Saved from the Bin---Noble Steeds for Virtuous Princesses

I know two little girls who got ponies for Christmas!

Alex rides her horse on Christmas Day

Playing princesses. The horse is dressed in some of Deborah's clothes.

About a year ago our broom broke beyond repair, but I couldn't bear to throw it away. After a couple months of seeing it every time I went to get the new broom, aha! I saw it for the horse it was meant to be.

Alex and Deborah are always playing princesses, and of course what princess doesn't need a Noble Steed?

Alex's Noble Steed (green):
Head: Old pillowcase with old bedsheets as stuffing.
Mane: Strips of fabic from an old pair of Jason's trousers and left over fabric from making the horse's head
Body: Old broom handle
Hoof: Tennis ball covered with pillowcase fabric

Deborah's Noble Steed (pink):
Head: New pillowcase with old bed sheets as stuffing.
Mane: Strips from an old pair of dish washing gloves and ribbon from the craft stash.
Body: New broom handle
Hoof: Tennis ball covered with pillowcase fabric



I have to say that my favorite of the Disney Princess Movies is Cinderella. (Beauty and the Beast is a close second.) Here are just a few reasons that come to mind.
-The king invites all the maidens of the kingdom to the ball, not just the ones of noble birth. (Sounds like another King we know.)
-Cinderella is kind and loving despite her treatment by her step mother and step sisters.
-Cinderella faces adversity with hope and joy
-"So this is love....I'm all aglow. And now I know; what the kingdom of heaven is like." (Earthly, romantic love points to the perfect love of God.)

I pray that my two favorite princess will continue to grow in their love of our King and show forth his kingdom in all the world!

Bible Friends

The Bible Friends came out of the connections in my mind that are only slightly related to one another.

Several years ago, my great aunt Magdelene was in a nursing home. About a year or so before she died, we (my parents, sisters, Jason and I) started visiting her on a regular basis. She had brought some of her craft-stash to the home with her. One of the first things she showed us were Nativity sets that she made out of used film canisters (can you even remember life before digital?) and felt. She made them especially for children and the elderly in her church. She liked the fact that they could be touched and played with without the risk of breaking. I have one of the sets she made among our Christmas things in my parents attic.

Godly Play, and its cousin Worship Center, is a method that many churches are using to introduce the Bible to young people. It uses the Montessori method to present the scriptures and the practices of the church. Simple props are used to tell the story and then the children are allowed to respond to the story by various means. This usually includes playing with the props themselves, drawing pictures, asking questions, and retelling the story in their own words. It is formational but not coercive.

Typically, Godly Play uses wooden figures either homemade by someone from the congregation or bought. On the first Sunday of Advent 2005, the synapses in my brain made the connection between Godly Play and Aunt Magdelene's film can Nativities. That afternoon, I turned cardboard toilet paper tubes into the Bible Friends. As I was making them, Alex asked what I was doing. I explained to her who each Friend was and I told her the story of Jesus birth.

Finally, all the figures for Jesus' birth were done. Just in time to provide Alex something quiet to play with during the Selwyn College Chapel Lessons and Carols service. During the service an amazing thing happened. As the story of Christmas was being read, Alex acted out the story with her Bible Friends. The Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. Mary and Joseph made their way to Bethlehem. The Angel visits the Shepherds. The Shepherds visit the Holy Family. The service had been beautiful, but the pageant performed by the Bible Friends brought a delight to us that is beyond words.

Kirsten is, in the words of Anne Shirley*, my bosom friend. She holds my heart in a very special way. This Advent I made Kirsten's daughter Deborah a set of the Christmas Bible Friends. As I made them I reflected on what a gift from God Kirsten's friendship is. We provide each other support as we try to live faithfully as strangers in a strange land (Kirsten is from Germany). Even though I was making them for Deborah to play with, in another way I was making them for Kirsten. They came to symbolise our common desire to inspire our daughters' imaginations, particularly as they learn to relate to God.

When Deborah opened up her Bible Friends, I knew by the look on Kirsten's face that I could not have given her a better gift. A gift with materials, saved not just from the bin, but from the loo bin were able to show her far better than diamonds or gold just how much I love her.

*Anne Shirley is the title character from L.M. Montgomery's book Anne of Green Gables. Anne's bosom friend's name is Diana.