Water From Rock Bible Craft

Here is another Sunday School craft that Clancy helped me design.  It relates to the story of water from the rock found in Exodus 17.  

Moses struck the rock with his staff.

For the craft I had the kids glue down flat wooden toothpicks as the staff.  Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph the toothpick...  Just remember to add a staff using a toothpick, a twig, paper or even just draw it in with a black marker.

The templates may be photocopied onto standard 8.5x11" white card stock.  

Use a crafting blade to remove the cut-out from the rock, and put tiny cross-cuts where the paper clip goes through the rock and the wheel.

Cut out Moses and the sun ahead of time.

It is easiest if the kids just color the picture and pieces, and do the assembly with glue and the paperclip.

I also had the kids glue Exodus 17 to the back of the craft.  I think it is good to have the story included somewhere on the craft because some homes are less familiar with Scripture than others.  This way the craft also provides the story.

Goodbye, Chloe Cat

I took Chloe to the vet yesterday and had her put down.

She was 19 years old.

This is a pic from her 14th summer...

These last few months she had a difficult time walking and eating.

But she definitely put in a long run as a good farm cat.  She was a great mouser, with a distinct personality...

She swiped every dog we ever owned across the nose if they got too rowdy in her presence.  Hence, all of our dogs had a deep respect for her.

When our youngest son was four months old we discovered he was severely allergic to Chloe and he could not breath.  It was a scary time for us as a family and, on doctor's orders, the cat was sent to live outdoors.  I was initially filled with guilt and worry for her.  Within a week Chloe had systematically destroyed every window screen on the house.  After that I think we both called it even.

She was relatively sweet with us at home, but the first time we took her to the vet's office there was an "incident."  I dropped her off for shots and a spay and when I picked her up the vet told me he didn't want to ever see her again.  Apparently she was not well-behaved.

A few years later we decided to have our horse vet give Chloe her vaccinations during a farm visit.  Chloe began growling when she saw the vet across the yard.  There was a great struggle, which resulted in two bent needles and Clancy laying his entire body across the vet's tailgate, thereby squishing the cat flat underneath him.  The injection was given and Chloe released.  I will never forget the image of her furry body springing up and flying through the air...dead set on clawing the vet's face off.  One would assume she'd be mad at Clancy for restraining her.  But she blamed the vet for the entire situation and tried her best to take revenge.  Clancy swatted the cat off the vet, who was busy trying to protect her face with her arms.  Chloe was pronounced "set for life" that day as far as vaccinations went.

 Despite her lack of veterinary attention, she was remarkably healthy throughout her life.

Chloe refused to share her territory with any other cat.  She regularly whooped on any stray that came along and disposed of the intruder, like clockwork, the very night after it was first spotted in the yard.  We only ever had ONE cat....Chloe.

She will be missed...

the way she would rub against our hands...but bite us if we petted her....

except Clancy....

she had a soft spot for Clancy.

And he certainly had a soft spot for her.

Bye, Chloe. 

Sunday School Crafts

I love teaching Sunday School at 

Our Redeemer's Lutheran Church in Puposky.

Here are a couple of crafts we did in class recently.  Many thanks to Clancy for sketching the people and the ark and the background for the Noah story.  Please note that this is not our best artistic work, as most of it was drawn and cut out late in the night before Sunday.  Mercifully, kids are less critical about these crafts than our inner critics.

Feel free to borrow the designs and make your own versions of these crafts.

Moveable Noah's Ark 

(Genesis 6-9)

Have kids color background card stock.  Glue down large blue wave (with cutout to fit around cardstock slit).  Put a line of glue ONLY on the straight edge of narrow wave.  Add narrow wave so it covers but does not block the slit in the card stock Color ark and add people/animal stickers (option).  Glue or tape ark to wooden stick and slide stick between waves and through the card stock slit.

Crossing the Red Sea 

(Exodus 14)