Home Group

This week we had our second week of AWANA, first week of the homeschool Co-op, and second week of the new format with our home group.

We've changed our home group to a time and place that allows everyone to bring their kids along instead of having to either get a babysitter or keep the kids up way past their bedtimes. Instead of having to pay sitters, the parents are taking turns watching the kids.

This week we tried having all the kids in with the adults for the worship time, then having an adult (me this week) take the kids up to the playroom and play with them/supervise their play during the Bible Study, and then the babies and adults join together for prayer time while the older kids watch a video and/or continue playing by themselves.

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The kids LOVE having social time with each other and getting to come to home group instead of being left home with a babysitter. They all play very well together and enjoy spending time with each other.

The changes in schedule and format have made the meeting much more convenient for everyone, which has resulted in the group's size doubling almost all at once. Two families who had been in the group but had to drop out because of scheduling/childcare issues are going to be coming back, and another new family is joining.

Tonight we had 8 adults and 8 kids; with the extra folks joining in the next couple of weeks we'll have 12 adults and 13 kids. When all the kids are here we'll have two adults in charge of child-wrangling each week, rotating it so we all take turns.

We started meeting at our house again this week, just because it's the most conducive setup for a group this size.

The meeting went very well. I had activities and a story planned for the kids, but they were all having so much fun just playing together that I didn't even end up using them. I did feed the kids "ants on a log"--celery sticks with sunflower butter spread in the hollow and raisins sprinkled on top. Some of the kids declined to try them, but the rest--including all three of my kids--loved them and kept asking for more.

We all came to the end of the group meeting excited that we get to do this every week. We prayed tonight that God would use the group meetings to grow both our knowledge of and relationship with God, and our relationships with each other. I think He is already answering that prayer.