Camp Day 4

We had another great, and very full day at camp today! Today was OMC - Organized Mass Chaos, the highlight of the week. All the kids got extremely messy, but had a great time - even super shy Faith had fun. The kids, freshly showered, had their last day at track time. Faith and Alicia got to perform with their track classes at the party. We ended the day with rootbeer floats. yummo!

But the absolute best part of day 4, and the best part of the whole week - Joshua accepted Christ!!!! We are so happy for the newest brother in Christ! What great, happy news to take home with us in the morning!

Camp Day 3

We are half way done! It was a great - but very HOT day! The kids had a great day learning about Shadrach, Meshach and Abendigo, day two of their track times, and just hanging out having a good time. Most of the kid's can say the theme verse - Romans 12:1-2, and hopefully they are and will apply the theme of living a transformed life.

I (Ms. Amber) was the gold medal group leader of the day! And both Pastor John and Caroline got to go up on stage today!

Take a look at our day!

Camp Day 2

What a full day! (Keep in mind that the boys didn't go to sleep until Midnight and the girls at 1:00 a.m.). We had Bible Study, Recreation (in the hot sun), Track Time - (basketball, weird science, splish splash, foot praise, art studio, kitchen chaos), hang time, a crazy party, worship and a whole lot of ultimate frisbee. Pastor John and I may not be moving very well in the morning (but I did have an awesome slide - and caught the frisbee). Hopefully everyone goes to sleep tonight! 

CentriKid Camp 2012

We have arrived safely at camp, after a broken trunk lock. The kids are getting aquainted with the vending machines. Things are great, except for the lack of air in the girl's house :( They should be here soon to fix it. Pictures to come soon!


Amber

Thanksgiving Activities

We have so much to be thankful for. Our kids should be practicing gratitude as well. I stumbled across and amazing article at Parents Magazine online with 20 great thankfulness crafts - just in time for Thanksgiving. Enjoy!


http://www.parents.com/holiday/thanksgiving/crafts/adorable-thankful-crafts/

Courageous Parenting

"Your kids are in a battle. If you don't fight for them, who will? Kids need parents with tenacity, tough love, and boundaries. The devil is "prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour" (1 Pet. 5:8), and he wants to devour and destroy this next generation."


From Courageous Living

Up Daddy!!!

     At the Tenth Avenue North concert the other night, I heard a beautiful analogy for how we should worship God. The band asked everyone to put their arms up into the air. He then went on to say, that it was not to show everyone how spiritual we were, because look, our hands are up in the air. He told us what clicked for him the other day - his two year old daughter comes up to him, looks up at him with her big brown eyes, lifts her arms, and says, "Daddy, up please!" She didn't say, "look at me daddy, my arms are up, I'm so spiritual, give me praise." No, she says, "Daddy, up please!"

     Shouldn't we have the same mentality when worshiping God? The desire, not to appear spiritual, but just to be close to our father?

SpongeBob Grace

Cute song prayer for kids, sung to the tune of Spongebob:

SpongeBob Grace

Who-----gives us the food that we need everyday

THANK YOU JESUS!

Who gives us the truth and the light and the way

THANK YOU JESUS!

THANK YOU JESUS!

THANK YOU JESUS!

Thank you…Amen!

Camp Day 4

Talk about an amazing week!!!! Tonight was our last full day at camp, so we had all of the normal fun:
I Can't Wait, OMC, track time, and a trip to the pool.

But all of that pales in comparison to what God has been doing. (Drumrole.......buuuuuuudddduuuuuu)

Two more have been added to the kingdom tonight!!!!!!! Alicia and Rachel accepted Christ.
But wait...that's not all. Brett rededicated his life to Christ and Jadon is feeling the stirrings of the Holy Spirit calling him, but is not quite sure of what all it means yet!

Needless to say, I'm a little teary eyed tonight - ask these kids about what God is doing in their lives - it's a beautiful thing!!!!

Camp Day 3

It was a long, hot, but great day at camp!!!! We worshiped, recreationed, Bible studied, track timed, and even went to the water park (though it was closed for cleaning for a little while).

And the best news for last.....Jennifer and Tyler accepted Christ tonight and are fired up ready to follow Him!!!!

Camp Day 2

Though we started out a little tired, we had a GREAT day. The kids got to go to recreation for the first time... monkey ball anyone?

The kids got to go to their tracts for the day. Even Ms. Amber got to shoot at the archery field :) But it left some of us tuckered out...

Ryan got to go up on stage during the party....though he had the gross game - covering his face with Vaseline and trying to pick up cotton balls.

 

We had a great day, but thanks to the heat and all the activities we will all sleep good to gear up for day 3.

Centri Kid Camp 2011

We arrived safely at camp earlier today. After hauling a LOT of stuff to the rooms, we had a full evening with dinner, team time, and our first party. The kids got an idea of what to expect the next few days at camp. And already got into the spirit of things at the party - Rachel even got to play a game up on stage. Reid however was not so sure about all those big kids screaming though. The kids have a few more minutes of hang time tonight, then time to rest up for the very hot, full day ahead.

Teach What is Good

    I heard a sermon preached on Luke 10:38-42 the other day. This is where Mary and Martha are visited by Jesus. Mary sat by Jesus' feet, soaking in His words, while Martha was being the frantic hostess. When Martha complained to Jesus that she had to do all the work while Mary just sat there, He told her that Mary "chose was was good," what was important.

    Normally this passage is used to show that time with Jesus should be your priority, but Dr. Bryan Richardson applied this passage to parenthood. What are we teaching our children? Are we like Mary or Martha? You worry about your kids; you want them to get a good education, be on the right sports teams, expose them to the arts, etc. But what are you teaching your children is important? Do you miss church because your child has another soccer game that day, or there are too many chores to get done, or you have tickets to see a play. Or like Mary, are you teaching them that sitting at Jesus' feet and learning His teachings is most important?

Give, Save, Spend

 Here's a great way to teach your kids about tithing, from Splink!

 

 

 

Items needed: three envelopes for each child

Markers

Allowance money

 

Teach your children to give by using the envelope system. (This can be purchased, but it is easy to make your own. There is even an online version at www.familymint.com.) Label three envelopes—give, save, and spend. Let kids decorate the envelopes, if you like.

 

Give your child an allowance, but give it to him or her in coins or one dollar bills so it can be easily divided into tenths. Let your child put one tenth into the “give” envelope to take to church to give to God; put another tenth into the  “save” envelope that will continue to grow until it is put into the bank; put the rest in the “spend” envelope.  (When the money is gone, the spending stops.)

 

Why do we give to God? (To honor God; it shows we want to put Him first because the Bible tells us to bring tithes to the church so God’s work can be done all over the world)

What happens to the money we give at church? (It is used for the expenses of the church [pay the lighting, heating, and other bills, pay the pastor, send missionaries to tell people about Jesus in other countries, help poor people, etc.])

What kind of giver does God love? Second Corinthians 9:7 says that God loves a cheerful giver—one who is glad to give!

 

*Don’t forget to take the money from the “give” envelope to church on Sunday. Let the family see you write the tithe check and put it in an envelope to take to church.

 

Random Acts of Kindness Week

February 14-20th is Random Acts of Kindness Week!!!! All through that week, find kind things your kids can do! It's a great way to show the love of Jesus to others!!!!

They can:
-hold the door open for someone
-donate their used books, toys, clothes
-take flowers or cookies to a neighbor
-pick up trash
-anything they can think of!!!

Family Ideas - Free Email

Check out SPLINK! It's a free email you can sign up for (from D6 Curriculum), giving you simple ideas to do family ministry.

Blessings

I've been thinking a lot lately about the blessings God has given me and my family. It's truly amazing! My parents have been blessed beyond belief, still happily married after 30 years, which is not the norm (my extended family is full of divorce). My brother, who wanted to become a cop, walked in off the street (no degree), and became a police officer, a great one at that. My husband, keeps getting promoted in his job. In this economy that is a feat alone, but he is also being promoted above people with more experience. God has blessed me giving me my job here at Bethel. He designed my husband specifically for me; I could not have picked a more perfect man to spend my life with. And now we have the greatest blessing of all, a little boy on the way. This list of blessings only scratches the surface.

It makes me wonder however. Why? God continues to bless myself and my family over and over. He loves His children, and blesses them, though we are undeserving; I do not feel that's the only reason. Is it because the baby I am carrying will be a great evangelist? Or am I supposed to make a huge contribution to the kingdom? I don't know the answer, but my prayer is that I be willing.

When faced with a baby before she was married, Mary said, "Yes Lord. I am your servant."

Think about all of the blessings God has bestowed on your family (they are there). Are you willing to do whatever God asks you in any situation? Are you like Mary willing to say, "Yes Lord. I am your servant" ?

Spiritual Parenting

I was reading an excerpt from a book on Spiritual Parenting, and it posed a great question:
  
"For years I had naively assumed that as Christian Parents, we simply have babies, raise them in a Christian home, then do our best as parents. We expose them to Christ and to God's word, we put them in the community of other believers, and then eventually...don't they just choose to follow Him?" Spiritual Parenting by Michelle Anthony

Is that what you are doing in your household? You can not let this be your only witness to your child(ren). As parents, you must actively teach your child about Christ. Their salvation is to important to merely leave to change that eventually they will choose to follow Jesus.

Thankfulness Activities

Group has a whole page of really awesome Thanksgiving/thankfulness inspired activities. There are crafts, games, snacks, music videos, and even free songs to download. Check it out!

http://group.com/groupmusic

Ministering to Babies

Ministry to Babies and Toddlers You can support infants and toddlers' spiritual growth using these tips.

• Read to little ones about God and Jesus. Simple Bibles for toddlers such as board books about God's creation, animals, and family are great choices.
• Talk often about God and Jesus.
• Tell children constantly that Jesus loves them.
• Use teachable moments to highlight spiritual truths.
• As children learn to talk, help instill words of our faith such as God, Jesus, Bible, and pray in their vocabulary.
• Include infants and toddlers in spiritual activities such as worship and prayer.
• Know that infants and toddlers really do learn at church.
• Invite little ones to special worship occasions such as Christmas Eve.
• Encourage parents to have their youngest children present during prayer times at home.
• Pray with infants and toddlers. Explain that prayer is talking to God.
• Make prayer a part of the routine in your classroom.
• Remember that children discover God from infancy. Paul wrote to Timothy "from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures" (2 Timothy 3:15).


* From childrensministry.com