Quotes of the day...

Isaiah: "Daddy, are they any cookies in this house? Because there were some last night!"

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Isaiah: "Mommy, Sam climbed on the crouton!" (He meant futon.)

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Isaiah washed his hands, then went to dry them. Noticing that the towel was folded differently than normal, he said, "What the... Oh my mother!"

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If Sam ever starts talking, we'll quote him too!

Today I felt a little like...

Nicholas Cage in National Treasure.

Apparently a historical society is putting together an exhibit on the nuclear power plant at Shippingport. My dad used to work there back in the 70's and early 80's, and had a bunch of old 8x10 photos and an old manual to donate. Not wanting to risk losing them in the mail, he gave the package to me when we got together for Thanksgiving. Destination? Homestead. No problem. Only about 45 minutes from here.

So I've had the package on my counter, keeping a close eye on it for a few weeks. Earlier this week, I made arrangements to meet the recipient. This morning I loaded the boys in the car, plugged in the dvd player, almost forgot the package, then remembered it!

Following the google directions I printed out (just for reassurance) I made a wrong turn into Squirrel Hill. I knew that wasn't the right way, but oh well. I got back on course, but it did make me want to go to Squirrel Hill soon! Crossed the bridge to the Waterfront, drove around by the theater for a few minutes, just to see if anything was different since I haven't been down there in a few years. Nothing was that different. (Also want to go to PF Chang's soon!). I found the office building, handed over the goods to the woman who identified herself by the right name (it really wasn't that dramatic...) and headed home.

Not as exciting as National Treasure, and the package wasn't quite as special as the declaration of independence, but it was still fun.

Preschool Crayon Project

I stole this idea from my friend Brooke's blog who is an amazing mom of a four-year-old little girl and twin baby girls. Somehow she still finds time to do this fun stuff.

Preschool Melted Crayon Project

This is a fun and easy way to recycle all those broken crayon pieces.

1. Remove wrappers from all the crayon pieces. Isaiah knows he's not usually allowed to do this, so he loved it!

2. Line muffin tins with foil liners. You can also use the paper liners, but use four so the crayons don't seep through.

3. We sorted the crayon pieces into similar colors, filling the liners about 2/3 full.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

5. Let the new round crayons cool for a few hours before using them.

Disclaimers:

1. This is a stinky project! Do this at a time when you can open the windows to get rid of the stink, and make sure you don't have company coming!

2. We noticed that crayola wrappers were the hardest to remove - another good reason to buy them!

Peace out

Do you pray for peace? I desire peace, and I have prayed for peace. But I wonder if it's worth praying for. I'm not talking about the peace within your heart. God has promised that. I'm talking about the peace where people stop storming into luxury hotels to kill hundreds of people, where people stop strapping explosives to themselves, walking onto a crowded bus to blow themselves up.

God hasn't promised that there would be peace on earth at this time. He has almost promised the opposite. As he told his disciples about what life would be like for them if they spent their lives telling people about him, he said, "Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." (Matt. 10:21-22) What does Jesus mean by 'the end?' The end of the disciples' lives? The end of the world? If He means the end of the world, it kind of implies that hatred among people will continue until that time.

So I will keep praying for peace, because that's what I want. Will I pray expecting God to answer with a 'yes'? I don't know.

Thanksgiving eve gathering

Brace yourself people... this post actually contains some of my innermost thoughts... I'm letting you all in...


This is a little late, but I wanted to write something about our Thanksgiving eve gathering. I volunteered to organize the gathering because I felt that God had something special for us, as a church, on Thanksgiving eve. Turns out He had something special for me...

I tend to go through life at a fairly fast pace and sometimes have a hard time slowing down. As I went through the different interactive stations, I forced myself to go slow and take full advantage of the quiet time.

I really benefited from all the stations, but the one I couldn't leave was "Taste and See." This was set up at the front of the church, under the cross which hangs on the wall. It was based on the scripture from Psalm 34:8, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." I had baked gingersnap bread and put a floor pillow, some chairs, and a blanket on the floor. It was designed for people to relax and spend time with God, eating (an intimitate act), and thinking about how good He is. As I sat there for quite a while, eating the bread, tasting how good it was and realizing how much better Jesus is, I had a strong sense of Jesus's presence and a strong love toward him and a longing within myself to be with Him. It was supernatural and something I haven't felt that strongly many times before.

The mirror station also impacted me. As someone sat and looked in the mirror, they could fill out a sheet of paper with a chart comparing what they see when they look in the mirror with what God sees when He looks at you. I won't bother telling you what I saw when I looked in the mirror (it wasn't very positive and mostly had to do with getting older!), but I will tell you what I think God sees when He looks at me. 1) someone He has entrusted to raise two boys 2) someone He wants to spend more time with 3) someone He loves, and there were a few more, but those are the ones I remember.

Sometimes I think God gives us a job because we're the one who will benefit from it the most.