Craft Time – Ascension of the Lord

Today is the 40th day of Easter (which is a 50 day season), and marks the end of the 40 days that Jesus spent on Earth after His resurrection.  This is the day He ascended into heaven! 
This morning M and I read the Bible story about the ascension and then did a quick craft to make it more memorable.  The craft was inspired by this post at Catholic Icing – I just changed it up a little bit.

Supplies:

 Look at the supplies, not the messy art table!

Paper or styrofoam cup, yarn, needle, hole punch, markers, cotton balls, glue, cardstock sun shape, and a small picture of Jesus.  You could use a magazine cutting of Jesus glued to cardstock or find a picture online.  We shrunk a coloring book picture on our scanner and printed it out on cardstock.  You want your Jesus picture to be small enough to “hide” inside the cup.
Steps:
1. Color your cup blue, and color your sun and picture of Jesus.
2. Glue cotton balls around the top and bottom of your cup. 
3. Punch a hole at the top and bottom of your sun, and a hole above Jesus’ head (we glued on an extra strip of cardstock to the back of Jesus so there was room for a hole above his head).
4. Thread your yarn through the holes in the sun, down through the bottom of the cup (we used an embroidery needle to thread the yarn through the cup), and through the hole above Jesus’ head.   
5. Tie a loop above the sun, large enough to hand on a door knob, if you wish.
6. Tie a knot where the yarn goes through the cup, so it rests on the outside of the cup.
7. Tie a knot through the hole above Jesus.
There you go!  You can pull the sun to make Jesus “rise” into the sky and be hidden behind the clouds:
 
Cute, simple, and fun to play with! :)

Have a beautiful day! :)

Growing a Garden of Gratitude

 

My friend Kim has been writing lists of things for which she is grateful, and I always feel inspired by her posts.  I find my attitude changing… no longer focused on the micro, but on the macro… regardless of how a day is going or how tired or frustrated or discouraged I feel, I know that I am grateful for this life and the many, many blessings I’ve been given. Thank you, Kim for your beautiful posts! ;)

I’m hoping to keep this list going, and plan on posting it a couple of times a month.

I am grateful for…

1. Lilacs blooming
2. Bleeding Hearts blooming
3. Virginia Bluebells blooming
4. Lilies of the Valley blooming (and smelling delicious)
5. A happy boy with dirty face and hands (the dirtier, the happier, it seems).
6. Being able to stay home and spend my days with my favorite little person in the world.
7. My husband’s job, and his hard work there.
8. My little home.
9. Good friends that go check on our house, unasked, after a tornado, when we are out of town (such good friends).
10. That my son has a tender heart, and feels ok crying over a favorite tree coming down in said tornado.
11. That the tree landed on our doorstep, and not on our house!
12. My steam mop.
13. Supportive girlfriends.
14. Supportive bloggy-friends.
15. My sister’s fiance, a really wonderful guy (who was homeschooled, I might add ;) ).
16. People who listen without judging.
17. Toys lying around outside, making our lawn look messy colorful.
18. Back rubs.
19. Cupboard doors and walls full of colorful artwork.
20. Coffee on quiet mornings.
21. Dandelion bouquets and the kisses and love that come with them.
22. Our wonderful neighbors.
23. Spring breezes and open windows.
24. Plenty of food in the fridge and pantry.
25. Michael’s coupons. ;)

 

Here are a couple of photos of the fallen tree, in case anyone is interested in seeing just how tall this baby was.

Bottom half of tree

Top half of tree

This was the same tornado that went through North Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon.  It kept going north and went through our little suburb.  Homes a mere 400 yards away were damaged pretty badly.  We were fortunate that only one tree came down, and our home was undamaged.  We had shingles and insulation in our yard (along with lots of debris from trees) that came from who knows where.  My heart goes out to all the people in Joplin, MO (a town I’m familiar with) and the other areas that have been so devastated, and our prayers are with them.