Joseph at Home

We are going through the Old Testament stories in Godly Play at church and I love these stories. I felt energized by a room full of children. I don't know if it is part of the maternal bonding proccess, the sheer exhastion of the first year of a babe's life or some combination of the two; but during the first year of both my babe's lives I have been exhausted by being around crowds of children. For some this might not seem abnormal, but for me it is truly alarming; it feels like a piece of me is missing.

This week was the first week in a long time I enjoyed stitching, gluing and gathering up the props for the story the night before. I felt ready to engage and the lesson went so much better than it has in past weeks. The children were delightful and I left feeling full instead of drained. Oh, I like the rested me (keep sleeping Rowan!)

I came home excited about the story and ready to create (such a good feeling). So out came the paints, some wooden figures and soon a Joseph was ready to join the godly play table. Typically our generic figures fill the old testament rolls, but Joseph needed to be painted with colors, stars and grain. (Though, I must admit to act out the story with the figures properly there should be a coat that can be put on and taken off... maybe someday.)

And there has been some dress up in the coat of many colors... though this little man won't sit still long enough for a photo!

*The books above are Brian Wildsmith's Joseph, which is beautiful! The Coat of Many Colors is by Jenny Koralek; the illustrations are by Pauline Baynes, who is known best for doing the original illustrations for The Chronicles of Narnia.