Parents choose wisely

I am not one who thinks bumper stickers or decals are funny, but today I saw one that was so “unintentional” it made me laugh.

Companies make decals for kids involved in sports. They put a picture of the sport, sometimes an initial of the school and the child’s name who participates in the sport. Then loving parents put them on their vehicles. That’s all well and good. UNLESS the initial of the school is an “F” and the child’s name is “Destiny”. So today I got to read a decal that basically said: “F Destiny”. Priceless.

So parents, when choosing your child’s name…choose wisely. BTW…the picture of the basketball on the decal was a lovely touch.

Sidewalk Chalk Painting

Need an easy thing to do with the kids? Don’t want to go out to get “craft supplies”? Then this projects for you! Sidewalk chalk paint is an easy thing to make with supplies you probably already have on hand.

Sidewalk chalk recipe:

¼ cup cornstarch

¼ cup water

Food coloring

Old paint brushes

Directions: Mix first 3 ingredients. Use brushes.

See? Easy. How much food coloring depends on you. We only used 6 drops per color and for the orange and purple mixed according to directions on food coloring box.

The paint goes on watery but dries just like regular chalk. Provides at least an hour (more if you double the recipe) of fun. And perhaps your child(ren) will declare the day “THE BEST EVER!!” too. Enjoy!!

Wake Up! We Need to Talk!

Have you ever been awaken at 1:30AM by a gut punch to the stomach and the whisper of: "Wake up! We need to talk!"? Yeah, me neither. Until last night. When I felt the punch I cringed. When I heard the whisper...I wanted to hide. I knew that voice but this time I heard the urgency. It made the punch all the more real. God had called me.

I racked my brain to tried and figure out why. But He knew I knew. He waited. I didn't move. That  had been the problem. In a time I should have. I didn't. I pray for many people in the morning, throughout the day and at night, but I hadn't prayed for someone who had been in, and is in, desperate need right now.  He needed me to wake up, not just physically in this case.

I've spoken about being convicted when I have fallen short before. Gimme a break, I'm a sinner, I fall short of His Grace daily. For this person He wants me to move. Even as Christians we sometimes turn a blind eye when the Deceiver stands right before us. We listen when anger or spite manifest in others. We call it being sympathetic. We nod but say nothing when someone is gossiping, being spiteful or hateful and we call that: "letting them vent". Not that they "can't" but we need to move and suggest prayer. And if they don't want to do that, we do it on their behalf. Otherwise in our own way we aid the Deceiver to continue the deception and worming deeper into another's life.

When I heard what God wanted me to do for the person He laid on my heart, my first reaction was: "But I..." Then the thought trailed off. It wasn't about me. It was about what He has called all of us to do. Unmask the deception and reveal The Truth. I always ask God to let me know when He needs me to be called. Guess what? He did. He does.

 None of us may have the "right words" for people who God lays in our paths but we do have The Answer. We need to let others know what it is. Otherwise we only further Satan's Kingdom and we don't glorify God's. Prayer is a wonderful and powerful thing but sometimes we are called to do more and act  more, so God can BE more.

Giving Thanks Where Thanks is Due

Matthew 21:16 They asked Jesus, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" "Yes," Jesus replied. "Haven't you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, 'You have taught children and infants to give you praise.'"

Last Friday my husband picked our children up from school. Since my sister's office is on their way back through town, he and the children dropped by to see her. According to my sister, there was a gentleman there who is not the easiest or most pleasant person. Yet, for some reason he decided to strike up a conversation with our middle child. *sigh* He looked at her as she stood next to her Daddy and asked, "Where did you get those pretty eyes?" Without a missed beat she replied, "God." The man looked at my husband, who was smiling, and asked, "Don't you think maybe Daddy or Mommy had something to do with it?" Firm in her conviction, she shook her head and said, "No. God did." The gentleman was speechless but perhaps he left that office with more to think about.

Thank you Dear Heavenly Father for my eyes to see You, my heart to hear You and my lips to continue to encourage and teach our children to share Your blessings for their creation with others. Sometimes the littlest voice can be the one that is heard in the darkness so that another may find the Light.

The Surprises That Await You!!

Our middle child decided for her birthday this year (well...next year as her birthday is right after Christmas) she wanted a Willy Wonka themed birthday. My mind saw:

Mmm...candy...where was I? Oh! Yes, back to this party theme. As moms or event planners know, the invitation sets your theme so I decided what better than a Golden Ticket! I surfed the internet in search of one I could copy and make my own. The ones made by others are either too expensive or BLAH!!

You'd think this would be an easy task right? It wasn't.  I searched days  for one I could "alter" to fit my purposes. Finally I just found a Golden Ticket whose basic shape was what I was looking for and...well, I am not going to go on about de-colorizing...blah, blah, blah. Let's just say...it took some time. ;)

So I decided, rather than hide how to do this, I am going to share how I did it, add a link to the images and you can save them so NO other Mom out there need to go through the complete frustration of buying or creating their own from scratch. You'll just have to right click and save the images.

Here is the link to pictures: http://photobucket.com/wonkainvitations

The blank "ticket" is what I used as the base. Then used Photoscape to add text (which I included in case you'd like to use similar wording). Finally printed out on "gold" shimmer paper that I found at Michael's Craft Store (4 sheets for $1). Despite the clerk's adamant exclamation that I could not print on that type of scrapbook paper...I did! :p And with my crappy little HP printer too, thank you very much!  My advice is: 1.Make sure you print one page at a time and remove each page to fully dry before printing another and 2. Make sure the tray on the print is open or don't get distracted by a 4 yr old. Yeah..I think just opening the tray is a safer option too. :) The ink will smear if not given proper drying time, which is only a couple hours but I waited 24 to be safe.

Good luck and let me know if you used this and how it worked out for you!

So easy a monkey could do it...

No offense to monkeys of course. This is an UBER easy project. The idea came while flipping through some magazines and trying to find a new hanging for the front door that would cover both Fall and Halloween. Here it is:

Materials: 1 small grapevine wreath ($2 Pat Catan's)

2 stems of berry beads ($2 JoAnn Fabrics)

1 stem of fall leaves ($1 at Dollar Store)

1 pkg of 2" bells ($2.10 at Pat Catan's)

thin green wire (on hand)

orange spray paint (on hand)

Sharpie

sharp scissors

First I sprayed the bells orange like pumpkins and used a Sharpie to make faces once dry. Since the berry beads come in bunches and already on wire, I wired them individually around the stems on the wreath. I attached the pumpkins with thin green floral wire and then tucked the leaves into the wreath. Voile! No gluing. No sewing. All done! The best part is you can undo all the wires and re-use the wreath for other seasons using the same general idea. YEA!! Love being frugal :)

Jingling Jack-o-lanterns

In A World of My Own: Five Little Jack-o-lanterns

In A World of My Own: Five Little Jack-o-lanterns