Our Leafy Kindergarten Ebenezer

So this quarter at church, I am back to teaching Kindergarten Sabbath School. To be honest, I was hesitant at first. I mean, it's been four years! But now I thank God for the privilege.

We started a little late this quarter, but we're definitely making up for it through our study of the Beatitudes. This particular subject is perfect since the adults are also studying EGW's Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing.

So what we're doing is going through the Beatitudes one by one, focusing on "Be-Attitudes" as opposed to "Me-Attitudes". Our learning device is a beehive with bees labeled according to the beatitudes. I am going to share the materials that we use for class on this blog in future posts. For now, allow me to share with you what really made me happy today.

The bigger girls (who had already moved on to a different class) excitedly met up with me after lunch to help decorate the tree branch from which our beehive hung.

We cut leaves from japanese tissue paper to stick on the branch made from felt paper. These are not ordinary leaves, mind you. On each leaf, the kids wrote or drew the things they were thankful for, like family, food, rain, sunshine, and the privilege of prayer. Even the smaller kids pitched in. While we worked, we talked about our blessings and how the trees around us should always remind us of our faithful Provider and Friend. As many leaves there are on trees are the blessings we receive from God, probably even more! We must remember to develop an attitude of gratitude.

I was truly touched when one of the students drew a girl and wrote "Thank you for our teacher who teaches us about Jesus."

That prompted another leaf from me.

This tree will be our ebenezer for the quarter. Needless to say, I had a happy Sabbath. =)

January 28, 2017

soar like a hundred pretty balloons!

i gave this card to my friend, Jeanelyn, who shared my birthday. she seemed really happy - though i don't know if it's because the card was pretty or because she shared a birthday with me. ;-)

i added a fairly large yellow balloon on the front of the card and wrote Jeanelyn's name on it.

i wrote my message on the left side of the balloons: a reminder for beautiful spiritual growing and "soar high like a hundred pretty balloons! :) "

birthdays are such happy times. well, at least mine was. :)

my first paper craft fail

in a previous post, i talked about being very interested in paper crafting and wanting to make one of those pop-up cards as my first project. well, i tried... and failed.

here's how my card looked like:

this was supposed to look something like this. see the difference? i had to make a lot of cuts on the base because the card won't open properly.

i didn't have the heart to finish this project. i just told myself that maybe i needed to start somewhere more basic; learn cutting, folding, measuring and gluing techniques as i go along and become more knowledgeable in making more complex  projects. so pop ups would have to wait a while though i have a new (and special) popup project in mind. (sneak peek: it's going to have a plane in it.)

meanwhile, i bought a bunch of materials to start practicing with. i didn't have the money for card stock or vellum yet. so i just bought construction paper (for solid colors) and wrapping paper (for prints. my, i love the prints i bought). then i got myself some basic tools: scissors, hobby knife and cutting mat, and white glue.

i am especially fond of the knife and mat. boy, do they make measuring and cutting a lot easier. though i have to admit that i don't know what the many different blades are for. :)

and i also made a little card, a much simpler one, using the materials i bought. here it is:

my ultimate dream with this craft is to learn techniques and projects to use for bringing color and personal touch to my ministry. i pray that God sees it that way too and that He'll prosper this undertaking. 


so while i fail at a few projects, i promise to rise again each time and try harder next time. so do  come back and check on my progress. :)

paper craft!

i have always been interested with paper - cutting, folding, gluing, et cetera, et cetera. even as a child, i would buy construction paper, cut out shapes (any and all shapes), glue them together and turn it into greeting cards or tags. my friends used to get regular birthday cards in different sizes and shapes from me. unfortunately, none of the cards looked pretty enough or clean enough. but you get the idea.

it was only very recently that i decided to actually give time to paper crafting as a productive leisure activity. i originally wanted to buy a how-to book, but didn't have the money for it. luckily, the internet has everything on it. here's one site to get me started: 

http://extremecards.blogspot.com/

my first project would be a pop-up card that hopefully will look somewhat like this one 

here's to hoping my paper projects would bring a bit of sunshine into other people's lives. :)