Bad cup of coffee?

A great friend encouraged me with the following idea. If Craig and I had children at this time in our lives, we wouldn't be able to devote as much time to helping start New Harvest Church. We have been blessed beyond measure as the Lord is taking us on this awaited journey. He has grown us in ways unimaginable.

That being said, here is what we have been up to.

Last week, Linda (my dear friend and leader of Radiant Women's Ministry) and I held the first event of the year at my house. We and all the ladies had an incredible time getting to know each other. Each month we have a different themed event.

This month was called "Jolly January-Chilled but Filled." We got some ideas from this terrific website: http://www.juliabettencourt.com/icebreakers.html

http://www.hostessblog.com/2011/12/holiday-hot-chocolate-coffee-bar/

For "Jolly January", we wanted to have a coffee/tea bar for all the women. We had everyone come dressed in scarves and gloves.

We ate some yummy pita and hummus, pizza croissants, lemon cupcakes, sandwiches, and white-chocolate covered oreos.

Linda did a great job of reminding us about what "Kind of Coffee" we want to stay away from. Sometimes we find ourselves being one of the following: bitter, weak, stale, etc.

We made these scarves out of t-shirts and had a blast!

http://tidymom.net/2011/how-to-make-a-scarf/

The game we played was called Questionable Chairs. Similar to musical chairs, but the person in the middle asks a question. Example: 1 Cats or 2 Dogs? If the person in the middle said they prefer 1 cats over 2 dogs, then only those that chose 1 cats would get up and trade seats while those that chose 2 dogs stayed seated. Some of the questions we used were:

We held up these cards for each question.1Hawaii or 2Colorado

1Pink or 2Purple

1Comedy or 2Romance

1Beth Moore or 2Max Lucado

Some were funny but the list could go on forever. Let's just say that we learned a lot about one another.

Everyone got to take one of these small coffee samples as they left. I meant to attach Psalm 34:8 bible verse to them, but ran out of time.

For the month of February we are going to do a photo scavenger hunt.

Snowman for Breakfast

Since tomorrow is church, I wanted to do something special for the Children's Ministry kids! I just love having the opportunity to be with them on Sunday. I saw these little donut snowmen on Pinterest and had to make them! It was a perfect Christmas breakfast idea. :)
http://www.alittletipsy.com/2011/11/point-of-view-gifts-once-there-was.html

I used: Powdered donuts, pull and peel twizzlers, sour bears, MINI chocolate chips, skewers, ribbon, clear bags.

First I poked three donuts on the skewer. I used the mini chocolate chips as coal, because the points on the chocolate chips went in to the donut easier. Then I used the twizzlers for the scarf. I continued with cutting the various colored sour bears in half and made buttons. I found that honey helped make it stick if need be.
Merry Christmas!

Casita

My project for the week was getting our Casita ready! I like to make everything because it saves us money. It needed some major fixing up which consisted of finding a headboard. I decided to create one myself using stuff I had already.

I used an egg crate cushion, 9 canvases, stapler, fabric, and scissors.

I cut out the cushions a bit smaller than the actual canvas to give it dimension.

After placing each cushion on the front of the canvas, I turned it over and stapled the fabric to the back of each one.

Then my awesome husband helped me hang them up as he has a better eye with that kind of thing.

Super fast, colorful, and easy headboard.

I can now check that off of my list of things to do before our guests arrive for the holidays.

"With God all things are possible" Matthew 19:26. This verse was quoted to me about 4 years ago from a little gray-haired man I had never met until then. Little did I know that everything that elderly man said, would play such a big role in our lives now.

I can still hear his confident, but gentle voice, "And the Lord wants you to know that you'll have little children of your own." "Huh?" Craig and I looked at each other. "What does that mean?" I pondered silently. Craig and I hadn't even been married 2 years. Our two small, rambunctious puppies required much attention. The idea of a family pertained to us greatly, but we desired more time together, before we even thought about starting a family. The sweet old man also said something else that caught me off gaurd. "Expect God to work in the supernatural." As I listened to his words, I let them sink in. (FYI, I absolutely believe in a higher power creating this universe, earth, and everything in it-including us! Everything is too complicated to think that we just evolved. I'm sorry-but it takes more faith to NOT believe. That being said, I have found Christianity to be the truth. I have experienced amazingly crazy things in my life that all point to Jesus Christ-my friend and savior. If it weren't true, I wouldn't live it out so passionately every day. Living in America with religious freedom, it would be easy to give up Christianity-there's no pressure) Anyway, I came to this conclusion: I could no longer put God in a box, and assume that He didn't do miraculous things anymore. I believe that God gives us His Holy Bible-something that has brilliantly and miraculously withstood time- to actively guide us in this rollercoaster of a life. After searching, I couldn't seem to find anything in the Bible that says the supernatural would no longer happen. This new conclusion was somewhat foreign to me while yet fascinating. However, from then on, the Holy Spirit blew me away with the unbelievable experiences of the "supernatural."

Craig and I have been married 5 years now and have been unsuccessful in starting a family of our own for the last year. We were recently tested, and the results turned unfavorable in our quest to find some answers. In a situation that seemed to be unhopeful, we have hope. "May the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13.

We are starting this blog to share how big and great our God is. Also, I love the little things in life, such as arts and crafts of all sorts. Friday, I will take my first quilting lesson! I also enjoy making our home a place of peace and joy through small projects. I hope to share these things along the way as well.