A Feast of Paper & Psalms

 

Today we made a feast of paper and Psalms. 

We started with dessert: painted sweet potato or pumpkin pies with a dollop of cotton whip. 

The verse on the bottom of the “pie pan” was Psalm 9:1-2: 

“I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.”  ~Psalm‬ ‭9‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭

We discussed how gratitude and praise are like sweetness and pie. We agreed that giving our whole heart and self to Jesus is like getting to eat the whole pie…giving Him more than just one slice. 

We moved on to green beans with Palm 34:8: 

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”  ~Psalm‬ ‭34‬:‭8‬ ‭

We talked about times when we may have to try a food we don’t like or do something we’re afraid of and that this verse reminds us, even then, God is good and we can talk to Him. 

Eliza shared that she once had to eat salad and it was awful. Jordan wasn’t fond of chicken wings with the bone still in and there was no food that Elijah could remember disliking. 

Everyone actually likes green beans, but we talked about letting the green be anything we may not want to try. 

Next, we turned our cookies into “tookies” who cried out Psalm 55:6: 

“And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;”   ~Psalm ‬ ‭55‬:‭6

Everyone was familiar with the concept of turkeys trying to hide from hunters. And everyone was eager to help“clean up” the excess Twizzlers, candy corn and icing “glue”

We added food stickers to our plate which had Psalm 100:4 in its center : 

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! ~Psalm‬‭100‬:‭4‬ ‭

The psalm for our drumstick handle was Psalm 81:10: 

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”

‭‭     ~ Psalm‬ ‭81‬:‭10‬ 

We were supposed to talk a little more about “taking big (metaphorical) bites” and being filled with goodness, but we heard “the big music” playing and barely had time to get the eyes glued on before it was time for movable feasts- out the door and down the sidewalk, to lunches made from real food. 

Lizards & Lepers

Today, my little wilderness explorers ran out to "our tree" to check on Webber the spider. 

But before we did that, Jordan - who arrived leagues ahead of his friends, passed the time and boredom by giving Bionic Horse and Bear check-ups. 

I I couldn't help but notice the difference in our tree between last week and today. With most of the leaves now on the ground, the kids made the best pile of leaves they could without the benefit of a rake. 

As we diligently searched, to no avail, around the tree trunk for Webber, Eliza called out: "Ms. Kelly, we have a lizard!"  We all went to where she was, but the lizard got away...temporarily. We did find another spider hiding in our plastic house/castle/McDonald's/whatever we are imagining at the time. 

 

We returned inside for lesson time about the ten lepers (not leopards, though they did have spots!) being healed and only one returning to say "Thank you, Jesus." 

To illustrate this point - literally - our 10 fingers got spots which also served as eyes, but only one finger- the pointer- had a smile drawn on. Over the course of the day, their "spots" will disappear like the lepers. Meanwhile, our 10 leper fingers clapped, "bowed their heads" to form a church ("Here is the Church, Here is the Steeple" rhyme), splayed & gobbled to form a turkey and pointed Heaven-ward like praying hands to give thanks to God. 

We then had each leper count up things in our life to be grateful for - including arms, legs, eyes, ears, moms, dads, snacks, pets and all the animals, everywhere. 

Madison remembered last week's lesson about God helping the man with no arms and legs (Nick Vujicic) 

We watched a video of the Bible story, greeted Mr. Carrell and Mr. Tristan like we do every week and returned outside to find the lizard... he slipped through our grasp a few times and finally found sanctuary by slipping under the door and into the church hall. 

Riley’s 15th Birthday & Masquerade Tea

Riley celebrated 15 with a Phantom of the Opera Masquerade Tea. 

A  tea blending table accompanied by a buffet of small sweets & savories welcomed a small entourage of family and friends. There were croissants, scones and clotted cream. Le Bete Noir was served, sans ice cream, (but there was whipped cream and black cherry sorbet in the punch.)

Our guests, dressed extravagantly, fashioned masks with feathers and jewels, painted candles in black and red wax and sang karaoke. There was candlelight, feather boas and a photobooth. 

Earlier this year, Riley shared that she would like to have a 'promise' ring and invite her friends to celebrate this commitment alongside her. I was only familiar with large "True Love Waits" style events,  held in church auditoriums. So, we did a lot of thinking and talking about what a personal ceremony may look like:  how formal, how spiritual, etc.  

As we planned, it made sense to incorporate the milestone into her birthday celebration, not unlike a pair of quinceanera heels. 

There would be a significant ring, a tiara and a promise to sign. I took to calling this her "Declaration of Independence" and she took to rolling her eyes every time I did. 

A fun time was had by all, even my young nephew who, outnumbered though he was, chose to embrace the magic and become a Master Mystery Tea Mixologist.  Rumor has it he's thinking of going pro.