Toothpaste Squeeze 

One way to ruin 'Super Family Bible Night' is to set my family a challenge and then have them achieving the seemingly impossible task!

We used:

• 1 tube of toothpaste 
• 1 plate 
• A Bible marked at Isaiah 9:6 
• A Bible marked Romans 10:13 

Family gathered around the table, squeezed out a big blob of toothpaste and set them a challenge: Do you think you can get all this toothpaste all back inside the tube?
I gave each family member a chance to try. Toby tried scooping it back in and then eating it. Lily wouldn't touch it, she didn't want sticky fingers. All the while Adam was concocting his own plan, and searching for a syringe. Sure enough when his turn came around he was able to get all of the toothpaste back into the tube. A seemingly impossible task he achieved in a few seconds. Grrr... that put a hiccup in my plans.

Adam puts toothpaste back into the tube

Is it possible to get all the toothpaste back inside?  The answer should be NO but tonight our answer was YES!!!

The analogy was supposed to go like this...The toothpaste is kind of like your words. Once something comes out of your mouth you can’t take it back. So if you don’t mean it, or you don’t plan to follow through with it, don’t say it. Every word you say should be as trustworthy as a promise.

Next to ask—Did God ever make promises?  (Yes, the Bible is full of promises) and can you name a promise that God made?   Lily shared her thoughts on God's promise for Australia, check out her video. Lily also shared a what she learnt in Kids church this week that God promises to throw our sins to the bottom of the ocean. Toby shared about the promise God made to Moses about freeing the Israelites from Pharaoh

God also promised that a Savior would be born.
Read Isaiah 9:6
This is talking about Jesus. God sent Jesus to be the
Savior of the world, for us to love and accept him as the big boss (using my kids language so they get it).
Read Romans 10:13
The best thing anyone can ever do with their mouth is to pray and give their lives to Jesus.

Tonight we used a great website for family devotions. http://threethirtyministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Week-8-Toothpaste-Squeeze.pdf 

Want more information on Bible engagement go to www.milktomeat.com.au

Would love to hear your comments on your family devotions.

Nahum & chicken pox

Well this last fortnight has certainly been challenging with both Toby & Lily having chicken pox. But we finally got the chance to have our "Super Family Bible Night". This week it was Lily's turn to lead and she chose the story of Nahum and his healing (her choice may have had something to do with her hating chicken pox).

Lily & Adam reading the story of Nahum together for us

Lily asked us why did we think God put this story in the Bible, we all had a chance of answering, I thought I'd be funny and say it's in the Bible because God thinks it's important to wash and clean ourselves 7 times every day  - the reply was blank faces, *sigh* "mum, don't be silly" - well I thought it was funny & some good practical elements too. hehe...

Then Lily shared her view. She thought it was in there because Elijah was God and Nahum is us, and sometimes God asks us to do funny things like wash ourselves 7 times. But we always need to listen and obey God - Profound for a 6yo!!

Lily had each of us draw the story in our own way but with strict instructions, we were NOT to copy anyones work. So off we went drawing away...

Lily drawing her Nahum artwork

Toby sharing his artwork with us

The artist, Adam, shares his picture - impressive

Lily finished with a simple prayer - which of course included a prayer for her chicken pox to be healed - bless her - poor thing. (I tried to secretly video her prayer but I got sprung - not so sneaky)

This week we also put up the Christmas tree and decorations. I can't believe how it's nearly Christmas already! What a year!

Love to hear your comments and thoughts on Family devotions.

Enjoy your week.

From our family to yours - blessings
xo

More information:
info@milktomeat.com.au
www.milktomeat.com.au

Saul does number two's

This week was Adam's turn to lead 'Super Family Bible Night' and it was acting night! And the story was Saul and David. Where David had the opportunity to kill king Saul when he went to relieve himself in a cave but decided not to and the apologised to Saul.

Of course Toby wanted to be king Saul, and opted to wear Santa's hat as a crown. Adam read the story (edited version) and we each played our part in the story - Toby especially liked the being allowed to make wee and poo noises while read the Bible.

The lesson we considered was how we can respond to others. King Saul wanted to kill David, and David had every opportunity to retaliate against Saul. Even David's friends encouraged him to kill Saul, but David chose differently. Sometimes people do things to us that we don't like - how do we respond (we even talked about the afternoon's sibling argument about Beados) and what we could have done differently. Great teaching point.

Gideon's 3 army men

Ok, so I'm a little behind on posting (or rather writing blogs) but we have been having a fun time with our 'Super Family Bible Night'. So here's a little update.

This week we looked at the story of Gideon from Judges 6-8. It was a little tricky to find 30,000 army men, so we worked with 30, then 10, then 3. And of course we used army men. The kids thought it would be impossible for Gideon's army of 3 to win over an army of 30, but to their amazement God's army won!

Great way to interact with this story with Toby's favorite toys - I always try to find ways to help the family engage with the story in a way that they will remember and understand.



This week we looked at how Israel separated into the 2 Kingdoms, the Northern & Southern Kingdoms. We decided to do a drawing timeline of the kings and when and why the kingdom separated. Toby & Lily love drawing so it was an easy idea for them to draw the different kings, and which king followed who (eg Saul, David, Solomon, Rehoboam). This idea helped us all get a bigger picture of God's overarching plan of redemption.

The learning point was about who we follow - when the people had good kings they were good and followed God, when the people had bad kings, they rebelled against God and did bad things. As a family we talked about what it means to follow good and bad people - and how to do good even when people are bad. Making good choices - even under peer pressure.

I knew this would be a big topic and challenge but getting everyone involved in the drawing and timeline was really helpful. Even a few days later Toby recites to me the kings and that Jonathon was David's best friend. Amazing!

Engaging God during holidays

God's beautiful creation

Even in the midst of holidays, there is opportunity for 'Super Family Bible Night' Recently we holidayed in Queensland with another family, and together we shared bible stories, fun, laughs, and experiencing God while on holidays.

We are blessed as a family to have another family who love God and encourage us to invest spiritually in our children. So it was a priveledge recently to go away on holidays with them.

On a number of nights we'd read bible stories as 2 families and share thoughts, insights & questions. One funny moment was around the story Jesus told about the man who built his house on the rock and another who built his house on the sand. The rain came down and washed the house on sand away. My friend asked the question, what can we learn from this story, and 3yo Joanie replies "Jesus wants me to learn how to swim". Classic! Even a 3yo was engaged in God's Word!

Around the walls of a nursing home

Tonight was Lily’s turn to lead ‘Super Family Bible Night’ and after last week’s episode of army men mime – I was a little concerned. Lily flicked through her bible and chose her story because she like the pictures, interesting because the story she chose was ‘A wall falls down – Jericho’.

This week was drama week,  Lily played the part of Joshua, Daddy & Toby the 2 men sent to check out Jericho, mummy was narrator/Rahab and whoever else was needed along the way. As we read the story we acted it out along the way – although Toby was quite disappointed that he was able to really hid in the roof like the 2 spies did in the story, and disappointed he had to settle for sitting on a table.

For those who don’t know we are currently house sitting a large nursing home, (for about 6 months so - with no residents) so you can imagine the fun and noise we had when it was time to walk (we ran) around the walls of Jericho. Firstly once every day (6 times), then 7 times on the 7th day. All the while shouting and playing our pretend instruments along the way. There are a lot of walls to run around in our mini city and we were exhausted by the end of it and collapsed on the ground to listen to the end of the story and pray.

This week was certainly a week to remember, we had a lot of fun and Lily especially loved being in charge and playing the part of Joshua. Mmm... think there may be a leader in the making there.

Blessings to you and your family!
For more information on bible engagement or Milk to Meat resources please go to http://www.milktomeat.com.au/

Daniel and the army men

This week was Toby’s turn to lead ‘Super Family Bible Night’ and he was desperate to use his new Toy Story Army Men, so regardless of what story he chose those men were going to play a major role.  So with army men set and ready we all sat down for the night and ready for the night to begin. Toby chose to create a ‘show’ for us – illustrating the story of Daniel and the Lion’s Den using a bucket and his army men. What was most interesting and intriguing was that he decided it was going to be a silent show, kind of a mime but using army men which have no facial expressions!

That created a challenge and Lily was totally confused because she had no idea what Toby was on about. I think Toby got the idea from a recent circus incursion at school which had the kids performing mime – however it should be noted that mime does not translate well when using mini army men. But he had fun and we all got to have a ‘turn’ playing out the story of Daniel and in more than one ‘turn’ the story changed and poor Daniel (army man) was eaten alive by the vicious lions (which were Might Beanz --- mmm they are very ferocious).

Summary – sometimes you just have to let the night go where the kids want to take it – they (eventually) got to understand the story and it’s importance but on the way there we had a lot of fun together and hopefully mime with army men won’t be an option again.

Blessings to you and your family.
For more information on bible engagement or Milk to Meat resources please go to http://www.milktomeat.com.au/

The Tower of Newspaper

Tonight was daddy’s turn to lead ‘Super Family Bible Night’ and what a fun night it was. Tonight began with a little competition, not a fair competition in my opinion but we were split into 2 teams of which Toby chose to go with daddy & Lily with mummy. We had newspaper & masking tape; we had to build the tallest tower that was able to stand on its own when the 5min timer went off. Now personally I thought we were going to lose this one – I know Adam’s played and won these game lots of times before with youth group kids, and his ability to make things stronger and stand easier meant I felt the girl’s team was starting from behind. So resolved that we would lose, sad I know. However what I didn’t take was that while Lily & I plodded along adding each piece to the tower as we went along – the other team where so fixated on making lots of pieces and making them strong that they totally ran out of time and so when the timer went off their tower wasn’t even close to standing – WOOHOOO!! Girls won!! And boy were we excited!!!

So after the excitement died down and we received our prize (a lolly J) we all sat down together to read the story of the Tower of Babel and how and why God confused the language of the people. We discussed what it means to make things and ourselves more important than God. Funnily this week Lily shared with us her ‘Love Chart’ which is the order of the things she loves, which I thought was quite fascinating.

Lily’s Love Chart

1.       God/Jesus

2.       Sheepy (sheepskin she’s had since birth)

3.       Mummy

4.       Toby

5.       Daddy (poor daddy)

Although the last 3 change daily depending on mood and how she’s interacted with that person on the day. But Sheepy is always at number 2.

Love to hear your stories and thoughts on how you involve your kids in bible stories. Share a comment below.

Of course afterwards we had a newspaper sword fight

More information on bible engagement or to purchase Milk to Meat go to www.milktomeat.com.au

Nought & crosses and 10 commandments

This week was Adam’s turn for Super Family Bible Night, we moved house this week so I’ve uploaded 2 weeks close together. So enjoy this one and also last week’s Samuel in a bunk bed.

Noughts & crosses

Adam started the night with a game of wooden noughts & crosses, the kids and I played against one another and then Adam played Toby. However, when Toby got 2 of his pieces in a row, Adam would change pieces and announce “I WON”, to which Toby would protest “NO you were circles and I was crosses and you just put down a circle, you didn’t win”. So they played again and Adam again put down one of Toby’s pieces, and announcing “I won”. “No” Lily and Toby shouted. “That’s not the rules”. Adam’s reply: “Who said? Who’s rules?” Lily: “That’s not the rules DAD, you can’t play like that. It’s not fair. You need to play the rules” Adam: “Who said?” Lily: extremely frustrated at this point not knowing the answer pulled out the big one “GOD SAID!”

Thankfully, Adam moved on before a brawl started and asked what would life be like with no rules, of which the kids answered “Cool. Amazing. Fun.” Until Adam asked what would soccer be like with no rules? What if someone took off with the ball or punched someone? Toby: “That wouldn’t be fun at all”. To Lily he asked what would ballet be like with no rules, if people could come into class and just dance whatever they liked and didn’t listen to the teacher. Lily: that wouldn’t be nice. Aaaah – point made!

Adam then read through the story of Moses receiving the 10 Commandments from God and what those commandments meant and what they mean to us today. To give us a framework to help us enjoy life instead of anyone being able to do whatever they want. They aren’t just a set of rules but how God wants us to live – to love God and to love others.

Summary: I was quite concerned early on in the night that Lily was going to reach over and soc her dad one for not playing the game by the rules but they certainly understood the point by the end of the night and I don’t think this is one Super family Bible Night they’ll forget.

It's not fair!!

For more ideas and resources on Bible Engagement or to buy Kylie’s ‘Milk to Meat’ book go to www.milktomeat.com.au

Samuel in a bunkbed

This week was my turn for Super Family Bible Night... well actually it was 2 weeks ago but we moved house and I didn’t get a chance to upload the last 2 weeks, so finally here it tis.

This week’s was based on the story of Eli & Samuel, we headed to the kids bedroom to use their bunk beds. I thought it’d be fun for them to swap beds for this drama – but unfortunately drama is what I got! Toby: “I don’t want to be in Lily’s bed – her bed’s pink!” Lily: “I don’t want to be here mum, I want to be in my bed, Toby’s bed stinks!” Mum: “Tough! Lily you’re Eli and you’re on the top bunk. Toby you’re Samuel and you’re on the bottom bunk! End of discussion!” Response: humf – sulk. This was not quite the start I’d planned for Super Family Bible Night, mmm.



Not happy Toby



I read out the story with dad playing the voice of God, and Toby and Lily quite reluctantly playing their part – that was until Lily got to tell Toby to “go back to bed” cause Samuel had woken Eli up 3 times (she enjoyed that part). I think in the end they enjoyed it, even if it was reluctant joy.

Afterwards we played a game of Chinese whispers – I started off and chose the tongue twister “Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers”, in reality I should have known better and that was way too much for a 5yo to handle, and it came back to me as “poo, poo, bum, bum”. The kids then wanted their turn but the saying didn’t get much better than “poo poo bum bum”. So it ended soon after that.

We did thankfully have some interesting conversations about it means to listen to God and different ways that we can hear from God, which the kids really got into. So was it a successful night – well they keep asking to play Chinese Whispers again – is that a success??? I’m not so sure!

Cheeky Chinese Whispers

An Ark made of clay

Well what a distressing week it's been. This week has seen massive floods in Queensland, NSW & Vic and bushfires in WA. It's been a week full of disturbing images on the tv which our kids were exposed to as well, when national disasters happen it's really hard to shelter your kids from such events and so we in the evenings we prayed with them about the people, the homes and stories they'd seen. But I think it is these terrible circumstances that led to Toby's choice of bible stories for this week's 'Super Family Bible Night' – Noah's Ark.



Toby reading bible story


Toby had prepared well this week, he spent the evening before reading the bible and thinking creatively about his topic. After reading for much longer than usual, he promptly said "Mum I need clay for Super Family Bible Night". Interesting I thought, what does clay have to do with Noah's Ark but I went along with it anyway and so we spent about 2hours the next day trying to find baking clay. Thankfully, we eventually found some (I wasn't looking forward to having to make baking clay to appease an 8yo).



And so the night began, Toby read the story of Noah's Ark, asked some questions and prayed. He then produced a well constructed plan of just what we were going to do next. He had drawn the Ark, with explanation of the type of roof, the door shape, the amount of animals and how it was to be created. I was astonished as the amount of detail we were going to have to create with CLAY!!! (Maybe he's got some architecture in him??)



Toby's in depth explanation of clay Ark making



And so the creativity began... well.... the boys were extremely creative and made fabulous Ark's and animals, on the other hand... Lily & I decided to work together and make something that at least resembled a boat. It was a fun night and we had clay everywhere. Toby had done a really great job of unpacking Noah's Ark and letting us all get involved in the night.



I think Adam might be impressed with his creation



Toby's ark



On another note, you can now sign up to receive this blog via email, just fill in your email in email subscribe box to the right and you'll never miss our 'Super Family Bible Night' blog J

Enjoy your family and God this week.

You can also check out our other blog on bible engagement - tips, tools, and resources here
http://milktomeat-journal-kyliebutler.blogspot.com/

3 sauce bottles in a furnace

This week's 'Super Family Bible Night' was one to remember – a bit of pantry and video fun!

Toby with his angry men



Angry men are stuck onto 2-min noodles



It was Adam's weeks and he had a draw faces: 3 happy men, 3 angry men, 1 little king, 1 big king and an angel – and we were all interested as to what he was going to get up too. Obviously from the pic above Toby chose to draw the 3 angry men. We were even more intrigued when Adam pulled out 3 packets of 2-minute noodles, 4 sauce bottles and 2 Milo containers. Just what did he have in store?



Milo statue and Milo king



Sauce in a firery furnace



Well this week we started with the kids seeing how loud they could make their armpits burp and ended with video posts done by Toby & Lily on the story which are hilarious but unfortunately I can't upload them because a certain little 5yo refused to wear pants.

Thankfully, we were able to convince her to do it again the next day, with pants, so we could show you.

However, Lily did give an interesting retelling of the story (so please remember this is a 5yo retelling). The re-enactment goes a little bit wrong towards the end. But check out Lily's video of Super Family Bible Night, based on the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (or as Lily calls it Shadrach, Bendigo and Indigo).

Enjoy God's Word with your family this week and we'd love to hear about it! Send us a comment or email on your experiences.