I’ve recently had a series life-altering moments that have changed my life to the point that I will never be the same person again.  I have come to a point in my faith that never in my wildest dreams could I ever have imagined I’d be at.  And to be honest, I’m having a hard time accepting it.  Jesus Freak.  I’ve used that term more in the past as a derogatory statement than anything else.  Not because I didn’t believe, but because I didn’t think your faith should consume you.  “There is more to life than God” type thoughts.  But one day, while paying our rent, a daily devotional from a local church caught my eye.  It was the last one and I felt compelled to pick it up.  And read it.  And make it a part of my daily routine.  And to attend THAT church.  So we started going the very next Sunday.  And I kind of think the pastor of that church is spying on me and writing sermons just to help me. (totally kidding!)  We haven’t missed a weekend yet.  I used to consider myself a very religious person.  Now I know what a very religious person is and I realize I’m not even close.  I’m starting over, starting fresh and truly accepting Jesus into my heart.  And now I think I know what the real Jesus Freaks know (and now I only use that term in the most loving of ways).

So with this new realization I’ve decided that not only do I want to know Christ better, but I want my kids to know Christ better.  We’re going to be working through the bible stories and learning all about it.  I’m not sure of the exact plan yet, but I am praying and God is leading me through this.  I have as much to learn as they do, if not more!

I’m hoping to have a general template to use week after week, story after story.  I hope this will turn out like a curriculum so I can reuse it with Logi-Bear when he’s a bit older.  And I hope to share it so that perhaps we can bless others.

I wrote all of the previous at the beginning of December 2011.  A lot has changed in the past month and a half.  I am still figuring out this newfound faith.  We stopped going to “that” church.  Not because it wasn’t wonderful or the pastor wasn’t speaking to me anymore, but because it wasn’t working.  Royal had a really hard time with the children’s area, and Baloo got in trouble for laughing in the childrens room.  Logi-Bear is going through separation anxiety so leaving him in the nursery was out of the question.  I started feeling anxiety leading up to every Sunday and realized God was leading me elsewhere.  I haven’t figured out where yet, but I am working on it.

In the meantime I still feel called to share the Bible stories with my boys.  I’m going for a fairly simple routine – we’re going to read the story from the Bible, and then re-read it from a children’s Bible so they understand it.  Then we will have an activity and a craft related to the story.  And lastly, if possible, we will watch a video related to the story.

For our first 10 stories we are covering warriors of the bible.  My boys love a good fighting story, so I’m hoping to “lure” them in with these!  I picked David and Goliath first.  Since the boys are still young and little I want to emphasize that their size should not prevent them from anything.  With faith and trust we can do ALL things.

We started off by reading 1 Samuel 17 in the Bible.  To be honest, the boys could have cared less about this version.  But we stuck it out and finished it!  I think as time goes on they will get used to the style.  Then we followed up with the Beginners Bible version, which was much easier for them to understand.

I saw this idea for marshmallow/pom-pom shooters on Pinterest months ago and I’ve just been dying to use it somehow.  It didn’t take long for me to connect the idea to David.  I thought about using marshmallows, but these things were kind of unpredictable.  The last thing I need is marshmallows hiding out in the corner, just begging for bugs to come get it!  So we went with pom-poms. 
 

And then I drew Goliath on our easel.  I tried to give him a helmet and armor to stay true to the story.  The boys let loose with their shooters!

I could tell the story was sinking in for Baloo when he compared these 2 trees.  He said the big one is Goliath and the little one (just behind him) is David.

So I had them make their warrior faces for me!
 

I had Baloo illustrate a scene from the story and write a short summary.  He even drew the rock in motion!

We had to make some David and Goliath people.  I saved a toilet paper roll and a paper towel roll.  David’s outfit and slingshot were made out of felt.  Goliath’s armor was felt, and his helmet was aluminum foil.

The boys used these to act out the story.  Though a few times they played it out and Goliath won…
 

To finish up I let the boys watch Veggie Tales: Dave and the Giant Pickle (the link is for Amazon, but we actually watched it on Netflix!).  They really love watching Veggie Tales and I love how they make the story so relatable!