The grandchildren came over after church Sunday afternoon and spent a few lovely hours at my house! They are growing up so fast … I want to freeze time for all of us so that they will always want to come over. I know that I have such a small window of time left. Before very long, they will all be teenagers--and they just won't want to associate with their grandmother anymore!
We began our afternoon with a nice snack of freshly baked banana bread--YUM. They ate practically the entire loaf!
Emma and I played a game of chess while completely cracking up. Here's the deal: in the past, Emma has had a difficult time losing--she really struggles with it (as do all of the kiddos). For the last few months, we just haven't played many games together because … I do not want to waste the few hours I have with them trying to comfort them after losing a game--and I simply CANNOT just let them win every game! This week, however, Emma played the best chess game she has ever played. She did not win, and we did a LOT of laughing while we played (I loved every minute)! We also played about 10 games of Connect Four and split the wins pretty evenly. Chris and Matthew played LEGOS in the toy room until it was finally our Bible time.
We have finally finished the book of GENESIS. We started our lessons just after Christmas this year; and while the children haven't been here every single week, we still covered each essential and beautiful story in this amazing book. I learned SO much--because when I read my Bible in order to TEACH it, I read it altogether differently.
I love Matthew's BIG smile in this picture. He had been making gruesome faces (and so had Christopher) at my camera for the longest time and I refused to snap a picture! I told both boys that I was just kindly requesting a "normal" picture of them for my blog … they finally complied.
This was our third week studying the account of Joseph. The kiddos are painting when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. But first, he really put them through the ringer, didn't he? I used an old sack and filled it with stuff that was supposed to be grain from Egypt, plus a baggie of coins, to show them how the brothers each had paid for grain to take back to Canaan. Each brother found his money returned in his sack! And then when they came back to Egypt with Benjamin, how Joseph had his servant put his silver goblet (the one pictured isn't silver--but it is a treasure of mine from Lindos and the children thought it was pretty cool) in Benjamin's bag. It was very fun to tell the story and build the suspense of the brothers being accused of spying, stealing, lying … they were terrified … and finally repentant of the crimes they had committed against Joseph all those years ago.
We talked about the similarities between Jesus and Joseph--the fact that none of us deserve forgiveness, but Jesus freely forgives us, puts our sins far away, makes us clean, and brings us into a relationship with Him. So thankful for the Truth revealed in the Bible. I can't wait to begin EXODUS!
Didn't they do a nice job on their illustrations this week? We have been using watercolor paint, which is far more enjoyable for them than just markers.
