Prayer Book Project

I started this project in 2011, but I am posting it now since I recently made some new sections.

Here is a way I have found to get the whole family involved in praying for others. 

There are many other ways (examples: Save your Christmas cards in a basket; choose one card every day at devotions to pray for that family. Put up pictures of extended family on your refrigerator and choose one to pray for at breakfast every day.), but as a kid, I remember one of the things we did was save missionary letters in a notebook (with page protectors so the letters can be easily interchanged with new updates) and pray through the notebook. Here is my own take on this.

 Our Prayer Scrapbook

I used a full size scrapbook, but you could use any pretty notebook you want.

Opening page

I am working on making different sections. We pray for one person/family from each section every day at family devotions.

For the Missions section, I used prayer cards we'd collected. Some of these people only visited our church once, and we may never see them again before heaven, but we can tell them then that we've been praying for them along the way!

Of course, many of these missionaries we DO keep in touch with, so we can update the book with their current prayer requests as we hear from them. (more about that later in the album)

I divided the Missions section into geographical areas, but you could organize your book any way you want.

I used a bunch of quotes and other embellishments. Missions pages were easy because there is a TON of travel-related scrapbooking material. 

Ok, here is my solution to prayer request updates (this may change if I find a better system, but this one is fast and easy.) When I get a prayer letter, I write down the date and the praises/requests on a Post-It note, then stick it next to the corresponding prayer card. This is probably a bad example, because I am still waiting for my sister's family to make a new prayer card for the Africa page! But you get the idea. This works for me because many of our missionaries send out email prayer letters, so this way I don't have to print them!

Make sure you leave a blank page on the other side of each section... you'll soon have to start putting prayer cards on the back! Our America back-side page (not shown) is almost ready to start a new spread! But that's what I love about scrapbooks (especially with clear pocket protectors)... it is very easy to rearrange and add pages.

The scrapbooking part of this is just a creative outlet for me.

I think this would be a great project to get older kids involved in. I did it by myself because my son is still an infant, but if you gave each family member a page or two to do themselves, it would be a fun rainy-day project (save a whole table to spread all the materials out!) as well as giving them ownership and further encouraging the desire to pray for others.

Ok, on to the next section! We have already been praying for all the churches we've attended as a family, so I added a page for churches. I just printed pictures of the churches, but you could use a bulletin, magnet, or anything you like! (Note: I just realized I need to update our church with a picture of the new building we just completed!)

And then a page for other ministries. These are the schools we've attended and the camps where Charlie and I have worked. Think about the people who YOU pray for on a regular basis, and make a page for them!

Last section
(note, the next two pictures are sideways... I tried several times to flip them, but even though they are right-side-up on my computer, they always upload sideways)

If your family sends out picture-style Christmas cards, that would be a good way to update this section.

Right now I also have a list of extended family members that we pray for (all our aunts, uncles, cousins and their families), but that list contains over 40 families, so I only have pages for our parents and siblings.

And that's it... for now! I will update this blog post with new pages as I add them. With the 4 sections (Missions, Churches, Other Ministries, and Family) it is not hard to pray for one family/person/organization from each section every day. Especially if you have more older kids who can pray as well. We also keep our Church Directory and Deacon Care Group list with this book and use the same Post-It flagging system to keep our place as we pray through them. As far as specific week-to-week requests, I just keep a prayer journal with prayer requests on one page and praises on the other that I use in my personal devotions. I'll let you know if I come up with a more "creative" way to do that, as well. :)

Thanks for reading.

Ramblings about Babies

You know that phrase, "Babies don't come with an instruction manual"...?

Of course you do. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past millennium. Or you don't speak English. Although I'm sure other languages have their equivalent.

Anyway, I think that whoever came up with that saying never had THE INTERNET. Or a library. Or any friends.

The saying should be, "Babies come with 10,000 instruction manuals... and blogs, and pamphlets, and magazines, and general pieces of advice. Now deal with it."

Our baby even LITERALLY came with an instruction manual... as in, he was sent home from the hospital with books for us about how to take care of him. I was given a ton of "now you're a mom" literature at my prenatal appointments (yes, that's BEFORE I was even a new mom). And then we get a monthly magazine from the hospital about "taking care of baby in the first year." This is all just the free stuff that is given out to every mom who gives birth at this hospital... but if you also count the "Parents" magazine subscription that came with a baby shower gift, the "What to Expect" book that I picked up at a yard sale, all the blogs that get shared around on Facebook and Pinterest, and just everyday encounters with the human race ("Oh, you have a baby! I was once a baby, let me share my wisdom with you."), I think it is safe to say that babies DO come with instruction manuals. Plenty of them.

Now, I think the gist of the saying is that raising a baby is hard, and as a new parent, you don't know what to do. And this is true. But it's not for LACK of information. It's because you are trying to build this new little appliance and instead of having one set of instructions in 9 languages, it came with 12 books all telling you different ways to do the same thing. 
Only your appliance is a person. 
And you feel like if you don't choose the RIGHT way to build it, your little person coffee maker is going to spew out something other than coffee for the rest of his life... ok, I gotta stop mixing my metaphors here; it's getting weird. But I think you get what I'm saying.

This may sound a little rant-y. And it's not anything new moms haven't been complaining about for thousands of years. But in reality, I'm not really complaining. I actually ENJOY the free advice (well, most of it) and it is my choice to read all those magazines and blogs. I do so because I often glean helpful information (did you know you can crush up Cheerios to coat banana slices so it's easier for your baby to pick up??? genius! he doesn't get nearly as frustrated... much less tray-banging.). So anyway, think of this as more "rambling" than "ranting."

My conclusion is... do I think it's a bad thing that babies come with all these instruction manuals? Not necessarily. But I try to think of it as like an "idea book" that comes with LEGOs. My husband is a die-hard "follow the instructions" guy when it comes to assembling his LEGO sets, but when I am working on them with him (yes, we are grown people who buy LEGO sets to do together), I sometimes like to change things up. It drives him crazy, but most of the time it still works. You still have to put the walls in roughly the right place in order for it to look like a house (there are some things about babies that need to be done a certain way; like, most babies have to be fed and changed on a regular basis, for instance...), but if you make a bush instead of a palm tree with the green pieces, that's ok.

If you're a mom, enjoy the instruction manuals. But if some days you need to leave them in the junk drawer and let your little coffee maker spew out whatever he is spewing, go for it.

Thanks for reading.

I Can Do All Things

Philippians 4

"Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved. I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at last your care for me has flourished again; though you surely did care, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Nevertheless you have done well that you shared in my distress. Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. 

Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 

Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar’s household. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."

I recently completed a goal... to memorize Philippians chapter 4! 

I had never really memorized a whole chapter of the Bible before (other than some short Psalms) so I intentionally chose one that contained a lot of verses that I had previously memorized, so it would be easier. I also decided to memorize out of the NKJV because that is the version from which I have done most of my memorization since I was a kid. 

I want to be able to memorize a whole book of the Bible some time, but I am trying to just start out "small" (as it is, this project took me over a year). But the theme verse of this endeavor for me ended up being the familiar Philippians 4:13-- "I can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens me." 

You can, too! What is holding you back from doing more Scripture memorization? 

For me, it was simply the motivation. When I put it off, I always tried to justify it:
"I'm really tired tonight." or "I don't have time this morning." or "I'll work on it extra hard this weekend." (yeah right)

But on days when I took the few minutes to do it, I ALWAYS felt better afterward. There's just something about repeating God's Word to yourself out loud that kind of forces you to pay attention to His truth. 

Now, I wish I could say I have always APPLIED this chapter's truths in my life over the past year that I've been working on it... in reality, I have faltered many times in my faith recently; doubting, worrying, and doing exactly what this passage commands me NOT to do. It has been an especially trying year for me, in many ways. But it is a process. And I think that's why God allowed me to take so much longer on this than I had originally planned... He knew I would especially need the Philippians 4 reminders at this season of my life.

So, here are some tips for you in case YOU want to memorize a chapter of the Bible. (In reality, probably many of you are already much farther along than I am. But these are some things that helped me, so maybe they can be of use to you.)

1. Choose your passage wisely. I already gave some of the practical reasons why I chose this chapter (basically... I knew it would be EASIER for me than many others) but I also chose it because I love Philippians; and I had done a study on part of this chapter in my Hermeneutics class in college years ago. The good thing is, there are no WRONG passages in God's Word... choose one that has significance for you, since much of your memorization time will actually be meditation time!

2. Copy/paste it (I used www.biblegateway.com but you could use any Bible website or software that has your preferred version) into one document and get rid of all the verse numbers. Break it up into short-- but contextual-- paragraphs. That's one reason I liked Bible Gateway; it did that for me.

3. I took some time to highlight a few phrases that stuck out to me (in BOLD above). You can do this in your initial reading of the passage, or as you go along.

4. Print the document and keep it somewhere where you will be able to study it every day. At first I kept it in my devotional book and tried to practice it after I did my daily devotions. But I realized that I was often skipping it, so eventually I had the "duh" idea to tape it up in a place where I seem to spend most of my day... in my kitchen, right by the sink! (We don't have a dishwasher, so washing dishes is the bane of my existence. But it DID force me to work on my memorization 3 times a day.)

5. I don't have any "program" or "schedule" to follow with memorization, though I'm sure you could find some good ones on the internet if you looked around. I just took a pen and made a mark after the sentence or phrase that I was working on. I would recite the whole passage up to that point, and once I thought I had that mastered, I would go one phrase longer. Sometimes it would take me weeks to get one sentence down. In the past, I have had success with putting a verse to a familiar tune, or coming up with motions, but I find this works best for short verses. With this long passage, it was just straight memorization for me.

6. Have an accountability partner, if you can. I didn't do this as much as I should've, mainly because I am usually doing my memorization work while my husband was at work, but every so often I would ask him to look at the paper while I recited as far as I could, so he could check me. If you can have a partner work on the memorization WITH you, that's even better! Charlie and I have memorized several passages together since we started dating. 

But just one warning: don't let the fact that you don't have a committed accountability partner be an excuse for you to skip memorization. If you aren't both committed to keep doing it, it is much easier for the un-motivated person to de-motivate the motivated person than vice versa (if that makes any sense). So, if your partner is not keeping you accountable, don't put off your memorization until they are more motivated; just worry about yourself. If this is something YOU want to do, then YOU have to be the one to be disciplined to do it. Maybe your example will encourage your partner to join in again eventually.

7. Just don't give up. That seems so cliche, but really, all that memorization really takes is hard work. I can assure you, you will be blessed by this undertaking.

This was a long one...

Thanks for reading.

Coupon Love: More Shutterfly Cards

http://www.shutterfly.com/

This coupon code lasts a little longer than the last one I posted... but you still don't have much time! I guess they like to have short-lived coupons so you don't have time to talk yourself out of it. Coupon FREECARDS gets you 10 free cards (choose from various sizes). Expires 9-23-13.

Again, you pay tax and shipping, but Shutterfly "free product" coupons are always a better deal than "free shipping" codes. With shipping of $5-$6 (depending on what size cards you get), these cards end up being comparable in price to Walmart photo cards, but are much nicer and are shipped to your home. (Choosing home shipping with Walmart cards would make them more expensive than this deal.) Can you tell I always shop around to make sure I'm getting the best deal?

This is how I buy my Christmas cards each year... I make a card, save it to my Shutterfly account, and then use the coupon codes throughout the season to get 10 here, 10 there, etc. You have to take your Christmas picture kind of early, but it ends up being cheaper than trying to buy them all at once and use only ONE coupon code. (Most offers can't be combined... but, again, "free product" is worth paying a little more in shipping each time.) Plus, if you are so inclined, by buying a few at a time, you can make several different styles of cards, in case you have a hard time choosing!

Thanks for reading.

Coupon Love: Shutterfly Cards (or mousepad)

http://www.shutterfly.com/

Just bought some photo cards from Shutterfly... coupon FREEBIE only works today (9-15-13) for 12 free 4x5 flat cards or 3x5 folded cards or 1 mousepad. 

You have to pay shipping which is kind of expensive ($5+tax for the 4x5 cards) but they are nice cards and envelopes, so if you have a special occasion $5 is a pretty good deal. I used it to make birthday invitations for my son's 1st birthday.

Note: I decided I was NOT going to "go all out" for a baby's birthday that he won't remember (I planned on just calling to tell people about it, since we are only inviting a few people), but these invitations make ME happy, and after all, they were "free"!

I love Shutterfly... everything I've ever bought from them I have only paid for shipping because there are ALWAYS coupon codes out there for free items. And you can save coupons to your account (until they expire) so any time I find one in a magazine ad, etc, I just enter it right away and then make my project later. I've made photo books, calendars, address labels, and other gifts for myself or other people... all for only the cost of shipping.

Other places to make these kind of gifts are Walmart, Snapfish.com, and many drugstores (like Walgreens) but if you have one of Shutterfly's coupons, I've found that it usually gives you the best deal.

This post kind of sounds like a paid endorsement... it's not. Shutterfly is just a service I have found that I like, so I wanted to share.

Thanks for reading.

Family Travel Guide Project

I've been wondering what to do with all those brochures we collect in our travels. (I think I picked up that habit from my mom.)

My original idea was to use them to scrapbook our journeys, but since Facebook (and the baby) came along... scrapbooking has become a fun idea that I rarely get around to. Digital cameras and the ease of uploading pictures to the internet has really decreased the amount of actual photo prints I have around!

But, I can't bear to get rid of these brochures, because they remind me of fun things we've done, and who knows? Maybe someday when we revisit the International Crane Foundation they will be all out of trail maps...? So I've just been keeping them in the car door well. Because, what else is that for, other than collecting candy wrappers and storing our Road Atlas? (Yes, we have a Road Atlas. If you're not familiar with it, it's kind of like a GPS that doesn't annoy you.)

There is an advantage to hoarding these wonderful little pamphlets, though... every once in awhile, when we visit one of our favorite places, like Horicon Marsh, I actually DO get out the brochure to remember where different parking lots and nature trails are.

But, we bought a "new" car. ('06 minivan to be exact.) And the door well is much shallow-er. So, we decided it was time to do something with all those brochures.

Well, this is not PRETTY but it is PRACTICAL which is just as good, right? Here's my solution.

Get yourself a binder.

Use a 3-hole-punch and get those babies organized! Some brochures fit nicely when unfolded; others you have to fold down one or two of the flaps to make them fit. But I've noticed that MOST brochures will fit in this size binder.

The scrapbooker in me can't let an opportunity to preserve a memory go to waste, so I write down the first time we visited. (Labor Day weekend, Vacation with Grandma and Grandpa, etc.) You could get as detailed as you want... you probably AREN'T going to be looking back through these that often, but it's a nice idea.

The back flap is a good place to store all those Too Big or Too Small brochures.

This probably ISN'T a problem most people have, but for us, it was a fun way to organize some clutter I just couldn't bear to throw away. As a kid, we would collect these to put in homeschool portfolios, which I'm sure I will do with my kids someday, but for now, this seems to work. And the best part is... our minivan has a compartment underneath the passenger seat that is just right for storing our Family Travel Guide. SCORE.

Thanks for reading.

Ramblings about Creativity

http://www.parents.com/kids/development/inspiring-creativity-raise-a-trailblazer/

I read the above article in the most recent "Parents" magazine.

BUT, you know me, I can't share an article without a long post commenting my thoughts (maybe it's the creativity in me) :) So, read the article first, and then, if you are so inclined, read my "review" of this topic.

I've seen a lot of articles lately about the ineffectiveness of "over-parenting" (soccer mom syndrome). I'm glad! I was never in organized sports. I was never in formal music lessons. I was never in dance, karate, art class, or gymnastics. Now, these things can be good. If we have the means, we will probably involve C.T. in SOME of these types of skill-builders as the years go on. 

But, am I lacking in creativity because I never performed in a formal music recital or an art show? I don't think so... as kids, I think my siblings and I were very creative! While at my parents' house this summer, I found a lone surviving page from one of the many LEGO Town Christmas Pageants that my sister and brother and I wrote. I also found an entire notebook of unfinished short stories from the "Writing Club" that we created. I remember making a bunch of hot chocolate boxes into a city. I remember "Princess Emilisa and the Michael-dog" which I believe was a story my mom created and my sister Julie expanded. I could go on and on.

I believe a lot of these creative outlets were a result of our freedom to just be kids... to play and create all day long. I had no idea of the concept of Csikszentmihalyi's "flow" until I had classes about it in college, but I had experienced it for much of my childhood. As this article says, we didn't need a smartphone, an agenda, or educational narration from a parent. We were unsupervised most of the time, we were outside many hours a day, we were simply given materials (like empty hot chocolate boxes) and left to run with it.

I'm not saying that parents don't play a role... I just think it matters how you do it. My mom was VERY involved in our lives-- I mean, we were homeschooled; we were with her 24 hours a day! But did I ever write a "secret play" like the boy in this article? MANY! Not because I was afraid of my parents making a big deal about it, but just because sometimes the act of simply CREATING without need for recognition of the end result is important. 

And mom DID recognize most of our creative accomplishments... looking through her storage room this summer and finding VOLUMES of homeschool portfolios, posters, and even pieces of painted Easter egg shells is testimony to that fact. Furthermore, being a homeschool mom, she was especially able to foster creativity in us as kids. When I decided I wanted to write a short historical fiction story about life in our town in the 1800s, mom made a local history unit study part of our curriculum. I think the important thing about encouraging creativity in kids is to let them explore. As a parent, you are a facilitator, but you let THEM lead. (Note: obviously there is a balance here; and there IS a need for structure. But that's a whole different discussion)

One last thing... bringing THIS discussion to a practical conclusion. I was recently talking with a food service director at a camp. She shared with me that one of her greatest frustrations is the lack of initiative in her kitchen workers. She was talking to one of them about this, and he explained that most of them were afraid of doing something the wrong way, so it was easier just to wait until the boss told them what to do. Employers see this all the time! By raising a generation where every accomplishment is praised (kindergarten graduations...) and every second is a lesson ("what color is that bucket, Jimmy?"), many kids are forgetting how to think for themselves, and have unrealistic expectations about what real life is like. When creativity and problem-solving is EXPECTED in the real world, many young adults realize that much of their "creativity" came from their parents. I'm still a new parent, but I definitely have the tendency to over-do my praise of my son. ("Yay! You got your first tooth!") But at this point, he doesn't recognize it, so I can still celebrate these accomplishments for my own benefit (and the benefit of his grandparents) :) I'll just have to dial it back as he gets older, I think. But, the good thing is, DESPITE my parenting, I can already see creativity in this little ten-month-old; and it's not in the times when I am pointing out the colors of his tractor. It is times like right now, when he is driving the TV remotes around the furniture, singing to himself. He is most creative when I just let him be. I hope I find the right balance in both guiding him and letting him guide me as he grows up, not only so he can compete in a job climate that will REQUIRE creative thinking, but also just so he can be a well-rounded individual. 

Thanks for reading.