Matt Raines suggests reading one of the Ascent Psalms (Psalm 120-134) each night and talk about what it might have been like to have been a Jewish family leaving your home and village headed to Jerusalem for a religious festival. Think about that context as you read through these psalms and picture families coming together on a pilgrim journey with masses getting larger as you draw near to Jerusalem.
DesiringGod.org is also a great resource for devotionals, sermons, and other lessons. Desiring God is a ministry of John Piper.
WisdomOnline.org is also a great place to check for sermons and spiritual lessons. Wisdom Online is a ministry of Stephen Davey
Weather no good outside?
Maybe you want to stay inside?
Well, we’ve got you covered!
Take a Drawing Class
Take a quick 20-minute drawing class via Instagram Live with Wendy MacNaughton. As she says, “Some classes are more for littler kids and some classes are for bigger kids but all classes are for all kids of all ages. Let’s all calm our minds and fill our hearts have some fun and draw together!”
Find her on Instagram here. Live at 9AM Central Time each day.
Painting Contest
The Raines family loves a good painting contest with no direction on what a family member should paint. Small Canvases are available for $1 each and a family can share paints. Then we like to put them online for a Facebook poll.
Some Additional Ideas
Pillow forts, indoor picnic, spa, coloring books, fancy dinners, cooking competition, soap clouds, water marbles, sticky spider web, popcorn olympics
Adventures In Odyssey
Adventures in Odyssey have a recently announced a 4 week trial for their club (No credit card required) – https://www.oaclub.org/[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”full_width_content” full_screen_row_position=”middle” equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”padding-10-percent” column_padding_position=”all” background_color=”#f4f4f4″ background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” text_align=”left”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none” enable_animation=”true” animation=”fade-in-from-bottom”][vc_text_separator title=”Games & Books & Movies” color=”white”][vc_column_text]
Looking to get outside while maintaining social distancing? Check out these ideas! [/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”10″][vc_zigzag color=”black”][vc_column_text]
Games – Everyone loves a good game!
Some of our FC families’ favorites: Catan, Ticket To Ride, Sequence, Charades, Apples to Apples, old games (candy land, chutes and ladders), Mexican Train, Balderdash, Jigsaw Puzzles (large ones!)
Samuel had something great to add – “I like to play Risk. If you don’t have the board game, make your own; all you need is five dice and some figures. My little brother and I started drawing our own maps or playing on a real world map; a friend of mine plays a version of the game that takes up the whole house. Half of the fun for us is making the map on a sheet of brown paper”
Movies
Up, Greatest Showman, High School Musical, Everest, Pirates Of The Caribbean, Footloose, Miracle on 34th Street, What About Bob
Books
Good family reading for all ages – Little Britches by Ralph Moody
Steal Away Home by Matt Carter and Aaron Ivey
Green Ember book series [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”full_width_content” full_screen_row_position=”middle” equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” bg_color=”#ffffff” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”padding-10-percent” column_padding_position=”all” background_color=”#ffffff” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” text_align=”left”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none” enable_animation=”true” animation=”fade-in-from-bottom”][vc_text_separator title=”Virtual Tours”][vc_column_text]
Explore America from the comfort of your own living room! [/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”10″][vc_zigzag color=”black”][vc_column_text]
Get out of the house without leaving home. Here are a few websites where you can tour zoos, museums, and more!
Take a guided walking tour through one of five national parks. Through Google’s online Arts & Culture activation: “The Hidden Worlds of National Parks”. We really like Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park!
Join the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California to see their creatures via Livestream,
Disney World – Needing a Disney fix? Check out there Street Views via Google Maps. Here is Epcot!
Looking for around the world inspiration? Google’s Arts & Culture section has crystal clear views via google street view.
See multiple exhibits at the National Museum of Natural History – including Dinosaurs!
The San Diego Zoo has live streams from polar bears to penguins. Check out their live cams here.
Explore the Dali Museum which hosts over 2,000 works of art by Salvador Dali.
Visit the Louvre Museum through their online 360 tour.
Virtual Field Trips: https://my.frontier.camp/VirtualFieldTrips
Virtual National Park Tours – https://my.frontier.camp/NationalParkVirtualTours[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row type=”full_width_content” full_screen_row_position=”middle” equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” bg_color=”#ffffff” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”padding-10-percent” column_padding_position=”all” background_color=”#f4f4f4″ background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_row_inner column_margin=”default” text_align=”left”][vc_column_inner column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none” enable_animation=”true” animation=”fade-in-from-bottom”][vc_text_separator title=”Snacks!” color=”white”][vc_column_text]
If there is a time for snacking…its while were all stuck at home.
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The Meinardus Family Evening Snack – Old Fashioned Stovetop Popcorn!
Popcorn can be a really cheap healthy comfort snack if you make it yourself out of whole kernels! We enjoy the best popcorn in the world while watching our current favorite TV series: “Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot” produced by the BBC in the early 90s – these are great classic British mysteries set in London in the early 30s with exquisite sets and costumes…they are great! Oh, back to the popcorn, Here is what you need:
a 4 qt pot with a lid. We have a special one (see photo) with a latched lid and a stir rod inside rotated by a crank on the handle.
Canola oil
yellow whole kernel -available in bulk! 1/2 cup makes a full pot. They are the least expensive snack in the store…
salt
a stove with a top 🙂
Put one kernel in the pot and pour oil onto it until the kernel is almost covered. Put the lid on the pot and the pot on the stove and turn the heat to medium-high (below the maximum). Don’t leave! Listen for the kernel to pop – should be within 2 minutes. As soon as it does, pour a half cup of kernels in the pot (careful not to splash hot oil), clip or hold the lid on tightly, and start agitating them. We crank the stirrer, you can just shake the pot back and forth across the burner if you don’t have the fancy one. Things should happen pretty fast at this point, keep the pot heated but moving. Keep the lid tightly closed during this operation. The pot pops in about a minute. Take it off the heat when the popping stops – don’t wait to long or the kernels will burn! Dump into a bowl and salt to taste. WOW – that is some great popcorn! Edie is the best popcorn maker in our house. By the way, we have noticed that the humidity makes a difference in how light or chewy the kernels are. And Edie says getting the heat right (not too much) is important as well. Can you tell that we do this a lot? Enjoy! [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]