the Garden of Eden

But first let's look back at our awesome God and His creation. God created the earth, then He created the animals. Then on the sixth day.... God created Adam. Remember we found out that Adam named the animals. We made up a pretend animal, and some of you came up with some great names for it. Here are a few: Becky came up with chipunny :o) Andrew came up with stoink :o) and Debby's granddaughter Faith came up with flopus :o) Great names!!! Then after God made Adam, He made Eve.

Before we get to the Garden of Eden, here are a couple more eye-popping facts.#1. When God created the world and all things.... Jesus was with Him! The Bible says that Jesus was there in the beginning and all things were made by Him and for Him! (John1:3) #2. Before God created the earth, He already had planned on making you! It's true! God is an amazing planner. Have you ever planned your day. Like first going to school, then playing with friends, then eating dinner, then doing homework. Well God not only planned out one day.... He planned from the beginning of the world till the end and you are part of His plan! He made you on purpose.(Eph1:4)Next time you look in the mirror, Say, "I am part of God's plan!"

#3. God walked and Talked with Adam and Eve in the garden. They were friends! That's so cool! Next week we'll find out what happened to that friendship.

OK, Let's go to the garden! The Garden of Eden was where God placed Adam and Eve to live. He loved them so much that He wanted them to live in a wonderful place. The word Eden means "pleasant" or "comfortable". Let's pretend we are going on vacation to the Garden of Eden. It will be fun.

That's right, in the Garden of Eden, there were no tears, no pain or no hunger. Adam worked in the garden, but he never got tired. All the animals were like pets. If you could have any animal in the whole world as a pet..... what would you like? An elephant to ride or a giraffe to climb or a monkey to play with? I think that I would like a kangaroo to go for a ride in his pouch!

Well it's time to leave the Garden of Eden. Next week we'll see why we don't live in the garden. Here is a puzzle for you. Just follow the secret code and color the picture! What is it?

In the beginning

For the last 2 weeks we talked about how God created man. (Adam and Eve). But before God made man, He had to make the world for man to live on. So today we step back one chapter in the Bible to Genesis 1. Do you know what the first three words of the Bible are? I'll give you a hint: Look at the title of this week's blog. Yep "In the beginning". It says that in the beginning God created heaven and earth. So that means God was already there at the beginning, because God always was and He always will be. Does anyone know what "created" means? It means to make something that wasn't there before

So that means that before God "created" the earth... there was no earth. God made Adam and Eve on the sixth day. That means God worked for five days creating everything just right for them. God's creation is so amazing! He made the flowers and the mountains and the birds and the stars. He picked out the perfect colors for everything. God is the greatest artist! Imagine if He made the sky dark green and the trees pink! Next time you look out your window and thank God for this wonderful world!

God gave us the ability to create things too. Not as awesome as Him of course. Here are some examples of how we create things. Painting pictures. Writing stories. Building buildings. Cooking. Making music and many many more. Did you ever play with legos? or draw a picture? You were creating something. Let's create something! How about a sun catcher! Here's how.

Trace this picture of the earth onto wax paper and color it. Then cut out the wax paper earth. Ask your parent or an adult to help you. Take a paperclip and poke it through the top of the earth and tie a string to it. There, you created a sun catcher! Hang it in the widow and when the sun shines through it, you will se the colors glow.

Here is a fun way to remember how God created the world. God l.o.v.e.s. man. God was there in the beginning. He created man on the sixth day. The five days in between God and man spell "loves".

On the first day God said "let there be Light." On day two God created the Oceans.(lakes and land) Then he made the Vegetables (trees and plants). The Elephants (animals). And the Stars (sun and moon). Then He made man.

Here is a coloring page with the five days of creation. You can cut them out after you color them and try to put them in order. Have a blessed week!!!

God's gift to Adam

When Adam finished naming all the animals, he was so tired, he fell asleep. That must have been a lot of work. God looked at Adam and said "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper for him". So God made sure that Adam was in a very deep sleep. God opened up Adam's side and took out one of Adam's ribs. From that rib, God created a woman.When God made Adam, He scooped up some dirt and formed him. Then God breathed into Adam's nose and he came to life! Imagine if you made something out of clay and breathed on it and it came alive. God is so amazing!! But when God made Eve, He used Adam's rib.
I wonder if God was excited to give Adam such a special gift. God probably smiled as he waited for Adam to open his eyes. Did you ever tell someone to close their eyes and then had a surprise for them when they opened their eyes? Here is something fun to do. On a piece of paper , draw a heart and write I love you in the heart like this.

If you can't spell or write yet, just make a heart.Tell your mom or dad or grandparent to close their eyes. Then , with some Scotch tape, tape it to the front of your shirt. Tell them to count to 5 and open their eyes.

Did you feel that joy and excitement while they were counting? That's probably how God felt while he was waiting for Adam to open his eyes. God loved Adam and that's why He gave him Eve. God loves us, that's why He gave us Jesus. In the book of John, in the new testament of the Bible, it says that God loved us so much that He gave us His only son, Jesus.(John 3:16) The Bible also says that every good and perfect gift comes from God.(James1:17) So that means that everything we have, is because God gave it to us. What is your favorite thing in the whole wide world? God gave it to you! God wants us to be like Him. He wants us to give to others. We have a lot of things to give like we can give someone some help. We can give someone love. we can give someone some nice words. When we give, we are doing something that God does.
Here is a fun page for you. It is a coloring page of Adam and Eve. But there are 10 hidden animals in the leaves. Can you find them?

Here is a list of animals to help you. 1.elephant 2.fox 3.butterfly 4.snake 5.giraffe 6.cat 7.mouse 8.cow 9.pig 10.owl

Adam Gets a Job

In the beginning God created the earth. Then he put a man named Adam on the earth. Did you know that Adam means "man"? Do you know anyone named Adam? You can tell them what their name means.
God didn't want Adam to be lazy so he put him in charge of the garden. Have you ever worked in a garden? It is fun!
Then God gave Adam another job. He told Adam to start naming all the animals. God had created the animals but he let Adam name them. Wow! There are a lot of animals in the world! That must have taken a long time! Adam probably had fun naming the animals. He gave some of them short names like--- cow, pig, dog and cat. He gave some of them long names like--- elephant, hippopotamus and rhinoceros. Some he gave funny names like walrus, ostrich and aardvark!
Here is a contest for you. Let's see who can come up with the funniest name for this animal I made up. He has the ears of a bunny, the tail of a cat, the body and legs of a bird and the nose of a pig. He is also a coloring page. Have your mom or dad print out the animal and you can color him.
The story about Adam naming the animals is in the first book of the bible called Genesis. It is in the second chapter. Next week, Adam gets so tired after naming all the animals that he falls into a deep sleep and God does something amazing while Adam is asleep!