Hi guys

[bigkat]

Wow, has it been 10 years? I guess it makes sense because I became a Christian just over 10 years ago. Ann asked me to stop in and let you all know what I've been up to. So let's see...

We have 3 kids now, the boys are almost 6 and almost 4, and our little girl is a year and a half. So this year, I've been able to do a bunch of cool dad stuff, coach soccer, volunteer in my son's Kindergarten, things like that. I'm still teaching Sunday School (1st and 2nd grade) and it's been a great blessing. I've been putting together some new Bible lessons for the kids using PowerPoint and they've really taken to it. My focus has been to move away from just teaching individual Bible stories. Instead, I'm trying to help the kids understand the Bible as a whole. So when I teach a lesson, no matter what it is, I always try to relate it to what God is trying to tell us about Himself and/or His plan of salvation. So if we do a story about Joseph for example, I teach it with God as the main character, rather than Joseph. So far, the response has been pretty positive. There are still a lot of areas that need work, but overall, the class is going well. And as always, the best part is just getting an opportunity each week to hang out with a great group of kids.

I've got more stories. If you want to see what else I've been up to, you can read more at my weblog:

http://adventuresofbigkat.blogspot.com/

I also have a private family weblog with pictures of the family. If you're interested, drop me an email and I'll send you an invitation.

[Juliet]

Wow! You've been busy! How nice to see you again! :ghug: I hope you stop in a little more often.

[Ann]

Hey Kat! Thanks for coming by.

I teach it with God as the main character, I LIKE that Now if you will just prepare a way of teaching teachers and pastors to do that. Seriously I like that approach a lot. Maybe you should consider publishing some of the stories and studies.

[Flannel Avenger]

Bigkat!!

Uh oh... the Bogkat can't be far behind. I'd better practice the On/Off/On lightsaber move...

[Breni Sue]

Hi Kat!! It's been a long time.

[The Scarecrow]

greetings and salutations to you BK.

hope to see more of ya arround...and as far as that goes I hope to arround more myself.

good to see everyone else as well.

[bigkat]

Wow! You've been busy! How nice to see you again! :ghug: I hope you stop in a little more often.

Yeah, busy, but when I see people and they ask me what's new, I usually have no idea. We're kind of boring. But busy. Things are a bit better now though. About a year ago, our children's pastor resigned, so I took over as the interim children's ministry director. That was hard juggling work, church, the 2 boys, and the new baby. We hired someone new at the end of summer, so that helped. But then soccer started and things got a bit busier (not as bad as summer though). But right now, there are no sports going on, so we try to do as many fun family activities as we can.


I LIKE that Now if you will just prepare a way of teaching teachers and pastors to do that. Seriously I like that approach a lot. Maybe you should consider publishing some of the stories and studies.

When I was in charge of children's ministry, I looked at a bunch of different curriculums to find something that taught the Bible in this way. The only one that I found that I liked was here:

http://www.gcp.org/

We had a guy from there come out and do a talk at a teacher's training session about this concept of Christ-centered Bible teaching. It was a good talk, but I don't know how much of it stuck. I think it's something that you really have to integrate into your whole Sunday school program if people are used to just teaching Bible stories. We have the curriculum, but it's really geared towards smaller classes. I have not been able to find a 'large group-small group' format that teaches the Bible in this way, so that is what I am basically coming up with on my own. I really feel like the 'large group-small group' model (where you start with a bunch of kids in a large group and do a big presentation, and then break down into age based small groups with their own adult small group leaders) is the best way to handle growing Sunday school classes. I had actually been thinking about what the best way would be to share the stuff that I've been coming up with. But so much of what I do is tied to my own personal teaching style. I'll see how it goes after I develop a few more months worth of these presentations.


Bigkat!!

Uh oh... the Bogkat can't be far behind. I'd better practice the On/Off/On lightsaber move...


Hi Flannel! I totally forgot about Bogkat. Too funny!


Hi Kat!! It's been a long time.


greetings and salutations to you BK.

hope to see more of ya arround...and as far as that goes I hope to arround more myself.

good to see everyone else as well.


Hi guys! Nice to hear from you! Anything new going on with you guys?

[Pensee]

Hi bigkat! You sure do have your hands full! It's nice to see you!

--Crystal

[Ann]

I love seeing baby pics as avatars!

It's good to see you Crys. How is your family?

[Pensee]

That's an old pic, Ann. That's my oldest when he was 8 weeks old. Looky how wittle he was! *sigh* We're a family of four now! :)

[Ann]

I saw 3 other pics you posted. :) Bren is using a picture of her baby for an avatar too. I think that is somehow extra neat.

[Sny]

Bigkat!!

Uh oh... the Bogkat can't be far behind. I'd better practice the On/Off/On lightsaber move...

I remember that! Too funny.:)

[Juliet]

Sny? Wow! We barely had a chance to mingle with each other before you disappeared but I recognize the name.

[Nicole]

this is so much fun seeing everyone.

hey bigkat :)

[Ann]

Sny!!!!! How are you?

[butterfly]

Hi bigkat! Hi Nicole! Hi Ann! Hi Pensee! Hi Sny! Hi Flannel! Hi Shaun! Hi Bren! Hi Everyone! :D

[Ann]

:wave:

How are you?

[Nicole]

Cath! :D

[Flannel Avenger]

Northern Cath!

I hope that things have improved since I last heard from you :)

[bigkat]

Hi bigkat! You sure do have your hands full! It's nice to see you!

--Crystal

:wave:


I remember that! Too funny.


Sny!


this is so much fun seeing everyone.

hey bigkat


You're right. Brings back memories.
Hi!


Hi bigkat! Hi Nicole! Hi Ann! Hi Pensee! Hi Sny! Hi Flannel! Hi Shaun! Hi Bren! Hi Everyone!


Hi butterfly! :wave:



I just thought of a couple of other new things that I've been up to. I've started to get more interested in cooking. It started with barbecue and kind of took off from there. One of my favorite things to cook is pizza. I also like candy making (I made my own marshmallows. Did you know you can make your own marshmallows?) I'm learning a little bit about sauce making. And I think I finally perfected my scrambled eggs.

I also have gotten into boardgames. I've got about 30 of them. And I just placed an order for some more. I used to like playing games as a kid, but was always frustrated at the selection. My favorite game was probably Clue, but even that wasn't as fun as I wanted it to be. Recently, I found out that there are a ton of great games out there that you can't find in regular toy stores. Some of the games that I'm going to be getting are Pandemic, Through the Desert, Race for the Galaxy, and Hey! That's my Fish. But I think the one that I'm most looking forward to (once it gets reprinted) is 1960: The Making of a President. It's a game where one player is Kennedy and one player is Nixon and you campaign against each other to become President (I know, when I first heard about it, it sounded boring too. But after I read several reviews on it, it sounds like a lot of fun).

Oh, one last thing. I've found my new favorite resource for personal (and small group) Bible study.

http://www.matthiasmedia.com.au/usa/interactive_bible_studies.php

These studies are great. They were designed to help people really understand what Scripture is trying to say, rather than enabling us to try to read our own theology into Scripture. They also put the different passages within the context of the whole Bible, so everything is related back to Christ. They're very readable and have some great thought provoking questions that force to understand what it is you're studying. For example, one study asked you to, without looking at your Bible, write out a timeline of the important events of the Old Testament. I did it and it gave me good insight into what parts of the Old Testament I had good knowledge of and what parts I didn't. The 2 studies that I'm working on now are Genesis 1-11 (for a small group) and Deuteronomy (personal).

[bigkat]

Oh yeah, and I'm eagerly waiting for the start of the NBA Western Conference playoffs. It's very strange for me to be more excited about the NBA playoffs than the NCAA tournament. But I am.

[Ann]

How do you make Marshmallows?

[bigkat]

It's pretty easy. You take a sugar syrup and heat it to 240 (soft ball stage? I forget...240 is easier to remember). Then you use your mixer to beat a bunch of air into it. What you do with it next depends on what shape of marshmallows you want. I just put mine in a brownie pan, let them cool, and cut them into squares (which I later dipped in chocolate). But you can also extrude them to make mini marshmallows or pipe it into molds to make your own marshmallow shapes.

Here's the writeup I did of my first marshmallow attempt:

http://adventuresofbigkat.blogspot.com/2007/12/marshmallows.html

Here's a picture of them dipped in chocolate:

http://adventuresofbigkat.blogspot.com/2007/12/chocolate-marshmallows.html

And here's the recipe from Food Network:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_88610,00.html

When Alton Brown did it, he also made his own Moon Pies. I have to try this sometime.

[Ann]

Square marshmallows :no: say it isn't so!

Fair warning: if you let Charles find out you make your own moon pies you will be seeing a lot of him in person not just on the bds.

[Ann]

First there was BigKat then BogKat and now BlogKat

RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

[Ann]

I don't know whether to snatch the goodies as I run or if they may be bait to make us slow down and hang around a while.

[bigkat]

Square marshmallows :no: say it isn't so!

Fair warning: if you let Charles find out you make your own moon pies you will be seeing a lot of him in person not just on the bds.

I could extrude the marshmallows and cut them into cylinder shapes. Or I could use a tiny cookie cutter and cut out circle shapes. But there would be a lot of leftover (either marshmallow goop stuck to piping bag or cookie cutter scrap) that I would feel bad. I already lose a lot of it to the bowl. Besides, I get to use a pizza cutter to cut the squares which is kind of fun.

Although, I think I'd be ok with losing some of the marshmallow goop to the piping bag if I was using it to make moon pies.

On the show, Alton Brown also made his own Peeps. Maybe I could make some for my kids for Easter! Don't kids eat Peeps at Easter?

[Ann]

I think kids still eat peeps.I know certain husbands do. Don't say I didn't warn you. He may be headed that way right now.

[Charles]

Moon pies and Peeps