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TrueStory:Genesis

Jeremy
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Rachel South interned @ Hayward Wesleyan for a couple of months last summer. She had the opportunity to experience the end of our Main Street Sunday morning ministry in May, and then she “created” and crafted a curriculum for the students over the summer months. She ended up self-publishing her curriculum:

This past fall semester I took a class entitled “Curriculum Theory and Development.” In that class I had the opportunity to self-publish my curriculum book. I designed, wrote, illustrated, and self-published a book called “TrueStory: Genesis”. The description reads:

TrueStory Genesis focuses primarily on the idea of storytelling. It takes the stories of the Bible and enables the students to tell, retell, and tell again the story of the week. It encourages using different ways to tell the story and to help every learner feel accepted. This curriculum goes directly through the Bible and empowers children to be able to understand the stories and retell them. It will help them as they grow older and start asking the “big” questions. This curriculum includes the whole family and brings the “faith home.”

Click to view or purchase “TrueStory Genesis” @ Amazon.com

Read more about Rachel @ her blog: rootedsouth.blogspot.com

The F5 Key

Jeremy
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This is important for me; both as a parent and as a husband. Prior to both (marriage and kids), my life was ordered, controlled (for the most part) by me. I managed myself and my things. When I left my keys on the desk, I knew the keys would be there the next time I grabbed them. Same for dishes, nail clippers, tissue boxes, the apple slicer, and the TV remote control (all of these my wife will smile at!).

With the introduction of my life partner to my life back in 2004 and more recently my two daughters starting in 2007 and again in 2008, my “orderliness” and “control” has been rapidly eroding. I don’t know why I try so hard or care so much, but I do. I like to know things are not only are going to be where they are left, but also kept in good shape.

My wife will remember when I purchased the first digital camera for the children’s ministry @ Hayward Wesleyan that I wouldn’t let her touch it (because she held it wrong). I have come a long way since then…

…which is where the F5 key comes in:

During Thanksgiving we were spending the day with some friends of ours, and some other friends came over later. They have a 1 year-old that is learning to get around fairly well. We had brought our laptop on the holiday for the girls to watch a movie should the toys we brought run out of allure. While Sari was watching some Disney princess movie, our friends’ daughter pulled herself over to the glossy, moving picture screen (the laptop) and grabbed at the keyboard, pulling a few keys off the keyboard. No worries, right? They are easy to put back on. No harm done. I’ve let some things go. No worries. She ended up pulling a couple more off, but we maneuvered the computer away from her grabbing and things were good.

The next day, however, when I went to open the laptop to power it up for use, I noticed something was a little off: the F5 key was missing! We missed that one! Our friends’ daughter stuck one last grab and pull while none of us were looking, and now our laptop is missing a vital piece of inputting!

I remember thinking in that very moment: “this is okay… this is okay.” The F5 key is not that important anyway, and even if it was, “it’s okay.”

Now, not everything “is okay.” There are some things in life that are worth making sure are kept in good shape and out of the hands of children (or your spouse!), and it takes wisdom to determine those. However, an F5 key? Nope.

How often do we make BIG deals out of F5 keys?

I still do from time to time, you know, make a BIG deal of out little, insignificant things. But hopefully I’m learning (and my kids and my wife are extremely helpful) to let a lot of these kind of things go… like the F5 key.

Epilogue: I thought our F5 key was lost and we would just go on about our computing lives minus this particular input selector. However, as you can see by the picture above, it was kindly returned to us a month later by our hosts from Thanksgiving. Now our computer, along with the F5 key, are whole again!

The Birth of the King (video)

Jeremy
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I know I’m a few days late on this, but I just came across it and felt it worthy to share!

source YouTube

Samuel Anoints David as King

Jeremy
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Samuel Anoints David as King

Samuel, while a little afraid, heads to Jesse’s house in Bethlehem in search of the next King that the LORD God wants to anoint.

From the oldest, to the next six of seven sons, Samuel does not find the King God has chosen. However, little David is out in the fields with the sheep. He is brought in, God tells Samuel that this is the one, and Samuel anoints David.

Found in 1 Samuel 16:1-13

source Vimeo

Story of Jonathan (story & video)

Jeremy
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King Saul’s oldest son, Jonathan, was a man of courage and bravery… quite unlike his father! Here is a story about one of his exploits.

Found in 1 Samuel 13:23 – 14:52

Below are 2 videos: the first is from this past Sunday and the second is from 3 years ago when we did this story.

source Vimeo

VBS 2011 @ Hayward Wesleyan

Jeremy
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We are planning VBS (Vacation Bible School) for July 11-15, 2011 @ Hayward Wesleyan Church from 6:oo-8:3op (for preschool children potty-trained up through grade 5). Web landing page for future info: www.hwcyouth.org/vbs

For as long as I can remember we have used Group Publishing‘s curriculum for VBS. And while it has served us well over the years, I am ready for something different. I noticed it last year as I was planning for it. It was easy. I didn’t take much work. I knew the format and layout and expectations and ins and outs. And while this is typically a good thing, for me it is not. It lost it’s “allure” for me. It was predictable and boring.

If you’re not used to me (and how I manage things as a children’s pastor), I’m usually always writing, crafting and arranging my own stuff. I don’t trust curriculum companys to think for me, nor minister to Hayward Wesleyan’s children. Now I know you have to make curriculum your own and Group’s curriculum is just a shell, but for me I needed a change.

Typically we would just ALWAYS choose whatever “theme” and “content” Group had to offer. And with this year’s Group theme of “Pandamania: Where God is Wild About You” it helped me make an already easy decision even easier (I hope any church who uses this curriculum the best and hope it communicates the Word of God to children).

So with freedom of choice on my plate what are we planning on using this year? Inside Out and Upside Down on Main Street from Standard Publishing. Three things I like about this curriculum:

  1. It has to do with living the “Jesus-kind-of-way”, which is inside out and upside down.
    This is a topic which I talk and emphasize constantly with the children (and youth) @ Hayward Wesleyan: if you want to live “like Jesus” basically do the opposite of your natural human reaction (or intention) is and that opposite is usually the “Jesus-kind-of-way”. I’m intrigued to see how this is done with this VBS curriculum and excited to see not only the content, but also the effects after VBS.
  2. The theme compliments what our “environment” already is: Main Street!
    Again, for those of you unfamiliar with the children’s ministry @ Hayward Wesleyan, it is called Main Street on Sunday mornings. Over the last several years we have slowly tried to decorate and “theme” the “Main Street Hallway” and rooms. My (secondary) hope with this curriculum is to help propel us to complete some of our decor and leave this “temporary” theme, permanent.
  3. It’s different.
    Like I’ve already said, for me it’s going to be different and I am excited about that. Not only because it presents a new challenge, but I will have to redo our material and re-communicate and re-structure better. I think the way the flow works with this curriculum better fits our time frame and our expectations. I’m also excited to see how the volunteers and directors do with this new curriculum. They are always up for new challenges!

 

Look Like God?

Jeremy
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The other day I was disciplining Sari about something and I was talking with her about “why” we (her parents) discipline her. I said something like:

“We want you to grow up and be a girl who doesn’t hit people, a girl who is kind to other people and makes good choices. Basically we want you to grow to look like God, and Jesus helps us with that.”

While I’m saying that last bit, Sari’s forehead wrinkles and she says:

“Daddy, God is a boy. I don’t want to be a boy!”

Lightning Photographed by Superfast X-Ray Camera

Jeremy
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This is cool! This picture was taken by an “extremely” high speed x-ray camera (it captures 10 million frames per second… normally video cameras capture 30 frames or pictures per second). The researchers actually made the lightning bolt come to them at this location. Fascinating!

Read more…

Hallelujah Chorus | Quinhagak, Alaska (video)

Jeremy
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I received this in an email yesterday! It’s great!

Take a minute to check out this wonderful video our 5th graders put together for our Christmas Program. Jim Barthelman our 5th grade teacher who is the brain behind this is now kinda famous:) Seriously check it out it will make your day!
Merry Christmas!
Rachel

Parenting and Some Spray Paint (or Water)

Jeremy
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This picture is from PostSecret.com, where people, you know, post secrets. I got the idea for this post from Parents | Celebrate Your Kids.

As a parent myself, I wondered how I would have responded to seeing this on my garage floor initially. Would I praise and celebrate? (probably not) Would I scold and yell? (yep, more likely!)

This picture, however, makes me stop and think about what we as parents get mad and frustrated at, instead of looking beyond “the messes” and into the creativity and celebrating our children. I know it is much easier for me to “get on” to my daughters when they spill water on the floor while attempting to fill their water cup at the dispenser on the refrigerator… instead of praising their independence and ability to try and fail, try and succeed at performing basic human tasks, like getting water for oneself.

Maybe it’s perspective. One way parents look at these situations is that they are inconvenient, messy, and a teachable moment of what not to do. We get mad, scold, and tell them not to do that again. Another way to look at these situations are training for life. What if our children are not learning to not spill water, but rather “when I mess up, it is normal to get yelled at”? Don’t we want our children to learn that it is okay to mess up? And isn’t it our job as parents to help our children learn life’s basic (and later, complicated) tasks in an environment that is okay with them making mistakes to learn these things?

Thinking about these things helps me to parent with much more grace. It also reminds me of my ultimate job as a parent: to train these “little, dependent people” to be “big, independent people” someday.

A further side benefit? As a parent, I’m not as stressed then about some water on the floor (or spray paint on the garage floor).

Musical Christmas Lights (video)

Jeremy
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I get this video every year around this time, and I always like it! The creator of this light show does a great job!

Let’s Talk Parenting Taboos (TED video)

Jeremy
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TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. In general these talks “bring together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).”

Let’s Talk Parenting Taboos is talk by Rufus Griscom and Alisa Volkman co-founders of Babble.com that I found fascinating, true, humorous, educational, and freeing (as I imagine you will as well):

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