Butterflies!

On Wednesday nights right now Emily and I have been having a blast doing a Kid's program called God's World Adventure Camp. We are trying to teach about different aspects of God while doing a lot of learning about the world He made. We have also been bringing in Bible stories that go along with the lesson.

This past Wednesday we talked about "God guides me. I will follow." I told about how God guided Abram after God told him to move but didn't tell him where he was going. I also taught from some verses that talk about God guiding us. Then Emily told about Monarch butterflies and how in the summer time they go to various parts of our nation and have babies and then when fall comes they all fly south to this one particular spot in Mexico. Scientists are perplexed as to how in the world they all know where to go (especially the babies who have never been there before) but it doesn't seem like a huge puzzle to us. God made them and He directs them.

As part of our program we have some monarch caterpillars that we are raising and watching turn into butterflies (Here is a post that explains how we have done it before). After they come out of the chrysalis we are hoping to tag them.

Some of the other fun things we did were:

:: Made a picture of the life cycle of a butterfly using fingerprints.

:: Watched a slide show with pictures of the monarchs and what they do and the place in Mexico.

:: Made yummy butterfly snacks. We used Ritz crackers and spread cream cheese on them (I planned on bringing peanut butter as another option but I forgot) and then we had all sorts of choices to use to make butterflies on them.

For bodies we had:

• Carrot sticks
• Pretzel sticks
• Raisins
• Thick chives pieces

For wings we had:

• Heart shaped cheese slices
• Almond slices
• Little lettuce leaves
• Apple slices
• Strawberry slices
• Radish slices
• Cucumber slices
• Apricot slices

For antennae we had:

• Chives
• Carrot slivers

We also had sunflower seeds available for using.

Both kids and teachers had a lot of fun creating beautiful butterflies. It was a pretty healthy snack too! I got my idea for the snack here.

Some of the other things we had hoped to do but ran out of time were:

• Give the kids a lightweight scarf (to be their wings) and then wrap them up in old connected computer paper (we have a bunch of it at the church building, where I read about this idea they used toilet paper but we had more computer paper on hand) like being in a chrysalis and then we would turn on music and they could slowly break out of their chrysalis and wave their wings to dry them off and then "fly"!
• Give them juice in a cup that would represent a flower and then let them suck it out with a straw like butterflies suck nectar out of flowers. (The problem here was that I forgot the straws.)
• Play a game where part of the kids would be butterflies and would have to get from one location (one side of the parking lot) to another without getting hit by a car, eaten by a bird or any of the other many things that can happen to butterflies while they are trying to migrate. (The car, bird etc would be other kids and they would tag the butterflies so that they wouldn't make it.)

We had lots of fun studying about butterflies and I hope this inspires you to enjoy learning about them more too!

Monarch Butterflies!

We tried something fun this summer, raising monarch butterflies. It was a great activity for the kids and quite easy to do. Monarchs lay their eggs on Milkweed plants and we have quite a few growing on our property. One day way counted and found over a dozen little caterpillars on them. We took one of the fat ones along with some leaves and put it in a jar with a piece of lace held on by a rubber band across the top (you could use anything with holes in it to let them get air). We made sure that we gave them plenty of milkweed leaves (and they can eat a lot! ) After a few days it started hanging from the top upside down. We hoped to watch it turn into a chrysalis put one of the caterpillars did it while we were asleep and the other one while we were at church. Oh well! After a week or so the chrysalis turned dark and we could kind of see the wings through it and then it came out! And it wasn't a Caterpillar anymore it was a wrinkled up butterfly. After a little while of stretching and drying off he was ready to fly. It is so cool how God made Butterflies!

Why I Believe There is a God

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." Romans 1:20

This verse truly says it best. I believe in God because I see evidence of Him everywhere.

When I see a new born baby perfectly and intricately made without any design on my part as a mother. You know that it would be impossible for all of that to happen by chance. There has to be a designer - someone that gives life.

 When I hear about the Monarch butterflies and how they all migrate to the same spot in Mexico - flying thousands of miles - even though they had never been there before and they are generations away (because there are several generations over the course of a summer) from the ones that had been there. There no just how to get there and just what to eat. There are so many things that could go wrong for them but God designed them with the knowledge that they need to make it.

 When I think about what I have learned about Honeybees - How they can tell the other in their hive how to get to a good source of nectar perfectly just be doing a special little dance in their dark crowded hive. When the other bees get done watching them they know just how far they should go and what direction and even how good of a supply it is (so how many of them need to go there). I have never been able to see the dance in person (I have seen a video) but I have seen the result of it many times. God also designed the bees to know how to keep the hive warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The more I study about bees the more I am in awe of God's wonderful design.

There are so many things in nature that point us to the realization that there had to be a Creator. We realize too that everything has to have a cause. Things don't simply just happen.

  I do realize that it does take Faith to believe in God. I have never seen God - I have simply seen what He can do and what He continues to do. The fact is that nobody here now was at the beginning of time. Nobody saw the world come in to existence. Nobody can report exactly what happened. To me it makes the most sense that there is a God, who is the Creator and who still cares about me.

  I hope you believe that too. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic (whether you agree or disagree with me).