Fun spring art!!

This adorable little art project is not original with me.

It was, indeed, a pinterest find.

But it looked like a winner to me, so my plan was to do this at our "Celebrate Spring" party.

I loved how easy it was for my little ones to do.

Let me just say though, not all soda bottles are created the same.

But don't just take my word for it.....

Pinterest fail.

So here's my tip-of-the-day.....

This project works best with Diet 7-up or Seven-up bottles.

The pattern on the bottom of the bottles is flat so the paint sticks to the entire

flower pattern on the bottom.

If you look at the bottom of Coca-Cola bottles (or Dr.Pepper or Sprite), you'll notice

that the points of the flower patterns are raised and will take the paint

and not the entire flower pattern.

We used the smallest size 6-pack bottle available,

and were extremely happy with the results!

Happy painting!!

Easter Weekend Recap

I won't lie.
I think I love Resurrection Sunday more than Christmas anymore.
Not that the Christmas season is not meaningful and bursting with Scriptural teachable moments,
but that what we're celebrating (the resurrection of Jesus Christ from death and the grave) is the pivotal doctrine on which all of Christianity is based!
His resurrection is proof of all that He did and who He said He was and why He came to earth in the first place.
If He had not risen....then He would be a liar.
I am so profoundly overwhelmed with gratefulness that He defeated death, returned to Heaven, and is seated "at the right hand of the Father," interceding on our behalf.
That's reason to celebrate!
In reality, we should see the words like, "JOY," and "PEACE" at the Easter season!

Since January, my husband and I have been in rehearsals with our church choir for an Easter Cantata.
The weekend finally arrived, we felt prepared and confident, and I end up with a throat infection.
Could hardly talk, much less sing.
But with the Lord's help (and a good microphone!) I was able to perform a monologue as the Samaritan Woman.
My husband performed as Peter.
He was also able to sing along with our choir, though I was not.

Worth Baptist Church: Easter Cantata

(My part starts right around the 20:00 minute mark.

My husband's part is right around the 30:00 minute mark.)



Easter morning we woke to dark overcast skies which added to the ambiance of a "quiet" breakfast
by candlelight reading the scriptures about the women who went to Christ's tomb early in the morning.

(I was only mildly disappointed that the grass seed we planted on our Easter Lenten Garden

refused to grow.)

I hid our "Resurrection Eggs" around the house and after the children scurried to find them all,

they received one of these.

If your not familiar with "Resurrection Eggs" you can find information about them here.

They are one of my very favorite object lessons to teach children the details of the death and resurrection of

Jesus.

 Family pictures followed!

Later that afternoon, we had lunch at friend's home.

We capped off our day of celebration with the final performance of our Easter Cantata,
"Calvary's Love."

I hope you all celebrated with those you love the greatest expression of Love the world has ever seen!

This....lovely "Easter Garden".......perfect weekend activity

This is our version of this lovely "Easter Garden" that I have been admiring

for the last couple years on the internet.

I love that my children can be involved collecting the items needed for this project,

can help planting the seeds, and the wonderful visual that it is in reminding us

of the great sacrifice that Christ made for us that we remember at this time of year!

For some wonderful tutorials on this project:

An Easter Family Grace Garden

Hill of Calvary

Easter Garden

Mini-Resurrection Garden

Make an Easter Garden

For some wonderful add - ons:

Watercolor Butterflies {Free Printable}

Winged Wonders

Celebrate Spring 2013!!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year......"

Wait.

Wrong season.

But it really IS the most wonderful time of year.

Last year, I started something that I liked so very much that I decided to revisit it again this year.

And that is to separate out our celebration of the spring season from Resurrection Sunday.

As I've grown older, I've come to more fully appreciate what my Savior did for me and the rest of mankind on the cross of Calvary, and ultimately His display of power over sin and death by His resurrection from the grave!!

I still can't dilute the meaning of that event with chocolate bunnies, duckies, and Easter eggs.

I wrote more about that and described last year's spring celebration here.

This year the first day of spring rolled around on a Wednesday that my husband had off, so that was the perfect opportunity for me to take advantage of his help as well as to make it a "Family Day."

**Warning:  Lots of pictures ahead**

Instructions for the sweet little bird nests above can be found here.

We went to a brand new park this year, but it was so breezy I had to 

change some plans around.  I couldn't set up everything like I had envisioned,

and we ended up doing our crafts back at home.

But we were able to do an egg hunt.....

The children all enjoyed exploring this new pond area,

and we were excited to see many turtles playing hide-and-seek with us!

Once we got back home,

we were able to make some spring art for our fireplace mantle.

More on this later.

For several years, I've been reading about this wonderful "Lenten Garden"

and we finally put one together in preparation for our Resurrection Sunday celebration

in about a week!

More on this later as well!

P.S.  Yes, I'm aware that the stone rolled in front of the grave was not in three parts.

But my children found these and put them this way while we are still looking for one large stone

to replace them!!  Watch the grass grow with us!

Abby's birthday celebration

Hoo boy!!
What craziness has been these last 7 days!!
Last week was spring break for all the schools in our area,
and our two oldest girls had been invited to go on vacation with friends to Hot Springs, AR.
Right smack in the middle of that week, our house got hit with a swift moving stomach virus.
It started Wednesday with our youngest son.
On Thursday evening, I got a call from my friend in Arkansas who had my two girls to let me know that Ashlyn, my Type 1 Diabetic, was throwing up.  She eventually ended up in the ER before it was all over, but that is another story to come.
I ended up staying up till 2 in the morning that Thursday evening to make sure Ashlyn was fine and my friend had all the information she needed to get her discharged.
By the time Friday evening rolled around, I was exhausted because that had been my grocery shopping day, I was planning for Abby's birthday the next day, my two oldest got home that afternoon and I was pretty emotional, and I was already running on limited sleep.
I was so looking forward to a full night's sleep when our oldest son woke me up at 3 am to tell me he was going to throw up.
Which he did.
Twice an hour for the next four hours.
I never was able to go back to sleep, so I just started my day at about 6 am.
Saturday, the 16th, was our 3rd daughter's birthday, and several times she had reminded me that she wanted "donut store donuts" for her breakfast.
So I just made an early run for donuts.
I had so wanted to do some fun things for her on that day, but with a sick child needing my comfort, two exhausted ones recovering from a long trip, and other pre-scheduled activities that day, we just hung around the house.
I wish it could've been a little different day for her, but it was what it was.

This free scrapbook customized with Smilebox

No fruit today

Some days are so long, and so full of up hill battles in my little house full of children.

Some days I really feel like we make no headway at all,

that there is no progress, no growth or positive change in any way.

There are some days when I feel like I am wasting some of the talents the Lord

has given to me, to spend day after day after day training and working with little to no fruit

to show for it.

It can be so discouraging.

So the other day when I came back to these Scripture verses that I hadn't read in a hundred years, it was so refreshing and uplifting:

"Although the fig tree shall not blossom,

neither shall fruit be in the vines;

the labor of the olive shall fail,

and the fields shall yield no meat;

the flock shall be cut off from the fold,

and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my strength,

and he will make my feet like hinds' feet,

and he will make me to walk upon mine high places."

Habakkuk 3: 17-19

On days that are particularly stressful and full of yelling, belligerent children,

schoolwork that is not getting finished,

4000 pounds of laundry,

dishes up to my elbows,

and rain outside that keeps the children trapped indoors,

I always forget that the Lord is still at work.

What I see in my house is like a dormant tree in the winter.

Just because it looks "dead" doesn't mean that there is not life happening

on the inside that needs nourishment to produce the flowers

of spring and fruit of harvest.

The Lord has promised that there will be another season coming.

There will be flowers and a time of enjoying

the fruit of my labor.

In the meantime, I am commanded to.......rejoice.

How hard that is sometimes.

Apparently, my family is an anomaly in our church because of our size.

(I find it especially interesting that this is a fact in a CHURCH no less!!)

When we walk in together people have a comment on the number of children we have,

or how one child in particular is behaving at the moment,

or that they "don't know how we do it,"

or they smile as if offering some source of empathy.

A dear, sweet, precious older lady came up to me a while back,

and mentioned something to me about all our children,

and that she had written a poem

when she was in a season of caring for several young grandchildren.

She wanted to give me a copy of the poem,

and I share it with you here.

It follows up my previous thoughts quite well.

Scattered Toys

by Barbara Harvey

3/15/2000

Thank you Lord for scattered toys

around my living room.

They tell of little girls and boys

whose joy dispel the gloom.

I know of other folks my age

whose home are neat and clean?

They'd trade their empty lonely cage

and table tops that gleam,

for just one little dirty face

on one sweet little child,

to scatter toys around their place,

to laugh and cry and smile.

Sometimes I get discouraged, Lord,

with all the work to do.

The jobs that just can't be ignored,

and then I think of you.

Do you get tired of all my mess,

and my complaints and gripes?

Yet you clean me up when I confess

and make my black heart white.

Please give me, Lord, the patience

to face each day with joy,

and clean up all the messes

as I love each girl and boy.


**Reposted from the archives**

Women's Wellness Wednesday: Making my own coconut oil skincare and spa products

I'm pretty sure I have a new obsession.
It's coconut oil.

Have you heard about all the amazing things this oil is great for?
If not......check these out:

10 Uses for Coconut Oil You Haven't Tried

101 Uses for Coconut Oil

(and not to be out-done!)

333 Uses for Coconut Oil

I personally have been experimenting with different uses and these are some of my favorite homemade skincare/spa products:

Homemade Deodorant

(I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this.  I store it in the frig, and pop it out of this little container as needed)

Homemade Body Butter

(Just tried it for the first time today.  More reviews on this later.)

Homemade Coconut Sugar Scrub

(I gave this as Christmas gifts this last year.  A little goes a long way, so I haven't made another batch since then.  But when I do I plan on putting my organic cane sugar crystals in the food processor to make them a little finer.  What I have now is so coarse it almost hurts.  Makes your skin silky smooth though!!)