lights out. goodnight

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Dueteronomy 6:6,7---we must teach our children God's Word.

{This is the way we do this. it is not the "perfect method" for everyone. not what every family must do. Just what we do. and I pray it can be a blessing and an inspiration to someone seeking for a place to start.} 

Our family's evening devotion time centers around preparing for bed. The older 2 can get their pjs on by themselves. though I do have to check to see if they picked up after themselves. They are often silly during this time and I love to hear their conversations. so serious. so pretend grown-up. except Mikalah. she loves to ROAR. and be 3.

We have our set time that we start. with the goal of them being in bed by 8:30. We have two different routines. one for evenings we have been at church and one for all the other evenings. As a family, we do our best to not schedule our time to be out late on nights that are not church simply because our children are still young and need the stability of a set bedtime. I am so thankful we are able to do this.

Our non-church night devotions begin with each of us saying something we are thankful for and then read a story with a Biblical principle and a Bible verse. During this last month [December] we simply read our Advent verses each evening instead of our story. Then we work on a Bible verse for memorization. We end with our quiet song [God Is So Good] and then have prayer. 

On church nights we skip the story and memory verse. We talk about one thing to be thankful for as a family. then our song and prayer.

After prayer, everyone kisses Daddy [and the baby-man], and Mommy trails them off to bed. covers and kisses. lights out. 

Good-Night.

**family notes

Not every night is smooth sailing! Sometimes there has to be a reprimand for wiggling. or a potty stop. or... something. but we have been doing this as a family for 4 years now. and since they know nothing different, this is normal bedtime routine and they really do very well.

linked up at: raisingarrows