Route 52 book

OK, so the book that I switched to is called. Route 52 - A 52 week Bible Journey Just for Kids. It is more of a Sunday School teacher book. Don't panic I am not a teacher but I think it will work. It is broken down into 12 months with 4 lessons a month.

So I have done two weeks now out of this book. Here is how I am using this teachers guide to do our devotions each morning. Since we only have 10-12 minutes I take each Sunday's lesson and make it work for the whole week. It does take a bit more time so we are working on our morning time management but the kids really are liking it so far. Using each Sunday for the whole week makes it less stressful for me to do it too.

My kids are still young enough that worksheets and games are fun so it is working. So for example our theme this month is the Jesus Birth Helps me Worship and it talks about God keeping his promises. We have all month to learn the bible verse and if we get it they give you a second one you can learn. Each weeks lesson is broken down into sections so we just do a section each morning. The Bible Search is a section (I like this one because I get to teach them how to use their Bibles and looks stuff up in it), Bible story is one section (It is told out of the workbook about what it says in the Bible that we read the day before, for example our first story was told by Zechariah and his encounter with Gabriel, working on our verse with worksheets or games is a section, Then the last few days of the week if we have time we go over some questions they have in the book or finish our project for the week if there was one.

So far my kids are loving it. It does take some time on my part ahead of time to make sure I get the pages copied and just set up the week. But over all I am liking it a lot. The biggest downfall for me is that it does not say right in the workbook to pray after every section... so if we are rushed on time we sometimes have to pray in the car because I forgot. The little devotion books I did before had the prayer as part of the devotion and we just added our part to it.

We only have 8 more days of school so I will be switching over to our summer book and will post about it then. We will pick this book back up in time for the next chapter/month's theme.

Devotion Time with the kids...

As a working mom of two kids I find time management my biggest struggle. Time for the kids, the housework, the yard work, devotion time, time with my husband, my job, etc. There are days when it seems I have no time for any of that or such limite time. Devotion time for myself is very hard to find. It is not a habbit that I learned as a child, and it is one I struggle with daily as an adult. I love it when I do get that time alone with just God and myself. As my children have gotten old enough to read I felt that I needed to start devotion time with them so that they can learn it now before the pressures of others things press in and maybe they will not struggle as I did with the time factor for devotions.

It has taken us about two years to figure it out time wise. Summers are worse because we do not have as strict a schedule and we do not have just one sitter so every day in the week can be different. But during the school year we found the time and all three of us love the time we get to spend together and in God's word. We worked our morning routine so that we have about 18 minutes of free time between getting ready for work and school and getting on the bus. I admit that I have to really watch the clock and stay on them to get things done in that time frame but for the most part it works and when it does not they get upset we did not have time. But for the most part it works and we love it. We only wish that Daddy could be there with us. (He has to be at work before any of us get up.)

Finding something we can do in that short of time has also been a challange. For about a year we have been doing this series of books.. Little Book Devotions 31 Daily Devotionals published by Brighton Books. They are pretty neat. For 31 days you are on one topic, like sharing, kindess, forginess etc. Since we usually only do devotion time during the week it takes us over a month to do the whole book. I like the format, it is simple and you get kid tips and parent tips, bible verses to learn and a short prayer. It really helped me to get started since I had no clue how to do devotions with my kids. After we went through all the books I could find at my local Christian book store. I needed to do something new. My next post will be on one of the two new books we are going to try.

I just wanted to get out there the books I have been using and how much that the kids and I both love the time we get to spend together learning. There is just something about learning together and seeing them get it that gives me such joy!

Prayer Journal and stuff...

OK, still not sure where I am going but I did have the idea to get a Parent Prayer Journal so that I can keep track of things.

So here is how I am setting up my journal (which is just a spiral notebook left over from my kids school supplies)...

• I broke it down into four sections (as time goes on this might change), one for my daughter, one for my son, one for the other children and families that I will be praying for, and one for myself and the things God does in my life.


• I plan on each entry having a date, the request, and then space to leave for updates and answers to prayer.

Also along this journey I am going to try to share what we are doing with our kids, like what devotion books we use, our church stuff, our routines etc. Because I feel that there is not a lot of this out there for me. I will also try to post encouraging things that come across, or books that I think have been helpful. I certainly have not perfected in any way this process and as a working mom not sure of my time management but we will just take one step at a time together.

As I found out when I read the Power of a praying wife, that God does a lot of changing of me which then allows Him to do whatever needs done to my husband. I am expecting this book to be a lot of the same. Which is exciting to see become the mom that my kids need instead of trying to force my kids to be the kids I want them to be.

I meet tonight with the first set of parents that wants to join me on this journey. They will get their copy of the book and I am going to give us two weeks to get through the first chapter as we both lead very busy full lives and I do not want this to become overwhelming in any way. That way we have time to set up our journals and see where God is going to take us.

Prayer One

Lord,
I submit myself to You. I realize that parenting a child in the way You would have me to is beyond my human abilities. I know I need You to help me. I want to partner with You and partake of Your gifts of wisdom, discernment, revelation, and guidance. I also need Your strength and patience, along with a generous portion of Your love flowing through me. Teach me how to love the way You love. Where I need to be healed, delivered, changed, matured, or made whole, I invite You to do that in me. Help me to walk in righteousness and integrity before You. Teach me Your ways, enable me to obey Your commandments and do only what is pleasing in Your sight. May the beauty of Your Spirit be so evident in me that I will be a godly role model. Give me the In Jesus' name I ask that You will increase my faith to believe for all the things You've put on my heart to pray for concerning this child.


(Prayers taken from The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian)

A journey

OK, my thoughts today are on raising my children in the pathway that God wants. I know that as a parent I have already failed to do just that. But as I start this new book ...Power of a praying parent.... I am encouraged to begin to let God take over. I am not by any means saying I know what I am doing, I have no clue. I am not good at prayer, I am not good at letting God work, I tend to be very self reliant. But as I move forward and try to let God have his way I am asking if others would like to join me?

As I go through the book, I plan to post the prayers in each chapter. I hope to have others join me and this be a place where we can list our concerns for our children and have others join us in prayer, and in advise, and in encouragement. A safe place where we do not judge others. I for one have already failed how can I judge someone else. We are not perfect parents. There will not be pat answers. Every child is different and I believe that the path God has called each of them on is also different. I have no clue how to do what I am doing now, I am just putting my feelings out there for others to see.

I have thought about this and prayed about it and I got my daily devotional this morning and it was pretty much confirmed that I need to take this journey with other parents. Please know my intentions are only to bring God into my children's lives and my own, as well as others who join me here, not to say I have the answers, or know how to do it. I do not.

So as we move forward, together with God as our head and each other as support, let us lift our own lives up to Him for his teaching that we may lead our children in His ways and His truths and His paths.