50th Birthday Bash!

I promised I would post about my Dad's 50th birthday party. My mom, my sisters and I all collaborated on the theme:Flintstones! It was a terrific theme-so much more fun than the typical "over-the-hill" parties. The Flintstones TV show came out around the same time my dad was born, so that made it even more fun.

My sister is an amazing party planner! The two of us together: unstoppable. Robyn knows that it is 100% presentation when it comes to an event, and the details make it perfect. See the sprinkling of rock candy as confetti on the table? Also, most of the fun names for the foods were her ideas.

Even the kids' tables got some special extra touches. Cupcake liners filled with rock candy and other sweets were a cute touch. Filling up the balloons was a little bit of a hassle (we may or may not have visited three stores to get them done, but that is between me and Lisa Dawn) but the kids loved them!

A better view of the final presentation! The dinosaurs on the wall are from the Dollar Store, as are the ferns in the centerpiece. I love that place! I made the banner and realized that I only took really far away photos of it. Ugh! I fringed all the edges of the pieces to make them look like animal skins. It was the perfect touch.

Some more of the fun treats. Pretzel sticks and chocolate rocks became perfect "sticks and stones". Putting everything in terra cotta pots made it look so much more "Stone Age".

These are Rice Krispy treats cut out with bone shaped cookie cutters. See what I'm saying about the details?

"Bamm-Bamm" clubs- another of my sister's genius ideas. Just rock candy sticks, but they take on a whole new personality when placed in a cute container with a place card. I am all about place cards- they make everything more fun!

A last minute idea that was a HUGE hit. Literally it took me about 10 minutes to put this together. I printed off photos of all my Dad's family and friends and used animal print ribbon taped to the walls as a holder. I bought mini clothespins and simply clipped the photos to the ribbon. I had several of these all over the room and everyone loved them. I am definitely planning on doing this again. Everyone thought it was so fun to look at all of them. This would work for a multitude of parties and would be so easy to coordinate with different themes.

My gift for my Dad. My Mom asked everyone to give my Dad 50 of something. I decided that 50 "Warm Fuzzies" were in order. I wrote down 50 good memories and things I love and admire about my Dad and put them in a jar. Simple, but hopefully meaningful too!

My sister free-handed Fred! Crazy! She printed an outline off the internet and used it as a guide to paint Fred. He made the perfect photo backdrop. Aren't Grams and Gramps so cute?

It has become a tradition to photograph the four generations of "Littles" when we are together. I can only hope that I am as beautiful as my Mom and Grams when I am their ages.

Me and my sisters. Good grief, I love these girls! I miss them so much. We are just the best sisters ever. I am so blessed to be counted among these five. From left: Lisa Dawn, Robyn, Katy, Kelly, and of course, me. We are the best party planners, EVER!

I couldn't resist taking a photo during the prayer- I promise though, it was right at the "amen". I just love that our family prays together. I am without a doubt so proud to be part of such a godly family.

My Mom and her Mom. Don't they look so much alike?

And last, but not least, the Birthday Boy and my Mom. He was grinning because he was about to open his pile of presents!

It was a great party. Planning it with all my family was so fun. My aunt graciously provided her clean home and helped put it all together. We ate so much good food (ribs, of course!) and laughed so hard. I wish we all lived closer, but then I think we would be having a party once a month due to all the birthdays...

Easter 2011

Easter, as established by my mother, is not merely a "Sunday-only" celebration. It lasts the whole weekend and we love it! Actually, the kids started with an egg hunt during their class on Thursday at church. No photos, but they got plenty of goodies! Then, on Friday, Josie and I worked on perfecting a special project that I will share about in another post. Saturday we put together the Easter baskets, laid out every one's clothes and cleaned house. I had so much fun putting together the kids' Easter baskets. Joel helped with a few special touches- can you tell which item is from him?

My cheese head on Easter morning. We surprised the kids with their baskets and DONUTS! Joel made a special early morning trip to pick them up so they would be fresh. Honestly, I think Josie might have been a little more excited over the donuts than the basket!

Carson was thrilled with his basket. If you don't follow me on Facebook, then you may not know that he broke his elbow on the 16th. We thought they would cast it on Monday and everything would be fine. Well, to make a long story short, they decided he needed emergency surgery to have pins put in on the18th. He had a splint that was HUGE and a sling that he had to wear all last week-of course, just in time for Easter!

The big basket surprise was games for the Nintendo DS's! Aunt Robyn generously supplied Carson with one when we saw her at my mom's last month and he hasn't had any of his own games. He was so pleased! Clearly, it is difficult to get a photo of Josie in the morning where she is not making a goofy face...

Easter clothes! I know, Carson looks ridiculous. But his splint was so big that he could only wear sleeveless shirts and I couldn't do that on Easter! It was cold and snowy, so I wanted him to be warm. He was fine with it, and it will certainly be memorable in the years to come. Jocelyn, of course, had to have a new "princess" dress. She also had new high heels- she was thrilled!



After church and lunch (at the Black-Eyed Pea-yum!) we invited our friends, the Fletchers, over for the afternoon. Despite the weather, the kids were anxious to hunt eggs outside. Kegan, my friend's son, was so cute! Every egg he found he put in Carson's basket. Despite my careful planning so that each child would have the same goodies and an equal number of eggs, the all ended up in Carson's basket! Carson's arm didn't slow him down for a minute- he raced around scooping up eggs with the best of them.

Carson even helped Jocelyn find some of her eggs. She raced her friend Bekah to see who could find all their eggs first.

Josie, slightly dismayed that Bekah won. Still everyone had a good time.

Carson demanded that I take a picture of, "me and my big daddy". Notice the sword? This is Carson's new favorite pose, and I won't deny it-it is pretty darn cute to see both my boys smiling together. We ended the day by eating candy, having a barbecue and finishing that project I mentioned earlier. It was a great day.

On Monday, we incorporated eggs into school. Carson divided all the eggs by color and Jocelyn used them as manipulatives for counting by ten. It was a big hit.

Then, of course, we dyed eggs! After dinner we let the little artists loose. Everyone wore their best-ha!

Daddy assisted one-armed Carson. Carson loved seeing the eggs change from white to colorful.

Who needs two hands? Carson can skillfully display his favorite eggs with just one!

Even Joel got in on the fun. He dyed his egg four different colors! So very clever...

Jocelyn put some wraps on her eggs to make them more special. She was so careful with her eggs, and she liked experimenting to see what combining different colors produced. She is our little scientist.

The finished creations. Aren't they beautiful?

A pretty traditional Easter, but it made everyone happy. I like stretching a celebration out- it is nice not to feel pressured to do everything all at once. And especially since the kids are still young, it keeps them interested prevents them from getting too tired. Okay, maybe it really just keeps me from getting too tired!

Ladybug Baby Shower

I have had a couple of people ask me about how I do my banners. This is my fourth one, and I think they get better every time. The first part is thinking about how the banner will interact with the theme- namely, what is it about the theme that I want to say with the banner? For the "tiny" shower, I wanted it to be small. For the "farm"shower I wanted it to have barns. I need to post pictures of my Dad's 50th birthday party- it was a Flintstone's theme. That one was a little more tricky, but I wanted it to look Stone Age. This one was easy- ladybug theme- ladybugs on the banner! I always use the shower colors as my palette, that is a no-brainer. Next, I usually do a sketch like the one above. It is kind of a brain-dump, I figure out what I want to say, how many separate pieces I will need, and what I want to special pieces to look like. As you can see, I played around with the shapes of the pieces, and how I wanted the ladybugs to look. Ignore the numbers- I was re-using a piece of paper- I have to work while the inspiration is hot!

And the finished piece! I used pre-cut, peel and stick letters from Michael's. My sister suggested them for my dad's banner and they are WONDERFUL! It makes it look so much more put-together. I always do my special pieces first- in this case, the ladybugs. I wanted an oval, rather than round, shape. I realized I had a container that, fortunately for me, was the perfect size for my dollar store felt. This banner took: 2 packages of felt, (at mine I can get packs of red,white, black and green- perfect!) 1 roll of dollar store ribbon, 1 separate piece of yellow felt, black pom-poms, black pipe cleaners and two packs of pre-cut letters. The letters were definitely the most expensive part, they run around $6 a pack. However, Michael's takes competitors coupons, and I had a 40% off to use. That made them a little more reasonable, and also because they are so linear, it is easy to cut other letters to make the ones you need (for example, I lopped off the two tops lines of the "E" to make some extra "L"s.). I should have taken better photos, but the ladybugs have some great detail. Their spots are pom-poms, and the antennae are pipe-cleaners! I was really happy with how it turned out!
Not so happy with how this photo turned out, though. So blurry-ugh! I filled my vases with red carnations and they have little felt ladybugs on the front. My baby shower buddy, Sarah, handmade the scrapbook sheets for the guests to sign as gifts for the honorees ( it was a double shower- and one mom is having twins!). My friend Denise loaned us the adorable ladybug rainboots to add to the theme.

I decided to buy balloon sticks and I was really happy with how they turned out! Sarah did the tablecloth and the buckets. You can barely see the black and white pinwheel in the flower arrangements, but they were really cute.

Anyway, another shower that we pulled off in about a week! I really am considering going into business. Just kidding- there is no way Joel would let me! But it is really fun, and I know I will most likely be able to use my experience in the future.

Just Like Judas

He couldn't have been all bad. There had to be some good in there. What was the tipping point? I just have a hard time believing that Jesus would have allowed Judas to be part of the twelve when there was only evil in his heart. Luke 6:16 says he, "became a traitor". Could it be that he started out in earnestness, truly desired to follow Jesus?

Today, I am thinking about the betrayal. It is ugly, and painful, but without it we really wouldn't have forgiveness of sin. Jesus died a horrific, traumatic death, to take my place. But what about Judas?

I have often wondered if it had to be Judas. I know that the Father knows everything, so He knew it would be Judas, but I really feel like if Judas had chosen to go another way, the Father would have allowed it. He is the perfect Redeemer, and He is not willing that any should perish. I know if Judas had asked, He would have forgiven him.


I don't think it happened overnight. In some ways, I picture a young, innocent Judas, eagerly joining the disciples. He might have been out to change the world, even. He obviously recognized how important Jesus was. He was one of the Twelve from the beginning- it wasn't like he just showed up at the last minute to commit his evil deed.


I think it was a slow, gradual, seduction. It probably began with a few grumbling thoughts. Perhaps he saw the wealth and prestige of the Pharisees and thought, "Why can't I have both? Why do wealth and Jesus have to be mutually exclusive?" Here he was following around a Man who lived hand to mouth-teaching ungrateful crowds, catching naps at the oddest times, fasting for days, Who had no place to lay His head. No glamour in that.

It is clear Judas had a thing for money. John 12:6 said he was the "keeper of the money bag". I think Jesus lived off donations. People gave as He touched their lives. We know Jesus had some fairly wealthy followers (Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, most likely there were others) so perhaps at times that purse was pretty full. Judas was in charge. One of the disciples needed new sandals? Go ask Judas. Time for dinner? Go get the money for bread from Judas. It was a position that demanded trust. And initially, I am guessing he earned it. He probably had proved himself an able accountant- perhaps he worked with numbers before he joined the disciples. Whatever the case, it would prove to be his downfall.

He decided that the things of this world, the things he could see and touch, were more valuable to him than serving the One who would die for us all. 30 measly pieces of silver- Delilah sold Samson out for considerably more, gaining 1,100 shekels from each Philistine ruler (Judges 16). I found that 30 pieces of silver in Jesus' day was often the price for a slave. How greedy was Judas? It seems like so little. Judas literally sold Jesus to be the ransom for us. But I am guessing at the time Judas didn't know that.

And by that point he probably didn't care. He had slowly, but surely, become so calloused in his heart that he could no longer discern between right and wrong. We are all familiar with his chastisement of Mary when she poured her perfume on Jesus' feet. He was jealous that all that wealth would be wasted- in his eyes at least- on the lowliest part of Jesus when it could have gone in Judas' pocket. He could only see his own ravenous appetite for personal gain. He was not rejoicing because his Master had been honored- he was angry because he felt slighted.

And then, when I stop to think about it, I feel sorry for him. I turned that feeling over and over. Why? He was the worst kind of traitor. He felt remorse over his actions- but not until the next day after Jesus had been found guilty. Had Judas held out hope that perhaps Jesus would be released? Surely, Judas recognized that Jesus had not done anything wrong.

I could have been Judas. That is why I feel such empathy with him. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9) God can- and fear not, He does. He sees that the ability to do evil far greater than Judas exists in the human nature that often threatens to control me. Would I have sold Jesus? Yes, again and again.

If ever I allow my human appetites to control me, if I ever stop trying to "take every thought captive" (2 Corinthians 10:5), if I ever allow my gaze-even for just a moment- to be fixed on anything other than His wonderful face, than I am in danger of becoming Judas. Judas knew Jesus, but when the time came to make it count, Judas was more concerned with the immediate than the eternal. He was more concerned with his comfort now than his condition for eternity. And that could be me.

Except for the grace of God. And that is the only exception that matters. When I am relying on Him I am nothing like Judas because He is the one that keeps me from falling. "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man (that should make you very afraid! Greed is certainly a human temptation, but no worries the best part is coming) and God is faithful, He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. BUT when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." (1 Corinthians 10:13).


So I could be like Judas, but I don't have to be. I can weep over the death of my Lord, but I can also rejoice knowing that His resurrection was also my coming back from the dead. Good Friday is truly a day of rejoicing, knowing He is fully aware of the evil I can commit but instead of condemning me, He chooses every day to give me His power to be so much more than that. The power to do good, to bear His witness, to love others and put my own needs aside. The power to be like Him, not anything like Judas.

Book Review: Bad Girls of the Bible

I don't know that I would present myself as an expert on the Bible, but when it comes to the Scriptures, I am certainly not a novice, either. I suppose in that is probably one of the biggest reasons why this book did not pull me in in the manner that it could have. That said, it a still a terrific book worthy of any library. Liz Curtis Higgs uses her trademark "girlfriend" manner of writing in an effort to make this book accessible. It came across as a tiny bit forced at times, and I do think that in a number of years some of her cultural references will be dated. I absolutely love her fiction, so I was a little surprised that her non-fiction style was so different and not as much to my taste. Writing style aside, she opens each chapter with a modern day re-telling of each Biblical character. Some of these were excellent, others seemed a little contrived. The meat of the book is when she goes through each account in detail, breaking down the Scriptures and explaining each little nuance of the story. I already knew much of the information, but for someone that has not had as much exposure to the Bible this book is full of terrific facts presented in an easy to understand way. She closes each chapter by encouraging you to relate to the historical figure personally and apply the lessons that she learned to your own life. Finally, there are questions for you to pursue further study. Overall, I think this book has far more pros than cons, and I would easily say that many of the things that I did not care for are matters of personal opinion. I think especially for newer believers this book will strike more than one chord. It was still an easy read, and I do not feel my time was wasted. As it was one of Higgs' first nonfiction books, I wonder in part if perhaps her more recent publishings are a little more polished. Still, there were several stand-out chapters. The chapters on Rahab and "the Sinful Woman" were my favorites. You can't help but be moved by the change wrought on their lives by the grace of God and Higgs' makes that contrast even more startling. I encourage you to read it for yourself- it would be impossible not to feel personally connected to one of these women. After all, God made sure that they crossed the pages of His Word for a reason. Higgs just helps you to make the connection more swiftly.
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I was given a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review, by the publisher, Waterbrook Multnomah. All views expressed are my own.