"For the Least of These"

Every year I am encouraged and renewed during the Mission's Conference. This year we were blessed to have Tom Mahairas and his wife Vicky, come in to share with us and challenge us through God's Word. Our theme this year was; "For the Least of These"

How appropriate to have Tom and his wife Vicky challenge us this wknd, they were saved through the ministry of Word of Life, they were "the Least of These" (please take a few moments to read his testimony,http://www.citivision.org/contact/tombio.htm) Tom got caught up in the "Hippie Movement" which included drugs, years went by and Tom escaped to the small town of Lake George where a BI team was out on Open Air sharing the Gospel, a young man shared his Faith with Tom and he was saved!!how exciting to see the evident work of the Lord through their lives as he shared their testimonies and the opportunities they have had to share their faith with others.

They are the founders of CitiVision http://www.citivision.org/home/

and Manhattan Bible Church in New York City, and other ministries in prison's, schools, and cities around the world!! Their passion is the City! The sole purpose of their ministry is to share the Gospel, equip and train new believer's to then go out share their faith in their own cities. Many students, staff members, church members and visitors were challenged to dedicate their lives to the Lord!! How exciting!! Here are the videos of the Conference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvEXxCBUDFM and http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wolh-missions-conference

Every Mission's Conference we are challenged also with a Faith Promise. You commit to give a monetary amount through the year having Faith that God will provide the amount you committed. I love to hear the stories throughout the year of God's provision! This year our Faith Promise will go to the David and Felicia Lee who work with Street Children in Romania. Here is a brief video of their ministry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7FQCKJzldI&feature=player_embedded

The goal this year was 1,600,000ft or $8,000 USD. after ALL the pledges were counted and Recounted the committed amount that came in was $17,980 USD!!!! OVER 200% of our original goal!!!!!

Please pray for Andy and I to remain faithful to the work the Lord has for us here in Hungary, and please pray that God will provide the amount we committed to for Faith Promise.

Thank you for your Faithful Prayers!!

Encouragement when my kids are done

For all of you parents and mostly mom's out there in ministry there are certain times a year when we are bombarded with meetings, conferences, activities, planning sessions etc etc. January seems to be my month. Calendars are pulled out and planning meetings happen just about daily as we prepare for spring conferences, baby showers, bridal showers, student and interns activities, work teams from other countries, Mission Reality, Graduation, and school events. Well, these past 2 weeks have been nuts and when they are nuts for us I can only imagine how are kids see us.

Most days, I change out of my pj's into my "lounge outfit" which is really just another glorified way of saying pajamas acceptable for company to see. Yes, I had the director's wife and the assistant director's wives over yesterday morning for a planning meeting and yes, I was in my "pajamas-acceptable-for-guests-to-see" oops. But back to my kids...this past wknd we had Mission's Conference. My husband is the Conference coordinator which really means we don't see Daddy for about 2 wks leading up to conference.

So anyways...this past wknd we had meetings Fri morning/ night, Sat morn/night and Sunday morn/night, plus all the meals, setting up, tearing down, baking, childcare preparations and to much else to mention. I feel that these conferences are made as family-friendly as possible and for that I am grateful, but man, it takes a major toll on my children and the peace within our family. We are greatly encouraged after these conferences and also exhausted, mentally, physically and spiritually. We are being encouraged but also tested more often than usual.

Eden and Novie all wknd were dreams, Eden hit her melting point Sunday morning about 5min. before the meeting started. She started to whine, than tear up, became irrational in her requests and quite hard to handle. When this happens I know my wknd is over and it's time to drop the conference, ministry and focus on my kids. I have a hard time with this! I crave encouragement and when this happens I feel that the encouragement I have gained and the refreshing way I feel after these meetings just went down the drain... and the cycle starts again. Mom's how do we deal with this?? I don't like feeling left out, drained of encouragement and once again having a "woe is me" attitude about being with my two favorite people!

First, have a plan! Know when these feelings come, how to recognize them and prepare yourself to take them immediately to the Lord. For me its when these conferences come, I know I will have a "love/hate" relationship for them and I prepare myself ahead of time to have a good attitude and be quiet. NO, I am not always successful. This past wknd a few things happened and I stood there quiet while my ENTIRE being was screaming to voice my opinion and exactly how I felt. Most come when I feel the need to protect my husband :) and then there were a few moments when I voiced my non-needed opinions. I don't always submit to the Lord.

Within this plan have A VERSE! One you can rely on when your attitude of discontentment or Woe is me is upon you. Mine is Joshua 1:7-8, and when I am quoting it most of the time I paraphrase it for me :) "Be strong, be courageous, and careful to obey all instructions...do not turn to the left or right but focus straight ahead and you will be successful in all things...this book of the law will not depart from your mouth, but meditate day and night that you may observe to do all that is written in it, only then will I have prosper and have good success." Please look it up for the exact words.

I am going to share a secret, sometimes when I hear something that I have a hard time agreeing to or listening to, I will be shaking my head in agreement while quoting this verse, and if I'm quiet during the conversation, I am probably running this verse through my head and trust me it's for your benefit :)

Ok, second- find a friend and share these struggles with them so they can keep you accountable to them and pray for you as well! Find yourself a Paul for wisdom and a Timothy to encourage. I am still waiting for my "Paul" have not found one yet on this side of the ocean, but I have as friend I share my struggles with and the Lord knows my heart and exactly what I need and I know one day he will bless me with a discipler.

Third, and the most important, pray your sorrows and bad attitude away! I think so often when we pray we are not specific, man, when I'm sharing things with friends I share every last little detail, if I had a way to control smells, and temperature that would really help some of my stories out on even more insignificant details! :) I share everything, so why not with the Lord?. Try talking to Lord as if you would a friend, share every detail, every minor one and see what happens, most of the time I find it's not that big of a deal, that person really is not that annoying or rude and my situation is not as terrible as i thought. The Lord puts our attitudes into perspective and gives us other things to focus our energy on.

Lastly, remain faithful, we often wonder why we are stuck struggling with the same things, and people, maybe its because the Lord is still teaching us things we have not yet learned, maybe he wants us to just remain faithful where we are to be consistent and an encouragement to those around us. It's our job and responsibility to remain faithful where we are and if we keep struggling with the same things maybe we need to reflect on our hearts and what needs to change.

All of this to say, I think I needed to hear this and have this written someplace for me to focus on and remind myself of often. My girls are the most important to me and I can put my "needs" on the back burner to focus on them and be available to teach and disciple them. In these toddler years I am here to be consistent in discipline to bring outward obedience to the Lord, to teach them God's word and the importance of obeying and serving to please Him not me, to teach them that love requires obedience and that means Mommy obeying the Lord as well as them and of course here to love, squeeze and kiss them as much as possible. Sometimes they just need to sit on our laps and be hugged, kissed and for mommy to sing a song. That's all Eden needed Sunday morning, that and a good long nap ;)

I want to be a blessing

As you know one of my New Year's "Resolution's" is to sew more clothing for my girls, hopefully one item each per month as the need arises. So as I sort through the outgrown clothes this week, I am deeply blessed with memories of all the friends and family who have provided for us all these years. I can name all the kid's and families who have handed down their clothing to Eden and Novie all the individuals who have bought us clothes, shoes, made hair bows, blankets, dresses, pillows, matching outfits and winter snowsuits. I pray that as I sew these clothes for my girls that in the years to come I will no hoard them away for the sake of memories but will hand them also to other young girls to play and make their own memories in. I was often blessed to tears as women handed me their newborn baby items, toddler dresses, toys, blankets and bedding. I was always surprised what "troopers" they were to hand-me-down their children's items to bless another young missionary mommy. I remember when we were leaving for Hungary and I sold our 2 cribs..I cried. I also cried as we packed up about 10 plastic trash bags of toys, clothes, bedding, baby items, bottles, diaper bags etc etc and gave them away to another young family. It was hard having to say "bye" so fast to the baby stage. But as I sew clothing, take measurements, let the girls pick their own fabric and embellishments, watch the sheer joy on their faces when they see the completed item that they help pick out,I think it may be even harder for me to pass it on, but I am determined I will not get "weepy-eyed" (ok, maybe I will) but I will start passing on my hand-made items to other little girls, and be a blessing to younger mommy's like others did for me.

So, with all that said here are some more tunic like shirts that are extremely versatile. I think you will be seeing this style alot but in many slightly altered variations. I wonder you will get them next...

http://theadventuresofroryandjess.blogspot.com/search/label/the%20sadie%20shirt

Only a Mommy Understands

So I thought it would be funny to record everything that happens maybe even down to the minute of what the few hours of each morning are like for me. My girls wake up between 6:30-7:30am each morning, Novie leaves for school at 7:30am and Eden takes a nap by 1pm. So today was 6:50am when all this began:

Not even sure how to begin so I'll dive right in,

Mommy, mommy, MOMMY! I have to pee I need a chocolate milk, can I lay on the princess couch, can I have a chocolate milk, may I watch a show, can I pick a movie, mommy can you turn on the light I cannot see, Mommy Eden is on the princess couch first but I want to lay on the princess couch, I don't like this blanket can I have the blue blanket, no not this one the fuzzy blue one that I always like? Mommy can I wear the pink shirt with the stripes, yes that one thanks, mommy can I have a snack, no not a cereal or banana or apple a snack, like a cookie or something. Why do I need my hair in a ponytail, Kati Neni says she like mine hair, can I get it cut can you braid it for two? Mommy, my tummy hurts, but I don't want to sit on my bed, I don't like medicine, can the cat come inside she hungry, can I help feed her and get her water? can I do the eggs and the seeds in the pepper? can I help can I do it? no by myself not with the spoon with a knife? can I open the oven can I crack the eggs? I can do the trash. no you sit here i sit there no you can't help, get down, Mommy she's on me. (7:25am)

Mommy hugs, kiss daddy bye and give him hugs, can you show me out the window? bye Novie Daddy, can Pocahontas come in and play? can I have a snack, can we play doctor? you lay on the floor and I put the band aid on you can we turn n the music? can we listen to Boz? can I have snack? can we paint? with the water and I wear the thing?(it's now 7:45am)

Mommy can you come here and play doctor?lay on the floor and listen to my heart. can we listen to that song again? can I go pee pee on the potty, can I be naked? can I have a snack?can I have chocolate milk, mo can I have plain milk? can we play Ferris wheel? can I have a yogurt, mommy I spilled the yogurt, it's on my shirt, and the table and the floor and somehow on the cat. I wipe off the yogurt, temper tantrum, time out, crying, more crying longer time out. Mommy can I have more yogurt? (like I would start that again) mommy hold my hand I show you. can I pick a show? mommy can we color with the markers? no stickers, later, how about paint? no remember paint is in time out because you were not painting on the paper? can I color with markers? Eden. how about crayons? OK. can I have stickers...(consistency is key put it kills me sometimes) 2min later. mommy can we do puzzles not the toy store one but the big boz one? can you help me? can we do it again? can Pocahontas come back in? now can I watch a show? can we play outside can we play Doctor?it's now 8:15am.

Yes, we have played doctor twice, listened to music watched Dora (or Dora was on) did puzzles, colored with crayons, had cucumbers, carrots, yogurt and a banana for breakfast! washed a cat, cleaned the living room, listened to music, chased a naked 2 year old, changed clothes twice, started laundry, unloaded the dishwasher made a egg casserole, updated my blog, wrote a few e-mails, did my quiet time, Hungarian homework, and got two girls ready, dressed and fed. Sent one off to school said bye to daddy, made beds, took a few pictures of recent sewing projects, uploaded, downloaded and added to blog, sewed a hole in a shirt, made beds, cleaned up breakfast dishes all before 9am, and yet I feel I am behind for the day.

Thought I would try this until lunchtime, but it's wearing me out just typing and reliving a normal morning for me. mommy of 2 year olds are your mornings the same?? Do you play every possible game, puzzle, craft, and activity known to man in the first 2 hours they wake up? I just want to go to the bathroom is that too much to ask... Here's to holding it for hours some mornings ;) as least I got my contacts in. Let me hear a whoot-whoot if you understand!

A little something for me

I do not like making myself clothes and that's that. It takes less than a yard to make Novie AND Eden something, but OVER a yard to make myself something and seeing the massive inches of fabric it takes to wrap around myself is ridiculous. But I want to try and also make myself clothes and hopefully help out our budget.

I've needed a black skirt now for about 2 years :) Yep...how have I been managing so long without one, well, its ONLY because I have not found one that I LOVE. So...here it is, a skirt for me. A black one with pockets (a fetish of mine) gotta have pockets on everything :) I think its cute not sure though if I'll be brave enough to wear it past the front door into the real world.

I shirred the top about 10 rows I think??

Big deep pockets!

Ruffle Dresses

I got these two little sand colored shirts for $2 each (400ft.) at Auchan which is kinda like a Walmart?.. I knew they would have ruffles I just wasn't sure what kind, how many, what style shape or where to put them. I bought the shirts 2 sizes bigger to give myself a few months to find the perfect tutorial. The girls told me they like to be the same (match). Most of the time I have them pick out the material they would like their particular shirt, dress or skirt to made from. It's always fun to see what their imaginations reach for and pick. This time they wanted the same. So matchy-mathy it is! These took a little over an hour to make both of them. I went for the assembly line technique when making two identical items and it peels so much time off a project! Cutting a project out is what takes the most time!! sheesh. So here you have it the little ruffled-tunic dress.

Eden my little crazy girl

Daddy got Wii Mario Brother's for Christmas and the girls are addicted!

Jan 14th 50 degrees here in Hungary, wonderful!

Novie informed me her green shoes went best with this outfit

and I kinda agree ;)

Matching sisters

http://tearosehome.blogspot.com/2010/02/tutorialtunic-dress-for-little-girl.html

Quiet Time Muffins

When I made the prep time was faster than I thought, perfect consistency, and as I started laundry and smelled them cooking I wanted to bottle of the scent and burn it later as a candle!

Here they are:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees/180C

In a large bowl whisk together 2 cups of flour,1 1/4 c. sugar, 3/4 t. baking soda, 1/2 t. salt, 11/2 t. baking powder and 11/2 t. ground cinnamon.

In a seperate bowl mix together 3 lrg. eggs, 3/4 c. canola/corn oil, 1t. vanilla.

Add to the wet ingredients:

1 cup of cocunut

1 peeled Lrg. apple

3 peeled carrots

Stir just until ingredients are moistened.

Divide batter into 18-24 muffin cups.

Bake for 20-25min.

Grab a cup of coffee, your Bible and 2 of these delicious muffins ;) Happy Quiet Time Muffins!

Kindle Kover

So..my Kindle has been "naked" for 2 years!! It has a black case to keep it from scratches and getting damaged when I drop it, and yes, I have done that on several one-to-many occasions. But FINALLY after a few failed attempts My Kindle now has a cute cover. A few minor mistakes..hopefully I can tactfully keep them hidden :)

now I need to work on making a reading stand to prop it up on my lap when I'm reading in bed...

Solutions for your Tangled Necklaces

IKEA has some plain wooden mirrors that are perfect for so many projects. I covered them with some thick upholstery fabric, bought some heavy-duty double hooks, screwed them on the wooden mirrors and voila! the perfect solution for those big piles of tangled necklaces and bracelets. It gave my side of the room a face lift. It cost me about $12. Alot cheaper than a jewelry box. Thanks for hanging them up Andy!!

Peasant Blouse Tunics

I always see free tutorials for Peasant shirts. This is one of my favorites...

http://indietutes.blogspot.com/2007/07/peasant-blouse.html

At least for my girls the sizes are not accurate and I have changed a few things to adapt it to my taste and these particular ones are long-sleeved. The girls wore these last night for New Year's with some long johns underneath. They each picked the animal for the front. I was pretty surprised when Eden picked the pink bird and Novie picked the lion. Completely opposite their personalities! Exciting to see them branching out into each other's worlds ;)

New Year "Resolutions"

New Year "Resolutions". How many blogs will have this as their FIRST post of the new year..would be an interesting statistic 99%?I have a hard time not laughing sometimes when people bring up this subject and talk about their resolutions. No, I'm not laughing at my friends pursay but the enormous task and pressure they are putting on themselves to be faithful to this vow they are verbally making, and of course I am slightly jealous at their courageous goals. I always feel like it would be dumb and pointless to make a vow and goal that takes a WHOLE year to accomplish. I cannot imagine failing...and that would probably happen before February 1st. As I sat down last night watching the final minutes of 2010 tick away. I reflected on this past year. I starting thinking..how have I grown, have a changed for the better, was I encouraging, helpful, thoughtful??? How did I respond, speak, react?? was it better than 2009? I truthfully had a hard time answering some of those. Sad, but true.

So, I am not going to make a resolution for my whole year, too overwhelming for me. I will make my goals by the month. Sometimes I may share with you, sometimes it will be for Andy's ears only. Overall this year I want to be more healthy, consistent with Novie, Eden, exercise and "me time", I want to follow through and finish tasks well. I want to spend QUALITY time with Christ not so much the quantity. I want to have a more real prayer life, specific expecting them to be answered not just hoping.

January 1st is an exciting day for me. It's wiping the GIANT slate clean, a time to refocus, reflect, change old habits and try something new! Take some time today to make a "resolution" even if only you and God know about it.

So, for the month of January: Be aggressive calling, writing, e-mailing and talking about our needed support. Do not stop until our $100 goal is met.

-30 support thank-you cards written personally

-all Christmas thank-yous written

That's all I'm sharing ;)

Yo-yo shirts

Yo-yo's are such an adorable embellishment to a plain shirt. I loved the color of this polka dot shirt but when Novie wore it, it was screaming to be embellished with something. It's a nice way to use some of that big pile of scraps.