Saul Starts Out Well

I am not keeping up with my posting here. Not that it matters, since I don't think anyone is reading it but me! I am having trouble just keeping up with writing the stories etc., so blogging takes a back seat. But, let's play catchup here. On March 1^st, we did this story:

Who remembers the name of Israel's first king?
Usually, where does a king live? And what does he do?	card with different possible answers
So let's see where Saul is and what he's up to.	exchange crown for farmer hat, plow with pushbroom
In time of peace, he's not needed to help his country, so he is humbly working on his father's farm
But today? The Ammonites have besieged a small city	2-3 with swords
The people cannot go in & out; very soon they will have no food or water.	3-4 hide behind table
So the leaders of the city say, enough, we will surrender and be your servants	waves white flag
But the commander of the Ammonites says, that is too simple! We don't really want you for servants anyway. We just want to prove we're stronger than you so you don't forget. Just let us put out the right eye of everyone in your city, and then we will let you all go.
Did they accept these terms? They did not! They send someone to Saul to let him know what is happening.	1 person sneaks out, goes to Saul.
Saul is very angry! He takes the oxen he was plowing with and rips it apart and distributes it among the Israelites. He says, whoever won't go with me to rescue this city, this is what will be done to his oxen!	Saul rips apart craft cow; messenger passes pieces out to others
So a lot of people wend with Saul to fight the Ammonites.	3-4 with swords incl. Saul (with shield)
They win. Everyone congratulates Saul.	Ammonites "die". All give Saul laisih
Then some people say to him, You know, there were some people who didn't want you to be king over us. Now they should be made to eat their words! Let us kill them to avenge your honor!
But Saul said no. Today God has blessed me and blessed Israel. We shouldn't have any killing among ourselves, only thanksgiving!	Saul stuffs his laisih in the offering box.

That's how I wrote the story, but—oops, I got so involved that I didn't want to keep referring to my paper. So I totally forgot to have Saul rip the oxen apart. He just got his news and rounded up a bunch of soldiers. Too bad; I know our Saul would have enjoyed ripping the oxen apart. Being destructive is something he does well! And it would have been a good use for our craft cows from a few weeks ago. None of our kids ever takes their craft home.

For our game, we had a large picture of a face with the right eye fitting loosely into its spot. We threw "bean bags" (I don't have any beanbags but washcloths folded in eighths and secured with rubber bands work fine) to try and put the eye out.

Craft time was simple, but everyone enjoyed making shields like Saul's. Afterward everyone got their picture taken dressed for battle. Mr. & Mrs. Lei always ride their motorscooters to church, so we had a helmet handy for even better realism!

For Bible study, we used Jeremiah 9:23-24, about boasting only in God. We had some really good discussion about how boasting about ourselves makes God and others unhappy, but boasting about God is fine and better than not boasting at all. Why? Because we all love to complain too much, and words of praise and thanksgiving for all we have are much better! I basically came up with that application for myself, but all our parents, believers and unbelievers alike, identified with it.