Turkey crafts Part 2!

Alright here are the rest of the crafts we made for Turkey day :-)

Craft 6:  Toilet Paper tube stamping turkey

So this is pretty easy.The only thing I would change is that I would have Bean stamp a whole piece of paper so the turkey could have a bigger tail.

Craft 7: Tissue paper feathered turkey 2

The hardest part about this was cutting out the feathers :-p  But Bean LOVED this (as evidenced by the pile of feathers her turkey has)   I just gave her glue in a cup with a paint brush and she brushed on glue and put on tissue paper.

Craft 8: Clothespin Feathered Turkey

This one turned out REALLY well!! I had clothespins laying around from hair clippy crafting, but if you don't a pack of about 50 is less than a buck at Wal-Mart.  And I just used cardboard from on the many boxes we have laying around. (So. much. moving. this. summer :-) )  I also had orange and yellow paint from another craft but like the red I had to purchase they are about .50 at Wal-Mart.  So I let Bean paint the clothespins and when they dried she pinned them onto her turkey- great fine motor practice!


Craft 9:  Painted plate turkey

So this guy got a little abstract too.  Bean was not getting the "paint one stripe of color then paint a different stripe of color direction".  She just sort of painted whatever color she wanted, wherever she wanted.  But I like him :-)

Craft 10: Sun catcher Turkey 


So I got the pattern for the turkey outline here: http://www.happyclippings.com/2013/11/diy-tissue-paper-stained-glass-turkeys-kids-craft.html.  You have to cut out the whole tail feather shape and then cut out and outline.  Then you just lay it on the sticky side of contact paper and let the children stick tissue paper inside the lines.  I think it might have been better if I had put the turkey body inside of the line and then let Bean put the tissue paper on.  That way you could see the outline for the tail feathers better.



So there you go! 10 turkey crafts for less than 30 bucks- which sounds like a lot but I didn't spend that all at once and I still have a TON of this stuff left for other crafts.  In addition to the supplies I bought I also had these supplies at home already:

• Paper plates - $1-2 
• yellow, orange and brown paint - $0.50 each so $1.50
• Clothespins - $1 
• Toothpicks- $1 
• Beads- $3-4 
• Huge pack of paper $7 

So in total these "cost" me 35ish bucks but I still have a lot of stuff left from these projects so I think that counts as less than 30 bucks :-) The initial cost can be daunting but to me its worth it to spend some time with your kids, especially one who LOVES crafts :-) Plus I usually pick crafts that she can do portions of with very little direction.  That way if I need to I can step away and trust that she can handle it.  

Keep an eye out of for our Christmas crafts! 

Turkey Crafts!!

So I've been doing a new thing lately- inspired some by another blog I follow and also born of a desire to be more present with my girls.  I know that I spend all day with them but I'm trying to be more present and more intentional about spending time with them.  So I've been picking crafts off my Pinterest boards and actually doing them with Lizzie ;-0 (What??? Actually do the things I have pinned to Pinterest??? Crazy talk.  But seriously?? I need to :-p )

So I'm going to share our experiences, what works and doesn't work, and about how much it cost us.  I was surprised how much cute stuff we made for so cheap and I think you will be too!  This post will be long since I wanted to break it into more parts and post but time got away from me and I want to start our Christmas craft blogs soon.  So I'll stuff these all into 1 and then do shorter posts for Christmas crafts. Or I might do each month in 1 post... who knows! I'm trying to make it through Christmas in 1 piece so I'm feeling fuzzy brained :-p

Here we go! So after I picked the crafts I wanted to do I made a list of the things I needed to finish them. So here's what I got:

I got: 

• Googly eyes
• 3 packages of tissue paper (red, orange and yellow)
• Finger paint
• Twisty noodles
• Red Paint
• Contact Paper
• Paint chips (FREE :-)) 

We ended up not using the paint chips or twisty noodles because... life happens but they weren't crazy expensive and noodle play is still fun any day. I spent 20 bucks for all this and we did not use all of it! We are using some of the paint, tissue paper and contact paper for this month's crafts. I'll also let you know what I had around the house and about how much it cost.  

Craft 1: Ring Feathered Turkey

So in posting this picture I see the fundamental mistake-  I did not cut the middle out of our plate, so Bean was able to stick her "feathers" anywhere... Still cute!   The hardest part was gluing the strips into rings.  It was good for her fine motor skills though as she had to pinch the ring to glue it.  We had paper plates and construction paper around the house for this craft. A pack of paper plates are about 1-2 bucks and I bought this HUGE pack of construction paper at Wal-Mart in the Back to School Section clearance for 7 bucks. I can't find a regular price for it but a normal pack of construction paper is 5 bucks.

Craft 2: Finger print feather turkey 

Super easy, but with a 3 year old not very accurate.  Maybe if she had seen an example??? Still cute though.

Craft 3 : Fine motor skills Bead Feather Turkey

OK, first of all the picture from Pinterest LIES!! The ball will not just sit there like that.  Hence the reason our turkey has legs :-)  This one was ok... Bean put on a couple beads and then lost interest and I had to convince her to finish it. Even with the legs it was super unstable.  I added hot glue to the top of the bead when she was done to keep them on.  We also painted the ball before adding the feathers.  We had tooth picks around the house ( a buck at Wal Mart), brown paint ( .50 at Walmart) and we always have bead lying around ( you can usually get them for about 3 bucks at Wal Mart).  

Craft 4:  Half paper plate tissue paper feathered turkey 

This one got a little abstract because I got distracted with Bug, but I like it! :-) I gave Bean a cup with glue in it and a paint brush ( I have since switched to glue sticks- easier and less clean up) and then she was to paint some glue on and stick on some tissue paper.  Since she was good with that I was feeding Bug in the other room, when I came back she had glued the eyes, gobbler, feet and beak where she saw fit.  Ah... crafts with 3 year olds :-)  We used a half a paper plate from our stack of plates in the pantry :-)

Craft 5: Turkey hat

So Bean just colored the "feathers" on this turkey. The rest was really simply (except now I can see that the legs needed to be glued on behind- oh well) but Bean won't wear the hat :-(  We used paper from the pack and the other half of the plate from the tissue paper turkey.


Alright I'm going to split this into 2 parts, so keep and eye out for part 2!

Leave the Rest

   

So the last few days have been stressville here in the Trotter household.  Its open enrollment for for insurance and we've been looking into a new health plan but its not working out the way we wanted. Basically, we're having trouble finding a company/plan that will cover Bean's MRIs.  I've run so many scenarios and and spent lots of time on the phone and tried desperately to patch together some kind of a plan.  I've done the best that I can but I'm worried that it might not be enough.  So what do you do after you've done your best and still can't fix the problem?

After a couple days of panicking and trying to plan, researching and scheming I was basically at my wit's end.  Nothing I could think of would guarantee coverage for these tests and then a weird thing started happening.  I started to hear God's voice telling me to trust.

At first I tried to brush it off, telling myself that  I was doing what was right by doing everything I could to get the coverage we need.  But then after a message at church about being thankful for what we have- even when those things are hard, I started listening to that voice.  It doesn't mean that we're thankful that the MRI costs that much and we can't get it covered.  Instead we should be thankful that our little girl can even get an MRI that helps maintain her condition.  So many other children can't even see a regular pediatrician, and our girl has regular, routine care to monitor something that a lot of children in this world don't even have time to consider since their concerns are more basic.  

Does this mean that  I let this all go? Throw up my hands and do nothing, trusting it all to God? Somehow I don't think that's the answer either.  I don' think that God gave us the capacity to think and solve problems for us to just say "I can't figure this out God! You do it!"  I think it needs to be a mixture of using the abilities that God has given us while also trusting Him with the situation.  That means also trusting that He will guide you in your decision making.  Trusting that He has given you the ability to figure some things out and that you can solve problems.  

But it also means knowing when to say " I've done the best that I can, and the rest is up to God".  Even as I write that I realize that this seems to be my struggle in life.  I am a problem solver, sometimes even to the determent of my emotional state.  I want to fix things and if I can't I can't function correctly.  I don't think its wrong to do the best that we can - God doesn't call us to be lumps who sit around expecting Him to do everything for us.  But he does expect us to trust Him as we make our decisions and to trust that He will care for us after we make the best choice that we can- even if the best choice still leaves us uneasy.  

So where are you tonight my friends? Struggling to make a choice? Scared to make a choice, a move in a specific direction? Or have you made a choice and are still uneasy about the outcome?  I pray that God brings you peace.  If you've done the best that you can- with God's guidance- then take a deep breath and rest in Him.    

Running out of Time

So, around this time 4 years ago Hubby and I made a BIG decision.  We decided to have a baby and about a month later we were staring at a positive pregnancy test. Gulp...  At that moment a countdown started in my head and heart.  As each of my girls achieve milestones and learn new skills I am keenly aware of how fast they are growing.  Time is flying past us and in the quiet moments when they are sleeping or with someone else I realize that we are running out of time with them.


I don't mean that in a depressing, scary kind of way.  I mean it in a "from the moment you find out you're having a baby, you have 9 months of pregnancy and 18 years that you are responsible for this human and their development" kind of way.

Parents,  we only get a limited amount of time with our kids.  Hopefully we get at least 18 years. Hopefully we get more than that.  Hopefully we get to have a good relationship with them after they turn 18 and leave our home.  The truth is though that not all of us will get all of those things.

So what does that mean for us parents? Does that mean that we need to run ourselves ragged trying to make every moment count? I don't think so.   Not every moment is to be enjoyed, I mean, really , who likes changing poopy diapers or listening to a screaming toddler? No one?? Parenting is hard and some days are just miserable.

What I am saying is that we do need to carve out time to make moments count.  I know that there is work to be done, but if we don't purposely make time to be present with our children, someday we will wake up and our kids will be grown and we won't even know them.

So take, no, MAKE some time to BE with your children.  Play a game with them, snuggle them, read a book with them and always give them hugs and kisses.  You never know exactly how much time you will have with your kids but every day that passes IS one less day.  Don't waste them.

Battle Weary

I am currently exhausted.  Lately our youngest daughter has been fighting sleep and the oldest has been fighting... well everything.  I spend most days in varying levels of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion.  From fighting with Bug to get her to sleep to fighting with Bean about going potty, taking a nap, eating and basically everything else I feel like I am fighting someone about something 90% of my days.  It makes me weary. But I will fight on.

I'm not going to sugar coat this.  Moms and dads, our children are under attack.  Every minute of everyday.  The devil wants our children's hearts and he will do anything to get them.  Anything.  He will even try to use us as parents to attack our children's hearts.  When Bug won't sleep that's not the devil keeping her awake, telling her to cry just to be naughty, its normal baby behavior.  What he does instead is attack me, telling me there's something wrong with my baby, her behavior and with myself.  He tempts me to be angry and frustrated with her and belittle myself and my parenting abilities.  The same for Bean and potty training.  When she has another accident he tells me " You're failing", "she should be trained by now" and "she should know better" and I get frustrated and angry and end up hurting her heart, and he wins.

So you see my friends, he starts early and he uses anything and anyone to get to your children.  This is a war with little rest, hard fought victories and excruciating losses.  It is exhausting and worth it.  We know whats at stake and that we must keep pressing on, but how? How do you continue to fight when you're sleep deprived and haven't showered in a few days?  When the laundry is piled high and the thought of changing one more accident or having one more argument about eating lunch makes you want to crawl into bed and hide for the rest of the day (or let's be honest- the rest of the week.)? 

Pray

Never stop praying for your children. Ever.  The devil has no plans to ever stop attacking your children so you need to keep covering them in prayer.  And pray for yourself and your spouse as well that you stop the devil in his tracks of using you as a weapon against your children. Pray for your child's heart, and friends and teachers and, well, every single thing in your child's world.  Trust me, prayer does not do harm.  

Find Allies

I'm not s huge history buff, but from the history I do remember I can't think of any countries that went to war without allies.  Allies don't just give you support in the form of weapons or supplies for war.  Allies can give you a different vantage point from which to attack your enemy, resources you don't have, experience you don't have or simply scare your enemy away by making you stronger.  Find all kinds of allies in this war for your children's hearts.  Find allies who are older than you, whose children are grown or even allies whose children are your age (remember vantage points are important in wars too!).  Find allies who have different resources and skills than you.  The more allies you have for your children (and you!) the harder the devil has to fight for them.  

Find Time to Rest
Hire a babysitter, send the kids to grandma's or put in a movie and take some time to simply rest.  Some of the best advice I got when we had Lizzie was that an exhausted, stressed out Mommy is not good for a baby.  Do what you need to to take a break, have a minute or two of quiet while also having a time while no one is touching you.  It will do wonders for your heart.

Keep Fighting
Parenting is hard work.  Wait, let me rephrase that... Parenting is exhausting.  Most days it seems like you will be fighting the same fight for the rest of your life (and you might actually have to, depending on the "fight").  Then, just as you resolve one issue another pops up.  And even after your children are grown and gone they still need you to help them fight for their heart.    You are a parent for life.  Remember why you are fighting, every sleepless night, every tantrum, every tear you shed is worth it.  So keep fighting because the war rages on.  

The Ministry Right in Front of Me

This weekend we attended our district's TEAM day, a day full of workshops, discussion groups and discussion panels that focused on evangelism and discipleship.   This year I went with the intention of attending 2 sessions about children's ministries and the lunch discussion group for pastor's spouses.  I was excited to soak up as much knowledge as I possibly could.

I decided to keep Bug with me since we're still nursing and figured it would be easier.  So we checked Bean into childcare and found a seat for the opening session.  20 minutes into the session Bug needed to eat, so I went and fed her and then rejoined the session.  This happened during the first workshop and then again during the second.  By the third time I had to leave a session I was feeling a little defeated.  How was I supposed to learn anything if I kept having to leave?  As I glanced down at Bug it hit me, THIS is my ministry.

For this season in my life my children are my ministry.  This doesn't mean that I cannot be a part of any other ministry but that the majority of my focus and energy need to be put into my children.  This point was driven home by something I did get to hear in my afternoon session.  One of the speakers had 2 jars that sit in their children's department.  1 jar was small and had a few marbles in it, the other was huge and had about 10x the marbles in it.  The small jar represents how much time children spend at church in children's ministries and the big jar represents how much time children spend with their parents.  It serves as a reminder to both the children's workers and the parents of children who come to church that while what happens at church is important, children still spend a majority of their time with their parents. So what happens at home is important.

The illustration was given during this session to remind children's workers that they remember that they not only need to minister to children but we also need to mister to their parents, but it really spoke to me as a parent.  It reminds me that my children spend the majority of their time with me.

As I sat there nursing Bug, realizing that my girls are my ministry and that they spend most of their time with me, I began to think about how we spend our days.  They are learning from every single thing I do, positive or negative, loving or unkind, even when I think they aren't paying attention to what I'm doing.  Everything I do matters.

At first that thought is scary, its a lot of pressure to think that everything I do is teaching my children something, the good and the bad.  But then I remembered that God never calls us to anything without promising to also go with us.    I know that God has called me to be home with our girls, He has affirmed this so many times in so many ways.  So I know that He will be with me all day every day. Every time I get frustrated with Bean for peeing in her pants all morning, or Bug won't take a nap. God is there reminding me to speak to my children with love.  When the girls learn a new skill, smile at me or say I love you, He is right there celebrating with me.

So to all those parents out there feeling frustrated because you don't have time or energy to be a part of a ministry in your church , know that you have a ministry right in front of you.  How are you impacting the kingdom of God in your home?

Not just a simple prayer request...

Today I did something I've been dreading since October.  I scheduled Bean's next MRI.  I've been dreading it because as soon as I schedule it it means its happening and once it happens we have to meet with Dr. Ruge and after our last appointment I am terrified.  It means we face the possibility of another surgery.  All while we are 8 months pregnant and expecting Baby Bug at any moment.  But since I've been dreading all of this I've also avoided thinking about it and also praying about it and asking for prayer for her.

Its not that I don't want prayer for her but the truth is that I'm struggling with this because I've been rethinking the way I pray lately.  For as long as I remember when I've prayed for something I've always ended the prayer with " if it is Your will".  I've always felt that this important because it acknowledges that sometimes God doesn't answer our prayers the way we want and we have to accept that somethings are just not in His plan for us.

But lately I've felt like this phrase can become a cop-out and can weaken our prayer and faith.  I believe that when we pray we should be bold, having complete faith that God CAN do what we are asking of Him.  I think sometimes we add "if it is Your will" because we can feel guilty to ask for the things we truly desire or to avoid disappointment if God does not answer our prayers.  We feel like if we pray this way and God chooses not to answer our prayer we have protected ourselves from disappointment because we can say that wasn't in His will.

I have to wonder though if maybe sometimes God chooses not to answer our prayer because we lack the faith to boldly ask for what we truly want and believe that God can answer our prayer.  Maybe we say "if it is Your will" because we don't truly believe God can answer our prayer and we add this phrase so we can feel better about our lack of faith by saying we prayed for God's will whatever it would be.  I wonder what would happen if we starting praying with more boldness, more faith.

Please don't misunderstand me.  I truly believe that we need to understand that sometimes God does choose to not answer our prayers the way we wanted.  Sometimes what we pray for isn't in God's plan or is born of selfish desires.  I think we need to be sensitive to this possibility and pray with the right attitude in our hearts.  I think the praying for God's will, God's plan and the strength to handle whatever His plan is should be part of our attitude for pray.  However I want to pray with more faith, more boldness.

So I say all of this to ask something of all of you. I ask that you pray for Bean, that God will heal her brain and return it to complete health.  Please know that this post is not to tell you how to pray or to open a theological debate about how to pray, although I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic (as long as they are spoken in love).  This post is more of a confession, that I need to/ want to pray with more faith and boldness and I am asking you to join me in praying for Bean and our family. Please also pray that Baby Bug will wait to come until we've got Bean's situation figured out so that we're not dealing with 2 extremely stressful situations at once. However you choose to pray for our family will be appreciated but lets do it with boldness!