Under the Sea Birthday Party

This past weekend we threw our daughter an Under the Sea birthday party!  Miss Bear absolutely loves The Little Mermaid, and she's been asking for an "Ariel birthday", so we finally gave her one!

I think the decorations turned out great. 

The Little Mermaid "Happy Birthday"  Banner and tabletop decorations, as well as the inflatable sea creatures, came from Oriental Trading Company.  Everything else we purchased at Amazon, Walmart & Dollar Tree.

Hubby and I tag teamed the streamers for the ocean on the ceiling, so it really didn't take to long.  We used a two rolls of white, two rolls of dark blue, and two rolls of light blue for the entire party.  We also used 2 1/2 rolls of green streamers for the seaweed.  The sandy ocean bottom is just some packing paper I had leftover from a gift from Amazon, and we purchased the blue paper for the back ground from Amazon as well.

Hubby and I printed some picture out to decorate Bear's gifts.  We usually try to find quotes from the movie or book when doing a themed party.  Hubby did a pretty amazing job with writing the quote in Disney font!

Who says my dreams have to stay just my dreams?

To make the mermaids tale, I simple folded the plastic tablecloth and ran in down the center of the table.  I used some leftover ribbon to tie it off before cutting the remaining end into two tails, which I tied off with ribbon as well.




If I had it to do over again, I might have purchased a darker blue for the table and just used the lighter one for the mermaids tale.  It still ended up looking pretty adorable, though! 

 

This cute little dolphin came from Oriental Trading Co.  The kids loved playing Dolphin Ring Toss!











No Little Mermaid would be complete without Dinglehoppers!  We also included some snorkels for the people.

 

 

Here's the completed layout with all the foods!  We had a blast coming up with names for some of the options!  We also had a little help from Pinterest!

 

Aren't these the cutest?  Sebastian's "Crabby"  Chicken Salad Sandwiches were a huge hit!  The eyes were a nice touch, and with a little hot glue, some toothpics, and googley eyes, they came together in a snap!

 

Flounder's Fish and Chips was cute & easy to throw together!

We also made some "Octopus" dogs with Conch Shells 'n' Cheese.
The octopus dogs were a pain to cut, but the kids thought they were hilarious--so it was worth it in the end!

 

 

 

Fruits & Veggies from Where the People Are

 

 

 

 

 

Chef Louis even traveled from Prince Eric's castle to whip up a batch of his special chips and queso blanco.

 

 

 

Sea cucumbers and Shark Teeth added a nice touch!

 

 

 

Everyone LOVED the oyster cookies, and they were so simple to make!  Just a couple of packages of swirl shortbread cookies, a tub of hot pink frosting, and white Sixlet peals!  I've seen them done with macaroons as well-this was just easier for me!

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

This birthday party was soooo much fun!  I hope you enjoyed the pictures from how we threw this party together!

I'm also planning to go back and post how we put together Squirelly Girl's 7th birthday party!  It was Alice in Wonderland!

S.O.A.P through Scripture

Today, I'd like to share a FREE printable with you that I made to help during your Bible time.  I've been using the S.O.A.P. method of studying scripture for a couple of years, and finally decided to make myself a cute page to make journaling easier. 

You can download the sheets here. 

Hope you all find the journal pages helpful as well!

God is good.

It has been FOREVER since I've posted on the blog!  We've had a LOT going on in our lives, with some major health issues making writing difficult for me.  But I'm getting back in the saddle!  I want to try to post at least once a week, although I'm not sure if I'll start the weekly wrap-ups back up. 

During the past few months, I've been dealing with not only the concerning breast changes that started December 2013, but also the eradication of h. Pylori and subsequent digestive problems.  During the past few months I have been in so much pain, and unable to keep much of anything down.  I've been worried, scared, and just pretty unhappy in general.  I've felt bad for myself. 

But enough is enough!  Just because I'm dealing with health issues doesn't mean I should mope around, all woe is me.  Of course, I am wanting God to take these things from me, but I know that even in my trials, He will be glorified.  I don't know the reasons for the illness or pain, or the emotional things we've dealt with in relation to family and friends, but I do know that His plans for me are good, and that there is something good that will come from all of it in the end.
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been feeling better than I have for the past few months.  I believe this, in large part, due to our use of doTERRA essential oils to help support my body.  I became a Wellness Advocate with doTERRA back in October, and I've been using them to help support immunity, calm occasional stomach upset, and promote overall health and wellness with fantastic results. 

I'm so thankful to God that he created this natural compounds, and I'm looking forward to where this journey leads our family.

If you'd like to learn more about essential oils, send me a message or visit my other blog Essentially Every Good Thing. 

Despite my illness,  Squirrely Girl, Miss Bear, and Bubba have been doing amazingly well with homeschool.  Squirrely Girl is reading fluently, and Miss Bear is starting to spell CVC words and sound some harder words out with minimal help.  Bubba is talking more, is able to divide things by color and shape, and loves to take things apart (for science of course!). 

I'm so looking forward to sharing our homeschool journey with you all again!

Bear Blend aka Focus Blend

Sometimes we all need something to help balance our emotions and help us focus.  This blend works well for our little Miss Bear, but Mama has been known to use it as well!

We simply roll this along the spine, the base of the head, and on the wrists whenever we're having trouble with frazzled emotions or finding it hard to concentrate.  Works like a charm, and smells pretty awesome too!

If you'd like to purchase your own oils to mix up this blend, you can visit my store here.

If you're interested in becoming a Wellness Advocate with doTERRA, contact me and I'll help you get started!  I'd love to have you on my team.

Hubtastic Hair and Beard Oil

A few months ago, I finally took the plunge and ordered a Family Physician Kit from doTERRA, along with becoming a Wellness Advocate.  I actually only did it to take advantage of the wholesale prices for my family, but now that I've been using the oils, I can't help but share them. 

For Christmas, I wanted to make something special for my hubby.  He's been wanting something to encourage beard growth as well as combat the receding hairline and thinning he's been noticing.  After searching around a bit, I finally decided on a combo that I hope works for him.

Plus, this stuff smells AMAZING!

Clary Sage helps improve circulation, helps balance hormones, and can act as an aphrodisiac.

White Fir can also help to improve poor circulation, and it also works well as an antimicrobial and antioxidant....

Cedarwood is calming and soothing, and some contemporary research indicates it can help with alopecia.

Rosemary is helpful with greasy hair, hair loss, and inflammation. It also has antibacterial and antifungal properties.

Lime revitalizes and tightens skin and connective tissue, and has antibacterial and antiviral properties.

Lavender is very soothing and healing for skin. It also helps against dandruff, with dry and fragile hair, hair loss, inflammation, and itching. Oh, and it can help you spice things up a bit by acting as an aphrodisiac. 

Want to buy your own oils to make this awesome recipe?  Click here to visit my store. 

Interested in becoming a Wellness Advocate and taking charge of your family's health?  Contact me to find out how! 

II. The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing

Mathew 5:3"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

In Chapter 2 of A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God, we find what lies at the heart of the issue in many of our lives:  putting anything else in the place where God ought to be.

Whenever sin entered the world, the right order of things became scrambled.  We became rebellious towards God and put idols on the thrones of our hearts. 

Whenever we have accepted Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin, but are now slaves to righteousness--to Christ himself (Romans 6:18). He has taken back him throne in our hearts.  Our lives--every moment and each and every action--belong to him now.

In The Pursuit of God, Tozer addressed the story of Abraham and Isaac.  I had always looked at this story to be more about obedience to God that anything else, but Tozer says that whenever Isaac was born in Abraham's old age that "his heart knit closer and closer with the life of his son, till at last the relationship bordered upon the perilous."

Of course, Abraham must have been terrified by God's request.  Offer my son, who I've waited for so long for, upon an alter as a sacrifice?  I'm sure his heart was anguished at the thought.

Obviously, God never intended for Abraham to actually slaughter his son, but he requested his obedience anyway.  Why is that? 

Tozer states "God could have begun out on the margin of Abraham's life and worked inward to the center; He chose rather to cut quickly to the heart and have it over with in one sharp act of separation.  In dealing thus, He practiced an economy of means and time.  It hurt cruelly, but it was effective."

God chose to removed Isaac from the throne of his father's heart swiftly, so that he could be put back in his rightful place in Abraham's heart.  Abraham had come to making everything about his son, and out of love God turned his world upside down with a single command.  This wasn't done to separate father and son, but in order to have Abraham face his priorities and rearrange them.

And we do the same as Abraham did today.  We worry so much about our reputations, our children, how we homeschool, our jobs, etc., that we don't even realize it when we've shooed God off the throne of our hearts and put all of these other things in his place.

So why do we cling to our idols?  Money, possessions, people in our lives, jobs, security, entertainment, etc.?

If Christ lives in us, then we shouldn't be ruled by the stuff in our lives.  Jesus referred to how much control things have in our lives when he spoke to his disciples in Mathew 16:24 "If any many will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it."


Within American Christianity today, there is this unsettling sense of entitlement.  It's taught in many churches as well as over television, that if we will become a Christian that we can prosper, have our best life now, and that all is apparently sunshine and rainbows. 

Most people refuse to speak about what God says concerning things out of fear of being labeled as homophobic, a hatemonger, or the like. 

To speak out on the issue of abortion, even other "Christians"  will criticize you, saying to "judge not" or ask you "where is your grace?" 

We need to wake up.  Christ did not redeem us so that we could have our best life now.  In fact, if we are truly submitting to Christ and following his charge to make disciples (Mathew 28:19), chances are that we will face adversity.  We may lose our stuff, the security of having extra money, our home, our friends and family, and our reputation to those still in the world.  Yet, we can count it all a blessing whenever we face persecution, because our reward is in heaven. 

One of the benefits of when God puts us through the refining fire, and we lose everything, is that we depend fully upon him.  Suffering strips away all of the superficial, and reveals the truth.  His grace is sufficient for us, and in the end God's thoughts and laws is all that matters.

Romans 5:3-5
"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured our his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."


We all must count the cost of following Christ.  We will lose some peoples esteem, relationships with friends and family, and may suffer financially if we are adhering to the Gospel.  But in the end, the only one that matters is God.  If we have done as he has charged us, though many people may hate us and say all types of slanderous things about us, it is all worth it.

We all place too high an importance on things from time to time.  Pray that God rips them from the thrones of our hearts so that we can turn, repent, and follow him once more. 

Bubba's 2nd Birthday

This past Saturday, our son turned 2! 

We had a small party for him at our house, with family and a few friends.  He had a great time. 

He started off the day with a clown cream horn for breakfast.


He was too excited to see his birthday cake.

 

After changing his mind numerous times, he finally decided on the SpongeBob décor. 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all, it was a great day celebrating our son!