Welcome Back to Children Desiring God!

Dear Parents,

What a blessing to realize that all of you are returning parents -- which means we can jump right back into our CDG routine without missing a beat. There will be some minor changes in our Badge Requirements, but basically we will be continuing what we began last year. God has provided us with one of His finest gifts -- the service of Danielle Shuff! The children love her already, and so do I!

We started our first class with a leaf puzzle in Opening Time. Even the littlest student was able to choose a leaf and find where it fit on the whiteboard tracings. Each leaf had a portion of our first Memory Verse on it, so after each was put in place successfully, we celebrated by singing Genesis 1:1. You will see the list of the Verse Jingles we use in class to the right of this blog. I will also be sending home a hard copy with the first 10 written out for you. Soon after that, you will also receive a CD that you can listen to over and over again.

After a bathroom break, we moved right into our story -- God created everything! In this day and age, we want to be so sure that our little ones know that this is True. Nothing is more basic to worldview than this. We can be excited to tell them that God made the whole world out of NOTHING. Only God can do that. And He did it by speaking it into existence. His Word is so powerful. If He says it, it is as good as done! I touched on the Trinity (we will build on this as we go), and really tried to emphasize that God delights in His creation -- He is a happy God. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have always existed in a joyful relationship. God made the world and everything, not because He was lonely, but because He was overflowing with joy. These are some of the principles that we want them to carry in their hearts when they think about God, their Creator. The things we tell them now, at age 5 -- they will never forget.

After Bible time, we worked on walking in a line outside to have our snack. We went around our little circle and the children prayed before we ate. I love hearing the prayers of children. During snack, we talked about how moms make cookies -- but they need flour and eggs and other ingredients -- but God made everything out of nothing.

After practicing our line-walking skills, we made it back inside and played a game to help us review the details of Genesis 1. The children took turns throwing a Beanie on different numbers, then telling the class what God made on that day. Our newest and littlest student, Stephen, really surprised me when his Beanie landed on the "4" and he said, loud and clear, "Sun, Moon and Stars!"

We went to our table and talked about the coloring sheets that go with this story until parents began arriving. The children added Garden stickers to a picture of Adam and Eve in Eden. Several of the plants on the stickers were smiling, so we emphasized that God is a happy God, and everything He makes is good. These coloring sheets will be part of an Attributes of God book that the children will take home upon completion. We look forward to seeing you all next week! May God bless you as you do this very important work of pointing your children to Him.