Running Man Challenge

You may have heard of the Running Man Challenge.

I don't mean this running man:

completely outdated

totally square

unhip

I mean this one:

watch out for The Running Man Challenge:

Good Heavens

Tonight's post is dedicated to Mr. T.

Mr. T. was a person who you wonder to yourself "could I ever be that good?"  

A father, son, husband, and friend-   Mr. T. was humble, kind, smart, giving, and Godly.

Every time he would give the financial report at church, I would be a bit hypnotized with how methodical and careful he would read over the numbers and answer questions.   Coming from someone like me (who always approaches life like a mix between The Tasmanian Devil and David Copperfield) I was always in admiration.

Mr. T. was FUNNY, his humor was quirky and unexpected.  It was my favorite.

I once got my email stuck on all caps font and could not figure out how to fix it.  I sent an email to Mr. T. asking to book me for the fellowship hall and apologizing for the ALL CAPS font.  He sent me an email back that read 'I am reading you loud and clear Amanda, no need to worry'.  

Once when Mr. T. and Darren worked a mission together making (as Mr. T. explained)  "at least one million snow cones for West Virginia", Darren shared he graduated in 1994.  Mr. T. said 'I think that was the year I bought these jeans'.

This morning, I knew there would be people who would appreciate the purpose of my lesson and then others who would think 'why? why would anyone...?' 

  

It makes me happy to think I definitely would have made Mr. T. chuckle.

We will definitely miss you Mr. T!

Our prayers are with the very beautiful and special family who are experiencing the most loss today.

****

I have to apologize in advance.

This morning, Good Heavens made an appearance for Children's Church, and did not get one picture with the sweet morning group.

Good Heavens plans to come out of retirement so she can get photos with the early risers, because they ROCKED the bible lesson today also.

This week, Connor has shared with me many concerns and worries he has about things he has heard on the radio/news.

I realized that he, like many children at our church, is entering the age that worries and concerns are weighing heavy.

It made me think about how Satan loves to lie, confuse, and scare our children.  This is when we need a special Tag Team Partner:  Jesus Christ

Enter:  Good Heavens 

Signature Move:  The Tickle Monster

Finishing Move:  The Praying Hands

Now before you worry about the children losing the purpose of today's biblical lesson, don't you worry one bit.........

....everything was totally in control.

Total Focus Here.  :)

OK, so maybe we got a little excited but these children designed some pretty great wrestling belts.  Most importantly, they know that with God we are Strong, Mighty, and There is Nothing We Can't DO!!

The JESUS Express

I love God-

Heavyweight Champ

Be like God- Just Do IT

Christian Flag Organization

God Empire

God is Good

Meter Man

and his Tag Team Partner in the background

I asked this guy to give me his best wrestling face. ha. ha.

God is Great

(love the photo bomb)

WWJC

World Wrestling Jesus Champs

Good Heavens Promo Interview:

The devil came to the wrestling ring and said I was worthless, I can’t do it, I’m weak, I’m pathetic, and that I will lose, he told me I would be scared, and could never win, that there is no hope.

I stopped him right there and said… “IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT THE DEVIL SAYS”!! 

The devil can’t see me.....he can’t smell what Good Heavens is cookin'.  I give all those doubts the 'figure four' and 'attitude adjustment'.

Philippians 4: 13 tells us that 'I can do all this through Him who gives me strength'.  To be the man you have to beat the sin, to beat the sin you have to believe in God.

Ephesians 6:10:  'Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power'. My God gives me 21 inch pythons, brother.

Oh you didn’t know?  This is Good HeavensaMANIA- brother!   I'm the Stylin', profilin', limousine riding, jet flying, believer in the Son of God.  This is the house that God built and God is my Tag Team Partner.

I can,  I will…… defeat sin because I have God,   Whooooo.  

A Fishy Life

Last night we had big fun at the Spring Fling.

I begged Carlee to do the cake walk and win a cake for me, 

but she wasn't into it.

I don't blame her, being pampered works too!

I have no idea what Connor did last night.  I never saw him until the end.

I didn't even give him tickets and somehow he scrounged enough to win.....

a fish!

Carlee also won a fish.

(named Goldust and Nemo)

She was so thrilled and insisted on holding the fish.  The poor thing jingled in the bag until we got home.

I prayed over that fish like it was in ICU.

The "fun" part about "free" fish is that you get to take care of them.

We headed to the store to pick up supplies when the kids began to argue about who gets to keep their fish in their room.

They picked out two glass bowls.

Next we started research and we read about all the MANY things you need to do to keep fish alive.  About how they like to jump to their death out of bowls and how they like to have a friend and how they need carbs and proteins and plants and how if you JINGLE it in a bag it weakens the immune system and about how they don't need to be in tight spaces........

I was so stressed.

We had an aquarium but we did not have an air filter or pump.  

Still, things are looking good for now.

The kids agreed to switch off the tank in their rooms weekly.  Connor was a good brother and let Carlee have the fish first but then Connor took his sleeping bag and slept in Carlee's room (with the fish).  

This morning I woke up to a lot of laughter.  The kids have been watching BBC talking animals.

If you haven't watched it, it is hilarious.

The kids used the iPad to make their own Funny Talking Animals.

I love Carlee's 'underwater' voice.

That is the story of how we won FREE fish.

Let's All Go to Letterland

If you are a preschool, primary, or homeschool teacher-  I highly recommend the program Letterland.  It. is. AWESOME.

Letterland is a huge staple of our morning meeting/ phonics groups.  We love it because it incorporates music, movement, writing, and imagination.

***

The website describes it best:

"Letterland is a unique, phonics-based approach to teaching reading, writing and spelling to 3-8 year olds. The Letterland characters transform plain black letter shapes into child-friendly pictograms and they all live in an imaginary place called Letterland."

Today imagination took a life of it's own because we had the opportunity to go toooo...... Letterland!

I have wanted to go to Tweetsie Railroad at Letterland Day for the past three years.

Thanks to Mrs. K. and the generous donations from our community, 

we were finally able to go on this very special adventure.

All Aboard 

The LETTERLAND Train

The employees at Letterland were very impressed with our school because we were the only kids (ever) to dress up as Letterland characters.

(What can I say?  We are Awesome!)

Front Row:  Peter Puppy, Golden Girl, Annie Apple, Fix it Max
Back Row:  Quarrelsome Queen, Kicking Queen, Harry Hat Man, Bouncy Ben, Red Robot

When we first arrived, it was pretty rainy, which was a bummer!  Of course, Umpy Umbrella was NOWHERE to be found.  

(We were at least happy Talking Tess didn't meet up with Hairy Hatman, because then she says "There, There, it's just Thunder!")

Luckily, after lunch the sun began to shine on Letterland again.  (You were right Mrs. E.)

And the fun continued.....

Tweetsie Twister

Stomach Twister

(I almost did a B for Barf)

Fire Fighter Fred(s)

Peter Puppy

Noisy Nick and Vicky Violet

Yo Yo Man

(who gave all of the children a real Yo Yo)

Peter Puppy and Golden Girl

Kicking Queen 

(formally known as Kicking King)

Choo!  Choo!

Mrs. E. our Organizer Extraordinaire with Red Robot

(I think Red Robot is sad that Mrs. S. is not riding with him.  he. he. )

Quarrelsome Queen and Mrs. N.

Mrs. E's son J. (all grown up)

who I kept calling S.

Train Show

(Watch out for Red Robot who wants to steal Mr. A's apples.)

Hairy Hat (Men)

Red Robot

When two vowels go a walking... the first one does the talking.

Quarrelsome Queen turned into a Giggling Queen when Golden Girl's goats licked her.

Fix it Max-

Fixes it All

Mrs. C. JAILED (gasp)

She took all the letters for spelling.

Dippy Duck

Zippy Zebra(s)

My little zebra's hat flew off on the Twister (and she handled it like a pro.)

Bouncy Ben's Bunny Ears Flopped 

(too cute)

Mouse Mine

Our crowd really LIT up the Mouse Mine with our neon green.

Golden Girl would be proud.

Peter Puppy and Mr. O

Talking Tess

and Lucy Lamplight

Golden Girl (#2)

We had #1.

Walter Walrus

Our letters were WORN out.

A great time was had by all.

We all worked hard on this trip.  (My teaching assistants are the greatest people on this EARTH.)

We have been doing social stories for a month.

My boys and girls were challenged every step of the way.  At times- children shoved at them, it was loud, it was wet, one could not get out of the stall, one didn't like lunch, one was terrified of riding the bus or rides, we had to wait, children were turned away from rides for being too tall, etc.

 Each individual did GREAT with each challenge.  They LISTENED.  When upset, they were easily CALMED.  They remembered our LESSONS.

We were P for PROUD! 

#always

There is value outside of the classroom.

If you are interested in Letterland Day, here are my Pros and Cons:

Pros:

-The day was incredibly organized.  

The park kept to all times, reserved our tables, unloaded our bus, reminded us when lunch was ending, answered all questions.  (This put me in my happy place.)

-The park was not extremely crowded.

-It was really cool meeting all the characters.

Cons:

-expensive

-long, long drive

-not enough time to do all activities to get your $$ worth

-Letterland is not too incredibly different from Tweetsie/ the skits were a tiny bit cheesy and short (even for my little kids)