A little Sunday night learning

Today we had a chance to 'observe' the solar eclipse that was occuring just a little north of us. Since we were not in the direct path, we were only able to observe a partial eclipse. Armed with our pinhole piece of cardboard and using the back of Matthew's truck, we were able to see this:

It was amazing to me that with this much of the sun covered by the moon, the sun was almost as brilliantly bright as it usually is this time of the day:

(Note: I did not take this picture while looking at the sun. This was an over the shoulder trick shot.)

 Kelsey was doing a running commentary about the eclipse on her iPod. It will be fun to see if she does a blog post on her blog about the eclipse.

We read that the moon usually travels at about 1200 mph. You wouldn't know that just by watching the progress of movement through the pinhole. But it was incredible to watch the progression of where the moon was when we started watching to where it was when we decided it was time to go in and get dinner started.

The next total eclipse will occur in November and will be visible in Australia. Wonder if we should start planning a trip? :o)

My plans?...or God's plans?

I am a planner...I like to make lists...I like to plan the route of my errands...I really like when things fall into place.

Notice that each one of those phrases begins with 'I'. That's right, my plans! Before I gave my life to Jesus, I was a corporate world climbing young women. There was always a plan and it was my plan.

I still like to plan, and even though God's plan are bigger than our plans, we still need to plan. The thing is, I need to allow God's plans to change the route of my plans.

I had big plans of getting a lot of sewing done today. We have a big Civil War event coming up, and even though these shirts are almost done

I was hoping to work on a couple more sewing projects

another set of drawers and a couple of petticoats, and

a skirt and top for Kelsey, but as 'luck' would have it this morning...

my trusty sewing machine is not working properly. So...I decided to switch gears and work on something that I might be able to finish with little time and effort.

When we were out running errands yesterday, I picked up these flowers because I had seen a cute idea on Pinterest.

We have a few of these bottles on hand because of another idea I saw on Pinterest (that I actually still need to finish for someone!)

 

 

I pulled out some jute and that bag of messy spanish moss

 

 

After I filled the bottles with some of the spanish moss and tied a bow around the bottles, I cut up the flowers with my wire cutters (don't try this with scissors, it will just be too frustrating!)

 

 

Add some flowers to each bottle and I now have a simple, colorful centerpiece for my table!

 

Does this change the fact that my sewing machine isn't working properly and I may not be able to finish my planned sewing projects? No, but it does help to put things into perspective. The world is not going to fall apart if these sewing projects don't get finished. Slowing down this morning has given me a chance to reflect on His everlasting goodness in my life. He does not want me to worry about things of this life, He wants me to spend more time remembering His promises to me.

 

Not a very productive sewing afternoon

We have a big Civil War reenacting event coming up and I have needed to get some sewing done. Kelsey has outgrown her drawers and petticoats, and really needs new ones. She would also like to go on the field as a cadet at this event, so I told her I would make her a shirt.

I pulled out the bolt of bleached muslin I purchase a couple of years ago, and was disappointed to see that I only had enough material to make one set of drawers.

Time to buy another bolt of bleached muslin!

With the one set of drawers completed, I started working on the new shirt for Kelsey. After I had taken her measurements and even had her try on one of Matthew's shirts, I decided to make her a boys large. Big mistake! After spending most of the afternoon working on this shirt, it is too small!

At this point, I am going to finish the shirt and hopefully be able to sell it to someone at our next event. I decided to hunt around to see if I had enough of the right type of material to start on another shirt. You can't just use any type of print for Civil War reenacting... :o)

I was so happy to find this print at home! And enough of it to make another shirt! Everything is cut out and ready to start sewing on this shirt tomorrow.

Compassion Sponsor Letter Writing Night

I don't know about you, but I am so ready to go on a Compassion Sponsor Trip after reading so many of the blog posts from Tanzania this week!

In the meantime, this afternoon, the kids and I colored flags I found on the Crayola web site. The flags are from the 26 countries where Compassion is working. We added these to our Compassion binder that we have been putting together.

Tonight was our monthly letter writing night! I love finding craft projects, stickers, and other items to send to our sponsored children. A couple of weeks ago, I found some VBS sticker packs at Michaels for $1 each. I let everyone know that if they joined us this evening, I would give them a sheet of stickers for their Compassion child.

For our project this evening, I found a neat idea on Pinterest. We used cardstock, traced our hand, cut them out, and added a Bible verse. On the back, we are hoping a translation of the verse will be written in the child's language, if needed.

We are going to send an extra sheet of paper with instructions that we would like our sponsored child to trace their hand onto the paper, add a verse, then send it back to us. If we get any handprints back, my plan is to add the child's picture to the handprint, laminate them, and add them as bookmarks for my Bible.

In addition to the stickers and handprints, we are going to send them a state page that I found on the Crayola web site. I decided to color one of the pages and will send each of the kids a blank page for them to color.

Since we are sending items to twelve kids, we usually make sure we label everything. I made labels for everyone which makes it a little quicker to label multiple items. Then all the items for one child will be placed either in a ziploc bag or an envelope. The ziploc bag or envelope will also be labeled for each individual child. Then all the ziploc bags or envelopes are placed in one big envelope to send off to Compassion. We are hoping this makes it a little easier for the crew in Colorado to sort out for each of the kids.

What types of things do you like to send to your sponsored children?

Travel to Tanzania!

Would you like to experience a Compassion trip without leaving your home? This week you can!

The Compassion Bloggers are in Tanzania right now! Now that our homeschool high school graduation is over (I will be posting about that later on this week), I will have time to read about these bloggers and their experiences in Tanzania.

If you are touched by their stories and would like to sponsor a child in Tanzania, be sure to follow this link:

Share with me what your favorite blog post is...I will try to share which one is my favorite... :o)

May Day Baskets

According to Wikipedia, "May Day was celebrated by some early European settlers of the American continent. In some parts of the United States, May Baskets are made. These are small baskets usually filled with flowers or treats and left at someone's doorstep. The giver rings the bell and runs away. The person receiving the basket tries to catch the fleeing giver. If they catch the person, a kiss is exchanged."

When we first moved into our neighborhood, the kids and I thought it would be fun to make May Day baskets and put them on our neighbor's door knobs. These made quite an impression! Our neighbor's loved them, so we have continued the tradition every May since then. They never have rung the door bell, but have quietly placed the May Day basket on the door knob, then they run away so they won't be caught.

This year, I looked through Pinterest for some May Day basket ideas. We saw a couple of ideas that would work, but adapted them for what we had on hand.

To make these May Day baskets, you will need:

berry baskets

flower foam

glue

craft sticks

cardstock

buttons

spanish moss

scissors

flower templates

ribbon

a couple of willing helpers... :o)

First, we glued the flower foam to the bottom of the berry basket.

The kids worked on tracing the flower templates and cutting out the flower shapes.

Homemade iced coffee is always appreciated by a hard working crew... :o)

We added some spanish moss to the berry baskets.

This stuff is really messy!

Ribbon was added to each basket so they could hang from the door knob.

Buttons were glued to the center of some of the flowers, then all the flowers were glued to the craft stick.  We added six flowers to each basket by gently pressing them into the flower foam.

I found a cute May Day printable on Pinterest to add to each basket.

Doesn't it look great hanging on a door knob? :o)

The kids were up at 6:30am yesterday to deliver all of our May Day baskets. They have such a fun time doing this! Have you ever done May Day baskets for your neighbors?

Olive's visit

This past weekend, we had the privilege of hosting Olive in our home.

Olive grew up in Uganda as a Compassion sponsored child. She is currently attending the Denver Seminary where is working to earn a Masters degree in Professional Leadership. Her goal is to return to Uganda and do whatever the Lord would have her to do to help other children living in poverty.

Another Compassion Advocate who lives close by had contacted Compassion about having an LDP (Leadership Development Program) student come to speak at their church. When Compassion realized that we were close by, they thought it would be great if Olive could speak at our church also during that same weekend.

So the arrangements were made and soon we were driving to the airport to pick up Olive. We talked a lot that evening and learned so much about her and her life in Uganda.

On Saturday, we met up with our new Compassion Advocate friends and headed to San Francisco for the day. Olive had never been to California and San Francisco was what she wanted to see. Here are a few photos of our time in the city:

Olive went home with Cathy and Steve that night as she would be speaking at their church on Sunday morning. On Sunday evening, we were able to put together a special Sunday evening service (with the help of many from our church family!). We had a great attendance! Matthew and Kirsten started the evening with a couple of worhip songs, then we did an interview style presentation. I had asked a few of our church family for questions to ask Olive that evening. Then our pastor followed up with a short powerful message, and Matthew and Kirsten closed our time with one last song.

Then we did what our church family does best, we spent a lot of time in fellowship with each other and many people had time with Olive, talking with her and getting to know her story just a little better.

We didn't have any new sponsorships that night, but I believe the sponsors who were in attendance have a better understanding of how important it is for us to be writing those letters to our sponsored children, telling them that we love them, are praying for them, and giving them the encouragement they so need to here.

If you ever have the chance to host a formerly sponsored Compassion child in your home, do not hesitate to say 'yes'! Without having gone on a Compassion trip...yet, this is probably the next best thing. These young adults have lived the experience and have a powerful testimony to let us all know that Compassion works, not only in the life of this one child, but to all the people in their family and community. I am so thankful for the time we were able to share with this sister in Christ!