Here’s a video which I’m sure will be helpful for you and your family at this day and age.If you have household help, I suggest you include them and educate them as well. 
One thing that the kids love is hear me run my lessons or preachings by them (hehe eew I make it sound like it’s a lot! haha! It’s not that many naman). Aside from checking that I have sufficient time, it is also helpful to download my lessons to them because if I can make my little girls understand them, it means that I have understood my topic well enough, too.
One time, after “preaching” to the girls and checking to see if they understood what I wanted them to get, Mika raised a question. “Mom, what about Beauty and the Beast??”
Huh??
My topic had absolutely nothing to do with this favorite Disney fairytale! I was talking about the Gospel, the Cross, our identity in God….and then, Beauty and the Beast?!?? Was she even listening?? What a silly question!
Well, maybe I just didn’t hear her question well. Maybe her question was….. “What was your question again, Mika?”
“What about Beauty and the Beast??”, her tone was now a bit more serious. She sincerely believed that her question warranted a good answer. It was vital to her understanding of my preaching.
But I still thought it was a silly question— a waste of time, even. “Mika, that’s just a movie. Stop thinking about it already.” I just didn’t even want to try and give an answer to what she considered was a very valid question.
But then….ting! It hit me.
Yes! That’s right! Beauty and the Beast!!!
“Oh! Mika! I get it now. Yes, sorry I forgot to explain about Beauty and the Beast.
What happened there? There was the beast, who was….well, a beast, right? but despite that, Belle chose to love him. What happened when Belle loved the Beast in spite of of how he looked and the state that he was in? He got transformed and he became a prince again, right?
Well, all of us, we’re actually all like the beast. We’re so unlovable and ugly…but what happened? God chose to love us anyway, right? And it’s that very love of God that has transformed us and made us beautiful! Now, we are not beasts anymore! We are princesses because God chose to love us!”
What followed was a huge smile…and a look that said “lightbulb moment!” :D
How often do we dismiss some of our kids’ questions because we thought they were silly? Or maybe we do acknowledge their questions but not really give much thought to the answers because they seem to have nothing to do to what we are trying to teach our children at the moment? I’m guilty of this at times. *big grin* ….But if we really think about it, there are no silly questions when it comes to our children. To them, every question is valid. Every question deserves an answer. Every question is an opportunity to learn and grow.
“Silly” is just a word that grown-ups came up with as an excuse to ignore questions when we’re too preoccupied or too….lazy…to come up with good answers.
I was scrolling through Twitter while we were stuck in traffic last night and I read this: “Famed children’s book co-author Jan Berenstain dies.” Since my kids and I are fans of The Berenstain Bears, I immediately decided to read up some more about the author/illustrator.
You can read and find more here (CNN), here (Yahoo!), and here (Time)…
….But here are some bits from CNN and Yahoo! News that amazed me:
“Berenstain and her husband, Stan, were already successful cartoonists when they decided to transition to writing children’s books.
According to publisher Harper Collins, “The Big Honey Hunt,” published in 1962, was the first book starring the bear family.
Since that time, more than 330 “Berenstain Bears” books have been published over the past 50 years, the publisher said.
More than 260 million copies have been sold, making it one of the best-selling children’s book series in history, Harper Collins said.”
(from cnn.com)
After Stan passed away in 2005, Jan continued writing new books, often with the help of her son, Mike. The series has grown with the times, covering topics like the dangers of bringing guns to school, online safety, and childhood obesity.
According to Mike, Jan had been working on two more books in her Pennsylvania home at the time of her death. “Every day she was very productive,” he said. “[She] had been doing illustrations until the day before she passed away.” In a 2011 interview, Jan told theAssociated Press, “It’s wonderful to do something you love for so many years. Not everyone has that.”
(from Yahoo! News)
After reading all these links, I have to say that I greatly admire not just her work, but how this Mama Bear lived her life partnering with her husband to do and create something that would outlive both of them, how she successfully passed on her love for writing and illustrating to her son, and how she lived her life to the very end– doing the very thing she was gifted and called to do. The success of all their books is just a bonus.
This is how I want to live my life– to partner with my husband in doing something that would outlive both of us, to pass on to my children the things that I am passionate about, and to live my life doing what I love and know I am gifted and called to do to the very end. Everything else that would come with this kind of success will all be just a bonus.
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photo credits: http://www.mysanantonio.com
http://www.cbc.ca
http://www.seattlepi.com
For the past month, God has been stretching my faith. He has been placing me in situations that would leave me with no choice but to trust in Him. This past month, He has magnified for me how helpless I am without Him, and at the same time how much I can accomplish through Him and in Him.
Allow me to share something that has encouraged me today. I hope that you and some people you know can get encouraged by this, too!
Oh, let me first give you a brief summary of this whole thing, just to give you a context of what I’m talking about….
The text of this story is found in Matthew 14. This was the time when Jesus already went about preaching and ministering to many people. In one particular instance after Jesus ministered to the crowds, the disciples were put in a dilemma on what to do with them. It was approaching night time and the crowds (thousands of them!) were getting hungry. Some disciples suggested that they just dismiss them and send all the people home, so they can get food for themselves in the villages. Buying food for all of them was clearly out of the question since that would mean that the disciples will have to shell out so much money. Then…they spotted a boy with five SMALL barley loaves and two SMALL fish. But how can that help them, right? Obviously, the small bread and small fish were just enough to feed the small boy. It didn’t make any sense, but one of them still took the chance. They were in the presence of no less than Jesus, after all.
I’ll just copy-paste the next few verses to let it tell you the rest of the story…
Matthew 14:17-21
17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they (the disciples) answered. 18 “Bring them here to me,” he (Jesus) said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.”
To summarize this further:
The boy and the disciples said, “This is all the food we have. We only have this small bread and small fish to offer.”
Jesus took what they had to offer Him anyway.
Jesus blessed the bread and fish and distributed them.
The small bread and small fish multiplied.
Everyone ate and were all fully satisfied.
The disciples had so much left over to pick up after.
The same is true with us.
We say, “This is all that I have. This is the only thing that I know. I only have this small thing to offer you.”
Jesus responds by taking what we offer Him anyway— no matter how small and seemingly insignificant.
Jesus chooses to bless whatever it is we offer Him and uses it to bless others.
Our efforts and gifts multiply.
Everyone gets a taste of our gift, gets blessed, and gets fully satisfied.
We find ourselves having to pick up so much that are left over.
The blessings overflow.
We can keep on giving and giving and blessing and blessing because there is so much that God leaves for us.
Amazing, isn’t it???
You can be a stay-at-home mom like me, or a working mom…you can be a wife, a single woman, or a student. Everyday we are faced with a dilemma on what to do with the people God surrounds us with or the circumstances we find ourselves in. Everyday we have a choice to just step back and relax and let the opportunity to be a blessing pass.
“Just send them home. I have nothing to offer them.”
“It’s too costly to involve myself in this.”
“I only have enough for myself.”
Everyday too, we have a privilege to offer whatever it is that we have in our hands and allow God to multiply it and bless hundreds– or even thousands. What we think is enough only to feed a small boy will in fact be more than enough to feed thousands. It all depends on whose hands it is in.
A rod in my hands might be able to keep stray dogs away. A rod in Moses’ hands parted the mighty sea.
A sling shot in my hands is a kid’s toy. A sling shot in David’s hand became a mighty weapon.
Two fish and five loaves of bread in my hands are a couple of tuna sandwiches. Two fish and five loaves of bread in God’s hands fed thousands.
Nails in my hands might produce a place on the wall where I can hang my kids’ framed paintings. Nails in Jesus Christ’s hands produced salvation for the entire world.
It all depends on whose hands it is in.
I choose today— and everyday— to offer whatever small and insignificant thing I have in my hands to God. And every day I shall wait and see how He will bless it and multiply it to bless the lives of thousands. And every day I shall see how much left over I would have to pick up after.
Just came from another “session” with Mika. Typical— she disobeyed, and the so the story goes….
Mika: *crying* “I’m sorry mom!”
ME: “I forgive you, Mika, and I love you.”
MIKA: “Why??”
ME: “Because I love you! I choose to love you no matter what, and you are my daughter, nothing can change that, so I’ll love you no matter what.”
MIKA: “Why?”
ME: “Why what?”
MIKA: “Why I’m you’re daughter always?”
ME: (Thought bubble: Bakit, may reklamo?? Ayaw mo??) *Erase the thought bubble*… “Uh…Mika, you also have to say sorry to God, right?”
MIKA: *crying more* “Yes! ….Jesus, I’m sorry!! Please for-dive me and please help me!!”
ME: “Mika, you know what the Bible says, right? Each time we ask for forgiveness and say sorry, God promises to forgive us and to help us do what’s right next time?”
MIKA: “Why?”
ME: “Well, because God loves you!”
MIKA: “Why?”
ME: “Because God is really loving and you are His daughter. He loves you.”
MIKA: “Because I’m nicer than Atsi (referring to older sister) ?”
ME: “No. No one is nicer. We are all the same. All of us sin against God and all of us need God to forgive us and to help us.”
MIKA: “What about the other people? Because I’m nicer than them?”
ME: “No, Mika. All of us….we’re the same. We all sin, right? That’s why Jesus had to die for us.Good thing he died for us, right?”
MIKA: “Yes. Dood thing even if Judas tempted Jesus to not die on the tross nalang, he still obeyed the soldiers and went up the tross, right?”
ME: “Uhm…Yes, good thing Jesus obeyed God the Father and died for us even if it was painful, because he loves us.”
MIKA: “Yes. I heard Judas mom. He tempted Jesus to not listen to Dod (God). Dood thing Jesus didn’t listen to Judas….”
ME: “Ah…okay…. (ano bang pinanood mo bata??) …okay, Mika, take a bath na….”
*Whew!*
Disciplining our children takes T-I-M-E…. Agree??
Our goal is not just for them to see what they did wrong, but to see their need for a Savior. We want them to say, “God, thank you for loving me, forgiving me, and helping me each time I do wrong and sin against you. Jesus, Dood thing you died on the tross for me. Thank you so much!”
Mika is already three years old, but for some odd reason, people still presume that she is only about a year old (That is, until they see her eat and hear her talk). Each time we go to a restaurant, as in…each time, we always have to ask for another set of plates and utensils for her. Each time! I just want to tell the people waiting on our tables that yes, she is already a little human being. She is a person. Tao na rin ‘to, ate. Kumakain din.
Sometimes I find this cute, sometimes annoying. Sometimes I just hope that they recognize this little human as a person already, while sometimes I wish this will carry on until she is about six or seven or eight, so she gets to eat at buffets for free, longer. (heeheehee…. *evil plan cooking* ;D)
This puzzles me, but it doesn’t bother me as much as when it is I (or Dennis) who forgets to recognize her as a person capable of understanding and processing what she sees us say and do. A little person, yes— but person nonetheless. It scares me to think that too often I also forget that she is in fact, not an infant anymore. She is a little human— one who is fully capable of hearing and seeing and ….(gulp!)….copying, even the habits and expressions that I would rather not have her imitate. She is one who is very, verrryyy quick to observe how I respond (or react) to situations, how I treat people around me, how I am when I think that no one is watching me. A very scary thought. I have to keep telling myself: She is already a little human being. She is a person. Tao na rin ‘ to. Kumakain, nakikinig, nanonood….at mahilig pang manggaya.
A scary thought, so help me God. ?
