September 26th is National Situational Awareness Day. It’s a great time to teach your children to be aware of others. BIG IDEA Serving others includes being attentive to them and how they feel. KEY SCRIPTURE Matthew 7:12 MATERIALS None needed PREPARATION 1. Make 5 changes to things in the room [...]
September 20th is National String Cheese Day. Here’s an activity your family can do to celebrate in a snacky way! BIG IDEA We can support and encourage people by standing up for them. KEY SCRIPTURE 1 Samuel 17:17-18 MATERIALS supplies to make your cheese stick snack PREPARATION 1. Choose one [...]
September 12th is National Encouragement Day. Here’s an activity your family can do to encourage one another. BIG IDEA We should encourage each other as a family. KEY SCRIPTURE 1 Thessalonians 5:11 MATERIALS Enough Sticky notes for each person to give to everyone else in the family, markers PREPARATION 1. [...]
September 9th is National Teddy Bear Day! Here’s a fun Family Time Activity you can do as a family to teach your children about comfort this week! BIG IDEA God comforts us so we can comfort others KEY SCRIPTURE 2 Corinthians 1:4 MATERIALS your favorite stuffed animal PREPARATION 1. Find [...]
AFTER Hannah dedicated her son to a life of serving God at the temple learning from Eli, she rejoiced in God. She praised Him. She called Him her horn, which is a symbol of strength. Without God’s strength and provision, she would have never been able to entrust her son, [...]
By this time, you have likely entrusted your children to teachers to begin the new school year and are a couple weeks into your new routine. Let’s think about Hannah and her courageous step of entrusting her son into God’s hands. She made the commitment that if God gave her [...]
There are many more things to learn from Hannah and her parenting journey. Last week we talked about her longing for a child and the importance of our children knowing they are gifts in our lives. Today, let’s talk about what she did about her longing. Sometimes when people long [...]
It’s back-to-school time again. The first day of school used to be one of my favorite days of the year when I was in school myself. I loved the smell of new crayons, the feel of brand-new clothes, seeing all my classmates again, and being in my new teacher’s class. [...]
You know when you are drinking a milkshake and there are just a few last drops left in the bottom of the glass? That’s what the end of July feels like to me. You’ve got to get your straw and savor it! So why not pick one or a few [...]
If you don’t teach your children what the Bible says, who Jesus is, and the life and eternity God wants for them, they may never learn. If you rely on your church’s children’s and student’ ministries to teach your children these truths, you are at the mercy of ministry scheduling. [...]
In continuing my study through Jenna Hallock’s book, What is Family Time? Exploring God’s Plan for Engaging in Biblical Home Discipleship, the second chapter talks about the beautiful partnership that can exist between parents and those other people in our children’s lives who invest in their spiritual growth. One of [...]
I have been going through Jenna Hallock’s book, What is Family Time? Exploring God’s Plan for Engaging in Biblical Home Discipleship. There are some awesome things I’d like to highlight. The entire book is so good and I highly recommend it! It is short enough to read in one sitting [...]
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. Hebrews 3:13 What is the last compliment you paid your daughter? Stop for a moment and really thing about it. A compliment many parents pay their daughters [...]
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:16 When my family goes to the beach, each of us has a part in getting settled in a good spot on the beach. Each person [...]
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:15 As you and your child face those cultural “waves” together, you are teaching him how to face them head on, and assess the best [...]
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Ephesians 4:14 In the midst of all sorts of waves of teaching and cultural upheaval, our [...]
If I am not intentional with my children’s summer (fall and spring) breaks, the time flies and screen time wins. Here are some ideas I have used with my children to use our time together well during the summer months: 1. Pick a theme for each month of your summer. [...]
We covered the importance of tending to and guarding our flocks as shepherds in our homes. Today we’ll cover the importance of being an example to the flock in our homes! 1 Peter 5:2-3, says “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers – not [...]
Last week we talked about the importance of tending to our flocks as shepherds in our homes. 1 Peter 5:2-3, says “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers – not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; [...]
In 1 Peter 5:2-3, Peter trains the elders in the scattered early churches to “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers – not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to [...]
In the last 2 posts, I shared a Discipleship Map helping us train our children in the next steps in their faith. I gave you the opportunity to answer these questions: 1. Has my child ever accepted God’s gift of salvation through Jesus? 2. Does my child know how to [...]
We are working through a Discipleship Map in this 3-week series! In the last post, we answered the question: 1. Has my child ever accepted God’s gift of salvation through Jesus? I shared some options based on your answer to that question for each of your children. Please go back [...]
Discipleship Map – Starting with the Gospel 4/21 Parents and grandparents are often at a loss when it comes to discipling their children. There’s a process I have gone through with teen as a student minister and with our children that I learned in youth ministry training in college. It [...]
What would your life be like without knowing the truth of Jesus’ Resurrection? Without the resurrection, there is no hope. As parents that’s a pretty scary thought. Why have children at all? If you have them, what hope and purpose do they have? If this life is all there is [...]
Intentional Life: Empowering your children to Live for Jesus 3.21 Colossians 3:23-24 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is [...]
Intentional Freedom: Helping your children avoid captivity 3.21 In addition to telling our children the truth of the Gospel, we need to live our lives as though we have been saved. According to Galatians 5:1, we must stand firm and stay free. If our children look at our lives and [...]
Intentional Freedom: Helping your children avoid captivity 3.21 In addition to telling our children the truth of the Gospel, we need to live our lives as though we have been saved. According to Galatians 5:1, we must stand firm and stay free. If our children look at our lives and [...]
Intentional Invitation: Sharing the Good News of Jesus with your Children 3.21 I published the Good News of the Gospel on the home page of my personal website. A friend texted me about a week after I sent her the site to tell me her daughter accepted Jesus using the [...]
In our short study of Colossians 3:1-14, we have talked about setting our hearts and minds on things above, getting rid of whatever is in our earthly nature, and recognizing our place as royalty to help us act like royalty to help our children do the same. We talked [...]
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13 What has God forgiven you of, friend? If you are like me, you would rather not answer that question. I’d prefer to answer with “everything” or [...]
Let’s continue our personal check up in our relationships with our children. Colossians 3:12 says, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” What does it look like to get dressed in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience as preparation to serve [...]
21 ½ Years ago on August 7th, I went to one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve ever been to. The officiant was someone I deeply respect and the people getting married have helped define who I am as a person and a mother, so I remember the wedding well! [...]
We are going to finish up our study on 1 Peter 1:13-16 with the highest expectations given so far. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:45) How do [...]
The 1 Peter 1:13-16 passage has been great to clear out the fog and help me refocus my mind! The New Living translation paints the next verse in a very practical light that helps us see ourselves and our children more clearly. “So you must live as God’s obedient children. [...]
Continuing to clear our minds of pandemic and holiday fog, we move forward through 1 Peter 1:13-16 focusing on the second part of verse 13. “Set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.” In 2020, many people felt hopeless. Now 2020 [...]
Much of 2020 has been a fog of waiting. We keep waiting for the pandemic problem to be solved so we can get back to normal, stop wearing masks and be able to hug our friends for real. There is hope for a slow resolution of this ongoing problem with [...]
“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1 There have been so many unknowns for all of us in 2020. Will our family get the virus? Will my children get to go back to school full-time or do [...]
Immanuel in our relating. God is with us in our relationships. God is with you in your strained relationship with your step-mom who never wanted to be a mom in the first place. He is with you as you mother without a maternal example to follow. God is with you [...]
Pausing again to study our foundational passage through the lens of Immanuel’s presence with us in Deuteronomy 6:7-9, look for the times we are instructed to talk to our children and remind them of God and His commands while we stay at home. "Repeat them again and again to your [...]
One of the main passages we focus on at Family Time Training is Deuteronomy 6:4-9 “Listen, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. [a] And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit [...]
Family Time Training just released an advent study called “Come and See.” It’s a fun four-week family activities series based on Isaiah 9:6. If you haven’t picked it up for your family, it’s not too late! You can get buy it here! Isaiah 9:6 says, For a child is born [...]
No matter who wins the election, there will be people your children know who are overjoyed about the new president and people who are upset about the outcome. Some will be hopeful about what’s to come in the next four years from the White House and some will be concerned [...]
As we have stood on our porch and looked beyond our sidewalks at attitudes of greed, selfishness, and arrogance, now we turn ourselves back around and look inside our own windows. We may see the same attitudes happening inside our home. Just before school began, I heard a handful of [...]
COVID-19 has highlighted some notable attitudes in our world. We should think through these attitudes in order to help our children process what they are seeing and experiencing. We have seen greed in grocery hoarding. This behavior goes beyond emergency food storage. This has to do with fear and panic [...]
We are experiencing something wonderful and wacky in our home this year in hybrid learning! A hybrid schedule means our children go to school two days a week in-person, have two asynchronous days of school online at home, and one synchronous day of school online at home. Some of us [...]