While we have many missionaries back home from around the world, we know the importance of teaching our children to stand firm in their faith right here in America.  Important lessons in life don’t always come from a text book, and they can be a lot of fun too.  With a little CREATIVITY and FUN you can teach your children vital truths for their future.

Recently we have had different families over for dinner on a few different nights.  Sean taught the kids a lesson on standing firm in your faith and what the shield of faith is all about.  He passed out shields to each kid, made of foam board and rope handles, and passed out soft foam balls to all the kids. It’s a simple game that ALL KIDS can play, no teams, no big rules or strategies, no big concepts to understand– just guard yourself with your shield and throw the ball at others when able.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN and LET YOUR SHIELD PROTECT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The pictures below are from different nights and different families, but the lesson was the same.  (Note: in one picture Sean is under “attack” from ALL the kids!!! THAT was hilarious!!! Thank you little Joshua for helping protect him with your shield!!)

What a great season we are in here in northern CT.  So many of our church missionaries are home for a long visits.  This is not typical, so we are trying to glean as much as possible from their life, stories, faith, wisdom and more.

We recently had Robert & Becky Cooley (their link is to the right on our blog).  They are missionaries with AIM in Lima, Peru.  Not too long ago the Cooley family was living here in CT just like everyone else.  When Robert, as an elder and father, went as a chaperone on a church mission trip.  After a few year had passed, they sold all they had and moved to Peru to build the church there.  Close to their arrival God used a huge natural disaster to open doors for their ministry.  A massive earthquake left many without homes.  The Cooley have used this trial in many lives as a wonderful opportunity for service, generosity, and showing the love of Christ to all people.

We had them over for dinner to share their story with our children.  They have come before and shared WHY they went to Peru, so this time they shared about the some of the hard trials they face in their ministry.  The struggles of helping to heal generational patterns that keep people from freedom in Christ.  They also shared about using everyday things (like STRING) to build connections with children and families.  They taught our kids about STRING FIGURES and how they use it in their ministry.  (there are many free downloads online for free tutorials on string figures to share the gospel)

Becky teaching the kids string figures.

Josiah worked hard to figure out the “Apache Door” which can be used to teach about Straight is the gate and narrow is the path principle with the importance of Decisiveness in life.

Sophie learned the “Broom” or “Crows foot” which can be inverted to a Palm Tree to teach  about Flexibility in trials

Robert showed the kids many photos of their ministry in Peru.  What the people are like and their needs. Some pictures of people who are part of THE WORLD RACE with AIM.

What a blessing to learn and grow some more, as well as build lasting friendships with friends around the world!!!

Recently we had the blessing of having our church missionary friends, Randy & Dianna Smyth, over for dinner.  They are back in the states for a while, but they usually reside in Papua New Guinea.  There Randy is a pilot for New Tribes Missions and Dianna helps run the radio and organize the coming and going of the airplane, shipments, and needs of the missionaries on the field.  They came and had dinner, shared the stories of what God is doing in the jungles of Papua New Guinea.  They shared their personal testimony of how God brought them together as a married couple and how important it is to wait for GOD’s timing in finding your forever mate. They taught our children about the long term committment it takes to bring the love of Christ and the message of Christ’s love just to one tribe.  Sometimes, though each place is different, it can take 7 to 10 years!  Yes YEARS before they even tell them about Jesus.  WOW.  They start by building relationships and learning the language.  Getting the language into written form, since most are oral, and then translating scripture into their native tongue.  Starting in Genesis, they work their way through the whole story of God’s great love, redemption and grace.  Beautiful.

The New Tribes Missions, that Randy and Dianna are a part of, also has a wonderful DVD documentary series written for children in mind.  It follows the everyday life of one missionary family that left the US and all they had, took their four young boys and moved across the world to Papua New Guinea.  The series is called Growing Up Wild

The link to see it is HERE: Growing Up Wild

Each summer we try to pick a theme or something fun and different we might not study during the typical months of the school year.  Last year we did Answers In Genesis apologetics class for kids, plus their Creatures that Defy Evolution series (found by clicking on the Answers in Genesis link above).

This year, we are using Growing Up Wild with our children as a fun, education, adventure for Jesus learning opportunity this summer.  Jungle living, snake battles, crossing gorges, climbing mountains, getting to your home by missionary plane and then helicopter, all while learning a foreign language, creating an alphabet for it, translating the bible and telling people about Jesus…… seriously, WHAT could be better???

We are blessed to share a beautiful property with our church since our church provided housing for pastoral staff.  In gratitude for the wonderful things that God puts in our lives, sometimes right in our own backyard, we share these pictures With a little creativity, resourcefulness, diligence, and family team work, we are going to have a bountiful harvest from 7 very large maple trees.  The first 24 hours we collected 7 gallons of sap!  Knowing that it takes about 40 gallons of sap to make just one gallon of syrup, we will harvest each day in high hopes to obtain 2 gallons of sweet maple syrup in the end!  LONG LIVE PANCAKES!!!

An activity that the WHOLE family can participate in.  Everyone got to drip a tap or two, hammer in the taps, and connect the tubes to the bucket.

 Jamie LOVED the power of the drill!! She was amazed to see the sap drip out right away.  Little Joanna wanted to help with everything (note the tongue sticking out for concentration )

Joel liked the drill and really wasn’t interested in the sap– power tools!!  Sarah INSISTED on pulling the cart with all the supplies.

Sophie was the hole inspector, she has a good eye for detail.  Jacob drilled holes once all the little ones had “moved on” to running in the grass

Our Sugaring Team!!!

Josiah found a lower jaw bone of a deer.  With a lot of Coyotes on the property, skull bones are found often.  Last month, while on a walk with Nauna & Nat, Josiah found a raccoon skull.

A roasting oven/crock (18 qt)– a busy mom’s way to cook down sap into maple syrup Works like a charm- holds a lot, cooks slow, no burning issues, no need to hover. Perfect.

 Look at that glassy surface…… a vision of goodness

Tune in soon for the end result

Check out midwife Sophie’s new blog entry (found on the right of our blog page under Shady Maple Farm).

We are overcomers!  The book of Revelation tells us that to him who overcomes there are incredible rewards waiting.  We resonate with this idea, not just in the church, but in our culture.  We love a story of an overcomer, and I have a great story of one for you.

A few weeks ago two of my boys were asking for something.  They really wanted this thing and mentioned it a couple of times.  I said to them, and included Sophie, that I would get it for them if they memorized the book of Titus.  Sophie, being so quick witted, said she didn’t want that thing so she wasn’t going to memorize Titus.  I made a different offer to her, and she said she still wouldn’t do it.  She was intimidated by the task.

Sophie has dyslexia.  It is a challenge for her to read, so memorizing that much is a huge challenge.  Jill and I encouraged her, told her she could use her Kindle, which reads to her.  We told her that we would help her and give her some tips on memorizing.  She began to get excited.  She began to believe  that she could do it.  She was on her way.  She also refused to use her Kindle because no one else was using one.

Today Sophie completed the task!  She not only memorized the book of Titus, but she also beat everyone, including me.  Sophie is beaming, knowing she overcame a huge obstacle to accomplish this task.  She is ready to move on to the next book.  An appetite has been created, and we intend to feed it!

I tell you this story not to brag about my daughter, but to encourage everyone in two things.  First, if you are looking at a seemingly insurmountable task, push on.  Sophie gave up before she even started this task.  After a little encouragement and the promise of a little help, she gave it a shot.  She found some success early and discovered that she was capable of doing something she was sure that she could not.  But she overcame!

Second, I tell you this story so that you too can be encouraged to memorize God’s word.  We don’t do this just for the sake of memorization, we do it to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:2)  and so that we hide God’s word in our hear that we might not sin against Him (Psalm 119:11).  I hear people all the time tell me that they can’t memorize.  People tell me that their mind just can’t do what it used to do.  I say those are excuses and you are to be an overcomer!