Monday, December 17, 2012

Minute to Win It Night

Inspired by Pinterest (and who isn’t these days?!), our family had a Minute to Win It game night.  It was loads of fun, and I hope you’ll bear with me as I post TONS of pictures- hey, it’s my blog, after all!

First up, ‘Throw Marshmallows Through a Wreath!’  It’s as simple as it sounds :)

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Minion 1was super-impressed with Hero’s shot!

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And the winner was Awesome McAwesome with EIGHT marshmallows!

Next, we had one minute to stack cups into a pyramid.  The older kids had to use one hand, while the younger ones played an easier version.

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The best part of this game?

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Knocking the cups down!!

Then they played ‘Get the Cotton Ball to Stick to the Vaseline on Your Nose.’  Don’t you just love my creativity with the names of these games?!  Hero, McAwesome, Sweetheart Girl, and Twinkle were the only ones that wanted to do this one.  Minion 1 and Minion 2 did NOT want anything on their noses!

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Here are pictures of the classic ‘Get the Cookie in Your Mouth Without Using Your Hands.’

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She did it!

Next was an impromptu change since my materials weren’t going to allow us to follow the original rules.  With a partner, you needed to place as many ornaments as possible on a yard stick that was balancing on a paper towel tube.

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We’re almost done, I promise!

Next, the kids had to see how many candy canes they could move from the table to the Christmas tree in one minute.  The catch was that they could only use their mouths!  Let the fun begin!

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And the winner (with SIX candy canes) was…

Twinkle!!!!!  She used her hands ;)

Here are the girls celebrating Twinkle’s victory!

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And finally, ‘Stack Mini-Marshmallows on a Popsicle Stick.’

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There you go- lots of pictures, lots of fun!  But, in case you’re dying for just one more picture, here’s one of my favorites from the night:

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Friday, October 19, 2012

A Healthy Addiction

_MG_00341 Corinthians 16:15  I beseech you, brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints,)  (emphasis mine)

The Bible truly is a living Book!  No matter how many times you may read a certain passage, something fresh will always pop out!  I admit that I am often guilty of skimming the last several verses of the epistles where Paul closes with his greetings.  That may be why I’ve never noticed this particular phrase: “they have addicted themselves to the ministry.”

This morning that phrase struck a chord within me.  Being in a ministry family, I am very involved with our church, and make no mistake- I love it!  There’s no doubt in my mind that the Lord has called us there, and I enjoy the people and the work that I do there, yet I had to ask myself, “Have I addicted myself to the ministry?”

Today, when we hear the word “addict,” it’s never a favorable term.  It brings to mind an uncontrollable urge, desire, or need for something physically, emotionally, or spiritually unhealthy.  However, we know that God would not have us controlled by anything other than the Holy Spirit! 

Notice that the verse says they “addicted themselves to” not “they were addicted to.”  They made a conscious and deliberate choice here!  When the house of Stephanas addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints, they appointed or devoted themselves to a position of service.  I believe that if the apostles or someone in the church needed help, Stephanas’ house felt it was their responsibility to make sure the need was met.

So am I devoted in the same way?  If a brother or sister in Christ has a need, whether physical or spiritual, do I feel it’s my job to meet it or to make sure someone else does?  Or do I sometimes slough it off, thinking that I’m too busy and someone else can handle it?  There’s no doubt that with seven children and a household to run, I’m pretty busy in my day-to-day life, but that doesn’t negate my responsibilities to my fellow Christians. 

I want to make the same decision that the house of Stephanas did.  I want to addict myself to my fellow saints.  I want their burdens to be my burdens, their needs to be my needs.  Addiction can be a good thing!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Life with Lily

A friend and fellow blogger just announced a giveaway that she is hosting on her blog here.

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She is giving away a copy of a new book called Life with Lily written by Mary Ann Kinsinger.  The book, aimed towards 8-10 year-olds, is the beginning of a series that chronicles her life, and is reminiscent of the Little House on the Prairie books.  She was raised Amish, but came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and has since left the Amish church. 

Mary Ann Kinsinger also has a blog, A Joyful Chaos, and I just spent almost an hour reading it!  Her memories of her childhood are recounted with joy, but she also is clear that the Amish are not true Christians- a point that I think is important to remember by those that enjoy reading popular fiction books about the Amish (I include myself as I’ve read more than my fair share)!

I hope I win the giveaway, but even if I don’t, I fully intend to buy this book and look forward to the rest of the series!

Friday, September 21, 2012

Hero’s 10th Birthday!

Double digits already!  What is happening around here?!?!

Hero has been looking forward to this birthday for a while now, and even though it seems like we just celebrated his 9th birthday a couple months ago, he says it’s been a ‘bajillion years.’

Hero is very into legos, and more specifically Ninjago legos, so we centered his party around that.  He invited a few friends over, and here are some pictures:

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The spread- we had fun with the chinese/ninja theme

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Pinterest may just be my new best friend!

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Angry eyes everywhere!

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Sword fight!

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They made origami shurikens (ninja stars), and we also played a game where they had to find balloons that I had hidden around the house, pop them, and put together the pieces of a minifigure.  One team did perfectly well- the other team…well, everytime they popped a balloon, the lego piece went flying!  It took them a while to find all their pieces!

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All in all, I think Hero had a pretty good birthday! 

Happy Birthday Hero!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

A Baby Shower Devotional

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Tonight, the ladies of our church will be getting together to have a baby shower for a young woman expecting her second child!  I love baby showers!  (Big surprise huh?!)

I’m giving a short devotional that I hope will be an encouragement to the new mother, and I thought I’d share it here.  Please be patient with some grammatical errors, as these are simply notes and not a complete, thought-out essay!

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First some funnies:  These questions were asked of elementary-aged children.

How did God make mothers?

  • “He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.”
  • “Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.”
  • “God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.”

What ingredients are mothers made of?

  • “God makes mothers out of clouds, angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.”
  • “They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string. I think.”

Why did God give you your mother and not some other Mom?

  • “God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.”

What kind of little girl was your Mom?

  • “I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.”
  • “They say she used to be nice.”

What's the difference between moms and dads?

  • “Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.”

What does your Mom do in her spare time?

  • “Mothers don't do spare time.”
  • “To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.”

What would it take to make your Mom perfect?

  • “On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.”
  • “Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.”

If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would it be?

  • “She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.”
  • “I'd make my Mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.”

A Mother’s Influence

Children are very observant! And sometimes we don’t realize what they are observing until we see it or hear it come out of their mouth! Oops!

As parents, we are the strongest influence in our child’s life. God gives parents the primary responsibility for the raising of a child!

Dueteronomy 6:5-7

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
(Deuteronomy 6:5-7)

Our children will have many people that will influence them over their lifetimes. Friends, Sunday School teachers, television, and so on, but we the parents, and more specifically tonight, the mothers, will wield a much stronger influence than any of these.

We can influence our child for good, but we can also use our influence for the bad. In Scripture we have examples of both.

Let’s start with the bad: 2 Chr. 22:2-3

Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri. He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.
(2 Chronicles 22:2-3)

Throughout the history of Israel’s and Judah’s kings, the mothers are rarely mentioned. But here we are told of King Ahaziah’s mother Athaliah. The Bible says she counseled him to do wickedly! We can read more about that in the chapter and in 2 Kings, and we find that Athaliah eventually kills the rest of the household to set herself up as queen, but the point here is that Athaliah, because of her own ambitions and priorities, was a wicked influence on her son.

I certainly hope that you (mother) will never counsel your children to do wickedly, but let Athaliah serve as a reminder to us that we can let our own plans and desires get in the way of the godly influence we are supposed to be. Watch your priorities!

Now the good: 2 Tim 1:5

When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
(2 Timothy 1:5)

Timothy’s mother Eunice (and grandmother) had a profound effect on Timothy’s life and future service! As best we can tell Timothy’s father was a Greek and unsaved, and therefore had very little positive influence on Timothy’s spiritual development, yet we read in 2 Tim 3:15 that Timothy knew the Scriptures from the time he was a child! And because of that, he was saved and followed God his whole life. He became very dear to the Apostle Paul.

(Mother), as you prepare to have your 2nd child, remember that you will wield an incredible power! You will influence your children, make no mistake about that! But what kind of influence will you have? What will you teach them?

I strongly believe that parents are parents from Day 1, and parents are teachers from Day 1. Granted, in those early days, you are simply teaching them to eat and sleep, but you are teaching nonetheless. But as our children grow, we have an incredible responsibility to teach them to “love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”

So (mother), I encourage you tonight to renew that commitment within you to teach your children to love the Lord, and use your influence in a godly way! I know the ladies here will rally around you to help you in that journey! We love you, we love (first child), and we love this new little one. So ladies will you please join me in prayer as we ask the Lord’s blessing on (mother), her family, and the new baby?

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Labor Day 2012

Sooooo…it’s been 7 months since my last post, and yet, it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long to me! I guess it’s true that as you get older, time goes by more quickly :)

There’s no way to recap everything we’ve been doing so let’s just say that we’re a busy family of nine! Ya'll can use your imaginations!

School is in full swing again, but we did take Labor Day off for a special reason. Daddy-man ran his first 5K! He’s been running for a few months now and was looking forward to this event. We all wanted to go to see him cross the finish line so we woke up bright and early (well, early- it was still dark out!) at 4:30 a.m. and made the hour-long drive to Saguaro National Park. It was crowded, and the area around the start/finish line was much smaller than I had envisioned!

The kids and I, being the ever-dutiful cheer section, managed to make some signs for dad to see as he finished. We even managed to keep them a secret!

As soon as the runners cleared the starting line, we lined up!

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The sun was rising in full force, and of course we were looking right into it! The kids were a little antsy- after all, they were up so early with a pathetic breakfast in the van and then nothing to do but wait. Thankfully a 5K is pretty short, and it wasn’t long before the first runners began their way back. Not long after that, we saw him! We held up our signs and cheered!

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The kids ran to him, and we congratulated him, and told him we loved him and were proud of him.

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There really weren’t a lot of ‘extra’ people out there (like the kids and I), and we were the only ones cheering. Having never been to a race, I really wasn’t sure of the proper etiquette, and felt slightly out of place, but I figured at least everyone would know that We Love Our Dad!

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P.S. The rest of the day was spent being exhausted (shocker!)

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Mornings Like These…

Minion 1, Minion 2, and Twinkle were up before five, Hero started throwing up after breakfast, the twins have no clean underwear, there was a hair gel accident in the bathroom, the house is in a general state of messiness….mornings like these make me wish I drank coffee!
BusySuperMom