These photos are from my niece Nicole. She has given me permission to share these with you! These are Joseph and are from the Willette Church of Christ VBS 2013. Again, they are not mine, and so I am just showing you the photos, and I do not have any info on how they were done. They are to give you ideas for decorating! THANKS for sharing, Nicole! 

Thanks to my niece Nicole Whitacre for letting me share her decorations for their VBS this year. They did Moses and these are her photos of her room decorations. These are just the photos. The door Baby Moses The Burning Bush The 10 Plagues Wall Here are close-ups of the 10 Plagues. The 10 Commandments at Mt. Sinai.

It has been a while since I have posted anything here but I decided to join in on the Bible study over at Bible Stories from the Heart. This is my take on the study for week one. I kind of went m…

VERSES: Nehemiah 1:1-13:31 MEMORY VERSE: Nehemiah 4:6 "...for the people had a mind to work." BOOK TO REMEMBER: Mark. Write "Mark" on small slips of paper and hand out to the students at the end of class for memory work at home. PRAYER: Pray that we might be hard workers like Nehemiah and God's people who worked on rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. SPECIAL SONG: Read, Read Every Day (see February - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #3 on this blog) VISUAL AID: A large-sized Activity (see below) LESSON POINTS: We studied last time about how King Cyrus of Persia, through the urging of the LORD, had allowed any of God's people who were also called 'Jews' to return to Jerusalem. We have studied two groups of God's people who returned to Jerusalem. One group of 50,000 people was led by Zerubbabel back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Later, Ezra led 17,000 more people back to Jerusalem to restore the law. Now, we find that Nehemiah is going to lead the last group of Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall that went around Jerusalem and protected the city. Nehemiah was a godly man who had the job in Babylon of being the king's cupbearer (Nehemiah 1:11). This was a very important job to the king. A king never knew who his friends really were. We have studied before about some kings who were killed by their family or by those who they thought were their friends. That was why Nehemiah had such an important job. He was responsible for making sure that the things that the king drank were not poisoned! One day, Nehemiah was in the city of Shushan which about 150 miles from Babylon and he met a friend and some men of Judah. He asked them about the Jews who had escaped the captivity and how things were going in Jerusalem. The men said that things were not going well. They said that that the remnant or the small amount of Jews that served God were not doing well at all. They said that there was great affliction and reproach, the wall of Jerusalem was broken down, and the gates had been burned with fire. This news made Nehemiah very sad and he sat down and cried. He mourned and fasted and prayed to God for days. Then, for the first time since he had heard the news about Jerusalem, Nehemiah went before the king to give him his cup. The king knew Nehemiah and noticed that he was very sad. He asked him what was wrong and Nehemiah was afraid because no one went before the king when they were sad. Nehemiah answered the king respectfully and said why shouldn't he be sad when the city, the place of his father's graves, laid in waste and the city's gates were burned with fire. The king was concerned and asked Nehemiah what he wanted to do. Nehemiah was a man of prayer. He prayed to God, then he answered the king. Nehemiah replied to the king that he wanted the king to send him to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall. The king was pleased to send Nehemiah to Jerusalem and Nehemiah received a letter from the king to get all the supplies he needed and he left with the captains of the army and horsemen. When Nehemiah arrived in the city, two men named Sanballat and Tobiah, who were not Jews, were terribly bothered that someone had come to check up on the Jews to see how they were doing. Nehemiah was secretive. He didn't tell anyone why he was there and at night time he went out and took a look at the wall. He wanted to see what shape the wall was in and made a plan on how to fix it. Then Nehemiah told the Jews that God's good hand was upon him and he had come to help them build the wall. Right away, the Jews said, "Let's get up and build!" They were ready to work! But, Sanballat and Tobias were not happy. The Bible says that they laughed at Nehemiah and mocked or made fun of him because they hated the Jews. Nehemiah answered them bravely that the God of heaven would help them and they would build the wall. There were obstacles in Nehemiah's way, such as the enemies that lived all around Jerusalem, including Sanballat and Tobias, also some of the Jews were afraid, some people said "We can't do it!", there was also an amazing amount of rubbish around the city they had to clean up, and even some of the Jews who were covetous were in Nehemiah's way. But the people wanted to build the wall and they set their minds to work. They worked hard and finished the wall in 52 days! That was fast--all because they were hard workers! The wall was finished. After the wall was finished, Nehemiah did much good by reading the law of the Lord. One day they were reading in the book of Moses out loud to all the congregation of people. Everyone could hear the law being read. They found written in the book that the Ammonite and Moabite were not supposed to be included in the congregation of the LORD. Both the Ammonites and the Moabites had treated Israel badly in past times and God had punished them for their mistreatment. When the people heard the law, the Bible says that the people separated themselves from the mixed multitude or the ones who were from other nations found in the house of God. Nehemiah also found that Eliashib, the priest, who had the oversight of the chamber of the house of God, was friends with Tobias. He had treated him like he was something special. He had given him a large room in the house of God to stay in. He had given him meat offerings, frankincense, money from the corn, and oil, and other valuable things to Tobias. Tobias was not a friend of God. He had married a Jewish woman (Nehemiah 6:17-19), but he should not have been in the house of God. All this was done while Nehemiah was in Babylon. When Nehemiah found out about this friendship between Eliashib and Tobias and all the things Eliashib had done for this enemy of the LORD, Nehemiah threw out all of Tobias' things out of the house of God and had them clean the room in which he was staying. Nehemiah was brave and not afraid of anyone who was against God. Nehemiah also took care of the Levites and made certain that they were fed and were doing the jobs for which they were responsible. Nehemiah also spoke to the men of Judah who had married foreign wives. He brought up King Solomon's sins to them and told them not to be like him in that way. He said that even the children could not speak in the Jewish language because they also spoke the language of Ashdod. This was a problem and Nehemiah wanted it fixed because God was displeased. Nehemiah said over and over again, "Remember me, O my God..." (Nehemiah 13:14, 22, 31). We should say that, too! "Older Student" Tips: Nehemiah had an interesting plan in building the wall around Jerusalem. Each family had a section of the wall and they were responsible for rebuilding only that section. By everyone pitching in and doing their part made the work go very quickly. Definition of affliction: pain and suffering. Definition of reproach: expressing disappointment or disapproval. ACTIVITY: The Wall of Jerusalem Materials needed: 9" x 12" dark brown construction paper, four 4 1/2" x 6" pieces of light brown construction paper, scrap of yellow construction paper, crayons, marker, lots of tape, scissors. Hand out dark brown piece of paper to student. Hand out one piece of light brown paper to student. Fold light brown paper in half, lengthwise. Fold again, lengthwise. Unfold and draw medium-sized circles all over one side of light brown paper. The circles are rocks. Fold paper to resemble a tube.This is one side of the wall. Secure with tape. Tape to short side of dark brown paper. Repeat steps #3-7 with second piece of light brown paper. This is the second side of of the wall. Attach to opposite side of dark brown paper. Repeat steps #3-7 with third piece of light brown paper. This is the third side of the wall. Attach to long side of dark brown paper. It should slide right in! Repeat steps #3-7 with fourth piece of light brown paper. This is the fourth side of the wall. Attach to opposite side of dark brown paper. This, too, should slide right in. Tape 'walls' together securely, so they will not bend easily. This is the wall of Jerusalem. Inside is the city of Jerusalem. Hand out yellow paper. Make a 'sunburst out of the yellow paper. See picture above. Write "Nehemiah and the people build the wall in 52 days!" in the middle of the yellow paper. Write "The people wanted to work!". "Nehemiah 6:15", and "The city of Jerusalem" in the middle of the 'city.'

Yah! I have more pictures to share with you from my niece Nicole Whitacre! So, that means the ideas are here for you, without any printables and basically without any instructions. I have copied and pasted her comments and I pretty much let her pictures speak for themselves. I think they do a great job! Nicole likes to decorate her walls with the lessons! I feel good getting the bulletin boards ready! From Nicole: This class covers the Missionary Journey's of Paul from the book of Acts. It is for the 4th - 5th grade classes. These are passport covers with the students names on them. Saul's conversion ... There shined round about him a light from heaven We used a heat lamp with a flood light for the bright light. The kids looked at it until many of them had tears in their eyes! (Lamp on) Saul escapes in a basket. I bought the basket from Michael's. Paul healed the lame man in Lystra. We made the cot from bamboo poles and burlap. Paul and Silas in prison. Bought the chains from Michael's at Halloween. Aquila and Priscilla, tent makers. Eutychus. Paul shipwrecked. Map from where Paul travels. We will move Paul to the city he goes to each week. Thank you, Nicole for sharing these! ☺ 

My niece and her family went to Polishing the Pulpit this August 2013, and Nicole and her daughter taught an Overview of Moses class. She is kind enough to let me post the photos here so you can have more ideas for your lessons on Moses! You will see some of them on the Moses posts coming up! I love having new ideas! THANKS for sharing, Nicole! The notes are from Nicole to let you know what she did! Baby Moses in the basket in the Nile River. Moses as a baby. I found a large basket and boy doll and placed him in it. Them I bought a couple yards of blue fabric and cut it to where the basket will look like it is in the water. Then I put batting under the fabric to make it puff up. I also bought the reeds and placed then in a pot that I found at Dollar General to hide Miriam behind. I put Pharaoh's daughter and Miriam on stands so that they will stand up without leaning on a wall and that also gives a 3D look. Burning Bush (Lights on & off). Close up of the plagues The 10 Plagues 1. Water to blood 2. Frogs everywhere Plague 1 & 2 Water to blood and frog. I put red food coloring in the bottom of a clear glass and let the kids pour water in and the water will then be red. For the frogs, I used a doll house and put frogs inside to show that they were everywhere. 3. Lice 4. Flies (with fly swatters). Plagues 3 & 4 Lice and Flies. For lice I bought small spiders at the Dollar Store and cut the legs off to make them look flatter. Flies I also bought these at the Dollar Store around Halloween and bought fly swatters. The children loved to swat at the flies. 5. animals died 6. boils Plagues 5 & 6 Death of the Cattle and Boils. I purchased cows and put round stick on earrings to make them look sick. For the boils, on the number is the big bubble wrap with a red reinforcement holes. Then to give to the children, we placed the round Band-Aids that we colored red to put on themselves. Love this! The kids put 'boils' on the teachers and themselves! 7. Hail 8. Locust Plagues 7 & 8 Hail and Locusts. I used ping pong balls and let the children throw them in the air and duck. They love this! I make the locusts out of a clothespin and they take these home as well. You can have the students make them depending on the age of the students and how much time you have. 9. Darkness with sunglasses! 10. Death of the firstborn: Blood on the door posts & lintel Plagues 9 & 10 Darkness and the death of the firstborn. I take children's sunglasses and put black card stock in them so when they put them on they can not see anything. For the death of the firstborn I made doorposts and put red paint on them. You can also let them make them and color red on them.  This is how the plagues looked in the room. Here is the Red Sea Crossing. The next set of photos are close-ups! This is awesome! Lift up the 'water' and let the kids walk on the 'dry land'! We will be doing this!  Mount Sinai and Moses with the 10 Commandments The tablets on the table are knee boards. I found a stone colored foam board and cut it to fit the boards and them glued the ten commandments on it. The gold calf is a piñata! The Golden Calf. I bought this as it was originally a piñata. I took it and paper mached it and then painted it gold. I love that the gold calf is at the bottom of Mt. Sinai for when Moses returned to the people! Moses and the Ten Commandments. I bought the Moses doll and made the mountain out of an upside down bucket and put brown paper on it. Then I placed beige fabric around it. The tablets are made out of air dry clay and then painted gray. Here is a close up of the quail God gave the people. The quail are dove decoys that I bought at Wal Mart in the hunting section. I painted them brown and cut out brown felt to put on their heads. When I do my class I make manna cookies but in this picture I used oyster crackers either one will work. Here is the recipe for the manna cookies: http://www.cooks.com/recipe/we70w8kv/manna-cookies.html This is the overview of the manna & quail. Thanks again, Nicole Whitacre for the use of your photos and ideas!

Much of what God has spoken to me lately—both what I’ve shared and what I’ve stowed in my heart, has come from implementing this one simple tip.

Here are more photos from my niece Nicole Whitacre! I have permission to add her Bible class wall designs to the blog. Like I mentioned in the last post with Nicole's pictures, they are different from what I usually do! I usually only do walls for VBS, even though there are a couple of lessons that I do walls for. I am dividing up the photos by theme and this post is Jesus including pictures from Miracles & Parables by Jesus. And, since they are not mine, there won't be a lot comments to explain... I am going to let the photos do the talking! I do not have any instructions, just the photos to give you ideas! (Above Left Title: The Parents of Jesus) (Above Right Title: The Birth of Jesus) (Above Left Title: Jesus in the Temple) (Above Right Title: The Baptism of Jesus) Above Title: The Temptation of Jesus (Above Title: Parables of Jesus) (Above Left Door Title: Sowing the Seeds in the 4th & 5th Grades) THANKS! Nicole! Nicole and her husband Rob and their family attend the Willette Church of Christ. You can find more of Nicole's ideas here.

These photos are from my niece Nicole. She has given me permission to share these with you! These are Joseph and are from the Willette Ch...

Thanks to my niece Nicole Whitacre for letting me share these photos of the Judges with you. The above photo is Nicole's door. When Nicole decorates her room for the quarter, she decorates her whole room! These photos are of her entire walls, all the way to the ceiling! Nicole has given me permission to share these ideas with you, but as with all of her ideas, there are not any printables or instructions. These are just the photos to give you ideas. Thanks Nicole! You can see these posters of the Judges here. This shows part of the layout of the room. Deborah & Gideon Gideon the fleece test. Samson Samuel Ruth was included in this set of photos, too. I included the photo, even though she is not part of the Judges. You can find the Judges lesson & more here. Click here to see more printables for the Judges. Click here to see more for Samson Part 1. Click here to see more for Samson Part 2.

Yah! I have more pictures to share with you from my niece Nicole Whitacre! So, that means the ideas are here for you, without any printabl...

VERSES: Lamentation 1:1-5:22 MEMORY VERSE: Lamentations 3:40 "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again unto the LORD." BOOK TO REMEMBER: Colossians. Write "Colossians" on small slips of paper and hand out to the students at the end of class. PRAYER: Pray our hearts will be tender and pure and, when we sin, we will have a heart like David's and repent with our whole heart. SPECIAL SONG: Be Careful Little Eyes (see March - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #3 on this blog. Click on orange circles to hear tune.) VISUAL AID: Draw a large Activity (see below) on the chalkboard or whiteboard. LESSON POINTS: When Jeremiah, the prophet of God, wrote the book of Lamentations, it was at the saddest time ever for a child of God. "Lamentations" mean grief, sorrow, and extreme sadness. God had allowed the Babylonians to come into Jerusalem, the city of David, and totally destroy it. The Babylonians were ruthless soldiers and were not careful about anything. They wrecked the temple, and took all of the gold and precious things back to Babylon. They set the city on fire. They killed so many people and truly did not care if the person was old, young, man or woman or child. It was a terrible, terrible time for the Jews. Why had all of these dreadful things happened to God's people? It was because of their disobedience to God. God is a patient God, but, after warning His people for so long, His patience finally wore out. He had warned the people through Moses, through Joshua, through the judges, and through the prophets, to return to Him and serve Him only, but they did not listen all of those years. God finally said that he had had enough of their sin, their idols, their selfishness, and their lack of love for Him. He allowed a nation from the north, the Babylonians to come and ravage the city and take away the captives as their slaves to their city of Babylon. Jeremiah had lived through all of this destruction. He spent his whole life warning the people of Judah to turn from their evil ways and return to God. But, the people would not repent and stop doing their wicked deeds. Jeremiah saw the city destroyed and, when he wrote his book, he wrote like someone had died and he was attending a funeral, but it wasn't someone, it was the city of Jerusalem and God's people. It was so very, very sad. Some people call this book of Lamentations, the "Weeping Song." Jeremiah cried over the destruction of Jerusalem, but also over the disobedient people and their stubbornness to do wickedness. "Older Student" Tips: Jeremiah wrote Lamentations after the city of Jerusalem was destroyed and the people were in Babylonian Captivity. This book was read on the anniversary of the destruction of Jerusalem. The book of Lamentations has a unique writing style. In Hebrew, there are 22 letters of their alphabet. This book is unusual because Chapters 1, 2, 4, and 5 have 22 verses in each of those chapters and each of the verses in each chapters begin with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. While chapters 1, 2, and 4 are alphabetized, chapter 5 is not. When the alphabet is used in this way to write, it is called an acrostic form of writing. Chapter 3 is unusual because it has 66 verses and the first three verses begin with aleph (the first letter of the Hebrew Alphabet), the second three verses begin with beth (the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet), and continues that way throughout the chapter, repeating the complete Hebrew alphabet. Perhaps it was written this way to help the people remember more easily. A 'dirge' is a funeral song. Lamentations was a long, sad funeral song. ACTIVITY: The Tears Of The Weeping Prophet Materials needed: 9"x 12" tan construction paper, 9" x 12" light blue construction paper, marker, crayons, scissors, glue. Hand out tan paper. Write "The Tears Of The Weeping Prophet, JEREMIAH" and "Lamentations 1-5" at the top of the paper. Write "(Why Jeremiah Cried Over Jerusalem)" at the bottom of the paper. Hand out blue paper. Fold blue paper twice, so that seven or eight 'tears' can be cut out of paper. Write on each tear at a time: "Jeremiah's friends had become enemies. 1:2" "The beauty of Jerusalem departed. 1:6" "Jerusalem sinned a terrible sin. 1:8" "Jerusalem had no comforter. 1:9" "God was far from His people. 1:16" "Jerusalem's enemies were glad. 1:21" "Jeremiah's heart was faint. 1:22" Glue 'tears" on tan paper. Color.

Special thanks to Nicole Whitacre for permitting me to use her Jacob & Joseph wall decorating photos! As with all of Nicole's photos, t...

Melissa’s Musing Product Review Blog has done a write up on Sermon Sketchnotes. We’re giving away a free Sermon Sketchnote on February 20th. Check out her blog post here: Sermon Sketch Notesby Marsha Baker @blessinks Review Go over and post a comment to enter in the give away. I’d love your comments to see how […]

A Prayer Journal for Kids to encourage praying. Child's Prayer Journal and printable pages is an easy activity for VBS, summer camp or bible study.