The Sweet Blessings of Sisterhood

Illustration by Beatrix Potter

Am I peculiar? I know we are not encouraged to be people pleasers. However, I have this intense yearning to please my husband when preparing dinner. In my overburdened, cream-colored refrigerator lies a new pack of 36 flour tortillas. Yet, here I am covered in flour despite my Little Caesar's apron from years past.

Yes, I am making homemade flour tortillas. While not difficult, I do go through a process of letting the dough sit for 20 minutes to break down the gluten to make rolling it out easier. “Put a little more of your body weight into it,” I hear echoing through my head. My precious, great-grandmother once taught me how to knead and roll out dough. She taught me it works best if you have it at waist height so you can lean on the dough while working it. I recall the smell of her rubber necks frying and the taste of the cinnamon sugar melting in my mouth. The sweet memories of her bring tears to my eyes.

Why do I go through all this trouble to make tortillas when I have a bag in the refrigerator? Because my husband prefers the flavor of my homemade tortillas when I fry them up in strips for dinner. Tortilla Soup is on the menu, one of his favorites. Hubby says the homemade tortillas taste seasoned. My only surmise is the buttermilk must add a distinct flavor.

As I continue to push my weight over the rolling board, I feel like Martha worrying about getting everything just right. Yet, it is a labor of love for my husband. My mind begins to race as I ponder the Marys in my life. I have no blood-related sisters, yet the Lord blessed me with something better. He gave me so many sweet sisters in Christ that have inspired me to grow up into Him. They encourage me when I feel weak. They remind me to put my eyes back on Christ at just the time my eyes and mind might grapple with my circumstances. Again, tears fill my eyes as I praise the Lord for the blessings He has given me in my sisters in Christ. I think of many of you and your current circumstances. I lift you in prayer to the One who loves you and pursues you intensely.

I continue cutting the tortillas into thin slices and wonder why I am weepy? I remember monthly hormones are coming into play, as it is 21 days again. And I know in my heart that my sisters understand me even in this complication. As I go through medical testing I know that many of you have faithfully held me in your prayers. I know my marriage being healed is directly related to all the prayers and support of my sisters, whom Christ gave me as He works through them to minister to me. I realize what a privilege it is to pray for each of you and your needs too. Thank you for being such a sweet blessing in my life to each of my sisters in Christ! I cherish you!

Family Blueprint New Testament #3: John the Baptist is Born!

(A bee helps us to understand that we are created with a purpose to serve!)

Weekly Scripture:
Luke 1:57-80

Story:
“John the Baptist is Born”

Precept:
Created for a purpose.

Live the Lesson: Bee with a Purpose
Open with a joke about bees such as “Who is the bees favorite singer?” “Sting!” or “What kind of bees hum and drop things?” “A fumble bee!” If you can catch a bee in a jar or find a video online about bees, that will only add to the effectiveness of this object lesson. Here is a video with Africanized honey bees landing on tickle me elmo and then elmo chooses to visit a European bee hive the next time. http://beekeeper.dbs.umt.edu/~bees/videos/ElmovBees.wmv

Now many of us believe bees really do not have that great of a purpose once we have endured a sting by one of them. When a bee flies close to us, the only thing we view them as is a pest that may sting us. However, bees were born with a purpose greater than to just make honey for your biscuit. Bees are what cross pollinate our flowers and are greatly responsible for the fruit and vegetables we have to eat. A bee is constantly working for the purpose it was born to serve. It knows nothing else. If a simple honey bee was created for a purpose to serve, how much more were you created for a purpose? The difference is that a bee never questions its purpose, it just serves it. You however, can question your purpose and refuse to serve it. If bees are responsible for the food we eat, then you need to understand that you have an even greater purpose. Today, will you submit your life to God, the very life He gave you, and surrender to serve His purpose for your life?

Memory Verse:
“So the child grew and became strong in spirit.” Luke 1:80a

Prayer:
Dear Lord, please help us to comprehend Your purpose for creating us and help us to grow strong in spirit that we may serve You.

Living the Life:
This week share with your children how they can grow strong in spirit and discern the purpose of God for their lives.

Copyright © Family Blueprint and Precepts for Children 2002-2007
All rights reserved.www.familyblueprint.org

Family Blueprint New Testament #2: Mary's Visitation

(A shelled hard-boiled egg and a salad dressing bottle illustrate that God can accomplish great things!)

Weekly Scripture:
Luke 1:26-56

Story:
“Mary’s Visitation”

Precept:
God can accomplish great things, even in us!

Live the Lesson: Egg in a Bottle
You will need one clear salad dressing bottle or milk bottle with a small neck opening, one hard-boiled egg with the shell removed, boiling water, a funnel, and an oven mitt to handle the hot bottle.

Now in front of the class, put the boiled egg on top of the bottle and demonstrate that the egg cannot fall into the bottle. It is impossible. However, when Gabriel told Mary she would be the mother of Baby Jesus, even though she was not yet married to Joseph and had never been alone with him, she chose to believe God can do anything. Today, we too choose to believe that the egg can fall into this bottle.

Put the funnel on top of the salad dressing bottle and fill the bottle with the boiling water. Whish the water around inside the bottle and then pour out the boiling water. Immediately, put the hard-boiled egg with its shell removed on top of the bottle and watch closely. The egg will now be sucked into the bottle with such an incredible sound. Hooray! (To remove the egg, hold the bottle upside down and blow into the bottle for a while and the egg will drop out from the increase in air pressure).

Memory Verse: “For with God nothing will be impossible.” Luke 1:37

Prayer:
Dear Lord, please help us to believe You can accomplish great things in our lives, if we surrender to you.

Living the Life:
This week share with your children something you accomplished by the grace of God.

Copyright © Family Blueprint and Precepts for Children 2002-2007
All rights reserved.
http://www.familyblueprint.org/

Autism: A Mission for God!

(Brett, Mike, and Levi. Three of my sons while on vacation in Lake Arrowhead this summer.)

I have a son with autism. He is kind of my homing pigeon from the Lord. Just when my thoughts are bouncing off the walls and my life is spinning, Levi will bring up the blue shark that is broken at Chuck E Cheese. It is amazing the things that affect his life with such intensity. We visited Chuck E Cheese in San Antonio, TX a month ago, but everyday he asks me, "please go fix the blue shark." We are moving to Northern California soon and I asked my husband if we could please go through San Antonio and fix that blue shark, so Levi can move on in his thought life.

Levi tends to stay much focused until he completes his mission, clearly a strength I desire. In fact, daily he reminds me, "Mommy, I am on a mission for God (no, he did not acquire the line from the Blues Brothers movie)!"

I was in the middle of taking "programming" in college via distance learning when Levi was tiny, before officially diagnosed. I knew he had autism about 18 months before the doctors, because he was my fifth nursing child, but he could not connect to me by six months of age. I could not learn programming, because his long screaming bouts and non-stop jumping constantly frazzled my nerves.

At first, there were times I resented that Levi’s autism single-handedly destroyed my college aspirations. All the work I did to get to that place in programming became worthless. All my professors told me to give up completing my degree unless I was willing to put Levi in a daycare so I could focus. I weighed my options in prayer. Do I choose my aspirations or the gift the Lord entrusted to me? God made it clear where His heart was in this decision. Where was mine?

Levi was not verbal. He threw all the tantrums and screaming fits common to autism. He did not want me to touch him to comfort him. At six months, I began to force him to sleep with his tummy skin to my tummy skin. He hated it and thrashed about trying to escape, but I would lie awake for hours every night holding him firmly there until he slept. This went on for months and I was fatigued.

Levi would melt down many times daily when he was little. You talk about humbling. I thought I had parenting down to a fine skill, but nothing would work at that phase, not even consistent discipline, in fact, it only intensified the meltdowns.

I used to judge the "other people" in the store who had a child acting up, never realizing there might be an underlying issue besides bad parenting. Maybe that child has autism and just has an aversion to shopping that is more than a "male gene aversion to shopping." Maybe it truly turns their little world upside down. I am certain there have been times the neighbors contemplated if I was abusing my children as Levi screamed for hours.

As a family, we have all immersed our lives into Levi. He can now control most of his meltdowns. They are rare. We also train ourselves to know the signals of when Levi can take no more. Levi now likes cuddling with each of us. Now when he is injured, he comes for empathy from us. Even more amazing is the fact that Levi can show concern and empathy if we get hurt. Levi has trained the other side of his brain to develop a language center and he has much to say.

Yesterday, Levi called me "Sweetheart!" I am melting. He meant it and I know I am not truly worthy of such a sweet title, because I am the perpetual brat of our household, always pulling something rascally to get a laugh.

Levi expresses affection in precious ways. Yes, there are times he ventures into his own world, as he experiences life through different perceptions and priorities. Even in this, I know there is a purpose. I know God will use Levi’s different perceptions to serve His glory in a unique way that I could never touch. Levi is on a mission for God. It seems apparent to me; the first leg of that mission is to transform his mommy for God’s glory!

(By the way, Levi’s autism also showed me the purpose I have to serve for God, and as it turns out, it is not programming computers! Thank you Lord for directing my paths to serve Your glory.)

Family Blueprint New Testament #1: Zacharias and Elizabeth

(A raw egg and some vinegar prove that nothing is too hard for God!)

Weekly Scripture:

Luke 1:5-25

Story:

“Zacharias and Elizabeth”

Focus:

Nothing is too hard for God!

Live the Lesson: Disappearing Egg Shell

This object lesson requires one week of preparation. On the week previous to this lesson you will start the object lesson. You will take a raw egg and put it in a jar. Tell the children that eggs have an incredibly hard shell that water cannot disintegrate and this egg’s shell represents something too hard for you to accomplish. However, you are going to put the power of God in the jar on the egg, because NOTHING is too hard for God. Now cover the egg in the jar with white vinegar and sit it aside. A mason jar with a lid works well for this kind of project.

On the second day, you need to pour off the old vinegar and recover the egg with fresh vinegar and then allow it to sit very still for the next six days.

The next week keep the jar out of sight of the children. Now ask the children what types of things are too difficult for them to accomplish? Have some suggestions of things in your own life that seem too hard for you to do without God. Pull out a fresh egg and remind them about the egg shell representing what is too hard for them to do apart from God. Now break that egg into a cup to show them that while you can make a crack or break in the hard shell by yourself, without God you cannot make the shell vanish, because it is too hard for you.

Pull out the jar from last week and carefully drain off the vinegar and rinse off the egg in water. The egg will look translucent because the shell in no longer existent. Only the membrane inside of the egg is holding the egg intact. Show them NOTHING IS TOO HARD FOR GOD!

Memory Verse:

“And he will turn many to the Lord their God.” Luke 1:16

Prayer:

Dear Lord, please help us to believe You and Your word, knowing that nothing it too hard for God!

Living the Life:

This week share with your children times you thought something was impossible and then God proved to you that it was indeed possible with Him!

By Julianne Bell
Copyright © Family Blueprint and Precepts for Children 2002-2007

All rights reserved. http://www.familyblueprint.org/