Christmas Teacher Gifts

I like to make stuff. I especially like to make teacher gifts. The last two years I have gotten my ideas from Pinterest. Last year I took a shadow box and broken crayons to make the initial of the teacher's last name. This year I took a vase and pencils and hot glued the pencils to the vase. I thought it would be a cute little desk accessory. I took a ribbon and wrapped the pencil vase with a bow.
Below is a picture of this year's gift. To see last year's gift, look me up on Pinterest!

Photo Card

Joy Love Story Holiday

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Unmasking The Truth That Lies Behind Halloween | Gateway Church

Unmasking The Truth That Lies Behind Halloween | Gateway Church

Grasp His Love

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I probably don't get it, and neither do you.  The closet thing I can compare it to is how much I love my own children and God says He loves us even more.

Today was the first day in my parenting "career" that I had to punish my oldest child.  Don't get me wrong I have corrected him before and he has been in trouble, but I never have really had to punish him.  I don't want him to learn the hard way.  I just want him to grasp just how loved he really is!!!  He is not a bad kid, he just intentionally did something he knew he was already grounded from behind my back and didn't tell me about it.

Anyway I had to "ground" him.  I mean take EVERYTHING(and I mean everything) away.  He will now have to earn back his electronic devices and other technology boy toys.  I don't want to be that mom, but I will.  It hurts thou, because as a parent, I don't want him to have to learn the hard way.  I want him to just get it and live the abundant life God has for him.

That is when I know this is more than just punishing my son.  It is spiritual and if I love him then I have to punish him.  I would be doing a great injustice to his heart if I turned by head and looked the other way.  I want him to know that I care about him and the character of his heart.  I want him to know that he is really LOVED!!  I want him to obey.  And just to further that point, if he can't obey me then how should I expect him to obey God.

God so does this to us.  He wants to give us gifts.  My oldest wanted freedom, but the very thing he wanted he was keeping secret.  That is the same way God works.  Here are a few examples.  We want God to give us a new job, but if we don't go looking for a new job another is probably not going to fall into our lap.  We have to go and look.  Trust the promise of a better job out there waiting for us.  But we have to be obedient and go look for it.  We want God to  increase our fiances but we are hiding our tithe from God and waiting for him to do a miracle.  He can't do a miracle until we obey.

Sometimes the way that we purse freedom IS the very thing we must be set free from. (Bob Hamp)

If we obey God wants to give us blessings for obedience.  Just read it for yourself.

Deuteronomy 28:1-14

Blessings for Obedience 28 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: 3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. 6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. 7 The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. 8 The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. 9 The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. 10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. 11 The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. 12 The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.13 The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. 14 Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

At out church they teach the kids from the time they are born until they are 12 or so a song.  It is:

I am the head and not the tail.

I am above and never beneath.

I am blessed going in and blessed going out.

And everything I put my hands to will prosper.

That is exactly what I want for my son.  God has fearfully and wonderfully made him.  Not with a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and a sound mind.  I want everything he puts his hands to to prosper!  My prayer is that one day he will grasp just how loved he really is!

Grasp His Love

Strong

Here is a piece of my story

I remember going to the hospital because I could not stop throwing up.  I was hugging the toilet.  My then boyfriend put me in the car and drove as fast as he could to the hospital.  I never really got sick, so I knew something was not right.

We arrived at the hospital, I don't even remember checking in, and I was immediately given something to help me stop throwing up.  My head was so foggy, but do remember the nurse asking me if I was pregnant.  Me pregnant, um no, I just graduated valedictorian of high school and have a 4 year scholarship to the state university.

So they decided to run some test.  I didn't care what they did as long as they could help me.  When they came back, the doctor proceeded to tell me that in fact I was pregnant.  I remember it was like I was in the room, but I was not in the room.  So I just remembering thinking, just give me something to feel better so I can get some rest.  Like it did not even register to me what the news the doctor just had given me.  I went home and rested for two days.  Then decided I should face reality and go to the doctor to see if I was really pregnant or if I just had a bug and the test was "wrong".

Well, you guessed it, the test was correct.  I was pregnant.  So my boyfriend and I went to his house to tell his parents.  And his mom's response, "I knew it".   The next day boyfriend went to work and came home with a bag in his hand.  He had bought me a ring.  He threw the box on my lap and said "will you marry me?"

Was this really happening?  I mean this guy was 21 and still lived his parents and he is going to throw a ring at me and just assume because I am pregnant I was going to marry him.  Obliviously, this guy had no idea who I was.  I mean my childhood was a complete mess and I came out pretty good. Okay, I was pregnant, but I had been able to overcome the childhood "mess" without doing drugs or drinking and I had received a four year scholarship.  I could do this pregnancy.  Sure I knew it would be hard, but I practically raised my two younger brothers.  So I knew I could do the mommy thing.

Needless to say I pushed the boyfriend away.  I didn't know what a good husband looked like, but I knew it was not the guy who threw the ring in the box in my lap.  So I embraced that I was single and pregnant.  No one could do this for me.  Little did I know that God had been preparing me my whole life for this very moment.  I had a choice to make.  I could choose to lie down and let life get the best of me or stand up and be strong and walk thru this thing called life with my head up.  The choice for me was easy.  I had not made it thru life this far to give up now.  I choose to be strong and put one foot in front of the other and see where this path would lead me.

For I know the plans I have for you, "declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  (Jeremiah 29:11)

God gave me a son, a gift from above.  I named him Grant.  His name literally means a gift from God.  God knew what I needed and right when I needed it.  God has blessed Grant with gifts that are immeasurable.  I love that God chose me to be his mom.  I pray that his life will be a testimony to the love of God and a Father that gives good gifts in His own perfect timing!

Mom, there is nothing to do

How many times during the summer, especially, do I hear "mom, there is nothing to do" you ask?  Probably a million.  So I have this special chore jar.  If someone is so bored they have nothing to do, then they can pick a chore.  The system is not bullet proof, but it does cut down on the number of times I hear that famous line.

One of my favorite websites for mom tips is imom.com.  Check it out, great tools for all families.  There is no how to guide to parenting, but these little tidbits help along the way.  Daily mails are encouraging.  The print outs are super helpful.  They even provide printable praying charts.  So maybe the next time your kid(s) say they are bored, go to imom.com to check out some fun ideas.

Is Jesus your bff?

As girls we have bffs.  We learn that from a very young age.  There are people in your life that love you for you and those will be forever your bffs.  Here are some general rules bffs follow.
# 1Ruleno 1 and the MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL.. No girl may date her friend's; exs, past crushes, guys who have humiliated/used her and guys she currently fancies.. Acceptions to rule: a) Your friend has given you permission/ couldn't care less b) The said fancying/going out happened before the age of puberty 
# 2 Rule- It is perfectly acceptable to take an automatic dislike to a girl/ judge them without ever speaking to them 
#3 Rule- Chocolate is an accepted food in any occasion 
#4 Rule- A girl has a right to lie in order to keep a secret told to her by her best friend. 

Really having bffs is just fun!  All joking aside, I LOVE how CeCe Sims describes her friendship with Jesus.  She describes the perfect bff.

CeCe Sims

Jesus is my best friend. He is very loving to me and encouraging and inspiring and with me. And never gives up on me and helps me to do the things that I think are impossible and He is real. And He is way cooler than I ever thought. He helps me to know that things I do that I normally think that are weird or goofy or got made fun of by other people over the years that He loves those things and not to let those ever diminish in my personality. He helped me to know that my dreams are attainable and that I can do them. He opened up my eyes to a lot of things spiritually that I am still working on accepting and I am learning to forgive myself. So, there is happiness in the hard work because I know that the hard work will lead to happiness.

You too can have a bff relationship with Jesus.  Jesus himself had his own bffs.  His twelve disciples.

These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.  (Matthew 10:2-4)

Do you have your very own bff story that you would like to share with us?  I would love to hear yours!!

You can read or watch CeCe's full story here.  Very inspiring!!