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Reflection Jake R

We are doing now a consecration to Mary

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Ava loved showing up for SFD. Seeing Olivia and Ava work together on Ava’s daily homework was a Mother’s dream come true. There are very few things in the school world where their paths intersect. We loved having this opportunity for them to spend time with God.

We are having everyone take turns in prayer before meals. Ava now has the courage to lead prayer in our family.
We do not have a family photo of the girls together and now are very sad we did not take one.
Going forward the girls are now spending more tome playing together and per Ava “getting to know the Hail Mary more”
Thank you all for conducting this summer program. We love it in our family and appreciate all the time and effort that Bertha, Julie and Dr Annie put into the program.

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Alicia White

Thank you so much for the educational opportunity. I really learned where my children had gaps in their knowledge of the books of the Bible. I also appreciated the opportunity to make them translate the story into their every day life. It was an excellent exercise.

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I have learned that Madison knows more than I thought about her faith, God and Jesus.  As she was assigned readings, we asked for an update from her, so she would teach us what her reading was about.  We enjoyed listening to Madison's teachings and prayed the Hail Mary as a family over dinner.  It brought us closer together as a family and we felt God's presence in our home. In continuing our walk with God, we are planning to make him a larger part of our family by doing daily family prayers.

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Straface family
I feel she really enjoyed the daily bible study. She was very inquisitive and would ask questions like who? How?  and Why?  She really wanted to learn about the Saints as well. Another important part of this process for her was she learned to present the material in a formal and linear way.  We were really proud of her.  She started last week being really nervous but the more she had the opportunity to speak to her peers, the more comfortable she became.

We felt actually going through the exercises with her was a great form of worship as a family.  We pray each day before each meal as a family as well:).

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I was not sure how the girls will participate in this kind of religious education. Will they treat it as an anther "online learning procedure" they need to do or something more? So it was really a big joy for me when I saw that they really liked it. They love both "saints hunting" and reading the Bible.
Family prayer was a challenge for us but I saw its fruits - more peace in all of us, more hugs and smiles.
Bertha, dr B and Mrs Julie - thank you for doing this with our kids.

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As routine set in this second week, stressors of online learning lessened again. It doesn't take the place of learning in person, especially when it comes to faith. We love the congregation and community part of church. However, we are thankful to have been able to have this class this summer. There were some very good verses especially this week that my kids read, we read and helped explain, and we all discussed. Our country needs prayer and reflection and God's diving grace so much at this time.

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The first week of class was a bit of a struggle with Keegan missing not being in a classroom with kids his age. Also I was having problems with the computer screen and having to do communications in this class with my phone.
The lessons had been great though with the time Keegan and I were talking and learning about God, the bible stories, the meanings of stories...We take turns reading parts of the bible and talking about how God is visible to us in so many ways, both in the bible stories and in our everyday life.
While we have been doing our lessons together, I have noticed the strength of Keegan's belief in God by his comments to me throughout the day, and about other people's actions that do not believe in God. We spend time talking about that, and how people can be different in a number of ways, but how his beliefs and love of God is what is important to him right now. Everyday Keegan shows examples of his love for God by his actions, love and caring for others, and we both talk about God being present with us always. Keegan feels God's presence, and besides me getting the computer working with the screen, Keegan is really starting to like the current class setting, and enjoying his time with it.

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My daughter has truly enjoyed reading all the interesting stories, reflecting on them and learning more about God. We love hearing what she learned about in the lessons, how she connects them to real life situations and discussing them with each other as a family. Thank you for providing these wonderful classes.

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I learned that Ally is capable of understanding complicated bible stories and relating them to her life. The Old Testament has stories that I was not familiar with so I was learning along with her which we both really enjoyed. The story that comes to mind is Exodus Ten Plagues and Passover. This is a pretty scary story for a 7 year old but her takeaway was that God will protect her.
I feel that as a family we have all enjoyed coming together and learning and talking about the bible more this past week.

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I love their thoughts & ideas on favorite verses. Seeing their pure innocence, love for God & relating it to everyday life is priceless. As discussed on zoom -many of these stories are difficult to understand or have violence. The kids understanding & take away message from each is so precious as is the gentle reminder to find the good in all the “crazy” in our everyday life. It’s always there, just sometimes we have to look at little harder. Seeing them work together to discuss & Jack helping Abby get her thoughts down on paper to share has been so heartwarming. I love how their bible study is top priority each morning. Praying together & having the kids pick the prayers & lead us is a practice we will continue.
Week 2. Summer faith defenders is a beautiful thing. I feel like the strides the kids have made in learning more about our Catholic Faith & the history behind it is something we have all benefited from. Thank you all for putting this together! This year obviously presented many obstacles but the learning & enthusiasm was the same. We have learned to analyze bible studies in a whole new light. Putting our modern world into these stories isn’t always easy but when we do, valuable lessons still apply. We will continue to learn about saints & use our youth bible. The love of the Bible that you ladies have instilled in our family over the last few years is something we will all cherish. Thank you! The Bauer family- Eric, Melissa, Jack & Abby

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Our children have learned so much in the past week. They actually are excited to see what readings they get each day, and they talk about it together. They also review their readings with us every day because a lot of what they are reading is hard for them to understand, but they do get the overall message... and they have been realizing how good God is and how they should and do  work hard to live their lives according to
God's way.

I have seen my children being kinder and more humble since focusing on learning more about God. They appreciate being able to only have religion to focus on rather than another subject that they have to work on. They are also more helpful., especially with each other. Circumstances over the past year have also helped all of us to think about prayer differently and to let God know that we will do his work and that we are blessed to do so. It has made us realize that God is with us every day and we can quietly speak to him. We have turned to God a lot these past couple of years, and what it has given us is hope, love, understanding and strength. It has taught us to to trust in God even more and that he will listen when we speak to him. We also say family prayers at meal times, and each of the kids says their own prayers before bed.

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We are so thrilled that Liam and Nora are enjoying this experience. Last year they really liked SFD. We were curious how it would translate during our physical distancing at Emmaus. Well, let me say you'll have done a wonderful job. Both Liam and Nora have really taken to this. We appreciate all the hard work that went into preparing this program. One thing we have done a few times is call grandparents to get their input on a topic. I like that they are being very thoughtful in their faith.

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1.  We learned that our children are much more spiritual than they lead you to believe.  In addition, we learned that they really enjoy attending Faith Defenders every day :)
2.  Example:  With all the issues regarding racism coming (once again) to the forefront, our children remember that God loves us all and it is right to treat everybody equally.
3.  We feel God's presence in the way we appreciate all of life's blessings.  Even though we continue to have restrictions due to COVID-19, we feel God has reminded us what true blessings we all have in our lives.

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Luca has really surprised us with his questions and comments when we are reading his bible together. It's so wonderful to listen to his view on the different stories and I'm so proud of him for explaining how he can relate to it and practice it in life.
This has been a wonderful experience for our family. Bonding each day through our faith has helped get us through the difficult struggles our world is facing right now.

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1: Share what you learned about your child(ren) & their view/thoughts about God.
I am pleasantly surprised how self-directed they both are to complete the daily entries.  I love listening to what they will say when called upon to speak.

2. Give 1 example
I was taken aback when Luke asked this question last Thursday when assigned Gideon story in book of Judges. "I am wondering why in the New Testament Jesus says not to test the Lord your God, but in the Old Testament, people test God all the time." I love knowing that he is creating deeper thoughts like this.

3. How have you felt God's presence this past week as you prayed together as a family.
This is a work in progress. TBD. I will do better.

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My kids are understanding the bible and the layout more. I love hearing them comment that they remember "hearing this story" from some class or reading. The readings have sparked conversations about the people and God, that have helped us all learn and grow as a family. We have had some good laughs and concerning comments too that needed to be addressed. I will say that the assignment for today about finding a saint who died under the age of 20 also brought up many terms they have not learned the meaning of, ex. rape and incest. But we got through it. It seems many of the saints that died before 20 had an abusive death.
This past week we spent time learning the prayer of St. Michael the Archangel and more about him. I felt God was working on our family to call on him during this time in our country.

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We learned that Alexander enjoys these sessions even more than we anticipated and is also very interested in the research and assignments beforehand. Alexander makes a point to share with us the interesting facts about the saints that he is studying and his Bible readings.  And, as parents, we really enjoy listening to the favorite verses that Alexander selects and his own interpretations of them. We all love to hear it and see his enthusiasm! Especially at this time, it has been very important to take pause, count our blessings, be mindful of others’ struggles and pray that God can show us the way to bring about change and help others. Daily prayers as a family have been a wonderful way to do this. 

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1. The kids have gravitated towards stories of forgiveness and appreciate that our God is a merciful God.  They ask follow up questions and how it applies to our life.  The Bible stories have been fun reminders of watching Veggie Tale videos with them when they were younger.
2. When we were discussing exile period, it became about having patience in both our daily life and longer term hopes and plans.  We are trying to practice faith consistently, not just when things go our way.
3. We have felt God's presence as we have read and reflected on the Bible stories as well as choosing saints each day  Praying together each day helps us to better connect and know what each other is struggling with and where we are finding joy.
4.

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I have enjoyed listening to our boys' favorite verses in their readings and understanding how they see themselves in the story.  It allows me to gain perspective as to how they feel connected to God.  For example, Austin connected with the verses in Judges that seem to focus on trusting to listen to the voice of God which would lead them to the promise land.  Trusting in God has been a big topic of conversation in our family lately with everything happening in the world right now and knowing God will lead us out of it.
We have felt more of God's presence during our evening family prayers at night because we usually have a same nightly prayer but have switched it up to be from the heart so each child is in charge of leading our prayer from their own hearts now.

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I was glad to see the 180 turn around that occurred. Prep for the first day was not smooth, but after the Zoom meeting, I was informed the hour flew by!!
She liked the Garden of Eden section where the serpent is twisting what God said to Eve and tempting her to pick the fruit. My daughter related it to current day and how some peers talk to her about her faith, the Bible, etc. Does it really say/mean...? Why do you believe that?
We really liked doing the examination of conscience together. We both realized how easy it is to break the Commandments unintentionally.

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Our family has really enjoyed learning about God and we are thankful that our faith is growing. I love seeing how they can relate the stories to their everyday lives and learn from them and see what God has to offer for all of us. My youngest children would ask for help when they didn't understand the verse that they had to read but my eldest child would love to help them find their connection to their story. I have been able to be closer to my children as we learn together and I look forward to continuing to be a part of this journey.

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Through your lessons, Hailey has determined that she has a favorite saint whom she connects with in times of difficulty and when needing to complete what seems like an impossible task.  This connection has helped her during these difficult times in our world.  We have felt a better sense of togetherness and comfort in our lives this past week.  Thank you for these great experiences.
Final Reflection:  This experience has been a great experience for our family; we are closer through or family prayer and will continue on this daily path together.  Thank you so much!

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1. I loved seeing Kalista get excited every morning to learn more about saints and  the bible.
2. Kalista is ready to research with her computer on and states "Come on Mom its time to learn more about God and the Saints."
3. I love that every night Kalista wants to pray and teach her younger sister what she learned about. This truly makes me so happy to see her carrying on with what she has learned and how she is trying to help others understand.
4.

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I was surprised to learn that Daniel did not remember more about his Faith education. We have been participating in Faith Education each year since Toddler Time.  The good news is he is still dedicated to pursing his relationship with God.
He/We loved the story of Joseph and his brothers & how the lessons of the story correlated to our families experiences in terms of conflict and forgiveness.
I/We really appreciate the chance to pray on a more personal level as opposed to in a group session (although we recognize the importance of the latter as well). It has helped us engage and express our personal feelings and thoughts.
Thank you so much for offering this on-line coarse. We love it!!!
As stated above the first week surprised me at how much Daniel did not remember from his previous faith education. At the end of this week he actually commented to me how much he learned from you guys!!!
We really found the virtual session wonderful for a number of reasons.
1. We had daily lessons instead of weekly lessons.  I believe the daily lessons allowed us to retain and benefit from the consolidated session. (minus the daily distractions of school, sports and other activities)  2. We/I liked that we reviewed each lesson as a family & was surprised at the input each of us put forth in the process. Especially when other family members would walk through while Daniel & I were debating certain meanings in the verses & they would add their input. I loved that part. 3. We/I liked the lack of distractions that occur during in person classes.
You guys did a wonderful job and we really appreciate you efforts.
God Bless you !!
Marcia & Daniel Adams

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I have learned that Evan and Grant both already know many of the bible stories well. They can easily pick out their favorite verse. Sometimes they make connections to the stories easily and sometimes we need to talk through them as a group. They seem to gravitate to following rules and making that connection to themselves.

We all enjoy discovering new Saints and learning about how they served God. Their stories are amazing and I am surprised that the boys don't seemed shocked by the martyred Saints.

Both boys love to share their findings with the group during the zoom meetings and also enjoy hearing how others have connected to the stories and Saints.

Our family prayer time has been a time for us to connect and find peace, especially with everything that is going on in the world.

Our entire family is learning more about God and growing our faith together. We really look forward to watching the videos. This class has been a blessing- thank you!

Final Reflection:
We are so grateful for Summer Faith Defenders! It has been a blessing for all of us to be on this journey together this summer. We have continued with our daily family prayer and added another one. We look forward to reading and discussing more bible stories this summer. Thank you so much for offering this online class. Last Friday, the day after the last class, my kiddos stated they missed their SFD instructors. Thank you so much!
Kim, Mike, Evan, & Grant

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1. It has been fun to see which scriptures Elise chooses as her favorite and to learn about why.  It has given me a new perspective on them as well as shown was is important to her.
2. In many of the scriptures, she has focused on caring for others.  From animals to others people, she has been drawn to the verses where God asking us to care for others.
3. As we read more scripture and learn more about God, I feel a deeper connection and understanding of God.  Learning about the Saints and their actions has helped Elise grow her connection as well.
Session 2/Week 2 Comments - Again, it was great to see what Elise would find most interesting or important in the Bible readings and I feel that it has helped her recognize those reading during church. Also, we have always loved learning about Saints and this has helped us find new resources for learning about them.

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1. Both of my boys really seem to be making strong connections to God.  Grayson is especially curious and asks lots of questions in trying to understand the Bible readings.

2.  They are both starting to understand how things we do in our every day life are a reflection of God.  We talk about our choices and decisions and whether they are done the way Jesus would have wanted us to do them or not.

3. I have found that my connection with God is also getting stronger as I revisit many of these stories with my boys.  As a family, we are also enjoying this quiet time together to learn and pray.

5. I think this course has really helped our family to reconnect to our Catholic faith. We plan to join the church officially, attend mass more regularly (even if online) and continue the boys faith formation in making their sacraments in the coming years. We are also praying more often as a family which has helped the children feel comfort during difficult times.

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Week 1 was an awesome time. I enjoyed seeing Andis engaged with the discussions. His thoughts on where he sees himself in the Bible stories surprised me. On Thursday, Andis saw himself as Joshua not being happy when someone goes against who he is at peace with.
Andis is very thankful when praying before meals. As we take turns leading the prayer, we realize all that God does for us.

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MEADE

I have been surprised at how much easier, daily, it has been to get my boys to work on their religious education"projects". We make it a priority of the day before they participate in any activity. Both have shared separately that they are enjoying the classes and videos.
I have felt a sense of unity and wholeness for our family unit at family prayer time. We usually add the new prayers at the end of our evening prayer that we already currently have in place.

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We've learned that Aiden understands these stories more than we knew and can relate them to todays times.
He mentions all the time that God has rules we need to follow just like our family does. And when those rules are broken there are consequences but that God will always forgive us and ask us to do better.
This past week I have seen a bigger desire for him to want to continue to read more stories from the bible.

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1.  I’ve learned that my son knows a lot more about his faith than I realized. He loves the stories and likes to share them with us.
2.He has pointed out details to us about the Bible many times during dinner.
3. We have been a little loose with family prayer and made effort to pray daily as a family. It has calmed everyone.

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Nick looks so forward to these sessions.  I think the setting even makes him more comfortable sharing.  We enjoy learning about the saints and more about God’s plan for us. Thank you Julie and all at Emmaus!

6/17/20-This was a great experience for us.  I like the immersion concept and hope we can participate again!  It helped us get back into reading scripture and applying it to our everyday day life.

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I learned that Luke relates our religion to belonging to God's House, similar to being part of a family. In reading Exodus 20:3, he said, “We have rules in our house, like no playing sports inside, no fighting, we have to listen to our parents. This is just like there are rules that God gave us for His house.”

I could see that Jack has a strong trust in God. In Genesis 15:6 he reflected that, “Just like Abraham who put his trust in God, I put my trust in God to be there for me.

By going through the Examination of Conscience and talking about where we came up short, it made us more aware  when we were starting to repeat those behaviors.

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I learned my son really wants to do what is right by God so he can get to heaven
We pray the rosary now every night
We are starting as a family to really take notice of all of the negativity on the news and even movies that are inappropriate in language

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1. SFD Week 1: Share what you learned about your child(ren) & their view/thoughts about God
2. Give 1 example
3. How have you felt God's presence this past week as you prayed together as a family
4. Add a photo of either your family or children as you read the bible,  pray together, have online Mass etc...
**Week 2
5. Share how you and your child (family) will continue what this course began in your walk with the Lord...