Finding Joy

"Joy" is quite the buzzword here at the beginning of 2019.  Things are either sparking joy or being moved on to File 13 or a donation bin as many people seek to tidy up their lives. 

No doubt, tidying up the external definitely makes us feel a lot better, at least for the short term.  However, where does lasting joy come from?

Two years ago on a wonderful Disney World vacation, I realized that I was seeking joy in the wrong place.  We had experienced two wonderful days at Disney, and I returned to the hotel on Day 2 ready to take on our mid-trip laundry pile.  I grabbed up all of our new clothes for the trip and even a couple of special quilts that had experienced some "trauma" on the trip for one large laundry load.  All was well and good, I was on top of the world and on top of things in general... until I went to pull the load from the dryer. Hark! The boy child had left crayons in his pocket which melted over everything in a spectacular display.  What quickly followed were Google searches, pleas for tips on social media, and my sainted husband making a late night trip to the local Wal-Mart for a bevy of supplies.  I spent a large portion of the night and early morning hours donning rubber gloves and trying a variety of stain busting methods that involved the hotel room bathtub filled multiple times with hot water and LOTS of trips to the hotel laundry room. 

I felt angry, cheated, underappreciated, foolish for not checking pockets, embarrassed, and generally distraught.  I carried those feelings into  Day 3 and unfortunately shared those angry feelings with the ones I love most.

Then it hit me - I had been taking joy in THINGS. 

All things are perishable and destined to become dust. The Bible tells us to take our joy in the Lord. How much easier is it for the Devil to steal our joy when we put it in things, experiences, and people???

Those new clothes were destined for the trash bin at some point.  That point just came a LOT sooner than I expected. 

We can let such things destroy us, or we can take our joy in the imperishable, ETERNAL God. Which do you choose?

"Little" Obedience

Obedience.  Obedience isn’t a word we like to think about, but it is a necessary word.  In our house, “because I said so” is a frequently repeated phrase.  When we ask for our children to obey us, we want them to act immediately.  Delayed obedience is disobedience.  And disobedience puts us outside of the circle of God’s will.  Delayed obedience, likewise, places children outside the protection of their parents. When we tell a child not to run in a street or touch a hot stove, we need them to trust us and act immediately – even when it doesn’t make sense to them. To not do so can mean serious harm for the child.

In the same way, God wants immediate obedience from us… even though WE don’t always understand why.  In fact, we often think of obedience in big terms – leading God’s children out of Israel, building an ark when the world has never seen rain before, or being missionaries in a hostile country.  But we need to be obedient even in the small acts that don’t make sense to us.  Things that are so simple that we feel surely God isn’t asking us to do that.

In 2 Kings Chapter 5, Naaman is a well-known and well-respected army commander.  He leads thousands of men, and the king looks upon him favorably.  However, Naaman suffers from a skin disease.  We don’t know exactly what the disease is, but it is clearly a torment to him.  Naaman’s servant girl tells him of a prophet in Israel who can heal him. With the king’s blessing and under great expectations, Naaman undertakes a big journey with gifts of gold, silver, and clothing in tow.  When he finally reaches Elisha’s home, Elisha sends a messenger out to meet Naaman and tells him to wash seven times in the Jordan River.  “What?!” Naaman is angry.  He is an important man who has traveled many miles and put his life on hold with the expectation that this great prophet would come out and call upon his God over Naaman.  Instead, he is told by the prophet’s servant go wash in the local body of water that Naaman deems well beneath those of his own homeland.  Blessedly, Naaman’s own servant speaks in wisdom, and says, “My father, would you not have done a more difficult thing? How much more so can you do this?”  Naaman did as Elisha commanded, and he was healed.  It was so easy it didn’t make sense.

In one of my social media groups, a woman found out she and her husband were pregnant with their sixth child.  This was an unwanted surprise, and they made plans to visit an abortion clinic.  On their way to the clinic, they stopped at a gas station.  A stranger went out of her way to walk up to the mother, smile at her, wish her a good day, and say “God bless you!” The reluctant mother felt her attitude shift. At the appointment, during the consultation prior to surgery, she just felt they needed to leave.  Crying, she urged her husband to go, and leave they did.  They scheduled a regular maternity appointment with an OB/GYN and are excitedly looking forward to the arrival of baby number six in August.

What do we know about the woman at the gas station?  -  The one who smiled and went out of her way to bless that mother  -  For all we know she had a terrible morning where her kids griped at her about putting on their shoes for school, maybe someone cut her off in traffic, maybe her boss was being unreasonable, maybe she just didn’t feel like smiling at anyone.  What we do know is that she did.  When God told her to walk up to a total stranger and bless that stranger with a kind smile and words, she had no idea the role she was playing.  She just did it because God said so.

These acts of “little” obedience show our big faith and strengthen our relationship with God.  We don’t always need to know how our part in God’s will work out.  We just need to follow and obey.  So the next time, you feel the Holy Spirit telling you to help someone reach something on a high shelf at a grocery store or smile at a homeless person or offer your snack or open your home for a playdate or invite someone for coffee…do it.

How to Make an IKEA Kura Bed Curtain

Looking for a cute, flexible, and inexpensive option for a child's bed? Look no further than the IKEA Kura.  It is a great transition bed if you are looking to move up from a converted crib or toddler bed. This bed can function as a single bed or a bunk bed.  Top it with a cute IKEA tent top and add one of of the precious, wall-mounted IKEA lights for kids, and you have a winner!

We bought our first Kura bed when our oldest was moving out of his converted crib to make way for the second born's impending arrival. It makes a really cute single bed, and at that time, the panels could switch from royal blue to white; now the panels are white on both sides.  We knew that our house was small and the bunk bed option would possibly come in handy in the future.

Fast forward six years later, and we are now the proud owner of three Kura beds with a fourth in the near future.  We moved to a larger house, and even though we don't have two kiddos per bed like we originally anticipated, we like the ability to give each child their own private space as they share rooms. When a kiddo hits six year's old, we flip the bed into a bunk bed.

In an effort to give even more privacy and pizzazz to each bed space, I created bed curtains for the two older girls for Christmas, which fit conveniently with my desire to give them something homemade by me for Christmas.  I don't have a bunch of time on my hands (who does these days?), so the bed curtains were the ideal quick project.

My time and effort were rewarded with happy girls, a fresh look in their room, and (gasp!) a room that looks cleaner. Joy all around!

STEP ONE - 
I began by taking measurements of their beds and envisioning how I wanted the curtains to function and look.  For our home, one pair of curtains on the one long side of the bed opening into the room made the most sense.  Their beds are bordered by a bookcase and walls, leaving only that side open.

That side not converted as a bunk bed measured 74.75 inches long - the perfect length for a 75" tension rod.  We chose tension rods because 1) there are not holes to drill in the bed, 2) they install quickly, and 3) they will easily shorten when the bed is converted to a bunk bed and that 74.75" opening shrinks accordingly.

That opening is 31 inches high from interior of the top wood bar to the interior of the bottom wood bar.

STEP TWO - 
Pick a fabric - one that you love, one that your child loves, and one that will work for several years, unless you like repeating a project often.

I happened upon some My Little Pony fabric that was nothing like what I had envisioned but absolutely perfect.

If you make curtains to fit one of the 74.75" by 31" openings with a bit of gathering, you will need 102" (2 yards and 30") of fabric IF your fabric bolt is 41" wide.  If you have a pattern where you need or would like to match a pattern, plan to buy more.

When you buy your fabric, buy your tension rods.

STEP THREE - 
Wash, dry, and iron your fabric.  I always use a Shout Color Catcher on the first few washes of anything new.  It catches any bleeds and allows me to wash multiple new items in one load.

STEP FOUR -
Measure, plan your cuts, write down, get your fabric scissors and other supplies together, and measure again.  In any project, always measure at least twice before cutting.  This is the sad voice of experience who mislaid a whole kitchen of 18" (17.75") tiles once.

For the pair of curtain panels, I cut three fabric pieces 34" long from my 41" wide fabric, I split one panel vertically and married a half to each of the full size panels.  I folded and ironed the seams to hide the rough edges and used a decorative flower stitch so it would give the girls something pretty to look at when they were in their beds.

Hem the bottom .5 inches by folding .25" and ironing and then folding that over again .25" to hide the rough cut edge and to only sew that side once.

Fold the top edge of the curtain .25", iron, and fold again 2.5" and iron. Check again that the pocket will fit your tension rod once seamed.  If it does, run your seam over the bottom edge, catching your fold for the full length.

STEP FIVE - 
Iron and hang your curtains.


I hope your family enjoys the curtains as much as we do!

Ballers: How to Clean Ball Pit Balls

Kids love balls.  Ball pits make great gifts. You open them, you love them, everyone has a blast, you take great pictures....


and then the magic wears off, and you decide to put the ball pit up.  When you go to grab a ball, you find that static cling has attracted all sorts of stuff - lint, debris, and things you don't want to think about. What do you do? Wipe each ball down? .... you can see your life draining away at the thought of this task.


Quick answer: Toss those bad boys into the top rack of your dishwasher as deep as you can, and set the wash cycle for light wash and a no heat dry.

When the cycle is done, either towel the balls off lightly as a group or leave your dishwasher door ajar over night.  Make sure to tell other members of your household if you go with the door ajar option. You don't want anyone injured.

Yes, use your normal dish detergent.

No, don't put balls on the bottom where the heating element is.

Store fully dried balls in labeled plastic trash bags or mostly dried balls in mesh bags.

Voila!  Clean balls.  The kids even have fun helping with this task. Use that to your advantage.

Vacuum any remaining debris out of your ball pit and wipe down with a damp cloth if necessary before storing.

This is the ball pit and the balls we received for our one year old's birthday. It was a hit for all ages at her birthday party - eight, six, five, three, and one year olds.

       

Disclaimer: This is just my personal experience. This method has not been tested in a lab or approved by Good Housekeeping.  All recommendations you try at your own risk and at the risk of the dishwasher(s) used.  I accept no responsibility or liability for any negative results.

Amazing Amazon: How to See How Much You Have Spent on Amazon.com

We love Amazon. It makes our lives so much easier. We joined officially in 2005, and, in 2008, we set up our Subscribe and Save account for diapers.

Can I tell you how easy and wonderful it is to have diapers delivered to your door monthly?  Life.Saver. Seriously.  No more dashes to the store, no more worries, no more unexpected expenses as you forgot to budget for it.

We use Subscribe and Save for more than just diapers and wipes. It is great for those routine things that you know you will need such as vitamins, air filters, toilet paper, fish food, dish detergent, rinse aid, bulk organic lollipops, and more.

We have these lollipops set for delivery every six months.

But Amazon is more than just Subscribe and Save. We use it for clothing.  Need a skirt to complete your daughter's American Heritage Girl uniform? Check! And I even ordered that while bathing our three year old!  Need a vacuum ASAP because you accidentally ripped the electrical cord out of yours? Check!  Need a really good reflective dog collar because your dog lost hers in the woods (again!)? Check!  Need some wall hanging guitar mounts, a magazine rack, something to organize your aprons, badminton birdies/shuttlecocks that are out of season, masa harina to make corn tortillas? ... You get the idea

We obviously use Amazon a lot.  We would prefer to buy local when possible, but our current phase of life with several small children is just not conducive to making lots of trips to the store.  Imagine comparing brands of a product you are new to like active charcoal and nutritional yeast while your baby becomes fussy and your three older children begin to run out of patience.  With Amazon, we can compare prices and reviews and buy with one-click.

When I heard there is a way to see how much you have spent with Amazon, I jumped right on it to see how much we have spent.  While the total number we have spent there seemed mind blowing, it broke down to about $136 per month since 2005.  When you buy a couple of cases of diapers and a case of baby wipes each month with a few other items, you reach that amount pretty quickly.

Here's how to download your report:

1. Sign in.
2. Go to "Your Account."
3. Select "Download Order Reports" under "Orders."
4. Enter a start date of January 1 for the earliest year in the drop down box.
5. Enter an end date of today's date.
6. Select "Request Report."

When your report is through generating, you can download it from the same page under "Your Reports."  The report will open in a spreadsheet. Sum column "AD" (Item Total) to see how much you have spent.  To add these numbers, click an empty cell, enter =SUM(, highlight all of the cells in column AD except the header cell of "Item Total", enter ), and press enter. That is how much you have spent.

We took it a step further and added the "List Price Per Unit" column in another cell. Then we subtracted the "Item Total" from the "List Price Per Unit."  We "saved" over $6,000 in the past 11 years, not to mention the gas, time, and stress we saved.

Shop Amazon - Give the Gift of Amazon Prime 

Paving a Path

We have been in our home for a little over two years now.  It has been an exciting time, and my parents are joining us in this exciting adventure.  Their home will be across the driveway from ours, and they will move in very soon.

With their big move looming, we decided to jump in and add some concrete to our driveway at their suggestion.  We even took it a few steps farther, adding a sidewalk to join the houses.

Concrete day was an exciting day, and, ultimately, three sidewalks were poured, two driveways, two patios, a carport, and a ramp. Whew!!  It sounds like a lot, and it was a lot.  BUT, through a lot of discussion and collaboration, we were able to create some beautiful winding sidewalks. Each front porch is now connected to its respective drive way, and the path between our homes is functional and very charming.

The kids watched the excitement all day from our back door as the existing rock and 4'x4' step were scraped away.

The kiddos enjoying the items misplaced by the concrete. On the left is one sidewalk, and there is another on the right edge.

After pouring the sidewalks, we realized that we have a long walking track that goes not only between houses but also to the shop that has been built. There is already heavy traffic as the kiddos burn up the walkway with bikes, trikes, scooters, and remote controlled cars.

Baby's First Foods

Baby V. may be our fourth born child, but she is still a baby, and we are particular with her first foods - never mind that we pull the dog toys out of her mouth on a regular basis...

Hide your dog toys from me.

What are good first foods to introduce? Bananas, applesauce, avocados, steamed and blended veggies to name a few. First baby foods are easy to make at home and easy to buy.  This is a great time to get into the kitchen and experiment with flavors, blends, and spices.  Get creative.

Baby food is also easy to buy with many varieties of organic available these days.  I like to make mine, because, in my current stage of life, it is just easier for me.   I can blend up the fresh and frozen foods we have on hand, dole out the amount she needs for the meal, and refrigerate the rest.  If I don't think she will eat a lot, I don't make a lot.  If the blend isn't to her liking, we're not stuck with five jars in the pantry.  I also don't have those dodgy jars in the fridge of unknown date.

My adventures in making baby food began with our second born when I found a Baby Bullet at a consignment sale, still in the box and unused. Score!  I wasn't familiar with the Baby Bullet when I bought it, but I quickly learned how easy it is to use. With two blade options, I keep it on hand in my pantry even when I am not making baby food because it is great for milling grains and pureeing food for other recipes.

For Christmas, I received a new generation pressure cooker, an Instant Pot . It makes cooking fun, and I am learning all sorts of new tricks, like how to cook applesauce in five minutes!

To make applesauce for Baby V., I started with four small, organic apples.

I diced the apples into chunks, placed them in the Instant Pot, and added 1/2 cup of water.

I checked the seal of the  Instant Pot lid to make sure it was in place, closed and locked the lid, set the valve to sealed, and set the time to Manual, High Pressure for 5 minutes.

When the apples were cooked, I took out the liner and let the apples cool.

Once the apples cooled sufficiently, I transferred the apples to the Baby Bullet.  I pureed the apples until smooth, adding filtered water as needed to reach the desired consistency.

I wasn't sure if leaving the apple skins on would leave the apples too chunky, but the Baby Bullet blended the apple chunks completely smooth.

Applesauce in Your Instant Pot

• 3 Medium Apples
• 1/2 cup water
• Cinnamon, optional

1. Wash, core, and dice apples. 
2. Place apples and water into Instant Pot. 
3. Press Manual, and select High Pressure. Set the time to five minutes. 
4. When the cycle is complete, remove the liner to let the apples cool. 
5. Blend the apples smooth after transferring to a Baby Bullet or blender.  You can also use an immersion blender if you have increased the recipe to a larger batch. 
6. Optional: Add cinnamon.

Some of my favorite tools: