Proverbs 31 Living: November 2020

We have recently had the pleasure of reviewing some games sent to us from

Bible Games Central. I had told you about this website in a post in April and about all the fun game ideas they have available for free. They still do have all that and I totally encourage you visiting it to see how you can make learning about the Bible more fun with your kids or students. But now they also have some games that you can buy and use. So we were given the opportunity to test 3 of them out.

We were sent Bible Bingo, Bible Memory Game and Parable Parade.

My niece and nephew that were both just 3 (though Netta had a birthday yesterday so she was nearly 4) were up to visit so I decided to get their help in reviewing the games. The games are designed for ages 6 and up (on all 3 games that I got) and I think that would work best but the game of Bingo was fun for all of us- even those younger. My niece Heidi played with us too.

It helps acquaint the players with the names of the books of the Bible and from what section (Law, History, Poetry, Letters from Paul, etc) they are from. There are pictures to go along with each book and that is a good memory tool too. The book of John has a world with hearts around it, Psalms has a harp and so forth.

You can have up to 24 players for this game so it would work great for even a large class at church. I am looking forward to using it there as something that is easy to have ready for class, fun for the kids and helps with some learning as well.

Margaret, Netta, Heidi and I (Theo was there some but it was really above his game playing level) also played Parable Parade. I really thought this one was quite fun. It is fairly simple but yet has different elements to it that make it interesting. The goal is to collect sets of parables. There are four pictures from each parable that "tell" the story. There is also a card that actually has a summary of each parable (there are 12 in the game) on one side and the explanation of the parable on the back. This is a really fun way to play a game and learn about parables at the same time.

Watch out when playing - there is a "Whoopsie" card that you may draw which will cause you to lose some cards and end your turn. It reminds me slightly of playing "Sorry" because of that.

The Bible Memory Game was tested out by Megan, Ephraim and Mathias today. This deck of cards includes 2 cards for each book of the Bible. You can play one huge memory game (that I think would take quite some time) or you can pull out sections to work with. Or you can be creative like Megan and Ephraim and basically play "Go Fish" with Books of the Bible Cards while your 2 year old brother/cousin plays with more of the cards. The pictures are fun and colorful and again you get acquainted with the names of the books of the Bible and are reminded of a story that is in them when looking at the pictures.

I am excited to have all of these as tools to use while teaching Bible classes at church or playing with kids in my home. If you are looking for a meaningful gift for some children in your life or like me you teach classes at church and enjoy having something fun and easy to do with the kids I would recommend checking these games out. You can find them at Bible Games Central.

Bible Games Central also has some free game ideas specifically for Christmas: Christmas Trivia and more Christmas Games. So if you are looking for something fun to do with your family over the Holidays be sure to check them out.

In August our family was blessed to be able to go on a 12 day trip to Montana. We fit all 7 of us (Mara and Thomas traveled with us too) in our mini van and hitched a trailer full of stuff on behind and headed out.

The day before we left I had gotten stung by a bee/wasp (I am not sure) when I went up to check on the garden. It just very randomly flew up and stung me in the eyelid. My eye quite quickly swelled up and I looked rather weird. So that is how my trip began. :-)

We ended up staying 2 nights at hotels on the way out. We never had enough beds for all of us and our boys are not very good about sleeping in the same bed. Both nights there was a lot of drama and silliness as things got figured out. Here Aaron has put pillows all the way down the middle of the queen bed but then I think he still ended up sleeping on the floor because Jonathan didn't promise that he wouldn't touch him during the night.

Our first major stop was Big Sky, Montana. Aaron loves Mountain biking and has dreamed of actually doing it in the mountains. We were able to bring his bike along and he was able to go for a day at Big Sky Ski and Mountain Biking Resort. He very much enjoyed it and wore himself out. After getting there we were rather nervous that he didn't have knee and elbow pads as pretty much everybody else was wearing them but he made it through the day without to much damage. We did get him a set for his birthday however so now he is ready for next time.

While Aaron biked, Ken and Jonathan climbed a mountain. They had a fun time and Jonathan got to do some filming too so that was fun.

I got to chauffeur people to their destinations. Thomas had a phone interview for a job to do so he went off to do that while the girls and I then took the van to be checked out since it had started making a funny noise. I found some super nice and helpful guys at both the Napa Auto Parts Store and the Napa Auto Mechanic in Big Sky. We didn't figure out the problem at the time but they at least ruled out a lot of things that could be bad. We were able to get it fixed (I don't remember now what it was) when returning home and it was something fairly simple.

The girls, Thomas and I ate a picnic lunch at the Resort.

That night we went and stayed in Missoula - there we saw the Lady of the Rockies.

We had 4 guys on our trip that were 6 feet, 6' 1", 6' 4" and 6' 5". Things felt a little tight at some points but we made it! :-)

From Missoula we went to the Bitterroot Mountains to go back packing. We went on the Chaffin Creek Trail. We were only a few miles from Idaho (a place I have never been) but we didn't manage to go there as it would have meant driving over a pass and we were short on time and the van didn't sound so good.

Jonathan was our videographer as we went along. He carried his pack and his camera and filming equipment.

Thomas was giving instructions on making sure your backpack is properly adjusted. Mara still struggles with her health but she was still able to enjoy the backpacking trip and we were really thankful for that.

Megan was a pretty energetic backpacker. We were able to borrow her Nana's pack for her to use and it worked great.

Aaron tends to be the leader of the pack.

Ken is the trip planner and keeps us updated on how far we have gone and how far we have left to go.

I used my dad's old pack again (that he used in Alaska back in the 60's/70's). I like it and find it pretty comfortable.

Studying the signs before we took off.

The hike started through a lovely wooded area.

There were some good sized trees.

These two generally led the way. We were a little concerned about snakes which Megan is very afraid of (though it has gotten much less extreme since our trip down south) so I wanted to make sure that she was not the first person to go down the trail.

We sat on the rocks and had some lunch.

Jonathan tried to catch it all on video. Not that it will all get used as he does a ton of editing but he wants to make sure and have plenty of content.

Mara and Thomas the tree huggers.

Much of the trail was along side the rushing creek. It wasn't always right next to it but you could usually hear it.

Aaron always enjoys getting a little climbing in.

Enjoying the views!

Aaron and Jonathan ended up making it to the waterfall first. We had to cross over it. It was a beautiful spot and the place we ended up camping by.

Resting after we arrived.

Aaron (with some helpers) put together a nice firepit for our stay. We were hiking in State Forest area so you can camp where ever which is kind of nice. You just want to leave no trace.

For supper that evening we made a quick meal with Ramen with dried purslane in it and fried peppers and sausage. When you are camping pretty much everything you cook tastes delicious.

Our camping area. There were many big slabs of rock.

The next day after breakfast and a little "church" service we ended up dividing into 3 groups to do different activities. Thomas, Jonathan and Aaron decided to cross back over the waterfall and climb to the top of the mountain on that side, Mara and I decided to continue forward up the trail to Hart Lake and Ken and Megan decided to stay around camp and rest up and play games.

Mara and I enjoyed much beautiful scenery and a really great visit. It was great to get to spend that time with her.

As is our normal when out in the wild we noticed and appreciated the Flora and Fauna.

Heart Lake.

A rushing river.

Ken and Megan playing Suicide Spades.

When we got back we all went down by the river/waterfall and looked up to see if we could spot the boys. We did and then we watched them come down.

Beautiful Fireweed and the view down the valley.

I have a very lovely lens on my camera so I can zoom in a long way. So I got this picture of the boys up on the side of the mountain.

The lovely Mara.

That evening Megan and I decided to create a game out of sticks, rocks, pinecones, moss and bark. Everybody played it with us. We struggled a little with the rules so the idea isn't quite ready to sell. :-)

Ken, Jonathan and I went down the next morning to catch the sunrise. It was a beautiful time to be out.

Jonathan did some filming and time lapse photography.

I loved going to this place each morning to spend some time in God's word, sing some songs of praise and worship and pray. There is something special about being able to enjoy such amazing beauty while visiting with the One who made it.

On Monday we divided up again according to interests. Aaron, Megan and I wanted to do some actual climbing so we went up a different way than Aaron had gone the day before. Ken and Jonathan hiked up the trail and Mara and Thomas went off another direction.

Here are a bunch of pictures from Aaron, Megan and my climb...

Aaron doesn't think it is necessary to chose easy routes and we did a lot of scrambling. I had my big camera with me which made me a little nervous that I would bang it on rocks but I figured out a way to keep it tighter to my chest but to still allow use of it and that was good.

We brought water and snacks a little first aid stuff and a rope. We used all of it. :-) (The band-aids were to patch up Aaron's knee - he had torn it up a little Mt. Biking and it started bleeding again.)

I love these two adventurers!

The twisted old trees were really cool!

We were often right on the edge of large drop offs. It was exciting.

Up that valley is where Heart Lake is.

Aaron had to do some waiting on us at times. I believe that at this spot we rather argued about whether we could climb it or not but he talked us into it. We made it - both up and down! Down for us girls was with the help of a rope.

Aaron waiting while Megan works on getting up.

This was the spot that Megan and I ended up giving up (we had gotten grit in our eyes and the way was quite challenging). Aaron made it to the top and we sat and waited for him.