Hearts for Home Blog Hop - July 3, 2014

Introducing ... the Hearts for Home Blog Hop!  A Nest in the Rocks is now one of the co-hosts for this weekly link-up, which means that every Thursday you'll find lots of great tips, recipes, and other family-friendly ideas listed throughout this post.  If you're a blogger, we'd love to have you link up your posts and join us.  You can find information about the other co-hosts of this hop here.

 

 The most clicked-on post from last week was Homeschool Socialization.
 
Some of my favorite posts from last week were:

-  Training Kids for Leadership

- 4th of July crafts and activities for kids

-  10 Ways to Beat the Summer Heat

If your post is listed above, please grab one of our 'Featured Blogger' buttons!  Congratulations, and thanks for writing such inspiring posts.

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Link up your family-friendly blog posts below. Please add our button to your post to link
back to this one. Happy hopping! 

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Please share your family friendly posts with us!
By linking up you agree that if your blog post is selected to be featured on any of our hosts' blogs that we can use an image from your post with a link back to your post.
 

An InLinkz Link-up

Orkin Bug Wisdom Backyard Explorers Kit *Giveaway*

 

Bugs are not exactly my thing.  Definitely not bugs that I can't identify.  

On the other hand, My Big Helper and My Little Man are fascinated with bugs.  They build houses for them, watch how they move, and spend lots of time figuring out what they are.

Orkin can help you with that.

When life hands you dung, just roll with it.

At Orkin, we never stop learning. Our new “Bug Wisdom” video series is a reminder that some of life’s biggest lessons come from small places. Bugs are smart, curious creatures – we humans can learn a lot from their ways.

Take the quiz to discover your “Spirit Bug,” and check out all the GIFs to soak in every nugget of wisdom that these bugs have to offer!

The Orkin Man always knows what to look for when he shows up at your home. If you want to get exploration down to a science, be sure and enter to win Orkin’s Backyard Explorers Kit!

Orkin Backyard Explorers Kit:
- The Orkin 9-Page Activity Bug Book
- Orkin Bugview Bug Catching Tool and Magnifier
- Red/Black Summer Wayfarer Sunglasses

@AskTheOrkinMan
https://www.facebook.com/OrkinPestControl
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOGjPywXEjUitvXi22CXJTZNd4VVcP9LQ
http://www.orkin.com/

Entry-Form

I received a free Orkin Bug Wisdom Backyard Explorers Kit in exchange for promoting this giveaway and received another to give to a reader.

FOREVER AMISH from Kate Lloyd! Enter to win a Kindle and an Amish-made prize pack!

The latest book in Kate Lloyd's Legacy of Lancaster trilogy, Forever Amish, introduces us to a young woman about to uncover a shocking secret and find an invitation to a new way of living. This is a story of forgiveness, legacies, and the ties that bind through generations.

Kate is celebrating by giving away an Amish-made prize pack!

  One winner will receive:

• A brand new Kindle Fire
• A Qillow (A pillow with a lovely surprise inside! It opens to a 40” X 60” quilt ideal for traveling, sports events, and home.)
•  A Center Diamond wall hanging (Hand-stitched by Old Order Amish quilter Emma Stoltzfus of E.S. Quilts in Lancaster, PA. It measures 42” x 42” and is a traditional Old Order Amish design.)
• Darling Amish-made faceless dolls (Hand-crafted in Lancaster County, PA. Each measures 12 inches and is individually named. Meet Martha and Henry!)
• Forever Amish and the rest of the Legacy of Lancaster trilogy by Kate Lloyd

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on June 29th. Winner will be announced at Kate's blog on July 1st.

Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning and be sure to stop by Kate's blog on July 1st to see if you won!

SEAGRASS PIER | Pre-order @ColleenCoble’s NEW book for just $4.99. Enter for a chance to win a Kindle Fire!

Don’t miss Colleen Coble‘s latest release in the Hope Beach series, Seagrass Pier. The book releases July 1st, and Colleen's publisher is offering the ebook at a special pre-order price of just $4.99 between now and 6/30 everywhere ebooks are sold.

PLUS . . . between 6/9 – 6/30 Colleen will be hosting a Kindle giveaway.

One winner will receive:

• A brand new Kindle Fire HDX
• Seagrass Pier and the rest of the Hope Beach series by Colleen Coble

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on June 30th. Winner will be announced on Colleen's blog on July 1st.

Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning and be sure to stop by Colleen's blog on July 1st to see if you won!

Hearts for Home Blog Hop - June 26, 2014

Introducing ... the Hearts for Home Blog Hop!  A Nest in the Rocks is now one of the co-hosts for this weekly link-up, which means that every Thursday you'll find lots of great tips, recipes, and other family-friendly ideas listed throughout this post.  If you're a blogger, we'd love to have you link up your posts and join us.  You can find information about the other co-hosts of this hop here.

The most clicked-on post from last week was Fun Summer Reading for Girls.
 
Some of my favorite posts from last week were:

-  Exploring Disney's Animal Kingdom

- Fun Summer Reading List for Girls

-  Benefits of literature-based unit studies

If your post is listed above, please grab one of our 'Featured Blogger' buttons!  Congratulations, and thanks for writing such inspiring posts.

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.marriagemotherhoodandmissions.com/hearts-for-home-blog-hop-hosts/" title="Hearts for Home Blog Hop" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.marriagemotherhoodandmissions.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Featured300x300.jpg" alt="Hearts for Home Blog Hop" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

 
Link up your family-friendly blog posts below. Please add our button to your post to link
back to this one. Happy hopping! 

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.marriagemotherhoodandmissions.com/hearts-for-home-blog-hop-hosts/" title="Hearts for Home Blog Hop" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.marriagemotherhoodandmissions.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/CoHostH4HButton300x300.jpg" alt="Hearts for Home Blog Hop" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

    Please share your family friendly posts with us!
By linking up you agree that if your blog post is selected to be featured on any of our hosts' blogs that we can use an image from your post with a link back to your post.
 

An InLinkz Link-up

Get Your "Life with Lily" Literature Activities Now!

Enter the current giveaway here.

It's time!

If you've been wanting to host your own kiddie book club or start holding literature circles with your family or in your classroom, I've got a great place for you to start:

with Life With Lily.

This book makes the best book club events!  Lily is mischievous, adventurous, and fun.  Her family provides wise counsel in response to her adventures, and because she's a young Amish girl, the possibilities for fun activities are endless.  Lily bakes, sews, has animal adventures, and is involved in lots of science experiments.  You won't lack for fun projects with Lily around - and my new Literature Response packet has more than 25 activities, recipes, hyperlinks, and projects to keep the Lily fun - and the Lily learning- coming.

You can find the brand new Life with Lily Literature Response activities here - and don't forget to enter to win a copy of A Surprise for Lily's Literature Response activities!

Mid-Week Missions: Kids in the Church

Serving is important.  Mission work is important.  I see blog posts all the time listing varieties of ways for our kids to be mission minded and to think of others first.

Those are all good things.  Great things.

But if we want to keep them in church, then they need to be involved in church.

Church leaders don't just pop up out of nowhere.  They must learn to lead.  Their talents must be groomed.  They must practice and learn.

Think about it:  We don't throw concert pianists at a baby grand and expect Mozart.  We don't throw brain surgeons into the OR and wish them "Good luck!"

So we should be teaching our children the ways of faith, too - and that includes how to serve within the church.

(I realize that different denominations handle this issue in different ways.  Some churches are very strict about who performs certain tasks within the church.  I do not mean to hop into that fray.)

Our children see us working within the church.  I work with kids' ministries and help to plan events, and my husband serves in one of those after-hours, banking-so-the-lights-stay-on kind of roles, and they help us.  Sometimes that means that they stamp envelopes for him as he works, or they help me rearrange tables and set up for events.

But one Sunday I realized that they were ready for more.

Our pastor was explaining that we needed volunteers to do all sorts of things around the church:  mow the yard, run the sound board, fold bulletins, assist with Communion, read scripture, etc.

The words read scripture jumped out at me.  I've got two excellent readers in my house.  They are certainly capable of doing that task.

At first both resisted.  Stand up and read in front of the whole church?  No way!  

But after some thought, My Big Helper asked to volunteer.

She's now in the regular rotation of readers for our church.  She opens the service with a call-and-response type reading from the Psalms, and she does a great job.

One day she'll try out something else.  She might try those other jobs - assisting with Communion, folding bulletins, singing in the choir.  She's learning to put her faith into action publicly.  To stand in front of other people and speak.  To accept responsibility for a job from someone other than us.

She's learning that we all have talents and gifts to give to Jesus' body.  That the Church needs all of us.  That our gifts are meant to be shared.  That we can all serve best when we work together.

What kinds of jobs might kids be able to do?

Maybe ....

• bulletin folding
• scripture reading
• acolyte
• assist with Communion
• help an adult to prepare the altar for Communion or to clean up afterwards
• make announcements
• ring bells
• sing in the choir
• provide special music
• serve as greeter
• serve as an usher
• pass out special bags or supplies to kids
• pass out bulletins
• run remote controls for audio-visual equipment
• give children's sermons
• help in the nursery

How do kids serve in your church?