I’m really trying to not get so behind on these Fruit of the Spirit posts.  And I feel we’re entering a crazy season of busy weeks and weekends; lots of get togethers and “holiday” parties are on the horizon.  I’m doing my best to stay current and not forget anything, so bear with me!

Last week we talked about JOY, our second fruit.  Amanda used bananas for joy, and I’m using the same fruit she picked.  The bananas make cute smiley faces!

Our LOVE week was jam-packed with activities, check out the post to see them, they’re great!  But joy was a little more low-key.  I like that because I don’t think I could handle having back-to-back activity-intense weeks in addition to our regular school curriculum, which is picking up intensity by itself.  So to introduce the unit, I read Nehemiah 8:10 “The joy of the Lord is my strength.”  We talked about what joy IS and where it comes from.  We read John 15:1-11 and discussed again how Jesus is the vine (or tree) and we are the branches that are to bear fruit, which is why we’re talking about the fruit of the spirit in the first place!  But it also emphasizes that if we remain in Jesus, our JOY will be complete. We sang and danced (and Daddy joined in) to the Veggie Tales singing “Down in my Heart.”  How joyful!

I have to remind myself sometimes that what I’m doing with my kids now is planting seeds.  I shouldn’t expect them to walk away from a mini-lesson or discussion completely changed.  But I hope and pray that I’ve planted a little seed that will grow with them as they grow and learn.  This means I can tell my kids that their joy should come from the Lord but that doesn’t mean that they’ll never get upset when a toy is taken or they don’t get their way (just as we adults don’t learn that quickly, either).  Hopefully they’ll remember these lessons and discussions and I can build on them more easily as they get older.  So we did make a list of the things that make us joyful and then talked about things that make us upset and how we can try to remember to find our joy in God and not in things.

And finally, of course, we made banana crunch muffins! (Another Ina Garten recipe.) No pictures of those, though, because I made them “jumbo” and they fell apart.  haha!  But we had a picnic in the living room while we read our Bible verses and Abby colored the JOY on our poster with a banana scented marker (for Noah) and she got her chapstick.  It was a good week!  PEACE is next!

Mash those bananas, Noah!