Creation Days 1-4

 If you have ever spent more than 5 minutes around my toddler you would know that if he is not riding a tractor, his mind is focused on food or books. He eats more than the typical adult man, and if he has not convinced you to read him a book, he is probably packing one around. He is obsessed with both. So, when I was trying to find ways to incorporate more Bible teaching into our day I tried to think of ways that would involve two of his most favorite things. I have seen so many cute videos of moms making lunches for their children that are fun and exciting. I thought maybe I could train my brain to be a little more creative and put our own spin on this. We had so much fun! 

I started out by reading him the story of creation from his children's keepsake Bible. We read the whole story but I stopped and explained days 1- 4. Because he is only 14 months this was a pretty quick process, but as he gets older I am excited to use different Bibles that have more detailed stories. 

Here is a picture of the story. Short and sweet with lots of pictures that keep him interested.

                               

 After we read the story, I put him in his high chair for lunch. I used his morning nap to get everything ready and I did not realize I would have so much fun preparing this food for him. Days 1- 4 are the initial days of creation...

Day 1: God separates light from darkness

Day 2: God separates the water from the sky 

Day 3: God separates the earth from the sea and creates vegetation

Day 4: God creates the sun, moon, and stars

For lunch I emphasized days 3 and 4 just because they were the easiest to create something with. 

I started by peeling a cucumber and slicing it. Then, I cut the slices in half. This will be used later to create "grass."

I was surprised at how much he LOVED the cucumber pieces. This will definitely be a staple for lunch at our house. He has never really showed much interest in it before, but he is a fan for sure! 

Next, I made a PB&J sandwich. 

PB&J is one of his all time favorites so I went ahead and made a whole sandwich but cut the shape of a moon out of the middle. I saved the extra for when he was still hungry after he finished his lunch.... because he is ALWAYS still hungry. ha! When I laid it out for him I surrounded the PB&J with the Gerber puffs because they are in the shape of stars. He loves to snack on these so he was happy to see a few on his plate at lunch. 

The next thing I did was make "leaves" out of a wrap. I used a spinach wrap that I got at Kroger because it was green. 

Then I layered it with mayo and turkey slices. I found out a few days later that he would much rather have ranch on his wrap than mayo. This is crazy talk to me, but to each his own I guess. He is a Sexton after all,  and ranch seems to be king in the kitchen around here. 

Next I rolled up the wrap and cut it into pinwheels. When I put this out on his tray I laid the pinwheels around a pretzel tree trunk so they would look like leaves on the tree. 

The last thing I did before putting it all together was cut a slice of cheese into the shape of a sun. I used a circle cookie cutter to cut out the center and then used my knife around the corners to cut triangles to use as the outside. 

Now it was time to lay everything out on his tray so it would be ready for him when he got up from his nap. I knew I had fun and it would be cute... but it was SO stinkin' cute. 

Before I let him dig in, we talked again about creation days 3 and 4. I told him about how God made the grass and the trees, then He made the sun, moon, and stars. I took his sweet little hand and pointed to where the tree was, and then the sun, and moon. I know that he is too young to comprehend everything, but I do believe the more you pour into your children, the more filled they will be. Proverbs 22:6 says: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." I know Hayes will not grow up and be perfect. He will make mistakes, stumble, and struggle just like all of us. But I also know that my job as his mom is to lay a solid foundation for him just like one was laid for me. I want Jesus and the word of God to be so real to him. Sometimes I have a way of complicating things. But, Jesus and His love is the farthest thing from complicated. He IS real. He IS good. His word IS true. He IS right there with us. My prayer is that I can raise my children in a way that even when they struggle or mess up, they can always go back to that foundation and know that no matter what, Jesus is there. He is real. And he is oh, so faithful. 

Of course, he went straight for the cheese. This boy loves his cheese. But, he really did enjoy all the food and different textures on his tray. He would just look at it and then look up at me and smile. As I watched him explore, I realized that while the story of creation is one that most of us know like the back of our hand, today he is learning something for the first time. What a blessing it is to be a parent and experience all those "firsts" with your babies. Their first steps, first words, and today, the first time he heard the story of how God created the trees that he loves so much, the sun that keeps us warm, and the moon and stars that make such a beautiful night sky. 

I absolutely adore being a mom. Everything about it has been a blessing that I do not deserve. But I have to admit, as he gets older the fear of failing him is so prevalent. More than anything, I want him to know Jesus. For so long I worried that I would never be able to show him how amazing Jesus is in a way that he would truly understand. However, God settled my heart and helped me to understand that when Jesus is a part of our every day life, children grow up knowing He is real just like they grow up knowing family members are real. Because just like those family members, He is so, so real. I guess I just wanted God and His word to feel tangible to my son which is why I wanted to start making these Bible lunches for him. I really do plan to hit all of the major stories with a fun lunch that corresponds. If he can grow up to love Jesus as much as he does food, I have done my job. ha. 

Kate and Max have entered such a beautiful season where God is starting to be more real to them. At eleven, Kate runs the multimedia at church and has really started loving how big she feels when she goes to youth group with her peers. It gives her purpose and I am a firm believer that God uses every single gift to further His kingdom if we allow Him. Max is always singing. Always. Worship is in his bones and I love having a front row seat watching it develop. With them, we can have the real conversations about God, and they not only understand, but they can talk about Him with us, too. With Hayes, he is not there yet. If we do not pray before we eat, get extra grumpy, or seem out of sync with the Lord, Kate and Max will let us know quicker than we can realize it ourselves. Hayes not being able to communicate that yet is where I think my fear started. I couldn't ask him if I was doing a good job, or if he understood the Bible story we read at bedtime. So even though I will fail him so many times a day, at lunch, we will sit with God. We will talk about Him. We will read His stories. We will focus on learning how beautiful fellowship is with Him while we fellowship with each other. I hope you will follow along as we create and fellowship together.