Stocking Stuffers and Christmas Gifts

My3Chickadees

Just wanted to let you in on a great place to get some inexpensive handmade lovelies for your friends and family! Oh, and let's not forget teachers!

I've been busy filling orders and stocking my etsy shop and it's been a lot of fun! Looking forward to adding some new items soon!

Please stop by and take a look! Click on the shop name above or check out some of my items in the right sidebar!

Thank You, God, for Blessing Me: a book review

In this adorable book, by Max Lucado, Hermie the Caterpillar shows little kids how they can be thankful for everything. I love how he thanks God for his bed, his food, his friends, and everything. My three year old loved this book. I've already had to read it several times and we just got it today.

Max Lucado never disappoints with his wonderfully illustrated children's books. I really appreciate his recurring emphasis on God and how he reminds us that even little children can have a significant understanding of who God is and how He is present in their everyday lives.

Highly recommend this book. It would be a great baby gift or birthday gift for a toddler.

Story Engineering: A Book Review

I recently read 'Story Engineering' by Larry Brooks for a book review for Thomas Nelson Publishers and it was really informative and full of helpful information. I like how he laid out the points in 6 steps. It made a lot of sense and reminded me of being in English class way back when. While I haven't attempted to write (to be published), I believe this method that Larry spells out for us in the book would be helpful and a good structure to follow. According to him, following his method for writing would leave out the need for drafting your story over and over, and would take you straight to the finish line. While that would be ideal, I am not sure everyone could do that. I did appreciate the six core concepts and liked the way he brought out each point. The explanations were sufficient, although I got a little overwhelmed with how it went on and on. I felt that with fewer words the same points could have been made.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and if I do ever try to write for publishing, I will definitely go back to this book for the help in getting there.

Vacation

We were on vacation last week and it was great! We spent hours on the beach and swimming in the pools. That was our goal and we accomplished it. The girls loved every minute of it and they were totally worn out every night. We did other stuff, too.

Visited St. Augustine
Ate frozen custard

Played mini-golf

Went to see Cars 2 (we are big Mater fans!)

and rode a ferry
to tour this fort.

I'd say it was a pretty full week, but we feel rested and relaxed. Another great vacation and already looking forward to our next adventure...whatever that may be!

Good Ol' Summertime

Where I live it has already felt like summer for over a month. HOT, humid, really hot are just a few adjectives I could use to describe what is making my hydrangeas droop out on the back patio. The girls and I have been having a big time already and school isn't even officially out until tomorrow at noon. But, we've had fun. Like today, for instance, we got up bright and early and got the big sister off to school. Then, C & A and I loaded up and took a little trip to the Dub-Ya (Wal-mart, Walmarts, Wally World, whatever you want to call it). I enjoyed walking around in the A/C while pushing the girls in the brand new kiddy cart...
We interrupt this blog post for an important, unpaid advertisement....the new kiddy carts at my Wal-mart are awe.some. They are not the normal 'race car' looking cart that are nearly impossible to steer. They are not the 2-seaters that leave the child practically hanging on for dear life. No, they are like a bench seat for 2. Plenty of room for them to sit comfortably without a big partition in the middle of them. And the best thing about them is that they are super easy to steer and push through crowded aisles. And you get a bonus workout just by pushing all that weight. Now, back to the regularly scheduled blog post.
Anyway, as I was saying, it's been an eventful day. After we got home and unloaded the groceries, I did some laundry and then it was time to go back out and pick up big sister from her 1/2 day of school. I might just shout hallelujah when I pick her up tomorrow from her last day of school. We have a lot of fun things planned for the summer, but we are looking forward to being able to relax a little bit, too. Big sister will be doing a math club and a reading club over the summer, middle sister will be doing a reading club and some unofficial math stuff and little sister will be along for the ride. We are all looking forward to a nice, relaxing family vacation, too. I think that may be the highlight of our summer.

Yesterday was a great day. It started out like a normal Monday with the ever-so-unwelcome-and-rude-awakening by the alarm clock. You know how I hate alarm clocks. Yesterday was no different. Actually I had woken up at 5:30am thanks to motherly instinct. I just knew something was up and it turned out that our 3 year old's bedroom light was on. So I did what any normal mother would do and I woke Hubs up and said, "She has her light on!" as though it was an emergency. {Because everything is an emergency in the middle of the night. And yes, the middle of the night is anytime between the time I go to bed at night and the time I'm suppose to wake up.} And because he's not exactly coherent after being awakened from a deep sleep, he didn't think twice about it, and jumped out of bed to see what was going on. Turns out she couldn't find her little plastic Woody (Toy Story) ring. He found it for her and she went back to sleep after she blew him a big, loud kiss that sounds like "Mmwhaaaa!" An hour later we got up and went through the morning rush to get ready, make breakfast, dress kids, pack lunches, etc.
Once Hubs had left and the younger kids were fed, I got a very unusual burst of energy and did about a week's worth of chores in about 4 hours. It was awesome. Whatever it was, I need more of it. I did 4 complete loads (wash, dry, fold/put away) of laundry. Completely gutted and re-organized the laundry room (Hubs is making me a craft station in there!), decluttered the linen closet (major undertaking), reorganized the pantry (another major task), cleaned #1's pig sty, er, I mean room and then shampooed the whole upstairs carpet. (#1 would have had to clean her own room, but I needed to throw away and get rid of a lot of stuff in there while she was gone to school - and get everything off her floor so the carpet could be cleaned...she was completely shocked when she got home!) It was a very productive morning. My #2 & #3 girls played all day together...nicely...and that helped me get so much done. They are two peas in a silly pod, let me tell you. When they are together they are all about having fun and belly laughing. It is so fun to hear them play. Later we had a routine visit to the dentist for the big girls and #3 wore her fairy dress to the dentist. That brightened up everyone's day in the office. I didn't let her wear her plastic high heels for safety's sake, but I just love hearing the pitter patter of plastic high heels clanking along on my kitchen floor. It makes me smile and think of the days that me and my sister would dress up in my mom's old clothes (from the 70's). It was so much fun.

Today while I was shampooing the downstairs carpet, my youngest was following me along with her pretend vacuum. She loves helping me clean and I'm not about to discourage it...even if she is walking on the wet parts that shouldn't be walked on. That's not important and I'm trying to focus on what is really important. Quality time with my youngest who won't be this young for long is important. The carpet won't last nearly as long as the memories we share together and I want our memories to be fun and happy ones, not memories of me being frustrated over wet carpet. These days with my kids are very precious and I wouldn't trade them for anything. (Remind me of this in a few weeks when summer is in session and the kids are bored and fighting.)

Lastly, we have been so encouraged and challenged by the great truths and principles we're being taught at our church. These last several weeks have been great times of spiritual growth for us and I so appreciate being a part of a church that unashamedly preaches and teaches the truth of God's Word the way it is meant to be preached. We are so blessed to be in the church God has placed us in. We shared last night with our kids something we discussed in Sunday School on Sunday about making the right choices every day. It was so very practical and easy for even the children to understand and we have already seen them apply what they learned last night. It's very encouraging to us as parents when we see our kids learn to apply the truth of God's Word to their lives. That's what it's all about!

A Weekend Full of World History

Friday morning began a weekend of world history that unfolded right before our eyes. I hope you didn't miss it! I certainly didn't get up at 4 am Friday to watch the Royal Wedding, but I most certainly DID DVR it. I wouldn't have missed it for anything! I remember Princess Diana getting married and how the world witnessed the whole event. It was beautiful and a major event in the history that I can actually remember. I'm no history buff, {that's my husband} but there are certain historical events that really interest me. The royal family is one. Even though I don't understand their entire role, etc. I am intrigued by them. Visiting London several years ago only heightened my interest in them. So, there was no way I or my family was going to miss this wedding of Prince William and Princess Catherine. Hubs and I watched a 6-part documentary on it during last week and then the wedding just topped it off. I thought the whole thing was beautiful and it was great to witness. Some on Facebook were appalled at those of us who were actually watching it, but it is an event that I will always remember. I hope you didn't miss it!

Then, last night before Hubs and I were headed to bed, I saw on FB that Osama Bin Laden was dead. In a matter of minutes, tons of posts about it were up. So, we turned the TV back on and waited for Obama to address the nation. What a huge victory for the USA! I am so proud of our military men and women who work so hard every day to protect our great country. That is no small sacrifice. {Warning: Soap Box Speech ahead!} I read post after post on FB about this great justice that has been served to someone so violent and full of hate toward the free world. Some were humorous, but then came the 'self-righteous' posts from fellow Americans that started accusing those of us that were happy about this victory of not being Christlike for being glad Osama is in Hell. I think I only read one person on my FB say anything about Osama being in Hell, which I am quite sure that's where he is. Let me state, for the record, that the leader of the enemy has been conquered! He had the opportunity to choose how he would live his life and he chose not to accept the grace that God so freely offers to ALL people in ALL nations. John 3:16 'For God so loved the WORLD that He gave His only begotten son, that WHOSOEVER believeth in Him should not parish, but have everlasting life.' It was his choice and he chose a life of complete rejection of Jesus Christ and chose eternal damnation instead. Am I glad about that? No. But it is okay and right to rejoice when the enemy has been defeated! You can bet your bottom dollar that God will not be telling us to stop rejoicing at Armageddon when His enemy is forever defeated. He will be leading the Saints in the ultimate celebration over the enemy's defeat. It is a very sad reality that millions of people will choose to live the same way Osama did. They may not be terrorists, they may not hate America, in fact, they might sit next to you in church or live next to you or reside in your home. Maybe it's you. I fear that lots of people are living under the name of Christianity {or any other religion}, but there is no evidence of Christ living in them. They come to church, act right, dress right, speak right, but they have never trusted in Jesus Christ alone to save them from sin. Just because you don't act like Osama Bin Laden, it doesn't mean you've chosen by grace to live through faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 2:8-9 says 'For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works {either!} lest any man should boast.' Osama chose damnation. What will you choose? You still have time, but you don't know how long you have. Think about where you will spend eternity. Because there will be an eternity to face when this mortal body dies. I hope you'll be with my Saviour in Heaven.