Summer Fun: Jello Fight

We're on vacation this week, so I'm re-running some of my favorite posts from the last year. Enjoy some of my favorite ideas, and I'll be back with you on Monday.

We are currently on vacation with my extended family. For the first time, all the kids are sleeping together in one room. We have six kids ranging in age from nine to two. Of course, lots of talking and giggling ensue after everyone gets in bed. The other night, we went in and told them to be quiet. We had to go back several times to persuade the kids to be quiet. The next morning, my youngest daughter explained to me that it wasn't her fault that the kids were talking and got in trouble because the other kids in the room made her talk. We had a long discussion about being responsible for your own actions, but that reminded me so much of the way all of us look at sin. We all want to blame someone else for making us sin.

The truth is everyone sins, and that's an important concept for our kids to understand. If we didn't need someone to wipe away our sins, then Jesus didn't need to die on the cross, and we wouldn't need God. If we could just pass the blame and the consequences off on someone or something else, there would be no need for grace. These are big concepts that might be tough for your kids to wrap their brains around. One great way to point out how sin can dirty up our lives and only God can wipe it away is to have a Jello fight.

I'm sure some of you are thinking "Is she crazy?" Well, probably, but I guarantee they won't forget the fight or the lesson behind it, so let go of your reservations, find some old clothes and let the kids have a great time and learn something in the process.

Dress your kids in old clothes and make up a big batch of Jello. Give each child a different color of Jello to throw. Take them out in the yard and let them throw Jello at each other until they run out. They will be covered in it when they are done. The thing about Jello is that it's sticky and hard to get off of you and your clothes.

Explain to your kids that sin is kind of like Jello. It sticks to us and covers us up. It separates us from God, just like the Jello separates them from other people, because who is going to let a Jello-covered kid into their house? No one would probably take a hug from a kid who's just been in a Jello fight. God can't get close to us when we're covered in sin.

Now, turn on the hose and hose your kids down until all the Jello is off their skin and hair. Explain to them that Jesus's death and resurrection allow God to wipe away our sin, just like the water from the hose wipes away the Jello. God offers to wipe away our sin for free, just like you didn't charge your kids for the water to clean up. All we have to do is recognize that we are sinners and ask for forgiveness, and God separates our sin from us.

Here are some great verses to use while talking to your kids:

• Psalm 51:7 -- Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
• John 3:16 -- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
• Romans 6:23 -- For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
• Romans 3:23 -- For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

 When you've finished your Jello fight, take your clean kids inside for a Jello snack. I promise, they'll love it.

Memory Monday: Finding Your Compass (1 Peter 4:11)

We're on vacation this week, so I'm re-running some of my favorite posts from the last year. Enjoy some of my favorite ideas, and I'll be back with you on Monday.



I spent a wonderful hour with my oldest daughter last night. Her sister and her dad had gone to hockey practice, so it was just the two of us. She decided she wanted to work on a jigsaw puzzle. As we sat on the floor sorting the pieces, we started talking about whatever was on her mind. The conversation turned to how some of the girls in her class have changed since the end of the last school year. We had a neat conversation about how hard it is for some of the kids to be confident in who they are.


I don't think it's just fourth graders that struggle with being confident in who God made them to be. I know adults struggle with it, too. The root of all that struggle is that we don't know our purpose. Our purpose serves as a compass -- it points us in the direction we want to go. If you're unsure of your purpose, you end like a fourth-grade girl struggling to find her way. You might try all sorts of different things and go in all sorts of directions, never finding contentment and joy.

As children of God, we have one purpose in this life -- to bring glory to God. This week's verse 1 Peter 4:11 says "If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. "

No matter what you do, you should do it with an eye toward bringing glory to God. Our goal is to have people see God's love through us, which brings glory to Him. When we know our purpose, it's much easier to navigate our way along life's path without getting stuck in the brambles or distracted by the things along the way.

Illustrate this concept to your kids by sending them out in the yard to find something you have hidden. Once they find it, give them a compass. Explain how the compass works, then give them directions to find something else you have hidden using the compass. Talk about how much easier it was to find the thing when they had the directions and the compass. Explain that knowing God's purpose for our lives is like the compass. It keeps us on the right path, headed toward the goal of glorifying God.

As you learn this verse this week, keep your purpose in mind no matter what task you are doing.

Accepting "No" for an Answer

My oldest daughter's birthday is coming up next week. We asked her what she wanted, and she said "Nothing."

How unusual is that? My almost 10-year-old daughter wants nothing. I thought, "Either we've spoiled her to the extreme or she's simply learning to be content." Ah, but that was not the case. A little bit later, she informed us that it wasn't that she didn't want anything, she just didn't want anything that she knew we would give her.

You see, our daughter is deprived. We won't buy her a cell phone, a TV for her room or her own computer. She's so accident-prone that we refuse to buy her a skateboard. (We're afraid the skateboard would become very expensive once you add in all the emergency room visits.) We also said no to an iPad or an iPod touch.

When you're 10, it's hard to understand why mom and dad won't go along with what "all the other parents" are doing. And, 10-year-olds often don't care what the reason is behind  mom and dad's "no." They simply want what they want. I find many kids live in an attitude of discontent because they can't have exactly what they want.

Yet, are we any different from our kids? So often, we ask God for something and get upset when He doesn't deliver exactly what we want. We're not interested in God's reasons for not giving us what we asked for. Sometimes we lash out at God because we can't see how what is happening fits into His plan for good. Sometimes we simply don't want to go the direction God wants us to go.

Yet, how often I've found that that thing that I asked for would have kept me from an even greater blessing that God had for me. I would have missed out on knowing God's grace and strength if He had fulfilled my request.

The Bible tells us to pray about everything. Philippians 4:6 says "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." God wants to know the desires of our heart, but He also knows what is best for us. He sees the whole picture while we see only a small piece. God wants us to grow and rely on Him for guidance and strength.

Even when He doesn't give us what we want, we need to recognize that He gives us what is best.

The next time your child expresses disappointment because God answered their request with a "no," remind them that sometimes God has an even better thing in mind than the one for which we asked. Remind your child of a time that you said no to something in order to protect him from harm or so you could give him something else that was better. Explain that God does the same thing with our requests.

Help your kids stay focused on the fact that God loves them and wants what is best for them -- even when He says "no" to our requests.

Even the Professionals Fall Down

As most of you know, my youngest daughter plays ice hockey. She doesn't just play ice hockey, she's passionate about all things hockey. If there's a game on TV, we watch it. If there's a stick and a tennis ball available, we play it. If there's an opportunity to strap on skates, she takes it.

The Stanley Cup playoffs are going on right now. Just about every night for the past month, we've watched at least some part of a hockey game. This is the first year I've watched hockey on TV from the vantage point of being a hockey mom. I know a whole lot more about the game and about how hard it really is to play.

Those guys in the NHL make it look easy, but if you've ever watched a hockey game, you'll notice that even the guys in the NHL fall down sometimes. When you're chasing a small piece of frozen rubber while skating on a sheet of ice, even the professionals can fall down.

Did you know that one of the first things they teach kids in learn-to-skate classes is how to fall down and how to get back up? When you're learning to play hockey, it's inevitable that you will fall down. Knowing how to get back up puts you back in the game faster.

Life is a lot like a hockey game. I don't know anyone who doesn't fall down on occasion. We fail at something at which we really wanted to succeed. We make a mistake in dealing with our kids. We miss an opportunity that God gave us to share His love and compassion with someone.

Our kids fall down, too. They fight with their siblings. They say the wrong thing to a friend. They don't make the cut to make the team or the school play. They are disrespectful to mom and dad.

All of these scenarios lead to pain and disappointment in varying degrees. But, if we learn and we teach our kids how to get back up and get back in the game, we are much more useful to God than if we wallow in our mistakes and failures.

God doesn't remember our mistakes and failures. Psalm 103:12 says "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." And Paul reminds us not to dwell on our past mistakes in Philippians 3:13-14 when he says "But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Getting back up and into the game isn't always easy. When you fall down hard, when you fail at something, it would be so much easier to just give up and walk away. But, God has a plan for your life and your children's lives, so it's important to know how to get back in the game and let God use you and what you've learned from your failures to help you fill your role in His plan.

In hockey, they teach kids to pull their knees up underneath them, and then put one knee up and push themselves to a standing position and go hard to get back in the game. That's a pretty good model for getting back up in life, too. Rarely do we just hop back up, straight to our feet. Teach your kids these steps for getting past failure. Equate it getting up when we fall down. You can't go from laying down straight to your feet, but you can take steps to get yourself upright again.

• Get to your knees: When you fail, pray and ask God to forgive any sin that may have played a role in your failure. Ask Him to show you how to go forward.
• Get one foot under you: Take a step toward getting back into the game of life. Take another stab at whatever knocked you down or go in a different direction.
• Push to a standing position: In hockey, many kids will use their stick to push themselves all the way to their feet. Consider God to be your hockey stick. Lean on His strength and guidance to show you how to go on in the face of failure. Let Him fill you up with the strength you need to face the day and to show you which way to go from here.
• Get your feet under you and go full speed: God's got a plan for your life. He wants you to get back in the game as quickly as possible. He needs your heart fully engaged with Him. Only when you are seeking Him -- spending time with Him and asking for His guidance -- can you go full speed ahead in the game of life.

Falling down is part of life. Knowing how to get back up after we fall gets us back in the game so God can use us.

Summer Fun: The 39 Clues to You

Today is the first day of our summer vacation. It means a new schedule and a lot more time with my kids. It also means it's time to begin our summer "camp."

Many of you know that every summer, my girls and four of their friends gather in my kitchen to spend time having fun and learning about God. This summer, our little group is going to embark on the "39 Clues to You" adventure. Despite a doctor's visit for a severe ear infection in my youngest, which has caused us to rearrange the schedule a bit, we are going to get our adventure under way today.

Each week, I'll be sharing with you what we've done. And the great news is that this year, I'm writing up the curriculum as I go and hope to have it available to you in the fall, so you can use it with your own kids next summer.

I'm almost as excited as the girls. This summer's adventure focuses on the idea that God made every person unique so they can fill a spot in His plan. Every one of us is God's masterpiece -- the very best thing that He can make. Because of that, I want the girls to know that not only did God make them unique and special, but He made others to be unique and special, too. That means that we need to place value on others and treat them with the same care and respect that we would use with a Renoir painting.

Each week will focus on a different girl in our group. At the beginning of the day, the girls will receive six clues and they'll have to figure out which girl we are going to focus on that day. We'll learn to do something that she excels at. Eat some food that she enjoys. Read part of a book that she really likes and find out some of the things that she is passionate about.

At the end of the summer, we're going to have a challenge that will force all the girls to work together and use their specific talents to complete the challenge.

Today is our kick-off day. The girls will get three clues that focus on how each person is loved by and special to God. The answer to the clues is "You." After that, they will receive their T-shirts and their totes. While they decorate their totes, we'll talk about the plan for the summer.

After they decorate their totes, they will each have to choose from an assortment of snacks. Each girl will have to explain why she chooses the snack she does. We'll talk about how each person has different likes and dislikes and how that's important because it keeps us from all being the same. If we all only ate tomatoes, then it would be hard to feed all of us.

Our big project for the day will focus on Ephesians 2:10, which says "For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." We will look at pictures of art and architectural masterpieces and talk about how a masterpiece is the best that we can achieve.

We'll discuss how God says that we are His masterpiece, so we are the best thing that He can create. We'll also talk about how art masterpieces are treated -- with care and respect. We'll learn that God wants us to treat other people as if they are masterpieces -- with care and respect.

Each girl will get an artist's canvas, so she can create her own masterpiece with paint. We'll write Ephesians 2:10 on them. They will get to take them home and hang them in a place where they will remember that they are God's masterpiece.

As they leave, they will receive a challenge for the week that encourages them to treat their siblings as if their siblings are a masterpiece. When they come back next week, they'll need to know their memory verse and have written down one way that they treated their siblings like masterpieces to receive their prize.

I can't wait to see how God works in the hearts of these girls this summer. I just know that we're going to face August with a new respect for how God has created other people. And my prayer is that we'll have changed hearts in the way that we deal with others.

It's Our Anniversary

Today is Everyday Truth's anniversary. A year ago today, I started the Everyday Truth blog with this post. I was reluctant to start a blog and post my triumphs and failures in parenting for everyone to see. I was most worried about the pressure it would put on my kids. I didn't want people to expect them to be perfect children or me to be a perfect mom.

My prayer has always been that God would protect my girls from criticism and judgment rendered just because their mom writes about parenting. You've probably noticed that I don't use their names in the blog. I know it's more impersonal for you to read, but it gives my girls a layer of protection. However, my fears of critique and judgment have generally been unfounded. God has protected my girls from all hurtful comments and judgment.

Once I pushed past that fear and began writing, I discovered something. I love this little community. Those of you who read, comment, press the "Like" button on the Facebook page and send me emails are the reason I get up at 6 a.m., five mornings a week to write what God puts on my heart. You are a group of the most encouraging, thoughtful readers. I love hearing suggestions, triumphs and concerns from you.

In the past year, I've learned a lot about how to write a good blog, a little about search engine optimization and to ask my children before I post anything potentially embarrassing to them. But the most important thing I've learned is that if God asks you to do something, He's going to show up and help you do it.

On this day last year, when I finally said "OK, God, let's go," I made a commitment to God that I would show up in my recliner ready to write every morning if He would show up as well. I've missed a few mornings, but God has never missed one.

In Philippians 1:4-6, Paul said "In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." God's good work in us begins with our salvation, but it continues on in the way that we serve Him.

Sometimes God asks us to do something that pushes us outside our comfort zone. We may be hesitant to step out and begin, but God is faithful to walk every step of the road with us. He is faithful to complete the good work He began.

A year ago, I really didn't think I had much to say on the topic of raising kids. I mean, really, what do I know? My kids are only halfway to being raised. Yet, God wasn't impressed with that argument. He knows a lot about raising kids. All I have to do is listen to Him.

And every morning, He has shown up and given me something to say. I know that He will continue to do so.

So, this morning, if you have been touched by something that appeared in this blog in the past year, take a minute and thank God for His faithfulness in providing something to say each morning. And if you have used one or more of the ideas in the blog in the past year, comment here or on the Facebook page and let us know how it worked.

I look forward to spending another year sharing God's wisdom with you. Thank you for letting me be a part of your lives for the past year. I can't wait to see what God has in store in the next 250 blog posts. Thanks for sharing the adventure with me.

Memory Monday: Finding Refreshment (Isaiah 50:4)

If this weekend was any example of what the summer is going to be like, then I think it could be a long summer. My girls seemed to be constantly picking at each other and arguing over things. On Saturday, my oldest told me she didn't have anything to do. All I could think was "Summer hasn't even started yet, and they're bickering and bored."

It took me another 20 minutes to figure out that they weren't actually bored or argumentative. They were exhausted. You know that moment, when you look at your child and you realize you're trying to rationalize with a child who is incapable of rational thought at that moment? We had one of those this weekend.

The best response to a child who is irrational due to exhaustion is a nap -- no matter the age. Refreshing their bodies always makes a huge difference in their attitudes. After our irrational moment this weekend, I pulled my kids inside, sent the irrational one to the shower and strongly suggested she lay down. An hour later, she came to the dinner table refreshed and ready to deal with the world. She was even able to laugh at how irrational she had been.

Too often, we're no different than our kids. Exhaustion -- both in body and soul -- can make us irrational. Everything looks worse and more difficult when you're physically, mentally or emotionally exhausted. We don't make good decisions, and we often take out our frustrations on those nearest to us. I hate to admit that if I'm tired, you really don't want to be around me. I'm grumpy and , yes, often irrational.

Sometimes, I just need a nap. But, you know what? I hate taking naps. I feel like they are a waste of time. There are so many other things I could be doing with that time. Never mind that I feel better after I take one.

When we're weary of all that the world has thrown at us, God offers to give us rest and strength. Yet, too often, we try to deal with everything on our own. If we'd just stop and spend a few minutes with Him, God would fill us with the strength to sustain us through whatever comes our way. Isaiah 50:4 says "The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary."

God's word offers us strength in times when we are weak. It offers refreshment in moments when we don't think we can take another step. Yet, too often, we skip our time with God because there are other things that need to be done. We choose not to be refreshed by His word just like I often choose not to take a nap.

We need God's sustaining power, and the only way to get it is to spend time reading His word. As you memorize this verse this week, emphasize with your kids that God's word is like a nap. It refreshes us and gives us strength, especially in moments when we are tired and don't think we can take another step. God's word builds us up so we can face whatever comes our way.

Figure out how you're going to fit reading God's word into your day and help your kids find a time in their day to set aside to read God's word. If your children are small, find a time in the day when you read God's word together. Even the youngest children can be refreshed by hearing God's word. Make it a priority to find refreshment and sustenance in God's word every day.