Repost: Star Ornaments: Recycle those Christmas Cards

The ornaments pictured below are a beautiful and great way to reuse Christmas cards. These would be good for Sunday School or Children's Church crafts. Last year, my kids made these with a little help. This year Tera is making them on her own and Daniel still needs a little guidance.

Here are the easy directions:
1. Find a star template and cut out two poster board stars.
2. Cut irregular pieces from Christmas cards.
3. Glue the pieces to the poster board stars. It's okay if they overlap each other and you also want them to overlap the edges of the star. Pick a prominent picture to go in the middle of the star that will be on top.
4. Trim the edges of the star.
5. Glue the two stars together so that the points are not lined up. You want to see all the points.
6. Edge with glitter.
7. Punch hole in top and string them up. Use as an ornament or decoration.

Thankfulness

Something happened today that I wanted to share so that God can receive praise and thanks. We had our chimney cleaned and inspected today, considering our late night visit from the fire department about a month ago. (scroll down to find that story)

Well, we paid $110 to find out we cannot use our chimney. It will take $1450 to fix. It's really not that big of a deal, we have central heat and air but wanted to offset the electricity bill with the wood stove.

Here is the cool part. When we were going to buy this house, we were turned down by our credit union because the house did not have central heat and air. We found a mortgage broker who worked with us to get another loan. Then that company required a central heat and air system. Our plan was just to heat with the wood stove and cool with the window units already here. The mortgage broker worked it out for the seller to pay half of the cost to install the HVAC and then rolled the rest into our loan amount. We were so frustrated at this whole process because our closing kept getting put off again and again. The HVAC was the big hold-up on getting the house.

Thankfulness #1: If we hadn't had to wait, we would be really cold right now. God provided us a brand new HVAC with a 10 year warranty. (actually we have two HVAC because of the house set-up). We would have bought this house and froze to death this winter with a new baby come February. GOD PROVIDES

Thankfulness #2: The chimney inspector told us today that there had been a chimney fire before that had severely damaged our entire chimney. Basically, if we use this chimney, we will burn our house down from inside the walls. Since the chimney runs upstairs near our kids room, that's very serious. The stove pipe issue that brought the fire department out was a different issue. But I feel now it was a warning from God not to use it again until someone looked at it. It is a very sobering thought to know just how much God is looking out for us and to realize how serious of a situation it was. GOD PROTECTS

Tera made the point tonight that when it seems God is doing things we don't like or understand, He is really just keeping us safe. How awesome to be reminded of how much God loves us and protects us.

Our Robin Hoods

For Halloween the kids dressed up like Robin Hood. Our camera is messed up right now, so this picture was taken at a Trunk or Treat.

Letters to God

Weekly Update- Nov. 10-14

This has been a busy week for us. We had Monday Fun at the beginning of the week. JP has been working at least 2, 10 hour days every week and this Saturday will be the second one in a row he has had to work. That always tires us out so bad. Thursday I had a dr.'s appt. and then today we had a fieldtrip. The kids had a great time. They both made hand dipped candles. JP took Daniel to the pioneer skills and weapons demonstrations while Tera and I went to the museum and schoolhouse. Muskets and Ax throwing were more their style than ours. We had a Thanksgiving dinner and met some really nice people in our homeschool group.

Daniel has latched onto one kid and we are trying to help him direct his energy from just one person to a larger group of kids. Daniel is a very one on one kid, he doesn't like big group interaction but instead conversation and play by himself or one on one. So we are trying to help him be more adaptable. We are encouraging him to talk to someone different and not just talk to this one kid who is older than him. I have to be honest, having opportunities for the kids to get together with other kids has been a struggle for us. With JP's work schedule, moving and my health, we have been limited in this area. We thought given their personalities, Tera would have more problems but it seems Daniel is the one missing the interaction more. Please pray for us in this area. It is a constant prayer of mine, that God will provide someone for our kids. We know that God provides all that we need. We have to trust him for the intangibles, too.

Daniel has an eye doctor appointment next week. We are coming up on the end of Monday Fun for this semester. It starts again in January or February. I won't be teaching because of the baby, but we are planning on the kids taking classes again. They really do love going and learn so much.

2 week appointments already?

I went to the Doctor today for a regular checkup. Everything was great. I had gained some weight-I won't say how much but let's just say I made up for last month when I only gained a pound. I usually have one big month in my pregnancies where I gain a little more than normal, but oh well. That explains my needing to buy maternity clothes last week for the first time this pregnancy so I cannot complain too much.

Anyway, I go back in 2 weeks for my glucose test. As I was making the appointment which by the way is at 7:45 AM. That's going to be a killer. The receptionist said, "After that you go to 2 week appointments." I said "Already?" I cannot believe it. It really has seemed like this pregnancy is flying by. I am sure I'll have to remind myself of that feeling in another month or so.

Family Game Night

We have a Sunday Night tradition ever since my husband was pastoring full-time. Sunday night is Pizza Night and we watch old TV shows on DVD. Our repertoire consisted of The Andy Griffith Show and have added in the past two years- The Muppet Show-Season 1 and The Adventures of Robin Hood from the late 50s. Our kids have really looked forward to this every week. Well, we have gotten just a little burned out on these shows, so we decided to propose a game night to the kids. They jumped at the chance. My only catch was no kiddie games- I wanted more mature games. We decided since both the kids can read very well now that this was doable. My husband and I used to play games all the time before we had kids, so we have quite a few. We decided to try Pictionary. Not Pictionary, Jr. but the real deal. My dad bought me this game when I was a teenager and when we would visit him, he always played and beat me. It used to make me so mad. My dad was very smart, he always beat me in Trivial Pursuit, too.

Anyway, we found a roll of old newspaper print type paper in our new house hidden in one of the upstairs closets. We brought down Tera's easel and attached some paper to it. JP and I did a few practice draws to let the kids see how to play. Then we were off. Daniel and I were a team. Tera and JP made up the other team. We were so impressed with them. None of us are very great artists but it was awesome. It was the best evening I think we have had in forever. Both the kids want to play it this week. Daniel who usually gets upset if he cannot do something just right, had a very good attitude. The kids said it as much fun as Dollywood. Now there's a recommendation for you.

Weekly Update Nov. 3-7

Sorry for the lack of pictures, we have to get our digital camera repaired. It only takes inside pictures that are in low light, we don't know what it's doing.

Anyway. It seems right now school is like the second trimester of pregnancy. You are just mundanely getting through. Nothing real exceptional. I am recovering from my sinus stuff and now Tera is suffering. JP is clearing out our little storage unit we have had since we moved to Tennessee. We now have a place to store things so we don't need to shell out $25 a month for a few boxes.

The kids are doing so good in school. They both read an hour a day and are doing exceptional in math. We love our handwriting books this year. It is Scripture based so the kids practice writing a Bible verse a week. Science and Social Studies have been a struggle for us this year but we are getting on track and learning about Colonial America. After Christmas we are starting a new curriculum that is based around Missions. We will adapt it to fit our family but it incorporates learning a language, family devotions, geography and history. We will continue with math, spelling and handwriting in addition to it. But I am very excited.

Next week, we are going on a fieldtrip to the Sam Houston Schoolhouse. Yes, it is the same Sam Houston from the Alamo. He was a teacher in Tennessee before going to Texas. It will be an 1800's Thanksgiving. I am taking a turkey, (don't know what I was thinking). Next time I'll sign up for rolls. It should be a fun day for the kids.

We are also excited about a new thing on the Internet. The founder of Veggie Tales, Phil Vischer has started a mini kids network called Jelly Telly. It has 20 minutes of programming everyday online that is Christian based. You subscribe for $2.99 a month. We do not have cable, and frankly never want it again. But this is awesome, the kids love it and learn so much. It is a variety show that has all different kinds of "spots". One is What Could You Do? which spotlights helping others in your community. Another is Missions: which show MK's from all over the world. It is so awesome to have something uplifting for kids. Recommend this to anyone you know with kids, it's great.

Thankful for Healthy Kids

The kids had their checkups on Friday, starting with Tera at the dentist. Tera received compliments from the hygienist and the dentist on how great she is brushing her teeth. I had noticed she is not losing any more teeth. Well, the dentist said she doesn't have permanent ones to replace her baby teeth yet. So he is checking with an orthodontist to see what options we have about that. We gave her strict instructions not to be wiggling any baby teeth. But we are going to be praying that God will work at miracle before her next check up in May. Daniel goes to the dentist in December.

We went for pizza, carved a pumpkin, watched Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin, decorated their pumpkins they got at the dentist office and got ready for doctor's visits. I took Daniel and JP went with Tera. We knew they were getting the flu shots and Tera doesn't really like shots so we sent Daddy with her. They had to pee in a cup, get their fingers pricked and have a thorough exam. They are both in good weight/height percentages and overall amazingly healthy. JP said Tera did awesome and did not even cry when she got her shot. Daniel who never complains, didn't like having his finger pricked and yelled when he got his shot. He said it felt like someone stuck him with a sword. He was dressed up like Robin Hood, so I told him to pretend it was a battle wound. That didn't change his complaint.

We came home and went back out for two trunk or treats. JP and the kids also went around the neighborhood but nobody was giving out candy and it was frankly kinda scary. We won't be doing that next year. They watched the Disney Icabod Crane and Mr. Toad, JP borrowed from a co-worker. Thanks Billy. They loved it. We ate the leftover pizza while we watched and after a few treats, they got in bed around 9 PM. It was a great day.