Friday 12/17 - The Wise Men See Jesus

We're wrapping up our last AfterSchool day before Christmas by talking about the wise men!  They saw a star they thought was odd, so they looked it up what the prophets had written.  They realized it was a sign that the Messiah had been born!  They immediately packed up and went to find King Herod.  He wasn't very happy about the idea of a Messiah being born because he didn't want anyone to threaten his throne (he didn't quite understand who Jesus was and why Jesus was coming to earth).  King Herod told the wise men that the Messiah should be in Bethlehem and told them to report back after they found Jesus.  The wise men went to Bethlehem and, sure enough, there was Jesus!  They worshipped him and brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  They realized this was a child worthy of royal gifts.  After they left, an angel warned them not to return to Herod because he only wanted to kill Jesus.  So, they returned another way.

Read it in the Bible in:  Matthew 2:1-12
Dinner conversation starter:  What gift would you have taken Jesus?

Thursday 12/16 - Simeon Meets Jesus

In my opinion, one of the sweetest Christmas stories is the one we're talking about today.  In Jerusalem, there was an old man named Simeon who had faithfully served God in the temple for his entire life.  For years, he had prayed for the Messiah to come, and the Holy Spirit had told him that he would live to see the Messiah.   Although Simeon never knew when this would happen, his trust in God had never wavered.  On this special day, when Jesus was 8 days old, Mary and Joseph took him to the temple.  Simeon saw him and immediately knew it was the Messiah!  He had waited so long!  He had trusted God, and God had kept His promise.  Luke 2:28-32 (NIV 2010 translation) tells us Simeon's sweet prayer:

"Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:  

'Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,

you may now dismiss your servant in peace.

For my eyes have seen your salvation,

which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

and the glory of your people Israel."

Also at the temple was a very old prophetess named Anna.  She also had been waiting for the Messiah.  When she saw Jesus, she thanked God and told everyone there about the Messiah.

Read it in the Bible in:  Luke 2:22-32
Dinner conversation starter:  Why do you think Simeon was so excited to see Jesus?

It's amazing to read how excited everyone was to see Jesus!  Sometimes, we hear this story so much that we forget how exciting it is.  Let us know how this conversation goes!

Wednesday 12/15- The Shepherds See Jesus

Of all people for the angels to tell about the birth of Jesus, who would've thought they would go straight to a group of shepherds?!  But that's exactly what happened!  The shepherds were in the middle of watching their sheep during the night when, suddenly, a group of angels appeared and told them that Jesus had been born.  The shepherds had never been more terrified!  But the angels told them not to be afraid and to go find Jesus in Bethlehem.  As soon as the angels left, the shepherds went straight there.  They wanted to see this for themselves!  When they arrived at the stable, they saw Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.  The shepherds knew Jesus was a very special baby, and they worshipped him.  When they left, they were so excited that they told everyone they saw about Jesus!  They just couldn't keep this good news to themselves!

Read it in the Bible in:  Luke 2:8-20
Dinner conversation starter:  How would you feel if you had gotten to see baby Jesus?

We hope this is an exciting conversation for your family.  Let us know how you would feel if you had gotten to see Jesus!

Tuesday 12/14 - Jesus is Born!

Today, we celebrated Jesus' birth!  Mary and Joseph had to make the long trip to Bethlehem because Caesar Augustus (the ruler) wanted to do a census.  Since Joseph's hometown was Bethlehem, that's where they had to go.  No doubt Mary was uncomfortable riding a donkey on a long trip when she was so close to having a baby, but the good news is that they made it safely to Bethlehem!  Mary and Joseph searched and searched for a room but couldn't find one anywhere!  There were so many people in Bethlehem that every inn was full!  But one innkeeper had room in his stable.  It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.  It's a good thing Mary and Joseph stayed in the stable because Jesus was born that night!  Mary and Joseph loved him from the moment they saw him.  What a special night!  The Savior has been born!

Read it in the Bible in:  Luke 2:1-7
Dinner conversation starter:  How do you think the stable smelled?

Let us know how your conversations go!

Monday 12/13 - Elizabeth Has a Baby!

Today, we found out that Elizabeth did indeed have her baby!  Up until this point, Zechariah hadn't been able to talk at all.  The angel Gabriel caused him not to be able to talk because he hadn't believed Gabriel's original message that Elizabeth would have a baby.  When the family asked Elizabeth what the child's name would be, she said, "John."  They were surprised because that wasn't a name already in their family.  But Zechariah got a tablet and wrote, "He is to be called John."  As soon as he wrote that, he suddenly was able to speak again!  He learned a valuable lesson about trusting God.  With God, nothing is impossible!

Read this story in the Bible in:  Luke 1:57-66
Dinner conversation starter:  Why do you think it is important to obey (and trust) God?

Why do you think it's important to obey and trust God?  Let us know what you think!

Friday 12/10 Family Time: Mary & Elizabeth Praise God!

Today, we're talking about Mary and Elizabeth!  After Gabriel told Mary she would give birth to Jesus, she went straight to see her cousin Elizabeth.  Gabriel had also told Elizabeth the she would have a baby, so Mary spent some time with her.  As soon as Elizabeth saw Mary, she broke out into song!  The Holy Spirit told her that Mary was going to have a very special baby.  Mary and Elizabeth spent a couple of months together, encouraging each others.  It's wonderful to have friends you can rely on, isn't it!

Since it's Friday, we hope you'll take some time this weekend to read this story from the Bible and talk with your children about the Christmas story and how special it is to us.

Read it in the Bible:   Luke 1:39-56
Dinnertime Conversation Starter:   Mary and Elizabeth both had songs to sing about their great news.  What is your favorite Christmas song?  (Maybe you can sing it as a family!)

What Christmas songs did your family list as their favorite?  Let us know!

Family Activity Time: Gabriel Visits Mary

Today in our Bible Story time, your kids are learning about Gabriel visiting Mary and telling her that she would give birth to the Son of God!  Mary was afraid of the angel at first, but he told her she didn't need to be afraid.  He had wonderful news for her!  Mary had followed God faithfully for her whole life, so God had a special mission for her.  She would be Jesus' mother!

Through next Friday, we will keep learning more and more of the Christmas story!  We hope that this Christmas will be very special for you and your family.  To help with that, we have put together a Christmas 2010 Family Calendar!  It tells you where you can read the day's Bible story in the Bible, suggests conversation starters you can use over dinner, and includes some activity ideas for Christmas week!

Read today's Bible story in:  Luke 1:26-38
Dinnertime Question:  How can you trust God like Mary did?


We'd love to hear how this goes for your family!  Your kids always have great (and very cute) answers for Bible questions!

Wrapping Shoe Boxes

This month, we're really focusing on our Operation Christmas Child initiative!  For more information about this ministry, check out the Samaritan's Purse website.  To participate, you pack a shoebox or plastic container with toys; and Samaritan's Purse distributes them to children around the world.  Our goal is 40 shoe boxes!

Now, you may find, as we did, that one of the more challenging aspects of this project is wrapping your shoe box.  One of our counselors, Mary, came up with a great (and easy) way to wrap a shoebox!  She helped Colleen wrap her shoe box today, so we thought we'd share with you how to do it!  Here's how to do the shoe box lid, and you can wrap the rest of the box similarly.

First, line the lid up within a piece of wrapping paper, and cut 4 diagonal slits that point toward the 4 corners of the lid.  Starting with the shorter ends of the lid, fold the paper over the lid; and tape.  (As you start to fold, you may need to cut the slit closer to the lid so that it folds over properly.)

Here's a side shot of one end of the lid so you can see how close the slits come to the corner and to see how it's taped.

After the first end is finished, wrap the opposite end of the lid the same way.  Then start on the sides!  Trim the paper so that it folds over the side of the box and leaves enough for you to tape the paper on the center portion of the box.

 

And here's the finished product!

Easy wrapping makes for happy ladies! 

We hope this makes it easy for you to wrap your shoe boxes or containers for Operation Christmas Child!

Fall Festival Posters

Our Family Fall Festival is tomorrow!  Since we needed to make signs for the event, it was the perfect opportunity for the Camp kids to help.  They are really creative and had a lot of fun decorating.  Here is one of the posters.

Isn't it cute!  It will definitely add some festivity to the festival!  Here is how we did the posters.  First, we (the adults) did some preparation.

1) Buy sheets of white posterboard.  We found ours at Target.
2) Decide on letters.  For the "FALL FESTIVAL" letters, we printed them out using Microsoft Word so we could choose a good font and make the letters big.  Then, we cut them out.  The red letters came from a bulletin board set.  For the black & orange headings on the other signs, we used stencils and markers.  Then, we used red paint for everything else on those signs.
3) Glue the letters to the posterboard.  I used a glue stick on the letters and then went back with regular Elmer's glue to touch up any edges that didn't adhere the first time.  (The one thing I learned about this is that the ink from the printed letters will rub off onto the posterboard if you get glue on your fingers, which I did a lot.  So, you may want to have a damp tissue handy!)
4) Print out pumpkins and leaves.  We searched for images and then printed them out, making sure we had a variety of sizes.  We printed the pumpkins on orange paper for the younger kids to color.  We chose white paper for the leaves so the older kids could decide what color they wanted them to be.
5) Let everything dry overnight.

Now, it's time for the kids to decorate!  About 12 of the Camp kids wanted to decorate.  Some of them were younger (K-2 grades), and some were older (3-5 grades); so it was perfect!

1) Pass out sheets of pumpkins to the younger kids and leaves to the older kids.  We gave the younger kids crayons and the older kids markers to use while decorating.  We also passed out kid-friendly scissors to each child.
2) Let the kids decorate as many items as they would like, using their imaginations and creativity.  Once everything was colored, the younger kids went back to their groups to play while the older kids stayed to do some special decorating.
3) Pick a few colors of paint, and pour onto a plate.  (We used orange, blue, and red paint.)  Use foam stamps to stamp images onto the posters.  (We found a set of these stamps in the craft section at a store.  You could also use stickers or stencils if you wanted.)
4) Glue the kids' decorated pumpkins and leaves to the posterboard.  (You could let the kids help with this step too.  One of our kids was especially skilled at picking good spots for the artwork.)

Here's how everything looks!

We used most of the stamps on this poster.  Some of them turned out well, while some are hard to recognize.  It seemed to help if you blotted the stamp to remove excess paint before using it on the posterboard.

The kids did great!  I'm sure they'll be excited to see their artwork when we hang the signs tomorrow.  I think it is so important to find ways for kids to be involved in events like this.  It makes them feel important and gives them a way to participate.  Plus, they get to put their minds to work in creative ways.

Do you have any Fall Festival decoration ideas?  Do you have ideas of other ways to get kids involved? Let us know!

Church + Family: The Perfect Duo

Last night, I watched my youngest brother sing with his children's choir at church.  I was pretty surprised at the size of the choirs.  His children's choir is made up of older elementary students, and over 50 of them sang last night!  Even more surprising was that there were more than 100 students in the youth choir!  A lot of the kids had parents in the audience encouraging their involvement in church and in the choir.

Scott Linscott posted a blog (you can read the whole post here), talking about how important it is for parents/guardians to encourage their children's faith.  He says, "There are no guarantees that your children will follow Christ even if you have a vibrant, purposeful relationship with Him. But, on the other hand, if we, as parents do not do all we can to help our children develop meaningful relationships in Jesus, we miss a major opportunity to lead them and show them the path worth walking."


As parents, you have a unique opportunity to influence your child in ways that no one else can.  By you valuing faith and church, you teach your children to value them as well.  Children take special notice of their parents' words and actions.  Even though I grew up in church and have quite a number of Sunday School teachers and other adults to look up to, some of my biggest spiritual lessons were taught to me by my parents.  They led us in family devotions every evening where we read the Bible and prayed together, and we made church a priority in our busy schedules.  My dad taught Sunday School for years, and I remember him sitting at his desk at our house each week and preparing his lessons.  My parents modeled to me that my relationship with God was important and that I should prioritize church and other activities that would grow my faith.  


In the midst of your crazily hectic schedules, please remember the amount of influence you have on your children and on how much they will make God and church a priority.  It's not enough to rely on others to teach these lessons to your children - it has to be done by you.  


If you aren't already, spend a few minutes before bedtime reading a Bible story as a family.  If you're new to the Bible, ask your kids for help choosing a story - they learn lots of them here at Camp!  And, as much as you can, attend church as a family; and praise your children for their involvement in church activities.  


What other suggestions do you have?  How do you teach your kids that God and church are important?  What family activities do you have that encourage your children's faith?

Camp Wieuca Enters the Blog Universe!

One of our goals this year has been to find more ways to connect with our AfterSchool and Summer Camp families.  Technology certainly seems to be a great way to do this.  Our hope is that this blog provides a way for families to feel connected to each other and to their children.

We have a lot of ideas about what to include in this blog, from parenting tips to family Bible time ideas to family activities.  We are excited to connect with you and get to know you better!

So, what ideas do you have about our blog?  What topics would you like us to address?