Cookie Baking Night 11/28/16

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Carissa, Allison, Rylar, and Enzo. Tonight we made Cinnamon polar bears.

                           

This is always a fun cookie for the kids to make. There are no cookie cutters involved. We roll the dough into 4 small ball shapes, one for the head, two for the ears, one for the nose. And they when come out of the oven, we add a cinnamon candy for the nose and two small chocolate chips for the eyes. Very easy and very cute. 

The birds (Rusty and Peanuts) have moved from the porch to the dining room for the winter months, which means they steal the show at dinner time. Part of the excitement tonight was feeding the birds through the cage. Peanuts will eat bread from your hand if you hold it next to the cage. Everyone had to give that a try, and Peanuts ate up the attention (and the bread). 

We also read a lesson from God's Names by Sally Michael. Tonight we learned the name "Strong Tower". The Bible tells us "The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe" (Proverbs 18:10). This was a timely day for this lesson as it used the example of running to shelter in the middle of a storm, and today we had some winter storms in our area complete with thunder, lightening, hail, and lots of rain. The visual of taking shelter in a storm was fresh in everyone's mind. 

We're learning a lot about God by learning his names. His names describe his character. We've learned that He is the Strong Creator (Elohim), Unchanging (Jehovah, I AM), Almighty (El Shaddai), The Most High (El Elyon), Jealous (for our affections alone) El Kana, The LORD God of Truth (Jehovah-El Emeth), Lord (Adonai), The God Who Sees (El Roi), The Lord Is There (Jehovah-Shammah). And tonight we learned He is a Strong Tower. 

Another Cookie Baking Night has come and gone and, as usual, a fun time was had by all. 

Cookie Baking Night 11/14/16

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Emily, Carissa, Allison, Rylar, and Enzo. Emily won't be able to be with us next Cookie Baking Night which is her scheduled birthday choice (and her actual birthday--she'll be turning 16), so we did a quick switch up and did her birthday choice tonight. For supper she chose macaroni and cheese and for her cookie she chose chocolate chip. She went classic this year.

Tonight we also worked on a special project. We put together shoeboxes for the Operation Christmas Child ministry through Samaritan's Purse. 

Before we started the project, we watched videos online about how to make a good shoebox present, and we saw some videos of children receiving their gifts all around the world. 

The finished boxes will be taken to a drop site and they will be distributed to children in other countries. Each shoebox will be given to a child with a gospel booklet, and they will be invited to attend a 12-week discipleship program for children. We have just about every age group represented at Cookie Baking Nights (3-6, 5-9, and 10-14), so we made six boxes, one for each age group, boy boxes and girl boxes. Even Clara got in on the fun and made a shoebox present with us. 

When we finished making the gifts, we prayed for the children who will be receiving the boxes. We prayed that the boxes will go to just the right child and that each child will come to know Jesus. 

Lots of activity at this Cookie Baking Night. As usual, a fun time was had by all.