Little Updates :) February 6, 2009

Things have, as usual, been quite busy here in the Homespun household. I’m babysitting Little Miss again, and with this comes new routines for us to become used to. Starting next week, I’ll have her all week long, and lesson planning has been more fun this time than last.

Noah’s Ark was a bit of a bust. I’m not sure what happened. During our 3-week long study we did discover that we have other threads of interest to follow, and we may bring Noah’s ark back into our plans somewhere down the road.

We are working on Valentine’s Day things right now. Wednesday, we made two little heart garlands out of red and pink felt, and they’re now hanging in the front windows with some birdies that were made. To make the heart garland, take one sheet of felt (usually about $0.20 at Hobby Lobby) and cut it into 16ths (it’s easier if you cut each piece in half, then half again, then half again, then again). Fold the smallest pieces in half, cut half a heart on the fold, and voila! You have a little heart. I made 16 of each color, then took a hole punch and punched holes into the little humps in the top. I had Munchkin and Little Miss string them onto red ribbon in alternating colors, and then I hung them on suction cups in the window. They look darling inside and out! If I can, I will later take a picture (yeah, yeah, I know…I’ve said that before! ).

With the warmer weather slowly beginning to return, some of the local birds are becoming more active around here. February is also bird-watching month, so we’ll begin working on our Nature Journals by letting the girls take the binoculars and watching the birds. They’ll ideally draw pictures of what they see, and we’ll hopefully discuss the antics of the birds outside. There is also a little sparrow family nesting right behind the downspout in the gutter on the patio just outside our sliding door. On clear days, you can hear them chirp, chirp away. With the spring coming, they’ll probably have a couple broods of little ones to raise, so that will be something else we’ll all be watching. Seeing as how insects and seeds are a bit scarce right now, I may see if I can talk dh into letting us get some wild bird seed and refill the feeders out back. We can even let the girls use the excess to make little heart-shaped suet-type cakes to hang on the back fence so that we can watch our little feathered friends enjoy their treat–that is, if the exceedingly fat squirrels don’t make off with them. During this little bird study, we’ll also be making some bird mobiles. I found some really cute free sewing patterns at spool.com and lollychops.com, and I’ve already made some really cute little birdies who now make their homes in the front windows. Lollychops has a new little applique pattern download available for free on her site. I’m going to use the applique patterns and enlarge them to use on felt. Once the felt pieces are cut out, I’ll punch holes in them with my hole punch and string them up together to make a cute little 2-dimensional mobile, reminiscent of what is seen on spool.com’s site (which is a 3-D version). I may take the single birdie applique and have the girls decorate their birds and let them sit in the window, or perhaps on our front glass door–it’s been looking kind of boring as of late.

With it being Valentine’s Day next weekend, we’ll also be making bouquets of felt flowers. We’ll be using more little felt hearts, pipe cleaners, and glue to make them. I’m not sure how well it will work, but I’m going to try it first today during nap time and see, and then if it turns out well, I’ll have the girls begin making them next week. Also, we’ll be making Valentines, but I’m not going to say how just yet…Some of my readers may be receiving them and we don’t want to give a way the surprise!

For our read-aloud book, we’re still plugging through Laura Ingalls Wilder’s “Little House in the Big Woods.” Munchkin keeps begging to hear more, which makes me so glad to hear. I can’t wait until she’s ready to begin reading the series on her own, as it happens to be one of my life-long favorites.

The girls are also continuing in their study of Dick and Jane readers. Munchkin reads so well, and I just started Little Miss this week and will be sending home with her the book I started with her for the weekend. When I work with Munchkin, I see the look on Little Miss’s face that says she wants to read just like Munchkin. I hope it lasts for her mother’s sake.

We’re also going to start discussing Weather next week. First we’ll start with observing to see what is going on outside at the moment, then move on to see what might happen, then discuss what we should wear for the day if we were to go outside. It will be quite interesting to see what they come up with, no?

We may even top the week on Friday by going to one of the local metro parks to visit the Nature Center and observe the birds and other wildlife that visits the feeders outside the observation area. There are also many books the girls can look through, as well as naturalists who can answer any questions they may have.

Over the following weeks, we’ll take a look at Spring, and plant some seed and flowers. We’ll start the seeds indoors for our vegetable garden out back, and we’ll also be planting flowers for the front flower bed. Each girl (Munchkin and Little Miss) might be given their own flowering plant to look after and take care of once it’s planted, and I’ll have them take their nature journals outside to draw pictures of their plants and discuss them. Once the violets and other bright flowers begin to bloom, we’ll take on the task of “flower pounding” and making neat and interesting designs on scrap fabric that I have. We may take the fabric and set the design with heat, and frame the pictures. Other topics that may come up are: fairies, fairy tales, Hans Christian Andersen stories, bugs, poetry, and more. We’ll also continue our bird study, and and perhaps visit a pet store to see the larger and the smaller birds available, and perhaps even make our own birds’ nests with yarn and felt. I also found a neat recipe for edible birds’ nests, which I’ll have to modify due to a chocolate allergy (won’t be hard, though, since there are cinnamon, butterscotch, or even peanut butter chips available!). We may do this in conjunction with Easter…I’m not sure yet.

Anyway, I must go. We have a few errands to run as we continue our day. I WILL take pictures during nap time of the garland, our birdies, and the hopeful crafts for next week. Until then, God bless!!

My Christian Testimony January 6, 2009

A few days ago, I ran across an old friend on facebook. Ah, the memories! I found out that since I had last seen him (about 10-12 years ago…I don’t remember) he, also, has become a Christian. Praise God! Hallelujah! I told him that I had been praying for him for about 11 or so years now, and that I would love to hear/read his testimony if he ever gets the time to write it out (he has kids, like I do, so I know how it is! Heehee). Well, he wrote back and said 11 years ago, on his birthday (Jan. 2), he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Can you just imagine how ecstatic I felt? I mean, this was true joy, and all because of God. It’s a joy in the Lord, that He makes things happen according to His purposes and Plan. Now, I don’t know if my friend accepted Christ before or after I began praying for him. It doesn’t matter, really, because it was not of my power, but God’s. How great is that?

So, I began thinking. What exactly is my testimony? How did I come to know the Lord? Well, I’m still getting to know Him, and it’s been almost 14 years! 14 years? Really? Huh. Time seems to fly when you have fun, doesn’t it? Okay, let me start from the beginning.

Most of my family is Catholic, and when I was little, I went to CCD, since I went to public school instead of Catholic school. A few weeks before my first communion, though, Mom and Dad pulled me out, and told me that I could decide for myself what religion I wished to follow when I was old enough. We never really went to church much after that, and I’m not sure why. There were a number of factors contributing to it, but it doesn’t matter. When I was in high school, I had been invited by friends to go to their respective churches. I went to a Disciples of Christ church, and while I learned a little, it didn’t feel “right” to me. Another friend, whose parents were old friends of my folks, invited me to her new church, which was an Assemblies of God church plant that was just starting up.  During this time I started dating the friend at the beginning of this post. We were together through our senior year, and around Easter of ‘95, I accepted Christ. I invited my friend a few times–I think, and it’s been so long I really don’t remember–to come to service with me. Well, we graduated, and he moved to Tucson, AZ in the mid-summer. I continued to go to church and Sunday school, but during Sunday school I felt I was being pressured to do something I wasn’t called to do.

The pastor of this church, which I know now wasn’t completely representative of its denomination, was our Sunday school teacher. One Sunday, not long before I left for college, he began teaching about spiritual gifts. Our assignment was to read chapters 11-14 of 1 Corinthians. Okay, I did, and I felt it was fairly straightforward. I was loving what Paul said about some being called to be doctors, others to be servants, some to be teachers, others to be ministers, etc. Some were also called to speak in tongues while others were to interpret, some to be prophets and others for discernment. Paul even stated how speaking in tongues was to be done during the service. I thought, “Huh, this isn’t how we do that. I wonder why?” So, I wrote down my questions, as it was part of the assignment. The members of this church openly spoke in tongues during service, and they each interpreted their own, um, words? So, I asked the pastor about it, and he said that Paul only said that others were to interpret during the service because it was the times they were living in, and it didn’t apply today. So, I asked, “Well, if that doesn’t apply today, then why does the rest of the bible?” I don’t remember his reply, for it must not have made much of an impact. Then, we started talking about the spiritual gifts, themselves. He stated that yes, you are saved when you accept Christ as your Savior, but you’re fully saved when you are baptised by the Holy Spirit. By that, he meant speaking in tongues. To this pastor, speaking in tongues was the ultimate gift, and that everyone must aspire to it. It is your outward proof of being saved, he told me, and that you’re completely saved when you do speak in tongues. Huh? I don’t get it. I asked, “So you’re only half saved when you accept Christ?” “Well, sort of. When you speak in tongues, it shows the Holy Spirit’s approval of you.”  Woah. Um, yeah. To this day, I still haven’t felt called to speak in tongues. Does that mean I still have not been approved by the Holy Spirit? I’ll get back to this in a moment.

Needless to say, after that, I didn’t go to church as often. I went to college, and backslid quite a lot. The religion course I was required to take did nothing for my faith at all, which is sad, really. The professor I had taught from the book of Mark, and said that it was the only gospel that was considered credible, since it was written by an actual apostle closer to the time of Christ’s death, compared to the other three gospels. He went on about Jesus feeding the 5,000, and loosely stated that another gospel mentioned that Jesus fed 4,000. Which story is correct? Well, I went back to my dorm that night, and looked up the matter. Turns out, they were  2 separate events. Luke (I think, it’s been a while…I will edit it otherwise when I have time to look it up) says that Jesus first fed the 5,000, and then the next day he fed the 4,000. Two days later, I returned to class, and pointed it out to the professor, who didn’t even know! Can you believe he was a pastor, himself?!

Anyway, fast-forward to the spring of ‘97. I went through burnout, and had to change majors to elementary education (I had been working full-time on top of going to school full-time, and I still couldn’t pass piano competency!!). One of my friends offered to let me live with her and her family so I could continue working in Columbus. She introduced me to a whole new group of people, one of which who invited me back to church again. I began going, and I rededicated my life to Jesus. I could not believe how liberating that was! For the first time ever in my life, I felt truly free, free from all my burdens, free from past sins. I was overjoyed and on a spiritual high for several months.

During this spiritual high I learned so much. The pastor of my new church taught one Sunday morning about how the impact of today’s prayers could make a huge difference in someone else’s life, and you may know it right away, or may not know it for many years to come. He had us write down a list of people we knew who did not know Jesus, or those who did know Him but did not have a relationship with Him. He told us to think about the people in our lives even from our pasts, such as former co-workers, classmates, friends, teachers, neighbors, etc. If we didn’t know if that person on the list had a relationship with Christ, we were to pray for them. We were also to pray that God would bless each person on our lists and that He would exercise His Will. Now, I don’t remember when I started praying for the folks on my list. It could have been that fall, it could have been that spring, I don’t know. He also explained that in some ways prayers could be retroactive, that God knew you would eventually be praying for a situation, and He was already taking care of it before you even knew to pray about it. I thought, “Alright, I can do this.” I prayed for my family, I prayed for co-workers, and even for friends from high school and college. I kept that list for a few years, and continued to pray for those people.

Over the next few years, I grew so much spiritually. The spring of ‘98 was rough, but not because of school so much. I started stressing about how I was going to pay for the new PRAXIS exams, which are now necessary for all Ohio teachers. I did continue and press on, because I felt this was what God wanted me to be doing. Summer came, and I was baptized that August. Mom was angry with me, but Dad and my grandfather came to watch.

In the spring of ‘99, when the rest of my classmates were preparing for graduation, I ended up changing my major yet again to religious education. And my parents separated. Before I left the dorms that May, they had a dissolution of marriage, the dog was put down (he had cancer and was going blind), Mom had a new puppy (who is now a horse of a dog), and Dad had his own apartment. I had to tell them both that just because I was away and in school, that didn’t make me partial to one or the other. I was also not qualified to be a counsellor (psychology wasn’t even my major!), I was not their friend but their daughter. All this was a huge stressor for me. At the same time, I began dating a friend from church, joined the youth ministry, the church orchestra, and was just plain busy!

That summer was wierd for me. Dad wasn’t there but at his apartment, and my brother had moved out of the house. I was still working in Columbus and thought I had another job, but after I put in my notice, the new job fell through. I was supposed to help Mom with the bills, but couldn’t come through with the money. I started working for a temp agency, and found a place to live for the fall (being a 5th year student, I was no longer eligible to live on campus). Two weeks before I was to move, I had a falling out with Mom, and was kicked out early. Through all of this, meaning the spring and summer of that year, I was strangely calm, and I could tell it bothered some of the folks around me. I simply knew that God had a reason and a purpose for all that was going on, and I had faith that He would pull everyone through it. I moved in with my new roommate for about 9 months. After that, her lease was up, and she wanted to move to a new apartment with a different friend. This was fine by me, and I moved farther away, into the country with another gal in a huge studio apartment with 4 gentlemen in a separate house on the same property. We had weekly bible studies (no, it was NOT a commune) and we often carpooled to church, depending on who had to be there when (we were all serving in various ministries–a couple of the guys were on the tech crew doing sound, Power Point, lights, etc., another was working for the church and had to be there at the crack of dawn to open up the building). I learned so much on studying the bible, strengthening my faith, and serving others. I was working full-time for a local gourmet cookie company that also distributed in selected areas nationwide, plus serving in ministry almost 7 days per week. The gentleman who I had been dating and I broke up, and it took a long time to learn it was okay to be single.

9/11/2001, I was working in our downtown location on Broad and High Streets. When news of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon arrived from customers stopping quickly by for coffee and hurrying to their cars (basically, all of downtown Columbus was evacuating, which in itself was odd, and I’ll save that story for another day), I felt it was God who was warning us. We, as a nation, need to return to Him. As it says in II Chronicles, “If my people who are called by My Name and humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven above and I will heal their land.” For a short time, yes, I believe more people began turning to God, yet it seems like as a nation it wasn’t enough. Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox and save that rant for another day, as well. The whole situation really opened my eyes to praying for our nation’s leaders, as well as those of the rest of the world.

2 days before Christmas that year, I kind of sort of lost my job with the cookie company. From day one, the district manager knew I could work any day of the week except Sunday, and when she wanted me to work at a certain location on a particular weekend but I couldn’t (I was going out of town, and didn’t know I had to request it off, despite the fact that my home store was only open Mon-Fri), she demanded that I go part time. She then hired a co-manager for my store (I was an assistant manager whom she was grooming to be a store manager), which took all my hours. After 12/23 that year, I simply had no more hours. I wasn’t laid off, I wasn’t let go, so i couldn’t file for unemployment. i couldn’t work there, either, since there weren’t even any hours at any of the other stores. Because of the September attacks, no one was hiring. No one in retail was hiring until spring, and other places of business had no interest in someone who had no degree (an almost-degree didn’t count, either), or experience working in an office. For 6 weeks, I searched and searched for employment, knowing that God had something out there for me somewhere. During this time I did a lot of growing. The youth pastor I served under said he was going to be talking about relationships, and since i primarily worked with jr. high schoolers, I had to find a way to talk about it with my girls. I had also started hanging out with a new group of friends, one of whom was Brandon. He had some books that he was willing to let me borrow to help with the discussions with the girls. A week or two later, I went to Snow Camp with the youth ministry at church. The youth pastor in charge of leading the devotions and services talked about being content with being single. He was mostly speaking to the high school students, because so many kids feel that they have to have a significant other or they’re not worth anything. Yet, he even mentioned that he was talking to us single adults, as well (most of the youth workers were single). Hmmm…being content to be single? I never thought of it that way. So, I prayed about it. You know what? It worked! I was perfectly happy to be single. I didn’t want to look for a husband, or boyfriend. So, when I came back from camp I felt I was a totally different person. Later that week, I received a job offer through a local Head Start agency, and began subbing at one of the schools. At the beginning of March, Brandon asked me out on a date to see Blast! at the Ohio Theater. We began courting, and really getting to know one another. I joined him on a church plant across town, where a friend of his was the pastor. I learned a lot about patience. We even decided not to kiss unless we got engaged, and saved our first kiss for our wedding day. We got engaged in October of 2002, and were married May 3, 2003.

Since being married, I’ve learned a lot about what it means to be in a true partnership. I still have a long, long way to go. I have learned the difference between being biblically submissive versus subservient. My goal is to become submissive, and while I’ve come a long way, I have quite a ways to go. And to be honest, I also thought I was a pretty patient person (well, unless you’ve been in a car with me, which proves me otherwise…I have a ton of issues with other drivers!) until I had kids. Wow. Many, many life lessons have been learned, as well as many more are being learned as I write these words. I’m also learning a lot about grace and mercy, as well as forgiveness.

How about you? What is your testimony?

Little Rays of Sunshine January 2, 2009

Okay, so again, I did very poorly when it came to writing devotions for the Christmas songs. Well, I did write them, but neglected to make time to type them up and share them with you. So, I may still do it and pre-date them so that they’ll at least all be together and not drive others nuts.

Back to the title, well, I did see some things that really were little rays of sunshine over the past few weeks. I was on my way to the chiropractor one dreary, drizzly morning in December, about a week before Christmas. In my lane, just ahead of me, was a newer model VW Beetle, which was a bright, sunny yellow. Now, for those who know me, you aren’t surprised to hear–ahem, read–that Beetles already make me smile. Well, this one was a tad different in the fact that it had antlers on both of its doors. Heehee, that made me laugh out loud, prompting 3-year-old Munchkin to ask, “What happened?” I told her what I was looking at, and she said that it was silly. Well, the Beetle’s driver changed lanes, and began to slow down a bit to get ready to exit onto I-71. I passed it, and really started laughing as I glanced at it in my rear-view mirror. Instead of seeing the VW symbol on the car’s nose, I saw a big red dot. Yeah, it doesn’t take much to amuse me any more.

Ooo!! Also, I have to share a great blessing that happened to me today. Those of you who live near me all know that I’ve been drooling over a particular slow cooker by Hamilton Beach. Bed Bath and Beyond has it on their site for $50, and everyone else has it for $60. Dh tried to get it for me for Christmas (the one I currently have I purchased 10 years ago. One of the handles broke a year after I bought it, and the knob for the temperature broke off in October), but BB&B doesn’t carry it in the stores and were out of stock online. We each received some funds for Christmas, so I went the other day and found this particular model on Wal-Mart’s site. I looked again today, and discovered that many of the local stores had either sold out of them, or had limited stock on them. So, I went in to the store nearest me and picked up one of the two remaining boxes. I pick up the remaining items on my list (which wasn’t very long, anyway) and go to check out. I paid for the groceries, and then watched the cashier ring up the big box. I almost pooped my pants and fell over when I saw the price!! I could. Not. Believe it!! It was only $29.00!!!!!!!!!!! No wonder it was selling out!! The cashier and the lady behind me in line probably thought I was nuts, and I explained that everywhere else the thing was selling for $60, and that I was floored because I was able to save $10. Needless to say, I was able to take that extra $10 and buy more jeans for Munchkin (dd1) at Once Upon a Child (that kid is growing like a weed!! None of her pants are long enough. It’s too cold to be wearing “capris” right now!).

I’m also exploring whole wheat recipes. I’m going to experiment with making whole wheat egg noodles, pizza crusts, pie crusts, cookies (though so far, those have been a bit of a bust…might have to set the mill to extra fine, and tighten up the stones a bit more), among other things.

I’ve been cooking up a lot of things from scratch lately, as well. Last night, I made chicken and noodles, completely from scratch!! I made my own broth by boiling the bony parts of a left-over chicken, added more leftover broth, some veggies and spices, and let it cook for a couple hours. Finally, I made my own egg noodles from scratch with the remaining All-purpose store-bought flour and a bit of bread flour (I’m trying to use them up!). Oh my! They were so good! Unfortunately, dh was/is sick, so we still have plenty left over (he usually eats a couple helpings of my chicken and noodles in one sitting! ).

Oh! I almost forgot to share a couple dessert inventions… One is Cheater’s cannoli, and the other is a gingerbread roll.

Cheaters’ Cannoli are made with rolled vanilla-flavored pizzeles and some French vanilla pudding. If you have a pizzele iron (usually available at places like Sears, JCPenney, Macy’s, Kohl’s, etc. or you can google online to see how to get one), make your usual dough, using vanilla extract for the flavoring. As soon as you remove them from the iron, carefully roll them into the ends of paper towel tubes (DO NOT use toilet paper tubes. yuck!). leave them there until they’re set, then remove them. You may need to use 2 tubes at a time, so that you can have one set of pizzeles cooling while placing a second set into the next tube. Remvoe the first set while a third set is still in the iron. After all your pizzeles are made, mix up a box or two of your favorite pudding flavor. I recommend French vanilla or pistachio. JUST BEFORE serving, you can put the pudding inside the rolled pizzeles using a couple different methods. You can carefully use a spoon and stuff 2-3 tablespoons full into the openings, or you can use a pastry bag (or even a ziploc baggie with a corner cut off) to squeeze the pudding in. DO NOT stuff them ahead of time, or they’ll end up a nasty, soggy mess.  Top with mini chocolate chips, and/or pistachios, and whipped cream (use Redi-Whip–it’s real whipped cream and doesn’t turn into plastic like non-dairy whipped cream does).

The gingerbread roll is made using a gingerbread cake recipe. I found an old-fashioned gingerbread recipe on allrecipes.com, and substituted applesauce for the eggs, and used regular vegetable oil to replace the butter. It made for a moister cake, since the reviews said it was a good cake, yet dry. i followed the directions for Libby’s pumpkin roll and baked it in a jelly roll pan. I made the filling the same way as the pumpkin roll, but used cinnamon extract to flavor instead of the vanilla. I proceeded as I would the pumpkin roll, and wrapped it up in plastic and refrigerated it to let the flavors “steep” together. When dh and I had it, I was in heaven! It was sooo good! I shared it with a friend of mine, who had never had fresh gingerbread, and she fell in love with it too! Y’all should try it!

Anyway, I need to go. I have to get the girls ready for bed. I hope to write again soon!

God bless.

What Are Your Goals for the New Year? December 26, 2008

Well, Christmas is over, at least for us in our household. With that said, what are your goals for the new year? Not resolutions, mind you, but honest-to-goodness-real-life goals?

Mine are:

1. blog more. I did terribly with that this year.
2. Be a better housekeeper. Just ask dh.
3. Make more lists–I’m terrible with it, yet if I make lists I get more stuff done.
4. Finish more WIPs. ‘Nuff said.
5. Lose 60 lbs. Anyone with me on this?
6. Start doing Pilates. This starts today, after I get the living room cleared out.
7. Eat healthier. Gotta stop eating those $1 frozen pizzas that are just soooo good!
8. Work on having a more frugal home. i already make my own laundry soap, but I want to stop using paper towels by the end of 2009.
9. Learn to use medicinal herbs.
10. Grow more herbs and veggies this year.
11. BUY A HOUSE!! i can’t even BEGIN to tell y’all how much this is needed! We’re currently in a 2-bedroom 1200 sq. ft. condo, no basement, little closet space, no attic, yet a tiny mudroom that is full of christmas decorations, canning supplies, emergency candles, camping equipment, and large baby items (anyone need an exersaucer? O_o). There are four of us living here.
12. Bake more. I’ve been bad the last couple months. I need to find more nice whole-wheat recipes. Anyone have some?
13. Make more gifts instead of spending a ton of money on gift cards. That’s pretty much all we gave out this year.
14. Make more clothes. We could save so much money if I made our own.
15. Find a way to earn a monthly income from the home so that we can get out of this condo. The girls really need a real yard to play in! I have some ideas, and I may use some of the money from my in-laws to set up an etsy shop. I also may try to take in some baby-sitting gigs. Anyone have any other ideas?

How about you? What are your goals this year?

While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks December 1, 2008

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
	all seated on the ground;
	the angel of the Lord came down,
	and glory shone around,
	and glory shone around. 

	"Fear not!" said he, for mighty dread
	had seized their troubled mind.
	"Glad tidings of great joy I bring
	to all of humankind,
	to all of humankind." 

	"To you, in David's town, this day
	is born of David's line
	a Savior, who is Christ the Lord,
	and this shall be the sign,
	and this shall be the sign:" 

	"The heavenly babe you there shall find
	to human view displayed,
	all meanly wrapped in swathing bands,
	and in a manger laid,
	and in a manger laid." 

	Thus spake the seraph and forthwith
	appeared a shining throng
	of angels praising God on high,
	who thus addressed their song,
	who thus addressed their song: 

	"All glory be to God on high,
	and to the earth be peace;
	good will henceforth from heaven to earth
	begin and never cease,
	begin and never cease!" 

Peace. What, exactly, is peace? Is it simply a lack of war? A lack of fighting or arguing?
A relative calm? Nay. Peace in Jesus is in knowing He is in control. He has it all covered.
Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still, and know I am God," declares the Lord. "I will be exalted
among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
Do you have peace in Jesus? Knowing He takes care of everything when I'm down gives me
peace. 

When I'm down, I also try to remember to praise God for all my blessings. Is it difficult?
Of course! But I always feel so much better, and it helps to bring the peace of God that
He has promised us. This time of year, when the daylight becomes more and more scarce,
and the weather, as Munchkin says, gets "icky" ("The shunshine is hiding today, Mommy. The
clouds are hiding the shunshine."), it gets so much easier to be tempted to sleep in
through the day. It's more difficult to confront your problems and keep hope. Yet, God
promises us that He is always there. He sent His Son to show us how much He loves us. That
is why we always need to praise Him, no matter what. Once we begin praising Him when we
are in our lowest valleys He lifts us right back up again. 

How are you praising God today?

Praise God by calling His name; thank Him for all your blessings today. If need be, write
down a list of everything you're thankful for.

The Friendly Beasts November 30, 2008

Jesus our brother, strong and good,

Was humbly born in a stable rude,

And the friendly beasts around him stood;

Jesus our brother, strong and good.

“I,” said the donkey, shaggy and brown,

“I carried His mother up hill and down,

I carried His mother to Bethlehem town;

I,” said the donkey, shaggy and brown.

“I,” said the cow, all white and red,

“I gave Him my manger for His bed,

I gave Him my hay to pillow His head;

I” said the cow, all white and red.

“I,” said the sheep, with curly horn,

“I gave Him my wool for His blanket warm,

He wore my coat on Christmas morn;

I,” said the sheep, with curly horn.

“I,” said the dove, fro mthe rafters high,

“Cooed Him to sleep, my mate and I,

We cooed Him too sleep, my mate and I;

I,” said the dove, from the rafters high.

And every beast, by some good spell,

In the stable dark was glad to tell,

Of the gift he gave Immanuel,

The gift he gave Immanuel.

I learned this traditional carol as a child. I don’t remember whether it was someone in my family who taught it to me or if it was part of a school program; yet, I remember singing it while my dad played it on the guitar.

This particular carol of Advent is about service. Each of the animals gave what they had to the Infant Jesus: the donkey, his back; the cow, her manger and hay; the sheep, its wool; and the doves their songs. What have you or I done for Jesus lately?

During His ministry, some children came to Jesus, wanting to be near Him. The disciples atempted to shoo them away. Jesus said, “Let the children come unto Me, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.” He also said, “Whatever you do for the least of these you also do unto Me.” He goes on to say that if you even give a drink of water to a child, you’re also giving a drink of water to Him; you never know, but you may also be serving an angel in disguise.

To serve Jesus and our children during this Advent season, we are learning about Advent together. We have made an Advent calendar and will be using it starting tonight. Munchkin has been asking a lot about Jesus, mostly about where He is (”Is Jesus sitting right next to me?” “Is Jesus laying on my pillow with me?”) and what songs we will sing about Him (”Is this song about Jesus?”)

How will you serve Jesus during this Advent season? How will you serve your children? Other people’s children?

Please come back tomorrow for “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks”.

Advent November 30, 2008

My latest blog project is to write devotions for 25 of the traditional carols we hear throughout the Christmas season. Why? I say, why not? I picked the carols using the following traits: they talk about the nativity in some way; they are at least 100 years old, and are in hymn books; they are scriptural in referance.

The first week of carols is devoted to Preparing Your Heart for the Christmas season. The carols/hymns speak in some way about preparing yourself for Christ’s coming.

The second week is devoted to Gathering the People/the Church.

The third week is devoted to Sharing and Telling the World of Christ’s Coming.

The fourth and last week is devoted to the Birth of Christ/Christ is Here!

I hope to be able to post daily. I want to get into the habit of writing more, and definitely more eloquently and concisely, so that in the new year I can update more often.
Anyway, the following post is the first song I’ve chosen for this project. For those of you who choose to read this with me, I hope you enjoy and are able to learn more about God’s Word. May God rain blessings on you.

Oh boy… November 25, 2008

Yeaaahhhh, I haven’t updated in almost 2 months! Eep! Needless to say, please accept my apologies. I will try to do better, even in this upcoming busy holiday season.

I do hope to begin adding photos soon…I’ve been rather bad at taking any lately, and I would so love to have everyone see the neat things the girls and I have been up to lately. Provided that things go well today in my cleaning schedule, I might be able to upload some pictures this afternoon…

I’m no longer babysitting Little Miss…Something happened where her mother lost her placement and is still currently looking for employment; however, we do try to get the girls together at least once per week and also to have some much-needed mommy time.

We don’t observe Halloween for religious reasons…We don’t even take the girls out in costume for Trick-or-Treat night (aka, Beggars’ Night). So, instead, I’ve been making things with Munchkin to celebrate autumn, and to prepare for Thanksgiving. We visited the Dollar Tree (for those who don’t know, it’s one of those stores where everything within is just $1) and found some cute and simple decorations. We purchased a wreath with a scarecrow sitting on it like one would a tire swing, with raffia and a banner above his head saying “Welcome”. I also purchased a package of suction cups with hooks on them, in the hopes that I could simply hang our little scarecrow in the door; no dice. The suction cups wouldn’t stick because the surface of the door isn’t smooth but slightly textured. Instead, we have him hanging in one of the front windows.

Leaf Garland

I also love the store Pottery Barn Kids. Not that I can afford much in the store, mind you, but they occasionally have some great ideas that I could easily duplicate at home for a tiny fraction of the cost. The leaf garland they had for sale this autumn for $40? I made a similar one for much less than $5. Granted, it’s not yet embroidered with the veins of the leaves, nor in double layers of felt, but I kind of like it as-is. I made it by printing off some fall leaf coloring pages from dltk’s printable pages found here:  http://www.coloring.ws/autumn2.htm . (Please excuse the lack of direct link…for some reason, I can’t go back and add them!). I printed off four of the leaves and cut them out. I used the cut-outs as paper patterns, and cut the leaves out of four different colors of felt–one leaf per color, totalling 16 leaves in all. I took a spool of grossgrain ribbon and, using a cross-stitch, sewed them onto the ribbon about every 8-12″. I think it’s very cute, to say the least.

Mini Turkeys

Munchkin and I also made mini-turkeys to hang on our front door in preparation for Thursday. With brown felt, I cut out 3.5″ circles and peanut shapes, and with the scraps from the felt leaves I made 6 feathers and beaks for each turkey. i haven’t yet added the wattles, but hey, i think they look cute as-is. On one side of the circles, I told Munchkin we were going to glue feathers. Using Aleen’s Tacky Glue (regular white glue doesn’t work on polyester felt, for some reason) I drew a curved line along the top edge of the circle. Munchkin pressed the “feathers” onto the glue line until all the feathers for that turkey were gone. We let the turkey butts dry (yes, that’s what she still calls them now) for a couple hours, and then we flipped over each turkey body. We glued one peanut shape onto the body, and glued a beak onto the top of the peanut shape. We let them dry even more. Later that evening, I took some 1/2″ circular magnets and the same Tacky Glue and glued the magnets onto the backs of the turkeys. When the glue was dry, I stuck them to the front door. Every time we leave the house, both Munchkin and Buggaboo love seeing the turkeys. Munchkin talks about her “turkey butts” and Buggaboo tries to grab them and munch on them.

This week has proven to be very busy. Munchkin will be 3 this up-coming Sunday, and in preparation for it, she’s beginning to act it. All day yesterday it was challenge after challenge after challenge. Where did my sweet little 2-year-old go? We have also purchased most of her birthday gifts and squirreled them away out of her sight. She picked out what she wanted for her birthday cake (Pillsbury’s Funfetti with matching icing with purple for the lettering), and was asking for it last night. Ever since Daddy’s surprise party last month (oh yeah, I forgot to mention that, huh? I’ll tell you later about it) she’s been wondering about her birthday. She is aware that hers comes after Daddy’s but before Buggaboo’s. After Thanksgiving but before Christmas. It’s so fun to see the anticipation on her face. She gets excited when she realizes her grandparents are coming to see her.

School-wise, we’ve been working on Munchkin’s fine motor skills to prepare her for writing, and teaching Buggaboo to walk. I made a felt “pizza” for Munckin out of numerous little circles of pepperoni, brown mushrooms, green pepper crescents, white cheese, red sauce, and tan and white crust. She also loves to share it with Mommy, Daddy, Buggy, and her friends.

Alphabet Book

I also found large alphabet bulletin board/wall strips at the Dollar Tree. I use one to work on alphabetizing, and another to make a book. These strips have the directional arrows, showing how to make the letters. How I made the book was using 12×12″ page protectors (also found at the Dollar Tree, 10 in a package), 12×12″ sheets of plain white cardstock for the pages, 12×12″ sheets of gray for the cover, the alphabet strip with the letters cut individually, and little adhesive squares found in the scrapbooking section of my local Hobby Lobby. Oh, and I also had a school theme scrapbooking kit with mini alphabet strips in them, which I also used to decorate the cover. On one side of the white, I adhered one letter, and the other side I adhered the next letter of the alphabet. I slid each leaf into a page protector. Once each page was protected as well as the cover leaves, I used 5-1″ binder rings (the kind with the hinges that open up) looped through the holes that were intended for a scrapbook. I’m following the order of letters that Handwriting Without Tears recommends, and we flip to that letter in the book. We use her Magna-Doodle toy to practice writing the letter. When she gets proficient with a letter, I take our greaseboard slates with manuscript lines on one side and we practice using the lines with a grease pen (also found at the Dollar Tree. I found the grease boards for $0.50 each at a yard sale over the summer).

We are also working on recognizing and memorizing the numbers 13-20. After Thanksgiving is over, I’m going to make some more file folder games for her to play with. I haven’t yet figured out other activities to use yet, but I’m sure I’ll come up with something.

Potential December Crafts:

I love gingerbread and snow people. I also appreciate the look of holly. What better way to put them together than make a garland with all three aspects? I have all the felt purchased (yes, it seems that lately my medium of choice is felt. Sue me. ), and I need to dig through my cookie cutters for my snowman and my gingerbread man. What will happen is the cookie cutters are going to be the patterns for each, and I’ll cut out two pieces of felt for each snowman and gingerbread man. Sew around the edges, leaving a gap to stuff with polyester fiberfill (I have a lot of that stuff! ). Once stuffed, the gap will be sewn shut and each piece will be decorated. Cut holly leaves and berries out of green and red felt, and sew them together. Sew the pieces together, alternating gingerbread man, holly, snowman, holly, gingerbread man, holly, etc. I think it will look great around the fireplace gate, don’t you? I also plan to make some stray pieces and let them hang in the front windows, and on the front door. I figure Munchkin can help stuff and decorate all the pieces.

I was just at my local Meijer store yesterday. I was hoping to find some Thanksgiving tablecloths, etc. on sale, but instead found Christmas/winter items. There was an adorable set of felt snowflake placemats and table runners. Each piece was about 14-18″ in diameter, in 2 layers of felt. The place mats were white-on-pale blue, and the runner was white-on-white and white-on-red. Very quaint, very cute. I figure, I can make some very similar for less than 1/2 the cost. I plan to go to JoAnn’s tomorrow to buy the felt–they’re having a huge sale on the bolted felt for $1.49/yd. Can’t beat that price.

We have lots of beads, and lots of pipe cleaners. While Buggaboo’s sleeping next week during her nap, Munchkin and I can combine the two together to make some really sparkly snowflakes. Might hang them in the windows, on the back sliding glass door, perhaps even find a way to stick them on the mirror over the mantle.

There may be more crafts we’ll do…I just have to go get dinner started.

September 30, 2008

I have been quite lax in updating this blog lately. I have been so busy, and I’ve had little time on my hands to do anything extra. With babysitting Little Miss, and playing referee between her and Munchkin, I had been able to do little else. . .It’s alright, though, because it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.

I don’t remember the last date I posted, so I’ll just give some updates on what has been going on in my world: In August, we went camping at Alum Creek State Park, using a 2-room tent (though we didn’t hang the wall). Buggaboo was getting over a cold, and it got a lot chillier than I had thought, so I had to bring her home at 2:30 in the morning that Saturday morning, and return at 8:30 because all our food was in the car I was driving (we had arrived so late Friday night that there was little time to unload it and put it in dh’s car. Dh and Munchkin met us at the playground near the entrance to the campgrounds, and we found that there was a mud-daubers’ nest right under the stairs in the sand of the play equipment. We went out to breakfast, went home to shower (we were still fairly close to home in case of what happened the night before), and took the girls miniature golfing. Let me tell you: it’s quite an experience to take an almost-three-year-old miniature golfing! Lol. She had a blast, and dh and I had many “holes in one” and under “par” because she had such a blast picking up the balls after we putted from the tee and trying to either drop it straight into the cup, or taking the ball to within 6 inches of the cup and hitting it in. Hey, I’m not arguing with her; that was the best score I’ve ever had!

Back home, we’ve been working on reading Dick and Jane. I have not been as good at keeping up with this as I had planned, but I had to delay lessons for a few weeks to help Little Miss become used to our daily routine (um, yeah, I had to develop one really quickly, because she’s one that’s a stickler for schedules, and Munchkin so is not!). I just started working with LM on Dick and Jane, when her mother lost the placement she was in (they terminated the assignment, and as a temp, she has to wait until the agency calls her for something else). So, I have not had her since Friday, and her mom is stuck at home for the time being. Munchkin, on the other hand, is starting to pick up a bit more. This week, we are reviewing the first four stories, working on the words she has trouble with, and then I think by the weekend we can begin the 5th. And yesterday, I was browsing a bit on AtoZ Teacher Stuff, and there was a link to this really great website that works on Rimes and Rhymes, focusing on a single nursery rhyme per week. It’s very neat, and simple, as well as short. First, there is the rhyme card that you print off. Then, there are additional cards to print off that have pictures and words that rhyme with the main word family of the rhyme of the week. I reset my printer settings and was able to print 9 cards to a page–the pictures were still clear, as were the words. Also, there are riddles that can be printed off to help identify the additional rhyming words. I didn’t print off those yet, because I don’t feel that Munchkin is quite ready for it yet. And last, but not least, are the lesson plans for the week. They are broken down by day, each so far taking only about 5-10 minutes of time to execute per day. Mind you, these were written for classrooms of more than 1-3 children, so I’m adapting them so far as I can for a single child, and they don’t take as long as they would in the classroom. So far, they have 28 rhyme lessons available on the site, and they’ll add the last two as the school year progresses (they said it would be closer to the end of the current year). I have already printed off three: “Jack and Jill”, “An Apple Pie When It Looks Nice”, and “Rain, Rain, Go Away”. I printed the Apple Pie one ahead of schedule because it’s apple-picking season and we just went to the orchard on Friday; I thought it more fitting to do it now. Which brings me to seque what we are currently doing.

Friday we went to Lynd’s Fruit Farm in Pataskala to pick some Golden Delicious apples. We also stopped by their roadside stand and purchased some Honeycrisp (wowza! Suddenly, I have a new favorite! Too bad their season is so short-lived…), apple cider, a couple gourds for the girls, and some baked goods. Yesterday, I took some of the honeycrisp and baked them into a pie. Well, I had accidentally cut up too many, and they were already seasoned; so, I threw what was left into the crockpot for a couple hours on high. While the pie cooled, I took the apples out of the crockpot and put them in my food processor. After the apples were ground up, I poured them back into the crock on low for another hour. I took a taste, and WOW! Here, I thought I was making applesauce, but it turns out that I made something so decadent, so wonderful–I don’t think I could do it again, but I could only hope! And not only that, but we each had a slice of the pie for dessert after a spaghetti dinner and oh. My. GOSH! That was the BEST apple pie I’ve ever tasted or made! I did make a sugar substitution–I used brown instead of white, and I added an extra tablespoon of flour. The crust was perfect, just the right amount of crispy flakiness, and practically melted in your mouth and it seemed like it was having fun doing so! Yeah, I loved that pie!

Well, I’m going to update some more tomorrow. My back hurts right now (it’s been a rough day), so I think I should head to bed. G’night!

How to Make a Family Book August 29, 2008

In my previous post, i mentioned making a Family Book or Album for our Family Study. i hope that should you choose to make one for your own family, that you’ll enjoy it as much as i hope we will. This is something that will not only be great for the kids to be able to recognize their family members, but also a great way to make a treasured family heirloom to pass down the line of family historians to keep adding to. It is meant to be an on-going project, or you can make a small permanent one for your child(ren).

What you’ll need:

• binder or loose-leaf scrapbook of any size larger than 8 1/2″ x 11″
• paper–we’re going to use archival quality so that our book will last a lot longer
• camera–we’ll be using our digital, and taking the memory card to a local store for quick developing
• photographs of those family members who are deceased, such as grandparents, etc., or even those who live far away that you don’t very often get to visit
• adhesives–make sure these are non-toxic and safe for the children to be around. In this case, rubber cement is NOT an option, as the fumes can be harmful to anyone. We’ll be using archival quality (acid-free) adhesive, perhaps a glue stick or even those permanent tabs found in scrapbook supplies.
• writing utensils–preferably acid-free. pencils, markers, crayons, gel pens, ball-point pens, etc. or, use a computer printer
• any other decorative implements if you choose.

What to do:

Each family member will have his or her own page spread, meaning once the book is opened, both the left and right sides of the open leaves will be for that individual. Take photographs of each of the members of your family. This can include not only the immediate members of the family (Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters), but also grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. If you have relatives who live states or countries away (for instance, we live in Ohio, my brother and his family are in Missouri), you can choose to contact them to help you and mail to them the supplies needed, or request printed photos and answers to a survey plus the next item I’m going to discuss. you can also include photographs of this person with your child(ren). For instance, we have photographs of dh’s grandmother with Munchkin when she was a baby, but then passed away the following year, just shy of M’s first birthday. I plan to include a photo of Grandma by herself, then smaller photographs of her with Munchkin.

if possible, ask each person to trace around one hand–perhaps their dominant hand (this is just for interest only. Some weirdos, like myself, enjoy knowing handedness. I’m a lefty, and it fascinates me to figure out who is a lefty and who’s not). This handprint can be mounted in the book as-is, or you can cut around it and mount it silhouette-style (i.e., white on black paper, black on white paper, etc.).

Ask each person to fill out a survey, if possible. if the person is a young child, too young to understand, ask the child’s parents about any applicable questions. Examples of great survey questions can be found on the internet or in most email in-boxes.

Ask each person to share a favorite event from their childhood. What would make this a true gem would be to have the person’s actual handwriting and place it in an envelope on the same page as their handprint. If the handwriting is difficult to read or if it’s written in cursive while your child only reads print, retype the story on the computer in the exact same way the person wrote it (grammar errors, spelling errors, etc.) and place the story in the same envelope.

At the beginning of your book, an idea to include would be a family tree. Choose whatever format you would like.

Don’t make this out to be a real elaborate project, for the children will be going through it and reading it over and over. They’ll be trying to match their hands to the handprints on the pages. If you would like something to last a bit longer and have the extra funds, scan each page in its actual size to the computer and reprint it for the kids to use, and save the original for posterity’s sake. Or take it to a printing place like Kinko’s and have it copied and bound, allowing the children to have the copied piece and have the original stored away. For obvious reasons, don’t let the children play with the original, as it won’t last very long. As family members pass, it will be a sweet reminder of them.