Changed By Love

If You’re Not Sick of Snow Yet

Jan.14,2014

I know a lot of the country has had lots of snow recently. But you still might want to do a unit study about snow.

We haven’t had any here in Houston, Texas. But we had snow in our living room throughout the Christmas season!

I made most of those snowflakes! Fiona made a few of them. She had made some last year, so we used some of them, too, in our snowflake display.

I wrote a post two years ago about making snowflakes. It was the first time I had ever made intricate, lacy snowflakes, and I was so proud of myself. That post is right here. It includes lots of helpful tips for making beautiful snowflakes, including video tutorials. It also provides titles of many books for further study about snowflakes.

Now I hope you’re not sick of snowflakes or snow, because I have some other neat ideas to share with you that involve snow.

On a blog called Blog Me Mom, I have gotten some great ideas for sensory bins and fantasy worlds.

She has a Fantasy Winter World that I think looks like a lot of fun. It involves fake snow, which I haven’t been able to get yet. I might order it soon and make this fantasy world for my little girls. They already have several of the My Little Ponies, so we should be able to make it pretty easily. The children of the blogger made pine trees out of party hats. It looks like the children will have fun with this fantasy world.

This post is about making a cute magnetic snowman.

Here’s another cute snowman activity that we actually did. It was Emma’s first effort with pastels. She had to wait until she turned 7 years old to use pastels, so on her birthday she got to use pastels. And this is the project she did. A snowman painting a snowman!

You can find the post with the tutorial right here at Hodge Podge Mom.

And don’t forget to study snowflakes with Snowflake Bentley! I have checked out the book about Snowflake Bentley from the library and will read it in the next few days.

If you want to buy it, you can get it at Amazon.

Oh yeah, and don’t forget to talk about how there are no two snowflakes that are just alike, and God has made each of us unique in the same way. It really is a wonderful thing to think about how special each of us is, and how much care and thought God puts into us as He creates us.

There are lots of winter lapbooks and resources here at Homeschool Share.

Carisa at 1+1+1=1 has lots of great winter activities here and here.

Enchanted Learning has some great study tools and crafts for learning more about snow here.

I hope you enjoy this winter unit study. Do what you want from it, or do everything! Especially if you live here in the South and haven’t had any real snow, your children can experience a little bit of the winter fun that the rest of the children in the country have had plenty of this year. At least in their imaginary play. Without getting all the hats, gloves and boots out and having all of the snow tracked in the house.

Can I tell you a little secret? I don’t miss the snow at all! I’m very happy to live here where it doesn’t get so frigid. But I still like the snowflakes and snowmen. They’re some of my favorite decorations for Christmas!

I do miss ice skating on our frozen pond in Ohio. Now that was fun!

Easy Valentine Craft

Jan.12,2014

Here’s a Valentine craft idea that has been extremely popular on my Pinterest account.

It has been pinned 420 times! None of my other pins have been pinned nearly that many times.

So I thought I would share it here, so that any of my homeschooling friends or friends who like to do crafts with their kids can see it and maybe be inspired to make simple but cute valentines with their little ones.

I got this from Blog Me Mom.

Another Christmas in Jeopardy

Dec.14,2013

Did I hear him right? Did this really just happen? Again?

We were just getting caught up from the 9 months of unemployment before he landed this job. We finally got to the place where I felt free to buy a few things besides absolute essentials. And maybe a few Christmas gifts for the kids.

Now he calls and tells me that the company let him go. Two weeks before Christmas.

I can’t believe this is happening.

But it’s not a joke. He wouldn’t joke about something like this.

Now instead of proceeding with plans of buying gifts for Christmas and health supplements that I’ve been putting off buying until our bills were paid off, I have a finite amount of money that I will have to be very careful with until we know where our next money will come from. And I was going to buy new clothes for the daughter who wears the same tattered skirt every day. I wanted her to look nice in the family picture I wanted to have taken. Oh well, who am I to make plans.

But I’m not depressed. I’m not discouraged. I’m a little thrown off, but I’m not worried. I’m actually happy and at peace. Why? Because I know that God has something better planned for us. And my husband is taking this well. He is not depressed or discouraged, either. He is not angry. He knows that God will take care of us. He knows that God has something really good in store for us – something better than the job he just lost.

This time is different. When he lost his first Texas job last November, he took to the computer and stayed on it for 9 months trying to make something happen. He got his second Texas job at the end of that 9 month period because of a contact that our son’s boss made for him. It didn’t come from any of the work he did on the computer.

So now he’s convinced that it’s all in God’s hands, and he can’t force anything to happen.

Twelve years ago, we gave our lives completely to God and made the commitment that we wouldn’t do anything unless He told us to.

And I prayed a dangerous prayer. I prayed for a Baptism of Fire. Neither of us wanted to live a mediocre life. Gary didn’t want to just go to a job every day and come home, eat, sleep and do the same thing the next day. We read in the Bible that signs and wonders are to follow those who believe.

We wanted to be able to move in the power and leading of the Holy Spirit. I just knew that the only way we could be made fit for such a life was to experience a Baptism of Fire. So I asked for that.

Twelve years later, I can tell you that I believe in the supernatural power of God in a way now that I only thought I believed back then. I have seen God do miracles for us that I would never have believed He would do for little ole me. He has revealed His great love for me personally in a way that has changed the way I see myself, Him and others.

He sustained us in our own house in Ohio for 4 years with no income. Then He allowed us to lose our house so that we had to move to an even higher level of faith and trust Him in a faraway place – Arizona – where we were strangers with little money and no income. Then He led us to a place of great spiritual warfare, IHOP-KC, and allowed us to camp there for a while (3 years) with a minimum of stability and supply.

Through all of this He gave us encouraging words, gifts of money and necessities through His people who heard His voice. At one point, as we were transitioning from abject poverty to a fairly comfortable lifestyle, He blessed us with $20,000 from a totally unexpected source – a couple at IHOP who seemed to be worse off financially than we were!

They were sowing for us to have our own home. But they said that they knew that things come up so they told us to feel at liberty to use it for whatever we needed it for. My kids needed dental work, so a good portion of that money went to that. Then we ended up moving from one house to another and then one state to another, and now that nest egg is all gone.

But we know that God has bigger things than that in store for us. He has given us big dreams.

So we are not downcast.

When Gary first called and told me he lost his job, I wrote the first entry in my new planner – “Gary lost his job today. It’s a new day”. So far that is all that’s written in my planner.

We’ve been through worse before. And God has been more than faithful. He has refined and purified our faith.

Why should we be downcast?

Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.

I have HOPE this Christmas. And JOY!

He is answering our prayers.

And I’ve prayed some doozies!

Have You Ever Seen Polish Pottery?

Dec.13,2013

My friends have a business called Dove’s Nest. They have many, many fine gifts and home decor in their Ebay store.

They have many pieces of Polish Pottery. They are so pretty. Lots of blue in them!

Here are just a few of them.

Here is what they say about the Polish Pottery on their website:

“BOLESLAWIEC Zaklady Polish Pottery: Ceramic. Most of this pottery is made from a potters wheel and hand painted. The workmanship that goes into this pottery is remarkable. Each piece is individually cared for by expert craftsman. This pottery is microwave safe, oven safe, and dishwasher safe. It is cadmium and lead free. We buy first quality.”

I know the pottery is authentic because they took a trip to Poland to get it! They went to Poland to visit Shari’s sister and brother-in-law who were missionaries there.

In their store, John and Shari also carry many items that would make perfect Christmas presents.

From their website:

“Welcome to Doves Nest Gifts & Home Accessories. A place where you can find that unique item for a birthday, wedding, anniversary, graduation or simply a special gift. We carry glassware, figurines, plaques, frames, pictures, Polish pottery, and many other items. We can also dress your house in style!”

John and Shari are friends of mine from college. We met at Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, and Shari and I became roommates the semester before she and John got married. We have stayed close all these years and have been through a lot together.

They are very dependable and trustworthy, and I know they would treat you right if you ordered anything from them.

They have 100% positive feedback on Ebay.

They are a homeschooling family with 3 children.

I know it would bless them immensely if some of you would shop their store and see if there are some gifts for that hard-to-buy-for person on your Christmas list.

They carry so many different items, you just have to go to their store page on Ebay and look around. I’m sure you will find something that you just have to have!

These are all high quality, fine products that you would be proud to give to anyone.

They also have fine ornaments for the Christmas tree and other Christmas decorations.

So, please, go check out Dove’s Nest on Ebay. And tell them Penney sent you!

A Day in the Life

Dec.12,2013

This is the life!

I’m just sitting here at my laptop soaking up information and knowledge, and I hear out of the corner of my ear, “Oh, I’m all tangled up in these beads. A little help here?!!!”

I look over and this is what I see.

Then later this evening, Abby and Emma find rubber gloves in the kitchen. They are instantly transformed into scientists doing experiments. I was making popcorn for them, so their first experiment (which they called experience) was to see what happens when you pop popcorn.

They were so surprised to see this.

We actually did have a little bit of learning happen. Abby learned how to put gloves on. She was preoccupied the whole time with trying to get her gloves to stay on her hands. I was getting impatient with her for paying so much attention to her floppy gloves while I was trying to take cute pictures of them. When I stopped to examine her gloves, I found that she had them on the wrong hands! We put them on the right hands, and then I instructed her how to put one finger in each hole. She was much happier after that.

Then she made an observation about how solid the butter looked before I put it in the microwave to melt it for their popcorn. So I capitalized on that and said that it wouldn’t look solid for long. Then I showed it to her after it melted and asked her what it looked like now, and she said it looked melted. I gave her the term “liquid”, and she said, “yes, it looks like a liquid”. So we talked about how butter is a solid when it is cold and a liquid when it is hot. Not bad for a totally unplanned Science lesson! And it all started with making popcorn and finding rubber gloves!