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Available FREE until:
December 2
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Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Monday, November 26, 2018
Knowledge@Kindle: Cyber Monday and a FREEBIE
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Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Bible Bowl, Ping-Pong Balls, and Working Together
Bible Bowl is a game that has pretty much consumed our lives this year. If you are not familiar with Bible Bowl, it is a game-show style buzzer game where kids memorize and study portions of scripture and then answer questions about every minute detail. You wouldn't believe what these kids know. When I started, I thought, hey, I'm pretty good at Bible trivia. No. I'm not. Not at all. These 5th-graders could buzz me right off the table.
We are in our fourth year now. My oldest son has graduated out of it and my other three are still playing. We moved, so we had to switch teams. The people on the old team and on the new team are some of my kids' best friends. They are like family. Our small group. In the past we just attended two big tournaments in the summer, but this year we are doing mid-year tournaments as well. Six tournaments total in addition to our weekly practice an hour and a half away and our monthly regional game that is two and a half hours away. Some people do this with sports. For us, it's Bible memorization. Oh, dear, my husband and I may have raised nerdy kids just like us. He was a band geek, and I played Latin Certamen and was a member of my school's Academic Team in lieu of sports involvement. Not because I'm not interested in sports. I'm just not athletic. At all. Ask anyone who went to high school with me. (For the record, my husband can play sports. But, yeah, he was a band geek anyway.)
But I digress.
So once a week we practice with our team for Bible Bowl, and I'm in charge of the games. They figured maybe I couldn't mess that up too much. We often play minute-to-win-it type games with things like ping-pong balls and red Solo cups. It's all very high-tech. A few weeks ago we played a game where two teams were each trying to fill a bucket with ping-pong balls. The catch was that one person at a time had to run one ping-pong ball over to the bucket. The next person could not start until the first person was back behind the team line. They had two minutes to get as many ping-pong balls as they could into their bucket. Each team was steadily filling its own bucket and we had ten seconds left when . . .
You guessed it. One of the kids accidentally knocked over his bucket.
Ping-pong balls everywhere.
Do you remember how that feels? Do you remember what it feels like to be in middle school playing a game, and then to stumble or drop something or foul something and mess up your team? Do you remember how awful that was? How everyone was mad at you? How it was all your fault that the team went down?
So I got ready to do damage control.
But there was not one. negative. word.
No one yelled, no one called names.
The whole team immediately ran over the team line, rushed to the player's aid, and started helping him as he frantically picked up the balls and put them back in the bucket. They got them all back in before time was called.
Did they technically break the rule of having only one team member over the line at a time? Yeah. If this had been a more serious game than a ping-pong relay, would all the balls have counted? Probably not. Would they be disqualified in a "real" game? Most likely.
But in the game of life, they win. When a player went down, they ran to him. When the goal was almost met but then the balls went everywhere, they salvaged the situation. They high-fived and smiled and built relationships.
Yeah, we have to teach them to play by the rules in Bible Bowl and other games. They are honest and competitive and show good sportsmanship.
And not one of them walks alone.
Knowledge@Kindle - Happy Thanksgiving and a FREEBIE
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Monday, November 19, 2018
New Share the Memories FREEBIES
Created by:
And
Available FREE until:
November 25
USE THIS CODE: STMMMS79285
to get $10 off My Memories Suite Software! (in the US and Canada)
Happy Scrapping!
Flyby Review: Ellie Claire Art Journals
Over the last few weeks we've had the privilege of reviewing these beautiful art journals from Ellie Claire! My daughters and I fell in love with them - in fact, I may have lost at least one of them to my daughter!
It is a great understatement to say that God is creative. Sometimes we read the Scriptures in black words printed on a white page, and we see the practicality of the words and hear the stories, but we don't comprehend the richness of the creativity of the God who built the mountains, poured the seas, painted the sunsets, and wove these stories together. I believe God created us to be creative as well, and that when we use our creativity as a part of our worship to Him, we understand Him just a little bit better.
In the Middle Ages, before the printing press, monks took on the copious work of writing copies of the Scriptures to read and to preserve. They decorated the edges of the pages with beautiful drawings to supplement the text. The creation of these beautiful illustrations was a serious and important task. (See http://www.medieval-life.net/monks.htm.)
Painters, artists, and musicians in history such as Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and Bach dedicated their work and their talents to the Lord. Many talented people do the same today. Rich Mullins once said that he wrote music about God because there was nothing else worth writing about.
I believe that exploring our creativity can help us to understand more about God today. It is certainly not a replacement for studying His Word; but as in the Middle Ages, it is a supplement to the text. Rather than just reading a chapter from the Bible and putting the Bible back on the shelf, take some time to listen to it out loud, to ponder it, to doodle some pictures or re-write a verse. Use all the senses and different methods of learning in your Bible study.
You are not creative, you say? That is where these beautiful Bible study journals fit in. Everyone can use these notebooks along with their Bibles to add some creativity and contemplation to their Bible study and quiet time.
The first journal is the Illuminate Your Story Journal. The introduction explains the history of illuminated manuscripts. The book then teaches you and gives you workbook space to practice your own illuminated letters. The pages are peppered with quotes from the Bible as well as other inspirational quotes.
I'm not very good at this yet, but I look forward to using the techniques in scrapbooks, cards, and gifts as well!
The next book is the Faith & Lettering Journal. It is a similar format in giving you instruction and then workbook space, but presents a less formal, doodling-type style.
This is so much fun!
The last one is The Illustrated Word: An Illustrated Bible Coloring Journal. This one has actual copies of pages from old illustrated Scriptures. It shows you a small example of the actual page, tells where it is from, and provides you with a full-page coloring page of the illustration, plus lines on which to make notes during your Bible Study. My daughter has been enjoying this one.
I highly recommend any of these journals, separately or (preferably) used together for enhancing your study, encouraging your creativity, and just for fun! They all have lay-flat binding, thick paper, and quality binding. They would make great Christmas presents for any teen girl or adult.
You can find these beautiful journals at the following retailers:
FAITH & LETTERING
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2FtbL04Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/FaithAndLettering-BN
THE ILLUSTRATED WORD
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2QVQJs9
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/Illustrated-BN
ILLUMINATE YOUR STORY
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DOJ9g5
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/Illuminate-BN
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of each of these journals for purposes of review. The reviews reflect my own honest opinions of the products. Clicking on the retail links may generate a small commission for this blog but will not increase your purchase price.
Happy Journaling!
Monday, November 12, 2018
New Share the Memories FREEBIE
Created by:
Available FREE until:
November 18
USE THIS CODE: STMMMS79285
to get $10 off My Memories Suite Software! (in the US and Canada)
Happy Scrapping!
Knowledge@Kindle: What Are You Thankful For? and a FREEBIE
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