Cotton Candy and Polka Dots

If you were lucky enough to make it to our house during the holiday - Amanda probably already showed you Emily and Becca's newly decorated room.  But if you missed it ...

Here are a few things we learned on this group project...

It goes faster with scratchers and scrapers than picking at it on and off for a few months or so. (But they did enjoy listening to Adventures in Odyssey over and over and over ....)

Here's what everyone else was doing on October 19th... 

I didn't realize how long we had been working on their room!

Apparently, Katy likes to bake when she's frustrated...

 yummy for us.

If mom doesn't really like mint green walls as much as the girls - 

you'll probably have to repaint.  Probably.

Having the right music is always important.  

Plus notice how mom is letting them put the circles wherever they want.... 

not necessarily where mom would have put them.

FYI -The triforce CAN be represented with polka dots.

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For Christmas, we gave the girls bulletin boards and the promise to finish their room over Christmas break.  With one more trip to IKEA for the little shelves and 2+ hours of hanging things...  I think we are done.

Becca's side

Emily's side

Well, we still need to repaint the chairs... that red just doesn't go with our color scheme.

But that will have to wait until a drier, warmer month.  

Maybe done isn't the right word...

Heidi's Messy Oil Spill

My good friend Heidi blogged about her oil spill. A bottle of olive oil fell and broke - sending oil and glass all over her kitchen.

During cleanup, Heidi was able to reflect for a moment on what the Lord was saying. He reminded her how oil is a prophetic picture of Holy Spirit and how when He's around, it's bound to get messy.

I remember a time when time Darren and I made a conscience decision to let Katy make a mess. She was learning to be independent and desperately wanted to pour her own milk. All I could see was the mess she would make and I would have to clean up. All she could think of was the thrill of doing it by herself. But in the end, it was just spilled milk...

I know, I know, no crying over spilled milk. But I could only see more work for me, not the joy for her. (By the way - at 12 she still spills the milk. So does everyone else in this house.)

In Heidi's story, she ended up doing a prophetic act... the oil (Holy Spirit) breaking out of the container (we can see Him, but not touch him. Talk about Him but never to Him. Grieve Holy Spirit and somehow not know it?). And the "mess" was all over her feet (and her kitchen). He annointed her feet with oil.

As I think back to my decision to let Katy make a mess, I realize I have to do the same thing with Holy Spirit. I have to give Him permission to make a "mess" in my kitchen, in my life, in my heart...or else fear will cause me (us) to miss Him altogether.

It's a scary thing to let Him have free reign...because that means we are not in control. But things fall and break all the time. This time, it might have to be us.