Today was the last day of school! Oh, happy happy day! We went to the park today with Lydia’s friends, had lunch with their Daddy and then flipped through Lydia’s yearbook on the bed at home. Perfection. I am so ready for doing a whole bunch of nothing! OK, well, maybe not nothing. I’ve got a few things planned. But the main goal of summer is going to be enjoy each other, have some adventures, read lots of books and stay at home 75% of the time.
So, here’s a few things we’ll be doing with our summer…
1. Thriving Family’s 60 Days of Bible Mysteries
This is a free PDF with Bible detective badges, secret codes, mini devotions and more! Asa is waaay into spies right so I’m excited to do this mini Bible study with them. And of course, I’ve already decided we are not doing 60 days of it. But we’ll feel it out and see how many days we do together–maybe 2 or 3 a week?
2. Camp
My daughter is going to camp. Like CAMP CAMP! Eek! Start praying now, friends!
This year’s theme is the Nile River. So, we’ll be walkin’ like an Egyptian! Lydia is excited because she studied ancient Egypt this year–this is like an extended homeschool lesson for her. (I just hope they let me dress like Cleopatra!)
4. VBS
While Lydia is Egypt, Asa will be doing VBS and apparently the theme is Weird Animals. How much more perfect could that be for a 5 year old boy?!
5. Summer Reading Programs
OK, so we already printed off Barnes & Noble’s and Pottery Barn’s summer reading lists so we can earn free books this summer! Our library does one, too but all you get is a free chicken at Chick-fil-a. Yawn.
6. No sports.
We will not be doing gymnastics or ballet in the summer. I don’t even want to do swimming lessons!
7. Reading Playdates
OK. This might be a little of an over-exaggeration (who me?!), but my mom’s church just got rid of all their church’s library books and I took about 3 boxes home with me. (It pained me to leave all the other books there!) So, I’ve invited a few friends over to peruse the boxes and take whatever they want, then when they’re done, we’ll switch them out! How fun is that?!
8. Nothing.
Like no-thing.
9. More nothing.
Seriously. I want my kids to be bored this summer. At least a couple days a week.
10. Armed With Truth
If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen my Armed With Truth pics. These are temporary tattoos of Scripture! My kids love tattoos (the temporary kind of Spiderman and Hello Kitty, not the permanent koi fish and dragon kind) and I love God’s Word any and everywhere I can get it!
We’ve been donning new Scriptures the last few weeks (we’ve got the kids’ pack which is Scriptures from the NIrV and really cool designer pack, too). Lydia’s first Scripture was,
When I’m afraid, I will trust in you. Psalm 56:3
How perfect is that for her? I think I might get her that same one to wear at camp this summer. What an instant reminder, right?!
I’ve also enjoyed having the verses on my arm. Sometimes, when I’m sitting or driving, I see it and it reminds me to stop and focus on the words. Even if we haven’t memorized the Scriptures word-for-word, we’ve repeated them lots of times, talked about each sentence and just had God’s Word a little more a part of our life.
I think these would be way fun at a retreat, camp or for a small group. And of course, Lydia thought I should put them all on my arm at once so I could look like I had a sleeve! Uhm. No, thanks.
So, this summer, I’m thinking if an Armed With Truth verse really speaks to our hearts, we’ll do some activities, or find a song or simply look up the verse in our Bible and make a poster to keep that Word in our hearts.
