Favorite Invention Friday!!!

My mom provided the suggestion for this week's celebrated invention. Over a year ago, she was laughing at me upon realizing that I had grown accustomed to calling this contraption a "chip clip" because that is its primary function in our home. She even gave me 40 of them on my ... 29th birthday :) . When did I transition from "clothespin" to "chip clip"? No idea...but it happened. Now, we do use it as a clothespin when we are camping. Something has to keep those wet towels and swimsuits from hitting the ground. My husband has used them to secure lights to the awning on the camper. So, maybe my summer uses will lead me back to the original nomenclature...or maybe not (they are still used as chip clips when we camp).

Do you have any unusual uses for the humble "clothes pin"..."chip clip"..."bomb diffuser" (I bet it was used for this purpose on more than one "MacGyver" episode)?

Kid Art

In a wonderful class for homeschoolers, taught at the local art institute, my now 9-year-old was inspired to make this portrait of her cousin, Abby. This piece won the Grand Champion award in the People category for her age group at our homeschool group's art fair.

Created Spring 2009 with various papers and paint.

Life is Great...

...because I can listen to my 11-year-old sing LOUDLY with this song and then discuss its meaning. LOVE this song!! Gives me instant goose bumples.

Imagination

I love to watch a child's imagination in motion!! And it can come out in quiet, pretend play with toys...or loud, rowdy play out on the trampoline. Perhaps it has been spilled on to a piece of paper and can now be called art. However it shows up, I am always surprised by what they come up with. It reminds me that playing and pretending are fun and limitless.

My second daughter is always exercising her imagination. Her history includes cutting shapes out of paper which look meaningless or abstract to anyone else. But she colors them and they become characters in her mental plays. She can sit quietly at the table playing with pens or plastic spoons...each one taking on a personality and acting out some adventure created in her mind. One day, I turn the corner from the hallway and find her in this position.

"Rachael, what's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"What are you doing?"
"Pretending to be a starfish."

Obviously.

Life is Great...

....because I have the privilege and pleasure of listening to my kids' prayers.

Favorite Invention Friday!!!

I have been in love with the SnapCapp from the moment they joined our family. We received them as a gift at Christmas from my sis...I mean...Santa. We each had our own color to clearly mark our beverage. It was now possible to save the cans the kids opened and didn't finish. I could throw my can of Diet Coke into my purse with the contents suffering no soakage! It helps keep carbonation...and it will keep any rogue insects out. Why didn't I think of this?!

Now, they are not perfect. They can not be washed in the dishwasher. If the lid is not on tight and the can is knocked over onto the floor at the basketball game, there will be fizzing and beverage loss..I've heard ;) . If you put it on before you open the can....good luck. You do have to mangle the can a little to get it off (Michiganders must be careful not to mangle the UPC code read by bottle return machines...if the dime is important to you). And if the can is full and still closed, well...as I said...good luck. With all that said, though, I have to admit that the good outweighs the bad. I love our SnapCapps!!

So, where do you find this little treasure? Is it strictly bounty from the North Pole? Just do a search for "SnapCapp" and you will find sites you can order them from online...or just keep your eyes open at convenience stores, gift stores and gas stations.

Shift Out of Reverse

The hardest person to forgive is often yourself.

From "Morning Jam Sessions" by Betty Malz...

There is no reverse gear in the the Christian race. The saddest words of tongue or pen are these What might have been. Stop punishing yourself. Even in a court of law, a man can be punished only once for the same crime, while we keep looking in the rear-view mirror of our lives. If you keep looking back, you will run into something and cause a wreck. Godly sorrow worketh repentance, but only one application is necessary for the cure. Get out of reverse. Your are "accepted in the Beloved" (Ephesians 1:6). Paul said, "I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me."

Don't let others remind you of your past, either. Tell them, "I distinctly remember forgetting all that!" And then sing to yourself this song of declaration: I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back!