Christmas ideas

BTW -here is a cute idea for Christmas decorations (made from paddle-pop sticks) that looks fun and inexpensive. Not that we get snow in this part of the world - but it is a nice thought!

Storage box - another one!

I finally finished entering the Salvos Competition - Furnish with a Conscience. I think the hardest part was figuring out how to upload photos and enter information into their website (my very patient hubby helped me with that:)!

Well here is the before photo:

Not actually sure what this ugly box was before - it had no base, so I flipped it over and made the top the base and added a lid from MDF (plus a trim of wood to neaten up the rough edges around the new "top"

I bought it for a massive $5

I painted the box a tan colour (using a tin of mistint paint I picked up for $3) then painted little creatures on each side. I outlined the pictures with a brown Nikko pen (which cost me more than the box... eeek!).

I padded the top and blanket-stitched a star onto the fabric (I picked fabric up from toss out bin at Salvos, too). Next I staple-gunned the fabric down and my beloved husband (ever so patient with my ridiculous projects:) helped me chisel a tad so I could add hinges to the box.

Here are some After shots:

Some views of each side:

:

The majority of the work has been finished for some time - only just got to the hinges last night!

Well it is now in Rosa's room and will soon be holding a bunch of nappies - both for a two-and-a half-year old and soon a newborn! (This way Rosa can actually reach them for herself - yay!)

Was all fun - but as always, nice to be finished (am sure to find another arty project soon;)

Salvation

Well, it was my foggy, pregnant brain! I am so sorry about that :(

Well, here is something new and exciting that just happened today - puts a smile in my heart.

This morning we witnessed the testimony and baptism of a gentleman from our church (hopefully photos to come). This gentleman, about 50-ish (eek - terrible at guessing ages:) has been a believer for about 3 yrs.

He shared that he had grown up in a Catholic church and having a fear of sharing with the priest his 'confession' as well as witnessing some coldness within the church decided religion was not for him. He married a sweet lady who was also a non-believer. Through the witness of a neighbour, his wife came to the Lord. This faithful prayer-warrior prayed for 30 long years for her hubby to come to know Christ. She went through a lot when he joined the police force and struggled to come to terms with what he witnessed. He took out his frustrations on his family and kids and became even harder. He later suffered a heart attack and was challenged by a friend to be ready to meet Christ (maybe a Christian police officer - not sure on specific details - only that an officer friend invited him to the Salvation Army Church). The Lord worked on his heart during a particular service there which lead to his salvation. After 30 long years of prayer he has come into a relationship with His creator! This man broke down and wept when he shared how long his wife had prayed for him.

The Lord truly cares for the lost

The prayers of a faithful, consistent wife (or Father, Uncle, friend, whoever...) are heard!

The whole event of a genuine conversion can have a bonding effect on the church. After the service I dropped a few people home and was so encouraged to hear the conversation in the van - one woman from Ghana encouraging another gentleman to see that his daughter could come to the Lord - that he should keep praying! Am encouraged to pray for this woman too - and discovered today that her baby is due on the same day as mine... will know in more ways that one how to pray for her.

Our God is an awesome God!

memories

I had planned to post these thoughts a long time ago. I wrote myself a huge list and then forgot the 'safe' place that I put it... nonetheless ... Please... don't tell me I did end up posting this? Somehow I remember writing it all out but I do believe I never posted it? OR could it be my foggy, forgetful pregnant brain?

Sometimes I wonder what things my children will remember. I wonder what stays in their mind - the pleasant memories as well as the things that really upset them or things they may feel quite strongly about having experienced them in one way or other.

I wonder what spiritual lessons they will learn easily - and those that might be harder to learn because of the particular way the Lord wired them up. Those things become more obvious as they get older...

I have some fond memories from childhood. Many are quite simple things... little memories I have. I like to reflect on them from time to time and remember to do those things that may also be precious memories for my children.

Just thought I'd share a few little things that are sweet memories for me:

• Being wrapped tightly in a towel and snuggled tight after a bath
• Going off to sleep with my Dad practicing hymns for playing at church - somehow i just attached a sense of security to it.
• When my little dolly's leg broke and my Dad glued it (it couldn't swivel anymore) but instead made a pair of crutches for it out of paddle pop sticks
• Adults at church who took the time to talk to me as an individual (and we three sisters were often inseparable - in fact were often called "Hui, Duey and Lui" because we were always sitting together)
• Sitting in our lounge, where we had prayer meeting watching missionary slide shows from missos who were back for a time (and being allowed to stay up to watch)
• Having a tea party with my Grandma and Grandpa - being allowed to put 'real' tea into the cups and having real lollies to dish out to them :)
• Sitting in our apricot tree and feeding my face with yummy Tasmanian, home-grown apricots!
• Being allowed to select a hymn to sing in Bible study time (I think I nearly always chose the same one - Hymn no. 2 - To God be the Glory...)
• Having long chats with Mum sitting on the end of my bed (right into my teens - loved those chats!)

There are other memories that come to mind every now and then. I find, in reflecting on them, I am challenged to remember to incorporate little memories into the lives of our children. I am also challenged to be more flexible (a few late nights never hurt - a hard one for me to learn!). Most importantly I am challenged to make sure the moments count - that we make the most of those incidental conversations on spiritual matters, create an open atmosphere where our children can ask questions about what they read in the Bible, where they feel loved and cared for.... and all of that amongst the noisy, chaos that happens in our house on a daily, moment-by moment basis!

Help me Lord to hear your promptings amongst the noise and chaos, the arguing and the squealing!

What are some fond memories you have?

On observation of the above - no/little money was involved in any of these memories!

Christmas Teacher Gifts

...Please bear with me... lots of crafty type blog posts lately with various projects I've been doing. Well here are some Christmas treats we made for the staff at Owen's school.

Today Owen's class does a mini presentation (I believe they are singing a song about rainbow colours as Owen has been singing about different colours around the house;)

We have been again, pleasantly surprised by the caliber of teachers at his school - their extreme patience (which, trust me, they need mountains of!!) and their commitment to helping kids learn. We do not expect them to share our value system, but are extremely thankful that to date nothing has been deliberately opposing our views, either. We are so thankful. Also so thankful that our Owen has a close friend who he just loves to be with. Whenever he is away (and according to his report that has been a massive - 23 day this year (slow recovery time with colds, etc. as well as the regular medical appointments) he gets such a welcome back from his friend - who squeals with delight when he sees Owen and tells him over and over how much he was missed. Just beautiful to see.

...Anyway, here are the Christmas treats we threw together... So glad I thought to make these a week or so ago when the weather was cooler (froze them). All we had to do yesterday was decorate them. We used mini M&Ms ...

I also found some long, red-striped notebooks which came with matching pens. I decided to add a little embellishment:

With a little note from Owen on the back:

Then packaged them:

Or rather a bunch of them:

Ready for the day...

Though I must confess that a couple of the men disappeared somewhere along the production line:

... but who could blame such a cute culprit?

Rosa had such fun handing me bags for the men, M&M's for the eyes, etc. and has been talking about the whole procedure to Grandma who came to look after the kids last night! Might have a another keen crafter in the family!

From Trash to Treasure (well to something functional anyway)

Another Before and After project I have recently finished:

I brought two of these ugly speaker boxes home from church after there was a clean out - planning to dump them in the bins at home:

Before:

I was fiddling around with them and having seen Lauren's post a while ago with her georgeous toy boxes an idea snuck into my mind...

I gutted the boxes and tossed out all the wirey junk. Then I screwed the two boxes together lengthwise and wah - la they fit just where i wanted them too in the front entrance!

Then I gave them a coat of Prep-lock (love this stuff - paint that adheres to all sorts of surfaces and acts as an undercoat/primer before applying 'normal' paint) . Then a lick of white semi-gloss. I really need to give them another coat but was so eager to see it finished I haven't gone back to give it another coat:(

I had a friend cut a sheet of MDF to the right size for me, padded the top with layers of leftover carpet underlay followed by soft wadding. Then I used an piece of checkered blue/white blanket I picked up from fabric scrap bin at Salvos and staple-gunned it onto the lid. The lid is just sitting on top because I was a bit unsure of how to work out the hinges (hubby has since filled me in (another thing I haven't fixed due to my lazy pregnant state:(

Then with hubby's help and the right type of screws for chipboard - we screwed on wheels (I deliberately chose one set of wheels with locks on them end to avoid it being wheeled into walls:) though i wanted box to be able to move when I vacuumed and to have added height. (Incidentally if you want wheels we have found Super Cheap Auto a great place )

After

The purpose of the box -

• storage
• a seat for little ones to sit on while they put their shoes on/off

There - managed to save two ugly speaker boxes from joining the scrap heap (thanks for inspiration, Lauren) and have two happy campers...

Next job... to teach Rosa which shoe goes on which foot ...