Love the Lord your God, listen to His voice and hold fast to Him, for the Lord is your life! Deut. 30:20


Saturday, August 20, 2011

Busy

Can I say I am exhausted? Happy, yet exhausted. Getting the nursery ready for the coming year has taken many hours! But I felt such peace, even though I was working on it about 12 hours each day. I felt the prayers! With Al's Dad dying last week, I didn't know how I could begin to get it ready, but thanks to many helpers, it did! And we are ready to receive those precious little ones tomorrow!!!

A group of ladies came to church to help clean the toys. Thank you, dear ones!! (they are cleaned weekly, but we gave them a thorough cleaning and threw out some toys that were a little too used)





I worked on 10 bulletin boards.







We went through all the cabinets and made sure all the rooms had supplies. Threw out the yucky playdoughs and markers, got some new.




Every room needed diapers or training pants, wipes, bubbles, etc. (the rope is not for tying up naughty children! we use it for the children to hold on to while we walk them to the playground)




Curriculum needed to be sorted and filed. Several people helped with that too. Thank you!!!



And mostly, thank you, Debbe for your help this week! With Al's Dad's funeral last week, I was a week behind getting "nursery ready". I could not have been ready without Debbe coming alongside me this week, each day, all day! What a hard worker and so fun to work with!




God has blessed us with wonderful workers! I only need 1 helper yet. God promises to provide all our needs so we need not worry. We are so sad to see the little Lamb class graduate to the Kingdom Kids class. They feel like our babies as we've seen most of them since they were in the little Bunny class!


Children's ministry is vital and I am passionate about it! Coming alongside parents to teach children about Jesus!

I love this philosophy written by another ministry - "For too long nurseries have been part of church life because “somebody” has to take care of the infants and toddlers while their parents participate in worship services and Sunday school classes. Infants and toddlers can be a distraction in these settings; therefore,nurseries exist. But the church nursery should be an exciting and vital ministry in the church. It can be more than a babysitting service—it can be a launching pad for nurturing the faith of the next generation. If the nursery is viewed as a place of prayer for young children, a place where children learn simple truth statements as they form their language skills, and a place where they hear foundational Bible stories, the nursery can be transformed into an integral beginning of ministry to children."

Psalm 78: 3-8
stories we have heard and known,
stories our ancestors handed down to us;
We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
about His power and His mighty wonders.
For He issued his laws to Jacob;
He gave His instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children,
so the next generation might know them—
even the children not yet born—
and they in turn will teach their own children.
So each generation should set its hope anew on God,
not forgetting His glorious miracles
and obeying His commands.
Then they will not be like their ancestors—
stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
refusing to give their hearts to God.