Finding Your Place Again
I treat myself to reading before going to sleep at night. Invariably my eyes stop focusing, my hands go limp, and my book takes a free fall. What good is a bookmark if it falls out when the book hits the floor?� Losing my place breaks my rhythm and focus. It does the same thing in my life.
These are my thoughts about the last�five months. After supporting our daughter with two surgeries, my husband with one, my mother with life-changing challenges from Parkinson's, directing a major drama presentation, organizing two major holidays, and surviving a heavy travel schedule; I had trouble finding my place again. Each event took my whole focus and required that I set aside everything else that had been a priority. Nothing happened as I expected.
What bookmarks help me find my place again?
I think there are bookmarks for life. �My husband's arms remind me that I am never "lost" when I'm with him. My home returns me to familiar responsibilities. Focused time with God is a life-locator like no other. Since God knows who I am and where I belong, I am never in the wrong place when I spend time with Him. So I do whatever I used to do with a new purpose: to let each activity remind me where I am and why. I am exactly where God knew I would be. I really haven't lost anything after all.
Bookmarking,
Debbie
When Moses Found His Place Again
Read Exodus 2:10-3:10
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What life experiences helped Moses return to his place as the leader God groomed him to be?
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What interruptions were actually more like basic training?
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What does Moses teach us about interruptions and finding our place again?
What about you?
Special Needs Families and Loss
I hugged a mom still in shock and fear about her young child's diagnosis of autism. She attended my workshop on "Empowering Special Needs Families." She was overwhelmed by what was ahead of her. She knew that raising this child would be different from raising her other children. I could see that she felt as if everything she already knew about parenting would only help her see the gaps. I recognized it easily because I experienced it for myself. Often. It was grief.
Here's what I have learned from raising a child with special needs. We are always dealing with some part of grief because we are always encountering new losses. We can't comprehend the whole of what is happening. �We can't know all of what is expected of us. We can't predict everything we will have to give up or adjust to. Instead, it comes to us piece by piece. Only as we acknowledge the loss and allow God to meet us at our place of grief can we accept what God says will make a difference on our journey.
You Are Your Child's Best Prayer Partner
Do you consider yourself a prayer partner with you child/ren? You should. You know their personality strengths and weaknesses and they know yours. You want the best for them and they are pulling for you.
Here are some ways to become a prayer partner with your child:
Find a special place to pray. It could be a comfortable chair or just sitting together on a pillow on the floor.
Keep it short. Pray a simple sentence prayer. Don't pray longer than your child talked about the prayer request.
Ask your child to pray for you. Children recognize honesty and transparency in adults. Their innocent summaries of our difficulties often convict us. Use their honesty to take you to a place of deeper honesty before God.
Thank God. Don't make prayer only about asking for help. Make a thank you list. Take turns thanking God. Use the alphabet game to thank God. (Ex: something that begins with A-B-C, etc.)
Talk about answers to prayer. Have ongoing conversations about how God answers. Our children must hear how we experience God's answers to encourage them to look for His answers in their lives.
Keep a prayer notebook. Use pictures for pre-readers, simple words for beginning readers, and sentences for middle to late elementary children. Place stickers beside answered prayers. Review the record often.
The earlier you become comfortable having spiritual conversations with your child, the more you will both grow in making prayer central to your relationship.
Drama Games Make a Difference
In all of my children's drama workshops, I teach the importance of drama games. Often I find that this is a new concept for drama or musical drama directors in the church. But it is an old idea in the drama field.
If learning increases in proportion to involvement, then drama games are one way to stimulate brain cells, reduce distractions, and plug kids into a unique learning experience. When executed in the right way, drama games reduce inhibitions, creatively focus on skill building, take very little time, stimulate creative thinking and engage the whole child.
Let me give you an example. If I start a drama experience by passing out scripts, I usually get questions about who is going to play what role. Or worse. They tell me what they don't want to do. But if I start with a drama game in which everyone is doing similar things, I find them more focused, cooperative, and actually having fun.
A game for game's sake isn't the answer. The game has to have a specific purpose that builds the foundation for the next activity. The teacher/director must also play the part of a coach, encouraging, re-directing, suggesting, and affirming.
My Favorite Drama Games
My favorite introductory drama game is Animal Walk. It is an easy way to break a large group into small groups. The three parts of Animal Walk can be used simultaneously or in different sessions. The first part focuses on communicating by sound (Animal Walk I). The second focuses on communicating through body movement (Animal Walk II). The third part uses the group to communicate what one person cannot (Animal Walk III). I usually follow each part of Animal Walk with a matching part of Machine. For specific instructions and downloadable pages you can print and cut apart, check out Free Drama Resources under Books and Resources on my website (www.debbiegoodwin.net). Check back often to see new additions. If you use one of the ideas, write me and tell me how it went.
Just Released!
Quick Start Drama for Kids: Christmas
It's never too early to start thinking about Christmas if you work with children. This is the second installment in the "Quick Start" collection featuring little-to-no rehearsal sketches. It is off the press and available for purchase.I'll share more about it in the next newsletter.
Free Website Resources
Not only have I added new drama games on my website, I have added another set of scripture cards to go with the The Praying Parent. These are free, downloadable resources. Be sure to take advantage of them. You'll find them under Books and Resources by clicking Free Resources for scripture cards or Free Drama Resources for drama games.
The Praying Parent to be Translated
I was excited to receive word that The Praying Parent will be translated into Korean, Afrikaans, and South African English. Just think about all those prayers in different languages happening in different parts of the world!
Lessons of Love for Daughters of Faith (now out of print) was previously translated into Thando, Telungu, Tamil, Oriya, Marathi, Kannada, and Bengali for distribution in India as well as into Arabic. Many languages but one heart. What a wonderful circle the community of faith is!
Downloadable Sketches Available
Did you know that www.lillenasdrama.com has an expanding inventory of downloadable sketches for $10.00 each? Twenty-eight of them are some of my best children's sketches. Go to www.lillenasdrama.com . Search "entire site" for Debbie Salter Goodwin. Any title with the "Scripts Online" logo is a downloadable sketch. You can preview the whole sketch before downloading.
Next Time . . .
The People Behind the Quilt Stories
Praying Transformational Prayers
Empowering Versus Enabling
And more.
I hope you enjoy sharing this time with me. Let me hear from you! Until next time . . .
Don't Lose Your Place!
Debbie
debgoodwin@comcast.net
www.debbiegoodwin.net
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