Still Here

 Oh yes, I'm still here. We've just been a bit busy these last couple weeks.  We were having company and then getting ready for more company too.

 So we set up  this fun little bedroom in our front room.

And now it's filled with company and everyone is getting used to new routines and activities.

I have many stories and pictures, but still am working on computer time.

Some things we've been enjoying:

• Some good Indian curries
• Naps
• Card games
• Spring
• Walks
• A little girl who is smiling and "talking"
• Said little girl starting to sleep 7 hours
• Pussy willows
• Family
• New words

Making your home a haven

Over at Abbi's blog and the Homespun heart they're doing a daily "making your home a haven" challenge. I've been enjoying reading along since it's something I've been thinking about recently.

So, I thought maybe it'd be good for me to join along too (even though I've missed a couple days)

My main goal right now, is to make our home pleasant and peaceful for M. to come home to after a long day. Also, for any guests we might have come over. As of late, I seem to be having some attitude issues, so I think that should be my first focus.

Haven:
   A place of port, shelter, safety, refuge and assylum. (http://www.dictionary.com/)

My goals for today, to "Make our home a Haven"

Personal Time: Spend and hour reading - Right now I'm reading in Psalms, and have 2 other books to read (Feeding Your Soul, and Miserly Moms). Spend 10 minutes in memorization. Since I'm having attitude issues, I will pick 4 verses about attitude to memorize/review.

Family Time:  Make granola bars today for M.'s snacking. Plan a relaxing activity for this evening.

House Time: Clean out my messy clutter drawer. Clean up kids toy area.

A Project

Because I have 3 nieces...

Because I like playing with Marazuka dolls...

Because I found some clearance deals at Target...

And just because I'm a little weird...
I did a fun little project:

Yes, I understand White is not the best color for little kids....but I think it looked nice;)

 I started off with this one. A little Scribble paint and fabric Rose (thanks to Mom)

 And the same for this one...

And finished with this one!
Ta-Da!



Saturday Mornings

   We re-arranged our bedroom to minimize those winter drafts. This morning was so cozy and nice! Sunita slept 3 hours at a time, and then when the sun started peeking through the curtain we all stayed under the warm toasty covers having a relaxing, slow morning.
   It was so nice having no scgedule, no blow-outs, no rush or fuss that I hope more of our Saturday mornings are this way in the future. It's nice having a family!

25 Indoor Game Ideas

In the event of it being too cold to do much outside, what can you do inside with your kids and family? I had all sorts of fun coming up with this list of ideas from websites and books for my sis and brother in law. Of course, not having kids to practice this on myself, I have no idea if these would really work or be fun, and seeing the way my last couple classes went that I taught, most likely these might be flops, but here's hoping!

1) Indoor Camping

Flashlight
Indoor S'mores
Tent or sheet tent

2) Indoor picnic in a box
blanket
special picnic food

3) Glow-In-The-Dark hide and seek

Use glow in the dark bracelets found at the dollar store

4) ABC hunting in the house game

Make a list of common items that you could find around the house that start with letters of the alphabet. Have a "treasure" hunt to see if you can find them all

5) Make a cake

6) What's missing?

find small items - like a spoon, doll, shoe, timer, etc) and group them together. Take a good look at them, cover with a towel and take one item away. Then look again and see if you can tell which item is missing

7) Tightrope walking

8) Puppet shows

9) Indoor Obstacle Course

pillows
box
laundry basket
couch
taped lines on floor
quilt

10) Bowling
cardboard toilet paper tubes, paper towel tubes, or plastic bottles
small inflatable ball

11) Balloon Tennis
balloons
flyswatters
drying racks
paper plates with popsicle sticks stapled to it

12) Bean Bag Toss (into laundry basket)

13) Pillow Fight (make special little pillows for this event)

14) Letter writing

have a shoe box filled with envelopes, junk mail, stickers, colored pencils etc

15) Paper bag pinata - the little paper lunch sacks probably work best

16) Popcorn party

17) Bug Hunt

creative bug "nets" (could be anything from a plastic sack to a real net made with netting and a stick)
bug stickers or picture cards

18) Hide-The-Marbles (or milk caps or thimble)

19) Make a car out of a box

20) Gift wrapping game
wrapping paper or gift bags

play it where you find a gift from your house that you alread have and "re-gift" it, practicing saying thank you and something nice about what you recieved

21) Make a book

color pictures

cut out people pictures

make a book with you own photos

22) Treasure Map

use a floor plan of your own house to seek out a hidden treasure

23) Bake cinnamon rolls to give away

24) Sound Hide-and-Seek

hide a ticking clock and see if you can find it

25) Dance Night
Music
Colored scarves or streamers

26) Relay Race

And last of all, I found this book at our local library and it really has some neat ideas for making your own board games, and some fun snow games to play too!

Rememberance

I want you to know you are never forgotten;

That the old, old days hid in my memory sweet

Are still a part of my life that I cherish -

Without them so much would be incomplete.

And you are mixed up with so much I remember,

Your name so often I utter in prayer;

Never forgotten, on earth or in heaven,

Always the child of God's tenderest care.

I want you to know you are never forgotten,

That my thoughts and my prayers are folding you round.

Rest in His promises, go where He send you,

Do what He bids you, faithful be found.

Look up and trust Him, a new year is dawning,

Stretch out your hand and take His today;

Bought by Him, loved by Him, never forgotten,

Hid in His heart forever and aye.

~ Anonymous

A Story Tree...

It was about this time last year that I stumbled upon something called The Jesse Tree here on the internet. I hadn't heard of it before, and as I read different pages on it, I became intrigued. It seems like such a great teaching tool!

I liked:

• The emphasis on those verses predicting Jesus' coming & the Messiah (I don't study those much)
• The use of those verses during Christmas season
• A tree (I have always loved Christmas lights on a tree in the dusk....)

I didn't like:

• That it all led up to December 25th and then stopped. Jesus was not born on Dec 25th
• That it only led up to Jesus' birth

So, the more I thought about it, the more I thought I'd like to adapt it to my own use, and since have had a wonderful time researching and studying out my own series of lessons. I have never done a tree like this yet, but this year, thought it might be fun to have my own "Virtual Christmas Tree." Perhaps you could use some of the ideas I have as well....feel free!

Here are some notes:

1. There are 23 lessons. One for each day Mon-Fri of December. (skipping the weekends)
2. I want it to emphasize, that from the beginning, God had a master plan for us, that He carried out/is carrying out to this day!
3. It is formatted for a once a day devotional style activity
4. I am actually working now, on condensing the lessons to possibly use in my Sunday morning kid's class. (we'll see how that works)

So, starting tomorrow, I'd like to share with you, my Virtual Christmas Tree. :)

Towel Fun

Check out this link for how to make a bath towel into an ELEPHANT!

Wouldn't that be a fun thing to make for your guests? :) I think so.

It really was a great weekend. We got to go to Philly for M.'s cousin's wedding. It was my first "live" experience with an Indian wedding....and I really enjoyed myself.

I thought the reception was beautifully done. We went to help set up Friday night. Everyone there was Indian....except when the florists came. They were a white American family. When they were working I thought, "Huh. They really stand out don't they! So white." It just looked so interesting when everyone else was dark. And then I was like, oops, the joke's on me. I guess I stick out pretty good too....especially when I was the ONLY one of about 30 people eating at the rehersal dinner. ha ha!

It was a pretty traditional wedding....took about 2 hours for the actual ceremony. We got up at 5:30am on Saturday....and were all done around 4pm. Wow!

You can't tell from this picture very well, but the color was burnt orange and gold. Very pretty I thought (there was some disagreement on this among the cousins)

In the morning, the groom's family all comes over for a buffet style breakfast and then the priest comes to pray and bless the groom. Pictures are taken. Lots of people chatter in a language that I am just starting to speak like a baby. The groom's family gives all the ladies a gift of a saree. (That's a lot of sarees)

Astrology plays a big part in these ceremonies too I guess, and it was found out that it would be "bad" to be in the house between 9 and 10am. So, we had to be finished with everything and out of the house by 8:45am. A limo came to pick up the groomsmen and groom. We (M and I rode with the wedding co-ordinator/a cousin) took a quick side trip to the bride's house too, and saw the limo there. (they weren't ready quite yet though)

At the church we got roped into being ushers and co-ordinators. My job was to pin the corsages on. I did okay for about half of them, and then about reception time I noticed a lot of them were leaning or flipped upside-down! (We fixed those)

The ceremony was mostly in their language, with a little bit of english. Lots of prayers and congregational responses and blessings. The most important part is when the priest says something over the bride and groom's gold chains ("crowns") that they then exchange (like rings). Once on, they are officially "wed" (though the service isn't near over yet). They did also do rings. And then there is a part involving giving of a red and gold saree to the bride. And then more blessings and ordinances. Then they are pronounced man and wife and exit the stage to the back. (no PDA)

The guests then went to the reception hall and ate appetizers, while the family stayed to take pictures. Then the bride and groom go change (I can't believe I didn't take a picture of them after that)...the bride into her red saree and the groom into a gold traditional outfit.

Then we eat.

And a bunch of cousins and aunts and uncles did things like songs and dances and toasts during the recpetion. And the mother's came up and lit a big oil lamp with the couple. And then presented a pineapple to them, and they drank out some juice. Oh yes, they cut cake too, but just to give each other a piece, not for everyone. (But I'll tell you a secret....since we were at Auntie and Uncle's house, a cousin and I got to eat cake later....and it was good!)

Everyone had to hurry and be finished by 2 since there was another program coming. So at 2 we all headed over to Auntie & Uncle's house (at least all the realatives on both sides) and then there's more ceremony there. The bride and groom have to step over the threshold with their right foot. The bride accepts a lit oil lamp from the Mother-in-Law. Then everyone is served juice and tea and snacks. The couple has to drink some milk out of cups. Everyone visits and then the bride and groom head off to the bride's house to do a similar thing.

Then all the cousins and aunts started diviying up the leftovers and laughing and talking. The men went outside to sit. I just kind of puttered around....can't do a whole lot when you don't know what everyone is saying, and also we were very tired at this point.

Around 5 M's school advisor (who is also in Philly) came to pick us up with his family to take a quick tour of the city, so I don't know what happened after we left, but pretty much everyone finished up and went back to another cousin's house to do stuff together.

"A magnificent marriage begins not with knowing one another, but with knowing God."

~ Gary & Besty Riccucci

Card Making for Kids

I spent some time recently trying out these fun cards for kids!
I think they were a success.....and they were fun to mail out too!

Interesting Parenting Articles

I just wanted to share with you this interesting site I was reading this morning, with parenting and teaching ideas.

Raising Godly Tomatoes

I really enjoyed her tips and practical application of obedience and her fun stories and encouragement of the example we should set to those younger and under our authority.

I hope you find some helpful wisdom here too.

What Have I Been Up To?

Well, I don't have as much time as usual (due to tax season)..... to contemplate what to post, what to write, different layouts, chit-chat, and such....but there will come that time again.... until then, here is a snippit of what I've been up to:

Attending my brother's wedding in AZ was our most recent adventure.

I started some plants for the first time, and have been tending them with amature care.

I've decided to start recycling. It's been helpful already with projects (more posts to come), though a bit messy.

I've been teaching with Abbi on Wednesday nights. We've been studying the Armor of God, and now are doing stories from Acts.

I've been drooling over places to go, things to see this coming summer.

I had my hair cut.

I've been trying to plan ahead on my grochery shopping and menu planning....plus eating more fresh fruit and veggies. I've had a couple successes...I'll let you see the recipes later :)

And of course, been busy at work. Hope your weeks are going great...and you are enjoying God's sunshine!

Take care,

Emily

Loads of Veggies!

After last weekend, and since we were in the cities for an appointment, my sister and I went grochery shopping at the coolest discount produce place. I was able to get

• Kiwi (15 cents each)
• Mushrooms (79 cents each)
• Coconut (50 cents each!)
• Red & Orange peppers (99 cents each)

I was very excited for all that good food at such a great price....plus, my sister had bought me 6 lbs of broccoli and cauliflower the previous week too! So last night, we had veggie stir fry over rice....and I added my home-grown sprouts too! yum :) (though I don't think I calculated my rice right, or kept a good eye on it!)

Before I headed over to Mom's to help work on dresses, I decided to get some of the produce ready for the freezer (before it spoiled!). Here is how I did it:

Chopped up all the broccoli & cauliflower and washed it.

Ran a clean sink-full of ice cold water.

Boiled water. After it came to a boil, added the produce and boiled for 3 minutes.

Dumped the cooked veggies into the cold water, to stop it cooking. Then I packed it in tupperware, and froze!

And here are the dresses mom is working on....I went to help cut "pink" the seams and edges.

Winter Retreat

Last weekend was full for sure! Our much anticipated, planned for, Winter Retreat finally came! Lots of friends and family came up for the weekend (we got to have the Chudeks and Irindee stay with us!).

We had great sermons, lots of fun fellowship, and good food (of course).

(I meant to get more posted here, but I'm out of time for today...more updates later)

Valentines Ideas

We thought we might be babysitting on Valentines Day, so I came up with a plan. As it turns out, it's not needed, so I thought I'd share it with you :)

Things to Do:

• In-the-house Treasure Hunt (clues written on paper hearts....leading to the treasure:construction paper hearts stapled back to back and filled with treats)
• Sledding
• Read any books emphasizing that God Loves You
• Make cookies
• Hide small hearts around the living room and hunt for them
• Visit some of our elderly friends with baked goods and cards
• Go for a walk

Breakfast Plan:

• Strawberries
• Heart shaped pancakes

Supper Plan:

• Spread the table with a red tablecloth, white plates, and red and white napkins
• Heart-shaped Pizza
• Apple slices
• Red jello in heart mold
• Red rice-crispy bars

Happy Holidays

Here are some creative jump-starts for January! (italics are edits by me)

January Unique & Bizzare Holidays

Month:

National Blood Donor Month
National Braille Literacy Month
National Hobby Month
Hot Tea Month
National Oatmeal Month
National Soup Month

12 National Pharmacist Day
13 Make Your Dream Come True Day
14 Dress Up Your Pet Day
15 National Hat Day (wear a hat today!)
16 National Nothing Day (wonderful time to study the beginnings of our world...creation vs. evolution)
17 Ditch New Years Resolutions Day
18 Thesaurus Day
18 Winnie the Pooh Day -The Birthday of Winnie's author A.A. Milne (tea party anyone?)
19 Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday , celebrated on the third Monday
19 National Popcorn Day (caramel popcorn, regular popcorn, invite-some-kids-over kind of popcorn)
20 National Buttercrunch Day
20 Penguin Awareness Day (have you seen March of the Penguins? Invite someone over for brownies and the movie)
21 National Hugging Day
21 Squirrel Appreciation Day (did you know how many colors they come in?)
22 National Blonde Brownie Day (delicious....maybe make some for your co-workers)
23 National Pie Day (do you have a favorite? our is chocolate-chip pie)
23 National Handwriting Day (have you hand written any letters recently?)
23 Measure Your Feet Day-

24 Compliment Day (how are you about thinking of others first? take a challenge today!)
25 Opposite Day (are you working with toddlers? how about some active opposite games?)

26 Spouse's Day (do something special today)
27 Chocolate Cake Day
27 Punch the Clock Day
28 Fun at Work Day (lighten up!)
28 National Kazoo Day (have you ever tried rounds with the Kazoo?)
29 National Puzzle Day (Try a new one as a family or invite some friends over)
29 National Cornchip Day
31 Backward Day (how about eating a meal in backward order?)

Learning Hospitality

One thing I'm constantly learning and do love reading up and studying on, is hospitality. I've found a neat list of books that I'm "paitently" waiting for through our library. Also, I have many friends and relatives to be thankful for, for their wonderful tips, ideas, and examples!

Do you have any favorite verses, resources, links, books, or stories about hospitality?

Here is a recent succesful meal idea:

Oyster Stew

Popovers

Fresh Lettuce Salad with Italian Dressing

Mint Ice-Cream Cake

New Year's Eve

We went to church and ate and played games

See all the goodies!

(This was a bisquit appetizer wreath topped with dip and veggies)

Sweet Deals

This was my sweet deal last Saturday. Mathew and I had a "day out" doing errands and such.

1st of all, we checked out some information at Affinity Bank on their savings rates. We were pleasantly surprised with a couple of their programs, one of them even being a rewards checking account, for which you can earn a gift card every month. Their service there is really great, easy to get a hold of someone, lots of resources, and competitive rates. I'd encourage you to check out if there is one near you!

2nd, we decided to use a gift card to Applebees for a special lunch out, since it'd been a while since we'd gone to a nice restaruant together. I had chicken pasta and salad with a strawberry lemonaid....delicious! We were able to have a nice long visit over lunch, too.

3rd, we decided to check out Target's Christmas clearance since we also had a gift card for there. Above was our good deals. I have been looking for a squegee, so was happy they had one in their dollar section! Also, the chocolate chips were free, the egg nog mix makes 8 cups for $1, and the candy canes were 25 cents....to save for another idea I have.

I'm so thankful for the day!