Changes and Transitions Assembly

photo credit

It's that time of year again where the Year 6's get their swagger and the nursery children come in for their afternoon trials at big school. Pupils are sizing up the next years teachers and teachers are doing the same! Change and moving on permeates throughout the school corridors up and down the land. And so this month's assembly topic was "Change and Transition" here is an assembly concocted as ever from various things I've read, seen and experienced, feel free to use it!

I decided to use the story of Joshua and Caleb spying out the land in Numbers 13-14 as I like the link between Jericho and high school! The spies explaining to Moses that they felt like grasshoppers compared to the giants in the land I felt was particularly apt!

Here is the powerpoint I put together using various images to illustrate change where the pupils had to guess what things changed into. I was also grateful to www.lambsongs.co.nz for being able to use their book graphics about Joshua and Caleb to tell the story.

Here's the assembly outline with a basic script of what I said, including a time for reflection and prayer.

I asked 3 pupils who were friends to come up to take on a "The Cube" style challenge where they had to move the rice from one container to the other, then I gave one of them chopsticks to do it. They had a go and were obviously not very successful! So I gave the two friends a spoon and an ice cream scoop to help them out. We talked about how it was then much easier to move the rice with the help of some friends with the right tools. We also worked out that had I cooked the rice (changed it's texture) it would also have been easier! Having friends to help out and using the right tools makes all the difference.

My middle daughter is about to leave primary school and face some of these challenges but we have talked about some of the positives of change and growing up (getting her ears pierced, a mobile phone and a door key featured among these!) and how we've coped with things in the past. The story of Joshua and Caleb reminds us that we need not fear when we face these things with God on our side. 

Something I also need to remember as our family goes through changes too!

Messy and powerful!

Our May Messy Church at SBC was on the topic of the Holy Spirit. This can be a difficult concept to try and explain so we focussed on the suggested plan of God's power to change things. This worked well building on from the concept of new life and God's love at Messy Easter.

We have found that it works best for us doing the celebration first (after the welcome, refreshment and registration) and we always kick off with a "Search the Church" activity where they look for something that is to do with the theme of the session. 

After seeing a few different ideas about explaining the Holy Spirit we went for using popcorn!

(See Flame:Creative Children's Ministry blog for more inspiration!)

"A piece of corn on it's own, is not very exciting is it? Not very tasty and not much fun to share but let’s see what happens when we add power to it? (At this point we fired up the popcorn maker which started changing the corn to popcorn as it heated up) It becomes something awesome, tasty and fun and worth sharing with others. The corn is like us created by God with the potential to be amazing, when we add God’s power to our lives we change to become what God created us to be. We can then share this so others can get to know God too."

We also used a fan to talk about how we couldn't see the air but we could see it's effects on our clothes, hair and feel it on our skin. God's spirit is the same, we can't see it but we can see and feel it's effects. The scene was then all set for the activities based on change and power. More details about what we did are available by looking at our Activities Plan which you can download if you wish! The weather was awful and we were a bit down on team so we did have to adapt/postpone some of the activities but there was still plenty to do!

Here's a taster of just some of them.

Changing bottles

Windmill

Bubble painting

Butter making

Magnet fun

Superhero lollipop

Goop

The whole event was finished off with jacket potatoes, sausages and beans followed by ice cream! It was a real privilege to lead another Messy Church with such a great team and have the opportunity to share something of God's kingdom with those that came.

God's power + Us = Awesomeness!

Making friends assembly

Finger friends!

Making friends was the topic that we recently took an assembly on and here's what we came up with.

We started off with looking at the latest craze of friendship band making - have you seen these? My girls are making them like crazy for all their buddies. You get them in a packet that looks like a bag of brace elastics and then you kind of finger crochet them together! It was good to link it to something they were familiar with!

We talked about you don't just make friends by giving someone a bracelet, there is more to it than that. But how do we make friends? I found this idea here and adapted it to use real ingredients. We asked for a volunteer and dressed them as a chef and added one ingredient at a time to 'make a friend'! 

This was a lot of fun as we added each ingredient we talked about what they meant to to ensure all ages understood the concepts, giving an example of each. It looked pretty grim by the end!

We then said that perhaps that wasn't really the best way to make a friend! Then we told the story of two best friends in the Bible - David and Jonathan, the ultimate BFF's. 

Jonathan helped David escape from his father King Saul by putting David first.

We linked the story to the 'making a friend' ingredients, pointing out that David and Jonathan's friendship had all those key elements and asked again how do we make friends? The key point of the assembly being . . .

THE BEST WAY TO MAKE A FRIEND IS TO BE A FRIEND!

We did plan to play this youtube clip of Michael Buble singing "You've got a friend in me"  to Toy Story clips as they were leaving but we ran out of time!

Let me know if you use this resource and how you got on! Enjoy!

Spring into Easter!

Easter, unlike Christmas, can be tricky to talk about with children and harder for them to understand. A baby being born is a much more attractive story than one of crucifixion and death. However, there are many traditions which we can engage with and explain the thinking behind them, one of which is making an Easter garden. My daughter made this at school and I love the simplicity and creativity of it with one side depicting the crucifixion and the other the resurrection and new life. An easy but effective project that depicts the story.

Easter garden

There was also an Easter bonnet competition at school that they didn't win but we had fun designing and making them! My youngest again wanted to depict the real Easter story so she wrote the different parts of the Easter story from Palm Sunday to the Resurrection on egg shapes and illustrated them. More opportunities to talk through the symbolism of new life through lambs and eggs and er....bonnets!

On Palm Sunday we held a Messy Easter service at Stopsley Baptist Church, as usual I turn to Pinterest for inspiration! It was so busy I didn't get a chance to take many photos but you can look at the ideas on my board here. Or download my activities planner. The resurrection rolls were very popular as was the egg rolling painting but my favourite one has to be the Easter Story box which is a brilliantly simple idea from here. You retell the Easter story using the figure and the decorated box, finishing with the empty box and the risen figure, so easy for all ages to understand! 

The girls and I also made some decorated Easter jars to give to their teachers to thank them for all their hard work at the end of term. We all enjoyed doing this and sourcing the different things to make them. We cut up some chick cloths for the covers, used some fabric tape to go round the jar (both from Tiger) bought some Haribo spaghetti for the 'grass' added some eggs, a chocolate bunny and carrot! So cute! Finished off with a great free printable label from here.

We then of course did lots of baking over the Easter holidays, experimented with making a simnel cake and hot cross buns (both from Nigella's Feast book). We were quite pleased with our simnel cake (although a blowtorch would have made it look better!) and we chatted through the significance of the 11 balls of marzipan to represent the disciples (minus Judas!)

The hot cross buns however were a different matter, they do indeed look very hot and very cross! I think the yeast I used was past it's best, not able to lift the dough from it's heavy state to being light and airy. They didn't taste too bad but they certainly didn't look great! 

  

And so as we move from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, the unpalatable nature of Jesus' death for us becomes sweet forgiveness as we celebrate His resurrection, new life for us all if we accept it for ourselves. Something that looked like all hope had gone that turned out to be the most amazing act of love ever! 

"God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die."    John 3:16

HAPPY!

Well, I don't know about you but the sunshine is certainly making me feel happier, it's so great to feel warm and enjoy being outside! 

Pharrell Williams' song "Happy" also can't help but get the happy vibes going, our family has loved it ever since it was on the soundtrack of Despicable Me 2 (fab film!)

However, we love it even more now since MuseumMakers set out to recreate our home town's version of the song. Where we live is often spoken about negatively, so it's great to get behind something positive and celebrate diversity and harmony.

Take a look!

I have also been looking at Acts 10 and how relevant it is to us today. During this time of Lent we are looking forward to the time when Jesus saved us at Easter. He saved us regardless of gender, race, class, background and so on. The video is a celebration of all those things, the people who are part of it, where we live, who we are. The good news of Easter is for everyone.

Maybe we need to see past some of those other things in people and ourselves and see us as Jesus sees us to be truly happy.

Pancakes a plenty!

So Shrove Tuesday came and we decided to see how many pancakes we could have across the day! We started with breakfast pancakes which is a foolproof recipe that is in my head which I really need to write down so here seems a good place as any! The batter works well being mixed up the night before ready for you to use in the morning, giving you the appearance of being a domestic goddess/god!

This feeds us 5 no problem so would be good for 6. But of course you could halve it, double it whatever!

200g self raising flour (we use gluten free)
1/2 pint milk
2 beaten eggs
4 tbsp sugar

Mix all these together and cook about 3 at a time on a skillet, frying pan, whatever you have. We couldn't resist this pan when we saw it and now the girls insist we have ours cooked in this every time!

These are the fluffy american style pancakes that are perfect for breakfast. We have ours with whatever is in the fridge! This is usually syrup (golden or maple) chocolate sauce, selection of fruit, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, bananas etc... Try them, they're really easy and very scrummy!

The girls had a filled crepe in their packed lunch for pudding and then we made savoury and sweet pancakes for tea! So many pancakes meant that now one of my girls has given them up for Lent haha!

Now, my usual approach to Lent has been pretty much this kind of attitude!

However, this year we are taking up the 40acts Lent challenge again, doing Lent generously. It's all about giving back rather than giving something up, great for individuals, families, small groups, schools etc... even if you don't normally observe Lent!

40 DAYS, 40 ACTS OF GENEROSITY

40 days of giving back, doing good and living generously

Now go and mix up some batter for a great weekend pancake breakfast (unless like one of my girls you've given them up of course!) Then check out the 40acts page too, it's really worth a look!

Let's try again

So, a few years ago, I set up a blog, posted a few things and that was it. Well after some persuasion from others and a recent forced time at home, I've decided to jump back on the wagon!

I'm going to try and post more often, take better pics and blog the everyday stuff I'm involved with from the impressive to the inane from my family life to ministry ideas and everything in between!

Now, where to start!?

Bluebells

Hello!

Just wanted to share with you a special family time we had in the woods ....

Beautiful bluebells

They're almost magical aren't they? 

Busy bumblebee

The youngest Whitething was off making up stories about the Gruffalo, here is where he sits, here is where he sleeps, oh look, here's his special place - here's all his children! So cute!

The Gruffalo's special place!

Trying to find the perfect spot for a photo without crushing any bluebells!

Nice enough but not quite right!

Just need them to all look and smile at the same time while the sun is out!

Nearly!

Think this is my favourite! Not exactly a posed photograph but tells a story, of sisterly love, of a special time being together, sharing the story of Moses with each other, just us in the woods with the beauty of God's creation to enjoy in the sunshine - how blessed we felt.

Think it was a hug?!

See you all soon!

Jo

xxx

PS- still waiting for that dry school run!

Baking in the holidays

Well that's the Easter holidays over with and very lovely they were too. I love my term time contract which means I get to enjoy spending time in the holidays with my girlies.

We spent our days with friends, making things, cooking, tidying bedrooms (this was not so much fun but needed doing!) they played imaginary games for hours and it was so lovely to listen to them and not have to stop them to do something or go somewhere, precious times.

Here's a sample of their baking (all gluten free of course!)

I did get into trouble for breaking the chick biscuit when I re-arranged them for the photo, that's gluten free baking for you!

I am also grateful to Jooles over on her blog for this delicious recipe for Raspberry and Marzipan muffins. They really are very good and I was unable to resist! 

The fabulous combination of the tartness of the raspberries combined with the sweetness of the marzipan and the surprising hint of cardamon is genius! Needless to say there were very few left when I took them into work for a leaving do, thanks Jooles!

So bring on the summer term, my eldest Whitething's last in primary school, two Messy Church events to organise, the allotment to plant up, the dining room ceiling to pull down, a community Jubilee event to help pull together, a couple of craft fayre's and lots more! Phew! Need to focus! And at some point I really want to learn how to crochet as it's still beating me! 

Meanwhile I'd settle for a dry school run! Hope you're having a good day!

Jo

xxx

New life - Easter part 2

So, we've never really known what to do with Easter Saturday before. But then I came across these Easter Story cookies or Resurrection cookies as they are sometimes called.

I was intrigued to see how they would work. Each ingredient tells a different part of the Easter story that corresponds to the bible verses. You then put them in a pre-heated oven (tomb) switch the oven off and seal them up overnight. Sunday morning, you open the oven door and find these, little hollow meringues just like an empty tomb. The girls really enjoyed doing this and was a great way of understanding more about Easter. It also made for an interesting breakfast combined with the finds of the egg hunt!

We also had our most successful and enjoyable attempt at egg dying and decorating yet! My youngest Whitething was definitely the best egg blower! We had a family friend round and it kept us all occupied on a rainy bank holiday! Most enjoyable!

Here is the eldest's Whitethings photo of our Easter fireplace. I'm not 100% happy yet with my Easter tree but it's getting there, year by year!

Hope you've all had a lovely family time together,

Jo

xxx

It's been a while . . . . but here goes - Easter!

Hi all, remember me?

I've kind of been a little behind in my blog posts (just a bit!) and silent on all of yours but have enjoyed reading what you've all been up to. But you know how  it is, you think I'll just wait until I finished the latest WIP or when I've got a better photo or something better to share and before you know it, it's weeks then months and then it gets harder and harder to start again!

So, here goes . . . I got in my head that I wanted to make an Easter wreath. We like to celebrate Easter in this house as we do Christmas so decorating the house is all part of it.

Anyhoo! I found a few spring bits I liked the look of, got the glue gun out, found an old wreath in the. loft (yes really!) and spent a very enjoyable 10 minutes gluing away, hung it on my front door and (I've waited a long time to say this!) TA-DA!

Easter wreath

I'm really quite pleased with it! We try to make a big deal of Easter as we think it's more important than Christmas as far as our faith is concerned! So we decorate the house and do family activities to help the girls get to grips with different parts of the story and so on.

Easter Jesse Tree

This is our version of an Easter Jesse Tree that we used at Christmas with some great ornament downloads from here and now at Easter to tell the story of the life of Jesus. We've brought some life to it courtesy of some Phoenix Trading butterflies! It's made out of some packaging materials and is only a feature until we get around to pulling the ceiling down in this room and decorating!

Christmas Jesse Tree

And here is my youngest's prize winning Easter bonnet (apologies for the poor photo - another excuse not to post!) her Daddy and her made for a competition at school. She was very adamant that it had to depict the real Easter story but then rather reluctant to wear it once the sticks were stuck in! But, very happy with her chocolate prize!

So, there we go! I've done it, made my first attempt at a comeback (!) hope you've enjoyed it and I'll try not to leave it so long next time! I'm on my way over to all you lovely people now to be brave enough to leave a comment! 

Happy Easter everyone!

Harvest

 We've been busy at the allotment harvesting the various fruit and vegetables. Sweetcorn, that tastes so different if you pick it and cook it straight away. Raspberries that hardly ever make it home because they taste so good straight off the plant and enough potatoes to see us round til next year!

Today was the girl's harvest festival at school, outside in the playground in the glorious sunshine, and I really loved listening to their songs and poems, watching my smallest whitething proudly holding up her lettuce picture and eldest whitething playing her recorder. This is the last year they're all together at primary school so I'm especially treasuring all these precious memories.

So, this morning I wanted to record this moment for posterity but of course nobody wanted their picture taken with their harvest boxes (grrr!) so here is one of them last year (when it was much colder!) at the allotment on the way to school.

I am so thankful for all that I have, my lovely family and friends, a home (with at least one nice room in it!), a choice of food to eat, making and creating things and a sense of purpose for my life through my relationship with God. It truly is the simple things that make me happiest (and things always seem better when the sun is shining!) Happy sunny weekend everyone!

Wonderful weekends!

Before you read this post I have to advise you that these are the highlights of the last couple of weekends, I've left out the arguments, the perpetual ironing pile, the broken glass, the overtiredness, the loooong car journey, the whining, the unfinished jobs etc... because I figured no-one wants to read about them! But be assured they did happen, we're quite normal! But as they say - here are our best bits!

We decided to embrace Autumn this weekend and make something different to our usual preserves and chutneys. We have a garden full of fruit trees,unfortunately we missed most of the damsons and plums while we were on holiday but still have loads of apples! One of our varieties, is very good for juice so we dusted down the old juicer and bunged them through - great fun for the smallest Whitething! It tastes really rather good and what's even better is that it requires no chopping or peeling! We've put some bottles aside in the garage to maybe turn into cider - need to find out how to do this though! Unsurprisingly, this was not my idea!

We made some elderflower cordial earlier in the year and had left some flowers to turn into berries. Then we found this recipe in countryfile magazine for elderberry cordial and after reading about it's amazing health benefits (extra Vitamin C, antiviral properties) we decided to give it a go, here's what it said.

200g black elderberries
400g sugar
12 cloves
2.5cm sliced fresh ginger

Strip the elderberries from their stems using fork or fingers!
Put them in a pan, add a cup of water, bring to the boil and simmer for about half an hour.
Mash the berries to release the last of the juice then strain the contents of the pan through a sieve.
Add the sugar, cloves and ginger to the strained juice.
Return the pan to the heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.
Bring to the boil for a further 5 mins and then strain and pour into a bottle.
Seal and store in the fridge. Drink diluted, hot or cold.

Almost makes me want to catch a cold to see if it works! Anyway, it tastes rather lovely regardless.

My husband and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary (belatedly) with a weekend away in Devon in our original honeymoon cottage. It's a converted barn with a galley bedroom, in a little hamlet, a real rural retreat!

 We had a lovely time not doing very much, enjoying the tranquil setting and going at our own pace for a change. It was lovely to go back in time and remember what it was like before the Whitethings came along! And huge thanks to my parents for having them, it's the longest we've both left them. Our middle Whitething did wake us up on our return, claiming she'd forgotten what we looked like! Bless!

So, there you go, a lovely couple of weekends, great marriage and family time and space and time to reflect. I am very grateful and I have been thinking of these verses a lot recently, they're great to take on board!

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, 
for his compassions never fail.

They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." 

Lamentations 3 v22-23