love, respect and parenting by Holly Furtick

I got to do a Q/A with one of our eGroups today. This eGroup is a group of Elevation moms with young children. We had the best time talking about marriage, and motherhood, and ministry.

One of the things that came up was the idea of teaching our children to respect their dad. Now of course, children need to learn to respect all adults. But I am not really talking about teaching them to say yes ma’am and no sir (although that is really important). I am talking about respect in the terms of Ephesians 5:33, “So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

Here are a few of the ideas we discussed…click here to read more


Fairy Tale Trials at Home (Week 7)

 

In this week’s episode of Fairy Tale Trials, our competitors used patience, concentration, and a dry spaghetti noodle to move penne pasta from one plate to another. This is a fun challenge you can do as a family. Here’s how…

  • First, the supplies for this game are easy – a box of spaghetti noodles, a box of penne noodles, and some plates.
  • Each competitor should get two plates, an uncooked piece of spaghetti, and a pile of (uncooked) penne.
  • You will hold the spaghetti noodle in your mouth, thread it through a piece of penne, and carefully transfer it from one plate to another.
  • You can designate how many pieces you have to move to win!
  • For an extra twist, you can try different noodles in place of the penne – rigatoni, macaroni, rotelle, bow tie… go crazy with it!


Weekend Wrap-Up


1st – 5th Grade

Monthly Bible Verse: John 15:12-13 “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this; to lay down one’s life for a friend.”
Bible Story: Jacob & Sons Move to Egypt | Genesis 45:16-18
Lesson Overview:

 

During our series Dr. Oz: The Dream Catcher we are learning about honor from the life of Joseph. This weekend we learned honor is acknowledging the value in others by always giving our best. Pharaoh honored Joseph’s family by giving them his best land and cattle. God wants us to do the same thing with our life by giving our best to others.

 

This week, pray this prayer with your child:

Lord, we are so thankful that you gave us your best when you gave us Jesus. Thank you for (insert child’s name). Thank you that we have the opportunity to honor you and the people in their life by always giving our best. Help us to show honor and acknowledge the value in others this week. We love you. Amen.


3 years – Kindergarten

Bible Story: The Parable of the Talents | Matthew 25:14-37
Main Point: I Will Take Care Of What God Gives Me!
Memory Verse: “Do not just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says.” - James 1:22 (NLT)
Lesson Overview:

 

Sharky led us on another deep sea adventure this week as we teamed up with Captain Nic and his crew to learn “I Will Take Care of What God Gives Me!” Before searching for more treasure, Captain Nic asked the crew to clean the robot arms used to collect treasure. But because the robot arms had worked great for the past adventures, crew member Spike said they shouldn’t clean the arms.

 
When the crew found the Treasure of the Gold Coins and tried to use the robot arms to grab it, the arms broke! Captain Nic told the crew the story of the Parable of the Talents and the crew learned they needed to take care of the submarine God gave them.

Quest Memory Verse

Next weekend your child has an opportunity to say our memory verse for a fun prize! We have been working with your child the past seven weeks to learn the verse and are so excited that many kids know the verse! Practice the verse with your child this week using the same hand motions we use in Quest:

Don’t (move hands overtop each other)
just listen (cup hands behind ears)
to God’s Word. (hands open like a book)
You must do (point to others) 
what it says (cup hands around mouth.)
James 1:22 (hold up one finger, and then 2 fingers)


6 weeks – 2 years

Monthly Focus: God Wants Me To Share!
Bible Story: Jesus Feeds the 5,000 | John 6:1-14
Weekend Activity: God Wants Me To Share! coloring page

Have your child sit with you and the coloring page he or she brought home from eKidz. After you read the Bible story, use the coloring page to review the monthly focus, God Wants Me To Share!, with your toddler. For each picture, ask “Can you share your _________ (insert item)?” Encourage your toddler to answer ‘yes’ then have your toddler find the item pictured and bring it to you. Say, “God wants us to share. We can share our _________ (insert item)!” Continue for the remaining pictures.


Fairy Tale Trials at Home (week 6)

In this week’s episode of Fairy Tale Trials, you saw our contestants put Vaseline on their noses and try to move cotton balls – now that’s a crazy task! But it makes for some fun times with your family. Here’s how you can do it…

  • First you need a bag of cotton balls, a container of Vaseline, and some paper plates.
  • Give each competitor a stack of cotton balls and let everyone put a dab of Vaseline on their nose.
  • On “Go”, competitors race to move cotton balls from one of their plates to another, using only their Vaseline-covered nose. Getting them to stick on your nose is one thing, getting them back off is the challenging part!