Family Faith and Fun Fridays: Surprise!

       For the word of God is alive and powerful.

Welcome to Family Faith and Fun Fridays. As the week winds down and I anticipate more family time over the weekend, I often ask God for one good idea that will enable me to bring the Word to life and bring our family together. Usually, the activity overflows out of something the Lord has been teaching me through His Word during the week. I’d like to invite you to join me and my family in the adventure. Sometimes I’ll post things we’ve tried; other times I’ll post an idea in the works. If you’ve got thoughts to add or suggestions on how to adapt or improve the activity, please don’t hesitate to comment. Enjoy!

                                              Unexpected Fun

One moring this summer, my kids woke to a rather unusual sight:  a sink-full of cereal; make that THREE sinks filled with cereal. Frosted Flakes, Captain Crunch, and Kix waited where hands were normally washed and teeth frequently brushed.  No left-over toothpaste or soapsuds on this day… just a silly invitation to breakfast in the bathroom. (Oh, how I SCRUBBED those sinks before they were transformed into cereal bowls!)

Where folded hand towels normally sit in anticipation of dripping fingers, a gallon of milk waited instead.  In the top drawer where toothbrushes typically rest, silver spoons sat silently, anticipating some serious cereal slurping (I borrowed this fabulous and crazy idea from my friend Sherri, mom extra-ordinairre!).

 

I knew the breakfast bar had been discovered when Hannah stumbled  in half-awakeness to the bathroomand and a tiny giggle floated beneath the door. Next, Lizzy unsuspectingly headed to the shower. “WHAT?” she exclaimed and then came running back out to the hallway with a smirk on her face.

 Soon Mr. Fix-it-Man Josh screamed from the bathroom, “Mommy, I think we need to fix the sink!” And, finally, Luke rose from his lazy summer sleep-in and systematically investigated every sink in the house.

“What if we all want the Frosted Flakes?” he hollered from the bathroom that hosted the sugary selection. 

 

“There’s plenty for everyone,” I assured my firstborn.

 

The “unexpected” can change the tone of the whole day. After giggling through a buffet of sink-cereal, the kids harbored an attitude of expectancy.  They laughed more. They were sillier. They were were more creative. They turned grass and weeds into “stone soup”, transformed our driveway into an obstacle course, and devised “funky bowling moves” when we joined our friends at the local bowling alley for some pizza and pins later that day (Blind bowling was by far the favorite innovation. Sadly, I think I bowled better with my eyes closed!).

 

 

At the end of that unusual summer’s day, we huddled UNDER the kitchen table and read a few of my favorite Bible stories, stories that paint a picture of a God full of surprises- Lazarus walking out of the tomb(John 11:1-43), Jairus’s daughter hopping out of bed as the mourners wailed outside of her window(Matthew 9:18-25), a crippled man walking (Mark 2:1-12), a blind man seeing (Luke 18:35-43), a Savior waltzing across a stormy sea (Mark 4:35-41).  Our God may be the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, but He shows Himself in new ways every day as His boundless creativity turns the ordinary into the extraordinary.  Oh, how I love Him!

 

This weekend, why not teach your children that life with Jesus is NEVER DULL? Try one of these simple activities and watch as your family is renewed by the unexpected.

 

                                                       *Fill your sinks with cereal

*Eat a meal or a snack UNDER the table

*Wear pajamas all day

*Eat a meal WITHOUT silverware

*Fill your bathtub with balloons and enjoy a “bubble bath” —add candy inside of those balloons and pop the bubbles one by one for a sweet treat.

*Host a “crazy hair” day and give every family member a new hairdo- then go out to eat in new fashion 🙂

*Initiate a Ready Whip fight in the yard and savor the yummy mess

*Tuck your kids in bed, then ring a bell and announce a late night ice cream outing. Hit a drive through in your pjs and eat beneath the stars.

 

For more fun and silly ideas, visit my amazingly CREATIVE friend Sherri’s blog, Families are Fun at http://pettiskirtsandmudpies.blogspot.com/

 

 

Wishing you UNEXPECTED fun as you celebrate our Great God of Surprises!