Scary Moment

We've been struggling with illness in our home and yesterday, we watched our older son go progressively downhill with his breathing......he was struggling with a case of croup that just went out-of-control.  By 9pm he just was not able to breathe....and he panicked.....(and I drove very fast to the ER)

......as soon as we walked into the ED (when did the ER change it's name?  Had to have been after the show ER went off the air!) a nurse took one look at my face and his and went to get oxygen.....thinking that he was having an asthma attack, things were still moving slowly at that point.....

......as we were checking in, the nurse realized that he wasn't asthmatic and things started to fly...

Within two minutes, he was in a room with 8 doctors, nurses, therapists and a crash cart....all I saw were big saucer-scared eyes looking at me for reassurance.....eyes that screamed "Mommy, I can't breathe"...

.....how do I hide from him that I am more scared than him because I am understanding some of the words the doctors are saying....intubation...breathe for him...push the epi....words you hear on a medical tv show are suddenly being said about my little boy....

It is in this moment that I am thankful for soft, calm, reassuring words.....words from people who know more....words from people who know that I am scared.....words from people who care about getting my boy well.....

I have been praying recently that God would help me to release my children into His hands....that I wouldn't hold so tightly to them, but realize that His love for them is beyond mine....He is testing that prayer......until last month we went 11 years with only 1 trip to the ER......we've had 2 in a span of 4 weeks

Last night I saw His love in action through others.....my love has limits...His love has none.....I can't control events, circumstances, life....but He holds it all together......

Last night I was powerless to help my little boy breathe, but I love a God who is able to place a nurse in a chair who so quickly recognized distress signs that she had a room full of doctors within minutes.....

More and more I need to trust that my children are His.....He has a deep love for them......deeper than even my own.......I need to trust that His goodness can be found in everything....

Many references in the Old Testament talk about God "abounding in love"...Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 86:5, Psalm 103:8, Joel 2:13......I felt that last night...through that touch of a nurse's hand on my arm, the reassuring words of a Doctor, the peace of God filling my heart......He cares and even in the midst of trying and difficult situations...

....He's there....

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"Homemade" Candles

I'll confess that I originally saw this idea somewhere else, but it was bookmarked on my old computer and that computer died....so if this was your idea, I am sorry that I can't credit you...

I got 3 for $1.00 candles at The Dollar Tree and a glass container at Goodwill for $0.50.

I removed the sticker from the bottom of the candle so that I could pull the wick out....

I hot glued the metal to the bottom of the glass.....excellent idea except for the fact that melted wax will melt the hot glue.....I didn't figure that out until I actually poured the wax and the wicks moved....



I melted the wax in a make-shift double boiler.....a can in a pot of water over low heat.  Now the can will not sit flat in the water....it floats, so I needed to hold the can down to melt the wax.



Pour the wax into your container.....the wax takes a while to harden, so you will have time to adjust your wicks....Warning:  Be careful...hot wax burns!

Your own "homemade" custom candle.....all for the cost of about $1.50!



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Do-overs

Do overs. Do you ever wish for one?  Or two?  Or twenty??  Many times I will get to the end of my day and wish that I could go back and do it again. Wish that I could take away the angry words, the sharp answers, the frustrated responses.


If you are reading through James with your child then you’ve passed over these verses in James 1:19.   (Our church kid ministry is reading through the book of James.)“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry…” Big sigh here because I work in the reverse. I am quick to become angry, fast to speak, and slow to listen.....

To see what the mittens mean and to read more of my posting hop over to Kid Venture Island!

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Valentine candy wreath

Okay...so new and original posts right now are just not happening....I have sick kids at home....feverish, stuffy, coughing and miserable.....so there's not much crafting taking place!

Instead, today I will share an idea from Craftomaniac.....she's been doing Valentine since Christmas Eve! 

This is a fun idea that I'd love to do with my kids....although they (and me or I to be grammatic-ly correct!) would eat all the candy!

She just took a styrofoam heart form and glued cupcake holders and candy to it....wrapped the outside edge with ribbon and voila!  A doorwreath!

I'm still working on mine....

I've added a lot more flowers.....but I have to keep stopping to de-fumigate the house.....



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Cupboard Door Picture Holders

I've been dying to do this project!!  I first saw it on The Creative Crate months ago and couldn't wait to try it!

The first stop was to the Habitat Restore where I picked up these old cabinet doors for about $0.50 each!

I cleaned them up and sprayed them first with Rustoleum primer...



...and then Rustoleum Blossom White...

I let them dry.....for like 3 weeks because I didn't have time to get back to them!.....and then I added my trusty mix of glaze.....truly about 1/6th of this can has lasted through 5 months of projects!

...there's no special technique to glazing...it's like The Karate Kid..."wax on, wax off!".....

...wipe on your glaze to a level of thickness that you prefer....if you wipe on too much then wipe it off!

....note the difference between the glazed wood and the sprayed wood....the glazed wood really has dimension to it.....







...drill holes where your ribbon is going to get pulled through....I used two sizes of bits...

I went through first with the smaller one just to get the hole for the ribbon started and then made it bigger with the larger bit...

After a number of failed attempts to get the ribbon into the hole (and not finding a lick of tape anywhere to tape off the end!)............I decided to push it through with a toothpick....it worked great!





I tied my bow and attached my magnetic clip with a little bit of Gorilla Glue.....awesome stuff!

Stacie at The Creative Crate used 8 x 10 pictures, but I only have a 5 x 7....her doors must be bigger than mine...

Now I just need to get some Black & White photos of my kids to fill the empty spaces!



Linking to:

DIY Project Party

   

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Before and After idea

I just had to share these before and after pic's with you.....what is amazing is that she didn't BUY ANYTHING to do this!  She used what she had laying around the house!  That's exactly what I've been doing with my bathroom remodel.....borrowed paint from a friend....leftover wood....old sheets....

I love sharing ideas that cost HARDLY ANYTHING!

Before:

After:

Just breathtaking!  To see how she did it, check out Poppies at Play.......hopefully my bathroom re-do will be just as stunning....now if I could just get it finished!

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Va "L" entine Plaque

So I've been busy working on a bunch of projects, but none are quite at a point where I can post the finished results....in the meantime, I am getting excited about decorating for Valentine's Day. 

Here's something cheap and easy that I found over at Craftomaniac the other day...

So easy to make!  Go to your Goodwill and grab an old frame.  Spray it with Rustoleum Blossom White....antique it with glaze or stain (basically grab an old t-shirt, dip it in the stain and rub it on and then wipe it off!)......

Take the old cardboard backing of your Goodwill picture and cover it with burlap...hot glue the burlap to the cardboard.

Find a letter "L" at your craft store...it can be wooden or cardboard.  Find a-dor-able scrapbook paper and cut to trim it to your letter.  Grab your mod podge...brush a layer on your letter and then brush a layer over the top.....

Add a bow and a button....glue onto the letter and glue the letter onto your burlap frame.  So totally easy!!

Don't you love how Jen accessorized her glassware with random Valentine's stuff?  And those cool black damask balls?  Napkins mod podged onto styrofoam balls!  Her tutorial can be found HERE. 

I bet you could find really cute heart-covered ones for Valentine's day....the only problem is that the styrofoam balls are expensive.....I guess that's where you use a coupon!

.....Here's a sneak peek of what's been  consuming my time.....

...the board on the wall is a hint of what I'm doing!  It looks soooo different!

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Valentine wreath sneak peek....

Sneak peek of my Valentine wreath......

.....I'm trying to get it done this week.....tutorial coming and total cost is like $3.00!!!!

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Lessons in God's Faithfulness....

If you've been reading my blog at all this month, then you know some of the things that I've faced in the past few weeks....

.....over Christmas, we had a pretty expensive ER visit with my daughter and then my computer died.....I pouted and then read about Edie at Life In Grace who lost her house in a fire before Christmas....it gave me perspective....quickly!

.....and then we had friends who live about a mile away whose house burned....I still remember hearing the abundance of sirens that Monday night and praying....as the sirens kept coming I felt a deep concern for whomever was being affected....never realizing that we knew the family.....

Tuesday morning (before we knew about the fire) I was reading for my time with God a book by Francis Chan called Crazy Love.....I was on pg. 122 that morning where it says..."When it's hard and you are doubtful, give more...."

I never knew that within the hour.....I'd be challenged to do just that.....

....I am often a person who second-guesses the voice of God.....I'll question whether it was really God speaking or just me thinking....I'll rationalize away sending the note He's prompting me to write or making that extra meal for a neighbor in need......but that Tuesday morning, His voice was LOUD.....AND....CLEAR!!

He wanted me to give.......to give in spite of my anxiety that I still had to pay-off my computer......to give extravagently despite the ER bill still sitting on my desk.....to give joyfully even though the utility bills were coming and it had been a C-O-L-D December!

And you know what...I did it!  And I was so excited.....I felt obedient....I felt like I was blessing someone....and then within 24 hours....ugh!

In about 24-48 hours, I realized that all of my son's socks had holes in them and tons were missing.....where do they go??.....my daughter had grown through her pants.....(her knees!).....and my son's toes were jammed into his sneakers....hmmm!  Now how did that happen?  ......and then I actually got the UGI bill....

But I was okay....because in my mind I had a safety net.....I had Christmas gift cards!  I had been given gift cards that I was hoarding.....so I had that as a safety net....all I needed was that Kohl's coupon to come in the mail....

Well, the coupon came and I went to get the giftcard so that I could start getting my kids their needed clothing....but....it....was....missing........missing???  But God....I gave....for You.....where's my gift card!!

I tore my house, desk, purse, car apart......no giftcard....but God....You knew how much I needed this gift card...I'm not even spending it on myself!!  Really God.....if I could just find it, I'll write a blog post on the woman and the lost coin......can you just let me find it....

After hours of looking, I started to really realize that it was G-O-N-E.....and then I cried.....but God....all these things have happened.....I'm trying to trust You......

Francis Chan's words(well, actually God's) kept ringing in my head as I stomped, cried and got cranky with everyone....."Give liberally and be ungruding when you do so, for on this account the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake"  Deuteronomy 15:10

But, Lord, how??  Our budget is stressed and cracked from these things that have happened......but My prayers changed to...Okay, Lord...You know....You know...help me to understand and trust...

Today, I was doing our new budget for 2011.....and something very weird happened.....after 4 hours of going back over 2 years of budgets, check books and deposits....(I'm annoyingly meticulous in my record-keeping!).....I realized that in April of 2009, I started making a mistake with our budget.....one that carried into 2010....

You see....2010 had 27 pay periods instead of 26, but I put our budget on a 26 pay budget.....which left me with.....leftover money! 

Yesterday....I had no idea of this...yesterday....I lost my gift card.....Yesterday....I asked God to help me to understand and to trust Him.....

I'm humbled and in complete awe of His faithfulness......because I wasn't even completely (or even partially) faithful.....but He knew that my tomorrow was coming.....

Are you facing an unknown tomorrow?.....guess what...He's already there....He sees.....it may not work out like you expect, but I am learning about God's faithfulness....and I'd so much rather face tomorrow with Him....confidently trusting Him to be good even when I can't actually see His goodness.......yet.......

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Valentine's Day is coming...

So I think that I am caving big time to this Valentine's Day decorating......there are just SO many a-maz-ing ideas out there.......and they are CHEAP and EASY!!

How about this specimen art at Embellishing Life Everyday?  She just printed out the love verses of 1 Corinthians 13 over and over again on a piece of cardstock....then she used her cricut to cut out the hearts.....I don't have a cricut, but I think that I could easily cut them out by hand....

Then just cut a bigger heart out of red cardstock...throw on some glitter...you can attach the hearts to your burlap with some foam adhesive.....a-dor-a-ble!!!

How about this from To Enjoy Simply?

She took an empty canvas....added those cool cardstock-rolled flowers....and used a scrapbooking rub-on for the words......we have TONS of canvases just laying around our basement! Sigh.... if only I had more hours in the day...

And if you have any coffee filters leftover from Jenny's coffee filter wreath then you can dye them pink and make this...

The Little Appleseed has a complete tutorial.

Are you working on any projects for Valentine's Day?  I'd love to hear your ideas!

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Coffee Filter Wreath

Does your door have the January blah's??  Maybe this wreath can help......

This is another one of my friend, Jenny's, crafts......

Materials:

Coffee Filters:  bought from Weis.....not even tea-stained.  Weis has that color available.
Styrofoam ring
ALOT of hot glue
10 very burned fingertips


Directions:
Fold your coffee filter in half and glue.  Jenny started gluing at 12:00 and worked her way around the wreath clockwise.


She would fill-in a section from the bottom of the wreath until the top and then move to her right and work from bottom to top again.  She said that it took about 900 filters....and that hers is possibly a little "too fluffy." 


In person....it's absolutely gorgeous!  Her husband, Jason's, nickname for it......the "A-wreath-a" Franklin wreath....you're so funny, Jason!

You can glue these filters on pretty much anything....styrofoam balls to make "puff" balls that you could hang from your window.....styrofoam tree forms to make "puffy" winter trees....lampshades....your child's head....be creative!!

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Using old windows as storage solutions

Today is my last day of window ideas....I promise!  This was my very first old window.....it all started here because of a friend named Melissa!  Her hubby made her a window box....literally..... and I fell in love and wanted one, too!

You can see the window frame and then our husbands just built a box to go around the window frame.  We "glazed" these before it was popular to glaze!  We painted them white and wiped on stain to make it look aged....this was at least 10 years ago! 

My hubby is always complaining that he has no where to put all of his stuff......really he does, but who has space for the 3,000 books that he owns!!! 

This old window became the door of another wood box that we built to make a bookshelf to hold some of his 3,000 books.  I have yet to paint it because I keep changing my mind about what room to put it in.....It does provide a nice space for my yarn balls and Goodwill lamp.

...there was really no way to make this picture look pretty.....my pots are the $20.00 set from Walmart....

...I'm thinking that some beady stuff would look nice wrapped around my window pot rack...the hooks and chain are from our local True Value hardware store...total cost probably about $2.00....the actual rods that the pots are hanging on are from IKEA....we bought an ugly rack from them and took the rods to attach to my window...

This was another one of my very first window projects....it could use some help!  I took cardboard....glued on cotton filling and hot glued fabric and ribbon around it...I also hot glued some scrapbook paper to the center panes.....

When I finally make-up my mind (and save enought money) to redo my daughter's room, I think that I will try to do something like this.....





I hope that you were inspired!

If you are looking for more window ideas you can check out my other posts on Windows as Wall Decor or turning windows into chalkboards!

I'm linking up with: 

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Ideas...

I linked up this week at CraftOManiac and while I was browsing her link party I found some fun ideas that I wanted to share with you...

Are you needing to organize a hall closet?  Look at what she did at Keep Home Simple....

From this...

To this....

I just LOVE it!!

Embellishing Life Everyday made this adorable Valentine frame from felt and burlap...

I am seeing a trip to the Goodwill in my near future to purchase a frame and then to our True Value for some burlap!

Would you believe that these...

became this....

Cherished Treasures shows you how to do it!

Are you looking for unique valentines to make?  These "rock"!!

Making Memories With Your Kids shows you how to turn a Junior Mints box into an ipod!



 Do you eat a lot of popcorn?  We do!  Well....

Birgit Kerr shows you how to make your own homemade microwave popcorn!!

I hope that you enjoyed some of these ideas!!  I can't wait to go work on the Valentine frame! 





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