Positive-Talk 4 Kids

Kindness by Isabella Buitron

noreply@blogger.com (Positive-Talk) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:20:00 +0000

November 2009 Edition (Photo: Left, Isabella Buitron, Right, Veronica Guevera)

Kindness is really important to God. Without kindness there would be no happiness.

Kindness is the key to happiness. Some ways you can show kindness to friends and family is to be willing to share with people.

You can also be kind by helping a friend when they’re hurt. When a friend is going through a rough time, you should listen to their problems and help them through that path.

Always tell the truth and all your relationships with people will be better and you will be kind by telling the truth. May God Bless You!

I'm Wonderfully Made! by Sage Buitron

noreply@blogger.com (Positive-Talk) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:41:00 +0000

I dedicate this book to my precious daughter, Isabella and to all the children of the world. You are wonderfully, wonderfully made! I love you!

Never doubt it for a second, it’s absolutely true, You are Wonderfully Made, through and through.

God knew you before you came to be. He created everything that you look around and see.

He chose you to be His and He gave you special gifts. Your life is a present and you are His.

God loves you so much, of that you can be sure. His love for you will always endure.

God says in His word, “You are fearfully and wonderfully made.” So hold your head up high and don’t ever be afraid.

Always remember how special you are. These thoughts will carry you far. Remember also, no one on earth is exactly like you. Your face, your body, your heart were made beautifully through and through.

So reach for the stars, jump for joy and you’ll find, you can do anything if you make up your mind.

Repeat after me and don’t let this thought fade.
I am Wonderfully, Wonderfully, Wonderfully Made!

Psalm 139:14 “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (New International Version)

God Bless You and Keep You!

Things I Love about God by Veronica Guevera and Isabella Buitron

noreply@blogger.com (Positive-Talk) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 21:07:00 +0000

(photo: left, Veronica Guevera, right: Isabella Buitron)

Things I Love About God by Veronica Guevara

1. Healer
2. Creator
3. He is my Father
4. He is our Jehova
5. He loves my friends and me
6. He helps me in difficult times
7. He made food and shelter
8. He answers my questions
9. He gave me a loving heart
10. He died on the Cross for me

Things I Love About God by Isabella Buitron

1. One of the things I love about God is that His love is patient and kind.
2. Another thing I love about God is that you can tell him your most private secrets.
3. You can love God more than anything and anyone.
4. God can be your BFF.
5. He is not arrogant or rude.
6. Also His love is perfect.
7. You can trust God with anything you tell Him.
8. He is awesome with love.
9. He is the best thing you could ever have.
10. We should worship God and no one else.

Whose Birthday is it Anyway? by Raylene

noreply@blogger.com (Positive-Talk) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 02:29:00 +0000

(Photos: Raylene's daughter helping with Jesus' birthday cake and all of Raylene's children, sitting pretty!)

Not long until Christmas now. My kids are terribly excited!

We already started talking about how we're going to decorate - streamers, balloons, fun plates and napkins, and a nice party tablecloth. The menu for the day is pretty standard (we do the same thing each year), and we still need to get more hot dogs and probably some hamburger buns before then.

Of course, the whole day is a big party at our house. It IS the birthday of the most important person in history, after all.

Christmas is the day we celebrate the anniversary of Jesus' birth - Jesus' birthday! In 2008, Jesus turns infinity +1 years old.

What does a birthday party look like at your house when a 'regular person' has a birthday? Streamers, balloons, cake, presents, party games and the like?

The birthday person choosing their favorite meals, maybe? Well, that's what Christmas day looks like at our house. But, whose birthday is it anyway? We can't exactly give Jesus a present, but we can celebrate the day with him!

The morning starts with the children racing into the living room to see if Baby Jesus has indeed 'shown up' in the manger in our Nativity Scene (we do a “progressive nativity” where the characters are placed in the scene a piece at a time over the course of the holiday season). We read the Christmas story out loud together, either straight from the Bible, or by finishing up our Advent Book.

Then, we have our family's favorite breakfast, voted as the favorite unanimously by all of us, Overnight Coffee Cake. It's delicious and we all just love it.

After breakfast, we clean up the kitchen and dining room and start decorating. Dad usually blows up balloons while I hang the streamers. The kids help with picking the colors and where to put the balloons and stuff. Once we get the dining room decorated, we all bake a birthday cake together. Usually it's chocolate cake since we all like chocolate so much.

While the cake is baking, we talk about whose birthday it is and we recently started using a fun new way to do that. There are many resources to choose from when looking for ideas about how to highlight the REAL reason for Christmas. Since it's Jesus' birthday, the story we use focuses on what we can REALLY give to him for his birthday gift (our heart and our lives).

Then we get to open some presents ourselves. There are, at this point, only a handful of presents under the tree, and they are all ‘family presents’. That means that the gifts we open on Christmas Day are gifts for all of us to share. And since it's a party day, they are almost always games of some sort. Fun things we can do together as a family. We open the gifts and usually play a game before the cake is done baking.

There are often other packages under the tree from extended family or neighbors and friends. The children usually open those gifts on Christmas Day as well, because the people who gave them usually expect that the gifts are opened on that day. Then when we call in the evening, the children can say Thank You. The gifts we give to one another as a family are reserved for Epiphany (January 6th – a day set aside in some church calendars to celebrate the wise men arriving and giving their gifts to Jesus).

After a mid-morning snack, we bundle up in warm clothes, gather up a non-perishable food item or 2 each, and head over to one of our local Community Centers. For a few hours on Christmas Day, they have free swimming and free ice skating (free if you bring items for the Food Bank). Christmas Day ice skating! We've done this 4 years in a row now, and it's definitely a tradition! They also have free hot chocolate at the rink, so we skate a bit, rest and warm up with a hot chocolate for a bit, and then skate some more. We often see friends there – and the festive atmosphere we’ve been building all day is shared by all. (We’re moving this year, so we’ll have to see about Christmas Day skating in our new place!)

When we get home from skating, Dad usually fires up the bar-b-que grill (yes, even in DECEMBER in CANADA). We grill hot dogs and hamburgers with all the trimmings for a late lunch. I put icing on the cake so we can have it for dessert after our party lunch. (I doubt Jesus would eat hot dogs, though - they probably aren't kosher. But that's a typical party meal for us - that or pizza.)

After lunch is done, we set out our "You Are Special" plate (a decorated plate we found a few years ago and use for special things throughout the year) at an empty spot at the table, just for our special guest of honor. Then we light as many candles as will fit on the cake and sing "Happy Birthday, dear Jesus!" The kids all blow out the candles together and we have cake and ice cream.

All afternoon and evening we play all of our new games, and pull out our other favorite games, and we play games and put puzzles together the rest of the day. If we get hungry there is a hefty array of party foods and snacks - chips and dip, pretzels, Munchie Mix, brownies, a veggie tray, and cheese and crackers.

In the evening we try to phone our families and wish them all Merry Christmas. We also go out in our car to look at Christmas lights around town once it gets dark.

At bedtime, as things are winding down, the children check the Nativity Scene to see if the angel has arrived to tell the shepherds about Jesus' birth (part of our “progressive nativity” again). Then we go through our Advent Pockets (a fun way we count down to Christmas, like an Advent Calendar) one last time and look at all the heart reminders again. We talk about what the children's favorite part of the Christmas story is and imagine what it might have been like to have actually seen the baby Jesus.

We say our bedtime prayers, which on this night always include a BIG Thank You for Jesus coming into the world. Then we sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus one more time, and the children go to bed.

We have a blast all day long, celebrating and playing together. We've often had friends join us for parts of the day, and we all have such a good time. Our Christmas Day starts and ends with the focus on Christ's birth. Whose birthday is it, anyway? If you ask our kids, it is VERY much like how we celebrate each of their birthdays. It only makes sense (to us, anyway)!

Joe and the Pukekos by Karen Frith

noreply@blogger.com (Positive-Talk) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 23:35:00 +0000

(Photos: Joe Frith and a Pukeko, one of God's beautiful creatures!)

One Saturday during April, my son and I went for a walk to the shops and took a detour through a nice tree filled area with a pond, complete with ducks and Pukekos (a beautiful native New Zealand bird).

My son, Joe, was very taken with the birds and awed by nature. When he saw how close these birds came to us and that they had some babies, he started thanking God for new beginnings; for new things being born in Autumn and not just Spring.

"God can do new things any time of year - not just spring," he proclaimed!

Watching the Pukekos with relish, it was like a fountain of praise just opened up, and words of life poured out. I was staggered.

Joe said that once he got home, he wanted us all to thank God together for all the wonderful things he does, the new things, hope, beauty.

I told him we can thank and praise God wherever we are, and he proceeded without hesitation to get down on his knees right there and then on the path; (totally oblivious to people passing by). He closed his eyes and started praying and thanking God with passion.

We continued our walk and he talked about some of the dreams he'd had recently which were pretty amazing. I was able to share with him about God speaking to us in our dreams, the importance of praying protection over our dreams and general age appropriate sharing about Prophetic words and a talk about Joseph in the Bible, his dreams and his experiences.

It was a real God moment. My son was receptive, the words were flowing - there was a real presence of God with us.

I myself felt emotional and touched in my spirit for the rest of that day. It was like God gave me a glimpse of something He is going to do in my son's life and through him. I am not sure what yet, but I just 'felt' something deeply.

Loving God's Creatures Large and Small by Sage Buitron

noreply@blogger.com (Positive-Talk) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:17:00 +0000

(Photos: Austin holding Romeo and Alexa holding Juliette, their pet Gecko lizards! )

One of the most beautiful sights to see is most children’s natural love of animals. From the time they’re itsy bitsy, most kids just seem to light up when they see dogs, cats, horses and birds.

As they get a bit older, lots of kids even seem to enjoy some of God’s (shall we say) less attractive creatures. You know, like hermit crabs, snakes, back yard lizards, Iguanas and Geckos!

My friend, Carrie Smith is NOT a fan of anything that creeps or crawls. And she is NOT a fan of lizards of any kind. In fact, she’s downright terrified of them. But when her children, Alexa and Austin, befriended two Gecko’s which belonged to a friend’s teenage son, it was love at first sight.

“Romeo and Juliette are so loveable,” says Alexa. “When we pet Romeo, his back goes up and when Juliette sees us, she comes right over to us.”

Romeo, an Albino Gecko and Juliette, a Leopard Gecko, have recently moved into new digs. After their former owner left for college, the two Geckos needed someone to care for them. Although Carrie is terrified, she saw the love that her children had for these two small creatures. And being a mom with a soft heart, especially for her children, well, let’s just say Romeo and Juliette are luckier than they know.

“I cannot believe my mom let us have these lizards,” said 4-year-old Austin. “My mom is really afraid of them!”

Replied mom, “We have them because I love my kids.” She added, “They take extremely good care of them and it makes me proud to see the love they have for Romeo and Juliette. They have a heart for these two little lizards.”

It seems love has won all the way around this time. And that’s definitely a beautiful thing! It’s a God thing!

Brownies and Anger

noreply@blogger.com (Positive-Talk) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:04:00 +0000

Read 1 Corinthians 13: 1-7

Elizabeth sat with her family at dinner and picked at her food. Even the brownies, her favorite dessert, didn’t interest her.
It was Elizabeth’s night to do dishes. She silently loaded plates into the dishwasher and washed and dried pans. “What’s the matter, honey?” Mom asked as she set aside a brownie for Elizabeth and handed her the empty pan.
“It’s Sharilynn!” exclaimed Elizabeth angrily. “She knew how much I wanted the lead part in the play, so she wasn’t even going to try out. Then today she changed her mind, and Mrs. Parker gave her the lead. I got the part of her sister, and I have only a few lines.”
“Well, honey, maybe Sharilynn really wanted that part as much as you did,” said Mom. “Maybe she waited to try out because she couldn’t make up her mind about doing it, since she knew you wanted it.”
“Well, I think it was really mean of her to take it,” insisted Elizabeth. “I’m going to call her tonight and tell her what I think of her.”
Mom watched Elizabeth scrubbing at the pan the brownies had baked in. There were places where they had stuck and baked on tight. “Why don’t you let that soak till morning?” suggested Mom. “It will come off quite easily then.” After a moment, she added, “I think you should let your anger ‘soak’ too. Before you call Sharilynn, why don’t you pray about it tonight and see how you feel in the morning? Ask the Lord how he wants you to handle things.” Elizabeth looked doubtful, but she agreed.
When Elizabeth washed the brownie pan the next morning, she turned to Mom. “You’re right – this washes easily now,” Elizabeth said with a grin.
“Good,” said Mom. “And how about Sharilynn?”
“You were right about that too,” admitted Elizabeth. “I realize she didn’t try out for the part just to hurt me. I’m glad I didn’t call her. Next time I’m mad, I’m going to remember the brownie pan and let my anger ‘soak’ before I say anything!” KEC

How About You?
Do you remember that love is patient and kind? When you’re angry with someone, do you let your anger “soak” while you pray for a solution?

Memorize:
“A food gives full vent to anger, but a wise person quietly holds it back.” Proverbs 29:11

Let Anger “Soak”

Staying in Touch with God by Bailey Mashburn

noreply@blogger.com (Positive-Talk) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:27:00 +0000

It’s so important to stay in touch with God. Here are a few ways that you can stay in touch with Him each day.

1. You can pray every morning and night
2. You can read the bible
3. Do a devotional
4. Pray before every meal
5. In hard times you can pray

There are obviously many more but that’s what I do every day. Like me for instance every day I do one or two readings from the Bible. After I finish reading I write about it in my journal. It helps me to sit and think about what I just read and then put it my own words to think about throughout the day.

If you have a Bible at home some where I’m going to take a minute to challenge you to take it out and read it every day. I started by reading one chapter in the Book of Matthew. It doesn’t take a lot of time, and before you know it you’ll be hooked because the Bible is the best book in the whole world. Especially because of all the stories it tells...the great thing is that they are all true. Some of my favorites are David and Goliath, Daniel and the lion’s den, and all of Jesus’ life.

I pray every night before bed with my mom and I pray by myself to God throughout the day. I don’t do a personal devotional right now but I do one with my family in the mornings and when we are finished we talk about it. When ever I can I pray before my meals and so does my family. Every hard time I have I try to pray to God to help me and he always does. It really doesn’t matter what you do as much as it does to make sure you stay in touch with God.

What Has Happened to This Earth? by Brooke Seiden

noreply@blogger.com (Positive-Talk) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:01:00 +0000

What has happened to this Earth? Just a couple hundred years ago 20 packs of paper today would equal a whole rainforest. Today more then three quarters of our rainforests have been cut down, leaving animals homeless and left to die. And most people just write or draw on an inch of a 10-inch piece of paper and then just throw it away. Why don’t they just use the back or recycle it?

What has happened to this Earth? Just a couple hundred years ago man and animal lived in peace sharing the world. Man respected animal so animal respected man. Now a day’s humans are hunting animals so the animals fight back to try to save themselves but in the end man ends up dead and so does the animal. No one wins nor loses and there’s just no point. Killing the animal for its fur and skin just to make a little extra money? Have hunters ever heard of a job??? Now more then 50 species are extinct and more then 100 are endangered from hunting.

What has happened to this earth? Only 50 years ago, just 50 years ago, we were fighting for civil rights, so people can be treated equally and the world will live as one. But what are we fighting for now? Oil and gas to fuel our cars just to pollute the Earth even more? Our O-zone is on the break of completely disappearing, making our polar bears become stranded in the middle of the Artic ocean because Global Warming melted all of their ice.

Our class did a whole play on the 1960’s while the Civil Rights Movement was happening and do you know what the 60’s nickname was? “The Decade of Change.”

When our beloved president John F. Kennedy inspired America while the Beatles rocked out and changed music forever. Following on his crusade were Bobby Kennedy, his brother, and Martin Luther King Jr.

Then the Hippies came along and protested war and government rules and to do so marched in large groups. They also didn’t believe in using manufactured products, so they only used they products of nature. For every person and every subject, someone read a speech that they created and a keynote (which is an online slideshow) was playing afterwards.

We danced and sang to songs like “Stop in the Name of Love,” “Build me up Butter Cup,” "Ain’t no Mountain High Enough” and “Abraham, Martin and John”.

We were all dressed like hippies and during the hippie speech, me and 5 others acted out what my friend was saying in her speech. Our class and this play moved all the people who saw it and brought back many memories. If only we could perform at a theater so everyone can see it!

Kids can Tithe too!

noreply@blogger.com (Positive-Talk) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:44:00 +0000

by Bailey Mashburn

Hi, I’m Bailey, and I am going to be talking about tithing in this article. I am a 12 year old boy and I have been tithing since I was 7 years old. My parents even talked to the church and got my own tithing envelopes with my name and the date written on it. At the end of the year I get a statement that tells me how much I have given in the last year. It feels really good to see how much of a difference I can make in a year.

Doing weekly tithes is a huge thing. Did you know that in the Bible it talks about tithing being something we should all do? Look what I found; Numbers 18:26 (New International Version) –says, "… you must present a tenth of that tithe as the LORD's offering.”

Some people get an allowance for a week or month for chores or whatever you do to get money. I get an allowance of $10 per week and when you make money if it is in a week or month it does not matter you should tithe 10% of your makings. So if you make $10 like me you give $1 for a tithe. The way I know what my tithe will be I bring the decimal over 1 place so if I made $10.00 I bring the decimal over 1 and I get $1.00. It is very important to tithe because to me it is giving back to God only 1/1,000,000 of what he has given to me.

I have my own car wash business so if I make money from it I add it to my allowance and tithe of both of those sources of money. So lets say I made $30 for car washing and my $10 allowance a total of $40, I give $4. God commanded everyone to tithe. It is important for everyone to tithe, but you should not tithe just to say you did. You should tithe because you want to give back to God a very little percentage He has given to you, because in the end it is all His anyways.