SSMT #20

This time around I went for a verse I learned as a child, and need to recommit to memory:

1 John 5:12 NIV
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Fun with Jessica

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
Matthew 16:25 NIV

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Yes, as you can see I can't update my text box again. Grrr! This time I'm not even bothering to send feedback to Google. I don't think they listen anyhow.

Yesterday Jessica was off for Columbus Day. We decided to have a craft day and wow, am I pleased with the results!

My mom had a shoebox of angels that she wanted made into a wreath, so that was the first craft completed. Jessica worked for my brother and SIL as a teen in their flower shop and honed her talent for arranging. Mom's wreath turned out great and Mom liked it too!

This summer as I started to think about Christmas decor, I decided I wanted a swag. Do you know how much they cost?! Even with a coupon, they are still pricey. A few days later my Current, Inc catalog arrived and guess what?! A swag for less than $10.00! And it was flocked and lighted with LED lights. I ordered it and began to think about how I wanted to finish it. 

I was in the garage this weekend looking for something and had to move the tub marked "Santas". That brought to mind the mini-santas Dan painted years ago. I've always loved them, but I've never found just the right way to display them. Well, now I have. Jess used them for my swag and I love the way it turned out.

Two of the ornaments in the center are Santa-related too. One says "HOHOHO" and the other says "Dear Santa" with an outline of Santa reading a letter. Isn't it pretty? And what a great way to display those mini-santas (FINALLY!)

The last craft was pinned from Pinterest. I've seen a variety of ways to do it on that site. Each one is cute. I knew I wanted to make an ornament shadowbox for this year, but that's as far as my thought process went. This August I was walking through Michael's when I saw a grey/silver colored shadowbox in the clearance bin. I bought it and started planning what kind of theme I wanted for the box. I knew I wanted to fill it with ornaments, but wasn't sure what color combo to use. 

Yesterday I decided to use traditional red, green, white for the box primarily. I also added some tiny snowmen to help fill in the spaces. I bought the words for $2 at Walmart. This craft I was able to do with Jessica! Even I can place ornaments in a shadowbox! It is gorgeous. Very shiny, very colorful. I love it!

The swag, the shadowbox, and the wreath we made this summer are going to be festive additions to my Christmas decor this year. Plus, I've got a totally new vignette in mind for decor... you will be amazed when you see it. It's totally outside of the way I normally decorate. I'll share it after Thanksgiving...

Thunder

Thunder and I have been having a terrific time the past few weeks at Grammy's Daycare. He is the sweetest boy. EVER. He plays very well by himself and when he's tired of himself, he comes and finds me to read books, or play trains, or color, or play with stickers, or just to cuddle for a while.

Last week we baked cookies. It was his first time to bake with me. Since he has a two-year-old's attention span, we took a shortcut and bought Halloween sugar cookie dough to bake with. When we gave the bag of cookies to  Mommy and Papi at the end of the day, he was quick to point out that HE baked the cookies! It was so cute.

Last Thursday he wore a skeleton shirt, he was just so cute in it, I had to get a picture. (JD & Janel, you'll recognize the bag he's holding!)

ready to go in the oven

showing off the bag

showing off the shirt

He's spent the past few days with his Papa and Abuela (Gabe's folks). Roberta emailed me photos of Thunder enjoying Japanese food and using chopsticks at lunch! 

Today's Verse

Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.
Isaiah 12:2

Today's Verse

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Today's Verse

When times are good, be happy;

    but when times are bad, consider this:

God has made the one

    as well as the other.

Therefore, no one can discover

    anything about their future.

Ecclesiastes 7:14 NIV

Today's Verse

Bummer! It was fixed for a couple of days and now it's down again. At least this time I'm not going to remove the gadget from my blog page! Here's today's verse:

For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7 NIV