Scripture memory was such a vital and fruit bearing discipline in the early days of my following Christ.  While I ‘technically’ accepted Christ as my Savior during a youth retreat in January of my 8th grade year, I chose the world and my flesh over a life led by the Holy Spirit throughout my High School years.  Yes, my dear children have sucked my memory completely (!!!!!), but I do remember trying to change several times throughout my high school days.  I remember trying to make friends with those who I thought would help me and hold me accountable to the ways of Christ.  I remember longing to know the community that I saw certain Christian clicks were experiencing.  Yet I couldn’t fully let go of past pain, image, world, and reputation.  I had good days, weeks, and months, but the underlying reality was that I was in bondage to a life I knew was not God’s best.  It wasn’t until college that I finally allowed the Holy Spirit to set me free.  December of my freshman year in college, I chose Christ over self.  I was surrounded by a passionate and patient Christian Community in college….and that coupled with the struggle and hardship of a major hip surgery flung me to my face in desperate need of the One True God.

I will never forget some of my first moments with the discipline of scripture memory.  I remember being in my hospital gown, 18 years old, walking the halls at M.D. Anderson with a walker and my mother helping me memorize scriptures that I had written out on a few sheets of notebook paper.  I remember the pain I experienced as the nurses tried to roll me onto that hip to change my bed sheets and screaming out to the Lord.  I remember the peace that came over me when she spoke the Word of God out loud and proclaimed His truth in the midst of physical suffering.  For the first time, God’s Word took residence in my body and transformed every part of me and I have never been the same.  I am thankful to my mother for speaking those words into my heart.  I am thankful for the students that surrounded me at First Baptist and the BSM for being living examples of the power of God’s truth.

Having years of those moments where God’s Word has exposed, convicted, healed, encouraged, and transformed me, I have NO CLUE why I did not think to start the practice of Scripture memory with my children earlier than now.  It was always in the back of my mind as a goal, and done on occasion even, but never a consistent practice.  Part of me has been lazy about it, and part of me needed some kind of plan.  Susan Hunt’s My ABC Bible Verses: Hiding God’s Word in Little Hearts has been just the kick in the bum that I needed….and I stand in awe once again at the power of the Word of God.  Being that Logan is my first 5 year old, I’m humbly learning how to parent, what to do, and when.  And mark my words, this is the start of a new home.  I was unaware of what Scripture could do in such a tiny little person, but God’s Word has no boundaries, it truly does not return void.  In just four short weeks, I see a different child, our conversations have changed, the ponderings of his heart and whispers of his mouth are not what the were before.  Just today as we are driving home I can hear him whispering to himself in his carseat…”Jesus is the light, Jesus is the lamb, Jesus is life, Jesus is Savior, Jesus is God.”  I little tear of praise trickled down my cheek as I heard the small voice proclaiming such beautiful truth behind me.  Thank you Lord for being a God who is not silent.  Thank you for the Holy Spirit inspired Words written down for us to love and learn and bind to our hearts.  Thank you that Your Word has no limit.  There is truly none like You.

There are lots of ways to do Scripture memory with children, and lots of resources at our fingertips.  My only word of wisdom is to just begin and be amazed at the fruit that pours forth.

I will add letters as we go!

Alphabet Adventure by Audrey Wood

My ABC Bible Verses by Susan Hunt

Eating the Alphabet: Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert

S is for Shepherd by Tricia Lowenfield

Dr. Seuss’s ABC’s: An Amazing Alphabet Book!

Anamalia by Greame Base

ABC Doctor: Staying Healthy from A to Z by Liz Murphy

K is for Kissing a Cool Kangaroo by Giles Andreae

Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings by Anne Guery

The Z was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg

Pigs for A to Z by Arthur Geisert

A is for Aardvark: Double the Letters! Double the Fun! by Mark Shulman

Babar’s ABC’s by Laurent de Brunhoff

3-D ABC: A Sculptural Alphabet by Bob Raczka

Brazil ABCs: A Book About the People and Places of Brazil by David Seidman

Who put the B in the Ballyhoo by Carlyn Beccia

A Treasury of Alphabets published by The Chicken House

A is for ZebrA: A Happy Ending On Every Page by Mark Shulman

Zoo Clues Animal Alphabet by Alex Lluch

Maze Ways A to Z by Roxi Munro (One of our Fav’s)

L is for Lone Star: A Texas Alphabet by Carol Crane

Wild West Trail Ride Maze by Roxi Munro

I books are few and far between: Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni, The Sundae Scoop by Stuart J. Murphy, Dog and Cat Shake a Leg by Kate Spohn, India the Showstopper by Kerry Argent, I Can’t Talk Yet but When I Do by Julie Markes, When I Grow Up by Leonid Gore (These are just from the library, I haven’t had time to go through all our yet so hopefully more to come!)

J just happens to fall on July 4!  So we will be enjoying the traditional parade & fireworks (unless Alex brings the rain all weekend).  Plus we are having a community festival after church in which there will be some serious Jumping going on (bouncy house!!).  We will be making jello shapes and putting on a jousting match….stick horses included!!!  We are looking forward to a weekend full of J!I also ended up with some cute last minute ideas from Counting Coconuts.  We did some star sorting, small to big.  I also made a flag with no stars & the kids rolled the dice and added the corrosponding amount of stars.

J books so far include: The Berenstain Bears and Mama’s New Job, Jump by Scott M. Fischer, Potato Joe by Keith Baker, Jack’s Talent by Maryann Cocca-Leffler, Sally Gets a Job by Stephen Huneck, Jellybeans by Sylvia van Ommen, Jungle Bullies by Steven Kroll.

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I would give you the freedom to call me an absolute alphabet nutcase BUT, we are having way too much fun around here with our SA-WEET find at Randalls (or Safeway for our CA friends!!).  Yes, we are making words & playing I-spy with our new Scrabble Cheeze-Its!!  I couldn’t help but share my insanity just in case some of you other alphabet crazies wanted to join in the fun!!  Happy eating.

We just finished G tonight with a fabulous game of “Glow Stick Tag” (#70 in Faith-filled Moments) and talked about what it means for Christ to be the light of the world.  We ended with a rendition of This Little Light of Mine and lots of laughter as Nate screamed “NO” to the bushel at the top of his lungs throughout.  It was a great performance by all.  We spent this week focusing on a couple of things: grandparents & gardens.  The boys had swimming lessons with my dad & stepmom and a fun afternoon with my mom reading lots of grandparent books.  We couldn’t resist using G for our beloved San Francisco Giants and took Logan & Bennett to the game last night (only to see the Astros win, what???!!!) with our youth group.  Today we rounded out G with a trip to Neal’s to explore all their homegrown produce, pick blackberries, and buy some local veggies for garden fresh ratatouille!!  We ended the day with making grammie’s homemade granola.  Everything on the table tonight was from the garden- the dinner, the flowers, the dessert, it was wonderful and the kids loved eating G up!!

G Books include: The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson, Gumption by Elise Broach, Gator Gumbo by Candace Fleming, Gorgonzola by Margie Palatini, Green Wilma by Tedd Arnold, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, Look Out, Suzy Goose by Petr Horacek, Gizmo by Barry Varela, A Garden of Opposites by Nancy Davis, Growing Vegetable soup by Lois Ehlert, G is for Goat by Patricia Polacco and of course our collection of Curious George books!  Books on Grandparents: The Grandma Book by Todd Parr, The Grandpa Book by Todd Parr, Hooray for Grandparents’ Day by Nancy Carlson, Raisin and Grape by Tom Amico, and I found two children’s books on Alzheimer’s so the kids could understand Daddy’s job more- Grandpa’s Music: A Story About Alzheimer’s by Alison Acheson and Still My Grandma by Veronique Van den Abeele.

Our plans for H are a little more low-key.  Hand painting, horses & hiking!!  I’ve been wanting to do some hand print art on canvases with the kids so we will see if they cooperate in the fun!  We are taking the kids to Old MacDonald Farm for horses and other farm fun were we will incorporate lesson #33 from Faith-filled Moments on farm life.  Last we are planning an evening hike at Rob Fleming Park (and plan on wearing lots of mosquito repellant!!!).  It should prove to be a fun family weekend!

H books include: Hat by Paul Hoppe, Where’s Mary’s Hat by Barroux, Do You Have a Hat by Eileen Spinelli, Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat, HUG by Jez Alborough, Hush Little Digger by Ellen Olson-Brown (a must own boy book FYI), Here Are My Hands by Bill Martin Jr, How Hilda Hushed Her Hiccups by The Tini Sisters, Hedgehog’s Secret by Lena Anderson, I Wonder Why Horses Wear Shoes (Compliments of Chick-fil-A!!), The Day It Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond, Richard Scarry’s Humperdink’s Busy Day.

I also continue to add “ABC” books to my original Alphabet Adventure post so check back if you are looking for specific letter books!

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Our E days have been quite low maintenance due to Nate getting sick again.  My husband works for Silverado which is an amazing company that serves people with family members suffering from Alzheimer’s & Dementia.  We love his job for so many reasons, one being that we get to expose the children to the elderly on a monthly basis.  Our plan was to do a service project with our friends at The Woodlands Silverado Community but we will have to postpone this so we don’t give the virus to them.  If you are looking for a way to live out missions locally (beyond you neighbors), a senior living center like Silverado offers activities that you can do with the residents such as gardening, cooking, games, salon/ manicures, woodshop, etc.  And, they adore children…..for those suffering with A/D it is such good therapy for them to see the littles.  What did we manage to do for E??  We had an EGG taste test!!  We made hard-boiled, fried, scrambled & omelets and everyone picked their favorite, it was actually really fun (and a little “Runaway Bride-ish” of us!!) We went to the Elementary School park where Logan will start Kindergarten in September, he was thrilled to explore & dream about all the fun to be had.  We did our E Bible lesson & scripture memory from Hunt’s book (which I am loving so much I think I will have to blog separately about it!).  Tonight we poured over The Eleventh Hour by Greame Base, thank you Amy!!

Other E Books: The Easter Egg Farm by Mary Jane Auch, Ernest and Elston by Laura T. Barnes, Elliot’s Emergency by Andrea Beck and Elephants on Board by Suse MacDonald, The Earth and I by Frank Asch, Eyes and Ears by Seymour Simon, Ella the Elegant Elephant by Carmela & Steven D’amico.

We have high hopes for F (don’t I keep saying this?!).  It happens to be Father’s Day on Sunday, so I’m lovin’ how perfectly our Alphabet is working into the summer .  We have a book that we add pictures & letters to every year for Daniel so we will be working on that this week.  Our outing will be to our local fire department for a special tour (treats in hand for our local firemen…who have been to our house, haha!!)!  We are having a Family night where we will be playing football, doing bubbles with fly swatters, making forts, playing flashlight tag & finger painting (you want to come over don’t you)!!  Our faith lesson will be #14 on forts from Faith-filled moments on top of our normal F lesson from Hunt.

F books are plentiful: Franklin series by Paulette Bourgeois, The Very Busy Farm by Alicia Zadrozny, Richard Scarry’s The Firefighters’ Busy Day, Frog & Toad Series by Arnold Lobel, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly by Simms Taback, The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, Show Each Other Forgiveness by Melody Carlson, Fred the Firefighter by Jo Litchfield, Full House: An Invitation To Fractions by Dayle Ann Dodds, Faraway Farm by Ian Whybrow, Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni, Into the Forest by Anthony Browne, The Firefighters by Sue Whiting, Farmer Joe & the Mustic Show by Tony Mitton, Friday My Radio Flyer Flew by Zachary Pullen, Crazy Like a Fox: A Simile Story by Loreen Leedy, To Fly: The Story of The Wright Brothers by Wendie C. Old, Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds On The Move by JoAnn Early Macken, Fantastic Feats and Failures by YES Mag, Fox by Kate Banks, The Farm Team by Linda Bailey, A Friend by Anette Bley.  Happy Reading

Other C things we will be doing…cloud shapes, cartwheel races, eating chinese food with chopsticks, and hosting a free car wash for our neighbors (if the kids are healthy, fingers crossed!!!).  Our faith lesson will be about the Kindgom of Heaven…we will be building a castle and discussing how the place Jesus is building for us will differ from the churches we worship in on earth.

C Books from Home: Corduroy, Clone Wars early readers series, The Cat in the Hat, Charlie & Lola books, Clifford books, In the Castle by Anna Milbourne, 1 2 3 California by Puck, Cowboys by Catriona Clarke, Castles & Forts by Simon Adams, My Car by Byron Barton, The Sand Castle Contest by Robert Munsch, There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Shell by Lucille Colandro, John Deere’s Big Book of Construction Machines, and Magic Tree House: The Knight at Dawn #2

For D: the outing will be an early morning “Donuts with Dad” before work!!  The boys cannot get enough of either !  We will be making dinosoars, having a dance party, taking a neighbors dog on a walk,  and taking a road trip to Dallas to see several of their cousins on my side of the family!!  Daniel will be doing the faith lesson during their donut time about lonliness…who/ what fills the “holes” in our lives.

D Books from Home: David Gets in Trouble by David Shannon, Dinothesaurus by Douglas Florian, Daddy’s Lullaby by Tony Bradman, Because Your Daddy Loves You by Andrew Clements, How Big Were the Dinosaurs? by Bernard Most, The Digging-est Dog by Al Perkins, The Lost Dinosaur Bone by Mercer Mayer, The Dinosaurs Series “How do Dinosaurs…” by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague, Magic Tree House #9: Dolphins at Daybreak

If we can just get through these fevers….I would prefer that F week does not include them….or the flies.  Seriously.

Somehow we managed to crank out our apple painting, airplane flying, aquarium visit, pigs in a blanket & blueberry smoothies.  But our blueberry picking & beach going are a bust so far.  Though the boys thought that killing all the bugs was definitely a fun event for “B”.  I did pick up some rather wonderful books at the Library that I thought some of you would like to make note of for this or next summer.  These are just our favorites…

ABC’s Books: Babar’s ABC’s by Laurent de Brunhoff, 3-D ABC: A Sculptural Alphabet by Bob Raczka, Brazil ABCs: A Book About the People and Places of Brazil by David Seidman, Who put the B in the Ballyhoo by Carlyn Beccia, A Treasury of Alphabets published by The Chicken House

A Books: Actual Size by Steve Jenkins, The Illustrated Book of Aesop’s Fables, Noah’s Ark by Jerry Pinkney

B Books: Berlioz the Bear by Jan Brett, Beau Beaver Goes to Town by Frances Bloxam, Franklin is Bossy by Paulette Bourgeois, The Bears in the Bed and the Great Big Storm by Paul Bright, My Brother by Anthony Browne, Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss, Bootsie Barker Bites by Barbara Bottner

Enjoy!

In honor of this fabulous last day of school & start to the summer…..Daniel (the hubbs) and I have been planning something super fun for our kids this summer!  Any of you out there wondering what to do with your precious little ones?  Inspired by a darling friend of mine, we are setting out on an “Alphabet Adventure!”  Two letters a week and every letter has most of the following…. field trip, faith lesson, recipe, craft, and other fun family stuff.  There are LOTS of low maintenance things, a few high maintenance things, lots of library trips, and lots and lots of fun planned.  The kids know about the A-Z adventure but everything else will be a surprise.  We told them last night and they are waiting on the edges of their seats to get started!!  I love the brewing excitement, and I will admit, I love having a plan!!  While we have lots of days to enjoy the slow pace of the summer months….the long nights over carefully created meals, the last-minute pool trips and such, I thrive on this kind of stuff!!   I will list out several of the books we are using and share the first two letters.  If there is interest then I will post the week before to share ideas for each weeks letters.  I’m sure MANY of you have fun ideas to add to my growing pile and I would love to hear them!  So….let the Fab Frazier Fun begin!

Resources (Got some??  Share Um’!!):

My ABC Bible Verses: Hiding God’s Word in Little Hearts by Susan Hunt

S is for Shepherd by Tricia Lowenfield

Eating the Alphabet: Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert

Dr. Seuss’s ABC (I can’t not list it!!)

Animalia by Graeme Base

We will go through Hunts book for scripture memory & for the Alphabet themed devo’s but are supplementing with Trujillo’s Faith-Filled Moments (see previous post) as she has some really creative stuff that goes with our adventures & activities.  I also have several differnt sets of alphabet cards, one with those Wikki Stix that I got at Lakeshore Learning yesterday, so cute!

Other A-Z Alphabet Books I have found:  G is for Goat by Patricia Polacco, Alphab’art: Find the letters hidden in the paintings by Anne Guery, M is for Mischief by Linda Ashman, A is for Aardvark by Mark Shulman, The Z was Zapped by Chris Van Allsburg, Pigs for A to Z by Arthur Geisert.

A: Trip to the Aquarium, Art with Apples, Paper Airplane Fun, Apple Pie, and our Faith Lesson is from Faith-Filled Moments, #62 about hiding Gods Word in our hearts and Hunt’s “A” devotion.

Books from Home: Magic Tree House #6: Afternoon on the Amazon by Mary Pope Osborne, Alligator Boy by Cynthia Rylant & Diane Goode and a couple of “search for the letter” books that we will be using throughout the summer: Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever and My First 100 Words Illustrated by Paula Knight.  I don’t have many “A” books, ho humm.

Books topics we will be searching for at the library: Ants, Astronomy, Astronauts, Asia, Africa, that’s all I’ve got so far….

B: Pick Blueberries at Moorehead, Surfside Beach, Blueberry Smoothies, Pigs in a Blanket, Backwards Day (everything is backwards, clothes, dessert first, etc, kids love it), Drawing B things with Blindfolds on, Bubble bath.  Faith Lesson is #45 to go with the Bubble Bath & Hunt’s B devo for another day!

Books from Home: The Ballad of Matthew’s Begats by Andrew Petterson (which will be my next book review!!), The Berenstain Bears, Baby Bounce by Linda Hayward, Dr. Seuss’s Mr. Brown can Moo! Can You?, Buzz Said the Bee by Lewison, Biscuit by Capucilli, Curious George at the Baseball Game, A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker, Beans Baker Number Five by Richard Torrey, and The Bible.

And our Library Search will be for: Bears, Bees, Hot Air Balloons, Baseball, Boats, Basketball, etc..

DO YOU THINK I’M A NUTCASE??!!!  It might not ALL get accoplished but we have high hopes & can’t wait to make this summer the adventure that three little boys are hungry for!!  YIPEEEEE!!!

On Sunday morning we drove out to Harper’s Ferry, WV. We had been wanting to take Ryan there for a while because he would be able to run around and because it is really pretty and calm out there. Ryan had so much fun. He loved running and roaming all around, checking things out. We took a family hike, which at the time seemed like a good idea, but was probably not the best thing to do at 32 weeks pregnant. Ryan really seemed to take in his surroundings. I am sure that we will go back again in the future.

We had a great time in DC!  After we checked out the cherry blossoms we found a spot to sit and have lunch on the Mall.  Ryan loved people watching.  He was extremely fascinated with some little girls flying a kite nearby.  

Cherry Blossoms..

Daddy and Ryan…

Mommy and Ryan

I’m not sure what was so funny…

I wonder what he was thinking…

Here is a slideshow of a few pictures from our day.