T is for Thankfulness! (Day 3)

Last Friday, I did homeschool with Evan (which is unusual because that is Justin's day off). But I'm glad I did, because an unexpected cold knocked me out most of Saturday! The kids and I have been sporting runny noses for about a week, so things are still lingering.

Plus, I got to experience Evan's first real injury on Saturday night. Justin was with Evan at the grandparents, and I was home with Reese (because I was sick and Reese was already in bed at 7 PM). At about 9:30 I got a phone call from Justin that he was with Evan in the ER because Evan needed stitches! Apparently, Evan had been running around and smacked right into a drawer in the kitchen. He hurt himself directly in the middle of his forehead and got 3 stitches, poor baby!

But this election day, Tuesday, we are back into the swing of "normal" life.

Daily Thankful Theme: Thank you, God, for the Church
Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-8
Memory: "In everything, give thanks"
Prayer: "Thank you, God, for giving us your church body, and the freedom to worship"
Song: "If You're Happy and You Know It"
Craft: Scrap Paper Stained- Glass Church Window
Thankfulness Activity: add "church" leaf to Thankfulness Tree

I felt it important to cover two points today about the church: 1) that we are thankful for the people of God- the church, and 2) that we are thankful for the freedom to worship freely.

We prayed, and read the passage in Ephesians that tells us about how to behave as the church, and the blessed unity we can have!

Then we prayed through our above prayer and the items on Day 6 for the kids and daddy. (If you wonder what I am referring to see these links: Praying for Kids & Praying for Husband)

Evan really gets into the stomping in "If You're Happy and You Know It"- so we sang that through a few times. (He's so cute!)

The idea for the Stained-Glass Church Window craft was a lot cooler in my head than in results, but the toddler had fun so I guess it works.

Supplies: The white paper is folded in two, and one side only is cut to look like the shape of a window. Using this cut-out as a stencil I traced around the opening with a pen onto the paper behind it, leaving marks to show the area to cover with scraps. Then all you need is a glue stick, the leaf for today, and tape to secure it to the Thankfulness Tree.

I have realized the value in saving all the scraps from other projects if they are the size of a quarter or bigger. These I store together for scrap crafts like this one. Then nothing goes to waste! We used fall toned colors, and I guided Evan by saying "Now do a red one" and so on to give him practice with his colors.

Here you can see the area filled, and the open window portion on the right. Now here is the finished look:

When folded over the border lines are straight as if in a window.

There are so many better ways to do this craft! If you have wax paper or plastic wrap or even a ziploc baggy you could make a window pane. But I have never owned wax paper, and I admit, I threw together the supplies this morning instead of planning ahead a bit more (remember to feel sorry for me because I had a cold on Saturday).

Lastly, we added the "church" leaf to our Thankfulness Tree.

I reviewed the two previous leaves: "Son" and "Family". Evan wanted to copy my review so he pointed and jabbered away as he "told" me what the three leaves meant. I love that even at 2 1/2 years, Evan still speaks enough gibberish to be adorable!

If you've done any Thankfulness lessons of your own, I would love to hear about them! Please leave a detailed comment, or link to your post. And don't forget to vote!