7.3.26
This week it's All Together Sunday! Six times a year we will intentionally have Sunday morning "family services" at both 9am and 10:30. This is similar to our Christmas Weekend and Resurrection Sunday services in the past. On these Sundays, there will not be separate programming for kids (No 2–4-year-olds, CORE or 4REAL Worship) so that all ages can worship together in the Worship Center.
Are you concerned about your child sitting in through the service ? An activity page will be available, the Nursery will be open for ages 0-24 months and the Family Room will be available.
Are you concerned about your child sitting in through the service ? An activity page will be available, the Nursery will be open for ages 0-24 months and the Family Room will be available.
A Note from Katie: Monkey See, Monkey Do
Hey Parents!
How is the first week of summer going for your family? Whether your kids are little or big, home, private or public schooled, summer represents a change in schedule and pace for most families. Does the change in season bring up any issues in your home? At my house, when we are on summer break, it's amazing how quickly our house can descend into cleanliness chaos. As a result, one of goals for my family this summer is to keep our house tidier. How will we parent this?
One principle I have found to be true is that "more is caught than taught." So how are we going to keep our home tidier this summer? Initially, my mind went to sticker charts, routines, and other sorts of "programs" to try to teach the kids to keep the house clean. These are all great tools, however, I was quickly convicted that my own "picking up" skills are...ahem...lacking. After reflecting on this, our new plan is for my husband and I to lead by example. We have set some simple routines for ourselves to follow. The next step is to bring our children into these routines to participate with us. For example, our family has started doing an "after dinner pick up" in a set room of the house each evening. As our kids work alongside mom and dad, hopefully they will catch on to this skill for themselves!
If you were in church last week, you noticed that summer brings change there too! (Not sure what I'm talking about? Read or watch the info below to get the scoop on Summer Sundays!) For many, you'll have your children sitting next to you in the Worship Center instead of being in the CORE classroom. I know this can be a challenge for lots of us. However, where summer reveals a problem, it also often offers the space to be intentional and work on it. That's why we've provided a tool to use: our Weekly Sermon Worksheets. Hopefully these will be useful to your family. Here's what our family discovered our first week trying it: if an adult also does the worksheet, that can be very encouraging for our kids (an, interestingly, helped us better attend to the sermon!). Doing the sermon worksheet alongside or with our kids helped everyone engage with God's Word!
A few other ideas for summer:
I hope these ideas are helpful! May this summer be a unique and beautiful season of growth for us and our kids!
Praying for you and walking it out this parenting adventure with you,
Katie Bennett
How is the first week of summer going for your family? Whether your kids are little or big, home, private or public schooled, summer represents a change in schedule and pace for most families. Does the change in season bring up any issues in your home? At my house, when we are on summer break, it's amazing how quickly our house can descend into cleanliness chaos. As a result, one of goals for my family this summer is to keep our house tidier. How will we parent this?
One principle I have found to be true is that "more is caught than taught." So how are we going to keep our home tidier this summer? Initially, my mind went to sticker charts, routines, and other sorts of "programs" to try to teach the kids to keep the house clean. These are all great tools, however, I was quickly convicted that my own "picking up" skills are...ahem...lacking. After reflecting on this, our new plan is for my husband and I to lead by example. We have set some simple routines for ourselves to follow. The next step is to bring our children into these routines to participate with us. For example, our family has started doing an "after dinner pick up" in a set room of the house each evening. As our kids work alongside mom and dad, hopefully they will catch on to this skill for themselves!
If you were in church last week, you noticed that summer brings change there too! (Not sure what I'm talking about? Read or watch the info below to get the scoop on Summer Sundays!) For many, you'll have your children sitting next to you in the Worship Center instead of being in the CORE classroom. I know this can be a challenge for lots of us. However, where summer reveals a problem, it also often offers the space to be intentional and work on it. That's why we've provided a tool to use: our Weekly Sermon Worksheets. Hopefully these will be useful to your family. Here's what our family discovered our first week trying it: if an adult also does the worksheet, that can be very encouraging for our kids (an, interestingly, helped us better attend to the sermon!). Doing the sermon worksheet alongside or with our kids helped everyone engage with God's Word!
A few other ideas for summer:
- play the worship setlist in the car during the week or on the way to church. It's easier to sing when you're familiar with the song!
- fill out your own sermon worksheet. Watching your do may just teach your kids to do it!
- give your kids a binder (pictured below) to put their sermon notes in. You can also add extra drawing paper, crayons or sticker to help occupy them
- talk about your notes at lunch! It's always fun and encouraging to hear what the other members of your family picked up from the sermon!
I hope these ideas are helpful! May this summer be a unique and beautiful season of growth for us and our kids!
Praying for you and walking it out this parenting adventure with you,
Katie Bennett
