Bible Class Facelift

The Bible Class Workshop that I wrote about on Wednesday was just what I needed to give me ideas of some of the things I wanted to do with my Bible classroom.

I started with making this New Testament Books caterpillar. Each student started with a small head and as they learn the books, they get the coordinating caterpillar pieces. The pieces are sorted by sections which is why each piece has different numbers of books. The two pink pieces are one section of books. I also have templates for an Old Testament caterpillar once the girls learn the New Testament.

Another thing we are learning in class is Bible facts. I saw this idea in a book and put my own spin on it. I found the paint cans and brushes at Dollar Tree. They come in packages of 10 so I had plenty for what I wanted. I wrote 1 Bible fact on each can.

 We are studying Genesis right now so I did the other half of the bulletin board with our memory verse from Genesis 1:1 and pictures of the days of creation.

I made the days of creation pictures. The actual pictures came with the material, but I cut it out, pasted it on cardstock and had it laminated. I then cut a sheet of magnet into squares and put them in the corners of each picture. I found the number magnets at Dollar Tree and they are perfect for this visual. Now I can take the numbers off and the girls can put them back on where they go.

The last visual I want to write about is the 5 Acts of Worship puzzle I made. I first drew the 5 on a piece of foam core board. I then wrote each act of worship on each piece and colored it in. I took my exacto knife and cut the pieces out. I then took the reverse of the 5 and glued it to another piece of foam core. After it dried I put the pieces back in and had a puzzle. I'm very happy with the way it turned out!

I'm so happy to have the chance to teach my daughter in Bible class and I want to make the most of it!

Here is a video of Chloe Jo saying her memory verse. Since the girls have their memory verse down so well, we are now adding verse 2.

Reorganized Craft Room

I love organization. I can not hardly function in a messy space. Over the last few months, with everything going on (ie my shop, my home obligations, my church obligations) my craftroom had a bit of a meltdown. My fabric was in different places and looking like who did it and what for. My closet looked like Martha Stewart's home had exploded in it. For a girl who loves being organized, this was no bueno.

So last week, I took an afternoon and organized. I had sent Russ to get me a large crate the night before so I took that in my craft room and started in. The first thing I did was get all of my fabric organized. I ended up take the yard off of one of my shelves and I put it and all of my fleece/minky and specialty fabrics into the crate. Next time, I will color coordinate the fabric, too!

Then I got started on the closet. My children's shirts were just thrown in there hodge podge and I couldn't tell what I had. Everything else was just shoved in where it would fit. It is much better now!

One of the biggest helps is that my shirts are organized. Now all the girl, long sleeved shirts and in one stack, the girl, short sleeved shirts are in another and the boy shirts are the same. So much easier to see what I have now!

And the other side looks just as good.

Now I can work in my craft room without having to dig to find things and without the guest bed being junked up with everything!

Skylar

Tonight my heart is very heavy. Dave and Mary Neese announced today that Skylar's remains have been found. Skylar is Russ's cousin who has been missing since last July. I am so sad for her family. Please pray for them as they try to make it through this time. It is such a tragic end to a horrible ordeal.

Bible Class Workshop

Last month (ooh, see, catching up!), I traveled to Oklahoma City for a Bible Class Workshop. This workshop is for women who teach Bible class or are wanting to teach Bible class.

I have been teaching various ages of Bible class since I was in college and I love to do it! Unfortunately, it is also easy to get burned out if you have students that don't care (or their parents don't care), are disruptive, or if you have just been doing it for too long. When we moved here, I was adamant that I did not want to teach for a while. When we were in South Carolina, I was the only one who was willing to teach my daughter's age so I taught every Sunday and Wednesday for a year and a half. I got burned out.

The funny thing was that after a few months, I realized that I really missed it. Teaching is a way for me to study and a way for me to make sure my daughter is getting the Bible education that I want her to have. Now, I am teaching the 3's, soon to be the 3's and 4's on Wednesday evening and I am really enjoying it.

So, my friend Kristin (who is a fellow preacher's wife) told me about this Bible Class Workshop that was in Lawton and invited me and another friend, Rebecca, to go to it with her. Kristin's parents and her husbands parents live in OKC so Rebecca and I drove down together (Kristin and Landon were already there) Friday evening and stayed with Landon's parents and then we all (plus Landon's mom) went down to Lawton Saturday morning for the workshop.

When we walked in we were greeted by tons and tons of Bible Class materials on the walls.

To say it was overwhelming is an understatement.

One side of the room was the Old Testament and the other side of the room was the New Testament. This room was huge and they had all a complete wall covered and part of two other walls.

Once the workshop started, I really got into what the ladies who spoke were saying and how they used their visuals.

Most of the visuals were great and I wrote down a list of the ones that I would like to create on my own.

I also ended up buying a package of visuals and writing down some more packages that I would like to purchase in the future.

I've been very happy with my class and my teaching style, but this workshop really sent me into high gear. I love having the responsibility of teaching the girls, but it is a big responsibility and I don't want anyone to ever think that I shirked that responsibility.

The ladies are supposed to be in the Tulsa area for another workshop in September and I am hoping I will be able to convince some of the other ladies in our congregation to go with me. It helped fuel my enthusiasm for teaching and I'm hoping it does the same for others.

I am looking forward to going to the workshop again and I am also looking forward to continuing to make my own visuals.

Bible class is so important for our children and I want to be the best teacher that I can be!

I have already made several new visuals and am planning to purchase and make several more. I will post pictures soon of my classroom right now. I started a new series a few weeks ago so I refreshed the bulletin board and added a few other things to the room. The girls love it and I hope it really helps them learn the lessons I present.

My Recipe Box: Sweet and Sour Chicken

I don't know about you all, but recipes I find on Pinterest are very hit and miss for me. I have a folder dedicated to "Pins that I've tried that were eh." Eh meaning I wouldn't make it again but it was okay for nourishment. I also have a folder called "Pinstrosity's I have Tried". Pinstrosity meaning not fit for human consumption or, in the case of crafts or other projects, didn't turn out anywhere near what it was supposed to and was just a huge mess.

And then I have a board entitled "Pintastic Pins I have Tried" and this recipe fell into that category. I have tried other Chinese-style recipes and they all fell into the other two categories. This recipe, I plan to print and put in my recipe binder.

This is the original pin.

Source: madeitateitlovedit.blogspot.com via Lisa on Pinterest

This is how mine turned out. Pretty much perfect. Although, the rice was gross. Don't buy Teryaki Rice in a box. Blech. Best thing: it was just as easy as the original blogger said it was.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Ingredients:
3-5 Chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup sugar
4 Tbsp ketchup
1/2 cup white distilled vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp garlic salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9x13 dish with Pam. Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes. Season with salt and pepper (I actually didn't do this step because I don't like to). Heat oil in skillet. Dip chicken into cornstarch and coat all the way and then dip into eggs. Cook chicken until browned and place in 9x13 dish. In a bowl, add remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth. Pour evenly over chicken. Turn chicken so the sauce coats each side evenly. Bake for 15 minutes. Turn chicken and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Yum!

Can't hardly stand how much I love my girl!

Valentine's Day

I'm less than a month behind on blogging now (if you factor in the posts I have scheduled for the next two weeks)!

Yay for me! I should have a party to celebrate!

Speaking of celebrating, how did you all celebrate Valentine's Day?

My sister and her husband don't. Like ever. Sillies!

Me, on the other hand, I enjoy a good celebration so Russ and I gave each other cards. And then he went to a friends house for a man-date to watch the Thunder lose to Miami.

Um!?!? I know!

So I decided to take Chloe Jo out. When we were talking about where to go I asked her if she wanted to go to Olive Garden to which she immediately replied, "No. I don't yike dat pace." She doesn't know. She's never been. So then I suggested IHOP and Cherry Berry afterwards to which she replied "I YUV IHOP AND PANTATES AND I YUV CHERRY BERRY. I WANT TO GO THERE TO GET ICE CREAM. THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BEST! I LOVE PANTATES WITH SEERUPS AND STRAWBERRY YODURT! ICE CREAM FROM CHERRY BERRY IS THE BEST!"

So that's what we did.

I like for our house to be a tiny bit festive for holidays. I especially like decorating the fireplace. I can't put a bunch of tall things on the mantle because our TV sits in in alcove behind the mantle so I mainly like to use banners. I made this cute Valentine's banner and this year I remembered to put out my Valentine's quilt that my mother made me several years ago.

Of course, Chloe Jo and I had to take a picture with the festiveness. She wanted to wear her shirt with a "scarf" so she could be like Mommy. Scarves are my favorite fashion accessory.

Love this picture so much (even though Chloe Jo is being a tad goofy)!

Our friends, Ross and Tia, gave each family that was at Wednesday evening Bible study a box of Glacier Confections. While I am not really a fan of this type of chocolate, I thought they were so beautiful! I did eat one that was filled with caramel apple and it was yummy! Then I ate one that wasn't so yummy and that reminded me of why I don't care for these kinds of chocolate. If they would just say what was in them, it would be all good.

And that's all she wrote!

Kiev, Ukraine Journal - 3-30-1996 and 3-31-1996

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 14! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

3-30-1996

G and B left for the states today. B gave me millions of kisses. She is so loveable! They will get home on Sunday. After we went them of thier way we went sight-seeing with Seargae. We went and saw Merinski Palace and the Silver Lady. We were taking a picture of a neat looking building and some militia people (or police as they call them in the states) told us we couldn't. Oh, well, all's well that end's well. Then we met dads class and ate at the Boston Burger. Artiome, Liza and R taught me how to play pig. It's exactly like spoons except you stick your tongue out instead of picking up a spoon. Those burgers were real good. :-)

3-31-1996

*This is the last entry for our 1996 trip.

We went to Centre again today. K1 taught on faith again. There were no Africans that day in the class. There are usually around ten. The Ukranian time change was during the night so alot of Ukranians got there an hour late because it caught them by surprise. After services we went to the Cs for Ks birthday party which was a day early. We had this nasty Chinese noodles with wierd flavoring. That's the only thing of Ds that I thought was awful. The kids all talked in the Boys room. I read Js book of great insults. Most of them were ok. A lot were stupid. A few were really good. :-)

Old Kindle Out, New Kindle In

A looooooooong time ago, back in 2010, I bought a Kindle Keyboard and I loved it.

I loved it so much that 2 years later, I set it on the armrest of the couch and it fell off, leaving an ugly mark in the middle of the screen that would not go away no matter what I did.

And then I remembered that I had bought a 2 year protection plan for it! The accident happened in October of 2012 making it just inside the 2 year limit on the plan.

I'm not usually one to buy the protection plans for things so that, in and of itself, was odd, but I am so thankful that I did! I dialed up the Target protection plan hotline and they immediately said that they would issue me a -get this- FULL REFUND. This Kindle was 2 years old and I was getting back every cent that I paid for it which ended up being $190 for a Kindle that is currently going for only $90.

Are you thinking big upgrade? Because I sure did!

And here is my new Kindle Paperwhite...well sorta new...I received it back in December...blog slacking much?

I have been so happy with this new Kindle. The best upgrade is that it has side lighting so that you can still read it in the sunlight without any nasty glares like you would get with backlit electronics. I also like the fact that it is completely touch screen. It is smaller than my previous Kindle so the accessories I had for that one didn't fit on this one, but that just gave me a good excuse to buy a new cover. :)

I picked this one up for a great price at TJ Maxx...anyone else love that store?

Now if I could just find more time to read....

and blog...

and sew....

and play....

and relax....

Sometimes

When there is music playing...

And you are cleaning with Mommy and Daddy....

You just can't not take a moment to dance.

Yes, Christmas is still up in these pictures. I'm very behind in my blogging.

All Things Pony

I loved My Little Pony when I was little. When Chloe Jo really started liking watching TV (as if there was a time she didn't like it) I bought her one of the new My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic DVD's. From that moment on, she was hooked. She love everything Pony and I am not one bit disappointed about this because I love all things Pony, too, now.

I really do try not to go overboard buying her toys. We are so incredibly blessed and I don't want her to think she should get everything that she wants, but this is our (yes, I said "our") Pony collection at this time.

Um...yikes. Most of this stuff was given to us, but a lot of the single Pony's (that didn't come with playsets) we did buy. I'm pretty sure she is finished collecting Pony's for a while!

Just a few weeks ago the season finale of season 3 aired and Twilight Sparkle became an alicorn. This episode is so good and we have watched it several times over. The Twilight Sparkle alicorn toy is not being released until the fall, but we are excited about it anyway.

In light of this development (that has the Brony community up in arms, by the way) I decided to make Chloe Jo a Twilight Sparkle inspired shirt. She didn't understand that the shirt wouldn't actually have Twilight Sparkle on it, but after I explained to her that wearing the shirt makes her Twilight Sparkle she was totally down with it.

I also have a Pinterest Board that I call "All Things Pony" to pin ideas or Pony things that I like or think Chloe Jo will like.

Source: kwejk.pl via Lisa on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Lisa on Pinterest

Gotta love Twilight Sparkle!

Source: Uploaded by user via Lisa on Pinterest

Can you believe I did a whole post about My Little Pony?

Me neither.

HA!

Kiev, Ukraine Journal - 3-28-1996 and 3-29-1996

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 14! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

3-28-1996

Today we went to B's and visited for about an hour. Andrew had just gone to her flat and she bought sixty-eight eggs and at least 15 laquer boxes. I read a book all that visit. The book was sister of the Bride. It is real good. She told me about a Russian Book printed in English about folk tales. I read one and it was real good. It was about a girl who fell in love and the guy married another so she walked out into the sea and drowned herself. After that we went to the Ss and Babysat S, C, and A. A was very bad. He went through about 10 pair of pants and underwear. I watched movies and played the computer all day. I love that game called Chips. It is great. Dad will have to get it. We spent the night with R. :-)

*I had no patience as a teenager for children and I really wish I would have cut the poor kids some slack (especially since I apparently did not babysit while I was playing the computer "all day"). I'm not sure the exact ages of the kids, but I think S was probably about 4, A was younger than her and C was a baby.

3-29-1996

We stayed at R's all day until 2:00. RC went to look for a store to print some tracks for the Russians. R was being such a brat. She was calling us loosers because we played monopoly. Last night she was sitting in her room knitting her socks. We were bored so we played a game. There's something wrong with that. Finally her mom told her to shut up about us being loosers. I think she was mad because of Michelle. Michelle stayed half of the night in the boys room talking to C in the dark while R and I watched Old Yeller. It was an ok movie. Well thats all we did. I zonked out at 5:00 and slept for 14 hours straight. I was in a great mood when I woke up. :-)