat of the particular issue.  Whew, that was a doozie!

Just in our little family’s microcosm of America, I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of electronics.  And, I’ve been fascinated to read scientific research and anecdotal stories of the impact through Dr. Chapman and Arlene Pellicane’s book, Growing Up Social: Raising Relational Kids in a Screen Driven World.

Summer’s comin’ fast y’all, and I like a plan.  This year we are going to try some electronic free days.

Electronic free also means:

• freedom from keeping track of electronic limits
• freedom from arguing or whining for more (or the more polite version, “May I please just finish the level?” (which in our house translates to foreeeeeever!)
• freedom from feeling the parental guilt of letting their brains turn to mush…

I’m looking forward to what these electronic free days bring!  Anyone with me?
Who knows, maybe one of the wonderful byproducts of electronic free will mean more teachable moments!  Don’t forget to use your copy of Parenting with Scripture: A Topical Guide for Teachable Moments as a resource!