“Happy Birthday Eric, happy birthday to you!” sang all of his friends. “It’s my birthday, my day! Everything is for me today!” thought Eric. “I’m 5 years old and I can do whatever I want.” “Eric, honey,” called mother, “how would you like to serve a piece of birthday cake to all your friends?” “But mom, it’s my birthday and I want some cake first. They can wait,” he answered. “It’s much nicer to give to others first. That’s how we show them that we appreciate them. All of your friends have brought you something for your birthday, so couldn’t you give them their pieces of cake first? That would be a nice way to show your appreciation. What do you think?” mother explained. “OK mom, I’ll try it.”

Eric took the first plate of cake and gave it to one of his friends. “Thank you,” said Sammy.Eric ran back and forth from the serving table to his friends giving each of them a piece of cake.

“Mom, this is fun. Everyone is so thankful for their cake.”

After Eric had passed out all of the slices of cake, his moth-er said to him, “Now that they all have their cake, you can choose which slice you’d like.”“Thank you mom. This is such a fun party!” saidEric. “I feel so happy when I think of others. I hope I can always to show lots of love and appreciation.”

Happy Birthday!

“Autumn is my favorite time of the year! Lots of falling leaves and lots of jumping,” said Dad.“Why is that? ” asked Maria and Jonny.“That’s because when I was a little boy my father would let us rake up all the leaves in the yard,” answered Dad.“But Dad, why is that so special? And where does thejumping come in?” asked Jonny.“Raking leaves doesn’t seem like fun to me, either,” said Maria.“Well, children, that’s because after raking up all the leaves in the yard, my father would let us children jump in the piles we had collected.”“Now that sounds like fun! Can we do it too?” asked the children.“Now there’s one more thing I need to tell you about the leaves. After we had finished jumping on our piles, myfather would make sure that we finished our job and gath-ered up the piles so that he could dispose of them. And he also made sure we put the rakes away. Do you think you could do that?” replied Dad.“Yes, Dad!” Maria and Jonny ran to the woodshed to get their rakes.“I’ll rake this half of the yard and you do the other half. Is that a deal?” he said.“Sure,” agreed Maria.

The two children began raking the yard. After half an hour they had both gotten several little piles. The children raked a little more until they had a really BIG pile of leaves in the middle of the yard. Juancito walked back to the end of the yard. He turned and ran as fast as he could“Whoopee!” he yelled as he jumped into the leave“Now it’s my turn,” said Maria. She had a good head start! She ran towards the leaf pile from the woodshed door. Whoosh! Plop! She landed in the middle of the leaves.“This is so much fun! Thanks Dad, for such a fun way of raking leaves!” said both Maria and Jonny.

Jumping Season!

“I still can’t tie my shoe,” groaned Sammy, “It’s too hard!”“Just try one more time.” encouraged Miss Anne, his teach-er’s helper.

Sammy was new to the class. It was his first day in pre-school. Everything was new and different! He had tolearn how to button and unbutton his own coat, keep hisbackpack in his cubby hole, and tie his own shoes. “Howwill I ever learn!” he thought, “everyone else already has ahead start.”

All of the other children had already put away theirbackpacks, unbuttoned their coats and hung them up.Everyone had already learned how to tie their own shoes too.

“Now Sammy, Let’s ask God to help you learn to tie your shoes, shall we?’ said Anne. “Dear God, please helpSammy not to be discouraged. Show us a new way to tie Sammy’s shoes that will be easy for his little hands. Amen.”

Miss Anne thought for awhile. “I know Sammy! What if you make two loops like ‘rabbit ears’ and tie them together. There! That should do it. Now you try it.”

Sammy took the two loops in his hands and carefully tied them together.

You’ve got it!” said Anne. “If you just think of ‘rabbit ears’ each time you need to tie your shoes it’ll be so much easier for you. Now wasn’t that quick?”

Sammy was so happy that he finally learned to tie hisshoes. By the end of the week Sammy had learned tobutton and un-button his coat, keep his cubby hole neatand tidy and especially to tie his shoes. He felt like he wasfloating in the air!

Sammy’s First Day at School

Dorie and her big sister Diana woke up early. It was a special day for them. It was Easter! Their parents had hidden colored eggs and little gifts around the backyard. Dorie and Diana couldn’t wait for the time when they could begin gathering the Easter Eggs!

The two girls ran down the stairs to the kitchen. They sat down at the table ate their cereal as fast as they could. After breakfast the two girls washed their dishes in the sink.

“Now girls, it’s time for the egg hunt! Let’s ask pray for a bubble of protection us as we all go out to hunt for the eggs.” said Mother, “Dear God, please bless and protect us as we play outside. Keep us safe. Amen.” Dorie’s par-ents had taught them to always pray before they went out to play.

Dorie and Diana took empty baskets and started look-ing around the yard. Diana looked in the flower beds and Darcy chose to look under bushes at the far end of the yard.

She ran down the yard towards the bushes. She heard a rustling noise and stopped right where she was. A snake pooked his head out from under one of the bushes.

Dorie turned and ran quickly back to the top of the yard to her parents. “Dorie, I’m glad we prayed for protection before starting the hunt,” said Mother. “I’m glad we prayed too.” said Dorie.

A Bubble of Protection