coffee

New Beginnings and God's reminder

It's been a while, so long that blogger has changed a lot lol, and I'm going to have to spend some time digging around figuring things out.  So long that I've started a new online business, we started homeschooling our children and we've added another darling baby to our family. So long that Ari is walking....yes!  walking!  

I forgot how nice it is to have a place where I can come and just write.  To write my words and thoughts and what God shares with me.  I have been lacking lately in my spiritual walk, and it's no ones fault but my own.  Caught up in so many unimportant things as well as just the craziness of life with littles.  It's so easy to put off time with God, or just say well, my time praying while I drive is good enough, not making it a point to spend time in his word or communicating with him other than when it's convenient for me.  hmmm.  yeah, that hasn't been working too well for me lately.  Makes me short tempered, impatient and sort of screamy.....not good when you have 6 littles under 12, a business to run, house to care for and hubby.... oh the poor hubby

so, yesterday, I got out a new coffee cup that I bought myself this week and made myself some coffee and dug out my trusty bible and turned to Philippians.  I had just made my munchkins their eggs for breakfast before we started homeschooling for the day and Ela, our 3 month old, was still sleeping.  I went out back after telling the kids I needed a few minutes and imploring the bigs to be nice to the litles etc, and prayed that God would show me what He had for me.  I had had one of "those" mornings with my babies where nothing was going right and I was having anxiety about the busy weekend we had planned.  I opened my eyes and found the wind had turned my pages to Ephesians 6....so I started reading....10-20 seemed especially fitting for the day, and really just the time in my life lately and I got one of those silly grins on my face....one of those where you know God has you pegged and is ready to roll when you are.  5 minutes is all I had before Ela woke and needed to eat and the kids needed me, but 5 minutes was all it took for God to adjust my perspective to where it needed to be and give me the reminder that He is there waiting for me to jump back into the game so to speak.  To help me not be screamy and trying to control every moment of my life, to not be quite as nervous with the unknown and things I can't change and the reminder to take joy in the little things.  It's amazing how quickly I can forget that part....

Ephesians 6:10-20

New International Version (NIV)

The Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. ¹⁹ Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

Wonderings

I woke feeling that artistic pull mixed with the urge to delve into things I haven't made time for much lately...  it doesn't quite mesh well with the needs of my kiddo's and what we have planned for the day though.  I know God made me just the way I am with the pull towards playing in clay and painting and creating and wandering, but sometimes it's hard to not be selfish. 

My melancholy mood today tends toward the selfish while God asks me to find ways to nourish that part while caring for the blessings he's given me in my children and my husband. 

To be patient and wait for him, to know that He knows the yearning of my heart and soul and knows what is best.  To rest in Him.

That maybe what I need isn't to hole up somewhere and indulge my feeling of wanting to be alone as it may leave me hungry and empty still.  Maybe I need to bring out the messy stuff and create alongside my kiddos, or sing and the top of my lungs in the car driving to Him that created me.  Perhaps it's moving and talking with other people, getting to know them on a more personal basis, admiring the work He did in creating them and all their nuances. 

Taking a moment to slow down and truly appreciate what someone is saying to me instead of thinking about what I could be doing if I just had some "me" time. 

We made it to church this morning, late, but still.  One of the points was that "me" time is over-rated...your soul and mind are fed more by doing something for someone else, reaching outside of your comfort zone to touch someone's life, sacrificing for someone that you may not even know, taking the focus off of yourself.  I have to agree. 

There is a time and place for quiet communion, for enjoying the gifts He has given you, but you must dig deep to see what the motivation is.....

Fun and Funky Placemats for Every Day

So, I'm apologizing for not getting this done and up last week like I promised, but I've been under the weather and life goes on anyway.  But, here we go.  

You'll need whatever size of cardstock you'd like for the backround (I've found that it makes a heavier duty placemat, although you could just use construction paper too.  You could use a larger size for larger mat, my kiddo's are still small, so we just used standard size.), contact paper (I found a roll where the width is just a bit longer than a sheet of paper/cardstock at Walmart for about 5 bucks), and markers/crayons/tissue paper/glue/paint....really whatever sort of medium you want to play with (well, maybe not playdough.....just stuff that will lay flat, unless you're not planning on using your piece of art as a placemat, lol), oh and a pair of scissors.

 

Let the munchkins go to town decorating their papers how ever they'd like.

and, yes, my 2 year old can't draw hearts and flowers yet, she had some mommy help.

 Rue decided she wanted a "hodge podge" of things, while the boy was drawing where all of his

meal things should go....he even went as far as to get the fork and butter knife out

to make sure he "drew" them the right way.

Rue wanted to add some tissue paper, so we spread a bit of glue and she put a thin layer

of tissue squares on top.

 

Now we're ready for the contact paper

Peel the corner of the paper off of the contact paper and then just one side and lay the contact paper over the top of your creation, and gently press down, smoothing any bubbles out as you go.

I did find out that if you start in the center and smooth outward then the bubbles go away much

better, but the boy wanted to help, so we just went with it.

Then flip and repeat.   

 

Then cut around the edges with your scissors to make a seal so that water and mess

can't get in to ruin your design (and the contact paper makes for easy clean up)

Ta da!  You're finished, and have some cool lookin' mats to protect your table from

food mess, and they're so inexpensive and fun to make you 

could make one for every meal, lol.

  

Thanks for stopping by and hanging out with me for a bit, I hope that you and your kids will have

tons of fun making some place mats that you both will love.

If you want, leave me a link in the comments section, so I can see your 

artsy mats in action.

Kaleidoscope colors in the midst of the Snow

I've been meaning to share some fun things to do with the munchkins in your life for a while now, but just now remembered to take some pics to go along with the words.  Here's how to make beautiful tissue paper flowers that your munchkins will have tons of fun doing.

These are great for kids around age 5, prolly depending on the child.....my 5 year old son had a bit of difficulty with the stem wrapping part, but loved picking out the colors for his flower.

So, the supplies are relatively simple, you need tissue paper in many colors, and some pipe cleaners in green shades (or at least this is what my oldest insists on, really you can go as colorful as you'd like.) and some imagination.

Next, unfold the tissue paper and lay all the pieces on top of one another, and then cut strips about 4-5 inches wide (across the width, not the longest side.) and then cut those strips into 3 pieces.

Pick out at least 4 "squares" of different colors, but you can do as many as 10 or so.  Then lay all the "squares" on top of each other.

Next fold the stack like an accordion....

 

Then, take your pipe cleaner and fold the top 1-2 inches over the fold you just made in the tissue paper stack, and then twist the pipe cleaner together so it's now "holding" the tissue paper.... 

 

So, the pic up there is not behaving and going to the center....but oh well....Next you gently pull the innermost layer of tissue paper upwards out of the "accordion"and do that again on the other side.....then keep alternating sides until there's no more layers left.

 

That's it you're done, although my oldest insists that you must have a ribbon to tie you bouquet together with...

 

In the next few days, I'll post on how to make an awesome colorful display for your window....or rather something your munchkins will love to do that will brighten up the gray dreary drab feeling of winter....

Dad Dollars Endeaver

     So, I had found this idea in a family fun magazine a while ago, but then proceeded to misplace the magazine and I couldn't remember the web address to go to to print these "dad dollars" out.  Anyway, I googled it and found My blessed Home's Family Blog, and found the link, which is awesome.  I had all these idea's, but then ran out of oomph for a bit after I got them printed out.....maybe I would say I got sidetracked by the other things going on in our daily life.   Anyway, I finally got around to cutting them out and making the list of what my kids could do to earn them, and what "prizes" they could turn them in for.  Yesterday.
 
     So, we've been having trouble with my 5 year-old son sometimes in preschool.  This is his first year going to "school", and most of the time he's great, but occasionally he does something....like poke a hole in the Styrofoam bowl and not tell the teacher before she pours his soup in.  He's all boy, and I think has a bit of trouble harnessing all that energy.  So, yesterday, I told him that he would get a dad dollar every day if he had a good day at school.  Today, I went to pick him up, and he had a big smile, and said,"Hi mom, I did good, so I can have my dad dollar, right?"  How cool is that?  Time will tell whether or not  the desired effect will last.  What I am most excited about is that the "prizes" are things like an extra 1/2 hour of video game time, movie night, staying up a 1/2 hour late, and of course a few things like small candy, or some silly string I picked up for a dollar.  So, the out of pocket cost is very minimal for the parents, which is an awesome thing!

     I am so hoping that this will reinforce some of the daily habits we're trying to get into the habit of doing, as well as lessening the chaos that tends to happen when you try to get four kids together before school, when 2 of them are completely capable of doing it themselves.  Also, one of my stipulations is that the "job" gets done the right way, without the throwing of fits, which for some reason a few of my children think will work in getting them something.  So, only one day in, and doing pretty well, I think.

A Most Interesting Day

I’m pondering how many other mom’s have done what I did at lunch today. I picked up my 4 and 2 year-olds from preschool, and decided we’d make a run through the drive through at steak n shake. I asked my 4 year old son what he wanted, and he asked if we could go in, as that’s a big treat for them, and his birthday is tomorrow…..I had to feed our 9 month old, so I thought sure, why not. So, we parked and in we went. Lunch itself went pretty well. It was the paying at the register that was a little rocky…..I handed the cashier my card, and she swiped…..and it was declined. Ugh, I had totally forgotten our ordeal last week that involved someone out in Cali using our card number to the tune of 150 dollars, and therefore we put a stop on our card. I’ve been really good at remembering this fact, until today at the restaurant when it was just me and three kids, and only 10 dollars in my purse. So, embarrassed, I ask if I can run to the bank, and bring her the other 5 dollars. She thinks for a moment and whispers “okay”. Off we race to the bank, and back……20 minutes go by, and when I rush back in to the restaurant, there’s another woman at the register, and she can’t find my check in the computer. I think shift change was going on, although at 1:00 in the afternoon would be a strange time for that, who am I to say. So, she says she can’t find it, but I hand her the money anyways. What a day……and I still have to go to the store for birthday salad items, as my boy wants salad with chicken on it for birthday dinner tomorrow….who woulda thunk it. We also have to go shopping for a pattern and material for Halloween costumes, and after I get them to bed some wrapping of birthday surprises must be done. I need some liquid energy I think…..