Doctor, doctor give me the news . . .

Okay, so many of you know that I'm a little Type A, but I love school.  I have recently found this adorable home preschool curriculum for 2 year olds.  Lest you think I'm pushing Grae, it's a program with lots of art projects, a focus on a theme, and some Scripture memory.  For the next two weeks, our theme is doctor/body.  Some of the ideas include teaching the parts of the body, setting up a doctors office and playing with a medical kit, picking up cottonballs and Qtips with tweezers (fine motor), writing a thank you to our doctor/nurses.  We are having a blast.  We traced Grae's body and labeled all of his parts.  Super cute ideas!    A special thanks to Uncle Gish for the great hospital supplies and to Michelle Hubbard for her great curriculum.  You can find it here http://hubbardscupboard.org/christian_resources.html

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Consider the roses . . .

Anxiety.

This is a word that has plagued me for my whole life.  I have always been a "what if" thinker.  My brain takes possible outcomes to their most ridiculous and irrational conclusions.  God has been working on this in me for a long time.  What I have come to realize about myself is that the recipe for  worry is equal parts  mistrust and pride.

By worrying, what I am essentially saying is, "God, I don't trust the plans that you have for me.  I don't trust that You have my best interest at heart."  My heart is so much like the Israel of the Old Testament.  Despite obvious and amazing provision and protection, they still grumbled.  Parting the Red Sea wasn't enough.  Sending manna from heaven wasn't amazing, it was commonplace.  I have the same story.  The Lankfords have been provided for in amazing ways, as many of you reading can testify.  If you hear me grumbling, just remind me about a certain fall off of a roof, a $16,000 provision for adoption, boxes of formula, boxes of food, $500 from friends to help us during a tight time, $12,000 gift after Shane's fall . . . The list is much longer than this.

The pride enters in when I think I can somehow solve my problems better than God can.  How ridiculous!  As I looked at the lovely roses on my kitchen table, I am reminded of Matthew 6: 25-34:

²⁵ "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³²For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  ³⁴ "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Valentine's Boredom Buster

Heres a cute project that you can make out of 2 hearts:

1.  Cut out a small heart from 4x4 piece of cardstock or construction paper.  I used precut foam hearts.

2.  Cut a smaller heart from a contrasting piece of cardstock 1x1.  Cut down the middle.

3.  Glue the heart halves onto the larger heart as shown.

4.  Connect the sides by gluing the heart ears together. 

5.  Make a tail by inserting a lollipop or use string and fill the mouse's body with small candies.

6.  Add google eyes or draw some on.  Voila! 

You can make the mouse a guinea pig by putting the ears on the other end of the heart.  Grae called his a "bunny pig" .  We did this craft at a little lunch we had for a few friends.   

There's no fun like snow fun!

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Boredom buster #2

Here's an easy craft that you can do if you have washable markers and coffee filters. 

1.  Fold the coffee filter into 4 quarters.  It should make a cone shape.

2.  Color the tip of the cone on both sides with different colored markers. 

3. Dip just the tip of the cone in water.

4.  Watch the colors spread.  This is really fun with black washable markers. 

5.  Make a bouquet!  You can use pipe cleaners or straws for the stems.

Boredom Buster #1

Ok, so I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little stir-crazy in the house because of the SNOWPOCALYPSE . . .as far as I'm concerned its SNOVERKILL.  40+ inches in the past week is enough snow for a few years.  I have been trying to use my creative resources to keep my little on busy.  I think this would be fun for all ages as my picture displays:

Find a large tablecloth or old sheet.  Find a large bin.  Empty all of the half boxes of macaroni, rice, split peas, etc. into the bin.  Put in measuring cups, muffin tins, spoons and you have at least 20 minutes of fun without a messy clean up.  Grae chants the rule "Everything stays on the sheet" and he is occupied for awhile.  If you're feeling stressed, get your hands in there and sift away.  It's almost as fun as a jar of buttons . . .

Love your neighbor . . .

Two of the best days of the week for Grae are Mondays and Thursdays.  On these days the most amazing event happens . . . trash pickup.  Grae sits with rapt attention as the amazing gray Harford Sanitation truck drives by and picks up our trash.  His favorite truck in his vast collection is his trash truck. 

As I think about teaching my little man about what it means to love, I think one of the most amazing parts of loving one another is service.  After Shane's forklift job, I was more aware of the blue collar jobs which often receive little notice or thanks.  I am especially aware of this as the men drive by each week to pick up our trash.  What a thankless job, but what a necessary one.  Many of them are someone's daddy  and I thought blessing them would be a good lesson for Grae and for me. 

We woke up last Thursday and made banana chocolate chip muffins and Grae drew a card to thank his favorite trash men.  Unfortunately, my muffins were ill-timed and they came out of the oven 2 minutes too late.  I put them in the freezer in hopes that we could give them to the guys this week.  (It was also a lesson for me on motives,  I was more upset about the muffins than about the lost chance to thank the men.)  This morning, after the huge snowfall, the big gray truck pulled into our neighborhood.  With some quick microwave action and the help of daddy's running feet, we delivered our blessing.  Shane said that the men were very touched and they even blew the horn 5 times as Grae looked on!  He was so excited. 

Our challenge to you is to look for a way to bless someone in your life who probably doesn't get thanked very often.  I think this exercise will be as much a blessing to you as to them.

Galatians 5:14   For the whole law is fulfilled in one word:   "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Operation Lovin' Oven

So in the spirit of this month, I'm trying to tackle the most arduous household tasks with a little lovin'.  With the pending snowstorm here and inevitable boredom, why not do something productive?

My range and oven have been invaluable tools in my domestic diva arsenal.  Unfortunately, they often get overlooked in the week-to-week cleaning attack.  I decided to tackle the microwave, oven, and range today.  It is so gross to lift burner plates and find piles of charred food remains.  Yuck.  For this mission I use one of my most trusty cleaning weapons . . . white vinegar. 

 I used to revel in the cleaning aisle at Wal-Mart, trying to find the perfect cleaner for _______________.  What I ended up with was a bucket of chemicals that I rarely used.  My friend Christie told me about the awesome power of vinegar.  Who knew that the stuff of salad dressing could be my best ally in the assault against most household creepiness and its cheap, non-toxic, and environmentally friendly.  Sounds good, right?

Here is a simple recipe for an all-purpose household cleaner. 

1 part white vinegar

1 part water

Mix in spray bottle and apply.  (There is a vinegar smell, but it dissipates quickly)

Here's a cool link with some other homemade solutions:  http://frugalliving.about.com/od/householdsavings/qt/Homemade_Clean.htm

My Beloved

No one told me that when I married him, I would inherit all of the stories.

My husband is a character.  I've never met anyone with so many hilarious and amazing tales to spin (and all of them true).  There are stories about wrenches, and big wheels; stories about falling from ropes attached to trees and falling off roofs onto cement; stories about dog bites and bactine, and door to door sales and vicious marmaduke dogs; about lightbulb sales, and forklift accidents.  Our shared stories include when I called him by the wrong first name when I first told him I loved him, about a bat in our camper, and about overdosing him on Milk of Magnesia after his epic fall off the roof. 

The real story about Shane is the fact that he is one of the most trustworthy, men of integrity I've ever met.  He serves me everyday in little ways like doing the dishes and wrangling Grae so I can have a precious half-hour of uninterupted shower time.  He is a great example of what a man should be and I am continually blessed to be married to my favorite shoelace salesman . . . but that's another story.