Rainy Day Fun

Okay, all you moms out there who are going crazy on these rainy days with your school-age kids under your feet, here are some ideas! I didn't think of any of these but the 5 precious kiddos who have been under the same roof for the last 9 days, came up with all of these!
So...clean out your pantry and search those junky cabinets and drawers to pass the time with fun things to do!

1. Craft sticks, hot glue guns, and paint! We've seen 2 incredibly remarkable boats made,painted and ready to set sail. (Don't panic if you don't have all the colors of the rainbow in paint. We only had black, red, and green. Kids don't care! If they do, they get over it! HEE!)

2. Paper cups,hot glue guns, and paint! We have pyramids, crosses, and other indescribable creations.

3. Remember that old Shrinky Dink machine you threw in the attic or the Easy Bake Oven buried in your kitchen! Drag them out and the kids will be busy for hours.

4. Blankets, chairs, and rubberbands. Everyone slept in the one of a kind designer tent constructed in the living room!

5. Lunch Time Blues? Look in the pantry and find meals your kids can make (Raviolis, Mac n Cheese). Next check the fridge for leftovers. Make menus on the computer or with markers. Let the children cook and serve each other.

6. Shopping Time! The kids labeled each room in the house a different store. Each kid was the manager of their store and got it all ready for shopping. One room was the bank complete with the full set of Monopoly $. You could go and withdraw as much as you wanted and head out for a day of shopping! I personally chose the "Spa" next door to "Willies," and enjoyed an hour long soak in the tub while everyone else was busy playing.

7. Play in the Rain. The kids were dying to play in the rain in their bathing suits. There was no thunder or lightning, so why not!!! Give them buckets and scoops for more fun!

8. Swirly Stones. We did get this one out of Family Fun. Sis 1 and I had read it in the doctor's office a few weeks ago. Get smooth rocks from outside. Wash. Bake in the oven on 325 for 15 minutes. While the rocks are baking, the kids peel all of the old crayons around the house. Use the crayons to write on hot rocks. For a swirl effect, press a crayon on the rock so it forms a blob, then swirl with a toothpick. Check them out on the Family Fun website!

9. Pudding Anyone? Check the pantry for a box of pudding. The girls had a great time making pudding and what a great snack.

10. Message Making! How is your message sounding on your answering machine? The kids spent 45 minutes writing, practing, and recording a new message on the machine. I'm still not sure what it is or if they ever got it to work, but they sure had a great time!

What's Your Story?

The pastor this morning was incredible. He talked about
1. Accepting the Call
2. Telling Your Story
3. Changing The World

Wouldn't it be great if we all accepted the call. The call is simply, "Come to Him..."It's not a call to missions necessarily or to be a preacher, it's simply telling your story where you are, in the world in which you have been placed. Homemakers tell in the homes, teachers tell in the schools, business men tell in the businesses, bankers tell in the banks, doctors tell in the hospitals... If we each tell our story where we are then the whole world would know how great God is!

What is it that keeps us from telling?
I'm not outgoing?
I'm too ugly?
I would say it all wrong?

I think the honest problem is that we don't know what to say. What is our story?

Here's the 1st chapter of the story...
1. We are never going to die. We are not going to hell. When I die, I'll be walking on streets of gold in the presence of Jesus himself! It doesn't get better than that.

2. We are alive and breathing in this great country simply by the grace of God.
What kept me from being born in Iraq? Only God!
Who determined that I would live today? God

That is enough to make our story great, but we hear so many incredible stories on the news, radio, from friends-we want bigger, better stories! That is just it. God may come to us in big huge ways but for the majority of us
...It is the answer of a simple prayer that noone else may know about.
...It's the way He provides when noone else knows we were in need.
...It's the confidence that comes in a normally terrifying situation, and we think, "Where did that come from?"
...It's the strength to do something you know you couldn't have done.
...It's the small voice that says, "Go ahead. Do it." You do it and it all works out, and you think WOW!

To you it is the biggest thing ever, but in the eyes of others we think it would seem so small.

The amazing part is that the majority of people need those little things. Most people aren't looking for a giant miracle, they are desperately seeking healing in a marriage, help with depression, answers for raising their kids, friends to confide in, the confidence, the strength, the still small voice.

So, tell somebody. Tell them what God has done for you. Even if it seems small, we never know who needs a small piece of our story and that small piece of Him can be what changes a huge world.

Cousins

There is nothing sweeter than kids! I just love 'em! This week we have had my niece and nephew from Austin and what a treat! It's so fun to watch them play together, listen in on their conversations, and hear them laughing and giggling. What a blessing! It's true, "Children are a gift from the Lord." They keep us humble yet make us feel like a million bucks!
Lita (grandma) took us all to the Aquarium yesterday and it was terrific! We learned some very interesting facts...
*Male seahorses carry the babies. (I'm wishing I would have been a seahorse.)
*Electric eels can shock you with a 600 volt sting. (Stay clear of those bad boys.)
*Tarantulas can reach 12 inches with one leg. (Stay a little over a foot away from all tarantulas.)
*Parrots scream at you when you repeatedly say, "HI! HELLO!" (If they don't answer after the first couple of tries, let it go.)
*White tigers are creamy white with (and I quote)"chocolate" stripes. (Those are my kind of tigers!)
*The ferris wheel is pretty high, but despite our fears, we all had a good time going round and round in circles over I-45.

One thing I have realized as a mother of older children. Don't waste your $ taking younger children to things like this. We all get in a hurry to take our 2 year olds to Six Flags, Disney, or "The Aquarium." They don't remember, and that's a lot of $ to be forking over. Get out the slip and slide or some paint. Save the special events until the kiddos are really ready! It's a much better investment and much easier on your patience!

The Hangers

You know your babies are growing up when it's time to get rid of the baby hangers and start hanging their clothes on adult hangers. It is so hard though. I realize Sissy 1 is almost a teenager and our shirts are just about the same size, but I just can't give up those small plastic hangers. Half of her shirts slide off when I attempt to use them one last time. She shouldn't be my size or old enough to use hangers with cardboard rolls. Aren't they dangerous or SOMETHING?
It's just another reminder of how quickly they grow up. First it's adult hangers and who knows what's next...driving, college, marriage?

THE COFFEE

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the Professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:
"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other's cups.
Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and do not change the quality of Life. Some times, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided."

So, don't let the cups drive you... enjoy the coffee instead.