{Curb Alert!} What I Thought Was A Baby Toy

Last week I was driving up the hill to my in-laws' house when I saw a big toy for an older baby or young toddler at the end of someone's driveway. You know, the kind of stuff I got rid of because I was so sure we were done after two kids. Of course I quickly pulled over to take a look at this beastly toy that I have no room for in my house. It needed a little cleaning but was in good shape and in working order. Into the van it went. And of course the kids started up with 20 questions. "Is that for us?!" "Why are we taking that?" "You mean we get to play with that!?"

Disregard the FILTHY fingerprints on my back door from kids who love to play in the mud and make frequent trips in and out.

Did I mention I was heading up to my in-laws' house to drop the kids off so I could sit in the car dealership waiting area alone while waiting for work to be done on the car? Well of course the kids wanted to play with the baby's their new toy right away. So I left the toy with the kids and my M-I-L actually cleaned it up for them. She's the best. Afterwards though, it came back home with us. (Hey, I tried.) :)

Why is it that older siblings are fascinated with baby toys? My six year old had more fun for days, crawling through the door, pushing the buttons, and singing and dancing to its songs. It was also her idea to turn it into a puppet theater.

A couple years ago, my parents got a nice family of puppets for my daughter for her birthday. Around the same time, my friend Naomi made a bunch of adorable sock puppets (with yarn hair and ping-pong ball eyes) for the girls for Christmas. They've always loved playing with these puppets but have never had an official theater. Sometimes cardboard boxes suffice until I break them down for recycling. Here is a videos taken a couple months ago where you can see combination of items used to create a make-shift puppet theater.

Well, the other day, they ended up blocking off a corner of the living room with this new baby toy and were taking turns doing puppet shows for each other. Hubby and I got called in to watch.

And for fairness, gotta include at least one of her sister's shows:

I'm kicking myself for not grabbing the video camera for the first show put on by my oldest. It started off with the man walking back from the grocery store (don't ask me where she concocted that idea from!) and the woman walking back from "the beauty store." As they met on the sidewalk, they began kissing. Big, open-mouthed puppet kissing, (with the six year old giggling in the background). "Then they walked back to his house. He laid down on his bed and the lady laid in the groom's chair." So apparently somewhere between meeting on the street and making it back to his place they got married? ;)  "Then, all of a sudden, she felt a little lump growing in her belly!" This is where hubby and I began trying not to pee ourselves in laughter. Hey, as far as a six year old is concerned, they are all immaculate conceptions! :)  "Sure enough, she was going to have a baby! Then... she pooped out the baby!" At this point I was in tears of laughter. The puppet family continued to grow with the now mom feeling another lump growing in her belly, which she preceeded to pee out the second time around. And then the whole happy family had a big hugging and kissing session. "The End!"

I hope you enjoyed that insightful peek at how a six year old views the creation of a family. And all because I picked up this free "baby" toy on the side of the road.

GOD IS...(8)

Oh boy, this is almost a week late getting published. That's why I'm never going to promise how much or how often I'll post. I said I'd try to get an edition of GOD IS out weekly but apparently I'm too busy for even that! So this post is really from last week's reading.

In GOD IS #7, I said I intended to start reading Psalms and Proverbs over the summer. I almost forgot how much I love reading Psalms. If you are at a point where you'd like to start reading the Bible or reading it more, these are great books to start. They are easy to understand and are relevant to everyone.

So I did start Psalms but never did start Proverbs. But before I get right into it, I have one little clarification, in case its not obvious. For verses that are in all quotes, I'm writing the entire thing word for word, usually out of the New International Version of the Bible. If I don't begin with quotation marks, then I'm paraphrasing, but trying to keep as much of the language exactly the same - just shortening it to get to the point about God. And if there are quotes in the middle its because I'm only quoting what someone said, and if it happens to be what God said, and then that's definitely word for word and not paraphrased.

Without further ado...

Psalm 2:1-6 The One enthroned in heaven laughs and scoffs at the nations that conspire, the peoples who plot in vain, the kings of the earth who take their stand and the rulers who gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. Then He rebukes them in anger and terrifies them in His wrath saying, "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill."

Psalm 3:8 "From the Lord comes deliverance."

Genesis 26:12-14 The Lord blessed Isaac by causing him to reap one hundred fold what he sowed, to become rich, and to have wealth that continued to grow.

Genesis 39:2-3 The Lord was with Joseph and caused him to prosper, to have success in all he did, and to find favor in his master's eyes.

Deuteronomy 16:15 The Lord blessed the people's harvest and the work of their hands and gave them complete joy when they celebrated the Feast that the Lord commanded them to.

Job 1:8-10 "Then the Lord said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears [respects/reveres] God and shuns evil.' 'Does Job fear God for nothing?' Satan replied. 'Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.' "

Psalm 29:11 "The Lord gives strength to His people, the Lord blesses His people with peace."

Acts 4:24 The Sovereign Lord has made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea and everything in them.

Ezekiel 34:26-27 "I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land.  They will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them."

Psalm 3:3 The Lord is a shield around you; He bestows glory on you and lifts up your head.

Psalm 3:4 When you cry aloud to the Lord, He answers you from His holy hill.

Genesis 1:1-10 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light 'day,' and the darkness He called 'night.' And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day. And God said, 'Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.' So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse 'sky.' And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day. And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.' And it was so. God called the dry ground 'land,' and the gathered waters He called 'seas.' And God saw that it was good."

Psalm 4:1 God is righteous.

Psalm 4:3 "Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself; the Lord will hear when I call to Him."

Psalm 4:6-8 The light of the Lord's face can shine upon you. He can fill your heart with greater joy than when new grain and wine abound. When you lie down and sleep in peace, the Lord alone will make you dwell in safety.

Jeremiah 10:12-13 "But God made the earth by his power; He founded the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding. When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightening with the rain and brings out the wind from His storehouses."

Psalm 33:6-7  "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars and puts the deep into storehouses."

Psalm 33:9-11 "For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord foils the plans of the nations; He thwarts the purposes of the peoples.  But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations."

Showers of Blessings

A couple days ago the kids and I did a rainy day activity from Focus on the Family that was too cute not to share. The timing was right since it has rained every day this week.

I cut out a bunch of big rain drops from blue colored construction paper the night before while they were in bed and set a pile at each of their spots at the table, along with the markers.

When they woke up that morning, we started off by reading from Ezekiel 34:26, "I will bless them and the places surrounding my hill. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing."

I told the girls to think of the different blessings from God in their own life and to write the word(s) and/or color a picture of them on each of the raindrops. As they finished each one, they could go and tape it up onto the window.

A week of rain can really get you down. It's dark. And cold. And wet. You just want to stay in bed. Or take a nap. And if you're home with kids you go stir crazy. But instead of getting down in the dumps, you can choose to think of all the ways God has showered you with blessings. Write them down, one at a time. Put them up somewhere so that when the sun does shine, and you actually want to look out the window, you see them. And you read them. And you remember how good God is to you.

I did happen to read the rest of that chapter which went on to give all the specific blessings that God promised to Israel through the prophet Ezekiel. "The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the ground will yield its crops; the people will be secure in their land.  They will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslaved them. They will no longer be plundered by the nations nor will wild animals devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will make them afraid. I will provide for them a land renowned for its crops, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Sovereign Lord. You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are people, and I am your God, declares the Sovereign Lord."  Ezekiel 34:27-31

God showers you with blessings of food, provision, security, freedom, safety, knowledge of Him, belief in His promises, and the care of a Shepherd.

A Life-Changing Pin

I've talked a little bit about Pinterest a few times. Like how I boycotted it at first because I was afraid I'd waste my time just browsing. And then how I cautiously started using it only to catalog sources I just had to keep because I seriously intended on doing or referring to them. And since then, I've used it to search for ideas on how to incorporate some of the treasures I find into my life and home. I'm very happy to say I haven't gotten sucked in and wasted my time just browsing Pinterest like I was afraid I would (wish I could say the same for Facebook).

Anyhoo...all that to say that I've put into action one of the few items I've Pinned and it really has been a life changer. I'm not kidding. A life changer. It was called The Perfectionist's Prayer Journal. First, here is the photo that I had Pinned which links to the source, The Good Old Days Farm blog:

If you click on the picture above and read the blogger's post that goes with it, you can see exactly what she did. I wanted to do something similar only not as a prayer journal - more of a prayer list. I have a prayer journal already, but when I use it (and for the past few years that has been seldomly), it is mostly specific to me and my relationship with God, interspersed with some prayers for my immediate family or others in my own little world.

Sort of like a diary, but in prayer form.

I do love going back and reading my old prayer journal entries (with the exception of being reminded of how sloppy my handwriting can be).

They are such a wonderful reminder of God's faithfulness to me. It's actually kind of funny to go back and read about the things that I've struggled with at different points in my life and to think how I've actually forgotten about them in many cases. I don't want to forget!   What's a "big deal" now can be forgotten in just a matter of a few years. So that's one of the appeals in actually journaling - go be able to go back and be reminded. I probably should start writing in my prayer journal more often again. These years while the kids are little are so precious and some of the details of our days should be written down. But enough on that little tangent.

Back to this Pin. I thought it would be the perfect solution to my problem of not praying for other people as much as I should. Its something I want to do more of and better but my problem has always been not knowing how to maintain an efficient current prayer list. Because without a list, I forget. That's just the way I am and I know it. That's why I rarely promise someone I will pray for them. If I do, I take it very seriously and try very hard not to forget. But if I do that with too many people at one time, I know someone is bound to fall of my mental list, and then I'd be breaking my promise to pray for them. So I just try not to commit to something I'm likely to fail at.

I figured this solution would give me a MUCH better success rate of actually praying for other people. Basically, it is just a bunch of index cards on a ring. This blogger found covers and dividers and broke her list down into categories. So I went about trying to do the same thing. I actually put "index cards" and "metal ring" on my WalMart shopping list and figured I'd worry about dividers later. Well - lo and behold - didn't I just find the perfect thing at WalMart. A mini 2-ring binder full of 3x5" index cards with 3 plastic dividers for under $5. I was thrilled and picked up a couple packs of hole-punched refill cards as well.

I put it into use immediately. And I am proud to say I am praying for people! Repeatedly! Almost daily! What's so great about it is that it is compact and portable, so it can be updated and used anywhere. Not like a list on the computer. That would involve constant updating at the computer and reprinting. And a piece of paper would get lost, at least around here. Then....I'd forget to pray for people because for me, out of sight is out of mind. But this bright, pink, chunky ring of index cards - it doesn't get lost in the shuffle. It can move around from my desk (where I read my email prayer chain from church and am most likely to add new prayers/cards) to the dining room table (where I pray out loud with the kids) to the couch or bed (where I pray silently alone). 
What's also great about the index cards on a ring is that when a prayer has been answered (problem resolved, sickness healed, etc) I can just remove that card from the stack. There is no list to cross off and look messy and no need to go update a computer file. OK, I will confess, the green side of me feels bad throwing away an index card that just had one person's name on. I do cross off and re-use the cards a little bit.

So I am honest in saying this Pin has changed my life. A simple, few-dollar notebook is a treasure of countless worth if its improving my prayer life. And as a result, because "the prayer of a righteous [wo]man is powerful and effective" (James 5:16), it is changing the lives of those I am praying for as well. Now, instead of shying away from committing to pray for other people, I am eager to know what I can pray for and can promise to do it.

How can I pray for you? Seriously. Please let me know. :)

My "New" Button Organizer

I know I said I wasn't going to be getting to many treasure-transforming projects these days but here is an exception, only because it is helping me to clean out and organize. (How's that for some justification?) For the past several months, I've been delving into a button bracelet making hobby. Okay...so I've only made a few. But I'd like to make lots more. I'll share more on those bracelets in a future post. For today, I'm talking button organization, using an old metal hardware organizer I scooped up out of the garage of an amazing estate sale a couple months ago.

It was a few bucks. And very blue. And dingy. And full of old hardware - most of which I passed along to a handyman friend, some of which I moved to my own toolbox.

I bought this with the intention of cleaning it up and making it into a button storage case. So I finally got around to it this week. First I took out all the drawers and dividers to wash.  It was my M-I-L who suggested I could just throw them into the dishwasher. That was too easy.

For the outside, I just washed it up with a damp rag. Then I spray painted it white because that's what color I happen to have on hand.  To keep the handle black, I just wrapped it up in masking tape before painting.

Then came the job of sorting buttons.  Most of my buttons were already generally sorted when I got this but they were in random plastic containers and ziplock bags. I had one big tub of buttons that I'd gotten from Christine's Buttons & Bracelets at Bernat Mill before she expanded and renamed her shop, Found Things. I'd already sorted out the best buttons and put my kids on the task of sorting out the rest. Sorting is a very important developmental skill you know. :)

That job was interesting to them for about 10 minutes, after which they began fighting over who was in charge of which color drawer and which pile was theirs, and then they started setting aside which buttons they wanted for their own bracelets. Aye. I have to hand it to them, they are great picker-uppers though.

With 36 drawers, I had the luxury of sorting my buttons into additional categories other than just color. Again, my daughters insisted on helping. Again, they spent more time setting aside the buttons they wanted to keep to make their own bracelets with.


Eventually I had to shoo them off so I could actually finish. Or at least finish that phase of sorting. The organizer came with a bunch of dividers that can slide into rivets in each drawer. So I could create up to 8 compartments within a drawer if I wanted to sub-sort. Which I may eventually. My inner organizing perfectionist loves that. For another day.

For now, I have most of the buttons sorted by color. For the colors I have the most of, like black, brown and white, they are also sorted by size and/or type. And I have several drawers still empty. Which means...you got it -  room to continue collecting buttons. :)

There are even drawers for the thread, needles, and elastic banding I use to make the bracelets.

Now I'm still undecided about labels. Anything that is well organized should have labels, right?. Lucky Good for me, this container actually came with mini labels in one of the drawers.

But I'm not sure I want to cover up half the drawer face with a label. I like seeing the colors. And my hubby had a good point - what if I want to change up what I put in each drawer - then it could be a pain to peel off the labels.

So, ta-da! My handy-dandy, clean and functional, button bracelet-making organizer. A portable hobby is a wonderful thing.

As I promised, I will share a post about the bracelets these buttons are transformed into before too long. I only started drafting that post....oh....maybe 6 months ago?

GOD IS...(7)

Before I get into anything Biblical or theological here, I just have to point out something kind of silly. I don't know why, but when I was drafting my second edition of "GOD IS..." I started using Roman numerals in the post title to keep a running tally of where I was at. I'm good with Roman numerals into the teens, but honestly, after that, it just requires too much thinking. I'm bound to make a mistake somewhere along the way. So before this gets out of hand, at week seven, I'm converting to standard numbers. :)

There, now with that out of the way, I have to say that my fears came true. Since my Bible study ended I've been slacking. I read a little here and there in my devotionals and with the kids but I haven't really sat down and read through several chapters or been consistent daily. Something is better than nothing, but my new goal is to read at least one chapter of both Psalms and Proverbs each day over the summer.

So even with what "little" I read since my sixth edition, there was still great treasure to rediscover about who God is...

Psalm 1:1 God blesses those who do not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

Psalm 1:6 "For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous but the way of the wicked will perish."

2 Chronicles 1:11-12 God said to Solomon, "Since this is your heart's desire and you have not asked for wealth, riches or honor, nor for death for your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, riches and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have."

Malachi 3:10 "Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things - and the things that are not - to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him.

1 Corinthians 1:30  It is because of God that we are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God - that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5 When the Spirit's power is demonstrated in someone's message and preaching, wise and persuasive words on not necessary, and the faith of those who respond will rest on God's power, not on men's wisdom.

Job 42:2 God can do all things. No plans of His can be thwarted.

Jeremiah 32:26-27 "Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 'I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything to hard for me?'"

Mark 10:27 "Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.'"

Romans 4:21 God has the power to do what He has promised.

Revelation 15:3-4 "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."

2 Corinthians 5:17 Christ causes anyone that is in Him to become a new creation. With Christ, the old has gone and the new has come!

Psalm 32:8 God will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; He will counsel you and watch over you.

{Curb Alert!} A Ladder

I mentioned earlier in the week that we are starting to check off honey-do projects to get our house in order to sell. The list really isn't that long, considering. It was in great shape when we moved in and I like to think we've improved it during our stay.

So over the holiday weekend, hubby did some cleaning of the exterior of the house. To reach up as high as he could, he took our six-foot wooden step ladder that had been resting up against the side of the shed since last fall (instead of inside the shed where it should have been).

Needless to say, hubby suffered a fall as the apparently rotting ladder fell from under him. A bruised shin was the worst of his injuries (that's not to say it didn't REALLY hurt). My first thought when he showed the broken ladder to me was, "how can I salvage what's left of this?" I went back to my gardening and, unbeknownst to me, hubby went off to break up the rest of the ladder by hand and dump it in the wood pile. I think he enjoyed taking out his anger on the ladder. Oh well, so much for salvaging it. His dad delivered a metal ladder later that day so he could continue working on the job.

Fast forward a couple days. I was out doing my weekly grocery run and I made a slight detour to a friend's house to drop some stuff off. On my way back out of her neighborhood my eagle eyes spied curbside treasure. What is this??? A six foot wooden stepladder?? What timing! I texted a picture to hubby right away.

So that's our free, trusty (hopefully) "new" ladder. Which I just happened to stumble across within days after ours died. This one will promptly go back into the shed. Just as soon as I get the shed cleaned out.

(Note to self...put cleaning out the shed on the official list.)