Appreciating our teachers

If you have a child in our preschool or children's ministry, chances are you also serve in our ministry and teach on Sunday mornings (and if you don't, let us know- we'd love for you to jump on board). If you faithfully serve in our ministry, we want to say a big THANK YOU!

We are having an event on April 10th at the church to celebrate what God's doing in the midst of our ministry and church body. If you didn't get the invite, please email me and I'll definitely send it your way!
( krystal@insideprovidence.com )

Hope you can all make it! :)

Easter Craft Idea

Here is a great Easter craft you can do with your children at home. This activity has repeatability; that is, your child can tell and retell the story of Jesus and His resurrection with this craft. (Each of the dozen plastic eggs have items inside, as well as the Scripture reference that it goes with.) Keep the plastic eggs in a regular egg carton so they can all stay in order and in the same place!

Resurrection Eggs

1 - A piece of a cracker, broken (Matthew 26:26)
2 - 3 silver dimes (3 pieces of silver) (Matthew 26:14-15)
3 - 1 purple piece of cloth (felt or material - represents the purple robes) (Mark 15:17)
4 - Thorns (from any bush or rose) (Matthew 27:29)
5 - Scourge (piece of thick string or rope tied to a twig) (Matthew 20:19)
6 - Cross made of toothpicks (John 19:17-18)
7 - 3 Nails (John20:25)
8 - Sign that says "King of the Jews" (Luke 23:28)
9 - Sponge (Matthew 27:48)
10 - Spear (toothpick or straight nail) (John 19:34)
11 - Rock (Matthew 27:59-60)
12 - The tomb is empty!!! (Matthew 28:6)

Talk about the significance of His resurrection and that we can find new life in Jesus, just like He found new life being raised from the dead!

Children's Worship

This month's Loop article this month was all about worship. If worshiping with your kids isn't exactly a normal practice, it's okay! No better time to start than today. :) Here are some great CD's that you can listen to at home or in the car.


iWorship series

This series is great music that is fun and still centered around God. The iWorship series includes songs you recognize but done in a fun, upbeat way that children respond well to. Even so, it's fun and upbeat for adults too!

I personally like volume 3, which includes songs such as "Blessed Be Your Name" and "Trading Sorrow".

You can hear a preview of the album here: Amazon Music.


Hillsong Kids- "Tell the World"


If you and/or your kiddos like to rock out, this is a great CD for that! You may be familiar with Hillsong (we sing a few of their songs during our worship service at Providence!) or even Hillsong United. This is Hillsong Kids. I love that they allow worship to be accessible, no matter how old you are. They have videos to some of their songs posted online and they show thousands of children worshiping God together.

I must admit, I've caught myself listening to these songs on more than one occasion. My particular favorites are "Tell the World", "I Want the World to Know" and "Yours Alone". This is a CD you can set on repeat.

Preview it here: Amazon Music.


Seeds Family Worship: Seeds of Faith

We LOVE Seeds here at Providence. We use them quite a bit for our memory verses. What's great about these CD's is that they use Scripture rather than lyrics. After listening to them a few times, you'll catch yourself memorizing these songs...in turn, memorizing Scripture! They are simple and fun.. kids and adults alike love Seeds. There are albums based on faith, encouragement, purpose and courage.

One of my favorites on this album is called "Faith" based on Hebrews 11:1.. also your child's memory verse this month!

Preview it here: Amazon Music

What are your favorite worship songs/CD's to listen to with your kids?

Happy New Year!

2010 is here.

We now have an entire year ahead of us - a clean slate to work out whatever resolutions we've set, plan for improvement.. only to break them and re-resolve to work harder. If you're anything like me, you may even forget your resolutions by mid-April. With all this resolution talk, it begs the question - what resolutions do you have for your children?

As they grow older and wiser (per your guidance!), your children and preteens will start to ask more and more questions that will push you beyond your comfort level. For example, some of our lovely moms came to help us put together furniture for our children's area. We all got to chatting and we somehow got on the subject of their children asking some pretty challenging questions. They responded in love and grace and with one of my favorite, and appropriate, responses - "Let me pray about it and get back to you."

Over the years, the Lord has continued to stir up a passion in me to help equip families to teach biblical principles in the home. Honestly, if I could have an unlimited book budget for a personal library, I would snatch up all kinds of resources to read and lend out to all of you.. but alas, this is sadly not the case...yet.

So let's hear it: what kinds of plans do you want to implement for your kids or in your home in general? Also, what kinds of articles would you like to see on the blog for the new year? Ideas for devotionals? Resources for specific topics?

Let us know!

He's Here!

If you are an avid reader of the Loop, then you may have seen that I suggested the nativity story from the Jesus Storybook Bible entitled "He's Here!". Well, the Bible was recently recorded into an audio version and they made this clip as well. When I saw this, I was so so excited.. I hope you are just as excited to see this. Enjoy!

Advent activities

Hope you've had a great first week of Advent :) I also hope that you have found a devotional to study with your family during the Christmas season. (If not, let us help you find one!) Here are a few ideas for your family as you continue to celebrate Advent:

• Create your own Advent calendar..it's not too late! You just might have to play catch up. Get small envelopes for each day leading up to Christmas and have your child decorate each envelope. Get little trinkets or stickers to put in each day. As they get their 'present' out of the envelope, have them say one thing they love about Jesus.
• Think of short but fun activities you could do with your children each day. Activities like making Christmas cookies for your neighbors or even donating extra clothing to Samaritan's Inn are great ways to bond with your children. These are easy ways to be able to talk about Jesus being the reason for the season.
• Go to the library and read some Christmas books. There are some suggestions in this month's Loop (hint, hint). Ask your children to retell you the story and take that opportunity to teach them the significance of Jesus' birth.

Any other suggestions for ideas or activities? Feel free to post a comment here or on our Facebook page.

Praying that you have a blessed time with your family and your Heavenly Father!

Why Advent?

Depending on what church you went to growing up, you may have not celebrated Advent during the holiday season. So it begs the question, "Why celebrate Advent?"

Advent means 'coming' or 'arrival'. The spirit of Advent is waiting the arrival of the coming Messiah. Jordan found a wonderful Advent study that you can do with your family. It has references to the Jesus Storybook Bible as well so your children can participate. This is a great way to study the birth of our Savior and create the sense of anticipation for His return.

To download this study, go here. Thanks to Christ the King Presbyterian Church for this great devotional.

Check in and our Facebook page for more ideas as we continue to celebrate Advent!