Devotion

You know when you have those moments when you're pretty sure the Holy Spirit is whispering in your ear and you think, oh right, I should do that, and then life happens, and a child calls you and your dinner boils over and then, the nail in the coffin, you forget!? And then lo and behold, the Holy Spirit kind of ups the anti so to speak and smacks you upside the head?

Yea, I had one of those moments this morning. But before I get there, let me back up and start with this. About a month ago I finished a really good devotional book written for moms. It's called, Don't Make Me Come Up There! Quiet Moments for Busy Moms and it's written by Lisa Welch. I think it was the title that actually caught my attention, likely for obvious reasons to you my frazzled mama friends. And so I got a kindle version and I began reading it every day. I had to stop myself from reading more than ONE a day so that I could really savor the goodness of each devotion and lengthen my time in it. But alas, the day came when I finished the last devotional.

I did some research and looked for another devotional and then relented that I'd better start reading the Psalms again because frankly at this stage of my life, a few minutes in his word is so much more beneficial than none. Except I didn't. I didn't pick up my bible or open my NET bible application. I'm sure you've been here before. And pretty soon, I forgot I should be doing it at all.
Until a couple days ago.

A couple days ago that still small voice whispered, "Hey Karen, get back in my word." And I literally thought, "oh, right, I should be doing that. No I want to be doing that." And then the kicker, "I'll get serious about it again after the holidays."

LOL. WHAT?! Wait a minute. AFTER THE HOLIDAYS? What in the world kind of wicked logic is that? But then my kids called me, and my dinner boiled over, and you know the rest of the scenario.

And then Thursday came. GUM day. Blessed, eat-a-meal-and-talk-with-mams-Thursday! Our speak this morning was Dottie McKissik. I've heard Dottie speak before, and if you ever have the chance again, don't miss it - she's fantastic! So here we are: it's Thursday, we're at GUM, with Dottie, and apparently for me, also with the Holy Spirit's two by four! Okay, message received - get back in my word!

I never cease to be amazed at how God works these things together, moving my heart and then giving me the tools to follow through.

Dottie spent time with us, encouraging us to take even just 5 minutes and teaching us three different techniques for bible study. She walked us through these techniques in Psalm 1. Nothing better than learning by doing! So for anyone who missed it, here's the breakdown of the three methods, try them yourselves this week.


Kathy's Method:
1. What does this verse/passage teach about God?
2. What does it teach about living?
3. What effect should it have on my life today?

The CoW-P Method:
1. Find a Command, mark the verse with a C.
2. Find a Warning, mark the verse with a W.
3. Find a Promise, mark the verse with a P.
4. Circle the verse number you want to focus on today.

Three Questions Method:
1. Make a true/false or fill in the blank question.
2. Make a multiple choice question.
3. Make a thoughtful, personal application.

I so appreciated the reminder: I don't have to have another devotional book to read every day, and I certainly shouldn't wait until tomorrow or after the next busy season of life. I can pick up the best devotional ever written, the Bible, and spend a few minutes going through one of these methods, right now.

Thanks Holy Spirit for bring Dottie, for preparing these words just for me, before I even knew I needed them. May we all take to heart, and put into practice something she shared with us today. Amen.

Hillside Women's Retreat

Two reasons to sign up now for the Hillside Women’s Retreat
coming October 14 &15 on campus.

One: Fresh Perspective and messages geared just for women.
Two: Time to Listen and Extended Worship.

Did you catch that mamas? TIME to LISTEN & WORSHIP.

This hillside COD Women's Retreat is going to be a great way to defrazzle!
So sign up now by calling the church office and plan to attend:
Friday: 6 - 9pm, Dinner included
Saturday: 8:30 - 3pm, Breakfast & Lunch included

You can find more information at the COD website, also make sure you Like the Church of the Open Door Facebook page to stay up-to-date on church events!

Frazzled

Have you ever gone to the grocery store, only to come home and realize you forgot one of the ingredients for tonight's dinner? -FRAZZLED much?!

Have you ever run around the house looking for the straw that goes in the re-useable fair cup, using a loud voice at your kids cause you know they took it off the counter even though you told them not too, finding it after you're already late, only to arrive at the fair and realize the cup is still on the kitchen counter? Oh, was that just me?

Yay, right, ladies! You know you've lived these moments, or ones like them! Right?

Hello? Hello? Am I all alone in this? Oh, wait what's that I hear, a resounding, YES!

I thought so.

frazzled past participle, past tense of fraz-zle (Verb)
1. Cause to feel completely exhausted; wear out.

Does that not sound like motherhood to you?

How about this one, have you ever picked up your prayer journal to realize you haven't used it in the last week? (Or longer?!) Are then you realize you aren't quite sure you've spent any real time in prayer (other than the quick "Lord help me find x, y or z" kind?!) anytime recently?

These are signs of a frazzled life. And I DON'T LIKE IT!

This year in GUM we'll be talking about these things. Focusing on finding peace in the midst of daily life. Because life isn't going to stop for you. Or me. And let's face it we have lots of things going on, loving our husbands, growing our children, maintaining a household, feeding everyone, ministry, etc, etc, etc.

I sure hope you're looking forward to this study - I am!

What's got you frazzled lately?

GUM starts Sept 15th

Calling all GUM Mamas! Mark your calendar, the start of GUM is coming.

We'll be back in our regular Fall schedule starting at 8:45am on Sept. 15th. Start inviting friends! You can pick up a registration form from the GUM table following the 11am service.

Price break-down: $45 - no children, $55 - 1 or 2 kids, $65 - 3 or more kids

Right off the bat, we've got a special Pint Sized Adventure to the LA County Fair on Sept 22nd. More details to follow!!

This year we'll be doing a study called, Victoriously Frazzled. "Victoriously Frazzled will help any worn out, burned out, and stressed out woman understand the Spirit God has given her." We'll have books available for purchase at GUM.

I hope your routines are coming back together after a wonderful summer break!

LA Fair Competitions

Thanks to some brilliant mamas I'm looking at what things my kids and I would like to participate in at the LA County Fair this year. Most of the contests require mail by dates by early July, so it's time to look through and decide what you and your kids would like to do!

This year's theme is America's Kids: Surrounded by Science. You can find the Entire Competition Book here, but I also wanted to highlight a few of the fun things I think my kids will be participating in.

Science Lab Coloring Contest - Put your coloring skills to work in this creative coloring contest. You can make your science lab serious, silly...or someplace in between, just print thier science lab drawing and let your kids color away!

Design an Insect Competition - Imagine you’ve just returned from a scientific expedition to an exotic land (or the empty lot near your house) and you’ve discovered a new species of insect! What does it look like? You decide! This is more than a coloring contest…it’s a decorating contest! You can use paint, markers, glitter, sequins, puff paint, jewels, buttons, feathers, or just about anything you can dream up. Let your imagination go buggy!

There are tons and tons of competitions and contests, science fair experiements, craft work, baked goods, etc. Take some time and look through the entire Competition Book, I'm sure you and your kids will be inspired!

Need a laugh? It's gettin real in the parking lot...

(Disclaimer: I apologize in advance for a tiny bit of bad language.)

Quiet Moments

Last night I celebrated the birthday of a very good friend. Fifteen of us headed out for a large, delicious, rowdy dinner together. We had way too much fun. Over the years, we've had lots of these birthday dinners. These women are near and dear to my heart. But its not because of dinner's like this. The moments I treasure, are the ones that come later in the evening, when the crowd has thinned, and the sound decibel has lowered, and you suddenly find yourself standing in a circle, outside, in the dark and the cold, bearing one another's burdens. These are the moments that I cherish. The ones where hearts open up to talk about wounds, and friends gather together and pray.

This morning as I'm still pondering these things, and begging my Heavenly Father to intervene, I'm reminded that its these quieter moments that make up a lifetime. And it's true for our kids too.

Though there will be memories made at the amusement parks and the birthday parties through life, these are not the things our children are going to cherish. What's going to encourage their hearts, and give them strength each day is the quieter moments. Snuggling together on an overcast morning, whispers of "I love you's", and conversations while you're driving.

I'm hoping the sum of these quiet moments make a lifetime of cherished moments.

Reminds me of Chris Tomlin's song says, "In the secret, in the quiet place, in the stillness you are there." Lord, help me to remember its the quiet moments you call us too, and the quiet moments that matter most.

Get Ahead of the Summer Boredom

Blogosphere right now has a plethora of ideas to keep your kids busy all summer long. Today, I wanted to point you in the direction of two featuring the same idea.

Boredom Busters!

With summer here you're bound to eventual hear those not-so-favorite words, "Mom, I'm bored." To get ahead of the boredom curve why not put together some Boredom Busters. Get some notecards or print or use a template and whip up some activity cards, put them in a jar, bucket or box and point your kids to them as needed.

You can find lots of great boredom busters here at Intentionally Katie from last summer to help you aid making your own.

Or check out The Happy Housewife's printable template of ideas. She's created 80 activities for you to print and given you 15 blanks to make your own!

You might want to make several jars and divide them into categories, inside, outside, baking, crafting, etc - or just put them all in one and let the fun begin! Happy Boredom Busting!!

Still need more ideas? Check these ideas out too:
I'm Bored Let's Make Something
Little Wonders' Days
Thrifty Northwest Mom
The Daily Digi

100 Days of Summer

Here's 100 days of summer, one a day activities you and your kids will love! This sweet list comes from momadvice.com.

There are lots of baking and cooking together ideas in here which I love! Day 42, day 70 and day 77 are my particular favorites. But there's lots of great ideas for activities and adventures with small twists on your regular ventures that will make them extra special and fun!

What's your favorite summer time activity?

GET FED!

The GUM cookbook you all contributed to is finally available for order! You can order at GUM or following the service on Sunday, for only $15!

To check out a preview click here - this is really a very cool cookbook.

Thanks to Steffani Platt who compiled all our recipes, and a HUGE thanks to all of you who submitted recipes!!

Purchase a copy for yourself and one for a friend, relative or anyone, really!

Garage Sale

This is normally where I park my Ford Expedition:

As you can see there is no room for my car, and the stuff is starting to pile chest deep! My garage is almost literally overflowing with items donated for the GUM Garage Sale this Saturday. We'll be sorting and pricing several days this week, and I know there are still more furniture donations on their way!

How can you help? We're still taking donations! Especially big ticket items like furniture and baby gear. Contact me if you'd like to drop some things off.

But more importantly, plan to come check out all this stuff! We've got a very wide assortment of Clothing (Men's, Women's & Children's), Collectibles, Kitchen wares, Electronics, Books, Baby Gear, Furniture and more. Maybe there's something here for you! All the proceeds will go to the Growing Up Mom ministry to ensure we stay self-funded. So spread the word! Tell your family and friends to come by and check out the sale on Saturday, April 30th, between 7am - 1pm.

Easter Books & Treats

I came across this deal tonight, for those of you with Kindles or ebook readers of some sort; Amazon has The Very First Easter from The Beginners Bible free for download right now.

I look forward to being able to pull this ebook up on my phone the next time we're waiting in line somewhere, or playing at the park and just need a few minutes breather.

What Easter books do you and your kids love to read?



Someone asked me this morning (btw- what a fabulous parenting panel we had this morning!!) how to make those cute, tasty little edible nests. So of course, google and me spent a few minutes together and I came up with these! Check out these Easter Treat - Edible Bird Nests. They are super easy to make and you can get really creative with the what you fill the next with!


If you are a little more adventurous you could try making these Chocolate Easter Surprise Eggs from Not Martha. I'm seriously considering trying to attempt these this year!

Look at the chocolate goodness, just under the shell, and when you break it more candies fall out!

What special things are you preparing this season?

Tunnels and Tents

Here's what happened recently when we labeled our park day, "TUNNELS & TENTS". This was super duper fun. Except for the unseasonably and unbearably warm temperatures!

We'll definitely need to do this again!!

MSM

Okay I think we've pointed you to Money Saving Mom a few times before. If you haven't bookmarked her or added her to your blog reader yet - now is the time!



She has great stuff on their regularly, and I couldn't pass up letting you know about a couple of great deals she tipped me off to today.

First of all, Amazon has a FREE ebook copy of Calm My Anxious Heart available right now. If you don't have an ebook reader (like a kindle or ipad) or a smart phone, you can download software from Amazon and read ebooks on your PC.

Second, on March 8, 2011, Chili’s is offering up to two free kid’s meal with each adult meal purchased with this coupon.

Thanks, Money Saving Mom!!
Enjoy!!

10 Ways to Play

Amy over at Let's Explore has started a monthly series called Ways to Play. Each month through the year she's posting "10 Ways to Play in ... [which] highlights 10 fun and simple ways to play and connect with your kids."

Visit her site to download the printable and then post it on your fridge or keep it somewhere handy when you need a fun easy activity to do with your kids. Some of them will need slightly more planning than others, but these are all simple activities you can execute in your home with materials on hand.

Go get 10 Ways to Play in February!

What a great idea - thanks Amy!

Valentine's Craftiness

Here are two cute ideas for Valentine festiveness.

1. I found this on Intentionally Katie, you can visit the link for her full blog post; but here's my take.Snap a picture or two of your kid or kiddo with something heart shaped. Younger kids use an small wooden heart, older kids you can use a heart cut out of paper. Any heart shaped object will do, and likely you already have one or can make one (see below) pretty easily. Then use the photo as valentine's for playmates, grandparents or simply frame as a decoration in your own home. I took several pics of my kids and came up with this collage - it will go in Jon's office at work, as the clients give him a hard time if he doesn't have recent photos!

2. Simple Heart Wreath
This one is from Prudent Baby. It was super easy to do (after borrowing some flower punches - thanks Dana!). I picked up a circular piece of foam and cut it to size. Covered it in felt. Arranged the flowers around it and stuck them with pins. Added some ribbon to hang, and voi-la - cute pretty heart decoration.

More Valentine Treats

Okay, so it has come to my attention that my crochet and crafting projects may have left out a whole other group of mommies. The bakers! So for all you who love to bake and create in the kitchen these ideas are for you! For forth prosper your families tummies! And just to make sure I don't leave anyone else out, there's also a couple of super easy, no baking, crafting, crocheting, sewing skills required ideas.

Many of you know, I'm a sucker for food on a stick! All good food comes on a stick: corndogs, lollipops, kabobs, Popsicle, chocolate dipped pineapple, cake pops... see where I'm going here? So of course I flipped for these Heart Rice Krispie Pops! Rice Kripie Treats on. a. stick! Super easy, tasty and I know your kids will love helping you make them. If you don't have the cool heart shaped pan, you could use a heart shaped cookie cutter (or other spring themed cookie cutters). Valentine's sprinkles look just as good on square or circle pops too!
Anyone looking for a special treat for your child's teacher? How about these? Valentine Candy Jar. I love the use of the baking cup under the lid!
And here's one more for your kids classmates, another cute use for baking cups!
Baking Cup Flower Valentines

Conspiracy of Freedom

Oh! I fixed the odd video size to fit!! Hooray!

Hearts

Valentine's Day is coming and my blog reader is being inundated with Valentines crafts, projects and more, as I'm sure yours is too (if you have a blog reader). Right away, I pulled this Heart Garland aside and put it on my to do list. It's crochet, but you could easily whip something similar up with felt or quilted hearts.

So I re-taught myself to crochet again - I'm really terrible because I've only done one crochet work before and I didn't even finish it. My sister showed me the basics and then I watched youtube videos to re-inforce and remind myself what all the abbreviations mean. So of course I've just now after several hours of work got the hang of it, and have almost made more than I've ripped out.

I can't do anything else while I crochet. I'll instantly lose my place in the pattern and when you're making a heart with varying stitches and counts, you can likely guess what happens. I have to stay focused. Watching each stitch I make, counting, checking the pattern. It requires huge amounts of attention to detail, close inspection, sometimes backing up and ripping out what was done and starting over from that point. Careful weaving, each stitch interwoven with the others.

And then I heard God's voice.

Jesus whispered to my soul, "I'm just as careful with your heart, little one. I carefully wove it together in your mothers womb, and I'm lovingly attending to the details now, each joy, each struggle, each tear, I'm here and I know them full well."

He did not create us and send us on our merry way to navigate this dark and hopeless world by ourselves. He did not give us children and then expect we could raise them on our own. He's still here, right beside you and me, carefully attending to the details, paying close attention. Sometimes, when we let him, ripping out the parts that got all jumbled and mixed up and lovingly starting over, weaving all things together, to make something beautiful. Something worthy of Him. Something that glorifies Him.

Hallelujah! Praise God for his intimacy in our lives! I'm so glad for it!!

In case you're wondering. I did finish the heart garland! Here it is - don't look too closely!!

Laundry, Organization and other Home-making Tips

Last week the fabulous Lisa Hall came and spoke to us on Home Organization. The more organization we have the more time we have for the important things: our family and friends, ministry, our hobbies and passions - you get the drift. A little organization goes a long way.

So here's one of my light-bulb moments from the plethora of what Lisa shared and it's about laundry. I hate it. Hate. it. Seriously, if I wasn't eco conscious and didn't hate clothes buying more than laundry itself, I would just wear disposable clothes. One time use and move on. No washing ever. But alas, that's totally unrealistic. Frankly, this is all Adam and Eve's fault for eating that fruit. If they hadn't had a nibble of that fruit, then clothes never would have been invented. I digress.Back to laundry. When Lisa was talking it occurred to me that she actually STAYS in her laundry room and folds the laundry straight out of the dryer. STRAIGHT. OUT. of. the. dryer. !!

WHERE HAVE I BEEN? Why hasn't this monumentally important detail never occurred to me before? Because when you get down into the facts, what I really hate about laundry is folding. Lord help me, there better not be laundry in heaven!

I hate folding. Therefore I put off folding. Which only creates bigger mountains of clean laundry overflowing all over my house. Then they get wrinkly and as I'm sure you can guess, I'm certainly not an ironer (one who irons). Beyond the wrinkles, the cat lays in them, or the kids knock them over...sigh. I'm exhausted and irritated just thinking about it.

So I have resolved: I will no longer remove the laundry from the dryer unless I am literally folding it right then. This halts all laundry being done, so I'm incentivized (this is clearly not a word, but I'm sticking with it) to actually do it or never have clean clothes again. And it breaks it down into smaller folding sessions - which means less time folding and I hate folding, oh wait, I think we covered that already.

I also think I'll be adding four bins to our laundry room for the clean and folded laundry to go into so that little helpers can help me put it away. We'll see, for now...I'm liking this plan.

What was your favorite part of what Lisa shared? Did you have a light-bulb moment?