Color Path Labyrinth

 This is a pretty personal post. and I know it won't be for everyone.  But I know I'm not the only super-visual person out there, so hopefully it will help more.  

I had a super unique opportunity to share this at our church yesterday.  It's sort of like a super-simple labyrinth or color path that you can paint your way through.  Labyrinths have been used in the church for hundreds of years and have been helpful to many as a way of visually and physically coming before God in prayer and worship.  They have been so helpful to me to quiet my mind when I meditate or come into worship.  Then add color associations in paint!

I'm just going to share here what I shared yesterday and let you run with it creatively however suites your needs.  I don't have any pictures of doing this as a group because it felt too personal, but my heart is full to bursting hearing the experiences of everyone who chose to share with me!

Supplies: watercolors, water, brush, template and/or blank paper, paper towel, possibly tape and pen.  There’s lots of paper, so feel free to use several pieces!

Template

Watercolors: this paint is very forgiving.  But I want to encourage you this time to try using more water than you think you need, until it moves easily and flows.  Feel free to mix colors in the wells or on the edges of the palette or on the paper.  There are lists of color associations to give you a starting point, but I left blanks under each color.  This is because we all likely have unique color associations, so you can write your own.  They may even be associated with people or places.  I don’t think we need to get into it too much today, but shapes could also be representative (I.e. disconnected, sharp edged, smooth, large/small, etc.)

A. Left, open space: options

1. Get comfortable adding paint to paper

2. Just doodle

3. Paint what you’re experiencing this week or day in color  and shape

B. Path in:  From the entrance at the bottom left of the circles, follow the path with paint toward the center.  This is a place to lay down your burdens, joys, thoughts, or whatever is popping up in your mind.  As things come to mind, pick a color for it and paint it along the path as you go.  In this, we are laying these things down before Jesus. 

C. Center Circle: In this place we will just be together with God.  We can listen or sing along with the music.  You can paint in color any thoughts or feelings or impressions you experience., how you feel, how you feel about God, right now in this time.  You can hold your paintbrush still in the center or let it dance around.  Just be.

First, give the area a light wash with water.  I always think of water as representing the Holy Spirit, and this place is awash with Him.  If you dab on color, allow it to move with the water, and feel free to add more water as you like.  This thick paper can hold quite a bit, and if it can’t, these tables are easy to clean later.  

D. Path out: As we leave the center at the upper right, listen to what God is giving you to pick up on this path as you journey out into this week.  The old things will still be there, but pick them back up along with this moment you just had in the center.  Bring the use of water, bring the Spirit with you.  

E. Right, open space: Express yourself going back out into our week remembering God with us!  And no matter what comes in the week ahead, you have this physical, visual reminder of this moment with God and Him going with you

Verses:

Isaiah 55:1-2

John 4:13-15, 7:37, 8:1-11

Revelation 21:6

Free Fish Windsock Printable

The leaves are turning colors! The temperatures are finally headed toward a comfortable range! Could it be that we're returning to autumn!? SO excited!

As promised, I wanted to share with you this free printable for our fish windsocks. The breeze has been just right for these lately! After the little ones saw a few of these in shop windows, they started begging us to get one. But we decided to do one better and make them ourselves! They loved making their fish exactly how they wanted them and even deciding where they wanted all the fins on the sides. All through the day they report on how quickly their fish are “swimming” through the winds!

As for method, simply color in the print out as desired and tape strips of streamer (crepe) paper along the bottom of the uncolored side.  Roll so short ends are just overlapped and tape down.  With a scissors or hole puncher, make two small holes just above each the eyes though which to tie off a length (mine was about 18") of yarn or string.  Then you may choose to tape on extra fins on the sides as my little ones did. 

To open the template to print, click on the photo below:

As I've had so much interest in my other Sunday School printables (see Babel and Daniel), I just couldn't help but think that this could make such a great project for a class, sometime. Although I haven't used it yet, I feel like there are so many stories you could tie in with fish: Jonah, the feeding of the 5,000, fishers of men, creation, the symbol of the early church. We're starting up our regular classes after the summer break, and now I really want to find a way to tie these in! =)

 

 

Fitting Exploration into Holiday Travel

(Warning: Photo Dump Below!)

Whew!  I think we've all recovered from the Fourth of July holiday!  We decided to make a trek up to my parents house  in Washington.  While we were out exploring, I told my husband that I didn't know how to work this into the blog, because I want to make sure that each post has something to offer you, the reader.  I just love his response: "Just share it!  Give encouragement to people to get outside and explore!"  I kinda, really love that man! =D

So without further ado, this is how our holiday travel went while enjoying some adventures, both outdoor and indoor. 

Day 1: The Drive:  So it doesn't take all day to drive up there, but it's 6-7 hours.  Given the time it takes to load and unload, it's basically a full day.  Thankfully now my little ones are doing so much better in the car, so we don't hear screaming the whole way.  When the fussing started, I'd just pull out another book, read it, then pass it back for them to re-peruse (lift the flap books are awesome!).  We'd try to take advantage of meals and gas stops to take a stretch break (or as the kids call them, shake breaks!)  Other than that, lots of dried fruit, I spy, singing and license plate tracking!   We got in with just enough time for the kids to play with a little, battery powered four-wheeler that my dad had received broken, but free and fixed it up.  That got the wiggles out!

Day 2: After a lazy morning, Josh and I borrowed my parents' jeep and headed up some mountain trails (holiday tip: you don't have to have/bring all the "toys."  Share and borrow what you can!)  It wasn't a clear day, but it was so gorgeous!  The ruggedness of the hills is so stark against all the foxglove blooming (my favorite!!!)  Josh was able to just reach out the door and pick me bouquets.

  We picked wild salmon berries and went for a small hike at the end of one of the trails.  At the very top we even ran in to another couple from Alaska, so naturally we had to stop and visit with them for a bit!

 

After we got back we loaded in the truck with my parents to hit the carnival.  Though it was a fairly small carnival, the kids were awestruck.  Our 5 year old enjoyed a few of the kiddie rides, but our 2 year old would only go on the carousel until we got to the Ferris Wheel.  Grandpa and Daddy went with them and even at the highest point you could see both of their faces beaming with delight and they excitedly waved to us every cycle!  What a treat! 

So fun to see familiar faces as well.  A former neighbor and her grown daughter also visiting from out of town, two mission trip coordinators and an former worship teammate let alone countless others that I couldn't quite place anymore. 

Day 3: My former church GAVE me a piano!  I'm so excited and grateful, but have no place to store it right now, so my dad is hanging on to it for me.  He, Josh, and my brothers moved it to their garage for now.  Boy, do I owe them cookies or what?  I just have to tease them that they'll forever be helping me move pianos!  (It may have happened a time or two before) 

First we had to stop by Wing's cabin and learn how the pot-bellied stove worked!

Ringing the church bell with Bampa

 Then the whole crew drove up to Bellingham to the Spark Museum.  If you ever get a chance, check it out.  A museum on the history of electricity, complete with a functioning Tesla Coil (I didn't remember what that was until we got there!)  I'm not a huge fan of electronics, but even I found much of this fascinating.  Just this history, if nothing else, and the beautiful detail they seemed to put into everything they did. 

We got back into town to visit my best friend from age 4 and her family and to barbeque and hang out in their new back yard.  Beautiful end to a busy day!  And I love that our kids feel like cousins!

Krista and I basically have this exact photo of us when we were this age!  Now it's our kids!

Day 4:  Church the next morning (same one I grew up in!) along with many more familiar faces.  Then lunch at the favorite spot  before the in-laws joined us for the logging show and chainsaw carving competition. 

Pole Climb

Day 5:  Independence Day!  Parade in the rain, then about 30 people came to the house for a get-together, fire crackers, and a ton of food.  Lots of playing in the  rain and dancing through the smoke! 

Day 6:  Home again, home again, jiggety jog.  When we hit bad traffic we just took old farm roads.  Better moving the long way through beautiful scenery than stuck in stress and traffic. 

I'm so grateful for my family, but I know for some staying with family can be a difficult time if they are not accustomed to spending much time outside.  I think, especially during a visit to see someone, relationships take priority.  Be with those you've come to be with.  But if the opportunity arises to get everyone out and see something new, maybe it could benefit all!

Free Printable of Daniel for Sunday School

Happy Fourth of July!  This is such a wonderful (but crazy hectic) time of year for us!  A visit to all the grandparents, aunts and uncles has been a joy!  It's always bittersweet going back to your hometown and see all the familiar sights and faces, yet there's so much that has changed and, in fact, you yourself aren't the same person you used to be either...  Moving is strange like that, I suppose.

 

But more to the point of this post, I've been noticing an increased interest in Sunday School printables, so I want to share more with you today.  We've decided to take our Sunday School down a notch or two during the summer.  The barn-turned-community center we're meeting in has a great playground just outside that the kids can't resist this time of year!  The teachers still bring a craft and have a story, but it's much more relaxed!  One of the last lessons we completed before our break was that of Daniel in the Lion's Den and I thought I'd pass along the printable of the craft we made to go with it. 

 

 

 

Before I get too far, though, I thought this was a good re-telling of the story:

Daniel Retelling

 And of course, there's always Veggie Tales!

But the original story is from the book Daniel chapter 6. If you're not super familiar with it, it makes more sense if you read the five chapters previous.

 

To set up, I moved the tables into a big square and threw a bunch of pillows in the center to create a "den" that the kids all climbed into to hear the story that morning.  They had a ball all pretending to be lions! 

 

To complete the craft, after everything is colored in as you want it, cut the paper vertically to separate the den section, then the opening in the ceiling. 

 

Next cut the outline of Daniel out.  Attach yarn/string to the back of Daniel's hand for him to hold on to as he is lowered into (and later raised from) the den. 

 

I like to tape the other end of the string to the back of the rectangle, too so pieces don't get separated.  Then all together it works as a teaching tool as your reading the story or for the little ones to play with later.

 

Click on image below for full sized printable:

 

 

 

 

 



There are so many great Sunday School programs out there, but sometimes you just need one story, and for that purpose, I hope some of you can find this useful!  I hope we can impart to our kids what faith looks like and how awesome and in-control our God is! He knows what we're going through and when we choose to be faithful, just like Daniel.

Triple Valentines! Free Printables

Victory!  For those of you who have not been following of late, I have been having much difficulty with (what I thought) was my printer.  After countless hours on the phone with tech support, near tears moments when I just had to walk away for a while, and reboots, I am pleased to say that I printed something today!!!  It took a factory reset on my computer, but I think we're finally past this battle. 

All this to apologize.  I have three Valentines options that I've been wanting to share with you, but have not been able to with this whole fiasco.  While I know I've completely missed the school crowd, I'm choosing to still post these in the chance that someone might still be able to use them before Sunday, or save the ideas for next year!

While contemplating this post, I realized that I really couldn't remember the origins of Valentines Day.  That meant I had to study up for the multitude of "why" questions that always accompany holidays in this house!  I read from History Channel's page that there were as many as three Saint Valentines, but the most popular legends claim one of two events.  First, the Roman Empire chose to ban marriage for young men as they found relationship free men to be better soldiers.  Saint Valentine saw this as unjust and married young couples in secret.  The second thought was that while the young Christian Valentine was in a Roman prison, he slipped a note out to his love and signed it with, "from your Valentine." 

1) Entirely Homemade: this one you'll need to start ahead of time a couple weeks to allow the paper to dry.  But basically our goal was to buy nothing! 

Paper: We saved paper scraps, pencil shavings, and even some natural elements and filled up our blender's pitcher.  Then we filled in around it with water and blended it until it was a fairly smooth paste.  Then we spread it out as thin as we could on a window screen (that had torn last summer and since been replaced) and waited for it to dry!  I set it up on a pan to allow air to flow underneath.

Ink: Leftover frozen blackberries from last summer were thawed, smooshed (kids' favorite part!) and strained into a small jar.

Quill: We used one pheasant feather and one seagull (?) feather, the latter of which had a much larger shaft (could hold more ink). 

 I somewhat simplified Sun Hats and Wellie Boots' instructions by shearing off some of the down and vane , clipping an angle then clipping flat the tip.  Ending with a vertical slit up the shaft.

They loved making little cards with all the elements they had put together all by themselves!  I feel like that kind of independence is so liberating!

2) Sunday School Dragonfly:  "We love because He first loved us" 1st John 4:19 is inscribed on dragonfly wings to focus on how this holiday of love can even be possible.  Two quick slits allow a lollipop stick to weave through to create the body of the dragonfly.  Click on the thumbnail below to enlarge and print:

3) Woodland Critters Valentine: This is what my little ones are giving all their friends.  I decided to leave the template black and white so each could be colored individually.  I think it makes it just that much more special for the recipient!  Another option would be to print it on colored paper of your choice. 

 The same basic idea of two slits is used to weave a pencil through to make sense of the phrase, "Valentine, you're just WRITE for me!"  Click on the image below to enlarge and save:

I hope you have such a lovely Valentines day and can find much joy in celebrating the love in your life!