Live Like You're Dying

Today I visited with someone whom I love very much and who is also facing a major life event very soon. This soon-coming event has the potential to have negative repercussions, but the odds are that it will have very positive benefits for this person instead.

And yet I realized today that this person has become paralyzed by fear. Ever since this event has been scheduled they have very nearly ceased *living*~in the joyful, vibrant, make-the-most-out-of-life kind of living. They have virtually holed up at home to just anxiously dread the coming event and hope they make it through.

While I have not faced this particular kind of life event, I have had some pretty major events to happen in my life. And I'm sure I will face more. Seeing this person's reaction to a crisis has made me look back and think about how I faced things in the past and wonder about how I will face them in the future. In a couple of particular instances I know I struggled with being depressed over certain situations beyond my control, but ultimately I have learned to simply trust Christ and take each day one by one.

There are so many things that we have no control over and I have learned from experience that worry simply does me nor anyone else any good whatsoever. Trusting God and making the most of every day and every opportunity is the choice I always want to make.

It made me think of the Kris Allen's song "Live Like You're Dying". That is such an awesome song~with a powerful message. I wanted to share it with you today and urge you (and myself) to truly make the most of our lives and not be afraid to really live.

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Making Notebooks

Recently I tried out a new craft idea~and it was SO much fun!! And extremely frugal, too. That's always a bonus, right? So here we go: 1. Take your basic composition notebook (purchased at the back-to-school sales for .99 each). 2. Go to your craft supplies and get your Mod Podge ready, along with a good paintbrush. 3. Look through all those scrapbook papers you've been randomly collecting and choose some. 3. After choosing your paper for the cover of your book and trimming it to fit, start *painting* the cover with the glue. Next, give the back of your paper a good coat of glue, too. (I left the binding uncovered so that I could use a contrasting paper there later on). 4. Glue it on! Remember to smooth out any air bubbles under the paper. 5. Flip the cover open and make a few cuts on the corners so that they will fold over nice and neat, then add a little more glue to the edges of the inside cover and a little more to the paper edges. 6. Fold them over and press...

my blessed life

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