Troughs and Peaks

Dave and I teach the High School Sunday School class and right now we are reading "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis and doing a discussion on it.  If you aren't familiar with the book or the writer, C.S. Lewis is most famous for his series "The Lion The Witch and The Wordrobe" and this particular book we are studying is a series of ficticous letters written from a 'Master Demon' (Screwtape) to his protege and nephew (Wormwood) a 'demon in training' type of scenario.  Wormwood has been assigned a patient that is a new Christian/Believer so Screwtape is imparting his wisdom on tripping up followers of Christ.

I've been pretty impressed with how the students are responding to book.  We don't require that they read it, but most of them have anyway.  Every week we answer some questions on a couple of chapters.  So far we have discussed topics like time management, prayer life, and family issues- figuring out that pushing your family's 'buttons' is a way the enemy gets a hold in our life.

This week's topic dealt with the 'troughs and peaks' in our walk with Christ.  (Most people call them the valley/desert and mountaintop times)  We discussed how ALL followers have both experiences and that it's okay to be in a trough sometimes.  They concluded from their own lives that being in a trough sometimes brings the greatest strength in our relationship with Christ because you have to work harder at it.  One student gave the example that you don't get very strong lifting a 2lb weight, but if you trade that in for a 20lb weight your muscles will ache at first but grow quickly!  That is exactly what CAN happen in those trough moments if we allow them to happen.

Unfortunatley many of us enter a trough time in our life and think God has abandoned us.  We get the idea that just because we are having a bad day or because life isn't going well that God has left us to fend for ourself.  People begin going back to what they knew before they were introduced to Jesus- maybe not extreme cases like alcohol or drugs, but maybe selfishness or business?  I know in my trough moments I try to busy myself with projects and busywork so I don't have to think of how junky my life is right then.  My thoughts turn inward to how I can fix what's going on instead of looking to God for support and wisdom.

This week I challenged the class to think about the troughs and peaks they have experienced and to thank God that He has given them both experiences.  Then I asked them to pray and ask that during this Christmas and New Years season when so many around us are depressed or lonely or feeling a trough moment, that God would reveal to them a hurting person.  Maybe a family member, neighbor, friend, or even cashier at the store is going through a trough moment and God wants to use one of those students to get them through it.

Life can't be lived on the peaks- it's nice for a season and the snow is pretty, but life is lived in the troughs.  If we never delve into the trough, who will we ever reach?  Very few "unbelievers" are on the peaks, THEY LIVE IN THE TROUGH!!!  So I will challenge you and me to do the same thing I've challenged my students with.  Pray that God shows you someone in the trough this next week or two (or fifty two) and help them understand that it's okay to be there- God is NOT far away if you will just look for Him!

MERRY CHIRSTMAS!!!!

Packaging a GIFT CARD

Anyone else hate giving gift cards for the simple fact that the "gift-ee" doesn't get to actually OPEN anything.  Well a friend of mine called my Mom (who is also creative) and asked for some clever ways to give a gift card to her niece.  I may be biased but she came up with some REALLY great ideas!  Here you go:

Gift card ideas from Debby:

*Buy a package of gum you think they would like, put the gift card inside and then use hot glue to close the container back OR tape the gift card onto the back.  You could also tape the gift card to     a candy bar or move size box of candy

*Buy a cheap stuffed animal at the Dollar Tree and attach the gift card with a ribbon-you could use a hole punch to make a hole in the gift card envelope and then tie the ribbon to the stuffed animal.

*They have really cute plastic glasses for $1 at Wal-Mart.  They’re clear plastic and have red and green polka dots on them-you could fill the glass with candy and stick the gift card in with the candy

*They have tons of cheap, cute little tins and boxes at the Dollar Tree that you could use

*You could buy an inexpensive ornament and attach the gift card to it with ribbon-write the name and the year on the ornament so they can keep it as a momento.  I do this with my kids and grandkids every year

*They have lip gloss for $1 at Wal-Mart-you could attach that to the gift card

*They have those $1 magic gloves just about everywhere-you could put the gift card inside one of the gloves

*Put the gift card in a plastic Ziploc bag-make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and put the giftcard inside.  Put the sandwich and a small bag of chips with a Little Debbie snack and a juice box (so it looks like a lunch).  This is my favorite idea but you would have to make the sandwich that day so it wouldn’t mold or something gross but I think she’d get a kick out of it!!!

OK-I’m out of ideas-you’re on your own. 

Debby

Thanks Mom!!!  Isn't she great?!?!?!  Hope you can use one of these- Happy Gifting!

Melissa and Doug Giveaway

Need a cute Christmas gift for a kid in your life? Want something that is not only fun but SAFE? Melissa and Doug products offer fun for kids and peace of mind for parents. Their products are safe for kids which is so important in the evergrowing 'lead paint' society we find our toys coming from.


Head over to "A Little Tipsy" and enter her giveaway for the Melissa and Doug Fruit Crate. It is ADORABLE! Your little one gets to actually CUT fruit with a little play knife- what kid wouldn't like that?

Blessings to you all, and I hope you win! (But not more than I hope I win) :)

Mixed Martha 'Motions

It's supposed to be "emotions" but the 3 M's just taunted me too much. I give in so easily to that little voice that snickers in my mind at things like that- the voice sounds a LOT like my friend Danielle Wolf.

ANYWAY- the real reason you are reading this post- MARTHA STEWART. That name brings strong emotions for many people. Some love her and emulate her every move, others loathe her and want nothing to do with her. I'm somewhere in the middle. I'm not a follower of her to the point that everything in my house is a soft breezy color and every gift or goodie I make is homemade but I'm also not a hater. She has some good ideas some of which I use and some I throw away knowing I will NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS use/make that!

No matter how you feel about Martha I have a link for you. On her website she has set up a "Santa's Workshop" page and it is CHOCK FULL of fantastic ideas! There are some really great recipes I'd love to try- these are just too cute!

And talk about GIFTS GALORE!!! They are all homemade gifts and you can search for different categories like 'for her,' 'for him,' 'for kids,' and others. I found several things that would be great ideas for not only Christmas, but birthdays and other celebrations!

Go check it out and if you make anything please let me know how it turns out!

Catch Up

It's been quite a while since I wrote and I apologize deeply, but life has been a little crazy. And when I say a little, I actually mean pretty darn crazy! My mind that never stops has already begun thinking of Christmas- back in September. (Lauryn, my sister would be so proud of me!) She is the QUEEN of Christmas folks. So I've been trying to figure out what I can do to make our Christmas more affordable this year since Dave is going back to school. (Which I'll discuss more in detail in a bit) The internet and blogworld has become my closest friend lately getting ideas for gifts and decorations for the greatest time of year. I'm so excited!

Also I've had a Wedding Reception, Bridal Shower, and 3 yes THREE baby showers to get ready for. And since I've found so many neat ideas I decided to do personal homemade gifts for EACH of these events. It was time consuming and a little nutzo on my part but it was totally worth it. We ended up saving money in the long run and the recipients seemed to really like them. I forgot to get pictures of my 2 'wedding' related gifts but the baby gifts I'll be doing a separate post on soon with links to the tutorials on how to make them.

THEN the hardest part of my life at the moment is that Dave is not only going back to school (for nursing by the way) but his business isn't doing so hot, so a wonderful friend at church got Dave a job at a factory. It is SUCH a blessing because we are going to be able to use the money to not only pay the bills but to also put back enough savings that next semester when Dave is doing his CNA, he most likely won't have to work. But that also means that right now is full of 7 days a week of work (cause there is MANDATORY overtime) plus 2 FULL days a week of school.

Dave works 10:30pm to 7:00 am and I start getting ready for work right as he is getting to bed so he can sleep until 4:30pm and go to work again that night. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays he has class from 10:30 am to 9:30 pm, and in the midst of all this, I have so much going on in my own life that we aren't getting to see each other more than 30-45 minutes at a time and no more than twice a day. Today I saw him for about 20 minutes after I got home from work, before I went to church and after church before HE went to work I got another 15 minutes. 35 minutes total today! This is only until the end of the year, and the plant closes down at Christmas which will give us the Holidays together which is SUCH a blessing.

This is all only temporary and I know that but it's so difficult in the midst of it. God has blessed Dave with this job and we are SO incredibly grateful for the amazing money but it's bittersweet. Your prayers would be appreciated in the next few months as we figure out how to live this way. I don't know HOW military spouses spend so much time apart because I'm at LEAST getting a few minutes a day! God is so faithful and I know He will be with us during all this. Thanks for listening/reading! :)

Say it ain't so!

Has it REALLY been 2 WEEKS since I last wrote here??? Guess I've been too busy with the craziness that is my life to realize!

Well I wanted to let you all know about a recipe I tried that was AMAZING! Now I do NOT claim to be Suzy Homemaker by any stretch of the imagination, so when I made this Apple Butter I think Dave was quite shocked. (In a good way!) Since we are having a 'light' Christmas this year and scaling back on purchases for others, this might be an idea for me to make for people.

As Christmas draws ever closer, and along with it my sister's wedding, I'm getting busier and busier so I am going to start working on gifts probably this week or next. Like I said, we are going 'light' so most if not all gifts will be homemade. I don't want to do too much food, because almost all my family is on diets and my Dad can't have any carbs so most holiday snacks are out for him. I'm thinking about doing a "Coffee/Tea Basket" for most people.

I found a bunch of different recipes for making Coffee and Tea mixes that you just add water to, along with homemade flavored coffee syrups, and maybe biscotti? Then for those that don't like coffee or tea I could make the apple butter and some soup mixes or something.

What do you think? Is it too cheap sounding, or do you think people will like it????