Happy Reformation week to all of you!  

I thought I'd share a fun crafty felt book that I made for James for his baptismal birthday.  I wanted to make him something special that he could use to help him participate in church.  I looked all over for something similar, but couldn't find one, so I made my own.

I don't have a good gauge of how long this would take since I did it super slowly over about 9 months when I felt like it.  The longest part was hand-embroidering the letters and cutting out all the shapes from felt.  But here's what it ended up looking like: 

I have already been asked to make several for other people, but I just don't have the time it would take to do it, so I decided to include my patterns so you can make one of your own!  Trust me, it takes very little skill, but lots of patience.  

I used regular craft felt- the kind that costs about ten cents a sheet, some grommets to make the pages reinforced, and some embroidery thread for the words.  I did use a special gold stretchy fabric (think superhero outfit or gymnast attire) for certain things so they would pop out, but it would be far easier to use a gold-colored felt.  I just liked the texture better.  

Here's the general directions for the book:

1.  Cut out all your felt shapes.  I decided against using other embellishments because my son eats everything, and the last thing we need during church is him choking on a button.
2.  Lay out your designs on each page.  I used an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of white felt and folded it in half, then put a separate page on each side so the stitching on the inside of each page would be touching when the book was finished.
3.  Hot glue the pieces together with a small amount of glue- just enough to hold them together and tack them to the page so they don't fall off.  Be careful not to get it around the edges you'll be sewing- sewing needles and sticky glue don't go well together.  Learned that one the hard way after breaking 2 needles.
4.  Sew and/0r hand-embroider all the shapes onto the pages.  Make sure to leave enough room for the words.
5.  Hand-embroider lettering on each page.
6.  Sew around the perimeter of each page.
7.  Cut small holes in each page and secure with grommets to reinforce the pages.
8.  String all the pages through a ribbon, and there you have it!   Your very own felt book for church.  

I love it because it's something my little guy can use for years to come, even after he can talk.  If you do this project, send me pictures!  I'd love to see how you change it to make it your own!

P.S.  Just promise me you won't count the number of fingers on the praying  hands.  :)

This is really one of the best ideas ever.  Every Lutheran should know about this.  I never had to memorize the Small Catechism since I was confirmed as an adult, so I don't know what it was like for you.  Memorization for me is awful.  I think I just have a mental block.  

Someone else must have shared my dilemma, and decided to set the Small Catechism to music. Genius.  For seven measly dollars, you too can own this awesome resource.  (No, CPH is not paying me to say this.)  Whenever we are in the car, I pop this bad boy in and, BAM!  Catechism!  I ripped it onto my laptop (after buying it, of course), and we use it for morning devotions sometimes.  I know more catechism than I ever have before.  

Turns out they also sell the song book, but I don't have that.  I just kind of hum along until I know the words and music well enough to sing with it.  The great part is that I don't intently listen to it ever.  I have it on in the background sometimes, and it just plants itself in my head.  

Now, if you asked me to recite the explanation to the third article of the Apostle's Creed, I'd have to sing it back to you.  But I could do it, and that's what's important.  

P.S.  Don't get me wrong- we listen to other stuff too.  Like the Book of Concord on tape.  Just kidding. 

Navigating the craziness of this world as a young Lutheran family can be a challenge.  To us, teaching our children the joys of the faith and showing them how it is essential to our very lives is our most important job as parents.  We don't want to leave their catechesis up to strangers or reserve it only for Sunday mornings.  After all, there are six other days of the week wherein we have trials and temptations.  It is also important to us that we cultivate a Lutheran identity in this family.  We love our confession of faith, and we are proud of our Lutheran heritage.  We want to raise our children distinctly Lutheran... intentionally!  Accidental parenting is not an option where teaching the faith is concerned.  And we start them young.  Super young.  Teach a child the way he should go, right?  I have scoured the internet for good resources, as to prevent myself from reinventing the wheel, but have been coming up with very little.  Maybe my Google skills are lacking, but it seems to me that there is not much out there.  I'm certain there are many faithful parents out there who are doing a bang-up job of home catechesis, and just not posting it on the internet for me to borrow.  I will be adding some resources as I come up with them later.  So now's your chance!  Share what you do as a family, or just with the kids.  How do you teach them the faith?