A fun step stool project

I bought this unfinished wood step stool at Michaels for next to nothing and had fun painting it and Modge-Podging a verse on it by cutting the letters out of a magazine. The girls had fun cutting out letters too! You can buy Modge-Podge at WalMart or Michaels and paint it on with a sponge brush. I did some plates like this at Christmas time that came out cute too. I cut out letters to spell "Tis the Season" in the center of the plate and then all sorts of words for around the rim like "Fun", "Family", "love", "cooking and sharing", "parties", ...etc.

1 Timothy 4:12 (New International Version)

¹²Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young

Our Family Prayer Jar

Colossians 4:2

²Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

My friend Jonda told me that her family had a "prayer jar" where they keep all the prayer requests they are aware of and they draw them out daily for prayer time. I loved the idea! So, at Christmas-time when I got "crafty" with the modge-podge for some other homemade gifts I made, I decided to make one for our family out of a leftover Miracle Whip jar! No one can say I'm not GREEN now! :) I used wrapping paper and modge podge to cover the jar, then just cut out magazine letters for the top, and finished it off with some ribbon! Not the most beautiful craft I've done, but one of my favorites when it comes to it's use! We use it at every meal. Carley (our youngest) prays at breakfast, Paige prays for lunch, and Morgan prays at dinner. They each get to draw out a prayer when it is their turn. I guess when Evan comes home we'll have to incorporate an afternoon snack!

Here's what I've found:

• The girls get SO excited about drawing--it's like winning the lottery!
• In turn, they are SO excited about prayer!
• They are learning to think of others needs and pray for these things at other times throughout the day as well.
• They are actively listening for peoples prayer requests so they can add them to our jar.
• Our family can "see" God working in these situations! As the prayers are answered we are putting them into an ANSWERED PRAYER envelope which I am planning to convert to some kind of foam board for Praise to the Lord!
• This opens up lots of good conversations about how God might choose to answer these prayers and we talk a lot about our motto "be a family of ACTION" to say "how might God want to use US to answer this prayer?". Instead of just praying for them, let's think about how we can be part of the answer!
• We no longer forget about the important needs of our friends and family.
• We are learning to be persistent in prayer

  
  

Cut down on your laundry in a "crafty" way...

My super-crafty friend Danielle gave me this idea for the kids bathroom. She hung hooks for her kids towels and painted them canvas' as well. I decided to try a "water theme" for mine. I found ideas I liked on the internet and tried my best to "copycat" since I don't have any natural art talent. I love the way they turned out though! The black sharpie at the end really helps correct any mistakes! Now the kids have no excuse for not using their bath towels more than once! Every little bit helps--right? :)

Another fun project...

One of our other favorites this Christmas was the cards I had made out of family photos. The girls love to play "Go Fish" and "Concentration" so I had doubles made of photos of friends, family and important events so they could "match" them. I designed a back for the cards and took them to Office Max to be laminated. It's a little pricey but the kids think it is great to ask "do you have Ma Maw?" or "do you have Morgan's 9th Birthday Party?" It is a great way to familiarize the kids with people who are important to you but you don't get to see very often. I know my girls will feel more comfortable around these special people after looking at the pictures and "playing" with them every day! It has also been good to talk about who is married to who and quiz the girls on "who is her Mommy/Daddy/Brother/Sister?"...etc. So make sure you have your camera handy and start snapping some individual shots of your peeps!

Our Puzzle Project

I bought this puzzle the end of November as a way to keep the family busy while we wait. It is a farm scene called "Daddy's Little Helper" that will go with Evan's "Barn Dance" theme room. I thought I would modge podge it and frame it on the wall. Well, my resolve didn't last long on this project and neither did the girls! Who knew how many pieces 1,000 was??? The most memorable moment was when Rus spent an hour putting the tractor together only to find Carley hovered over it later saying "Daddy look how much I helped!" (she had taken it completely apart and even seperated the pieces!!) Anyway, Rusty stuck with it to the end only to find one piece missing! This really isn't terribly surprising considering Carley's "help" and all the other chaos in the house. He was so disappointed until our good friend pointed out the clear significance. Our family is missing a piece right now as well. He suggested we actually highlight the missing piece by painting under it a bright yellow or orange and continue with the plan to frame and hang it along with a note that explains that our family is incomplete until Evan comes home. So cool.