The sounds of Saturday morning

Beth has done a beautiful job coloring the red sea.

We love weekends on Project Canaan. The farm is quiet as only the children’s campus staff is at work.  Saturday starts the same as every other weekday for the Maxwell’s, sitting in bed with a cup of coffee overlooking Project Canaan.  Ian and I have our time of quiet prayer, devotion and scripture reading and then we move along with the day.

Saturday’s are extra special because at 9AM the beautiful sound of tiny voices begins to float up the mountaintop, notifying us that KIDS CLUB has begun.

KIDS CLUB was designed for the children who live at the Emseni Campus (our big kids) and any other children living on the farm who are in preschool or above.  The children are divided in to groups and move through five stations, shifting every 15-minutes.  It’s a fun-filled morning that includes a craft (two different ones dependent on age groups), singing/dancing, a race or physical activity, bible story, bible verse memory time.

The idea of this is to teach the children the bible story that will be presented at church the following morning, and help them understand what the story is about.  By acting out part of the story, making a craft with the story theme, hearing the story read, memorizing the bible verse and then dancing and singing about it, children’s church on Sunday becomes much more interesting and engaging to the children.

This was the brainchild of our volunteer Program Director, Bryan Throgmorton, but is fully executed with the entire Emseni staff, with support from our long term and short-term volunteers.  The 75-minute club ends with a fun snack and is followed by free play.

I LOVE the people whom I refer to as our “CARE TEAM”.  The Care Team comprises of anyone who is directly involved in caring for our children and includes Aunties, Uncles, Gogo’s and big brothers.  Ian and I are “mom and dad”.  In siSwati we are called Make (pronounced Mah – gay, which means mother) and Babe (pronounced Bah-bay, which means father). 

We are thankful for our Heart for Africa summer interns!

Our goal is to intentionally make this our children’s HOME, and not an orphanage.  Part of that intentionality is being focused on each child developing their own personality, individuality and identity. KIDS CLUB is one of those activities that helps allow our children to express themselves in different ways, and I spend my Saturday mornings watching, listening and laughing as they bloom in front of my eyes.

I am so proud of the people who God has brought to us to help raise these children and for all of you who support us financially and prayerfully.

Live from Swaziland … I love Saturdays on Project Canaan.

Janine

Are you too busy to attend the King's feast?

Caleb and John, preparing for the banquet

Every Saturday morning we have “Kids Club” with our 63 “big kids” at Emseni AND IT IS AWESOME!!

Let me tell you about it.

One of our goals is to be “intentional” about raising our children (as were with our biological children). Our new Program Director (Bryan Throgmorton – who is also AWESOME!) is helping us with scheduling including the following areas:

·      Spiritual life

·      Homework

·      Reading

·      Arts and crafts

·      Sports/recreational activities

·      Music/drama/dance

·      Age appropriate chores

·      Town outings (KFC, Funky Frogs, grocery shopping)

·      One-on-one time with adults

Our Kids Club is an intentional part of our Spiritual Life program and it is designed to teach our children the “lesson of the week” in preparation for Children’s Church on Sunday.  It is a part of the Waumba Land program that we have been able to use from North Point Community Church.  Our children are divided in to five groups of approximately 12 children and each group circulates through five stations over a period of 75 minutes, which include:

1.     Reading the bible story of the week.

 

2.     Singing new songs and old favorites as well as dancing and jumping. 

3.     Doing a craft that links to the story of the day.

4.     Learning the bible verse for the week and what it means for their age.

5.     Games that help them learn and remember the story for the week.

Today’s story was that of the “Wedding feast”. The children heard the story of the King who prepared a banquet for his friends, but when the time came for the banquet, everyone was too busy to attend. The King then sent his servants out to the town to invite all of the townspeople to attend because the feast was prepared.  The scripture that they learned was “Those who… belong to him must live as Jesus did”. 1 John 2:6

The craft that they made were crowns so that they would be ready to have the feast with the King.

Levi

The games were the best!  They had a relay race where they had to run and take all of the supplies needed for the feast to be ready, including a cup, spoon, table cloth, napkin and of course a plastic chicken drumstick!  Then they had to run around and find the hidden “friends” to invite them to the King’s banquet as the feast was ready to eat!  It was hilarious.

The song and dance is always a favorite and the children sing with their hearts and souls.

I am thankful for so many of you who read this blog every week and who share it with friends and family.  I SO WISH that you could be here to experience the love and joy that engulf our children’s homes.  But for today, you will have to enjoy it through photos and this short video. I pray that you enjoy feasting with the King this week.

Thank you for your love, your support and your prayers. These children ARE the future of this Kingdom.

Live from Swaziland … my heart is happy.

Janine