We’ve pulled out the Christmas decoration fun…and just for FUN–I thought to help some of y’all brain storm in your Christmas ideas for the month ahead–I’m going to share just a few of my favorites from past Christmas Babe of my Heart posts!
Decking the Halls…
Here’s a inexpensive way to decorate your banister. You’ll need magnolia leaves, wire, cardboard and spray paint. It only cost me $3 to make this…
The only thing I had to pay for was silver spraypaint. Martha used glue and mica–which sounded too messy to me. I opted for a can of silver spray paint. Parker gathered the magnolia leaves from the yard, Rico Suave spraypainted, and I hotglued them to little cardboard arches. You can see how Martha did hers here. Kuddos to Martha for thinking to break down the cardboard stock. And don’t waste your money on cardboard stock–just take apart some boxes as things arrive in the mail. This is really super easy–and super cheap. The way I like my crafts:).
Keeping Christ in Christmas in your home…
I made this banner last year–and it hangs on our mantel above the nativity scene. I heart:) You can go to the tutorial by clicking HERE.
Then you’ll love this wreath that costs $4 to make (out of coffee filters!) You can go to the tutorial HERE…
Getting ready for the beautiful cards…
Need a place to display all those Christmas cards??? I made these magnet boards several years ago–and they are a fun way to display LOTS of cards in a pretty way:-)
I bought huge packets of magnets and hot-glued some of Martha Stewarts flowers that are for card decorating and scrapbooks on them. The packets were just $1.50 for 20–so it is pretty inexpensive to cover 40 or even 80 magnets…and they are so pretty…and sparkly:). If you’d like to see the tutorial on making magnet boards like these–simply CLICK HERE.
A quick, sweet treat–that makes a fun little gift for little friends
We made chocolate covered marshmallows every year:). Because they are easy–kids can do them…and they’re much lighter than normal lollipops:) Aren’t they pretty??
Here’s how we like to make them in this post HERE. (Fun looking at these old posts and seeing how my kids have grown…and that one was while we were still waiting on our referral from Ethiopia!)
Getting crafty with the children’s gifts…
For those of you who want to keep things sweet and simple–and you even want to get crafty as you consider gifts–think about making a TENT for your sweet ones this holiday! You can use ANY material to make it for a boy or a girl. Last year I made Parker and Laney their very own tents to match the decor in their rooms. Easy peasy and very inexpensive!
A tent like this can seriously be whipped out in 1 hour if you have all the supplies ready!
And here’s just a little Christmas fun from our home to yours…
I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving with your sweet families. We have had such a restful one. Many thanks to my family for going in with momma for a gluten-free Thanksgiving:). Honestly, I really couldn’t tell the difference (thanks to Pamala’s cooking products). I think we’re going to make these gluten-free yummies for the kids (one of our kids was having a tummy ache last week…and guess what the pediatrician said–try taking gluten out of the diet…guess we are just bound to be gluten free!). Don’t these look yummy??
Rico Suave smoked our turkey and had ole turkey stuffed full of veggies instead of traditional stuffing. I loooove some smoked turkey:)
Thanks to the help of WHOLE FOODS–I was able to still pull off gluten free pumpkin pie (next year I’ll be on this track long enough to make my own crust–but I’m not the gluten free expert baker just yet…although they DO give you the recipe on how to do that HERE😉
I used Pamala’s gluten free pancake mix to make yummy blueberry muffins! (The recipe is on the side!) The blueberries were out of my parents backyard:) I served them and everyone voted you couldn’t tell the difference between these and the muffins with gluten.
I also added THIS to our table (which was QUITE the process–but oh so worth it! YUM! Last but not least lots of veggies and momma did bring a dressing for the rest of the crew. Mine didn’t look quite as pretty as the Southern Living though!)
Loo-bear and Nana worked on the kids desserts together…(aren’t these the cutest little turkey cupcakes!)
THEN Loo-bear went back to her handy-work of making momma more potholders as we were running a little low (don’t we sound like we need to live on a farm;)???!!! You know I want to!)
I completely CRASHED with Isaac at 7:30pm! I woke up around 10pm ready to go…and Rico Suave and I went to Walmart to just be entertained by all the Black Friday craziness. We bought a few things ($4 football, $4 soccer ball, etc) but NOTHING compared to the craziness that was around us. I think we’re forever processing Africa…well, we have just about everything we need!!!
THEN–we went to Toys-R-Us and it was EVEN CRAZIER. There…we bought NOTHING because it was a mad house, and really–this might sound crazy…but our kids haven’t asked for anything and we aren’t going to just buy them things to buy them things. If you ask them what they want…they will say for mommy to be 100% so we can bring home another little one–and I think their priorities are pretty cool so I’m not going to mess that up by letting them think it’s normal to get a bunch of unnecessary loot. AND honestly–they don’t play with half of the things we ALREADY have…so we’ll be sticking to our “three gifts of Christmas”…we always give them THREE things (it’s Jesus’s birthday–he got 3 gifts…and wouldn’t that be funny to go to some one’s birthday party and give more gifts to someone other than the one whose birthday we were celebrating??!!! SOOO all that being said–we left Toys-R-Us empty handed as I didn’t see anything in there that more sweetly shape my children’s character. There was a line that WRAPPED AROUND THE STORE…and I kept thinking of where my fourth child is from…how little they have…and what a contrast it all was. And at that point…we left…for coffee. A midnight date with my man:)
We went and had some coffee in the mall and people watched. I *DID* force Rico Suave to buy a sweater for himself that was on sale. BECAUSE…oh my. That man only has sweaters from his HIGH SCHOOL and COLLEGE DAYS. YES–his sweaters are 10 years old and he wears them. And that are BAD. I convinced him how Rico Suave he’d look in one of those collar sweaters…and maybe this will be the year I can slowly sneak those old school sweaters away:). We did go in the Disney store and I twisted Rico Suave’s arm to go for the $4 Tow Mater and Lightning figurines for Isaac and Frank…the lady even came over to tell him it was a good deal. (HA! You just have to know my hubby and what a penny pincher he is!)
AND I did find two books for $5 (each) today at Kohl’s with Laney and I went for a little girl time. One of them, “It’s Time to Sleep My Love” reminded us of China…and we bought it to put in our hope chest for a little princess we hope to bring home from China one day…
The books sell for retail in bookstores, online, etc–but as part of the Kohl’s Cares program, which gives back to kid’s health care and educational initiatives to communities nationwide–you have quite the pick for $5. You can see the list HERE. We also got the book “Wherever you are my love will find you”…such a sweet book.
Our family is at HOME this Thanksgiving…and it has been so nice just to be right here–takin’ it easy. While a sweet sitter stayed with the children today–Rico Suave had a lunch dates…and then for fun when spent the afternoon looking at farms for sale. JUST saying’–we would love to live on a farm one day:). Can’t you see chickens, a horse and maybe some goats in our future;-)?
Frank and Isaac have also been getting ready for Thanksgiving by singing all their Thanksgiving/Fall songs:) Here are two you must here that I recorded this morning as we were playing…(alright–you gotta turn off the music at the bottom of the blog so you can hear their sweet voices!)
For dinner time entertainment, the kids put on a turkey puppet show. (As you can see–Frank got really into it:)
Silly turkeys!
THEN…after dinner–the boys scooted their chairs to the phone to have a conference call with Nana and Papa! They wanted to know EXACTLY what time they would be arriving–and Isaac has been trying to change Papa’s names to POPPY for months–so the conversation was full of lots of “HEY POPPY! WUV YOU POPPY!”
Poppy likes to TRY to convert my children to rooting for Alabama football (thus far–he has been successful by luring them with Bama elephant pillow pets, football jerseys, Bama tees, etc.) SOOO…when Poppy and Nana (aka NINA by Isaac!) asked if they wanted them to bring them anything, Frank shouted–“BAMA! I need Bama hat and Bama shirt.” I’m sure daddy-O loved hearing how they are diggin’ Bama gear. Can’t wait to see y’all in the morning Poppy and Nina!
And where was LANEY during the “conference call”??? She was cozied up looking at a doll magazine on the couch…
THEN…we made brownies followed by the traditional movie!!! Can you guess what it is??? Alright–so the Young’s are NOT media people…so you’ll have to laugh at the tv in what most would make into a media room (it’s our playroom).
A CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGIVING of course!!!
Tomorrow we’ll be cookin’ up a gluten-free Thanksgiving! Sounds yummy–huh?? I’ve been gluten free for almost a month now. I can tell a difference–and on December 4th I will have been on Lyme treatment for 4 weeks. Hard to believe our adoption has been on hold for almost a month too. I’m excited to go to my naturopath checkup on December 7th to see how things are–and then I have an appointment at the infectious disease doc on the 8th for more blood work. I have a feeling they are going to take everything back to what my naturopath has been saying all along…Lymes but it’s just manifested into arthritis and appearing to be something like Sjogrens’s. Regardless, we’ll have more answers and know if I’m on the right treatment:) TOTALLY learning that you have to be your biggest advocate and medical doctors are just making educated guesses–and you have to question everything and do lots of research. The great thing is I feel so much better in just 4 weeks of treatment with my naturopath that we are totally confident in his care. (Thank you to all my precious readers and friends who have been praying for us. How I treasure and how thankful I am for your prayers as we navigate through the unknowns.) Despite all the crazy changes in our worlds lately–we feel our cups are overflowing with things to be thankful for. The Lord timing is always perfect–and this Thanksgiving…I am so thankful that He continues to hold us close to His plan and will…and give us peace as we trust Him.
Tried to watch the video but it said its private. LOVE the pictures though and its so cute how little laney was cuddled up on the couch reading a magazine, totally a girl thing! Hope your gluten free thanksgiving feast turns out very scrumptious!
I have a whole list of things to catch y’all up on! BUT–wanted to let y’all hear from one of my adoption momma friends Heather Redmore FIRST. Adoption is something near and dear to my heart–and special needs adoption too! I wanted to let Heather share with y’all a specific need–and how YOU guys can be a part of it by just giving five. (By the way–Isaac’s FAVORITE thing to do is to give HIGH fives. I’ve totally got to video it because he has little rhymes he does…like “up high, down low, cut the wire–YOU on fire!” and “up high, down low, cut the pickle–TICKLE, TICKLE!” He thinks his five tricks are SO funny!) Now–you can give five too…and help shape a family, change a life and be a part of a miracle this season!
And with giving 5…you get to help these little 10 toesies come home!!!
Without further adieu–meet Heather:
Hello, Babe of my Heart readers! My name is Heather from Project: Find Her and like many of you I am an adoption momma. I met some of you last year at the Created to Care retreat. At that time we were finishing up our home study and hoping to have our dossier finished sometime in March. Well, you know things rarely work out in the adoption world the way you expect them to. Our Dossier didn’t go to Ethiopia until May and at that point the agency told us it would probably be a year before we received our referral even though we were approved for a special needs child, because they didn’t get very many special needs babies.
We thought we had some time to save the money and fundraise. Well, God had other plans and He decided to move things along. In July just 2 months after sending our dossier to Ethiopia we got the referral of a beautiful 6 month old baby girl with possible special needs! We were thrilled that we hadn’t had to wait the full year, but we were also left to scramble to put the money together that was needed. We are down to the wire now, leaving for Ethiopia in only 8 days. We started a fundraiser last week called Give Five, and Andrea has graciously allowed me to post on her blog to ask others to join us.
Give Five started as a facebook-a-thon. We asked our friends to give $5 and then ask their friends for a $5 donation. Our goal was to raise $6,000. The money has been donated steadily $5, $10, $25 even $100 at a time. Our grand total today is $2,115! Isn’t that amazing? But, we still need to get to $6,000 and in 8 days. So, I am here to ask you to check out our website, www.projectfindher.org you’ll find a Give Five page, a FAQ page and our story about how God called us to adopt, plus check out our store where we have 2 adoption t-shirt designs available. And then if God leads you, please donate to Give Five to help us bring our baby girl home.
Andrea, just wanted to tell you how wonderfully caring your readers are! 113 people followed the link to our site in the short time it’s been up. Thank you Babe of my Heart readers! I love telling our story and I love that people want to hear it. 🙂
These last few months have been…well, I can’t even think of the word. I’d say confusing–but my God is not the God of confusion. Maybe different. Different than anything I’ve ever experienced.
Physicially–I’ve felt different. More tired than ever before. And it’s not because I have 4 children. Yes–that might add to it…but it’s a different kind of tired. I’ve felt more like what I’d guess someone much older than me feels.
Whether it’s Lymes disease or Sjogren’s–they both make you tired, have arthritis pain, memory loss…the opposite of characteristics I used to take pride in.
A mommy that was fully of energy…lately I want to nap several times a day (but of course can’t with my littles and homeschooling). Homeschooling??? Really Lord? This would be the year You called me to homeschool???
A mommy that had/has a dream of writing…all of the sudden I feel like I have trouble thinking of words that so eloquently used to come natural.
A mommy that felt called to adopt again…to have finally finished the home study process…to feel out of sorts and like I needed to get a rein on health…something I have always taken for granted. To be told I might have something that would close the door–to then we could move forward with doctors approval…only to feel not quite myself and know that it wasn’t the right time.
Walk by faith.
It’s so easy to let the fear of the future keep in…what will it look like??
“We will never walk by faith until we are desperate.” -Crawford Loritts
Moses’s parents stepped out in faith. His mom BELIEVED in faith that God had something better for her baby boy than to be killed by Pharaoh. In faith, she hid him for months to save his life. In faith, she put him in a basket in the Nile where alligators thrived. REALLY LORD? I’m sure she asked this. In faith, she sat and watched–hoping and praying for something better. She believed. She followed Him in faith. And…He was indeed faithful.
“Where God is taking you is ALWAYS better than where you are.” -C. Loritts
And the road to where He is taking you–might not be comfortable or easy. But He who has called–will be faithful in taking you to your promised land.
I really believe the Lord called me to write…with a passion to speak even…regardless if I have trouble remembering the words or let fear of memory loss creep in. I believed He called me to do those things one day…and He will be faithful. I believe the Lord called us to grow our family. And right now–I know I need to see how the months unfold and if symptoms worsen or fade away. I know this is where He has me. I know He is faithful. I know He has a purpose.
The promised land.
The promised land–the personal promises–in our lives may not come immediately from our Father. They may not come in the timing or the way we would hope or expect. And the journey to the promised land–our promised land–is one of great faith. There will be many trials on the way. There will be Red Seas in front of us. Seas that do not part–until we are some times knee deep in the water.
Today–it felt so good to worship Him. To lift my hands high and just praise Him for His complete goodness in my life. To know that I can trust Him with my future…with the story that HE is writing for me. If you have been reading my blog for some time or you are a dear friend of mine–then you know when I turned 18 and accepted Jesus as my Savior that I prayed that He would give me a life of adventure–one that would bring complete honor and glory to His name…
So far…my God has been so faithful. What is a beautiful story without hard days?? Days where He shines through and makes the impossible happen…where He is seen as faithful through a story of a child of His following Him in faith.
I praise Him today because He has been and will be faithful.
I praise Him today because I continue to see Him write and work in my story.
I praise Him because He is enough for me…and I believe He is simply asking us to step out in faith when things all around us are uncertain…and to trust and follow Him.
I can’t wait to see how one day He leads me to the personal promised lands He has written on my heart. It’s going to be beautiful…I just know it…
Hey Andrea! I have been following your blog quietly for awhile now. I’m signed up to attend Created for Care this year and you have been a great blessing to me without even knowing it.
I just wanted to share with you that I have MS (was diagnosed in high school) and what you are experiencing is so familiar to me – the unexplained exhaustion, confusions, lack of words, etc. There have been times GOd absolutely put me on my face with this illness. HOWEVER, it is one of the main avenues that God has used in my life to draw me closer to Him and ALSO to step out in faith to do things that many people would tell me are crazy – such as adopting our twin baby girls who had lots of health issues and a birth mom very close to our family. But He continually proves so incredibly faithful.
“Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time He said, ‘My gracious favor is all you need. My power works best in your weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may work through me. Since I know it is all for Christ’s good, I am quite content with my weaknesses and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Cor. 12:8-10
Prayers for you as you face this struggle and continue to give yourself fully to the Lord and your family and all the ways He’s using you in His Kingdom. He will prove strong in your weakness.
by admin
I want to come over! JK 🙂 Your home just looks so warm and lovely:)
Your home looks so beautiful! Do you have a link to the directions for the tent by chance?