Bubbly fun

I found the idea for this project on pinterest, but I must confess that I don't remember where it was! I apparently didn't "pin" it.  It yielded over an hour of contented fun for my 2 little ones, though, so I must share!  If I find the original link, I promise to give credit where it's due!

First, mix 1/4 cup (give or take) of vinegar with a few drops of food coloring.  Do this for as many colors as you want.  For added impact, I bought the "neon" food coloring...fun times!

Spread a shallow layer of baking soda in a cookie sheet or casserole dish (WITH EDGES). 

Using a straw or small spoon, drip drops of the colored vinegar in the baking soda and watch it fizz! Mine plugged up one end of the straw to "catch" the vinegar and then released it over the baking soda. "Paint" the baking soda however you wish!!

 I intended to get a final picture of their "paintings," but I stepped out of the room to switch the laundry and came back to a gooey gray mess of all the vinegar poured in the pans and mixed together!  Oops!  Maybe next time! 

**Note...if I'd had an eye dropper or bulb syringe, I think this would have been even more fun for the kiddos. 

Target Practice!

I haven't written here in forever...and I have no great excuse, other than the fact that my husband is out of school for the summer, so I rarely see the computer, except to pay bills!  :)

Have you ever felt like you have a target on your back?   I have.  And, I do.   I must confess that I have a tendency towards anxiety and depression.  Sometimes, despite my best efforts to the contrary, I struggle to see the bright side of things and to trust that God will (and has!) conquer all.  Last night, in the midst of a near breakdown, I remarked to my husband that I wished Satan would leave me alone! I also childishly wished that I could simply throw myself in the floor for an all-out kicking and screaming temper tantrum.  That probably would NOT be good for my stress fracture in my shin, though, so I refrained!  Lately, it seems like it has just been one thing after another for our little family.  None of the things, in and of themselves, have been all that bad, but the combination has been almost more than I can bear!  I won't sit and give all of you a laundry list of the things that have piled up in our lives lately, because that would border on the edge of overly dramatic and just might takes us over the edge! :)  I have, however, taken great comfort lately in the scripture found in I Corinthians 10:13:  ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.   

That scripture is very comforting, but sometimes I wish that God didn't trust me so much!  Sometimes I feel like He trusts me to bear more than I am capable of handling, and yet, I think that's the point!  He doesn't expect me (or anyone) to bear all the stresses of life on our own.  He promises to be with us wherever we go, as long as we strive to be faithful to Him. 

In the midst of all these stresses, I have wanted to turn around and yell at Satan that I am not worth his time!  Why on earth would he choose to come after me, a measly stay-at-home mom just trying to do what's right day by day?   Shouldn't he find someone more prominent?  Someone more in the public eye? Surely that someone would be more valuable as a follower of evil?  Someone who is much stronger in his or her faithful obedience than I am?  Then it dawned on me.  The fact that I am none of those things is the very reason that Satan is coming at me from all fronts!  Isn't that who Satan wants?  Those Christian soldiers who are daily, faithfully following God?  Those who, to others, may not be as noticed for the things they do?  Why waste his efforts on a weak or disinterested person who will likely fall away quickly.   And, it would take such effort on his part to discourage someone very much in the public eye.  But me?   Wouldn't it thrill Satan to defeat a young mom of two sweet children so that she could not train them up the way she should?  Wouldn't he then gain THREE followers, as opposed to just one?   I had never really thought about it this way.  I felt so frustrated that Satan would not leave me alone, and yet today I feel like maybe that means I'm doing SOMETHING right if he's so insistent on blocking my every move.  So, I have regrouped and reorganized for the battle.  I have been driven deeper into my personal Bible study, and I have revamped my efforts to teach and train my children (those who are my own as well as those with whom I come into contact in my teaching efforts at my local congregation).  We just finished studying the armor of God in my kindergarten Sunday school class, so I am striving to wear my armor each and every day and to face this battle with confidence.   If doing these things puts a target on my back, so be it.  I am hand in hand with the most powerful leader this world has ever known.  

Genesis 28:15   ¹⁵ Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go

Romans 8:31, 37 ³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?   ³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 

Psalm 28:7-9

⁷ The Lord is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,
And with my song I will praise Him.

⁸ The Lord is their strength,^[a]
And He is the saving refuge of His anointed.
⁹ Save Your people,
And bless Your inheritance;
Shepherd them also,
And bear them up forever.

Isaiah 41:10 

¹⁰ Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

Deuteronomy 31:6 ⁶ Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

Hebrews 13:5b-6 For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”^{[a] 6} So we may boldly say:

“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?”

So, fellow Christian sisters, join with me in increasing our dedication to the God who has done all for us and deserves our all in return!