Cute, Non-Mushy Valentines

I hate the $2.00 boxes of Valentine's Day cards that begin lining the shelves the day after Christmas, it seems! They all have messages like Be mine, I love you, you are the wind beneath my wings. Yuck! Preschool and elementary kids do not love each other in the romantic sense and they certainly are not wind beneath anyone's wings! So, in my quest to find cute, non-mushy valentines, these are just a few that I've created for my kids! There are others on the web and Pinterest that I hope to use in the future..with a few little personal tweaks, of course!!

You're Sweet! (And, of course, I always have to put a Scripture reference)

I ordered double cherry suckers from Wright's Candy Shop.  I placed a sucker in a small, clear treat bag.  I cut of about 3/4 of the top of the bag to make it smaller. Then, I created a leaf shaped tag in Photoshop (but you could use Microsoft Word too!) and printed them on green cardstock. I cut the tags out and stapled to the bags. So easy!

Below is a picture of the tags. You can click on the picture, right click, choose save picture as. Then, go to your files, open the picture, and print. Print on green cardstock and have your daughter sign it!

Have a Ball! The Scripture reference was hand written on the back of his tag!

For these valentines, I ordered little bouncy balls from Oriental Trading. Again, I placed the balls in clear treat bags that were cut shorter, created tags in Photoshop, and then stapled the tags to the top of the bag!

Below is a picture of the tags. You can click on the picture, right click, choose save picture as. Then, go to your files, open the picture, and print. Print on cardstock and have your child sign it!

Happy Heart Day! Hannah really wanted to give bubbles on her Valentine's cards. However, I didn't like any of the cutesy little sayings that I kept finding. "Blowing you kisses" "You blow me away" No, these were not the non-mushy I was looking for! So, I just kept it simple! I found these precious Wedding Bubble Wands from Amazon.com. I created little Happy Heart Day tags and tied them on with twine!
Again, Scripture reference hand written on back. "Dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God. He who loves is born of God and knows God." ! John 4:7

I Am Nacho Valentine! When I saw this idea, I thought "I have to do this!" What kids wouldn't want to get a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos? The original idea said "For NACHO average valentine." I changed it to be even less mushy, and I think it is perfect for Ty!

Ty's Valentine box for his school party!!

2015 Valentines!

Message in a Bottle

For Hannah's I found these cute little bottles and printed valentine jokes on small pieces of paper. I rolled the jokes up and stuck them in the bottle. I then used washi tape to tape them to little name tags.

Football Valentines

I did not make Ty's Valentines this year. I found these cool football valentines that actually make into a game! 

God's Masterpieces

We live in a world that puts all the focus on outward appearance. We pay to make ourselves look beautiful--new clothes, jewelry, makeup, tanning, and more extreme measures like plastic surgery. And it's not just the rich and famous who get wrapped up in this culture. It's us Christian ladies too. While we're fretting over gaining a few pounds or finding a few more wrinkles, our little girls are watching us. They are learning from us to focus on looks and outward appearances. Too often we think that if we change the outside, we will be happy. In reality, it's our hearts that need to change. I Samuel 16:7 says "for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." Instead of teaching our daughters and granddaughters that what we look like is of utmost importance and what we should spend most of our time on, we should be delving into God's word, filling our hearts and minds with things above and teaching our little girls to do the same. Each day is a learning process and each day we have the choice of whether or not we will become more intimate with our Prince through pouring over His word and learning all we need to draw closer to Him.

Wanting to change our appearance is not a bad thing. Being overweight is unhealthy, hard on our bodies, and makes us less able to do God's work. So wanting to lose a few pounds is not the issue. The issue is feeling that changing our outward appearance will somehow make our life better. But, the truth is God loves us just the way we are, just the way He created us! We are His masterpiece, one of His expressions of beauty. He anticipated our arrival before the world was even created and chose us to be holy and blameless, because He has given us redemption through Christ's blood. (Ephesians 1: 4-7) He formed us and summoned us by name. He says we are His. (Isaiah 43:1) He created us in His own image (Genesis 1:27) We are each God's good creation, of infinite worth to the Heavenly Father, precious in His sight, and cleansed from unrighteousness. If anything shows us that we are one of God's masterpieces, it should be that Jesus became like us to save us. He gave Himself to redeem us from all wickedness and purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good.

Ask yourself: Who am I? What makes me, me? What makes me special and unique? What gives me value and worth?

The answer? I am God's masterpiece, fearfully and wonderfully knit together in my mother's womb, someone Jesus came for and died for.

You are so valuable to God that He would move heaven and earth just to get your heart. He never changes, even if you do.

Lessons from the Duck Woods

My husband is an avid duck hunter. I'm not even sure avid is the right word, maybe it should be obsessed duck hunter! He loves everything about it. Being out in the cold, standing in the freezing water, tromping through mud. He loves all of it. But, he says what really gets him excited is seeing a group of ducks circling high above the timber. Swirling and soaring, green heads glistening in the sunlight, faint quacking, and all of the sudden diving head first, wings flapping, right into his face. That's what he LOVES!? On one trip to the field, a few ducks began flying overhead. To the average eye, it looked as if they would just continue flying over to another field. But not to Brett. He said, "Get ready guys, these ducks are acting right." You see, he's spent time in the fields and woods. He's watched ducks and other great duck hunters. He's called ducks in and seen what makes them come in and what makes them continue on their journey. He knows exactly what sound to make, how loud or soft, how long or short. He knows because he's spent time studying and practicing.

To be a great Christian, one who brings lost souls to Christ, we must put the same time and passion into studying God's word and making sure that we have a relationship with Him. Psalm 119:105 says "Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Knowing God's word and listening for His voice gives us confidence to spread His word to others and the ability to take advantage of opportunities He places before us. Just as a duck hunter must carefully listen and pay attention to "how the ducks are acting" Christians must be aware that God is around us helping us. If Brett went into the woods for the first time, with no knowledge of how to hunt ducks, he probably would leave empty handed. As Christians, if we try to go out into the world without knowledge from God's word, we're probably not going to be able to reach any lost souls. 

Once we take the time to dive into God's word and learn from the Master, we will be like Paul and John in Acts 4:20, "for we cannot stop speaking of what we have seen and heard."

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

When someone makes something for you, it is really special. My mom is an awesome seamstress. She made dresses for me as a little girl for Easter and piano recitals and first days of school. I wore them but I didn't really appreciate them. Now that I have two little girls (and cannot even sew a button on) I realize how special that was for her to take her time and energy to make dresses for me-all while working, then cooking supper, running us here and there, washing our clothes--the list goes on and on as I now know! Using her ability to make dresses for me she showed me how much she loved me. And, now she still shows me that love by making dresses for Hannah and Lila. As special as it is to me that my mom makes things for me, how much more special should it be that God actually made ME and He made YOU.

Psalms 139:13-16 "For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them."

In these verses, we find out that God is a crafter too! We are the works of God's hands. We find this out right from the beginning, in the first chapter of Genesis. It only took the spoken word of God to create everything, well almost everything. Man was not just created by a spoken word. No, man was made by the hand of God and formed from the dust of the earth. And, life was breathed into man by the breath of God. That is powerful! God breathed His almighty breath into Adam, and He breathes the breath of life into each of us through the Holy Spirit. So when you're dragging, feeling down, or feeling like you're not worth much, think about the fact that you are alive because God breathed life into you! That ought to straighten your attitude up and get you back on track! That ought to put a smile on your face and kind words on your tongue. That ought to give you the strength and courage to let others know how great your God is--even if everything in your life isn't just the way you want it.

Do you ever feel like you are too fat or too thin, too tall or too short? Do you feel like you're not smart enough or outgoing enough? Now, I am not a big fan of feel good preachers who promise beauty, wealth, and health. I am a fan of my God who made me and created me just the way He wanted. My God who knit me together. My God who promises me eternity with Him. According to Psalm 139, everything about us is exactly the way God intended it. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. The Greek word for fearfully is mekos which means length. God made us with great reverence and heartfelt interest and respect. He took His time to form us just perfectly. To be fearfully made means that God considered each of us before He made us. He saw us before our mothers and fathers ever met. He put great thought into who each of us would be and what we would look like. It was not mass production. He put great detail into every aspect of our lives, from the beginning to the end. We were not a mistake or a second thought. He decided we would be here. We are intentional and have a purpose. We are not special because we belong to the right group, are pretty, popular, rich, wear stylish clothing, are in good shape, are athletic, have a good job , title, and position. None of this gives us worth and value. We are special because we are made by God. If we were created by God, which we were, we have to be wonderful!!

Baby steps

We have a walker!! As a mom, things like baby's first tooth, the first time they crawl, and their first steps are incredibly exciting. Watching these little things learn is amazing. Last night, Lila wanted to get to me from her daddy. She wanted to be in my arms so badly! I reached out my arms to her and she took a step and then another and another until she was safely in my arms. I was ecstatic, screaming, asking "Did you see her?" As I reflect on that exciting moment, I think about God. How exciting it must be to Him to have one of his creations take that first step towards Him! And, then another step and another step! No matter how small it seems to us, God just wants us to step toward Him, to give a little to Him and then more and more! He is there to help us in our walk with Him.

"The steps of a man are established by the Lord, And He delights in his way." Psalms 37:23

See It, Pray It!

Since I've been working on my prayer life, I wanted to make sure that my kids get a good start on their prayer life too! It's so easy to get in a rut and just repeat the same thing each time you pray. Never really even thinking about what you're saying. I want my kids to have a more personal prayer life with God, to know that they can talk to him any time, any place. When they have a problem or concern, I always try to stop right then and have them pray about it. A couple of days ago, Hannah had been telling me that she wanted to start a prayer group at school. She didn't really know if anyone would want to be a part of it and was concerned that some people might laugh at her. We immediately prayed that God would give her the courage to start her prayer group and to be with those who might laugh. Then we talked about how God just wants us to try to spread His word, that it's not up to us to make people follow Him. The next day she started her group, with 4 friends.  Hopefully, it will continue to grow!

I also wanted to help my kids know what to pray for on a daily basis so I created See It, Pray It sheets. I laminated them and keep them by their beds.

Summer Bible Lessons

Each summer, since Hannah was three, I have done daily Bible lessons. We haven't always been able to do one EVERY day, but we try! I have LOVED watching my kids learn and grow spiritually from these daily lessons. As they get older, I'm always afraid they will whine and moan about daily Bible lessons. But they always surprise me! They want to do daily lessons and they love doing the crafts. Over the years, I've tried to find new crafts and games, so that they won't get bored with it. Some of the really good ones we've done more than once, though!

After the first summer, I decided to get more organized and type out all of the Bible stories, scriptures, and craft ideas to keep up with the lessons. I call my summer "curriculum" Soaking Up the Son! I love to have my kids in scripture, seeing just how important it is to keep God first in our lives and in our hearts!

Each summer I alternate Old Testament and New Testament. I decide what crafts I am going to do for each lesson and buy ALL the supplies for the whole summer. If we don't end up using it, oh well. This way there are no excuses for not doing the lessons. The supplies are there, the kids are there, and God is there!!

Be sure to come back this summer--I will be posting our daily activities and scriptures!  Here are a few pictures from over the years!  (It was really fun looking at these old pictures of my babies!! Ty was not very cooperative with pictures then, either!)

 Scripture box for memory verses! 

 Jesus Calms the Storm

 Fish craft for the story of Feeding the Crowds

 Tissue paper fish for the story of the Big Catch of fish--could be used with many stories about fish or fishing!

 Jesus Knows my Name craft--Zaccheus

 Doves for Jesus' baptism

  Popsicle stick apostles

Water to Wine--Jesus' First Miracle

 Little doves made out of blocks--The baptism of Jesus

 Fishers of Men--Apostles

 Salt and Light--Sermon on the Mount--we glued salt to the salt shaker

Days of Creation sidewalk art--This felt very Mary Poppins to me!!

 Jonah in the Fish

Long hair and muscles--Samson

Praying for your Family

Last year, around the first of the year, I began to think a lot about prayer. I wanted to develop a stronger prayer life. I had gotten to the point of trying to pray at night in bed and waking up the next morning thinking, "I fell asleep during my prayer." I began to search through different sources to find ways to pray more effectively. I know, I know, the Bible is the only source we need. But, I needed a little help from others like me who could give me some ideas of what I was longing to pray for. I knew that I wanted to pray for my husband and my marriage, but what specifically did I want to ask God for? I knew that my children were in desperate need of my prayers so that they could grow up in this sinful world with the strength to stand up for Christ. But, again, I didn't feel like I was being specific enough. I knew that I wanted to pray for my relationship with Christ. But, what exactly did I want for all of these things?

I finally compiled a list of what I wanted to pray for daily. For my kids and my husband. This list does not include everything I pray about. It is just a list that I pray daily, adding to as needed.

I have seen so many results from this change in my prayer life! I love that I now have specific things that I'm looking out for! I love to see God work in so many ways in our day to day activities! He truly is an AWESOME God!

For my kids I pray that they:
1. Know Christ
2. Recognize sin and hate it
3. Get caught when they are guilty
4. Are protected for the evil one-spiritually, emotionally, and physically
5. Have a responsible attitude in interpersonal relationships and remain pure knowing they are temples of God
6. Respect authority
7. Desire the right kinds of friends and are protected from the wrong friends
8. Are kept from the wrong mate and saved for the right one
9. Learn to submit to God and resist Satan
10. Are not conforming to the world, but being transformed
11. Are hedged in so they can't find their way to the wrong people or the wrong places
12. Are grateful to others and to God
13. Let their lights of faith grow from small candle flames to flames large enough to fill a lighthouse
14. Will not be lazy but will find interests that keep them active
15. I pray that God will develop my son into a Godly man, husband, father, and spiritual leader
16. I pray that my daughters will know that they are beautiful and are God's special creations

For my husband, I pray
1. for his relationship with God
2. that he is the spiritual leader of our home
3. that he loves me deeply
4. that he has a heart for the kids
5. that he makes wise choices
6. for his emotional, physical, and mental health and strength
7. for the power to resist sexual temptation
8. that I will show him grace, respect, and kindness

For myself, I pray:
1. that I will be a wife that is easy to love, one that my husband wants to come home to
2. that I am an example of Christ
3. that I am a strong, kind mother who my kids can trust and strive to be like
4. that I have a servant's heart and I let my light shine
5. that I stay in God's word, learning and maturing
6. that I live my life in such a way that I point my kids toward a life lived for Christ and others, doing things deliberately for the benefit of others and the glory of God
7. that I embed the gospel into the hearts of my kids so they will be prepared to make an impact on the world.

Bernard, our Elf on the Shelf

I love the Elf on the Shelf tradition! I know that there are mixed feelings on this little guy, but I think it is great. At our house, Bernard does not act as a secret agent reporting bad or good behavior to Santa. Instead, he just comes around each morning for fun! He reads his bible, encourages the kids to do good things for others, brings craft supplies and goodies, and occasionally gets into just a bit of mischief!! In order to keep my sanity during all the Elf madness, I begin the season with a list of all the things that I want Bernard to do. I then make sure I have all of the necessary things that will be needed to carry out the plans! This helps so much, because at 10:00 at night I'm not thinking too well!!

I've seen so many things on Facebook and Pinterest through the holidays, saying things like Santa and the Elf are taking the place of Jesus. It may be true in some homes, but in our home it is not. We take time each evening to read a scripture putting our minds and hearts in the right place. I also have crafts for the kids to make, such as popsicle stick nativity scenes and Baby Jesus ornaments.  This year the kids even made puppets out of popsicle sticks and turned Bernard's hot chocolate stand into a stable. Then, they used the puppets to tell the story of the birth of Jesus! It was so sweet and at times so funny!

He always begins his trips with a North Pole Breakfast! I don't stress myself out by pretending that he brings all the breakfast food. I tell my kids that I am preparing a breakfast for them to enjoy and to welcome Bernard to our house!

The menu includes Elf Stacks (mini pancakes covered in powered sugar with a paper straw stuck in the middle), Pecan Spinwheels with Christmas picks, Snow covered donuts (Powered donuts), elf hats (Strawberries on top of banana slices, and melted snowmen to drink!! I made all of the printables myself!

Bernard does bring with him a note from the North Pole, an ornament, and a book. This year he brought "Itsy Bitsy Christmas" by Max Lucado.

The next pictures are a few of Bernard's other shenanigans! Not all were reader worthy;)

 Reading Luke 2, highlighting in red and green, of course.

 He left supplies for each kid to make a paper countdown chain! They loved tearing off a link each day.

 Sack races with a few friends!

 

 Tic Tac Toe on marshmallows!

 Hot Cocoa Stand

 Left a box to donate old toys to a charity.

 Left supplies to make yourself into a snowman!

 Elf Kisses

 Snowball toss game

 Playing football in the village! Notice he got a jersey!!

 Early in December we had an ice storm and were stuck in the house for days. Hannah had been thinking of a project she could do to raise money to send Bibles to public schools in the Ukraine. During our days inside, she decided to make yarn wrapped cross ornaments. She initially thought she might make $100, but after posting it to Facebook, it took off!! She ended up raising over $1000! We prayed before we made the first cross that God would bless this project, and HE SURE DID!!  Bernard tried to help, but got tangled up!

 Uh oh! Drawing faces on Santa and Mrs. Claus

 He gave everyone rudolf noses, even himself

 Wrote his name in sugar

 Left supplies to make snowglobes out of paper plates! They turned out cute!

 Sitting at nativity

 Bernard left joke books! They were funny! "What did the snowman say to the other snowman?" "Do you smell carrots?"  Haha! That was my favorite! I made Ty tell it to everyone!

 Left supplies to make Christmas trees out of ice cream cones

 Made elf legs out of oreos

 And, attempted to make a hot air balloon! It was not exactly successful!