The Lord Is My Shepherd...

A Psalm of David.

23 

 1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

3 He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.

 Last week we studied the 23rd Psalm...The Lord is my shepherd.

 Do you like how I spelled shepherd wrong?! Don't know how I only did it on one and not the others. I'm going to claim preggy brain on that one. ;)

 In writing it on their fingers, it is there to help them remember the verse. 

"The, one and only one." "Lord, God, Creator of the universe." "Is, now and always will be." "My, own personal." "Shepherd, Guide and Protector."

If they memorize it this way, it will always be easier for them to look down at their hand, touch each finger, and recite the verse from memory, whether in a time of trouble, a time of thankfulness, or a time of feeding their soul. 

Psalm 119:11

¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart
   that I might not sin against you.

 We did one project everyday to help us memorize Psalm 23. The kids traced their hands and flipped them upside down to create sheep...added glue and cotton balls and a white eye..voila, you have yourself a sheep! I love our Bible curriculum we have been using the last 2 years for school. It's A.C.S.I. Bible for anyone wondering. There are 4 days of lesson plans with a practical daily "life story" that goes along with whatever Bible verse/story they are learning that week. Then there is usually a craft/project for the kids to do too. We have been using the 1st grade level. I would like to use the 5th for Alexis, but I just don't have the time in one day to do 2 different Bible lessons + all their school work. Therefore she helps teach along with me to the younger ones. She reads verses, helps them figure out the answers to the workbook questions, and writes for them when they need it. Plus, we have such a range of ages that 1st grade isn't too advanced for the littles, and still keeps the attention of the older. You've got to find a balance somehow, and this is how I've worked it for us. :)

 Here they are with their sheep!

 One of the days they cut out 6 sheep and wrote one verse on each of the sheep. Each of the kids had their own sheep and I finished the 6th one.

This is a way of bringing the Bible to life. It helps it become exciting and fun for them to learn and feed their little souls, along with building that strong spiritual foundation they need. Something I've found in the last couple of weeks is adding hand motions to our verses is a tremendous help in memorizing scripture. I let them help in picking what motions should go where. Then at dinner they recite them for Daddy and we discuss what they learned in their lesson that day. I've seen a big difference in Addie (who just turned 4). She seems to really absorb all we discuss and learn. You will usually find her running up to me asking, "Mommy, is this good?" "Is this is good word to say, or is it a bad one?" "Mommy, I didn't lie today! I told the truth!" I find it refreshing to have a little one who wants to please so badly and is willing to ask questions as to whether or not her actions are right, or wrong. 

Praise be to God the Father, for any growth in our home...

Blessings~Heather