iKidmin

...you are teaching children's church and using the "wordless" book.  As you are turning from the black page of "sin" to the red page of "blood" a kid blurts out, "and He gave us all red necks!"

Wednesday we had our annual birthday party for Jesus.  No photographer for that. :( But I did manage to snap a picture of my little friend helping me get the goody bags together. She's so organized. She had a little system going in no time.  C you are my hero.  Sorting Goodies Goody Bags I think they turned out cute and she helped me so much. Thank you C! We put a balloon and some other candy and trinkets in each bag.  You are never too old for a balloon.  They loved them! I wish I had pictures of the cupcakes one of the other leaders made.  Ah well, I tell ya, I am always too busy to stop and take pictures. We began with PIZZA!  Yeah! Then a puppet skit and the Christmas story, followed by a game involving candy, ended with cupcakes and the goody bags.  We had more planned, but ran out of time. One hour just isn't long enough. I was given a "goody bag" by a couple of the kids, this makes it all worthwhile doesn't it?   I&#

We had two photographers taking pictures and there were tons of great ones!  But many have faces of kids and I don't feel comfortable sharing them here.  So here's just a few just to give an idea of the fun we had. :) It was a blast!!! Two of my kids and me at the photo booth :) Rock Stars! Cute sheep! Angels Praising! "Ramona" meeting Baby Jesus Wise Men ???

Whew!  We did it! Our Family Event was a great success!  We had so much fun and I wasn't stressed or running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.  That's always nice. Don't get me wrong I was busy, but since I had things previously organized, it was a breeze.  I even had a few minutes to sit down and chat!  Yeah! I don't have a single picture of my "done" list (I don't even know where it is!), my cute gifts I made for the leaders, or anyone doing anything!  I was just too busy to think of it, which is why I farmed out the photography to two young ladies in our congregation who are into photography.  They took tons of great pictures and we even had a family photo booth during the cast party.  I won't be able to share them all here because of privacy protection, but hopefully there will be a few that I can share over the next few days. Anyway, here's how the evening went: It started at 3:00 PM for me.  My son and our student

I got a lot done yesterday and this morning! While I'm not a paid children's worker, I do work two days in my church office serving as an admin assistant.  So when there's no pressing church business I get a chance to work on kidmin stuff. It is such a blessing to be able to get some of those tasks done, while having access to the resource room, computers and printer/copier. I thank God for that opportunity to get some things done.  And of course my pastor doesn't mind. Especially since he's out of the office this month substitute teaching.  While he's out, I have less to do. ;) My updated to do list! Whoo Hoo!   OCD Alert! Supply baskets ready to go! My *new* to do list.   This one looks quite different.  I don't know about you but my lists can take many forms. Sometimes I type them up and print them out as in this case, sometimes I just use good ol' pen and paper as above, and now sometimes they are on my iphone, or a ta

Christmas is a busy time in kidmin.  I happen to be a Sunday school teacher, as well as a children's church leader (on rotation) and December is my month in GF Kids' Club, as we like to call it. We have our annual Family Event coming up on the 15th, we started this a few years ago in place of the traditional children's program. Group came out with an awesome resource for this and we tried it.  It was a huge hit!  Only problem was, they only had the one set. The whole thing was a blast and the families loved it!  We had a family join just because of that program.  It gave them insight to our church and our love for each other. :)  I'd call that a success. We used this in 2010 and 2012.  For 2011 we sort of did our own thing and it was okay, but it's a blur for me because I was sick and missed it. :( We were so excited to discover that Group had a new theme this year! Bethlehem Bound Group.com The thing that is so great about this program is that yo

Can you say excited? It's taking all my self-control not to dig into it! I have to get through the Christmas Events first!!!! 

I started out with a plethora of ideas for posts. Now that I'm staring at the blank page. I'm drawing a blank. >blink blink< Maybe I should just dive right in. What is on my kidmin to do list today? purchase and put together goodie bags for my Sunday school class.  communicate with Student pastor & worship leader about "Family Christmas Event" on Sunday go to post office and pick up a package waiting for me....wonder what it will be??? read through and make final notes on what I need to do Sunday for the Event All of this in the midst of chores, errands, Christmas decorating, cleaning, homeschooling, helping my hubby, cooking and at some point taking a break! Did I mention listening to my music for the Christmas Cantata?  No, well add that too. :)

We had some bad weather over the weekend so I only had three students today.  In Texas we usually get ice, not snow.  That was the case this week.  Cold, freezing ice. That's okay, these boys were excited to help wash windows!   We are learning to apply the Bible to our life, we learn from Jesus' stories and experiences.  So we decided to help out around the church and do a little cleaning.  These boys have such servant hearts. :)

My Sunday school class chose four projects to complete for the next four Sundays. 1. Helping others 2. Sharing with others 3. Forgiving others 4. Loving others I think I will post each week to show what we did to accomplish these goals.

I'm working on my class.  I want to make it inviting and fun.  It's a work in progress.  I took some pictures today on my phone so the color isn't the best but I am sharing them anyway. View from the doorway Our current attendance chart I got this idea from  here .  Love her blog!!! attendance chart up close "Bible Neighborhood" The houses are empty food boxes covered in construction paper with Bible "addresses" on them. Each week we take the strips out, look up the verses and match them to the address. They love to be the one who reads the verse and puts in back in the house. :) I got this paper for 15 cents on clearance at Wal-Mart after Christmas! Score! Thank you Lord. ;) Shelf up close.  I got these popcorn containers at Dollar Tree. They hold our markers, crayons and pencils.

Castle in Progress We put a castle in the foyer to kick off VBS Registration.  We are doing  Group's Kingdom Rock  VBS and we are loving it.  I love the castle theme and the Biblical truths that go with it. Day 1 Bible Point: God’s love helps us stand strong. Bible Verse: "I love you, Lord; you are my strength." (Psalm 18:1) Bible Story: David writes about God's love. (Psalm 23) Day 2 Bible Point: Family and friends help us stand strong. Bible Verse: "So encourage each other and build each other up." (1 Thessalonians 5:11) Bible Story: Mordecai encourages Esther to do the right thing. (Esther 1–9) Day 3 Bible Point: Prayer helps us stand strong. Bible Verse: "Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything." (Philippians 4:6) Bible Story: Nehemiah perseveres to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 1–6) Day 4 Bible Point: Trusting God helps us stand strong. Bible Verse: "Trust in the Lord always, for

(Old post I found and added here) Last year we did something a little different.  We had a big planned decorating day with stations set up for each item to be made, put together and installed. For instance last year's theme was "Sky" so we had a cloud making station.  Whatever type of crafting you liked; messy, cutting/gluing, getting on a ladder, stapling, blowing up balloons etc. there was a station for you. It worked out so well we are doing that again this year. Here is my plan for the stage area: We have a huge PVC pipe back drop we made for last year.  We've used it dozens of times since then!  I will use it on stage to be the base of the castle.   We ordered tons of stone wall bulletin board paper so it will be a cinch to wrap that back drop with castle paper and add the details.  We will have a puppet stage this year so I'm just going to incorporate it into the castle as an added level. We will have green hedges like  this one  or  this one  i

My Sunday school class learned the story today of the "Fantastic Feast".  We've been learning in this unit that "Jesus Does Great Things".   I had to share this picture because this student's work always amazes me.  First of tall these kids did NOT know how to weave!  But they were eager to learn and they wove these construction paper baskets.  What amazed me about this student is her fish!  She designed, drew and cut these out herself.  And may I add that she's a lefty using righty scissors? 1st and 2nd Grade Sunday school student's artwork While the other students (and myself) were making the simple little fish you know, like this one... I love teaching children! It seems like so much work behind the scenes but every single Sunday that I walk in that room and spend time with those kids; God shows up!  He always blesses me. :) I quote Eric Liddel,  "God made me fast. And when I run I feel God's pleasure."

I taught K-2nd grade Sunday school at church last summer and we were between curriculum so I decided to finish the summer out teaching about Samuel and David. I used  this coloring book  (my absolute fave!!!) for an opening activity. I know some people don't like coloring pages and I don't always use them but these pages are so fun for the kids.  I have it as one of the activity choices when the children first arrive.  I don't  make  them color.  I also don't make them color with traditional colors.  If they want to give Samuel pink hair, I don't mind it at all!  We do talk about the fact that he didn't really have pink hair but we can be creative just for fun. Another thing the coloring pages do is help us establish the story for the day.  They begin to ask questions about the page and helps me introduce the outline of the story. I also colored a page and pinned it up on the bulletin board.  Instant review! I always have a corner for books and

 A major part of my (very busy) life is children's ministry. I HEART Children's Ministry!!!! I took some pictures with my phone last week of some of my Sunday school students and the drawings they made of the "Most Special Baby". Drawing our pictures... Star drawing... Baby Jesus and family(top)...student's family(bottom) tiny baby Jesus...couldn't you guess this was a boy drawing? teacher drawing for inspiration ;) I got the idea to incorporate individual whiteboards in this way from  here .  She has some wonderful ideas! I did not get a picture of all the drawings. I think some kids were faster with the eraser than I am with the camera.  Funny thing, at first they seemed intimidated to draw anything, that is why I drew the "inspiration" picture to get them going. Once they got started they didn't want to quit. I bought an $11 dollar 4x8 shower board at Home Depot and had the guy there cut it for me. They h