Parties, Lessons and "Sigamore Trees"

We love Awana - the kids love going and we love what they learn there! The different stages are Puggles (for those under 3 whose parents are teaching or helping with Awana), Cubbies (3 & 4), Sparks (5 - 2nd grade) and T&T (3rd -6th grade). Hannah is in Puggles and even learned a verse the other day and recited it to us!! She remembers her lessons and easily tells us about them. It is so cool to see a 2 year old learning and remembering things about God! Isaac is in Cubbies (even though he has now turned 5) and does a great job with his verses and even with answering questions when we are in a large group. Madison just started T&T this year and is loving it. She is learning some GREAT verses that are cementing in her mind accurate Biblical Theology. So, as I said, we are loving Awana. We also love the church we are going to for many reasons, one of which is their great attention to teaching the Bible to the kids. Hannah doesn't go to the nursery to play during Sunday School - she has a lesson, story and learns about God. The other day when we asked her what she did in Sunday School she told us all about Zaccheus! She told us how "he climbed up in a Sigamore (okay so she missed Sycamore) tree to see God" When we said "Jesus" she said - "no it was God". Okay, we let that go - I guess she will have a leg up on the Trinity :-) The first time she retold the story she lost her train of thought and said he was there to see "grandma's flowers" (which were the first things she saw as she looked around the room trying to recall the story) :-) She did however correct herself soon after :-) Isaac is continually piping in with Bible stories he has learned in Sunday School (that he remembers with great detail). Madison is able to relate things she has learned from the Bible to everyday situations which is so awesome to see. We know that what the kids are learning at church & awana are just supplements to what we are teaching them at home. We also firmly believe that it is our responsibility (not the church, not the youth leader etc) to teach our kids about God. It is just exciting to have awesome supplemental sources of God's Word in our kid's lives. It is also exciting to see the things we have taught them from the beginning starting to bear fruit in their lives. We pray that God will continue to show us how to make Him real to them, how to teach them about Him and to place others in their lives who will do the same.

At Awana, they celebrated Harvest Day (rather than Halloween) and the kids had to dress up as something that related to the harvest. It was alot of fun. We had all Isaac's cowboy stuff but didn't know what to do for Madison. I went to the thrift store the morning before the event and found this pilgrims costume. She was thrilled and we thanked God for caring about the little things - like a girl finding a costume :-) I looked online and found a hat that I could make and she came up with the idea of the basket filled with fruit and veggies. I was sewing her hat up to the last minute! That's what I get for procrastinating. Although Hannah isn't in the picture she was a bear :-) I took this picture after the night was over because I had no time beforehand (remember I was busy sewing) and Hannah had no interest in wearing her costume any longer :-) To Madison's delight she won the award for the best costume for the T&T girls! It was a very fun night for us all.