Easter Calendar!

Beginning next week, March 23, we have compiled daily activities for you to do with your child to talk about and experience different aspects of the Easter Story.
Download your calendar here and enjoy this special month with your family!

An Idea for Your Christmas Cards

There are plenty of ideas to be found for recycling or reusing your old greeting cards. Use them for gift tags next year, make them into tree ornaments, fashion them into table place cards, the list goes on. They are so pretty and it seems like such a waste to throw them out.

But what about all the family portraits we receive? The ones where talented photographers captured our "natural moments" so that friends can see our love of the outdoors? So much time and energy were placed into the making and sending of these photo cards. Here's a quick and easy project that will give you an easy lesson for your children.

Go to your favorite mega-store and purchase a small photo album or scrapbook. Place all the photos in this book and then label them with the names of the family members. (Don't worry if you have to cut the pictures up, you were going to throw them out anyway.) Now use this book daily (during breakfast, family worship time, kids devotional time) and pray for one family each day for the year. Next Christmas, replace it with a new one. What a great way to help teach your children to pray continuously, without ceasing.

New Year, New Opportunities

As you continue to settle back into your daily routine, take time to sit down with your children and reflect on the good things God has done in your family in the last year. If you have not already done so, take time over dinner or before bedtime to make a list using words or pictures, of some of the great things God did or taught you this year. Spend time praying and thanking God for the things on that list.
After that, take some time as a family to think through some things you want to see God do in your lives this year. Consider things within your home, opportunities within the church or community, and hopes you have for extended family or friends. Write down your prayers and goals for this year and spend some time praying over them and asking God for the things on your list.
At the end of your time together, remind you children that God is Good and that as a family you will trust Him to do whatever He wants to within your lives this year. Spend a few final minutes praising God through song or prayer for His power, provision and love.

Advent Calendar

A few days ago we talked about the importance of Advent as a season of preparation and expectation. We have now put together this online calendar to help you initiate some traditions and customs into your family and to help guide you on ideas on how to instill the true spirit of Christmas into your children's minds and hearts.

Have a blessed holiday season!

Sharing Christ at Thanksgiving

Generally, hopefully, as you gather your family around a delicious family Thanksgiving meal, there is some talk about things you are thankful for. I encourage you this Thursday to take advantage of that time to share the gospel with your children.
The most precious gift we've ever received is the gift of our salvation and that is what we should daily be most thankful for. When talking with your children about the things you are thankful for, tell them that you are thankful that God, in His mercy, gave us Jesus to die to pay the price for our sins. Tell them that you are thankful that God gave us a way to be made right again even though we are so full of sin. Explain that God gave us Jesus to take all of our sins on Himself on the cross and that if we love and trust Jesus and accept His gift of death on the cross for our sins, we can be made right before God.
Don't neglect to express joyful gratitude over your salvation this Thanksgiving and in doing so share with your children the most important message in the world!

Advent & Traditions

Advent is the season preparation, of expectation. The month preceding Christmas is a time of excitement and anticipation. Under what better circumstances can you initiate traditions and customs into your family that both celebrate and teach your child to value the birth of Christ?

When a child notices something out of the ordinary – an advent wreath, Scripture hung on the wall, a story told over a candlelit dinner – a parent has a unique and engaging opening to tell about the story of Christ. Establishing traditions with your family that will cause your child to take notice and ask questions is a powerful way to gain a hearing, and not just an obligatory ear, but a curious inclination to know and understand the reason behind new practices and activities. Anytime we can peak a child’s interest for spiritual things, we want to take that opportunity. This Advent season, I encourage you as a family to establish a new tradition that is rooted in the gospel story and will be an engaging exercise for your children and provide you as parents with the opportunity to worship as a family and to share with your child the reason behind the celebration and reverence of the holiday season.

Possible new traditions:

• Sunday night Advent story – each Sunday preceding Advent, gather as family to retell in part or in whole the Christmas story. Give 1 small gift a week.
• Carol Songs – sing traditional Christmas carols with your children before bedtime, but explain the words and meaning of the songs. Choose songs that talk about the birth of Christ and worship of Him.
• Nativity Scenes – make a new Nativity scene every year out of paper, cookies, clay, etc. Use this time as an opportunity to retell the Christmas story.
• Christmas Invitation – make an invitation inviting a friend, neighbor or family member either to Church or to a special family dinner. Include part of the Christmas story on the invitation. Deliver it by hand and retell all of the Christmas story to the recipient.

Thanksgiving Meal Boxes

As a church one of our core values is foot washing, or service. And just as we strive to worship corporately through service, we also want to worship together as a family through service. One great opportunity we have is the preparation of Thanksgiving Meal Boxes. Providence Church is teaming with Frisco Family Services Center to provide low-income families, families in crisis, and senior citizens with these packages. All you need to do is purchase the items on the list, place them in a box, and bring the box to the church building on Sundays or to the church offices during the week. The deadline for dropping off your box is November 9th.

Now that I have given you the logistics, let me present a few ideas that you could use to involve your children in the process. Be sure to explain to them what you are doing and why. Let them know that one family will receive everything in the box that you choose for them. So on Thanksgiving Day they will be preparing and eating what you have chosen to give to them. Help them to pray for the family throughout the process.

• Read the list aloud as your children look through your pantry for items that you already have (make sure they haven't expired). Several things on the list you may already have such as canned fruit and vegetables, macaroni & cheese, or an extra bottle of mustard. Even children as young as 18 months could help in this way, finding food they know.


• Print out the kid-friendly list, and bring it as you and your children go to the grocery store to choose items for the family. Read over the list together so that they know what all the items are. Using the pictures, your child can help you find everything on the list (the optional items are not included in this list). This will help them be involved in the process and you may find that your preschooler or elementary child has more fun at the store than usual when they have a job to do. Give them a pen or crayon and they can even check off the items as you find them.


• Make a huge pile of all the items on the list you have found or purchased. Get your list and call out the items as you pack them into a box. Very young children can help find things, and older children will be practicing spacial reasoning and logic skills as they try to fit everything into the box and not crush anything in the process.


• Get your family together and make a Thanksgiving card from your family to theirs. Preschoolers can dictate kind words, older children can write their own thought, budding artists can draw pictures of turkeys and potatoes, babies can even add their own scribbling. Have each child sign their first name to the card. Let the family know you will be praying for them.


• Pray for the family that will receive your box. Help your children remember to pray as you gather and shop, as you check and pack, and as you deliver the box to the church (by November 9th). Remember to pray for that family on Thanksgiving Day. And thank God that He has blessed your family so that you can help another family.

Redeeming Halloween

There's no denying the controversy that accompanies Halloween. Whether or not you choose to acknowledge the day is up to you (obviously) but I'd like to offer some suggestions for those of you who would like to in some way participate in the festivities.
At Providence, we believe in redeeming Halloween. It is the only day in the year where the community comes to you - literally to your door. Because of that, we have a unique opportunity to meet people where they are (on our doorstep!) and bless them.
With a view to that end we take a couple of simple steps:

• Giving away full-size candy bars. We want the children to tell their friends about our house so we give away the best candy. Not only is it big, but it has a large sticker on it with information about the church. We take advantage of the real estate on the candy bar to get a message out.

• Yard Parties - Another way to make your house the best on the block is to do it up big. We do bounce houses, hot soup or chili or burgers and drinks for the parents, face-painting and little carnival games. This way, you're not only seeing the children and interacting with them, but you get face-time with the parents while their children play. No longer are parents waiting at the base of the driveway while their children run up to the door and back down.

These ideas might be hard to achieve based on limiting variables. The point is, there are steps we can make to get out into the neighborhood, meet both parents and children, and show others that Halloween can be redeemed for God's glory. A day that is taboo to some and downright wrong to others has the potential to bring people together and open up opportunities for the gospel.
So, should you choose to partake, make the most of your opportunities.

Happy Halloween!