Thanks, Camerons

A few weeks ago we had a special treat: the Camerons (minus Justin) came up to visit for a couple days. The story of how Jessica and I have become friends is pretty great: She grew up with Ellis until he was about fifteen, and then her family moved away. Ten years later, Ellis and I were living in NC and heard that Jessica and her husband were close by in Raleigh. 

We visited each other and went on hikes together until our family moved up here to VA. Then, last year, God paired Jessica and I together in discipleship program through Called to Obedience Ministries.  It's been a sweet experience growing in our faith together, and it was great getting to see Jessica in person. 

Our kids had a blast playing together. I am not sure I have met a human on this planet with a better tolerance for Mac's "close-up" style of relating than little Joel. It turns out that he has no personal space either, so he and Mac were in each other's faces non-stop. Joel also didn't mind Mac's rough play, which is something else I am not used too! 

Jessica's other son, Jobe, is the cutest little guy and so adventurous! All of the kids had a blast on the popular activity of our house: riding down the hill.

We also put the Aldi sprinkler to good use:

I came outside at one point after tending to Davey to find that the Cameron boys were enjoying Mac and Corrie's bikes. What were Mac and Corrie doing, I wondered? Oh, yes, playing in the dirt. Why is dirt the only toy they seem to play with?

Jobe absolutely loved Davey. He was always interacting with him and I think you can see that enjoyed holding Davey, too.

When it came time to get dinner ready, we put a video tape in the old TV downstairs and all of the kids snuggled up on the couch together. It was pretty cute seeing them all with their various blankees and stuffed animals of choice.

Another really great part of the visit, for me, was Jessica's godly influence on me as a mom. I came out to our living room after feeding Davey to see that Jessica was teaching the kids the Bible story about the Israelites and Jericho. They built a city wall with our foam blocks (complete with Rahab), and were preparing to march around the city with their musical instruments.

The scene was funny and sweet, but it also really impacted me. "Do you have your kids' CBS folders?"  Jessica asked me. We both happened to be involved with the same Bible study this past year, even though we attended it in different locations. I hadn't realized what a great resource God had placed right under my nose to be teaching Mac and Corrie about Him.

After the Cameron's left, I got to thinking. I remembered what an impact my last trip to NC had had on me. I realized I hadn't been very intentional in a long time about including God in our daily activities/life with the kids. Since that trip, I started talking about Jesus a lot to Mac and Corrie whenever a chance came for me to communicate who He is and the reality that He is here with us.

After Jessica left, I prayed again that God would help me to be intentional about teaching the kids. That's when an idea came to me: Snack Time Bible Study! I was thinking about those notebooks Jessica had directed me to, and it turns out there is a little, 5-minute lesson already prepared with a memory verse song and a coloring page!

The first day this idea came, I explained to Mac and Corrie what we were going to do and I shared the lesson while they ate their snacks. Afterwards they colored their pages and we put them up on the wall. "Would this last?" I wondered. Well, it's been a few weeks, and we are still going strong. I am loving it. I hope Mac and Corrie are, too. I just can't believe how good God has been by providing all of this for me to share with them.

Here the kids are making music to God like David did when he played his harp for King Saul. Even Davey had an instrument to play.

Each lesson the kids will have the funniest comments. The first lesson, entitled, "God Made the World and Everything in it," caused Mac to ask if we could please take a rocket ship ride to outer space so we could look at planet earth, which he said is his favorite planet. Corrie asked if she could go see Saturn.

The other funny thing about our Bible study is seeing how they color. Mac will hold one crayon in each hand and reenact the story by making the crayons talk to each other while they move around on the page. There is no attempt to actually "color" the pictures or stay in any lines. Corrie, on the other hand, will pick out little things on each page she wants to color. Maybe it's a mouth, or a nose, or hands, but it's never the whole scene. She gave Eve a really funny looking mustache.

Can you guess who colored each of these pages?

And one last comment about the Snack-Time Bible Study: What is it about king David? It seems like we end up coloring about everything I keep having to discipline Mac for doing. I am constantly on him for dumping things on Corrie's head (bathwater, dirt, etc.), and the other day our lesson was about Samuel dumping oil on David's head! Don't even get me started about throwing a rock at Goliath.