A Spring Nature Walk

For this month's Young Ladies Class we went on a glorious nature walk in my neighborhood park. It's a large park with two ponds, birdfeeders, trails and lots of little wildlife like rabbits and chipmunks. And I must say, the weather was perfect for our planned activities.

Just before the girls began to arrive at 9:00am I took out the last pan of fresh baked Childrens' Favorite cookies from the oven. Oh did my kitchen ever smell wonderful!

The girls arrived excitedly and once everyone was seated around the living room, we started our meeting. First with a short prayer time followed by a bible lesson from Psalm 8 - How God's handiwork is evident in nature. I explained how we could easily observe His amazing creation as we explored the park.

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained
strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest
still the enemy and the avenger.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,
and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands;
thou hast put all things under his feet:

All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever
passeth through the paths of the seas.

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

So, loaded down with cookies, bug spray, sunscreen and binoculars we teamed up and headed out!

List of things we saw (as recorded by a certain 7 year old)...

cattails
black (redwing) bird
mosquitos!
ducks
blue bugs
chipmunks
trees

woods

Having fun with friends

Taking a little break in the shade

What do YOU smell like?

Mr. Squirrel leading the way through the forest

"My, What big eyes you have!"

Feeding the ducks our cookies!

Blue bugs!

What a wonderful time we had exploring God's world. Thanks for joining in on our fun trip and I hope you come back again next time.

May's Young Ladies' Class

This month our newly formed Young Ladies Class was welcomed at my home for a fun time of seed planting.

Our topic was, "What Does Your Root System Look Like" and our scripture was Genesis 2:7,8......

"And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed."

I pointed out how that the very first home that Adam had was a garden created by God. As we talked back and forth, the girls shared what they thought the garden would look like. We all agreed that it would the MOST beautiful garden ever! Of course, there were probably no weeds in Adam's garden.

Our lesson focused on the thought that just as a healthy root system determines the well-being of our gardens, so do the roots (or ways) that we are developing in our life determine how "healthy" we are as children of God. They quickly understood how important it is to weed out ugly things such as selfishness and jealousy from our hearts in order for us to have a healthy, godly heart. And I reminded them that the longer they let those ugly roots grow unchecked, the more difficult it would be to pluck them up.

At the end of our bible lesson, we all gathered around the table where I quickly talked about the information found on seed packets and explained our project. I provided the page below for them to take home in their notebooks.

At each girl's place was a 4 cup section of an egg carton.


They scooped in some special seed starter (soil) and then they selected the type of flower seeds that they would like to grow. After the seeds were planted we used a squirt bottle to gently water our tender seeds.


To dress things up a bit we used a vast array of markers and crayons to decorate the tray that we crafted from the top of the egg carton. And finally we covered the soil with plastic wrap to make a mini greenhouse.


One week later many of the girls reported that their hard work was paying off and that seedlings were sprouting! Yeah!

At the conclusion of our session all the girls' names were placed in a dish and one was selected for this month's awesome door prize. I knew I had found the perfect gift when I spied these...


They're plastic shapes of ice cream cones. The top unscrews to reveal scented blowing bubbles!

Pink = Strawberry
Brown = Chocolate
Yellow = Vanilla

These were the best bubbles I have ever had. I bought a couple of extra cones for the girls to enjoy on the front lawn as they waited for their families to pick them up. The scents were so strong that we could actually smell the vanilla and strawberry bubbles flying around the yard!

The girls were trying to blow them so they would "POP" on me....and said I was having a "Bubble Bath!"

Well, thank you for reading about our adventures and I hope you're enjoying Spring as much as we are.

Blessings,
Jessica

More Adventures at the Young Ladies' Class

I realize that posts around here have been a little slack. That's because I've been focused on a little part time job that I've had working in some friends' tax return office. But now that Canada's filing deadline of April 30th has come and gone, I'm free to reorient my days to my own schedule and I'm VERY happy to do so.

A few weeks ago I told you about the new Young Ladies' Class that was started at our church. For our April session our focus was on Letting the Peace of God Rule in Our Hearts. We compared how that food appetizers can help to put people at ease just like the Word of God is able to quiet our hearts and give us peace.

After the Bible lesson we gathered around the tables and divided the girls into two groups to create simple appetizers. One group chose to make celery boats with peanut butter and the other chose to make mini cheese blocks and crackers. The groups were instructed on how to properly select the appropriate knives to dice the cheese and chop the celery and then were supervised as they went to work.



We placed our appetizers on trays and each girl had the opportunity to sample each one. Of course we needed a drink to accompany our snack so we served a delicious mango punch.After all our hard work, the girls learned a sweet chorus called, "Let the Peace of God Rule in Your Heart," which they sang the following day at church. They really did sound like angels!

And finally, the excitement was building as we neared the end of our session as we selected a winner for the door prize! Little Jessica squealed with delight as her name was chosen and she opened her prize (a snow globe). As we cleaned up and said our good-byes there were smiles all around! All the girls had a great time and were already looking forward to the next meeting.

Thank you for taking the time to read about our adventures. I hope you'll stay tuned to hear about our adventure in May - Sowing and Reaping!

cheers,
Jessica

P.S. If you'd like to see April's bible lesson, keep reading...

Appetizers, also known as Hors d’oeuvres, are a specific type of food served before the meal or outside of the meal. These foods are generally small snacks such as cheese and crackers instead of a turkey dinner with all the fixin’s.

Oftentimes appetizers are served to put guests at ease and to relax. When guests first arrive at a party or dinner, they can be anxious or nervous. They may be worried about whether or not they are dressed properly; or who they might be meeting. People get nervous when they don’t know what to do; a small drink or snack gives them something to do that they are comfortable with.

People display nervousness in different ways. Perhaps they will talk too fast or too much or interrupt. They might be hyperactive or fidgety and play with their hair or some piece of clothing they’re wearing.

Do you think that Zacchaeus was nervous when Jesus announced that He was coming to his house? No, I don’t think so because the bible says that Zacchaeus made haste (hurried) and received him joyfully. He was excited to be able to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. An appetizer is what you do “in haste” to give people something to do while you finish preparing the meal or entertainment.

The Bible has lots to say about how to overcome nervousness. It says in Colossians 3:15, “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”

Like an appetizer helps put people at ease, God will help put your heart at ease when you are facing something new, or you don’t know how to act. If you know you are pleasing God, you don’t have to worry about pleasing everyone else all the time. Jesus is pleased when we are obedient and thankful. If we please Him we don’t have to be nervous about what others think because we are doing the RIGHT thing.

Our new "Young Ladies Class"

A few Saturday mornings ago there was a flurry of activity at my house. I hosted our church's first "Young Ladies Class" for girls ages 7 - 14. It's a time once a month that the girls can get together either at my home or the church with an emphasis on learning homemaking and personal growth skills. (Really I just get to have lots of fun while we dream up fun activities!) I had announced the event a few weeks ahead of time and the excitement had been building. As the girls arrived I could see the anticipation in their faces. "What would we do?" "Would it be fun?" "Would I fit in?"

After everyone arrived I started by explaining how that the days' activities would centre around kitchen basics, a Bible lesson and craft. We opened the Bible and I taught how that just like following a good recipe, the Bible is a recipe for our lives. If we listen and follow God's plan for us then our lives will turn out right. But if we choose not to follow God's word then we can expect our lives to flop (like a bad cake recipe!)

Then we headed to the kitchen where I divided the group into three teams. Team 1 was to mix up the cookie dough. Team 2 was to spoon the dough onto the cookie sheets and Team 3 would be doing the clean up.

The team donned aprons and got to work. Since it would be a few minutes until the dough was mixed up, I arranged for Teams 2 and 3 to participate in the craft.

I provided them with red postcards, foam flowers, a pre-printed scripture and they could decorate them however the chose.



I was amazed once again at the creativity of young minds. Some wanted to be just like someone else's and some wanted to be totally different!


The cookies we made are called Children's Favourites. I didn't have a chance to photograph the cookies because we were so anxious to taste the fruit of our labours. However, here's a picture from a previous post....

1 cup margarine
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl beat together margarine, peanut butter, white and brown sugars. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg. Add vanilla and mix well.

In a separate bowl combine oatmeal, flour, and baking soda. Gradually add to butter mixture and beat well. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes (just till very slightly browned being careful not to overbake them.) Cool on pans or wire racks. Makes 5+ dozen

And finally, just before we said goodbye I asked the group if any of them knew what a "Door Prize" was and I was returned with blank stares. With glee I explained how that when girls get together and have a party the hostess usually offers a door prize to one special guest. WOW! Were they excited now. I had carefully selected an inexpensive gift to give away and now was my chance. We wrote their names on pieces of paper and while we sang a little chorus we shook them up. Then I picked the winner and there were shouts of surprise! Yeah for Alysha!

Then the questions came..."Would we be having a door prize at every meeting?" "What happens if the same person is selected again?" and so on.

So as we waited for the moms to arrive, we used my camera to snap some funny candids. A great time was had by all and we're all looking forward to next month's activity. Later, as I thought about the day, I was blessed to be able to share things that took me years to learn as an adult. The potential in these young ladies is unending and helping them to develop their talents is an awesome experience.

Blessings to you,
Jessica