Hearts in Service Blog

We had a wonderful day today. I think this was one of the most relaxing holidays I've had in a long time. It was good food, lots of laughter and fun. I found a napkin fold that I tried out. The table looked very festive. We had a separate table for the kids. Normally, you cook all day and the meal lasts about 15 minutes. We spent nearly 2 hours just eating, talking and enjoying one another. Lily was a very happy baby today. I think everyone had fun. I hope you all had a very blessed day with family and friends.

I made place cards today for Thanksgiving dinner. I think they turned out so cute. I made them out of blank note cards and added scrapbook papers for the background, wrote their names with a glue pen and then sprinkled on glitter and added some really cute Thanksgiving stickers. I also decided to write a note inside each card, letting the person know why I am thankful for them. Here are some of the finished cards: I got the rest of my grocery shopping done today so I'm all ready for my house guests this week.

Emily is reading about the early settlers and one of the activities that she chose to do today was candlemaking. First we melted parrafin with a couple of crayons for color. Then she took a wick and started dipping it. As time went on the candle began to get larger. She tried her hand a couple of different kinds. She is going to make the small double candles and tie them with a pretty bow to make tree ornaments. This was the first time I ever made candles. I think she did a great job for her first time!

I'm so thankful for the many girls that have been coming to 3D Girls on Thursday nights. We are up to 18 girls now and they certainly are a noisy bunch. Last night we did a Thanksgiving devotional and then practiced our songs for our church's Christmas program. We ate cupcakes. Then the girls made Thanksgiving cards. Many of these girls come from homes where their parents do not know the Lord. This has been a wonderful opportunity to teach them about Jesus and to reach out to their families. I'm so thankful for all of them!

I went to Walmart the other day to purchase a tablecloth and napkins. After pricing the napkins and then looking at fabric, I found it would be cheaper to make the napkins. I bought some beautiful, deep red linen. After cutting it out and trying to hem it, I realized that the napkins were going to be a bit too small. So I pulled out some fall fabric that I had and made some binding. Here is the final result. There is more red in the binding than shows up in this picture. The colors look great with the tablecloth I chose. I've had a very productive week - the centerpiece is finished, the linens are set and most of my shopping is done. For more Thanksgiving ideas and posts, check out Kelli's blog.

In my quest to fight my children's allergies and to be frugal, I started making my own laundry soap. It is so easy and much less expensive. I use Ivory Soap which is the cheapest soap you can buy. Grate 2-4 oz. bars (or 1-8 oz. bar) in a food processor. You can do this by hand but I find it easier this way. Put in a large pot and add 1 gallon of water. Put it on the stove on a medium high setting and whisk the soap until it is totally dissolved. This will take a few minutes. I find it easier to start it cooking and then come back every few moments to give it a good stir. Bring to a boil and let it simmer for 5 minutes or so to make sure the soap is totally dissolved. Watch it or it will boil over and you will end up with a super clean stove top! Let it cool completely and then pour into gallon jugs. You can use old laundry detergent bottles, milk jugs or anything else you have around. When it's done, let it sit for a day or two and it will gel up. In fa...

Today I spent some time making a centerpiece for my table for Thanksgiving. I didn't purchase anything new and just used items around the house. I layered popcorn, white beans, split peas and wild rice in a jar and added a candle. Then I put the jar on a glass plate and sprinkled the different legumes around the plate. I added tea lights, pinecones, wheat, and whole nutmeg. I put a sticker on the jar that I had and viola! A Thanksgiving Centerpiece It's not the greatest but it was inexpensive and took about 15 minutes. For more Thanksgiving ideas check out Kelli's Blog.

The girls from 3D Girls Club packed 16 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child the other night. I love this program because it's such a tangible way for children to give to other children. They brought in all their items to pack in the boxes and were so excited to do this. We had spent the month talking about missions and what missionaries do. Last week we had a missionary speak to the girls and then this week they were able to do something "hands-on" to reach out to those less fortunate. Everyone in our church seems to get into the spirit. Today was the day we had to turn in our boxes and it's always nice to think about blessing a child in this way. For more information on this program, check out Samaritan's Purse website.

Well, I survived my first sewing lesson - with Emily. :-) I finally made myself give her a sewing lesson. She has been begging me for months and I've been procrastinating for months. However, I couldn't wait any more. She is so eager to learn and I really needed to do it. I was afraid though, very afraid. LOL! It went very well. It only took about 30 minutes and she loved it. At the end she said to me, "I'm SO happy!" First, I taught her the basic elements of the machine - presser foot, pedal, wheel, etc. I showed her the guide lines on the machine so she would know how to keep her seams straight. Then she practiced some straight seams at different lengths - 1/4", 1/2", 3/4". She did remarkable well at picking up what needs to happen. I think a lot of it comes from watching me sew. Finally, I let her do a project. She wanted to make a little pillow for one of her stuffed animals. I thought it would be a good, little project to start with...

Uninspired. That's how I feel right now; as lifeless and dead as my garden. There is just something about dreary, rainy days that does that to me. When there are a number of days like that in a row then I really start to lose my creative spark. I'm hoping that I'll get some inspiration soon or no one is going to want to read this blog anymore. I don't think anyone really wants to read my housekeeping list day after day! LOL! I'll actually have a recipe for tomorrow so there is hope ahead.

I have never liked change. Don't get me wrong. I like flexibility and doing new things. However, I don't like when things that are the core of my world change. It makes me unsettled and upset. I find it hard to concentrate and I'm usually on edge and out of sorts. We've been in the midst of a season like this ever since the beginning of September. It was then that we found out that our church district office wanted our church plant to begin pursuing the possibility of a merge with another local church of the same denomination. While our church has been growing in numbers, they just have not been able to get off district support and pay for a full-time pastor. Add to that, our inability to find a permanent location to meet, it didn't bode well for our church. The other church has been struggling in numbers and their pastor had just resigned. So from a district point of view it makes perfect sense to merge these two struggling congregations together. Ever sin...

I haven't checked in here for a few weeks regarding my progress on Weight Watchers. Unfortunately, I have not been doing very well. I've not been diligent about my points and I have not been exercising as much as I was. However, I got on the scale today and I'm only up 1 lb. so that is not too bad. This week I'm getting refocused and back on track. So overall my weight loss is.. 26 lbs. Hopefully, I'll see some progress next Sunday.