Fun Spring Activity

Looking for a fun, inexpensive, and easy spring activity to do with your kids?  We made some colored rice to play with the other day and it was a huge hit.  * Warning: when your kids play with rice it will likely end up everywhere but it's worth it!*

Easy Colored Rice Recipe (kids can help with every step except the hot water):
1)  Put 2 cups of rice in a plastic bag.
2)  In a bowl, pour in 1 package of kool-aid and enough hot water to dissolve the kool-aid (about 1/4 a cup or less).
3)  Pour the kool-aid into the rice bag.  Seal, and mix it together with your hands.
4)  Pour the colored rice onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet or pan and use a spoon to even it out into one layer of rice.
5)  Let it sit outside in the sun for about 20 minutes or until it's dry.  (If it's not sunny, this will take a couple of hours.)
6)  Scoop it off and pour it into a container.  Let your kids play!

(As you're cleaning up a huge mess on the floor afterwards, repeat to yourself, "Making this memory with my kids was totally worth it.")

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This Isn't the Time

So much I'd love to post, but my friends, this is not the time! Of all the priorities in my life as I seek to serve the Lord and my family during this Christmas season, the blog's got to go. Hopefully, I'll be able to follow up on more posts about what the Lord's been teaching me regarding marriage in the new year. Maybe over the next week I'll have a chance to post some updates about the kids...you know-posts that take little time and can just be plopped up here. We'll see!

A couple Tali quotes from today:

To Owen as he stood up on his own: "Oh, duhd, dob, bruh-duh! I'm powd of you!"

To Owen when he got up from his nap: "Oh, hi bruh-duh! Hi, baby bruh-duh! How wuz yuh nap, Owey? It wuz duhd? Whud you do up dare in yuh trib?"

To her baby and blankie, "Oh baby...oh bane-kee...I dust love you sooo muts!"

"Oh Lord...oh Lord...you an-suh my pay-uh!"

And my favorite quote from Owey today. He was signing it and saying it while looking out the window at the beautiful white snow falling down: "N-OH!!!!! N-OH!!!!!" (snow)

I look forward to updating about his chattyness sometime...this boy is following in the footsteps of his sissy and talking up a storm!

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Sacrificing Time

I'm not sure if there's ever been a time that I've read the Holy Experience blog and not started crying at one point or another along a post. And folks, I'm not that big of a crier. Her words just ring so true to my heart again and again.

As a mom who struggles to fight selfishness, especially in regards to what I deem as "my time," Amy's post today was just what I needed to hear. If you're a mom who knows that fight to give of yourself rather than holding back, I encourage you to read it. It's worth the time.

Let's be moms who "pluck" today.

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Being A Mom on Sundays: What About Their Naps?

I love having my kids on a routine. This is partially because I think that routine does serve them and serve our family, but also because I can sinfully crave predictability. I like my kids going down for naps at exactly the same time, waking up at the same time (if only!), eating at the same time, etc. And guess what? No one consulted me about my kids' routines before they decided what time to start church. (Can you believe it??!!)

Looking at Sundays as something that "gets in the way" of Tali & Owen's routine is a huge hindrance to my joy at church. When I sigh over Owen missing his nap or grumble in my heart about Tali not getting her lunch as early as usual, I am missing the point of Sunday mornings. The point is to meet with the Lord and His people; the point is not for my kids to keep their schedule. What they need most, what I need most is not a consistent routine each and every day of the week. What we need most is a Savior.

As I drive to Sovereign Grace, I want to thank God for the gift of being able to raise my kids in a Gospel-centered church. The fact is that Tali and Owen (and their mommy) need the saving truth that we hear each week much more than we need to maintain my schedule.

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Being a Mom on Sundays

Since I've had Tali, my love for Sunday mornings has not come easily. Sadly, each week it is a fight to see the blessing of Sundays. Sunday mornings involve hours of preparation on Saturday evening (packing diaper bag, getting clothes set out, loading the car), occasionally catching a tiny bit of a sermon, handing Cheerio after Cheerio to Tali, nursing Owen, walking the halls, etc. Yes, this is just for a season. But while I'm in this season, I need God's help to view Sundays through the lens of the Gospel instead of through my sinful selfishness. I've not perfected this at all but it's something that I'm seeking to think about.

One way that I can do this is to look at Sundays as a day for serving God's people, not a day about me. When we were at the Pastor's College, one woman shared about going on Sundays looking for ways to serve. What a difference that makes when we take our eyes off of ourselves and look for ways to serve others! She made the comment, "Someone here needs to be edified. Lord, who is it today?" Her practice has been to walk into church praying, asking the Lord to direct her to a person that she can encourage or pray for. Instead of going to church, looking for how I can be built up, I want to go looking for who I can encourage.

As a mom with small kids, this may take place in the nursing mom's room or in the hall or even for 2 minutes before the service starts. Maybe it's not the lengthy discussion that I was once able to have, but I can still pray for someone in 30 second version if I'm looking at how I can serve instead of lamenting the ways that I'm not being served (aka: not sitting through an entire sermon, etc).

More thoughts later.

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