We're really excited about this fun Fall Pumpkin Pack of activities!! Almost 20 pages chucked full of games, coloring activities, letter tracing and handwriting, cutting practice, history, grammar, recipes, jokes, stories, crafts and more! And best of all... it's free!! Print a copy for yourself, and pass the link on to a friend. Teachers, home educators, moms, grandparents (and anyone else for that matter) will enjoy completing these projects and activities with your kids of all ages.
Just click here to download: Free Pumpkin Pack Note: For some reason, my computer printed this weird when I did it straight from the web. You may want to save it to your computer and then print for optimal results!
Watch Natalie and Noah demonstrate the art of frosting cupcakes:
Originally posted 2.4.2012 This little rambling has single handedly received more responses than any other post I have written. So, I thought it deserved a take 2!
I believe I was about 13 years old when I first heard the phrase:
"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself, less."
The need for humility hit me hard when I was a teenager, deep in thought and dreaming about the future. I thought SO hard about my future, from who I was going to marry, to what I was going to be and where I would live, what degree to get and where to go to college. I thought myself in circles, which eventually landed me in the ER to be treated for stress induced ulcers and acid reflux. During that time in my life, God taught me a lot about learning His will and trusting Him with my future. He also taught me that at the root of my stress, was selfishness. There was an obvious imbalance in the time I spent thinking about myself, to the time I spent in the Word and thinking of others.
Later on, this same concept hit me in the face as I dealt with self esteem issues. At the heart of my self doubt, lack of confidence, desire to be prettier, skinnier and more popular, was the fact that I was plain old, spending WAY too much of my time thinking about...myself!
I again needed a reminder of this in college, as I got caught up in the stress of classes and work, making more life changes and decisions on what direction to take. I find it most difficult to keep my focus on others when I have decisions to make, and for some reason, way too easily find justification for stressing over the future.
I love how Francis Chan puts it in his book, Crazy Love
"Both worry and stress reek of arrogance."
Did you catch that word, reek? How true is that! Arrogance is pretty strong stuff, and chances are, if you've been infected with it, your friends have noticed! He points out that stress "...says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace towards others, or our tight grip of control."
The human race was born into selfishness, it is our natural tendency and biggest downfall. Yet, I am still amazed at how well it hides itself and manifests itself in so many ways.
Look hard, selfishness goes by many other names.
At the heart of your self esteem issue, stress, anxiety, tiredness, many forms of depression, even good things like volunteering at church, serving the homeless, and so on - selfishness may be hiding. Even on our BEST days, in our BEST intentions, selfishness may be lurking around somewhere. With every "selfless" deed we do, there is very often a small part of our mind that, if nothing else, hopes to be seen and praised. Wow, this all seems rather bleak doesn't it? Read on, you can do something about it!
As a mom, too often I get up in the morning and find the first thing out of my mouth is "uugh, the kids were up soooo many times last night, I hardly got any sleep. I feel miserable." Unfortunately, it usually doesn't end there. Rather than praying for an attitude check and making a conscious decision to be "joyful always" my misery continues through the day as I choose to stay consumed in myself. This is the stage of life I am at right now. God has done some amazing work in my life when it comes to trusting Him and not stressing about things. Lack of sleep is my current greatest offender. I am learning to anticipate the times my selfishness is apt to affect how i handle my kids, answer my husband, or respond to someone in need. I need to frequently take stock of my thought life and ask, is the majority of my time being spent thinking of myself?
Humility is not self deprecation, it is laying aside our own agendas, pity party, stress, bad moods, tiredness and excuses, for the good of others.
~Sarah
"Be joyful always; pray continually;
give thanks in all circumstances..." -1 Thes. 5:16-18
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit,
but in humility consider others better than yourselves." -Phil 2:3
"...clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." -Col. 3:12
All kids are the same, and yet so different. I have three little ones. Natalie is 5, Noah is 3, and Jude is 11 months. They each have their own personalities and interests, but they are all my favorite little sinners.
We understand the Bible tells us we need to "train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it", but how do we do that? Ephesians 4:25 thru 32 gives us the practical solution we are searching for. The Put Off and Put On principle.
Paul outlines several sins and then explains how to overcome them. For example, stop stealing, start working, and then give. Stop being angry, and start loving. Stop lying, tell the truth, and then become transparent. We often fall short when correcting our children. We tell them to stop complaining. Then what. Just like if I tell you, don't think about an elephant wearing pink polk-a-dot shorts, sipping lemonade on the beach. What are you going to do? Exactly. In order to stop thinking or doing something you must replace it with something else. If you want your child to stop complaining, ask your child to do the opposite = be thankful. When he is crying because his sibling is playing with a toy he is now suddenly interested in, ask him to tell you five things he is thankful for. He will most likely need your help because he is used to complaining, but make sure you follow thru with what you've asked.
I created these flash cards about two years ago to help the kids remember verses to go with each offense. Red means stop. Green means go. These are my original flash cards that I made as a reminder for me, and a learning tool for the kids. If you are proactively teaching, you will be amazed what they remember when a similar situation occurs. BTW: We can learn this way, too :)
Put OFF Selfishness
Put ON Generosity
Update: We now have a completed, downloadable study on putting off tattling and putting on peacemaking. Check it our in our Store!~Julia
I believe I was about 13 years old when I first remember hearing the phrase:
"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself, less."
(Dad, I'm pretty sure I heard this from you!)
The need for humility hit me hard when I was a teenager, deep in thought and dreaming about the future. I thought SO hard about my future, from who I was going to marry, to what I was going to be and where I would live, what degree to get and where to go to college. I thought myself in circles, which eventually landed me in the ER to be treated for stress induced ulcers and acid reflux. During that time in my life, God taught me a lot about learning His will and trusting Him with my future. He also taught me that at the root of my stress, was selfishness. There was an obvious imbalance in the time I spent thinking about myself, to the time I spent in the Word and thinking of others.
Later on, this same concept hit me in the face as I dealt with self esteem issues. At the heart of my self doubt, lack of confidence, desire to be prettier, skinnier and more popular, was the fact that I was plain old, spending WAY too much of my time thinking about...myself!
I again needed a reminder of this in college, as I got caught up in the stress of classes and work, making more life changes and decisions on what direction to take. I find it most difficult to keep my focus on others when I have decisions to make, and for some reason, way too easily find justification for stressing over the future.
I love how Francis Chan puts it in his book, Crazy Love: "Both worry and stress reek of arrogance."
Did you catch that word, reek? How true is that! Arrogance is pretty strong stuff, and chances are, if you've been infected with it, your friends have noticed! He points out that stress "...says that the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace towards others, or our tight grip of control."
The human race was born into selfishness, it is our natural tendency and biggest downfall. Yet, I am still amazed at how well it hides itself and manifests itself in so many ways. Even on our BEST days, in our BEST intentions, selfishness is usually lurking around somewhere. With every "selfless" deed we do, there is very often a small part of our mind that, if nothing else, hopes to be seen and praised.
As a mom, too often I get up in the morning and find the first thing out of my mouth is "uugh, the kids were up soooo many times last night, I hardly got any sleep. I feel miserable." Unfortunately, it usually doesn't end there. Rather than praying for an attitude check and making a conscious decision to be "joyful always" my misery continues through the day as I choose to stay consumed in myself. This is the stage of life I am at right now. God has done some amazing work in my life when it comes to trusting Him and not stressing about things. Lack of sleep is my current greatest offender. I am learning to anticipate the times my selfishness is apt to affect how i handle my kids, answer my husband, or respond to someone in need. I need to frequently take stock of my thought life and ask, is the majority of my time being spent thinking of myself? Humility is not self deprecation, it is laying aside our own agendas, pity party, stress, bad moods, tiredness and excuses, for the good of others.
Time and time again I am reminded to stop thinking about myself!
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances..." -1 Thes. 5:16-18
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." -Phil 2:3
"...clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." -Col. 3:12
We're really excited about this fun Fall Pumpkin Pack of activities!! Almost 20 pages chucked full of games, coloring activities, letter tracing and handwriting, cutting practice, history, grammar, recipes, jokes, stories, crafts and more! And best of all... it's free!! Print a copy for yourself, and pass the link on to a friend. Teachers, home educators, moms, grandparents (and anyone else for that matter) will enjoy completing these projects and activities with your kids of all ages. 
: "Both worry and stress reek of arrogance."