Love Come to Life

Love. It's the driving force in our walks with Christ. It's our calling. It makes this world a tolerable, even enjoyable place. Yet sometimes, we get so hardened by the evil that presides on earth, we get cold. We need to be the warmth, light and love to this fallen world. Big Daddy Weave's song "Love Come to Life," articulates this message so beautifully, I wanted to share it with y'all today...

I've been restless on the inside
Wondering about this heart of mine
I've been desperately trying to find
A way to prove that I'm still alive

Has the love I speak so loudly of quietly grown cold
Has my life been an empty voice?
What I say needs to be seen
I need to step out and make the choice
To let go of everything
Would You reignite this heart spark here in the dark?

[Chorus]
Bring Your love to life inside of me
Why don't You break my heart 'til it moves my hands and feet
For the hopeless and the broken
For the ones that don't know that You love them
Bring Your love to life inside of me

A generation You're calling out
Living everything that we sing about
A revelation right here and now
Of love beyond a shadow of a doubt
Love that's greater than our own
Won't remain unknown, when You...

[Chorus]

Love come to life
Love come to life
Bring love to life inside of me
[X4]

[Chorus]

Love come to life
Love come to life
Bring love to life inside of me
[X4]

Preparing for Easter

We are now in the season of Lent. We belong to an Independent Christian church, and while we don't place any emphasis on this season, I want to use these days as a time of preparation and teaching in our home so that our children will always know the true meaning of Easter.

This week I spent time with Brody reading and telling him about the Triumphal Entry. I love accompanying a craft with lessons and important stories because I really think it helps children grasp the idea and meaning behind them.

Here's the craft we made to drive home the Triumphal Entry. I apologize for the lack of quality and quantity of the pictures. I accidentally rebooted (or whatever the technical term is) my iPhone and erased the pictures I already had on there. So I was forced to just snap a quick end product pic.

I took two leaves from an old wreath and dipped them in paint, then let Brody apply the "stamps" the be paper so they resembled the palms branches laid down. Then found a picture of Jesus riding a donkey on the internet, printed it off and let Brody color it. Then we glued it on top of the "branches."
This week we have been saying "Hosanna, in the highest." And singing a song we sing in church,

"Clap your hands all you people, shout unto God with a voice of triumph. 

Clap your hands all you people, shout unto God with a voice of praise. 

Hosanna! Hosanna! Shout unto God with a voice of triumph! 

Praise Him, Praise Him! Shout unto God with a voice of praise! "

What activities are you doing with your kids to help them prepare for the Easter season? I'd love to read your ideas! 

Sometimes Life Sucks

This is me an my momma. This is one of my absolute favorite pictures of us. It's old yes, (from my 16 birthday lol) but I love it. Pictures of us are few and far between. My mom has always hated having her picture taken, and I never thought to push the issue. Now I wish I would have. I wish I had more pictures of us together.

You see, our world was turned upside down in the late summer of 2010. We got the unthinkable, unfair diagnosis of Early Onset Alzheimer's. Excuse me? Alzheimer's? No, no no. You see, I'm a nurse. 57 year old, healthy, funny, intelligent, hardworking women don't get Alzheimer's. People get it late late in life. After they have enjoyed retirement for a while, enjoyed their grandkids, traveled, enjoyed the changing relationship with their children to friends.

I was supposed to be able to call up my mom in the middle of the night with my first child in tears because I don't know what I'm doing. I was supposed to be able to ask her when I started sitting up, crawling, walking and all other fun milestones my Brody was reaching. Brody was supposed to be able to "go on vacation to my Granny's," like my nieces and nephews did.

Instead we are dealing with early retirement and disability, selling her house and moving in with my sister, the inability to read a clock or get out correct change. My mom doesn't know how old I am or when my birthday is. And you know what? It sucks. It's horrible, it's not fair and it sucks. My mom is seriously the best mom in the world. We had the most amazing relationship that has been forced to change. And I hate it. It has rocked my family, my faith and my life to the core and it's not fair.

Sometimes a girl just needs her momma.....

Wordless Wednesday!

A little after Valentine's Day creativity :)

This silly boy makes my world go round.

A Little Pinterest Love

Brody is really getting into crafts and art projects, so I have tried to add at least a couple (other than drawing with crayons and paper, which he does daily) into our weekly rotation. I also am a serious holiday junkie. I go overboard and love it. So when I found this pinterest inspired Valentine's craft I knew we had to give it a go, and it was a total success! This craft was so easy and Brody had a blast doing it. Toilet Paper roll as a heart stamp? Hello genius. 

Supplies

1 toilet paper roll

paint

paper

That simple folks. I cut the toilet paper roll into two so that Brody could have a red stamp and a pink stamp, dipped the ends in paint and let him go to town! 

 **TIP- I always use blue painter's tape to secure the paper to the table. This way, the paper stays put, it peels up easier than regular tape and comes right off his paper without tearing!**

He loves craft time!

The dude is serious about his art 

Ok, maybe not SO serious :) 

Bonus? When they get bored of painting, the stamps make an awesome telescope! Yo Ho Ho! 

The finished Project!
And someone trying to sneak their cute little hands back into the paint :)