Christmas Scavenger Hunt

Remember when you were a kid and opening gifts on Christmas morning took 15.4 seconds?

The Foxy Mr and I have come up with a way to really stretch out the event, and in doing so, we can even give our kids the illusion they are opening countless gifts for hours.

The trick? We plan a scavenger hunt each Christmas morning complete with clues. The festivities begin once we have read the Bible and had some family discussion.

When they were younger (5-7) the "clues" were easy like "Go check the mailbox" or "Look under your bed for your next clue." Each year they get more involved and complex.

My boys look forward to the scavenger hunt each year that usually ends with the "main gift" they share. At their age now, (10-12) they start telling me around Thanksgiving to start working on the clues and "make them hard."

So last year we outdid ourselves. We managed to stretch 5 gifts over 2 hours. I am not kidding.

The clues were things like...

Play Wii Bowling until you both get 2 strikes in a row to get the next clue.

Take your nerf guns, dress in your camo gear and go 2 blocks over in the neighborhood on your bikes. Go up to Mr. Laguardia's door and when he opens it, say "Give us our clue and no one gets hurt!" Of course, he had been given the clue the day before.

Call someone in another city and sing for your next clue. (They had to guess who to call, we didn't tell them. At least 3 unsuspecting relatives were serenaded Christmas morning!)

Other clues involved Bible verses, riddles and more hide and seek. Sometimes a clue solved meant they got to open a gift, sometimes it just meant they got another clue. It was great. While they tried to solve clues, we picked up wrapping paper from the previous gift, exchanged gifts with each other or set the table for breakfast.

Two hours later as they were nearing their "big gift" the breakfast casserole was coming out of the oven, the living room was fairly picked up and the Christmas CDs were in full swing. By the time it was over, they were exhausted from the "thrill." And we were all hungry. At breakfast it was a "play by play" account of the whole scavenger hunt.

If you're looking for a way to jazz up Christmas morning and start a fun family tradition, give this a try. It keeps the fun going longer than it takes to rip open a new package of socks and underwear.

Now, anyone interested in hosting a Christmas clue for my boys on Christmas morning on your blog?

The Shortest Distance Between Two Points

What is the shortest distance between two points? A straight line, of course.

That's why I'm reading the Old Testament using the Chronological Study Bible, published by Thomas Nelson. I mentioned this to my Bible Study girls but you may be interested in it as well.

I love reading the Old Testament but I'll admit, sometimes I go from one book to another and find myself thinking, Didn't I just read something about this a few days ago? I can't always keep the timeline straight in my head.

The Chronological Study Bible allows you to explore God's word in historical order. For example, as I'm reading about Saul pursuing David I find (nestled in the chapter of 1 Samuel) a few of the psalms David wrote during this time. I've read both passages many times but I loved reading them together - it brought that psalm a little more to life.

It also has a lot of notes about cultures and people of biblical times as well as connections between bibilical history and world events.

It's not a Bible I would tuck under my arm and cart to church. Because of its chronological order it can be dificult to locate a particular book or chapter. But it is a great tool for reading the Bible "from start to finish in order."

If you're looking for another tool to help the Bible come alive, this is a good tool to provide a fresh perspective.

http://www.chronologicalstudybible.com/index.html

Mom's Bible - Enough to Go Around

Lord willing, my mom will live to be 120. (That's old.) If she should get to meet Jesus before I do, there is at least one thing I would love to have of hers. Her Bible.

It has the same words as mine, but her margin-scribbled commentary is different. That is where she has recorded her thoughts, notes and pieces of her heart. It's the Bible from which much teaching, correction and encouragement have come.

I wonder if my kids will write "Mom's Bible" at the top of a list someday? I pray they do. So, in the spirit of "mom is a referee" I'm settling the argument now.

For Mother's Day this year I received a Bible from each of my boys. They wrote short notes inside the cover to me. From now until they leave home I will write notes to them in the margins -- things I'm praying for them, my thoughts on a particular passage or advice I want them to have.

Like this, for example: John 1:41-42

The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.

In the margin of Kid One's Bible I wrote this:

"When he first found his brother..." Son, your brothers are a priority. Pray for them and encourage them in the Word.

My prayer is they will know and be able to see my heart for them - long after they leave home.

Maybe then they will get a glimpse of the countless days I go to the Father on their behalf. Maybe they will even add to it and pass it along to their children. Maybe it will change the lives of my great grandchildren when I'm not around to pray for them personally.

Maybe one of them will preach the gospel to a lost and dying world someday, holding the Bible I prepared for them...

A Hunnerd Bucks - All For You

If you had $100 to spend on YOURSELF, what would you buy?

You can't give it away, spend it on your kids OR pay bills with it. It's free money, fun money! What's your pick? Would you buy 1 thing or several little things?

Me? I might go for some new jeans that would make the Foxy Mr look twice. ;) or maybe the longest massage I could get for $100.

Let's hear your ideas. I want to be prepared to make a good choice if I ever find a $100 in a parking lot or something.

It could happen, right?

Kind of a Hellen Keller Moment

Parenting is hard. I don't care what age the kid is.
Should I just stop with that?

Kid Three is not-so-slowly morphing from an abnormally compliant toddler into a real live boy. I knew it would eventually happen so I wasn't caught off guard too much.

He doesn't like vegetables, like most kids his age. So what, I don't like laundry. Next. This was his reaction to mixed vegetables at lunch today.


So I "kept" them until dinner. New meal, same reaction.


When I decided to "drop the hammer" he dropped this. Nice. Where is your daddy?!

It was one of those Hellen Keller moments. Remember the movie when Annie was trying to get her to eat? ugh. He communicates just about as well as HK...

Reluctantly he picked up some of the green beans and put them in the trash. Then he sat in his chair. And cried "CHEESE!!!!" as loud as he could. (Which is indeed loud, I might add.)

Finally I bribed him.

Me: You want cheese?

K3: les. (and he signed please)

Me: You have to eat a bite of vegetables and then you can have a bite of cheese.

K3: noooooooo. CHEESE! (And a tiny cubed carrot goes flying across the kitchen.)

(repeat 652 times, but I'm very calm -- pridefully so)

And then I saw a tiny opening between his lips. I went in. And he chewed. Then I gave him the smallest bite of cheese.

Glory to God. For real.

I am not foolish enough to think this will continue to work. It's an event reserved for home, not public. Make note, today Kid Three fought the law and the law won.

I love this job. Really I do!

I drank the poison and lived to tell about it

Sometimes I buy bottled water. Sometimes. But don't you dare think you're going to drink one if you could just as easily walk to the faucet and fill up your cup! You'd better be going somewhere that I won't allow my nice glasses to go... I don't mind buying expensive bottled water as long as it isn't wasted.

Apparently, the last 20% of ANY bottle of water my kids drink is poison. What? you ask... POISON!

It must be. There's no other explanation for why I find countless bottles of water on my kitchen counter

or in the garage
or on the back porch
or in the back seat of my car
or wherever...
and all have been consumed leaving the last 20% - the poison, if you will.


My kids, bless their little hearts, are ridiculously serious about avoiding the POISON. Their consistent determination to grab a new water bottle and leave the poison on the counter makes me want to scratch my eyes out. What if their little brother got ahold of that last 20%! What if he drank the poison?! Who knows what would happen to a baby consuming the last few drinks of bottled water! I shudder to think what the Invisible Me would do to those boys if THAT happened.

Last weekend on our camping trip when we finally ran out of water bottles you know what I did? I gathered up 5 bottles of poison laying around on the table ... and.I.drank.it.

And I lived to tell about it. My kids couldn't believe it either.

Someone call the Poison Control Center. I'm out of control.
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A dirty word for good clean fun

Pre-season OU football game + a long weekend in September + good, easy going friends = a perfect camping weekend and that's exactly what we had just a few days ago! But CAMPING is a dirty word, for sure.

There are a number of ways to "rough it." Some have tents and sleep out under the stars... with bugs and sticks poking between your every vertebrae. Other people have tow-behind campers that allow you to sleep up off the ground but still invite the camp sounds and smells to flood your netted adobe. And other people have a house on wheels (with more TVs than I have in my real house) and call it a camper.

The Heineckes have a popup camper. I've blogged about it before (here, here, and here). I luv it. Our friends have a Donald Trump house on wheels. And I'm glad they did! When it was time for the OU game to start, we already had our steaks grilled, corn on the cob buttered and chairs perched outside the mobile mansion to watch the game. (Our set up was better than the game, agreed?)

The look my boys' faces says, "We can no longer count OU penalties on one hand... or two hands..."

Some of you say, "Hey, that's not roughing it!" Maybe. Maybe not. Some of you don't camp at all so hush.

But what we DIDN'T have was
internet,
phones,
neighborhood kids using our bathroom and eating our snacks,
bills to pay, laundry to fold, floors to mop,
football practice, trombone practice,
homework, real work and yard work

We roughed it by playing camp games, hiking to the water, eating off paper plates then throwing them in the fire, sitting around talking about nothing and everything, making homemade ice cream and eating it with plastic spoons and riding ATVs... and we did it all without being bossed around by our clocks.

Oh and there was plenty of dirt. Kid Three isn't too keen on the campground showers (since he doesn't even understand how flip flops work, let alone wear them in the shower!) He takes the tub kind of camp shower.

If your family has never camped, it might be worth looking into. Kids in the great outdoors, learning to make a fire, entertain themselves WITHOUT electricity and stopping long enough to enjoy some of the simpler, finer things in life.

Camping is definitely one of the dirtiest things to provide good, clean family fun.

To think like a 2 year old...

It's simple when you're 22 months old.

All liquid is JUICE. It doesn't matter if it is milk, bathwater or a pool. It's all juice to Kid Three.

Every animal is a PUPPY. Bears, cats and alligators. Puppies... all of them.

Anything round is a BALL. Which means it will be thrown, fruit included.

I'm thinking about myself as a follower of Christ. Wouldn't it be better if I were that simple minded? What if everything that is contrary to the Word of God in my life was called SIN-- not "compromise" or "situational discernment." What if I really viewed everyone who didn't know Christ as LOST instead of dismissing their spiritual awareness because I'm too self absorbed. What if I considered every trial PURE JOY because I knew my God was going to show up and prove himself to me again.

I wonder how much different I'd be if I was as simple as a near-two year old.

Father, change me. Purify my heart. Simplify me.
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