Gettin' Crafty

I've been noticing a new trend with Christian that I don't like....
as soon as he gets home from school he just disappears.
He either goes outside to build a fort and ride the four wheeler, or he heads to the basement to play the wii or he goes up to his room to build stuff with Legos.
I know he needs time to chill out but I want to hear about his day and connect with him a little.
So I'm trying to be purposeful about making that happen without being pushy.

Last week, McKenna and I were ready when he got home!

We thought it would be fun to make salt dough ornaments together.

Christian was not thrilled.

At first he did NOT want to participate, but then he saw how much fun we were having getting all messy and then I told him we were going to paint them and he quickly joined right in and worked on those ornaments on and off all night.

This is the EASIEST craft project ever!

Recipe:

1 cup salt

2 cups flour

1 cup water (maybe a little less)

Mix it all together, knead it a little, roll out the dough and use cookie cutters to cut out shapes.

Don't forget to punch a hole in each ornament before you cook them. I just stuck a straw in ours.

Bake @ 325 degrees for about 40 minutes (I flipped our ornaments over half way through).

Let them cool, then paint them.

Love her face.

Oh she has been precious lately.

He loved it.

The painting was the best part!

They sure do look alike don't they?

I'll be honest...my heart feels thick with grief this week. I've cried every day since Friday for the families who lost their precious kindergarteners and first graders. I'm sure those families aren't far from your mind either.

I treasure that precious face and when I dropped him off at school this morning I sat in the parking lot and prayed over that school in the name of Jesus.

I find peace in the fact that my kids belong to Jesus. I trust Him. My job is to just keep pointing their hearts to him. It's so easy to do this time of year. Christmas is a natural time to make it all about Jesus, but now I'm starting to think about January and the rest of 2013 and figure out what my plan is to keep Jesus in the forefront of our minds the rest of the year.

I hope you have a joyful week. It's one week until the BIG day. 

I know so many people who's hearts are struggling this week.

I remember my dad explaining to me when I was little what the word "rejoice" means.

He told me that when you're car is out of fuel you have to "refuel" it. 

When your heart is out of "joy" it's time to "rejoice."

How do you do that?

Sing to Him

Read His word

Pray out loud

If you're starting to think about 2013 too and spending time reading the Bible has never been "your thing" then let me recommend a great little quick devotional that you could read each day:

Jesus Calling By: Sarah Young

I'm going to share ((later, once I have a minute to get it all planned out) one of the things we're going to start doing in January. It's going to be easy (no daily prep work) and great for my kiddos and we're going to use this Children's Bible: The Jesus Story Book Bible.

If you don't have those two books, you should get them!

Isaiah 9:6

...and His name shall be called,

Wonderful Counselor,

The mighty God,

The everlasting Father,

the Prince of Peace