Craft-full weekend

Friday my creative husband found an old unused stainless steel table and re-purposed it for a bench for our sons desk. The kids love it because it looks cool and has wheels. I love it because I don't have to drag a chair from another room to sit beside them to help with homework - there's room for two!

Saturday we (the boys helped) made a wreath. I didn't have a wreath form so we used an old towel folded in half lengthwise then half again then twist into a circle and tape ends together with duct tape. And the best part - it's free! Then we wrapped it in yarn and I cut out the flowers from felt and pinned them on with straight pins. Finally, I hot glued some old buttons in the centers of the flowers and hung it with ribbon. I liked this project because it is totally uncommitted. When I get tired of it the whole thing can be disassembled and reused for something else. The only thing hot glued together are the buttons and felt flowers. Cheap, easy, recyclable!

I also made another baby dress for my friend's baby.  I found black and pink fabric that I loved so I sewed a skirt onto the top part of a black onesie and made a belt out of white and black ribbon. 

Blessed to be Mom to Boys

I'm feeling very blessed to be mom to my two boys. Sometimes in the trenches of being a homemaker and mother I lose perspective and forget what a huge blessing it is to be able to be home with them all the time. The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy! Psalm 126:3

Weekend Sewing Projects

I love my husband. He not only went with me to the fabric store last weekend, he also played with the boys so I could sew in peace. How divine.

I just finished some baby projects for my best friend in GA, although I forgot to make pictures before I mailed them. Hopefully I'll get some photos of the baby with them once he's born. ;) So while the sewing machine was out I decided to give baby clothes a try. I'm mostly self taught in sewing and can do just about anything with straight lines. I've made blankets, quilts, burp cloths, pillows, curtains, toys, etc. but haven't ventured into clothing much. I found a pattern for a itty bitty baby dress and when I found this fabulous fall print fabric I had to give it a try for my friend's baby girl. I loved it so much I almost wanted to make one for a doll since I don't have a girl to dress up. It only took about 3 hours start to finish which I thought was pretty good for a newbie to sewing clothes like me.

Next, my darling husband picked out some fabric he liked and asked me to make him a pillow to take on work trips (kids camp, mission trips, various other children's ministry things). It is cool and fun and most importantly, washable! It is made like an envelope pillow sham so that it will stay on the pillow when getting tossed about. I had to make my own pattern for this one but it was fairly simple and only took about 45 minutes to sew together.

Homemade Pop Tart

We go through so much bread in a week with all the toast, peanut butter, and nutella sandwiches. So here's an idea for breakfast to mix things up a bit. It's like a homemade pop tart. Yes, it takes a little longer than a pop tart, but this one tastes good instead of like cardboard out of a plastic wrapper. And it's healthier with less sugar and preservatives than the boxed kind.

All it takes is some refrigerated pie crust dough and some jam.

I used my Cut N Seal cutter from Pampered Chef to make circles of the pie dough. Put about a teaspoon of the jam in the center. 

Top with another pie dough circle and press to seal. I recommend sealing it from both sides to make sure the jam stays on the inside while baking.

 Brush with a little bit of milk. Bake at 375* F for about 10 minutes until golden and flaky.

Yummy! You can also make these ahead of time and freeze them then bake as needed.

Why fear God's voice?

Our ladies group at church is currently studying Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted by Priscilla Shirer. So far this is a great study that really makes you look inward at your own loyalties. The idea is that interruptions are just insignificant people or tasks that distract you. However, when God speaks and gives you a significant task it is a Divine Intervention. Instinctively, Christians would automatically think, "yes, I would obey if God gave me a divine intervention." But when faced with an actual God sized challenge we often run away just like Jonah did.  Our running away may not involve chartering a ship in the opposite direction and ultimately getting swallowed by a fish, it may mean we just decided not to decide. Priscilla says, "most disobedience involves just that - a simple choice to stay put."

So why is it that so many people fear Divine Interruptions? Maybe because we fear God will ask us to do something like he asked of Jonah, go share with those people. That could be a whole lesson itself on why God calls us out of our comfort to increase our faith. Participating with God in a task that is so beyond yourself that only He could do it not only places the credit where it is due to God, but it also increases your trust in God. In your weakness, God is strong.

Pride keeps us from accepting Divine Interruptions because we are afraid to fail. We automatically think God is asking us to do the task He gives us on our own. If you are a child of God, you are never alone! The Spirit of the Lord is in you - always. He will equip you for any task He gives you.

Disbelief is another response that results in running away from God's work. We simply don't believe God can equip us for His service. We have so much guilt, anxiety, and self-doubt hanging over us that we fail to trust that God can still use us. Listen, God can use anybody! Throughout history God has changed the lives of people to dared to follow Him - Ester, the Jewish queen who saved her people; Mary, the virgin mother of Christ; Rahab, the prostitute who became part of the lineage of Christ because of her willingness to obey; Peter, the fisherman turned disciple; Billy Graham, son of dairy farmer turned evangelical preacher; and You!

Let's commit today to surrender our pride and arrogant disbelief and trust God and His plan for our life because He is who He is (Holy) and we are who we are (sinners). Trust that God had a plan for your life from before you were born {Jeremiah 1:5}. If you really want to make a mark on this world, "your eternal significance will be found in yielding to the divine intervention God sends your way" (P. Shirer).

"For we are His creation - created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10

Best Won Ton Recipe

 

Is chicken on your dinner menu for the third time this week? Are you thinking you’ve cooked chicken every way possible? Well, have you tried Won Tons? Make your own homemade version of Chinese take-out. You can even use leftovers and a few extra ingredients you probably already have on hand. We have been making these for a while and our family loves them. Seriously, even my picky kid eaters! Here’s our best won ton recipe. Keep in mind this is not baking, the measurements do not have to be exact. Experiment, taste, and make it the way you like best.

Our Best Won Tons:

1 package Egg Roll Wraps (in the produce dept. at grocery)

2 chicken breast, grilled, then chopped or shredded

6 strips bacon

1 apple

1/4 cup raisins

2 Tbs parsley

1 baby Bella mushroom

2 Tbs. Soy sauce

1 clove garlic

1 Tbs onion

Cook the bacon in a skillet on stovetop until crispy. Remove bacon to cutting board and chop finely. Cook chicken in same pan as bacon seasoning to taste with salt, pepper, garlic, soy sauce. Mix finely chopped bacon, apple, raisins, parsley, mushroom, with the soy sauce and cooked chicken. Put about 1 Tbs of the chicken mixture into the center of the egg roll wrap. Wet two sides of the wrap with water using your finger. Fold the wrap into a triangle making sure to get any air bubbles out then fold over the corners like an envelope. Fry each little package of deliciousness in a skillet with just enough canola oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook on both sides until golden and crispy. Remove to plate covered in paper towels to drain. Serve warm.

Homeschool Lessons - Week 2

Things are going much easier this week now that our stuff is organized and we have a designated place to play school. I say "play" school because I do not consider myself a trained teacher and what I'm doing teaching my one child preschool doesn't even compare in my mind to what the hundreds of awesome home school parents that teach multiple children birth through high school are doing. However, EVERYTHING I do matters to God according to His word. So every little thing I do should be done as unto the Lord.

Lessons I've learned this week:

• If you're giving it your best effort, you will likely spend way more time preparing the lessons than your child will actually spend doing them.
• There is literally TONS of good preschool material available...and you don't have time to do it all! Pick and choose what works best for your individual child and how they enjoy learning.
• The goal of 3 year old preschool should be to teach kids to love to learn as much as it is to learn the ABC's and 123's. So make it fun!

Products that have helped us:
(I do not get paid to review any toys or materials, this is just my humble opinion offered to help anyone in the same life phase as me.)

• In the 3rd picture above you can see my child using the Crayola® Dry-Erase Activity Center which is awesome because it saves you from having to laminate all the great activities you want to be able to re-use. You just slip in any letter size page and let them draw away with dry erase markers. It comes with 4 markers, an eraser, and several activity pages including alphabet tracing and handwriting practice lines. 
• In the first two pictures we are using wooden color cubes purchased in the craft section at Hobby Lobby for less than $2. We used them for counting, graphing, sorting, color recognition, and building. So many uses and my son loves to learn by doing so these are so fun for his little hands to use.