Beauty In The Scraps

 A few weeks ago, I went through a box of scrap fabrics. Pieces that really were not big enough to do a lot with.

I had gone through my youngest daughter's American girl clothes and made a pile of clothes that had been way out of date, and you could truly tell my nonexistent sewing skills, lol.

So I spent the afternoon taking things apart, so I could repurpose the fabric and make some more up-to-date clothes. I love to sew for 18 in doll's clothes. That is how I learned to sew, actually. My girls fell in love with the most beautiful dolls one evening when we visited a Christian book store. I remember, just like yesterday, the fifty-cent piece-sized eyes. They were sparkling, and you could feel their excitement, and they had only seen them from the front of the store. They couldn't wait to go see these dolls up close. I remember telling them they were beautiful, but there was no way I would buy porcelain dolls for them to play with. Oh, with my sweet oldest delight when she told me they were plastic and that she just had to have one. The problem was it was January, and we had just gotten through Christmas, and I just couldn't justify new dolls so soon. So that day, my girls went home with sales magazines that opened our home to the world of the A Life of Faith Dolls. The beautiful Elsie Dinsmore, Millie Keith, Violet Travilla, Laylie Colbert, and Kathleen McKenzie.

 All came to be a part of our home, which I will never forget, after the first purchase of the favorite doll. Every chance we got, they wanted to go by the store and look at all the dolls and accessories also inform me who they needed next. I had spent hours studying the dresses in the sales magazine. How nervous I was when I went to  Walmart and bought a Simplicity doll dress pattern and a couple yards of fabric and began my sewing adventures.

Here is a picture of that very pattern! It's been good and opened the door for many hours of creativity! I still use it today it is my favorite!

It was almost Easter and I wanted to make 1800 themed baskets for the girls! I was going to purchase one of the expensive doll dresses for the girls. The owner of the store comes up and spoke with me. He normally did, so I wasn't surprised when he did this day. He said you know Mom I am not trying to change your mind. Not only that, but he said you are probably going to spend less actually. They need to read the books so you know why these dolls are so special. 

So I took a deep breath and listened to what he said. I put the dresses up. Made myself promise I would do my best to make my girls fancy dresses for their dolls the best I knew how. Picked up books and devotionals that went with the dolls they had gotten. I had feather pens made to resemble quills. I know you are wondering what this has to do with my scraps. 

Those dolls and their books opened up a whole new world of adventures for my girls and me! 

It opened the world of tea parties, cooking over a fire, making butter, falling more and more in love with things from the past allowing me to teach my girls why we needed to be the change. To make sure history never repeated certain parts of our past! All people are meant to be loved and taught with the same respect as others.  Everyone God created Should be treated equally! You see when I went in my sewing room and sat down in that chair. I looked up at the dolls that spent so many hours as a part of our family! Those memories and choices were much like the pieces of fabric that lay before me. At a glance, it all looked like a hot mess.

Yet, as the patterns were laid out, the fabric is chosen and cut. Brought to the sewing machine, piece by piece, sewn together. You begin to see something beautiful take place. Much like us, we start out ugly covered by our sins and when we spend time with the master creator we begin to change inside and out. Our hearts begin to change until finally, we give our hearts over to Him! He creates in us a new beautiful heart that is like no other whiter than snow! I imagine our hearts glisten like diamonds as snow does in the light. When I sew it's a lot like that, no two pieces, even if they are cut from the same fabric and sewn by the same person. No two are ever the same. Still, the beauty of the craftsmanship shines through. That day, as I pondered on all of this, I glanced up at those dolls and thought back on the owner's words he shared with me. He was right, the dolls were nowhere near enough. The books taught my girls the importance of having a strong relationship with Jesus, choosing good friends, the power of prayer, praying for the person God created for you to marry way before you meet him. These books were so much more than stories! The pieces of knowledge that each brought to our home. Was priceless, like these pieces of scraps I was putting together. Each piece was bringing something valuable to the end project at hand. When I finally finished the two dresses I had been working on. I looked at the final product in awe and saw how my skill set had changed over the years. You would have never known that the bodices were made 3 times before I was happy. One dress was once a curtain and scraps of a pair of shorts and pieces of a sleeve. The other dress was made from pieces of two doll dresses taken apart and a pair of old overalls. Pieces of lace painstakingly gathered from old dresses, shirts, nightgowns from over the years.

Of course, if your gonna sew for the 1800's they have to have beautiful plantlets and petticoats!

So much like our lives! One thing is not the only thing we need to survive and to become who God wants us to be. The stitches may have to be taken out multiple times, we may have to change the fabric out or add trims, we may have to take things in or take out. No matter the process it takes more than what the eye beholds as the finished product.

Sewing and our Christian lives are much the same! It takes more than just Sunday morning services and children's church for our kids on Sunday. Just like I can not just set the fabric down in front of my sewing machine and expect a dress to appear. We have to continue that relationship with our heavenly Daddy on our own and teach our children how to obtain and grow their relationship. Sunday morning isn't enough for anyone. We all have to have more! We often don't realize but we go to church on Sunday and we get busy and we don't take time to teach ourselves or our kids more about Jesus. We stop growing and we grow weak in Jesus. We get busy with life, going to work, school, household chores, seeing family and friends. We turn the tv on to help pass the evenings for our kids while we prepare for the next day. or we rush around to sports or dance classes. We go have our hair and nails done or return calls. The question is when did we take the time to fit Jesus into all of that. What did we watch or read? 

What could we give up to make more time with Him in our week and our everyday life? How can we teach our kids the importance of doing the very same things? He is the thread that holds it all together! Just like with sewing if the bobbin thread isn't correct the top thread won't hold together it will unravel!

So could we give up some tv time for family reading time from a Christian-based book? How about a faith based movie. Most important is family devotion and prayer time with each other. These moments may not come easily at first. I promise the fight for it will be worth every second spent doing it! Because I can not tell you pride you experience when you see your child choose these things that makes Jesus smile great big! Over the things, the world pushes! 

We can't expect Sunday mornings to be enough. Because it isn't enough after all. We have to add more to the scraps than just pieces. Or it will just continue to look just like that. A big bunch of scraps! 

But oh the beauty when we chose Him!

I am not sure what my life looks like when others look at it. I am sure at different times it looks different ways. I just hope that over the years like at the end of the project that day in my sewing room it looks beautiful and full of Jesus!

I am glad I chose those dolls all those years ago! As crazy as it sounds they still impact my life today! Their stories are shared in a girls club sponsored by our church, A Life Of Faith Girls Club online. The stories are broken down into devotions and are used to teach life-changing lessons that give value and a stronger relationship and walk with Jesus.

They are still my favorite go to books to read! I have read them many times over. I still take something new away each time. Next to my Bible, they are the most read books in our home.

What is God needing you to add to your scraps? Or what does He need you to take away. There really isn't a right or wrong answer. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, What I may see as ugly you may see as beautiful vise versa. 

No matter what the answer is, Know no matter how painful or easy it is. As you bring the pieces together, I am over here cheering you on and praying for you! My heart is covered with stitches and pieces my heavenly Daddy has put together. To Him, it's the most beautiful creation ever because He brought it all together and not just that He is always adding more embellishments.

Sewing in enough stitches helps make your garment stronger and able to stand the test of time! He is always doing the same for you. I  honestly never knew how much my relationship with Him and sewing had so much in common with one another! Until now....

I am thankful for the lesson He chose to teach me that day as I spent the afternoon doing one of the things I love most sewing. Using the reminder of something my girls and I loved together. It's so important to grow outside of Sunday services, I needed that reminder, We all get in ruts and we can choose to stay there or we can choose to move on from there and grow and become stronger!

As we go into the upcoming week, I pray no matter what becomes a part of your scraps or what becomes a part of your garment Just know in the end it will become a masterpiece! Each stitch is more beautiful than the next! 

(my final products)

 I pray you walk in the footsteps of grace and love!

                                Prayerfully Yours

                                 Love ~Shellie~

A Little Bit of Kindness

Hi guys! I hope you're having a wonderful day! 

I really enjoyed all the interactions with you last week!

It allowed me to get to know each of you a little better!

I really want to share my heart with you. So go grab yourself a good cup of coffee, tea, or whatever you like.

Let's pretend we are all hanging out and having girl time!!!

Last Thursday I went for my weekly blood work at the local hospital. I have been doing this for a while now. To the point, they know who I am before I even register. 

I am not sure the place you want to go that everyone knows your name is the hospital, just saying!
We had waited longer that day than we had in the past for a blood draw.

When we finally got called back, and we decide which arm is going to be our friend. I always small talk with the nurses as they are drawing my blood. When I asked her how she was, she told me she was tired. Her feet hurt and she and all the others were so overwhelmed. Someone had walked off after doing a urine sample and left without waiting to have 9 tubes of blood drawn. She looked at me dead in my eyes and told me she hoped she wasn't wrong. She was glad she needed a break. I smiled and told her I was so very sorry she was having such a hard day. I would be praying for her and the other staff members working,

That's when she truly broke my heart. She looked at me and said honey, please do! She said I am so tired of seeing people die! Not only that, but she has seen more body bags. Than living patients on the floors. Each day was worse than the day before. She shared with me every night when she got home, she cried. She was so tired of seeing death.

When Jody and I got in the car. We really were burdened for the staff. Could you imagine that being what you saw? Each and every day, how burdened you would feel for the families!

  My heart was incredibly heavy.

So when I went to bed that night, I made a point to talk to my Daddy about the hospital staff. 

I have to admit, I prayed a little harder for the respiratory therapist who works so closely with patients. Respiratory therapists work with those struggling to breathe. My oldest is actually on a travel assignment right now at a hospital.

I knew what my nurse was referring to!

My daughter confirmed each night, when she calls me on her way home, each day is worse than the day before.

Our medical staff all around our country needs to be lifted up in prayer daily!  No matter what your thoughts are about Covid. 

They are truly on the front lines each and every day. A recent life event had me thinking even more. Is there something I might, can do to lift spirits and let them know they are seen they are heard and prayed for. 

I think I have decided when I go this week I am going to bake a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies and take them with a card of appreciation. 

When I was in the hospital last year, I saw my nurses go all day long without eating lunch!  I may even make a fruit basket to take as well. Our world is in such turmoil. I am not sure if we will ever truly be the same again. My heart hurts for our country and those in Afghanistan. It's like someone shook a snow globe and everything is topsy-turvy. My heart hurts for my grandbabies. I want them to grow up in a safe ad healthy world.

What can we do to make an impact on those around us who serve? I'm not talking about just our hospital staff. It could be our mail person, a grocery store clerk, someone who serves in our churches, a friend, or even a neighbor.

Check on your friends and make sure they are holding up through all of this! Let them know you are there for them!

How can we impact those around us that feel as if they are drowning! 

Acts of kindness and serving are some of the best medicine there is.

Jesus once said that whatever we do to the least of our neighbors, we do to Him! So, ladies, let's be those hands and feet. 

We don't have to do gigantic things to show we care. Or even be in a leadership role. We just have to be willing....

After all, we are called to be servants for Jesus in our own ways. 

So let me challenge you if I may? Find some way this week to lift their spirits. With an act of kindness. Not to be seen, but to serve! After all, when we serve others, we are serving Jesus!

Spend some time with me this week, pray and ask Jesus who would you like me to show kindness to this week?

After all, we are called to serve. What a beautiful world it would be if all would serve one another. 

I can not thank you enough for spending some time with me today! I know your time is precious! Not only that, but I don't take it for granted! I am honored you chose to share some with me!

As always, I pray we find ourselves walking in the footsteps of grace!

In acts of kindness to those who are around us!

Until next time!

Prayerfully Yours,

 ~Shellie~

When Is The Last Time You Enjoyed Something You Love

 

As quickly as the day begins so does it end....

As I set here looking at my screen putting this blog post together. I am reminded of all the blessings before me. As a wife I truly am extremely blessed. Even during such trying times.I am so thankful for a devoted husband who loves his family even more that one who loves Jesus so.

I have tried to take this time before us and learn all I can! Because who knows when things may become normal again.

Yet there is something that my heart has longed for during this time! Honestly things from time gone by! I miss the days of baking bread from scratch and making homemade butter to go with it.  Making different fruit butters to put up for Christmas gifts, Tea parties spent filled with laughter, family gathered sharing and making memories, and spending time in ministry inside the church building!

How does one who deals with Chronic pain regain the things that bring so much joy. Without paying a high price of your health also without losing who you are inside.

I have been praying about that because the healthy juggle of everyday life and the things our hearts desire. To stay healthy but to enjoy life at the same time.

So I don't have a perfect answer and I can't promise that if your like me that you won't need a long afternoon nap after doing something you love to do. What I have found that if we can live a flexible life that we can put off something that can be done tomorrow if you are having a good day. To enjoy the gifts our Daddy placed inside of you! So put off doing that load of laundry and make homemade bread in its place.

You will thank yourself for doing that something you love. Here is why it will make you feel you have some of that normalcy back! Even if it only for a little while!

Over the weekend I did just that I out off everything except spending time with my family and made homemade ciabatta bread. I meant to take time to take picture so I could post them here! However I did not make the pictures a priority. I made the process of doing something I loved the priority of just doing something I loved!

We often think we can not put something's off because  we feel the things around us must  be perfect.

Well I am here to declare I am over feeling everything needing to be perfect. I declare that it is much more important to allow God to let me use my favorite things as He writes the stories of my life. It's too important to teach my children that as well.

All though they both are grown. It's still important to teach them that it's okay! To enjoy things, the simple things, Things you love to do. 

Time has a way of changing things... Just as seasons change so do we. Our children grow up and no longer need our constant care. Our husband's should always have the best love and care. Lord wants to use in each and every season. I pray that whatever season this should find you in. You will take some time to grow in Him and yourself.

 As our Daddy's Words says He had these things planned long ago.

Thank you for coming by and allowing me to share my heart with you! I pray that something said helps you to do something you love! Your time is so valuable! Thank you for sharing a small part  of your day with me as well! Praying for you always!

Prayerfully Yours ~Shellie~

I am looking forward to what adventures this weekend will bring....

Normalcy What Is That !?!

I have felt this way everyday this week! It's been a long hard week! Not just for me but my family as well. All though there is so many things I am so very thankful for. I have realized it's okay to have a bad day along the way as well to just want to  have some normalcy.

Then I have to ask myself what does normalcy even look like! I had to giggle! Because I am not sure if I truly even know!

Still I think about our world and the state of panic we seem to be in and think the only way there is ever going to be normalcy or peace again is when we turn to the one who can give it to us! 

We have to want it bad enough to go to our Daddy for it, My heart feels He is waiting for the ones who don't normally seek him out to do so and ask for it! Ask him to heal our land and our people!

I have been thinking back on you childhood this week! My sisters and I would play Barbies and babies for hours when we were young. We would set up elaborate houses and pretend to visit one another and go shopping. Everything seemed so right with the world! I miss those days of simplicity and not needing to really know all the grown up stuff  of the world !

We reacted in our play what we learned at home. If we were playing house we treated our babies the way were and the same life scenario with our barbies.

I wonder if I was looking in what I may learn today when kids play?

I know this time has been just as hard for them as it has been for the adults. 

I hear of some of my sweet kiddo's from church upset because they don't understand why they can not see their friends and loved ones.

So I was trying to come up with something I could do maybe make someone smile during this time! My heart always seems to be happiest when I can serve someone else! I was thinking why not do maybe a 7 day acts of kindness,

Now I know what your thinking... Money is tight right now I can't afford to buy gifts for people right now. You don't have to spend hardly anything if you choose to! Or you can set a small budget to use! It is all up to you!
You send a card to someone just to brighten their day! If you have little ones let them make the card for you! Whoever receives it will love it all the more! Bake some cookies and share 1/2 the batch with a neighbor! Pay for someone's morning coffee! Have rose bushes cut a bouquet for a friend and deliver them to her door. The list can be made up of so many things.

If you have little ones they can get involved as well!

As we approach celebrating Independence Day! The beginning of our countries many freedoms! How else can we bring sunshine to someone else?

How else can I pay it forward as so many before me has! 

Happiness begins when we serve others with a thankful heart! Not a grumbly one. 

When we truly do something because we want to bless someone else.

How can I reach my grandchildren and your children to love the country they live in teach them to love those who live in it no matter what color or what makes them different!
So do you wanna join in with me? 

I am kind excited to be able to make someone smile!

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 9:6-8

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

I don't know about you but I just love it when my Daddy is proud of me! Even more than that when He feels like he can bless me!

Remember if you go out this holiday weekend! Wear your make and social distance stay healthy and well!

I guess I will get out of the bed lol and redeem the evening till bedtime comes !:)

As always thank you for sharing your time with me! I don't take that gift lightly! I hope you have an amazing weekend and week ahead!
Prayerfully Yours ~Shellie~ 

It's Time To Listen

I wasn't sure if this was what I should do or not! After much prayer I know it is what my Daddy wants for sure.

I am a huge history girl! I love to know how things came about and why it came about the way it did. What was the cause and effects of each act in history and how is it still affecting us today,

In the light of the recent events of the loss of a man who was someones son, brother, father, friend, and someone fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of my Daddy. Another life taken for no rhyme or reason,

I wonder when my Daddy is looking down on His throne how much more His heart breaks for His children.

I know my heart truly breaks for my brother's and sisters of Christ who skin color is brown and not white. All through history they have been ridiculed as they strive to have the very same rights that my family has. They do not know the same peace my family feels when they leave their homes because through generations the stigma that they themselves are bad for the color of their skin. These families worry when they allow their children to go outside and play will they be safe? Because if something were to go wrong and they are in the cross fires they will be the ones who will take the blame and the outcome may cost their life. We often look at cultures we don't understand and form an opinion off of the things others think rather than seeking out what God says.

It's so easy to get swept up and think this is not my problem. Yet that is the problem we have been quiet to long, Setting on the side lines and walking quietly by not reaching across the borders and bridging the gap. By listening and trying to understand the frustration of the people who feel that they have to go to extreme circumstances to be heard, For the world to stop and listen to their fears. Fears that I can't say I truly understand because I am on the outside looking in! Yet here I am, I am listening, I want to hear you.

I can not imagine the generational fears passed down for the black community, If you truly study history you will see that any man that has ever been in legal authority over them has been a tyrant of sorts. Their ancestors endured horrific circumstances. Beatings, separation from their families, living with not even basic essentials, and this list could go on for a really long time. 

Separated and made to feel less than what God made them to be.

I taught my girls we don't judge a person by the color of their skin! That person is just the same as you no matter the color! They were raised in a home that taught the truth of history not leaving out the truth of the matter of slavery, We had long discussions on what we would have done to tried to have change it if that would have been when God chose us to be born,I would have been abolitionist. I would have fought for their freedom and rights then just as I will today.

We need to set across the table from one another and talk and share our fears! We need to close the gap of separation not see color and see a person God created and loves as much as me! 

He wants to heal the wounds from past and prevent wounds of the future. There should not be separation of my family from theirs! They should feel just as safe coming to my neighborhood as I should to go through theirs!   

They should not fear the blue light that is meant to protect them unless like myself have done something to fear it! Their children should never be scared to ask a officer or myself  for help. They should not feel that I think my race is inferior to theirs! Because my dear friends it's not! I bleed the same color as they do. My heart hurts as theirs does! I can not undo what my ancestors did! I can however change how now and future generations act and treat people! They deserve the same opportunities my family has had with out fear, Because neither of us are inferior to the other! We are all created by the same loving God who Is a Jew by the way not a white man!

When He looks at us all He sees is the beautiful children He created and they are all good! Not one of them better than the other! All beautiful  and equal. So know I Shellie, I see you, I hear you,I am learning, I will be educating, because your lives matter and the violence must stop so we can heal our children and make a better world for them to live in that is safe and equal!

So my prayer for our nation, our world, our families, and for each other! Let's stop ignoring the issue! Let's give it's voice in a peaceful nonviolent way! Let's set down with one another and bridge the gap with kindness, prayer, and most of all love! 

After all your all my brother's and sisters! No matter your color!

It's time for true healing to begin!
Thank you for sharing apart of your day with me! It means a lot that you chose to!

I am praying for you and your family this week! Stay safe and well!

Prayerfully Yours,

~Shellie~

Just Remember We Are ALL Stronger Together!

A Time To Be Still

                                

Some days just make more sense than others.

Then there are those days we wonder why we bothered getting out of bed for.

I have had one of the latter weeks!

It has been a hard week at the Almond household for me.

I still very much want to be a super Wife and Mom.

Well a very pale comparison of that lady has existed lately.

It's during these trying weeks like this week. When I just knew the knock it out of this world steroids would make me super Wife! Instead it  did everything but make me feel better.

That my Daddy was still coming up beside me cheering me on! 

Encouraging me to go just a little longer He promises to be there and I won’t let you fall!

Hold on to me even when it’s scary!

Trust me pericarditis can be scary when it wakes you up out of your sleep!

I wonder honestly if this is how some of the sainted women of the Bible felt when they were struggling?

Like Hannah when she continually seeked God for a baby?

She had been taunted by others for her lack of having a child! 

She prayed and sought and seeked some more!

Until she shows up in the temple so beside herself praying so hard there are no words leaving her lips! Eli thought she was drunk! 1 Samuel 1:12-14

My morning thoughts went to Hannah and her prayers! When was the last time we sought after something so hard from our heavenly Daddy we could mistaken us for drunk for our continual prayers! Because we refuse to give up?

Those thoughts laid heavy on my heart for sometime.I know My Daddy has a plan and it is different from what I thought it would ever be! Still I don’t want to get so caught up in the world around me. That I quit calling out in prayer or things I am still waiting for Him to show up and show out in!

He is after all the very same God who heard Hannah’s cries and blessed her with a son. When she had weaned him she took him to the temple to live as promised!

God blessed Hannah with more children! For her obedience to Him!

Guys! I just totally lost it right there! Tears are streaming down my cheeks because for me it is a reminder yet again His timing not mine! I have so much I still want to do for my Daddy! I don't want to be laid up on the couch all week. 

This morning He shared something with me though! He hears my cries! Not just that though! I can be used just as much on this couch as if I were traveling the globe.

I have to be willing to allow Him! 

Sometimes He needs to quieten us though, so we can hear Him. Just because we get so busy ourselves. We don’t take that time to just be still and listen.

Hannah Cried out to God and He listened ! It was just as important to Him she slowed down and listened so she could be blessed!

I realized that my week of not feeling well and resting has not all gone up in smoke. I am always so much more in tune with my Daddy when life has those moments. I learn and glean more in those moments than I do in the chaos.

So as I look back over this week and realize the mental list of things that didn’t get done. 

I won’t be upset for it allowed my extra time with my Daddy! That is never ever time wasted!

I will thank him for the few things I wanted to do. He allowed me to do it! After It is so important to praise Him for the little things as much as the big!

I never want to take either for granted! Today is a gift lets see what it's going to hold!

Take time to slow down and refill your cup!

Thank you for stopping by and spending some time here today!

I pray you and your family have a safe and healthy weekend!
Prayerfully Yours ~Shellie 

Easter Spent A Little Diffrently!

Easter is by far next to Christmas my favorite holiday! Let's face it you can not have one with out the other! 

I must say though that girl who didn't believe in Jesus at 16 setting on her bedroom floor scared of what comes next... Has NEVER seen Easter the same since. I had that first encounter with Him and asked Jesus in my heart!

We live in a time like no other that my generation for sure has never encountered. It's like living out the stories I have read in history books and books I have read to my girls when they were small. If my girls would have ever asked if we would face a time like this I would have quickly answered no. Yet here we are in a world wide pandemic. It has changed the way we do life and there will be a new normal moving forward.

I have heard many say Easter will not be the same this year because we can't meet in the church the way we are accustomed to meeting. Or because families won't be able to have large dinners the way we are used to doing for every holiday.

I have thought about this statement for a few weeks now even more so this morning. As I set on my back patio listening to the birds singing gayly. They are it concerned about the changes in world around them. They are still trusting the Father to care for their many needs.

(Matthew 6:25-34)

I can not help but wonder if what would happen if we would do the same. Traditions are embedded into us strong at a early age. When we become adults we continue to follow for the most part what we were taught to do for certain things like holidays!

I wonder what would happen

 if we would not focus on what we are not able to do. Rather on what God has still me available to us.

If we are some of the very blessed we have not been affected by the virus and we still have our family at home or our grown children are safe in their homes. 

Why not start new traditions inside of our homes.

Start of celebrating our risen Saviour all weekend not just on Sunday!

Start on Friday and read the crucifixion story together !

On Saturday 

Make resurrection rolls for Sunday morning breakfast! You can follow this link provided for a easy recipe!

Resurrection Rolls

You can also go ahead and prepare a special dessert for Sunday dinner! I am sure you will still be having lunch even though we can not gather! 

If you still have little ones at home! Plan to dye eggs for a egg hunt and do some Easter crafts with them! Here is a awesome cross made to look like a stained glass window! You can use this time to talk to your child about the importance of the cross! Then use the Resurrection rolls to explain how important the empty tomb is to us!!! After all we are all called to die but I don't know anyone else who came back 3 days later after taking on my sins! 

Oh my I am going to have a shouting fit and wake up my neighbors lol!

Back to the cross craft here is a link you can follow for instructions!

stained glass cross

Make Saturday fun be sure to talk about how Jesus did not just lay in the tomb! He was busy  taking back the keys to hell and defeating death!

(1 Corinthians 15:55)

Even if you don't have little ones at home facetime family that you miss and encourage them! Because after all Sunday is coming and it should be the biggest celebration ever no matter the size of the group!!!

Make a Easter Day plan!

My hubby is a pastor and is planning to prerecord his sermon! Now that I no longer have little ones I hope to get up and watch the sunrise on Easter morning and have sometime with my Daddy and thank Him for sending His Son to die for me but that part isn't what makes me want to shout it's the part that He rose from the dead! He paid the price for my filthy sins so I could spend forever with Him!!!

Praise Jesus!

Don't spend such a special day depressed about what we can't do! No find ways to make this day special so years from now you can share that inspite of the world around us you were able to have the most special Easter ever.

After all Easter should never just be special because we dress up pretty and go to church in our new outfits! No it should be special because of the gift that was given to us so freely! 

There is a time and reason for all things. This isn't by accident! I have wondered if He has been trying to get His children still a they can spend more time with Him!

 This will most likely be my only blog post this week! So I want to say this! Each and everyday we open our eyes is a gift. Jesus wraps up and gives me each and everyday and He gives it to me as a gift.

I hope you can see that your ownself!

Not even that I hope that even though this year is going to be so very different for all of us! I hope you will celebrate the risen Saviour and that you will allow this to be your best Easter to date!

Prayerfully Your~ Shellie

When Life Is Turned Upside Down

                                                       

I won't lie I was on the fence about this post. My Momma heart really doesn't want to offend anyone but my heart is incredibly heavy. My girls are both grown and graduated. My oldest has already completed her college degree and my youngest is writing a book. I am super proud of both  them. 
                      However this social distancing have reminded me of a time that my Mommy world was torn upside down. I was working and loving every moment of being a preschool teacher and Pastors wife. I have always had a heart to work with kids! My passion actually I loved pouring into mine,their friends, my children's church, and preschool.
    My oldest daughter had some medical issues and became very sick with her asthma and a heart condition do not mix well! She ended being home bound which through us into homeschooling. I was nowhere prepared for this! I did not feel qualified to teach my children but here we were! I was going to do what the Dr was telling was best for my kids no matter what it took. 
    We have never looked back! Both of my children graduated with honors from homeschool. Both are beautifully educated and loved and grew up with normal childhoods with friends! They had proms adventures they would have never experienced if we had chosen to do it any other way. 
   I know that our world around us is on uncharted grounds. We are facing thing we have only read about and seen in movies! Like me Moms, you and your children have been thrown into homeschool. The world they knew including yours has changed Momma's! 
     I know you may not be happy they are home and maybe  you still have to work and still figure out how to maintain their schooling and the things you needed to do on a daily basis. 
           Let me encourage you Momma's you have been given this beautiful gift of time. Time you will always remember! Guess what you set the tone for how your home will react! Especially your kids. If they feel like they are a burden for you to care for their temperament is going to show it. God has given you time to pour into your kids rather it be helping them with school work or doing something special with them. This is a great time to teach them to be responsible and help out with life skills they will need when they leave home. Like washing clothes, helping make dinner, and cleaning the house. Do these things together. Find a book you can read aloud, have a tea party, I have a very close friend who had a tea party with her boys, so tea is not just for girls, find a book series you can read aloud, spend some time in the fresh air each day I promise you will thank me for it. Your so lucky to have someone who has already made your child's lesson plans for them and you don't have to spend hours trying to figure out which curriculum to buy and make the lesson plans to do with your child each day! Those of who homeschool or have understand what it takes and the hours spent to prepare lesson plans for the kids! All though someone has done this for you. You have this incredible opportunity to add to your child's education by helping them learn the things they are interested in becoming when they are older! For instance my youngest has always been creative and enjoyed writing! So I did extra literature  based lessons with her and art activities. When I could take them somewhere to enforce what I was learning I did that as well! That part may be hard right now! Yet there is a ton of videos and free presentations by zoos,  museums, documentaries, and educational TV shows, even historical fiction! Not all of these things were available to us when we first began. You have a wonderful advantage I did not have!
      I had a hard time adjusting at first it was new and foreign to us! We had moments of tears not just them but me as well! We made it through those moments. Now when I look back I wish that I had done that from the very beginning.  There was is beauty in the memories we had together! Time and moments I would never change. Moments in time that my kids are thankful for.  I was just thinking the other day I miss the days of playing Barbie with my oldest! We have the Barbie stuff  all over the house and play for hours! Then the moments playing doll for hour and planning tea parties with friends. Momma's don't see this time as a punishment I know it is scary some of you are out of work and are unsure of what comes next. Just remember the times that we are living in the crisis our children have been exposed too will go down in history. Our Grandchildren will read about what our world faced how God helped overcome Covid 19.
     I was talking and my youngest and my adopted child who comes and stays with us every other week for a few days because we live a good little ways apart. I am thankful for this time with them! Because it could mean that one of them or one of us could be sick but we are not we are a healthy for us and we are together! 
   In this time of uncertainty I asked her did she remember a book series we read together aloud every day as part of our schooling A Life of Faith series Millie Keith by mission City press. They went through a time of quarantine. We took time to talk about how it affected Millie's family. We compared how it was affecting us! We had several things in common but the major thing was this! God is in control and we will see a end to this and we will come out stronger because of Him! We just have to remember WHO we trust and the reason He has given you a gift of time. Time passes quickly and before you know they will be grown and not your babies anymore. What do you want them to remember from this time with you? You didn't want to be home you would rather for them to have been at school in someone else care. I can promise you there is a Mom who would give anything for that chance. Or a Mom who worries after she finishes her shift at the hospital she doesn't take this home to their family. God have us the greatest gift as women no matter the circumstances to serve our family and love them. To treasure each and every moment to grow stronger in each other and in our faith. I pray for our world each and every night that God will speak the word that He can and bring healing and  peace to our world. To our loved ones who are sick and those I don't even know! To protect the ones who are on the front lines minersting in the hospitals! Our president as he works tirelessly to protect our nation. The Bible tells us to train up a child in the way they should go, and when they grow older they will not turn from it. Instead of grumbling let's show them the beauty of being together. The beauty of being a family and wanting to be together.
A few years ago I alm0st died during a surgery and I have never looked at things the same, Since I have been diagnosed with a incurable disease. It makes each and every day a gift. It's forever a reminder that each and everyday is a gift that we are not promised! One of my favorite things we do now is when we talk about the memories we made and how thankful they are for the time we had that we can never get back!
    How have you spent your time? Are you grumbling or are you making memories? I promise they are gonna remember both! 
I hope you know I say these things in love and a heart that wants nothing more than for all of us to come out of this stronger than ever not broken and rebuilding. 
Let the reminder of Matthew 6:25-26 That God cares for us and will provide our needs!
25 Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? 26 Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they?

Thank you for coming by and letting me share my heart with you! I am praying for your families that God meets the needs of each of you!  We have to remember no matter what God has got this and this to shall we come out of this stronger and closer than ever before!

I also would like for you to check out my Bestie's new blog! It's going to be amazing! Follow the link below to check it out!
https://themom2mom.com/