Can we do another one?

Near the end of the afternoon, my oldest son said to me, "Mom can we build a Bible story?"

"We already did, son.  Remember the frogs?"  I replied.

"Oh yea, now I remember" he said.

After a pause, "Can we do another one?"

"Sure, let's do it tomorrow ... it's bath time right now."

God has answered my prayer - building Bible stories is more fun than play to my children.

Frogs

Exodus 8 continues the story of the plagues that came to Egypt.  In one of the plagues, frogs came from the river and went everywhere - in the houses, on the people, in the ovens, in the bread dough troughs, in the bedrooms, and even in the beds.

We colored pictures of frogs and cut them out:

We put the frogs in the beds:

We put the frogs in the oven:

We put the frogs on people:

Red Water

Exodus 7 begins the story of the plagues that came to Egypt when Pharoah wouldn't let Israel go.  In one of the plagues the water became red, the fish died, and the Egyptians could not drink the water.

We got a stick for Moses rod.

We got clear clean water.

We poured beet juice in ...

We talked about the red water.

Making Bricks

Exodus 5 tells the story of how the children of Israel were making bricks.  The Egyptians taskmasters provided the straw.  Then when Moses and Aaron asked king Pharoah to let them go a 3 days journey into the wilderness, Pharoah told the taskmasters to stop giving straw to the Israelites slaves.  Instead they would have to gather stubble for straw and still make the same number of bricks.

Today we read the story and the boys got to work:

1st they made the mud - what delight for two boys!

I gave them the straw:

Using mud & straw, the boys made "bricks":

Next they went to gather stubble instead of straw:

Making bricks again!

A Blessing In The Hay Barn

On Sabbath afternoon, I took our 3 boys for a Sabbath afternoon walk (one in the stroller, of course).  We love the hay barn.  It's cozy with lots of places to climb on the hay and straw bales.  We talked together and wondered what Bible story we might be able to do in the hay barn?  "Too bad we didn't bring our Bible" I commented.  Then we looked down and saw a Bible in the stroller.  "Wonderful!"  I commented, "Let's read our next chapter about Moses in Exodus and just see what its about."  Opening to Exodus 5, we read about, you guessed it, making bricks from straw!  Now how does God coordinate things like that?  I don't know, but it sure is wonderful!

Going to Talk to King Pharoah

Exodus 3:10-22

(10)  Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

…

 (18)  …. And … ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.

When I read this, my oldest boy jumped up and said, "3 days journey"!  I hadn't planned to do anything for that part, but as soon as I read it, they were ready to do something, so we walked around designated pathway 3 times and talked about how far a days journey is.  (BTW, when God says we need to be like little children, it might have something to do with the fact that children think in terms of action, not theory.  God's word is active ... not passive)

 

Exodus 4:1-31

(1)  And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.

(2)  And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.

(3)  And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

The boys both held their walking sticks:

 

They threw the sticks on the ground and fled from the plastic snake (they loved the running part!):

 

(4)  And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:

(5)  That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.

(6)  And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.

(7)  And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.

For the white hands, the boys dipped their hands in a container of water and then into a container of starch (cornstarch works great).  

(10)  And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

(11)  And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?

(12)  Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.

(13)  And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.

(14)  And the … LORD … said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.

(27)  And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.

 The boys took two separate routes and met at "the mountain".  We talked about how both Moses and Aaron followed God's instructions.  Quick obedience to God's commands enabled them to meet up at the right time and place.  So it's important for us to obey quickly so we can know God's plans for us.

(28)  And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him.

(29)  And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel:

(30)  And Aaron spake all the words which the LORD had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.

(31)  And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.

The Burning Bush

Exodus 3:1-22

(1)  Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

Ready to go!

 Got our sheep

Found our desert in our back field - anywhere that's not irrigated!

Found our mountain

(2)  And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

(3)  And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

(4)  And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

(5)  And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

(6)  Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

Found our bush

Took off our shoes

Hid our faces

(7)  And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

(8)  And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

 We started walking ... looking for a land that flowed with milk and honey.  Decided we needed flowers so the bees could make honey :-) so we went close to the lilac and rose bushes where the grass is watered.

Along the way, Caleb said, "I'm getting kind of tired".  So we talked about how the children of Israel got tired on their journey through the wilderness to Canaan ... and how God took care of them.

We found Canaan!

 I told the boys that if they heard the words "milk and honey" then we could have some; in fact, each time they heard those words, they could have a taste of honey.  Of course they "listened up".

After enjoying the milk and a taste of honey, they asked for more honey.  "That's enough", I said.


"Can we read it again?" they asked.  Smart kids!  And, mission accomplished: God's word is being fixed in their minds through a multi-sensory experience AND they want to read it again (never mind the motive of getting more honey, at least God's word is desirable!).

A baby in a basket

We're back!  After moving, giving birth to a new baby, and many travels, we are once again building Bible stories!

We are reading about Moses.

 

Exodus 2:1-25

(1)  And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

(2)  And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

(3)  And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.

While Daddy gets a haircut, the boys weave grasses together ... as Jochabed did for the basket boat.