Jump Up Weekend

When I was pregnant with Kinley, Brian and I made the difficult decision to leave the church that I had attended for twenty years. It's the church that I grew up in. It's the church that I married my husband in, dedicated my daughter in. I had the opportunity of leading worship and singing in vocal teams. I had the joy of serving with my mom, dad, sister, brother n law and husband. Brian and I both felt a tugging to cultivate more relationships in our community. We love to serve, but it was getting taxing to drive 45 minutes each way (leaving at 6:45 am) every Sunday. We knew our kids would attend church regularly, which inevitably friendships would develop and we didn't want to have to tell them no to many of the activities just because of distance.

We have been attending a church much closer to our home now since November. From the very first weekend there, Emily was bringing home little lesson crafts. I think her first craft was something that said, "We thank God for our eyes" and she was able to put stickers on it. Since then, she has done all kinds of crafts all with some sort of biblical message. This past weekend was "jump up weekend." That means that she moved into the next class. I was nervous because she doesn't do well in new environments, but she did just fine. In fact, when we picked her up I noticed she was wearing a sticker that said, "I said my bible verse today." They gave us the picture she drew on. On the picture was a black and white photo of the coat of many colors and she had pasted on some color blocks. The scripture underneath it was from Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and brave because God is with you."

I didn't think anything about the sticker claiming she said the scripture. I just figured she was coached all the way through it. Fast forward to tonight (Tuesday) when I was cleaning up after dinner and I heard Emily saying, "Be strong and bruv" It took me a second to realize what she was saying. I watched her and saw that she was doing hand movements. Sure enough, I said the scripture to her and she got the biggest smile on her face so I knew I was saying what she was saying. She showed me the hand gestures and has said the verse now several times.

For a little over an hour each week, my daughter is getting to play with kids that are learning about Jesus together and that absolutely warms my heart!