“What Really Happened at the Hagan House!” (Me card #3)
Posted by karlahagan on Jul 6, 2011 in A Language, A Plan, Blog, Me Cards | 0 comments
I think it is important for you to understand the simplicity and freedom that I hope for your family when you work through the Me cards. The “Getting Started” section on the poster that came with your Me cards is short and simple; use it, but I also want you to use whatever is going on in your home that week to explain the Me card too. This will be different for every family. The different ages and issues will determine that. I also want you to see that even as the mom who wrote the material, I still had different things happen once I actually put it in motion. On these “What Really Happened” blogs, you are going to see it all.
We have done the Me cards now 3 times in the life of our family. For Summer 2007 it was totally geared to 4 and 5 year olds. For Summer 2009, our kids were now 6 and 7, and, it was geared to what they were already playing or what was already fun for them – painting/drawing pictures, playing birthday party, doing a play, singing bingo, etc. In the summer of 2011, it was exciting to begin to ask some of the questions and do more cross-referencing in our Bibles. If I had had this material when the kids were infants, I would have just said the Me card statements and the verses over them and prayed the prayer over them. As Maya, Ada and Carson get older, we are looking forward to talking more about the questions. We will also do more cross-referencing and really get into the meat of the verse by researching other verses on this same idea or looking up some explanation of the core verse.
Enjoy the adventure! I hope you will find these Me card “What Really Happened” blogs entertaining and helpful!
Me Card #3 – I am not condemned.
Summer 2007
1. The kids were in to playing “birthday party” that morning. They had decorated the house for a birthday party they were having. After they got to a stopping place, we told them that we were so glad they had decorated, because we were actually having a party today – it was called: “We are not condemned Party!”
2. We told them to go put some presents in the gift bags for the party, while Ron and I prayed desperately for “on the spot” creative thinking that was hopefully about to happen. Seriously, we were making this up as we went along.
3. They brought back their gift bags with random things from their room inside the bags. Ron and I sat down on the floor with them under the “Happy Birthday from Barney sign” and said – “today we are having a ‘We are not condemned party!’ and this is something very important that Father God wants you to know. Condemned means done for or detestable because of a choice we have made. You are neither of those. Your mistakes don’t hold you. You are free from them as you seek his forgiveness. We don’t have to keep the mistakes in our path.”
4. Then we had them open the gifts, and Ron and I tried our best to find a parallel between what they had in the bag and this idea of no condemnation. So, they had a football Frisbee in one bag, and we said: “this reminds us that we can fly with freedom in Jesus. We are not condemned.” Next, they had a whale stuffed animal, and we said: “This whale is really sad, because he feels bad for his mistakes, but we need to tell him that he can be free of those bad choices. He is not condemned. He doesn’t have to feel sad anymore.” We had the whale do a happy dance. Then, one of them pulled out a small pillow, and we responded with this thought: “In Father God and his life without condemnation, we can find rest and peace.” Last, they packed a lunchbox, and we said: “We don’t have to carry around our mistakes anymore.” ETC. We just got creative with whatever they brought back in their gift bags.
5. Last, we sang together “Happy No Condemnation Day to Us!” to the tune of Happy Birthday! The key idea here is we went with what they were already playing and valued. The silliness of it really captured their attention.
6. Next I believe someone said they wanted to paint. So we all sat on the floor and painted signs to hang on the family board saying things like: “I am Free – Romans 8:1, no condemnation in Jesus, Jesus, I love you, etc. Ada even painted a picture of Jesus by a tree. We just worked that in to the idea. We read the verses and prayed the prayer over them as we painted.
Summer 2009
1. We read the statement, verse and questions.
2. We then played 2 songs – “I am Free” by The Newsboys and “Freedom” by Darrell Evans. We danced and acted crazy and then talked through the meaning of these songs and how it tied to the idea of “no condemnation.” We listened to the songs several times with some stops and starts in the midst. It was rich!
Summer 2011
We looked at old pictures they had painted from year’s past and talked through questions in great detail. It is amazing how much they have in thoughts now about each topic. So, our time was mainly discussion and prayer this time around.
