God Speaks Through Nature

As a kid my dad always made sure we spent lots of time outside. He would take us camping, fishing, hiking, bike rides, to parks to play on playgrounds and probably tons of other things I can't even remember all the places he took us. He would even let us help plant flowers in the flower bed around the tree. When we went to water them he would also spray us with the garden hose. This weekend was the anniversary of my dads death. A rush of these memories came back this week end remembering my him and the time he spent with us out in nature. Some of the most important life lessons I learned was out in nature.

I remember when I was a kid our tree out in our front yard was dying. For safety it had to be cut down. I was so sad about it. I remember coming home from school one day and it was cut down. The whole cut down tree including the trunk was left in our front yard. I did my homework as fast as I could to go play in the jungle dad just made outside. All our neighbor friends were anxious to play in it too. We had my siblings, me and about 5 to 10 neighbor kids over all playing in it. I sat on the swing where dad was watching for a drink or something. Dad knew I was sad about it having to be cut down. He asked if I was having fun in it even though I think he could tell I was having fun already, I said yes. He said "you couldn't have this much fun if we didn't cut it down." He also said "you will remember this day for the rest of your life" I smiled and got back up to play again. He was right, I still remember that day and how much fun I had. Later when the tree was completely gone dad had another conversation about life cycles of living things including trees. He always made sure that we knew that God made everything with such detail. I am not sure if this is where my love for nature started or not but I am sure it helped interest me more.

One of the best things about being a homeschool mom is that I can schedule my kids school day. I have mentioned before that my kids learn better with a hands on approach. So one of the ways to get them moving and also learn is to get them out in nature of course. Here are some cool things to do out doors, some lessons they can learn and fun activities.

Birding

One of our many favorite things to do is to go birding. We love seeing all kids of different birds, each of us have different favorites. Emma's favorite is a blue jay and eagle. Seth's is a "red" bird. When he saw it in nature I told him it was called a cardinal. Lucy likes a "green" bird. We went to a pet store one time and she saw a parakeet. Lily's favorite is a blue jay. So how do you get kids interested in birds? We took our kids to a nature preserve. They had a parrot there that "talked" to them. They thought it was so cool. They even cried when we left they loved it so much. Now they love going to our local Audubon for birding. Since they now love birding so much we even got them their own

Binoculars are a must have for birding! Birding is a good way to teach kids about Gods creation and making things very unique. We have had lots of conversations about birds. We had a conversation about how God detailed each bird when he created them when Emma found a feather. She asked about the colors in it and how they got there.

Fishing

This was one of my favorite things to do with my dad. He told me one time that fishing wasn't just about fishing. As a kid I didn't know what he meant till later. It meant the time spent with each other. If you have been fishing long enough you have some "fish stories" that no one would believe unless you were there. One time I was fishing on a pier with my dad and 2 brothers. We started catching these bigger fish. We didn't have a pier net, so we kept breaking our line. My brother was showing me how to reel up the line and then sling the fish over the pier so we wouldn't break the line or lose the fish. When he went to show me how to do it, he slung it up over the pier not realizing how close dad was. Dad was tying hooks and stuff on, then BANG! My brother hit him with a fish about 20 inches. Dad almost fell backwards in his chair and he lost or just about lost the stuff he was working on. I quickly ran over to see if he got hurt. When I got over there he looked around and asked what happened. I could tell he wasn't hurt. When he saw he was hit with a fish he started laughing. My brother told him he was showing me how to swing the fish up and accidently hit him with it. Instead of getting upset or mad dad laughed. He just laughed and laughed some more. There is was , a lifetime memory. All of us still laugh about the day dad literally got "fish slapped." I didn't know it then but that lesson taught me ALOT about parenting. As parents let's face it kids do things to make us upset all the time. Right? How you react in a split second can alter everything for a child. It can literally cause permanent emotional trauma. Imagine if my dad got upset at my brother or me cause it was my pole or fish. We probably wouldn't have wanted to go fishing with him anymore or fishing at all. That would have prevented hundreds of more memories. Who would have thought that a crazy fish story could teach me something about parenting? Now to go fishing with your kids every kid needs a

Camping

Camping was one of my favorite things to do growing up. I learned so much through the years camping. When you are camping you can do all kinds of things. I remember looking at stars a lot when we were camping. Dad always told us so much about God and the vastness of space. One time he asked me why God made the stars. I told him I didn't know. He asked me do you think God made them just for you to look at? I said hmm maybe so. He just smiled at me. I remember thinking in that moment wow God loves me so much to make this for me to look at. I am still amazed by space. I still think of that moment every time I see the stars. Fast forward to me having this moment with my kids. I had this conversation with them looking at stars. I am not sure if they thought the same thing I did but they are still growing up. I have no doubt they will look back on these memories just like I did.

When we were camping we would also go on nature walks. Dad would talk to us about different kinds of trees or cool bugs and animals. We always had an interest in nature. Now Steven and I love taking the kids on nature walks. The kids love finding cool rocks, flowers, bugs, pinecones. We have also explained to the kids about all the different kind of trees and flowers. The girls were especially interested in what flowers attract butterflies. One time Emma got scared of a bee. I believe it was a carpenter bee. We explained that bees were all part of Gods plan. I had them watch a video about bees after that. Lily was the only one that said it was really cool. I think sometimes the kids are to young to understand things but continue to teach them. They will learn it whether it be now or later in life.

Now if you have ever been camping with my family you know we make big campfires. You can't have a camping trip without a campfire. We usually liked going in the winter so we could have a big fire. Just grab a

Like the fishing trips sitting around the fire wasn't just about the fire. Besides cooking or making smores, I remember telling stories, laughing so much I couldn't breath sometimes, or just talking. This last time me and Steven took the kids camping we had a fire. The kids roasted hot dogs and made smores. It has been almost a year and the kids still talk about this camping trip.

These are just 3 of our favorite things to do outdoors there is tons of things you can do. Our kids love nature so much and I have no doubt they will learn the same valuable lessons I did as a kid. Never stop going out in nature and never stop teaching them, you can learn so much about God in nature just look around. Yes just look at a leaf off the ground, you can see the veins, if its still green you can see that it just fell. If you find one partially green and brown you can see how it started the decomposing process. You can see Gods handy work everywhere. Go out and look!