Family Fun Month

Okay, whoever was put in charge of getting the "national days" set in place kinda went overboard with some of them --and apparently ran low on ideas when they named others.  Take "Wiggle Your Toes" or the "Blah, Blah, Blah" days for example.  Hello?  A lot of national days are better for laughs or raised eyebrows than they are for celebrations. (However, for those with prolific zucchini plants, August 8, "Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day", might be worth marking down and doing something about.)  

While many national days pass us by unheeded, here is one national title truly worth celebrating: August is christened Family Fun Month.  Our families are always worth celebrating and making positive memories together is always in season, but a whole month named in honor of having fun as families is too good to pass by unnoticed.  

Since there are four full weeks in August, I'm suggesting we take time each week to focus on doing something fun together with our family.  It doesn't have to be exotic nor expensive; the only criteria is that we do something on purpose to leave behind fun memories as a family. 

Are you worried that you don't have the time or energy to put into this?  Don't nix the idea of doing something fun as a family each week before you give it a try!  A few great ideas and a little planning in advance can go a long way.  I'm discovering there are myriads of fun things to do and plan to post a some of those ideas throughout the month. 

For starters, here's a few ideas based from the National Days of August: 

• Book Lover's Day (more on that later), August 9
• Son and Daughter Day, August 11:  Let your children choose the supper menu, decorate simply with helium balloons and a little gift at each child's plate.  Include a little note in each gift telling that child something you appreciate about them.  
• National Lefthander's Day, August 13:  Give being left-handed a try.  Everyone eat with your left hands today, draw a picture with your left hand, or play ball left-handed.  Look up some famous people in history who were left-handed including the ones found in Judges 20:16 and I Chron. 12:1,2. 
• Creamsicle Day, August 14:  Got any ideas? :) Think front porch, children, parents, and a box of creamsicles.  
• Senior Citizen's Day, August 21:  Today would be a good one to do something for a senior citizen.  Go sing for them.  Bake them some bread, do some shopping for them, take them shopping if they are up for it but don't like to drive.  See if they need yard work done or a flower bed weeded.  Today's a great one to make memories as a family by ministering to someone else. 
• Toasted Marshmallow Day, August 30:  Have a campfire and make sure to break out the marshmallows!  

Hand-print Art

I was going to be babysitting for three extra children one afternoon and wanted something creative to do with them.  One of the first things that came to my mind was drawing animals using your hand-print, an idea taken from www.hellokids.com. I had tried this out on my four-year-old one day when he was bored.  It was a hit with him (and his mom!) so I introduced the idea to the children I was babysitting. Once again, it was a winner!  Hey, try it sometime!

Dewdrops

Dew. It covers everything.  

Everything from the green spikes of my yellow Daylilies 

to the stalwart maples that guard our front yard. 

 I love the dew's impartial distribution across everything.  

It even covers things that aren't necessarily thankful for it 

(like people in sleeping bags, for example).  

Life's dewdrops of joy are like that. 

 Life is blanketed with little things that bring a lilt of gladness to any heart that takes the time to recognize them.  They are there whether I notice them or not.

I've made the choice to keep my eyes open for things that add fun, spice, and joy to life or simply things I'm thankful for.  In fact, after reading Ann Voskamp's book, 

One Thousand Gifts, I write them down--or try to anyway, though I've missed probably as many as I've written.  My tiny list is only at 1, 941 but ever growing.  

I record important things like #1527:

 My favorite discount grocery store started to carry coffee creamer.   

Pretty things in nature like #1628: The reflection of the moon on a wet, wintery road.  

Fun things: #1634:  Playing out in the snow with Tyler.  He was a zebra and I was a weasel and we tromped around making tracks. 

And truly important things like #1643:  There is eternal life.  Death is only a beginning!

In taking time to notice all these little dewdrops of joy, 

my outlook on life has been gradually changing.  

I've been discouraged much less, and thankful much more.  

That is why this little blog carries the title it does.  

While the posts won't necessarily center around the "joy-drops" themselves, finding joy in the little things God blesses me with is one of the themes of my life. This blog is an expression of that.