house of prayer

House painting! My first & of course, I started with my sweet mama. She loves everything. Crummy picture...

resurrection rolls

This is not my picture, swiped it from this very pretty blog. (eat at allie's). You have prob heard of this one, but it is a very simple illustration of Jesus & the tomb. If you get past the fact that the marshmallow is supposed to represent Jesus, go for it. My friend Jennifer & I did it with our kids & I love how they did not miss a beat when we explained this part. Okay, Jesus is the marshmallow-got it.

NEEDED:

Resurrection Rolls

One can of crescent roll dough

8 large marshmallows (or one for each roll you’ll be making)

Melted butter

Cinnamon sugar

 

-Roll the marshmallows in the melted butter. This symbolizes the embalming oils.

-Roll the marshmallows in the cinnamon sugar. This is like the spices used to prepare his body for burial.

-Wrap the marshmallow in the crescent roll cloth, pinching the dough together securely.  This represents how they wrapped Jesus’ body. Put the rolls in the oven (symbolizing the tomb) and bake for 12 minutes. 

-Open the tomb and remove the rolls. When they’re cool enough to handle, break one open and discover what happened to the marshmallow. JESUS IS RISEN!

 

Easter snack

The big kids are at a good age to do things like this. It was fun. And I really do love twinkies, so it was a good excuse to buy a box (for the kids-right?).
Stuff you need:
-Marshmallows (cut in half)
-jelly bellies (cut in half)
-white frosting (as the glue)
-swirly pretzels
-peeps
So you cut a triangle shape piece midway out of the twinkie. Put your peep & steering wheel in. Glue marshmallows & jellybeans on the wheels using white icing.

Other variations here.

Easter thoughts

HOPE IS SPRINGING UP FROM THIS OLD GROUND

Sweet friends, I pray that this Easter season is giving you hope. Hope that we are works in progress and God is not done with us yet. Easter swirls so much up inside of me. I can't grasp what Jesus did for us and not feeling adequate for this sacrifice...Easter special stuff for me this year.

 

This song gets me every time & that if God can make beauty out of the dust, he can surely work with me! It has been going through my head at this Easter season. That He can make us new again. What a strong promise to us & reminder of the plans He intends for you and me. 

This block is in my house and sometimes I want to chunk it out the window because my life at that moment might not very pretty & definitely not beautiful. But all the moments (good and bad) mooshed together makes beauty. And after my bad mama days, it makes me what to cling to God even more-because I am reminded I cannot do this without Him. I don't want Tim & me just to "survive" the young kiddo stage, but I want God to make us more of what He wants in the midst of it. 

  

I am thankful for my Chinese friends here at Easter. They are here for a year studying and about to go back. We've gotten to know them this past year. Above was a Chinese New Year celebration, they typically don't dress like this.

 Outfits that our sweet Chinese friends got us for Chinese New Year. They got all of our sizes right!

I know these gals miss their families & all that is familiar to them & can't wait to be back. They do not know Jesus yet, and I wish I had more time to spend with them and answer God questions (or attempt to). These chicks are so brave, coming over here at 21, trying to get a grasp on our culture, language, slang, & etc. One asked me why the Bible was so important to Christianity and why is so difficult to read & understand. Goodness, how to answer this one? I tried the best I could. I suggested she go with "the Message" translation. I take for granted all the Christian "resources" we have here in America. Pastors/scholars who can give the back story on those complicated parts of the Bible. I doubt there is much of this in China for our Chinese Christian friends or seekers. Pray that God will stir their souls.

Ruthie's partay

 

OH, goodness. How much fun. Ruthie girl turned 4. A work in progress for awhile. It is not rational for me put this much time into a 4 year old's party, but I CANNOT HELP MYSELF. I may need proof of a happy childhood for baby girl. See look Ruthie, you did have fun growing up-let's sit down and look at these pictures from your 4th birthday party.

 So this whole theme was set in stone when my sister found these LALAloopsy toys on sale post-Christmas at Kroger for $1.50 each. And of course, it was Ruthie's favorite toy. But you u know mama has to be on board too & this sold me =)

 

Ruthie loves these girls.

  

The place where we had Ruthie's party had all sorts of fun dress-up clothes. Hearts of Madison. Great little place.

 Porter & her tough tattoos.

 Rainbow fruit tray. Found on pinterest-of course.

 

 Kristen Mullen at Crumb made our cake. You know I like doing the cakes some years, but I LOVE what she does. AlthoughI make myself sick and gained 3 pounds finishing off this cake post-party. They taste sooooo good.

Please do this dollar store candle re-do. I had this 4 in my pantry already and bedazzled it. Here's a tutorial. I stink at tutorials.

Myers is a friend that Henry & Ruthie share. He is Ruthie's age, but Henry thinks he's cool.

 Dewey & Big Daddy blocking out the lala crazies and talking about taxes and politics.

 Honey with Max. It was odd, I barely touched Max the whole party. He's on my hip always. I kept thinking I had lost him.

 Ruthie and her preschool buddy-Caleb. I wish I could freeze them.

 

What a cute shirt, my heart started beating real fast when I found it. R wants to wear it everyday. Found it on etsy.

We recruited some lala "helpers"-we had to snag them before they get too cool for this stuff.