the back door

three years ago i stole an idea from another church and helped launch love week at crossroads.  this year we were back at it again.  for my little family, years past have led us to year round serving at our local food pantry, sparked a passion for blessings in a back pack (entering it's 3rd year as well), and given us a bit bigger hearts for those around us. this year during love week my dear hubby logged many hours for his non-profits.  the kids and i headed out to the convent for some waffles and games with my tweens ministry.  we served our regular time at the neighborhood center food pantry where we had 48 families come through that night.  the kids wrote letters to some dear widowed friends.  but i kept asking God for a vision for something new to do. my precious daughter had mentioned wanting to bake cookies to hand out to people.  knowing another group was doing that same thing for people in our downtown i kept the thought tucked away. ...

 last blessings packing day of the school year! the kids clearing the garden    passport arrived, support flowing in, first round of shots done!!  haiti here i come!!!!  nothing pleases him more than finding mushrooms in our woods...2 batches this year prayer night with my preteens....God gave me this:)

back on march 1st i decided to make an effort, okay, committed to getting up at 6:20 sunday through friday.  if you know me at all, you know mornings are my least favorite time of the day.  i mean i HATE mornings.  i find it funny that several of my friends love getting up at the crack of dawn.  my husband used to get up in the wee morning hours too.  i've since converted him a bit:) anyways...i would drag myself out of bed each morning and head to the shower.  it was dark and way too cold.  but i would do it.  the first several days were really hard...then i saw this one morning.  as i headed into the kitchen to grab my coffee i was stopped the glaring sun.   there were several of these over the month.  not too many as march was very gray in these parts.  and frankly april has been way too gray too.  but there were just enough for me to see that God was giving me a glimpse of His simple beauty. ...

  this fall i read about a girl somewhere in indiana that put together birthday in a box kits for their local shelter.  now that's a great idea for our kids ministry.  so this past holiday season we had the kids donate birthday's in a bag!  i delivered 15 bags in january!!! those families were so grateful.  this morning i was listening to klove and they were talking about  kids birthday parties today.  we go a bit overboard in my opinion while many families can't even do a cake and fun plates!   anyways....that got me thinking....maybe you'd like to do a birthday in a bag!  i'd love to continue to bless families in our community  with this unique item.  it is really pretty simple.  put together a cake mix, frosting, aluminum pan, plates, napkins, and any other item you'd like.  toss it in a gift bag and bring them to me!  i'll take them to the neighborhood center. if you have kids, can i encourage you to ...

i love watching the year in reviews on all the news  shows. i get emotional with almost everyone.  sometimes i've forgotten the story, but for most the memories are vivid. as i think about resolutions i also tend to look back on the rather yuck parts of the year because those fuel my resolutions. so this year i thought i'd do something different and give a best of 2012! enjoy... best moments: watching my girl learn to play the violin fall retreat with my group of preteens fall get away with my hubby spring break to florida with the kids trip to california for a conference doing "7" blessings in a backpack giving our offering away best songs: 10,000 reasons need you now by plumb we are young by fun home by phil phillips it is well by north point band somebody that i used to know by goyte someone like you by adelle one thing remains by kristian stanfill best new foods: zija energy balls green smoothies oatmeal break...

about a year ago my sweet girl started asking for a new comforter.  she had the same one since she was 3 and it was definitely "little" girl.  i had big dreams of making her a quilt.  we talked about it.  we looked at different ideas.  we talked more about it.  thankfully...this summer we were out and about and there on the clearance rack she spotted a comforter she fell in love with.  since i could never make it for less we bought it and brought it home.  as fall set in we started talking about making the rest of the room fit the color scheme. today we made that happen.....  here you see the comforter...and we made these hoops with some leftover fabric and scraps she picked out today.  saw it on pinterest :)  she spent about an hour creating her own canvas painting this afternoon to hang.  i love her desire to create!  she knew exactly what she wanted to do and did it!  when we hung the oth...

i've been in this simplify mode.  and christmas is something i wish to just make sweet, simple, and enjoyable.  including collecting the christmas tree! last year we found this great family owned small tree farm that had beautiful trees and very cheap.  it was the most pleasant experience we had had in a long time.  excited to head back this year we loaded up today to get our tree..... ...then you know the scene in the national lampoons christmas where they drive and drive and drive and drive on their way to cut down the tree.  that was us today.  all was rather joyful until we discovered our beloved tree farm no longer existed.  one child wanted to get a tree no matter what, so hubby sucked it up and headed our car towards "christmasfest" to get a rather expensive tree with the complete experience. it was during the drive when all those inside the car fell apart.  she was pushing his buttons, he was biting back.  the hubby was f...