I Won't Let You Break

PLEASE NOTE:  My email has been down (on and off) for a couple weeks now, and I have not been receiving emails.  I know of at least 2 of my regular readers who have said they sent me emails; however, they never made their way through cyberspace to me.  Since this is currently my only way to get a message out to the World Wide Web, I just wanted you to know that if you've sent me an email in the last 2 weeks and I have not replied then I just flat out never got it.  I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.  It has been seriously inconvenient for me!

And now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Last week was a particularly difficult week for me.  Stress had piled up to an unmanageable level.  No matter what I did, I couldn't shake the gray cloud over my head.

For years, God has spoken to me through songs.  I would be in my car listening to the Christian music station, and I could feel God pressing me and letting me know that the song playing was straight from him to me.

In fact, I could tell you a specific song through which God has spoken to me during every difficult time I've gone through in the last several years.  He has also used songs to speak to me during pivotal (but not necessarily difficult) times and even during daily life.

For the last couple weeks, there's one song that keeps following me everywhere I go.  I knew right from the start that God was using this song to speak to me.  And then he just kept playing it over and over for me.

The chorus says:

I won't give you more, more then you can take
and I might let you bend, but I won't let you break
and no, I'll never ever let you go
Don't you forget what He said

You can listen to the whole song here:

The obvious message is that God won't give me more than I can handle.  Sometimes I don't even want to bend, but I trust that God will use every trial for good because that's one thing that "He said."

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  (Romans 8:28)

The message of "Don't forget what he said" is right in line with what God has already been saying to me:  in the midst of my chaotic life, I'm supposed to cling to the truths and promises in his word.

I have a magnet on the side of my fridge that's been there for a couple of years.  I rarely even notice it.  But I noticed it last week.  Wanna know what it says?

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; 
perplexed, but not in despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned; 
struck down, but not destroyed. 
(2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

Same message.  God often has to tell me the same thing multiple times in multiple ways before I start to hear him!

This week has been much better for me, despite some new challenges.  I have no idea how next week will go, or even tomorrow for that matter.  Today God reminded me of this verse:  "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:34)  Oh, I have such a hard time obeying this verse!

I mostly wanted to share this song, along with a few Bible verses, in case any of you need some encouragement.  God promises not to give you more than you can take.  He sees you bending.  He knows.  And he knows your limits better than you do.  God is for you.  Keep trusting that he has a greater plan than the struggles of today.

And just in case you need it, here's one more song I find encouraging.  My favorite line is, "Before a heartache can ever touch my life, it has to go through your hands."

Jessica   

Frozen Bananas

In addition to making frozen grapes, we also made frozen bananas.  I searched the internet for how to make them, saw tons of results, and decided just to wing it.

I already had some wide popsicle sticks on hand (you can use regular popsicle sticks, lollipop sticks, or even skewers).  I cut each banana in half to make these treats a manageable size for the kiddos. 

I pushed the sticks into the cut sides of the bananas.

TIP:  Leave the peels on the bananas while you press the sticks in.  Then remove the peels before you freeze the bananas.

I won't tell you how I know, but if you freeze the bananas with the peels on, they will never come off.

No comment as to the source of this photo.

The bananas need to chill in the freezer for several hours or overnight (we didn't get to ours until the next day anyway).

I gathered lots of options for dipping the frozen bananas:

I had this dipping chocolate on hand already, but you can use chocolate chips or any chocolate that you like.  For toppings I offered the kids various sprinkles, mini crunchy marshmallows (one of my favorites!), mini M&Ms, and coconut.

I made each child sit at the table, and I gave them each a paper plate.  They chose their banana toppings and I poured the toppings onto their plates.  Then I had to continually remind them not to eat all the toppings.

I melted the chocolate in the microwave, and I dipped the bananas in the chocolate (obvious hazard with kids and hot melted chocolate).

Then I handed each kid their chocolate covered banana, and he/she rolled the banana in the toppings.

TIP:  The chocolate hardened very quickly on the frozen bananas, so you need to roll them in the toppings QUICKLY!

I put the bananas back in the freezer because we weren't ready to eat them, but based on how quickly the chocolate hardened, I think you could eat them right away.

There were a lot of toppings left on the plates.  Wanna guess what happened to those?

Yep.  This is what happened:

And they all did it.

After lunch that day, we got out our frozen treats.  Nora basically just ate the mini marshmallows and sprinkles off her treat.

When I encouraged her to bite through the chocolate to get some banana, she took a little bite and said, "I not like the banna."

Griffin liked his pretty well.  No one finished their frozen banana, but I think he ate the most of his.

My little monkey with his banana :)

Nolan didn't like the crunchy chocolate, but he liked the banana part and his sweet toppings.

Overall assessment:  These were easy, cheap, and fairly fun to make.  Since no one really enjoyed eating the finished product, we probably won't make them again.

Jessica

Magic Baking Soda Activity

We had a nice open morning yesterday, so I thought it was a good time to try one of our messier Summer List activities (by the way, this didn't end up being very messy).  So I gathered the supplies for this Magic Powder Kids Craft.

We needed baking soda, vinegar, plastic spoons, food coloring, cups, and a cookie sheet.  My mom had given me this stack of plastic cups, knowing they were little enough for the kids to use.  They were perfect for this activity.  I also got out a foil pan to contain our little experiment.

I lined up the spoons on my oldest (grossest) cookie sheet, and then I placed 2-3 drops of food coloring on each spoon.  On one spoon, I tried to mix several colors to be brown/black.

Then I covered each spoon with baking soda.  I found it easiest to use an extra spoon to scoop the baking soda and dump it onto each spoon.

I filled some of the cups with water and some with vinegar.  My foil pan did not have a very flat bottom.  I tried to put the cups on all the flattest spots, so I ended up with 11 cups total.

TIP:  The vinegar cups ended up overflowing when they reacted, so I recommend only putting about 1-1.5 inches of vinegar into each cup (about 1/4 cup).

I carefully carried everything outside so we could get started.

I had Griffin and Nora wear older clothes in case they got food coloring on them.  Nolan chose just to take off his precious Hulk shirt so it would be safe. :)

The kids actually did great taking turns.  One child would pick up a spoon and carefully place it in a cup.  As they stirred, we would first see if the cup had water or vinegar, and then we could see what color was hidden on the spoon.

Vinegar and yellow

Griffin's turn:

Water and purple

 And the fun kept going!

The cups after the activity:

And the used spoons:

The kids absolutely LOVED this activity.  They sweetly asked if we could do it again.  So...

I just rinsed out the cups and wiped off the spoons with a paper towel.  Then I set it up for round two.  We did it all again, taking turns in a different order this time.

The cups after Round 2:

The spoons after Round 2:

Then I told the kids they could play with the colored liquids.  For just a second, I thought about teaching them about mixing colors.  Then I let it go and watched them do what they wanted.

My babies:

This was inevitable:

They really enjoyed themselves.

This activity was a HUGE success.  I could have easily thrown away the cups and spoons (and even the foil pan) for easy cleanup.  However, I'm anticipating that we'll be doing this again soon, so I just washed everything and kept it for future use.

When we came inside for lunch Nora said, "That was thun!" (her pronunciation of "fun").  Griffin later asked if we could do "that fun craft" again.  I used about a third of the box of baking soda, and I still have plenty of vinegar (thanks to overbuying for Easter egg dying).  We are going to keep working our way through our Summer List, but I do think we'll be coming back to this activity at some point.

Jessica