Inspirational Wednesday: Idols July 31, 2013

^“13And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” ~Jeremiah 29:13 KJV

(Father God speaking directly to the Israelites and indirectly to all His children)

^“37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”

~Matthew 23: 37 KJV (Jesus speaking to the Jews)

^“20 Neither for these alone do I pray +[it is not for their sake only that I make this request+], but also for all those who will ever come to believe in (trust in, cling to, rely on) Me through their word {and} teaching,

²¹ That they all may be one, +[just+] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe {and} be convinced that You have sent Me.”  ~John 17:20-21 Amplified (Jesus’ prayer for his disciples)

• Through out time God has reached out to those who seek Him. God loves us and wants us to love Him. Sadly, like Eve turning to the forbidden fruit, we choose to turn to idols to satisfy us.  We believe Satan’s lie that God is not enough and that he’s holding out on us. Sure we may profess faithfulness but because we still live in a fallen world and dwell in curse ridden flesh we often play the harlot. Paul described it this way:

^“22 For I endorse {and} delight in the Law of God in my inmost self +[with my new nature+].

²³ But I discern in my bodily members +[in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh+] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs +[in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh+].

²⁴ O unhappy {and} pitiable {and} wretched man that I am! Who will release {and} deliver me from +[the shackles of+] this body of death?

²⁵ O thank God! +[He will!+] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind {and} heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”  Romans 7:23-25 Amplified (emphasis mine)

• If you’re new to the faith then you’re probably wondering what playing the harlot means etc. Spiritually we are one with the Lord when we become God’s children. The Bible uses the relationship of a husband and wife to describe the closeness we now have with Jesus (God) and that barely scratches the service of what we have. The Holy Spirit comes to live in us.  When we seek idols it’s like playing the harlot and committing adultery. I’m not talking about idols like statues though that can happen too. These days idols take other forms.
• Here’s a good quote by Richard Keyes in Kelly Minter’s devotional “No Other Gods”

“An idol is something within creation that is inflated to function as a substitute for God. All sorts of things are potential idols, depending only on our attitudes and actions towards them…Idolatry may not involve explicit denials of God’s existence or character. It may well come in the form of an over-attachment to something that is, in itself,  perfectly good…An idol can be a physcial object, a property, a person, an activity, a role, an institution, a hope, an image, an idea, a pleasure, a hero–anything that can substitute for God.”

• A couple more quotes from the same devotional and this time in Kelly Minter’s words.

“…a professed god is who or what we say our god is; a functional god is who or what actually operates as our god.”

“Whatever we fear is our god. Fear itself is not the god; the object of our fear is the god.”

• This was interesting. When God led the Israelites out of Egypt they were blessed with the riches of Egypt. The Israelites later turned around and used that same gold to make an idol.

“The Israelites turned God’s gifts into gods.” ~Kelly Minter

• How often do we do this too? God blesses us with a job or a house and we begin to worship it instead. It can even be family or a talent. But if tragedy happens and that thing gets taken away we get mad at God. Here’s a great video that shows when we worship God’s gifts instead of God.

Email subscribers please come to my blog to see this video and the one at the beginning of this post ;).

•         I really like the lyrics of the music video at the beginning. You can scroll down and read them at the bottom of this post. I hope you were able to listen to the song by Tenth Avenue North. It talks about how we look for love as if God isn’t enough. It talks about how we run to other things when God is right there with arms open. He wants us to come to Him to meet our needs. We were created by God to have relationship with Him…to be completely fulfilled in Him.  Sadly, the fall back with Adam and Eve messed us up.

Like I said in the beginning, we run to idols and so many times we don’t understand why we keep distancing ourselves from Jesus. He never leaves us but we can tune the Spirit out to the point that we are numb. When we grieve the Spirit that way we can’t hear God’s voice clearly and often our prayers go unanswered. Think about it. If you were ignored by someone and pushed away would you just take it? God is so much greater than us and He is full of mercy. He will go as far as it takes to bring His own back when we stray. His love and mercy cover us no matter what but the blessing of intimacy with God requires that we seek Him.  When He calls us back we must go to Him.  Sometimes people stray and sin away their testimony until God takes them out physically. I’ve seen it happen and it’s sad.

• My Dad often said “God always brings back His own, either on their knees or in a box.” That’s not Bible but the truth of the statement is supported Biblically.  I would much rather come back on my knees.
• When I was a young believer, I prayed that God would do whatever it took to keep me close to Him. That is one prayer that I know He said yes to and I’ve seen it answered time and time again. Often hardship has brought me back when I stray. There’s this desperation when I stray to a certain point. It’s like a thirsty man in a desert. Every time I get to that point I know why….I’ve neglected the Lord. My need for Him is so apparent. Depression sets in so quick.  The only salvation for my soul (my emotions not my Spirit) is to spend time with Jesus. Then the peace comes.

There’s so much I want to say and other Bible verses/stories to go into but this is getting long. So I’m going to split this up into a series.  Below are the lyrics from the song for you to look at. I can’t guarantee that I’ll post on this every week but it is in the process ;).

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

By Your Side

By Tenth Avenue North

Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don’t turn away

Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching
As if I’m not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run

‘Cause I’ll be by your side wherever you fall
In the dead of night whenever you call
And please don’t fight these hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Look at these hands at my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world’s sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life

And I’ll be by your side wherever you fall
In the dead of night whenever you call
And please don’t fight these hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Here at my side wherever you fall
In the dead of night whenever you call
And please don’t fight these hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

‘Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, yeah I’ll love you
I’ll never let you go, no, no

And I’ll be by your side wherever you fall
In the dead of night whenever you call
And please don’t fight these hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you

Here at my side wherever you fall
In the dead of night whenever you call
And please don’t fight these hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Here at my side, my hands are holding you
Ohhh…
Lyrics from <a href=”http://www.elyrics.net”>eLyrics.net</a&gt;

Crafty Monday: Disney Countdown~Cinderella, Snow White, & Sleeping Beauty July 29, 2013

In this post:  Fun, food, and crafts with the Disney princesses. A very masculine princess week with dragons and eats fit for a charming prince or valiant knight. This is # 8 on our Disney countdown. 

Hello dear ones! I hope you are well. Thank you for the sweet comments. They mean a lot to me. I’ve been trying to visit your blogs as often as I can. I’ve gotten to know some of my readers a bit better and it’s so nice to connect personalities to your smiling faces. I can’t promise that I’ll always get to visit every single blog but I do know you’re there and I appreciate you so much.

• Well, the Disney princess week for my lil man came and went. It was super simple. Dragons aka dinosaurs go perfect with fairy tales and they happen to be very masculine. Michael is very good at pointing out things that are too girly. I asked him to trust me. After all, there’s always a valiant prince that saves the day. My son would rather be the emperor of evil (from Despicable Me?). But I did my best to convince him that being a prince is very cool.

Here is # 7 on the count down: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/crafty-monday-disney-countdown-toy-story-tangled-cars/

We were all recovering from some nasty sunburn so the week was rather lazy and laid back. There were things we just didn’t get to (like our writing assignment “If I met a dragon”) but it’s all gravy. The set wasn’t hard at all. I just put up Michael’s wooden castle and my Disney dolls that I got as a kid. It just so happens that I have Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty. These three ladies are so similar that they had to have their own week.

• We began with Cinderella and watched 1 and then the 3rd movie the next day.

Cinderella is a very girly movie. The prince doesn’t even have a name in the first one and his screen time is limited. The mice have better roles than him.  So we focused on pumpkins. Though we could have easily went with mice and thrown in some role play.

Michael painted a pumpkin carriage.

We had big dinners some of the week, pot roast and such. I had thought of having an early Thanksgiving meal proportioned for us….but it didn’t happen. We did however have pumpkin pie.

And let me tell you it was out of a box and still good. Thank you Marie Callender. 😉

For lunch we had mac n cheese using wagon wheels pasta. This went with the carriage theme nicely.

Michael loves mac n cheese and this was made with real cheese not the powder. Now it’s “carriage wheel” pasta :).

I told Michael that there are many Cinderella stories in different cultures. I have several Cinderella-esque chic flicks. My favorite is “Ever After“. I got Michael to watch it with me by telling him that it has Leonardo Davinci (a real person) in it and that Cinderella punches her step sister in the face. Okay not perfect parenting I admit. I guess I’d have more grace for the step sister if she were real and not a fairy tale character. But I’ll be honest…I enjoy that scene a lot.

• Midweek we watched Snow White. I know I say this often but she is one of my favorite princesses. I actually do have princesses that I don’t like.  Snow White gets picked on too much. I think she’s sweet and she’s the only Disney princess that prays (to God, not a star).

I had originally planned to make these treasure rocks for Michael to “mine” but it didn’t happen:

http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2013/01/magic-treasure-rocks.html

We did however have mini apple pies in the spirit of the Evil Queen’s poisoned apple. You can see it above. They were pretty dang delicious. I could have eaten them all if I was that selfish…actually if the Lord hadn’t convicted me of wanting to eat them all!

Recipe here: http://www.littlebitfunky.com/2011/10/what-i-made-for-monday.html

I don’t remember when we read this but we were in the fairy tale mood so we read The Snow Queen.

Not much happened with Snow White. I don’t remember if I showed you this but I did a neat picture with Snow White and Prince Charming. I simply painted a canvas pink and blue. Then I pasted silhouettes I had printed from online. I  hot glued the wooden craft mirror and modge podged everything. The graininess is just from the shine of the flash.

• Last, came Sleeping Beauty. She’s not a very popular princess either. I’m not sure why.

This was the movie we were waiting for because it has a dragon. So we could do our dinosaur theme! Yaaaa :). A dragon/dino attacked the princesses’ castle. Michael was probably thinking “Finally some fun!”

Sleeping Beauty of course is asleep. Hopefully she won’t get eaten. More dragons showed up later via Michael. 🙂 See I told you this wouldn’t be a girly princess week.

This was another easy peasy thing to throw together. The Dollar Tree (which should pay me for all the advertising I do for them lol) has so many neat dinosaur toys. We have a cool dino hat, glow in the dark dino skeletons that you put together, and of course the inflatable dinosaur. I also got Michael a dino figurine.

I left a note with breakfast that asked Michael if he was going to be a prince or a dragon. He decided to be king of the dragons.

We read this neat book called “You’ve Got Dragons” which I think must’ve been written by a psychologist. Ha! The “dragons” seemed to represent problems (sins, fears, short comings, trials etc). Michael and I talked about the possibilities. But the point is…everyone has dragons even if you pretend you don’t have them.

This was the only easy skeleton. Michael put it together and was thrilled that it glowed. The other fossils were tricky.

We’ve yet to put the other fossil set together. There are way too many pieces and the directions are vague. However, Michael did get to play paleontologist.  I hid the dozens of fossil parts in his moon sand box. Then I gave him a brush and some tweezers to excavate the area for fossils.

It was so cute. He thought he was the greatest paleontologist ever and he kept saying “This is hard work”.

For dessert we had fossil pudding.  I adapted a recipe I saw online. I crushed up oreos and sprinkled some on bottom and on top. I layered vanilla and chocolate pudding and put plastic dinosaurs between the layers.

I didn’t decorate much this week and completely forgot about the dino cut outs I had from the Dollar Tree. So I set them out with our treat and they were nice to look at for a bit. Ha!

• And here are some random pictures from our week and weekend.

Remember we got sun burnt? Well, it happened at a man made beach we like to visit. It’s a big lake. Michael and I wore sunscreen but it didn’t help much at all. Still despite a painful week, we did have a good day the Saturday before. The pic is too small but you can click on it to enlarge. You can also see our trip to the Butterfly center nearby. Chris and Michael are holding butterflies. Also we have Michael and I playing in the water but it looks like we’re doing the “Where the Wild Things Are” dance.

Here’s a bigger picture but the right side will be cut off on my blog. Yeah, the sun burn didn’t show up until hours later.

• So I had planned on giving short Bible lessons to go with the Disney stories since our regular devotion book for 2nd grade was finished. But it didn’t happen. I wanted Michael to consistently spend time with God anyway, so I found an old kid’s devotional of mine and I made up this devotion basket. I hope to add prayer sticks later (sticks with prayer list names on them).

• It was neat because I did this devotional book on and off as a kid. I even used it in High School. I found a page marked with the year I “dated” God…my senior year. Actually it was the second time. If you’re wondering what the heck I’m talking about: well, it was something made popular by Acquire the Fire, a teen ministry. Basically you make this vow to God that you’re not going to date people and that you’re going to “date” God meaning spend that time getting to know Jesus. Yeah, it sounds a bit strange and most of my peers were like “whaaaat?”
•  I took the vow the first time to honestly break up with a guy and often compromised my vow. I learned the hard way that any vow made with God should be taken very seriously or there will be some butt whoopin’ discipline. The second time I made this vow I had learned my lesson. I didn’t date my senior year. I focused on growing in the Lord and also on becoming a woman worth marrying if God had that for me. I prayed that God would bring my husband at the end of the year if he wanted me to get married (bold I know but God had also told me that I wasn’t going off to college because of marriage. He surprised me with that my junior year). I was surprised that my hubby was someone I had hung out with all through high school. Everyone was surprised God had brought us together. We seemed so different. Chris was the goofy loner guy that had staring contests and liked to moon people. I was “Bible girl” and I think most people thought me a prude (they never got to know me well enough). I’m very passionate about my Jesus and I think that scared some people. Over the years Chris and I have both rubbed off on each other. We balance each other out.

While I’m sneaking in stuff about me lol, here’s a simple but pretty dress I got from Walmart real cheap. The white shoes look a bit silly but they are comfy and I’m sure I’ll be wearing them at Disney. Now if I had a red wig I could pose as Ariel. I would so coordinate my wardrobe to Disney princesses (modestly) if I could. Maybe I’ll think of something for our trip if I’m not too pooped to party.  Chris’ Yellow Power Ranger behind me….okay okay really he named it Sponge Bob but I think my name fits the Jeep better.

• I love how creative Michael is without me telling him what to make. He made his bear a robber’s mask out of paper. Then he set up a little bank. Oh my it tickled me pink!

Buzz and Woody are prisoners. Oh no!

Now Buzz is really in jail!

Now this is one reason I do like Summer break. I get to see Michael play more and learn while he’s playing. Learning happens everywhere and though I do believe kids often need direction with learning, I also believe they learn on their own too. It’s been so weird around here with several rainy days, sickness, and just too much lounging around. I feel so lazy though I know our Summer break is very short compared to most. Full blown school will hit us soon enough. I also think we are getting tired of the count down. We just want to go to Disney already! LOL I’m praying that we can get reservations last minute and that a hurricane doesn’t hit. We’ve already moved our vacation up by a few days. Obviously, I don’t want a hurricane to hit for other reasons too.  Worrying that a hurricane will ruin our Disney trip is definitely a first world problem.

• But on a serious note please pray for the weather and our visit with family (my Granny’s neighborhood has had gang troubles and this is a ritzy part of our small town). I hope we get to go to the Drive in. I love doing that when we go home. It’ll be great to see how my Granny likes married life.  About six months ago she married my step Dad’s father. My parents were married before that so it’s okay. LOL sounds like a backwoods soap opera but they are truly happy and so sweet together. My Granny has been single ever since I was one year old and my Gran-daddy died. It’ll take some getting used to to realize she’s married.
• Also please pray for my health as I drive. I have scoliosis and arthritis and other frustrating issues that make long trips hard. Usually Chris drives out of town and it’s been that way since I started semi-passing out while driving (always pulled over in time). I’ve been better and have figured out that it’s a potassium and sodium issue. A french fry or banana gets me going again. Note: potatoes actually have more potassium than bananas. Still, I’m nervous to be driving so much myself.

Not sure why I’m asking now. The Disney trip isn’t quite here yet. But maybe you could start praying now. No matter what I hope the storm to the East dies down. Thanks for reading! Love to you all!

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: Join us next week, Lord willing, for # 9 on the count down: Aladdin, The Lion King, & Winnie the Pooh!

An Early Crafty Monday: Disney Countdown ~Aladdin, The Lion King, & Winnie the Pooh

Disney Pinterest (email sub. please come to my blog to see the link)

http://pinterest.com/doverette/disney/

Virtual Friday: The Great Marine Adventure July 26, 2013

Hello explorers! Today we travel to The Great Marine Adventure in Second Life. This will be the last of our ocean journeys for a good while. A mysterious cave will take us to the treasure!

Visit Enchantment Island (168, 108, 23)

Here I am wading through the lagoon.

Here’s the actual entrance. I didn’t need a suit since I was in mermaid gear.

The graphics are a bit old for Second Life. The amusement park it’s in has been in Second Life for several years. I got a couple neat photographs.

Old ship with sharks

First I found a map and I followed the arrows to the treasure.

There were fake treasure chests everywhere.

Just old socks!

Here’s the prettiest area.

Lastly, the treasure which included several freebies.

Well, folks I leave you with pics of my nifty outfit and you can see some of my bedroom. I really need a better graphics card…

 

 

 

 

 

 

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Hear the Writer Roar! Tuesday: Porcelain Doll July 23, 2013

Dear ones, I wanted to share a vulnerable spot in my heart, with you. Here’s a poem I wrote a couple years ago at a time that my pain and illness was really making me feel isolated and useless. Please don’t copy but you can share the link. The picture is an old Second Life pic from The Companion sim I think. I’m not sure if it’s still there but it was a beautiful place for the pic and it’s perfect that my avatar was sitting on a bed because I’m usually in the bed a lot during the winter when my pain is at it’s worst. Please turn on images because the poem is written on a picture below my gut pouring (scroll all the way down please).

Most of my posts are cheerful and busy. My melancholy side comes out in my poetry and I rarely share this with people. But I know it’s good to realize that bloggers are human. There is flesh and blood behind the pretty pictures. It is only by God’s grace that I stand at all. Please keep me in your prayers and my family. My hubby and I both deal with bad pain when the weather changes and also when there’s change in air pressure. The rain has really caused a lot of pain lately….him with his knees and shoulders. Mine all over but the worst in my fingers and a new thing, my elbows. Little man has pain too and I pray it’s just growing pains. His bones pop like crazy and that concerns me. It breaks my heart that Michael’s parents are so broken in our twenties. This is a time when we should be able to play with him but he gets more active play and exercise when he’s with his Nana and Grandad than with us.

Just some insight in to what I mean. I noticed a year and a half or more ago that the fingers on my right hand are slowly curving. More and more my right hand is becoming pitiful. A couple weeks ago during our family Olympics, I had to use my left hand to bowl some. It still hurt a lot to bowl but I tried to switch back n forth and keep the pain tolerable. I just pray my fingers will get better so I can continue to type. I’ve had to give up dancing (clogging etc..), choir, and family theater. I really don’t want to lose blogging. So of course I’m going to push myself and smile despite this pain. But it is an inward battle that’s outwardly invisible and a bit lonely to deal with. I thank God for my hubby who can understand. If we’re broken at least we can be broken together and understand each other’s limitations. He’s only a year older than me so he gets the whole feeling old but really being young thing.

I don’t want to be a downer but maybe this will help others who are suffering the same way. I know there is that pressure to put on a smile and keep trucking. People just can’t handle seeing suffering. I can understand that side too because I saw my Dad suffer bad before he died. It was very hard to be around him because you hate seeing those you love suffer. But I also knew that if I didn’t visit he would feel abandoned and that’d be selfish. Sadly, many people didn’t visit him because they couldn’t handle his suffering. It’s rough when someone’s feet is rotting off and the whole room smells. But I got to say that it’s harder for the person that’s suffering, in pain, and lonely. I’m thankful that I serve a God who was and is willing to get face to face with Lepers. He doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty. Thank you Jesus! I love you!

Now, finally…the poem 🙂. God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: some of this will be cut off so you’ll need to click on the picture to read the whole thing :).

Crafty Monday: Disney Countdown~ Toy Story, Tangled, & Cars July 22, 2013

In this post: Crafts, food, and games with Toy Story, Tangled, and Cars! Welcome to Disney Countdown #7!

Hello dear ones! I hope you are well. This past week was our first official week of Summer break (no workbooks). Michael had lots of play time with a neighbor, we visited the local splash pad, and I caught up on a Korean drama lol. But besides having more time on our hands than ever, we also enjoyed some of our favorite Disney and Pixar movies. Just come to our house and you’ll see that Toy Story and especially Cars are favorites. We’ve got Cars curtains and bed sheets…even a Cars t.v. So this week on the countdown was easy peasy.

First, check out last week on the countdown(#6):

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/07/16/crafty-monday-disney-countdowntarzan-jungle-book-tom-and-huck/

We began with Toy Story 1 & 3.

The themes were easy: Space and the Wild West. I was going to split the days up. One day for Woody and the other for Buzz but they ended up meshing together. I turned the homeschool room into a play area. Basically, Buzz’ spaceship landed in Woody’s western town.

So I simply reused our starry plastic cloths from last week for the sky. Then I put a yellow plastic cloth and a green sheet down for the ground. A red cloth covered our craft supplies. I also drew a “saloon” on a white sheet and covered some more of our mess. Who says you have to clean up for a mess?! 😛 You can’t see it in the pics. I drew a desert scene with cactus on white wrapping paper and taped it or tacked it to the wall. I used cardboard to support them.

Buzz’ spaceship above, is a sheet looped around a pool noodle formed into a circle. It’s hanging from the closet bar. I used markers to decorate the sheet like his ship. I draped the bottom of this sheet around Michael’s reading pool. So it’s a nifty clubhouse almost. I taped red and yellow tissue paper to the pool for fire. Blast off!

Michael’s cowboy hat came from the Dollar Tree and I taped on a yellow paper star for a badge. Seeing a pattern? Yes, the Dollar Tree is great for everything! Thankfully we already had Buzz and Woody dolls.

The jail above was simple. Chris used his knife to cut out prison bars in a project board. I took a piece of another cardboard and taped it on top. Then I just wrote “Sheriff Woody’s Jail”. Except I spelled it wrong…oops. LOL well, that’s embarrassing.

I printed out a “Wanted” sign and drew Mr. Potato head. I also drew a big Mr. Potato head and used magnets for his body parts. 

We had pizza one night and I made this nifty Pizza Planet menu. I simply printed the alien on green paper and glued a yellow star and the Pizza Planet logo on it. The cowboy hat cookies are actually the pirate cookies I made for my Pirates of the Caribbean date. Yeah, the ones that looked smooshed.

We’ve got this Toy Story game where you “fish” for aliens with the claw while they move up and down.  We played that a lot.

We read this neat Western book “Hannah Mae O’ Hannigan’s Wild West Show”.

Here’s a peek at Michael in the “Space Ship” reading a book on Saturn. That trip to the library for Beauty and the Beast is still paying off. We got several books and I keep renewing them online.

We looked at our Space lapbook from last year’s space study. You can check out the first link in our Space series here:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/crafty-monday-oreo-moons/

The alien game pieces got to play in Michael’s homemade Moon Sand box.

Michael put together a big space puzzle.

This turned into more alien playtime. They each had their own planet.

We learned about the Pony Express in the book “Ride Like the Wind”.

I made star shaped sugar cookies that we decorated yellow for Sheriff badges.

I took the easy way with pre-made dough. I added yellow food coloring to vanilla icing and put it in a ziplock bag. I snipped the end of the bag for the icing to come out. Nana came over and had some too.

I took our “Gandalf” stick and put a paper bag on it. I added paper ears and yarn hair to make a stick horse.

Here’s Michael “lassoing” the horse. Note: yarn makes for bad rope.

I had a hard time getting a decent picture. Below is a flashlight with black paper taped on it. I punched holes in it to look like stars.

Memory Verses for the week as we talked about friendship and not being jealous. Remember, Woody was jealous of Buzz. This was traced. Michael isn’t that good at cursive yet.

The writing assignment was “If I Was a Cowboy”.  I simply printed Woody on our writing paper.

Next came Tangled (Rapunzel). I’ll admit this was more for me. Michael and I came to a compromise since we will both be enjoying Disney.

Despite the movie being “girly”, Michael enjoyed most of it. I tried to find crafts that were “boyish”. Michael is in that stage where everything is split as being boyish or girly. It’s annoying but oh well. So the table was set for me I guess. The Duck Coasters represent the Fuzzy Duckling Pub from the movie. I used contact paper and construction paper to make them.

We colored and cut out yellow suns. I made a banner out of purple triangles with suns glued on them. I strung it up between chairs. I put a Dollar Tree lantern behind the tower. I found the tower on Disney’s family site. You can find it on my Pinterest. I’ll put the link at the end. I didn’t have yellow yarn so I used yellow tissue paper for the hair.

Flynn’s Wanted Poster~ Michael had to draw his nose. That’s a running joke in the movie.

Chameleon party blowers for Pascal, Rapunzel’s pet. The head is foam. I didn’t have party blowers. So I glued the head on a straw and used tissue paper for the tongue.

Pipe cleaner Pascal. This was hard to make. Michael’s version looks way better than mine did.

The food was yummy and different. Rapunzel’s favorite dish is Hazelnut Soup. Well, I didn’t buy hazelnuts….rather I had hazelnut creamer. I had originally planned on adding the creamer to mushroom soup for the flavor but someone (cough* Chris) took the soup for lunch. So I had to use cream of chicken. I added potatoes to it for texture. I wouldn’t eat the soup every day but it wasn’t bad.

I braided crescent rolls like Rapunzel’s hair. I forgot to buy bread sticks but it worked.

I made Honey Yogurt Blackberry Tarts for dessert.  I took pre-made pie crust and put it in a silicone heart mold.

This is the crust after I baked it.

I mixed vanilla yogurt, honey, and blackberries together for the filling. It was tasty after it chilled a bit.

Tangled inspired Michael because for the first time ever he wanted to do my hair. So then I got tangled! Be very scared. I’m brave to show you this…no makeup too.

This is why little boys shouldn’t do hair…

I put the original Rapunzel story on Kindle and read it to Michael that night. It’s quite a bit different from Tangled…and boring if you ask me.

Michael’s buddy came over earlier that day and they played with water balloons. I finally figured out how to show pics without revealing identity…a black bar…duh Amber.

I almost forgot. Michael and I played “Mother Gothel May I?” and “Mother Gothel Says”. Mother Gothel is the witch that raises Rapunzel. You should be able to guess what games these are. We just changed the name a bit.

The last two days were full of Cars. We watched Cars 1 and 2. Michael was allowed to play his Cars 2 video game a lot. I raced him a couple times too.

It’s awesome the things you can make out of cardboard. I made this car out of  a box and. Then Michael painted it.

He wrote “Dinoco” on it. A Cars reference.

I made a stoplight and a stop sign out of toilet paper tubes and boxes.

Here’s a pool noodle marble racer. I simply split the noodle in half and glued it together. Then I used tooth pics and string to set up the starting line.

A parking garage from toilet paper tubes and a cereal box.

Michael went to the “Drive in” to see Cars 2. Here’s Michael and the kitty in his cardboard car.

The car wasn’t big enough for him to use as a car. He put his pillow in it and it was more like a cushiony seat. The car hop (mua) delivered popcorn and a drink. I had left over popcorn boxes from our circus theme during our Time Machine Unit:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/a-late-crafty-monday-the-time-machine1900-1925/

I ordered Disney pins that we can trade at Disney World. Are they real or imitation? I have no clue. But I figured Michael wouldn’t care either way. It’s nice to have a bunch of pins for our lanyards even if no one wants to trade.

I decided to give Michael certificates for this past school year. Second Grade was a lot of work.  So he got a certificate for passing second grade.

And he got the honor roll for keeping an “A” average. Homeschool is different from public school. We don’t make a big deal about grades. So it wasn’t a big deal to him but I’m proud that he did so well in math and reading. He got perfect on almost every spelling test. I don’t want to give him a big head but that’s great work.

I need to start doing this each year so I can put it in his yearbooks (which I’m going to work on soon).

Well, God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: Tune in next time  (Lord willing) for a “boyish” Princess week (Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty).

Crafty Monday: Disney Countdown~Cinderella, Snow White, & Sleeping Beauty

My Disney Pinterest (remember email sub. to come to my blog to see the link)

http://pinterest.com/doverette/disney/

Inspirational Wednesday: The Human Race & One Blood July 17, 2013

Are there really races? Or do we merely have cultural differences?  The Bible challenges what most of us have been taught and so does science.

²⁴ God that made the world and all things therein…..26 hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation…”

Acts 17:24a & 26a KJV

Adam was the first man and we have no clue what color he was. It doesn’t matter. Later the flood killed all humans except Noah and his family. All nations ultimately come from Adam. But if you want to see where things split you can go two places for sure.

• Noah’s three sons had families. Every person in this world came from one of those three sons. Read Genesis 9:19.  Here’s a great timeline that shows where different people groups originated: http://amazingbibletimeline.com/
• The Tower of Babel changed everyone’s language. Man believed they could be greater than God so God divided the one human language into many. Man also disobeyed God’s command to spread out over the world. The change in languages formed different cultures. People who understood each other naturally grouped together. Humans finally spread out over the earth.  People groups bred together in their own group creating similarities in appearance. Also where they lived affected their looks.

Where does the science come in? Here’s a great quote and please read the rest of the article in the link. It’s good stuff. (Bold and Italics mine)

“Every human being in the world is classified as Homo sapiens. Scientists today agree that there is really only one biological race of humans. Geneticists have found that if we were to take any two people from anywhere in the world, the basic genetic differences between these two people would typically be around 0.2 percent,1 even if they came from the same people group.2 “Racial” characteristics account for only about 6 percent of this 0.2 percent variation. That means that the “racial” genetic variation between human beings of different “race” is a mere 0.012 percent.3

Overall, there is far more variation within a people group than there is between one people group and another. Anyone who continues to make racist distinctions does so based only on superficial, outward appearances rather than on sound scientific fact and clear biblical reasoning. If a Native American person is looking for a tissue match for an organ transplant, for instance, the best match may come from an Asian person, and vice versa.

The only reason many people think these differences are major is because they’ve been brought up in a culture that has taught them to see the differences this way.“

~Answers in Genesis article “One Blood”

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/orob/one-blood

Here’s the above verse in context.

^“24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

²⁵ Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

²⁶ And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

²⁷ That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

²⁸ For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.”

Acts 17:24-28

Here’s another good quote from the above article then I’ll leave the rest for you to read on your own:

“Here’s something you might find hard to accept: In the U.S. culture we are racially programmed, particularly in regard to the skin color issue. Because of our culture’s racist roots, because of the way the world thinks, because of the influence of Darwinian thinking, we have been programmed to look at the exterior rather than the interior of a person, and to make broad judgments based on what we see. Had you not been programmed that way in this culture, you wouldn’t see the differences as you do. Different cultures are programmed in different ways. Our biases and prejudice show themselves in different ways, but in every case it is the world and our sinfulness (rather than science and the Bible) that drives our personal racism.“

~Answers in Genesis article “One Blood”

The media does a great job of playing the race card. Politicians and celebrities use it to turn people against each other. But I believe things would be different if we realized that we are all the SAME Race, the HUMAN RACE. Many things influence our cultural background; our parents, our area of the world, religion, education, and what media we are exposed to. But skin color does not automatically make us act a certain way. Take two people of different color and raise them in the same family. They won’t have cultural differences. When people are divided by their color then it breeds fear. Sadly that happened in America. We were divided and now fear each other. The evil in high places plays our divisions against us like a game of chess. While we fight our own brothers and sisters, scary things happen in the world. The media is very good at distracting us.

This isn’t a new thing though. Yes, in our modern society it is much easier to pit people groups against one another. But this has happened in the past and all over the world. It happens among the sexes as well. Different people groups in Europe fought bloody wars and believed the other group to be evil. The Jews were slaves in Egypt. Don’t forget the Crusades. Slavery has been around for a long time and sadly still goes on. Research the sex trade. Women and even men are still being kidnapped and sold into slavery. Cultures misunderstanding each other and hating each other has happening  since cultures began. It’s because man looks on the outside. Thankfully God looks at hearts.

Back in the time of Jesus, there was a divide between Jews and Gentiles. Also Samaritans and Jews. Remember the story of the good Samaritan?

Read it hear and see how a man overcame racism: http://www.bibleresources.org/bible/KJV/Luke-10  Verses 27-37

Christ broke the divide. People are brought together by Jesus.

^“26For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

²⁷For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

²⁹And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Galatians 3:26-29

Am I saying that we are all exactly the same in every way? Not at all. I’m not that silly. I’m just pointing out that we all belong to  one race and that through faith in Jesus we can all be God’s children. There’s nothing wrong with being proud of our cultural differences and how we look in our skin. Our differences make us beautiful.

I’m pasty white with a mix of several people groups in my blood (even more if I go back to Adam…wow). So my “porcelain” (as I like to call it) skin may blind some people but  it’s who I am and God says I’m beautiful. I’m not going to tan myself til I have cancer just so my skin is acceptable to others. I also feel sad that certain people with dark skin feel they have to bleach themselves to be beautiful. I know people decorate themselves in different ways and I’m not saying that’s bad. It’s sad though when people damage their God given skin because of changing cultural trends. Plus so many try to look like a photo-shopped image.

I hope today we can celebrate our differences and rejoice that we are in the same family. I leave you with my favorite song on a similar topic (the color of Jesus’ skin but it also applies to humans). God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

The Blood Song by Kirk Franklin ~Remember email sub. to come to my blog to see the video :).

Crafty Monday: Disney Countdown~Tarzan, Jungle Book, & Tom and Huck July 16, 2013

In this post: Fun, food, and crafts with a Disney-fied camp “in”. Puppet snakes & a flashlight safari. Bug goodies and more! Here’s #6 on our Disney countdown!

Hello dear ones! I hope you’ve had a great week. Sorry this is late! Last week we combined our Disney movies with a camping theme. We called it “Camp Dover”. Tarzan, The Jungle Book, And Tom & Huck went well with our outdoorsy theme. We had lots of fun. Come, I’ll show you!

Take the link below to countdown #5:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/07/08/crafty-monday-disney-countdown-robin-hood-mickey-mouse-brave/

It’s been incredibly rainy this season. I had planned to have our camp indoors anyways so I set it up in the living room. I hung a blue plastic cloth on the wall and decorated it with paper stars, bug cut outs, glow in the dark jungle animals, Michael’s moon night light (that only comes on when it’s dark), and a sign that said “Camp Dover”.

I hung a tent rain top from the ceiling and put a cloth with stars on it as well. I covered the sofa with a green blanket (that kept falling off as you can see) and I taped a pretend fire on top. The fire is made from toilet paper rolls and tissue paper.

I got this sleeping bag poem craft from here:

http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/2012/03/camping-capers-open-house-sadsville.html

Michael camped out in the living room for three nights. We got the jungle themed lanterns from the Dollar Tree.

The first day we watched Tarzan.

We had “camp food” like hamburgers and BBQ sandwiches.

I read this book about a Sunflower and then…

We went to look at ours, which was pretty pitiful.

This flower turned out nice though.

That night we sang campfire songs. Michael’s posing. Chris and I actually played the guitar. We had so much fun singing the songs in different ways. Michael loved singing things the “Country” way (meaning with an exaggerated Southern accent…worse than our natural one).

I found lyrics and chords here:

http://www.songdrops.com/childrens-songs-chords-and-lyrics

I was thrilled that I could actually play some of these easily.

Our dessert was S’mores of course ;). Can’t camp with out them.

Michael agrees :).

I tried to take pictures in the dark. Here you can see the fake moon.

Michael with a flashlight. You can’t really tell the stars are glowing (I painted them with glow paint). I also strung up some leaf lights.

Since we watched Tarzan, we played Flashlight Jungle Safari that afternoon.

I turned out the lights and hid several stuffed animals in different rooms.

Michael had to find them with his flashlight. We took turns hiding them. This pic is too funny because he kept going past the monkey when it’s out in the open. You can’t tell because of the flash but it was a bit dark in there.

That night we went outside to play hiding seek with flash lights. I didn’t get any pictures because I was so busy hiding. It was a lot of fun. We finished the evening watching two more Disney flicks “Mulan” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2”. If I had the time I suppose I could’ve whipped up a Chinese themed day for Mulan but that would’ve been too much.

The next day we watched The Jungle Book.

Michael made these snake finger puppets found here: http://www.mrprintables.com/finger-puppets-snakes.html

That night we told stories with shadow puppets.

Michael added dramatic music to his show. 😛

Just had to throw in this cute pic of Chester snoozin’ in Michael’s reading pool. This was the last week of “Summer” school (light book work). Michael read “Pelts and Promises” for his devotion time.

Proof that a seven year old can do his own laundry ;). I have him sort them into piles first. His drawers are labeled pants, shirts, and pajamas. Underclothes go with the pajamas. He can wash and dry too. Now if he can master cooking and a budget then he can move out next year ;P he he just kidding of course! You take me too seriously!

That night Michael listened to “Camp What-a-nut” on Adventure’s in Odyssey (a very kewl radio show). You can get it here:

http://www.whitsend.org/en/albums/02-the-wildest-summer-ever/037-camp-what-a-nut-1-of-2.aspx

We ended with Tom & Huck and bugs. I had some messy fun planned for Tom & Huck but we didn’t get to it. Michael did make a raft out of Popsicle sticks but never got to sail it and I didn’t take a picture…sorry.

Since we were talking about bugs, I thought “Thumbelina” to be an appropriate book to read. She’s as small as one.

That got us into the proper thinking for Michael’s writing assignment “If I was a Bug…”

If you look close it says that Michael would bite and tickle his Dad if he was a bug. 🙂

So this was a simple themed food. I made box cupcakes with chocolate frosting and put plastic bugs on top.

I actually don’t like food that looks like creatures. I would never survive a Halloween party without hurling. I had a hard time eating my cupcake that had a plastic fly on it. I’m a very visual eater. As a kid, the cafeteria spaghetti always reminded me of worms. So I never ate it. But boys are usually into this gross stuff. Michael loved the bugs.

I forgot to show this to you last time. I got this tooth brushing calendar from Crest and Oral B. I magnetized it and put it on the fridge.

I found this snack and drink cup at Family Dollar. Seriously, Disney is everywhere. It’s kind of creepy…in a happy way.

Michael and I went to see “Epic” as a Summer reading reward a couple weeks ago. We took these sweet pictures in the photo booth. I hope we’re always like PB & J….in a healthy way of course :).

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

My Pinterest links (remember email sub. to come to my blog to see the links):

http://pinterest.com/doverette/disney/

http://pinterest.com/doverette/summer-fun/

PS: Join us next week (Lord willing) for Toy Story, Tangled, and Cars!

Disney Countdown # 7

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/crafty-monday-disney-countdown-toy-story-tangled-cars/

My Family Rocks! Sunday: Pirates of the Caribbean Date Night July 14, 2013

Hello dear ones! Once again I was inspired by the Dating Divas for a movie date night. Here it is with some extra ideas. PS: Great marriage & parenting links at the end!

Chris and I have been watching the Pirates of the Caribbean movies together. We watched the first one with our redneck drive in on the trampoline. This week we watched 2 & 3 inside but it was just as fun.

The Invitation

I got the message in a bottle stationary from Dating Diva’s here:

http://www.thedatingdivas.com/kari/pirates-of-the-caribbean/

I rolled it up inside a bottle and put it in Chris’ lunchbox.

The Eats

Filet Mignon, baked potatoes, and bread with French cheese and butter.

Cream Soda Ice-cream Float ~It looks like beer but it’s not….just vanilla ice-cream and cream soda.

I used the mugs we got in Helen, Ga to make it look like Pirate grog.

We played this game inspired by the Dating Divas. Every time someone said “ship” or “pirate” in the movie, we clanged our mugs and said “Arrrrrr”. Then we took a swig and gave each other a kiss. It was funny because we usually didn’t remember until 30 seconds after it was said lol.

I got this pirate hat cookie idea from: http://www.diamondsfordessert.com/2010/06/jack-sparrows-tricorne.html

So this is how they looked before I baked them. Note: I cheated and just added cocoa to already made sugar cookie dough. but after they baked…

I guess they were too thick because now they look more like cowboy hats…if hats at all. They still taste good.

I made Jack Sparrow’s Compass with  inspiration from here:

http://family.go.com/crafts/craft-628031-the-captains-compass-t/

Since it was a date night, I wrote “Heart’s Desire” on it. I simply pasted construction paper to a jewelry box Michael had given me. This way I could easily switch back to something use-able afterwards.

I had Chris open it before I came in the room. I had planned on having it lead towards me when he got home. Maybe have arrows or something. But sadly he got home before me because I was doing our monthly grocery shopping. I was so tired he had to help me get supper going.

I put the compass and “Jack Sparrow’s Guide to Being a Pirate” in a treasure chest of Michael’s.

The Pirate guidebook  was funny to read. It had a name generator in the front.  Chris was “Captain Christopher. the Rum Runner” and I was “One-eyed Amber, the Adventurer”.

You can print the book off here: http://family.go.com/printables/craft-1012132-jacks-pirate-guide-t/

Well, God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: Here are some great links:

The Peaceful Wife is still doing The Respect Dare.  Check it out if ya can :).

http://peacefulwife.com/2013/07/10/day-10-his-biggest-critic-or-his-biggest-supporter/

Compelled by Mel has shared a great video about teaching our kids about Christ…not compliance:

http://compelledbymel.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/true-woman-compliance-or-christ/

It goes along with the parenting book ““Give them Grace” which I’ll definitely be looking into.

https://www.reviveourhearts.com/store/product/give-them-grace/

Keep up with all my date posts:

Other Date Ideas:

Media Saturday: The Lone Ranger July 13, 2013

Hello dear ones! Today I’ll be reviewing the new movie called The Lone Ranger, not to be confused with the old t.v. series.

By Pleasure Island Uploaded by We hope at en.wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

What can I say? I regret seeing this movie and I regret taking Michael. The whole time we were telling him to turn his head every other minute. There will be spoilers so be aware. I wish I had read a review first though because many are saying this movie bombed and we could’ve saved our wallet and our minds.

The positive: Ummmm….the actors look good for the parts. The Lone Ranger shows how greed can destroy. There’s a message that progress isn’t as important as people. The Lone Ranger himself has decent morals. We see Tonto’s back story and why he acts crazy. Native Americans are shown more realistically. Tonto is the only bad stero type but we find out later why he acts the way he does (feeding a dead crow on his hat, crumbs etc).

The negative: Violence is an understatement. You see Native Americans and U.S. soldiers killed. One of the villains eats a man’s heart. The villain made the movie feel like a horror flick to me….think Hannibal (which I haven’t seen but I’ve heard about). There are so many racial stereo types it’s not funny and maybe some were true to the times but still they went too far with it. The sexual innuendos were one too many and there are several ladies “of the night” shown. I guess I thought this would be a kid’s movie since it’s Disney. I was excited that Michael would learn who Tonto was and why I go around saying “kimosabi”. But this movie was the furthest from a kid’s movie.

Honestly, the movie should’ve been called “Tonto”. The Lone Ranger had a good heart but he was pretty wimpy most of the time. The way he treated Tonto wasn’t nice at all. There’s some slapstick humor thrown in which didn’t make sense with an action movie. I think that’s a big reason The Lone Ranger missed the mark. One minute it’s a horror flick with a cannibal villain. The next people are being hit in the head with rocks (including the heroine which completely took away any sense of romance for me) and you have a horse that seems to be able to fly. So maybe some of the humor was aimed at the old tv series but if they were going in that direction then they should’ve left out all the smut that made it a very adult movie.

The whore house is seen as something normal. It’s not shown as this awful place for women (like in Les Mis’). It’s shown as being humorous and the madam (female pimp) comes to the rescue at the end while a Calvary officer feels on her fake leg which is a gun.

At the beginning of the movie, we see an elderly Tonto as a live mannequin at a carnival. He tells this little boy dressed as a cowboy about the Lone Ranger. That right there gave the movie a kiddie feeling. Come on son, let’s learn about cowboys and Indians…oh wait…and whores and cannibals. It’ll be fun! *Rolling eyes* At the end of the movie, the kid puts on his mask and seems to really admire The Lone Ranger. Honestly, I have no clue what he found admirable. So the Lone Ranger did a few tricks at the end but for most of the time he was a goofy wimp. The kid should’ve shook Tonto’s hand and the Lone Ranger should’ve been the side kick. Because he was not the strongest character.

I loved Man of Steel. It had a hero kids could look up to and Super Man  just felt like a hero. But the Lone Ranger was too confusing. It’s like the writers ate a comedy sandwich, drank a horror milkshake, and had some action fries…then threw it all up and called it a movie. Sorry but that’s what I got. And that’s how I felt when we left…like I had been vomited on. So I learned my lesson. I will be reading reviews before we go to movies and I won’t assume a Disney flick is safe.  Even as an adult movie…it’s just a mess.

According to my hubby who saw the t.v. series this movie is nothing like it.  The few moral messages were lost in the smut. This movie could’ve been great but it really missed the mark.

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Virtual Friday: Jules Verne Museum July 12, 2013

Welcome to Virtual Friday! Today we tour the Jules Verne Museum in Second Life. Let’s go :).

I want to show you my kewl shirt first. I get excited about virtual clothes lol.

• Jules Verne Museum

Visit Lily (203, 172, 8)

I wasn’t sure where to go when I got to the museum but I was able to call this airship for a tour. The link above will out you at the beginning of the tour though.

The first stop was under water in a glass building. There were signs that told Jules Verne’s biography.

There was an obvious nautical theme and it reminded me of the Jules Verne section at the Steam-punk museum I visited months ago.

If only this existed in rl (real life). It would be awesome to see ocean creatures from inside this building.

Different areas had information about his books like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Here’s Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Around the World in 80 Days

From the Earth to the Moon~ this was really neat in Mouse look view. It spins you around.

There was a replica of a Navy ship. On board I learned about the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Well, God bless  & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover