Journaling Through the Bible: Sand of the Sea

"For You said, 'I will surely treat you well, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'" 

Genesis 32:12 NKJV

When we think of sand, what images come to mind? Do you think of the beach? Time? Sand traveling through an hour glass?

When I read this passage, I thought about the idea that there will be many humans that will help populate our earth. People with different opinions who share their joy and sadness, their creativity, and their ideas with each other. Future friends and loved ones.

There is so much sand on our planet. As a child you may have asked, how many grains of sand are on the beach (or the earth)?  In the Bible, God says that the sand is too numerous to be counted or numbered. Well, apparently there are "7.5 x 1018 grains of sand, or seven quintillion, five hundred quadrillion grains" according to a group of researchers at the University of Hawaii and science writer David Blatner. 

Like many others, the idea of counting sand makes me thinking of stars. When I hear about the multitude of sand or of descendants, I think of the multitude of stars in the sky.  This phrase always reminds me of one of my favorite songs from Les Miserables. I always felt like the song was Javert's prayer, pleading to God, for assistance in capturing Jean Valjean, who is merely a thief, a fugitive in Javert's eyes.

I also am reminded of the Edgar Allan Poe poem, A Dream Within a Dream.

I feel very fortunate that everything we see is not merely "a dream within a dream." We are destined for a better place after this sand-covered earth. So even though we 'weep,' face injustices (like Joseph did), and our descendants may not be as numerous as those of Jacob, we will find peace in Heaven. 

Preschool: Learning through Art

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One of my children's favorite activities during the day is when we color, draw, or paint. After giving them a copy of a book which includes paintings by the Impressionist artist Claude Monet, I decided we could venture beyond just the basic arts and crafts that we had been doing.  So in addition to the crafts we have continued using together, I have started using Learning About Art from SchoolhouseTeachers.com.

There are a series of 10 lessons that focus upon such artists as John James Audubon, Albert Bierstadt, Grant Wood, and Franz Marc.  Included in each lesson are instructions for drawing simple designs, animals, and such with your children.  I admit I really like that the steps are laid out because I do not consider myself a great artist.

The first lesson is A is for Audubon.

We talked about the artist John James Audubon and several of the birds he painted including flamingos, crows, and bald eagles, as well as the letter A.

My four year-old son and I drew one of the birds in the lesson together. This is one of the reasons why I really like the course Learning About Art: there are step-by-step guides to drawing pictures. 

 On another day, we painted flamingos after reviewing about how to make the color pink.

I think my daughter's favorite part was mixing the paint. 

I simply searched for pictures of flamingos to print out for them to paint. If they were a bit older, I would have asked them to draw their own pictures to paint.

In addition to the material provided by the author of the course, Sharon Jeffus, we picked out some books from the library to extend our lessons.

The next lesson is B is for Bierstadt, Buffalo, Bears, and Butterflies.

We talked about landscape paintings and looked at some images of the Rocky Mountains (both paintings and photographs). Following along with the lesson, we talked about and drew different buildings, including a tepee.

 We used my daughter's new Kwik Stix to paint our tepee pictures.  (They work really great for fast projects. I discuss them more in my Painting with Kwik Stix blog.)

As part of the second lesson, we also drew a buffalo and butterflies.



To extend our lesson of butterflies, we read See How They Grow: Butterfly and created our own life cycle of a butterfly craft.

One of my favorite parts of these courses from SchoolhouseTeachers.com is that I can extend them with more materials and information when my children show interest. And one of my favorite things about art is that you can combine it with so many other subjects like mathematics, history, science, and language arts.

I linked up with the following blog(s):

N is for Nevermore (Blogging Through the Alphabet Link Up)

We have all longed for things that are missing: things that we have lost, things that we will never see again. We mourn individuals that have died even though, as Christians, we believe they are in a better place.

Photography of Gettysburg National Cemetery by Kristen H.

© Woodkern | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

One of the words that always pop to mind when hearing the letter 'N' is Nevermore (along with the word, No, because as a parent and a former teacher I have probably said this word more than I would like to recall). One of Edgar Allan Poe's best known poems is "The Raven" in which the narrator is keeping a watch in his home and mourning the loss of his love, Lenore. Our narrator is probably at that state of being half-awake when dreams appear to be reality. It is at this moment he hears a knock and cannot pinpoint from where it is coming. Is it the door? Is it the window?

He finally finds that the source of the knocking is something at his window lattice. A raven enters his abode "with a flirt and flutter." Using numerous images throughout the poem, Poe references mythology, religion, and the classics. The raven, sitting upon a bust of Pallas, quotes one word to our narrator, "Nevermore." (The bust is of Pallas Athena the Greek goddess of wisdom.)

What a scary thought - Nevermore. Will we see our loved ones? Nevermore. Will we be happy again? Nevermore. These are the things that the narrator is obsessing about on this cold December day.

Thankfully, we do not need to believe the raven when he says, "Nevermore," because we will be happy. We will be with our loved ones. We will be with Jesus one day.

So even though our lives may be filled with "nevermores," I firmly believe that our everlasting life is full of forevermores.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His 

only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." 

John 3:16 NKJV 

Crafts: T is for Tree

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While we are crafting our way through the alphabet, we made trees for the letter T. My 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter were very excited about picking the colors of the background, leaves, and 'fruit.'

Materials 

• construction paper 
• white glue
• glue sticks
• pom-poms
• craft paper 
• scissors
• pencil
• crayons 

Steps 

1. Gather all the materials.

2. Trace and cut out your letter T and tree top.  If your children are proficient with scissors, have them help you.

3.  Glue on the tree top.  (We glued on the letter T first but the letter ended up lost under the tree top so I recommend this step first.)

 4. Glue on the letter T.

5.  Glue on the pom-poms (to represent leaves and fruit) and if you have any other leaves cut out.  I had some leaf scrapbook paper left over from another project which was perfect for this one.

6. Allow to dry and then display.

I linked up with the following blog(s):

Journaling Through the Bible: Joseph's Dreams

"Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, 'Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me."

Genesis 37:9 NKJV

As much as I love reading the story of Joseph, I have always had trouble understanding why he continues to share his dreams when his brothers are obviously envious. Maybe Joseph is so innocent that he does not see their envy. Is Joseph only seeking the approval of his brothers and father when he shares these dreams? 

Why do we share our own dreams? Sometimes our dreams are funny and we want to share the laugh with a friend or loved one. Sometimes they are scary and talking about them makes them less scary. Perhaps sharing them helps others understand why we may be reacting differently to events than before we experienced the bad dream. But why does Joseph share the dreams that get him into so much trouble?

It seems like the sharing of his dreams begins the plotting against Joseph by his brothers. It really kicked the journey towards sin in the hearts of his brothers into high gear.

I think one needs to skip to the end of Genesis to see the end of the story to truly understand how it all would work out in the end.

"But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." Genesis 50:20 NKJV

Despite the brothers' envy and jealousy, if they had not sold their brother into slavery he might not have saved 'many people,' including his own family. I find it very probable that Joseph would not have journeyed to Egypt, become an aide to the Pharaoh, and planned for a future famine if he was not sold into slavery. Things really do have a way of working out.

© Aask | Dreamstime Stock Photos & Stock Free Images

I have to admit that I am probably more familiar with the story of Joseph than other Old Testament stories thanks to the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. I cannot even remember how many times I have seen it on the stage as well as viewing the film starring Donny Osmond.

"I dreamed I saw eleven stars,
The Sun the moon and sky,
Bowing down before my star..."
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat lyrics to Josephs' Dreams