A City Life For Me

I wrote this post on Friday, but I wasn’t ready to publish it yet.  While most years find us remembering this “Good Friday” as the day Jesus bore our sins at Calvary, prior to celebrating a glorious Resurrection Sunday, I was all set to enjoy this day, April 14, 2017, as a good Friday for another reason.  Today, at long last, we were to close on the house in the Bronx. Three years ago we began a life changing journey of deputation.  I admit, it wasn’t anything I had planned on doing (even as a missions major…I thought there must be a way out of it).  But it was good, and hard, and growing, and we crossed the finish line of that season of life on November 28, 2016, when we pulled into our temporary driveway after our last deputation trip.  Near the end of that process, we gave up a much-loved apartment in Brooklyn.  We moved into missions apartment in upstate New York, 2 long hours from my beloved Brooklyn, to save money on the rent.  It has been 19 ...

We’ve been learning “He Lives” in preparation for Easter!  I wanted to share the visualized file in case anyone else wanted to use it.  I was able to find a lot of sketch images for this song, so most of it can be colored or decorated by the kiddos.    PDF Printable File

One of my goals this year was to teach my kids a new hymn each month in our morning pledge and prayer time for school.  I want my kids to learn the rich doctrine in the good old hymns that the church has used for so long in corporate worship.  Through our travels we were in many kinds of churches.  Some were big and had lots of kids programs, and some we small and didn’t even have a nursery worker, much less a children’s program for every age group.  I also got the impression that many times in church we feel we have to have something to entertain the kids in every service, or some program or activity “on their level”.  After a couple of struggles in church with four, and then five kids, who didn’t want to sit still or be quiet while their daddy was preaching, we set out to teach our kids how to sit in church, and proper “etiquette” for the worship service.  The twins were very young, and Elaine and Nolan had never sat through church because they were alwa...

This week we began teaching the twins a memory verse in our family devotion time.  Maybe I just don't remember correctly...but I can't believe how well they are talking to do this at age 2 already!  Elaine could say several simple verses (5-10 words max) by closer to two and a half.  Liberty cracks me up with her hand motions and her prodding of Nehemiah!  It's been fun to watch them learn to pray recently also.  We can't ever have just one twin pray - they both have to pray.  They love to give an emphatic Amen!     

Nolan’s favorite song – and he is so cute with his hair cut! Twins during “Bible Time” Four in a row – waiting for Mommy to make lunch!  {Good thing I can’t post sound effects!} They were all in the pack n play trying to help the babies be happy while I made supper. Nolan LOVES puzzles!

Last year I came across something called the Jesse Tree Project as a form of advent/Christmas devotions.  I think it is basically what my mom did with us several years, but it wasn’t called that.  I knew my kiddos weren’t ready for it last year, but Elaine has been understanding & retaining so much of her church & Bible Time {morning devotions} lessons that I wanted to try it this year. The idea behind this comes from Isaiah 11:1 – that Messiah will be a rod of the stem of Jesse.  We started with Creation and will explore the Fall, the major patriarchs, and some of the prophecies leading up to the Incarnation of Christ born in the manger in Bethlehem.  As I googled different Jesse Tree reading plans I found that many of them were Catholic.  Some go for more than 24 days.  The version I chose is simplified, and we read the stories from our children’s Bible in order to keep it understandable for Elaine & Nolan. I purchased my set of figures...

The Lord gave us a unique opportunity this week.  My dad secured a job for him and Ben to do a roof on a church in Eugene, Oregon.  Now, going from New York City to Oregon is a long way.  And this roof is the biggest that my dad has ever done (and he has done quite a few ).  And Ben hasn’t really ever roofed before.  And they were going to do it in just a week. That’s all great – but what was I going to do by myself, with four kids, for a week?!?  Have a nervous breakdown, probably!  But the roofing job was paying enough that we could afford to fly the whole family to Denver.  The kids and I would stay with my mom while Dad and Ben continued on to Oregon.  This is a double blessing – a good job, and a trip “back home.”  I have been wanting to see my grandparents again, and to introduce the twins to them, but I didn’t know when it would ever be possible.  How could we afford four plane tickets?  And two or three days in the ca...

When Elaine was about 18 months old, I printed off some uber basic memory verses to teach her.  They were short, partial verses like, “Be ye kind” or “God is love.”  I put an icon or picture on each verse to help her learn by association and understand the verses better.  I think we had 8 or 10 verses to learn.  She did very well, and now I am using those verses with Nolan. But this summer Elaine was encouraged several times to learn longer verses.  She got to participate in our Summer Adventure Club at church, and she learned a verse each night (trying to win the grand prize for her age group).  I was impressed with how easily she learned the verses.  Then she learned all of Romans 6:23 for a friend’s VBS program.  She then quoted it to Grandma, Pastor, and her Sunday School teacher too.  And now each Sunday she wants to go to Sunday School and know her verse. For a while I have wanted to do ABC memory verses.  But all of the ones I...

Thanks to Pinterest and other creative Mommy blogs, I’m getting really good at “stealing” ideas to help me with my own kiddos.  Here are two things that we recently implemented which my kids love. :: A Motivator…a.k.a. The Bean Jar I read about this on My Home Tableau .  The idea is to motivate, recognize, and reward your kids for doing what is right.  So many times we focus on what they are not doing, on their disobedience.  It can get discouraging – for them as well as for me.  So rewarding my kids for doing what they are supposed to do – like sharing, picking up their toys, obeying right away, etc. helps me to focus on the positive. The great thing about a bean jar is that the rewards don’t cost a ton of money.   Each time I want to recognize what the kids did right, they get to add a bean to the jar.  When the jar is full, we will make a fun family outing.  Elaine wants to go ride the carousel and have ice cream, so that’s probably wha...

For a few weeks Elaine and I have been praying for two specific things that the kids needed for this winter.  God has been very faithful to provide for all of our needs.  Though we could have scraped together the money to go and buy these items new, we decided to pray about it, with Elaine , and see what God would do.  And, there’s no rush because winter is not upon us yet. Sometimes I forget to pray for these items, but Elaine reminds me.  Yesterday we had the first part of our answer to prayer. Nolan needed a winter coat.  I had gone through all of the hand-me-downs, but the coats we had were either pink or too big.  I even checked the thrift stores when I was visiting my in-laws.  Yesterday as I put some of the fall clothes into the kids’ dressers, and hung up some clean clothes in the closet, I spied a blue winter coat.  It was shoved way in the back.  I was sure it was the 3T coat, too big for Nolan…but I decided to check again. To ...

Linking up to The Gypsy Mama and Five Minute Friday today! Want to join our favorite free writing exercise of the week? It’s easy peasy: 1. Write for 5 minutes flat on the prompt with no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking. 2. Link back here and invite others to join in. 3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community. . The prompt is: Story… G o. Every day our lives are telling a story.  The story of self, or the story of Christ.  Just when I think I have this “Christian life” thing down pat , I find myself going back to the basics.  Learning again to depend on Christ.  Learning again to soak up His Words and make them my guide for living.  Learning again His Will for me. Some days I really depend on Him.  I can hear Him speaking His words thr...

I was planning to skip my Thankful Thursday post today.  But then I got this email from the mom of two of our Children’s Church kids.  And I changed my mind. I shared with you earlier this week how excited we were to have all of our students bring their Bibles.  I also encouraged the kids to read their Bible everyday, or to ask their parents to read with them if they can’t read by themselves.  This mom told me that both of her kids have come to her separately and asked to read their Bibles every day.  Her little boy {who is only 3, but sits very well in Children’s Church} said, “Mrs. Hamilton says if I read my Bible every day I will grow, grow, grow and I want to.”  Well…that was a BIG encouragement to me!  But it started me thinking…where did I learn to teach kids like this?  From my mom, of course.  And though I had some formal training through college courses, it was really just reinforcing what I had observed in my mom through the ye...

Ben and I have been teaching Children’s Church for just over a year now.  And last week…for the first time ever … EVERYONE brought their Bibles!  This is something we have been challenging the kids to do…but inevitably someone always forgets.  Ben wants the kids to understand that they need to bring their Bibles so that they can verify whether or not the Pastor or teacher is teaching correctly.  This is based on the principle in Acts 17:11 speaking of the Berean Christians.  “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” I wanted to do something special for the kids…but not just giving them candy.  Plus, we have two kids with allergies, so we have to be careful in the candy department.   I finally settled on bookmarks and Jell-O.  Okay, that probably sounds lame, but let’s take a closer look! I made these bookmarks ...

A while back I printed several Bible verses on half-sheet sized papers to teach Elaine.  For each verse I added a clip art picture to help her remember the verse…you know…because she can’t read yet!   I laminated the pages, and added two binder rings so it would function as a book.  As I come across other verses that she should learn, or that can be shortened to just a few words, we add to the book.  Elaine has been learning very well!  The pictures help her remember, but I am surprised at how well she knows the verses.  We turned on the video camera today so you could join us in our memory time.  She was a little mesmerized by the camera and didn’t do as well as she usually does, but I think you will still be impressed!

We made this a couple of weeks ago, but I never posted the pictures.  Inspired by Pinterest , and my friend Sarah , we colored rice to make an indoor “sandbox.” Similar to coloring eggs, use 1-2 Tbsp of vinegar and some food coloring.  My food coloring was the gel kind, so I shook it up in the vinegar until dissolved, before adding 1 1/2 cups of rice.  Then shake to coat the rice – we used a canning jar and plastic lid. Lay the rice out on a foil covered cookie sheet.  Bake at 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes (to dry the rice).  Then have fun!  We had neon rice in four colors. Elaine used her play dishes, empty spice bottles, and measuring cups to have fun! I also hid some small toys in the rice while Elaine was closing her eyes.  Then she had to dig through the rice to find the treasures.  We had too much fun, and she has asked to play with the rice on several occasions since!

I’m on a roll this week – finally doing some projects that I have pinned on Pinterest !  I captured this photo of Nolan that was inspired by a picture pose on Pinterest.  Yesterday Elaine and I made a fishing game, also from Pinterest.   We took old socks – ones that were too small, or had missing mates, and stuffed them to make fish.  In the toe of each sock is a heavy duty magnet.  We tied off the ends with ribbon, so that the ankle of the sock looks like a tail.  Then we had fun gluing buttons, wiggly eyes, bows, mustaches, and foam fins onto them.  And finally, we were able to go fishing using a dowel rod, string, and additional magnets.  Too much fun! I found the mustache in a jar of ribbons and bows that my Grams gave me.  I couldn’t resist putting it on our giant fish, and I think he is just too cute!    

Well…I started writing this on Thursday.  Now it’s Friday.  Such is life with two little ones. Today I am thankful for Elaine.  In a different sort of way.  Let me explain.  When I was in the teen group, my youth pastor preached a series called “Crowded to Christ.”  He used the lives of several Biblical characters to illustrate that sometimes God places people or circumstances in our lives just to “crowd” us to Himself.  The one example that I recall was Jacob.  His name means supplanter , yet he didn’t really face his deceptive ways until he came face to face with another deceiver – Laban.  When Jacob looked at Laban it was like looking in the mirror. God has been showing me some things about myself through Elaine.  The things she does…the attitudes she shows…that bother me the most, are the very things and attitudes that I find myself struggling with on a frequent basis.  I guess you might call them my besetting sins.  So...

Recently a friend gave us some paint chip samples to make an activity for Elaine to learn her colors.  We put it together last week.  Here is the original inspiration for this craft.   They did it to teach different shades of colors. I cut the paint samples to 2x3”, rounded the corners, and laminated them.  Then we cut a smaller square, about 1x1” and glued each one to a clothespin.  Not only does this teach color matching (and names), but it helps to develop motor skills!