ABC Bible Verses

Week 4: D - "Do everything without complaining" Philippians 2:14
AH! This is one of my favorite weeks!! I especially love the way Will says, "wuhout tumpaining". I had to watch myself on this week, too! How easy it is to complain about the struggles around us?? We all go through it, we decide to upload a photo and what we expect will take us a couple of minutes takes up so much time that naptime is over before we know it!! What a great gift to give our children to take it all in stride, to hold our tongue before we complain and to face everything with the grace of Christ! I need more of this verse in my life! By this week, I've quit trying to stress where it's found (just letting them know it's in the Bible). They were starting to mix up all the numbers and books and I decided at their age, the important thing is that they get the VERSE! We will work on Books as they get a little older and chapters and verses after that (after all, the chapters and verses weren't put there by God anyway!)

Week 5: E - "Every good and perfect gift is from above" James 1:17
This week were packing up and heading for Pensacola to visit Jake's family there. Before we headed out, we downloaded a box template from Microsoft Works. Then I let the boys color a sheet of paper drawing whatever they liked! Miles has gotten very interested in drawing lately and can draw some spectacular people! This week, though, he was interested in drawing aliens, Santa Claus aliens, and space ships full of eyes. Will is still pretty much filling up the paper with color - he hardly leaves a speck of white! After they colored, we traced the templates and cut our paper (meaning, the boys cut and I tried to turn the paper quickly enough to catch the blades at just the right angle)!! Then they each got to use a glue stick and attach the sides of their little box! After that, I let them pick a prize and put it in the box. We talked about how every good thing comes to us from God; our friends and family, our food, our house, our car, our toys, our clothes, everything! My trip to India has had an indelible impact on the boys because in moments like this they frequently ask me if children in India have _____ (a house, a car, clothes, etc).

After we got our boxes set, we headed out to pick up Memomma and drive to Pensacola. On the way, we stopped at Bates House of Turkey (and if you have never eaten there it is a true "rest"aurant)! They had the perfect children's plate (some turkey, a pickle, carrot sticks, etc). As we finished up, Memomma and I were commenting that we needed to get a dessert. The waitress overheard us and said, "We actually closed a few minutes ago". It was disappointing but we got gathered up to leave. Before we could, the waitress arrived with two pieces of pie. She said, "The Manager said to give these to you". I burst out, "Every good and perfect gift is from above" .... what a precious teaching moment for the boys! He is constantly showering us with good gifts out of nowhere!

Miles hasn't quite gotten this verse, but I haven't corrected him because I like his version as well, "Every good and PEACEFUL gift is from above"!

Week 6: F - "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life" - John 3:16.
I wasn't sure how well we would do with a verse this long! Miles (realizing that prizes were involved as well as a desire to learn it before anyone else) mastered it within a couple of hours. I love the way he kept saying it, "whoever belives in Him will have ever-LIVING life" (isn't funny how they get the true meaning?)

Week 7: G - "God is love" 1 John 4:8
After last week's LOOONG verse, we were excited about this one! We had lots of conversations about how God loves us, how He shows us that love and how we can be loving like God!