Wife. Mother. Youth pastor/college pastor's wife. Small group leader. And now...church nursery pastor. Yes, I have added another hat to my head (cue that Amy Grant song...). As of this past week I am now officially the director over the nursery/preschool department (ages 0-6) at our church. And you're asking, "what are you thinking?!?!" I'm excited about it though. Maybe it's partly because I have a personal interest, what with having children ages 4 and 2 and all. Maybe it's partly because our church is at a great place of transition since we are nearly ready to move into a brand-new children's facility. Yes, it's going to be a challenge. Some people just don't like change--hey, even I don't like it in areas (like my hairspray or lipstick)--but change usually comes from growth and progression which are GREAT things. So, I know that this change is going to require some personal changes from me. I'm going to have to show some real growth in the areas of time management and organization. I've always thought of myself as very organized, but it seems that beautiful trait just flew out the window when I had my first child. It's taken me about 4 years to start to get a grip on things again! Now I'm selectively organized-ha! I've always been a calendar person--one of my greatest pleasures is to sit down before New Year's and start filling in the new calendar that my mother inevitably gave me for Christmas (I'm weird, I know). This year I plan to live by my calendar even more though, hopefully making it easier on myself to be productive. My first goal is to begin going to bed earlier. The hubby and I are such night owls, but that doesn't work out so great with my youngest's schedule since he likes to rise with the sun--or before! My next goal, which will only happen if I can make the first one happen, is to have my quiet time with the Lord first thing in the mornings. The day always goes better when that happens, I'm just not very consistent with that schedule when I've stayed up way too late. Am I the only one with this problem? Feel free to leave suggestions, just season them with grace--thanks!
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 ...