A little reminder....

So I am just sharing a cute little bookmark craft we made, right?

Look a little closer.....
.....it might be just what you need to know today.

I hope you have a great weekend.....

Peace, love and stay barefoot~
*~Michelle~*

she drew him out of the water

I stumbled upon a fun carnival called "We Heart Art" event which is promoting children's artwork throughout the week. It is being hosted over at Domestically Challenged, 3baybchicks, and I am Living Proof That God Has a Sense of Humor's blogs. Make sure you check it out....they are giving away random prizes and you have the chance to check out some great creative projects.

I am not super crafty......but my *heart* is always in whatever craft we do and I am thrilled to be also teaching my children about God along the way:

This is from one of our homeschooling Bible lessons.....we used some scraps of felt, pipe cleaners and dyed some glue with blue food coloring. *a little hint...let go of all creative control and allow your child to place Baby Moses and the reeds in the jar they way they want with their perfectly sized hands and fingers...or you might find yourself in a panicked state with visions of driving yourself to the Emergency Room with a salsa jar stuck on your hand. Not that it happened here.....(Just.saying.)

We were learning about the story of Moses being rescued from the basket in the reeds and showing us that God is always looking out for us. God knew His plans for Moses even then, just like He knows the plans He has for us. It's kinda cool on how we can look back at our lives and see God's hand in every situation, we may not understand why things happen but who better to trust your life in than God.

So maybe today.......or this week......we can take some time to really focus on what God has lined up for us. It doesn't have to be the overwhelming task of your "big plan" of your life.....just what He has lined up for you to do today. Maybe it's just calling and lending an ear to someone who is going through a difficult time. Or maybe you could make a double batch of that lasagna and drop it off at an elderly neighbors house......just because. (oh, if you can't think of anyone, email me for our address......my kids/husband could use a good home-cooked meal, LOL) Maybe pay for the person behind you at the drive-thru (I'll let you know where/when we are going while waiting for your homecooked meal to be delivered to us....just look for older, very dirty minivan with the "Warning, UnSocialized Homeschoolers on Board" sticker on the back window).

So yeah....think about a random act of kindness that you can do. These opportunities are perfect for planting seeds. Seeds of hope and love which of course are all pointing to Christ. Sometimes we are so busy in our own lives that we don't notice that there are many people who are struggling to find peace and happiness.....only to get discouraged and left with a void in their life......A void can only be filled with knowing God. It's our job to be His vessel and have His kindness and love shine through us.

So I hope you have a blessed day....and I can assure you....there will be a day when you might need a little random act of kindness your way, and God will send someone or something along, just in time.....with just what you need. ;)

xox
*~Michelle~*

Jumpstart on Earth Day

So Earth Day is coming up this week......and being a tree-hugging Jesus freak, I thought I'd pass along a few ideas that help save the world (that God gave us) throughout this whole week.

Genesis 1:26 tells us......

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

I believe that yes, we do have dominion over all God's creatures........and we also have the obligation to do what we can to treat them with respect/kindness, protect them and live peaceably with them.

I am pretty much in awe of all the creatures that God has made (hence the name of my blog). It blows me away to think about how God gave us *so* many beautiful living things for us to look at and learn about. Each living thing playing a critical role in the balance of nature. I don't watch TV often, but I just love the Planet Earth series on Discovery. I simply block out all the "instinct" or "evolving" references and enjoy the amazing works of our God.

The same God that created you and me......taught the spiders to spin flawless intricate webs, the African wild dogs to hunt with such precise strategy, and birds to construct incredible homes for their young.

So speaking of nests, I am simply fascinated with them. It just blows me away to see how birds create these amazing homes.....the intricate layering of twigs with just the perfect amount of mud keeping it all together. Such a masterpiece!I love when we find abandoned ones around our property. In fact, you are sure to see one in many places in my home. Sometimes I fill them with smooth stones or acorns....this spring I put three pastel peanut M & M's for our Easter centerpiece in the one that we found in our Christmas tree!

So this little idea/project helps keep our earth healthy and helps out our little feathered friends.....not sure of the name, so I'll call it a "nesting gift bag".

Basically all you need to do is reuse a produce bag (those plastic onion or orange bags work great) and tuck in items that birds can use to build their nests. You can fill it with dryer lint, small strips of fabric, embroidery thread, ribbons, straw, brightly colored yarn scraps are perfect too......stuff that we find "useless" will make a nice warm, soft and colorful addition to a bird's home. I found some moss and stuck some of that in there as well. You can pull a few pieces of the yarn/ribbon out to give them a head start. Then we hung it on a tree that we could see from our house. It will be fun to watch the birds come by and take some materials....you might even spot where they are heading out to build their nest. The bonus would be to see a nest with specks of color in your yard or neighborhood in a few weeks.

So there you go.....an easy project to do this year for Earth Day. I am sure I'll have a few more ideas for you as the week goes on. Please share what you guys are doing this week....I'd love to get more ideas too. I am linking this onto the WFMW fun over at We are That Family's blog......be sure to stop by to see more great tips/ideas.

I hope you are enjoy the SONshine today. :)

Peace~
*~Michelle~*