Finding Oneself as the Pandemic is Hopefully Ending

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for honest reviews. All opinions are my own.

The last two years have been tough on everyone. Everyone I talk to seems to be struggling in some way or another. And it is not because they lost a loved one (though many have) or that they or a family member caught Covid (though many have). It is because we are all tired. Tired of masks. Tired of restrictions. But mostly tired of fighting. America seems more divided than ever. We were divided by politics and that division has grown. We have been divided by racism which is coming to a forefront. Now we are also divided about masks, vaccinations and more. If a person or company does not have the same beliefs, people are fighting, debating and at sometimes getting violent. Then add in that there is a shortage of workers. Everywhere seems to be hiring and they are operating understaffed. People's patience is not there, and they are being rude to the few people who do show up to serve us. It is such a mess. All of these things have gotten me feeling down and miserable. For 2022 I have picked positivity as my word of the year. Let's face it we all need more positivity in our lives (just not positive Covid tests).

Hello Fall & Sunday School Crafts

Fall began and I started thinking of some fall crafts. I had those frames I bought ages ago on clearance and had made some spring themed décor. To make a fall one I pulled out my Cuttlebug. I have an apple embossing folder and used it for the background paper. Then I used the die to cut out "Hello". I found an apple shaped Post-It Note pad and traced it to cut out an large apple and wrote fall on it. Then I used some leaf punches for the small leaves. I love how it all came out.

At Home in the Father's House -- First Look Book Review

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge from Worthy Publishing. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

Today I get to share with you a look at the new book, At Home in the Father's House by John Sheasby with Ken Gire. This book shares John Sheasby experience as a pastor discovering his own distortions of God and the Bible. He also shares the discoveries he made to correct those distortions and finds ways to relate it to everyone's life. 

Christmas Church Services Around the World -- Christmas in Different Lands

In many parts of the world church services or masses are an important part of Christmas. Many countries have traditional times for the service. Does yours? Growing up we always went to what was called the midnight candlelight service. It started at 11:00 p.m. and ended around midnight. The service always ended with singing Silent Night and having each person light a candle from the flame of the Christ candle in the Advent wreath. Now we usually go to the earlier Christmas Eve service so Hazel can stay awake. 

Novena

 For many the celebration of Christmas takes place in the church. In some countries the church services begins on December 16th. In Venezuela there is an early morning church service called Misa de Aguinaldo held every day from December 16 to December 24. Often there are bells and firecrackers to wake the parishioners for the early services. In the capital city, Caracas, it is tradition to roller skate to these services. As a result the streets are often closed to cars until 8 a.m. On December 24 the mass is at midnight and is called Misa de Gallo. (Source) Chile also celebrates with a Novena. There are church services throughout December in Chile, but on the 16th special prayers begin the day as well as visits to local churches. (Source) The Philippines also have early morning or pre-dawn masses for the nine days prior to Christmas. (Source) In Puerto Rico it is called Misa de Aguinaldos and is held from December 15 to December 24th. The mass is held at dawn (around 6 a.m.) and the services are usually sung with traditional Puerto Rican instruments accompaniment. On the 24th the mass is at midnight and is called the Misa de Gallo. (Source)

Faith Celebration--United Church of Christ

Have you entered my current giveaway for a wooden watch?

 Back in September I reviewed the beautiful book, Everyone Prays: Celebrating Faith Around the World by Alexis York Lumbard. As I thought about this book I began to think about how wonderful it would be to have a place to learn about the different world religions in a personal way. I talked to some of my fellow bloggers at Multicultural Kid Blogs and came up with the wonderful series that will include a giveaway of the book. Each blog participating will be sharing about their own religion and all will be linked together on January 25th at Multicultural Kid Blogs with a review of the book and the giveaway. In my part here is to share about my own religion.
 

Immanuel Congregational Church (Source)

I grew up attending Immanuel Congregational Church in Hartford, Connecticut. This is the church in which I was baptized and attended Sunday School. For a short while my  mother served as the Interim Director of Christian Education there. It was a church with a lot of history. It is across the street from the Mark Twain House in Hartford and I was always told that Mark Twain called it the oily cloth church because of the yellow and green tiles above the entrance. 

Craft Kits and More from Oriental Trading

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Spring is on its way. Yesterday it was in the mid-50's and it felt amazing you. We had to get outside even though Hazel stayed home from school because she has been sick. Of course now we have rain coming that will turn to snow. Ah, New England weather--gotta love it or hate it! Needless to say we have been a bit stir crazy and cannot wait for spring, so we decided to try some of Oriental Trading's spring craft kits.

Oriental Trading Christmas Craft Kit Review

Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Recently I was contacted by Oriental Trading to see if I would be interested in doing reviews on some of their products. Having bought from there and knowing my church uses them for Christian Education crafts, I jumped at the chance. Now for those of you who have not explored Oriental Trading yet, it is a wonderful company with party supplies as well as craft supplies and so much more and all of it is reasonably priced. To be honest I have gone through some of their craft pages just to get inspiration. I also bought several items for my wedding reception there as well as things for my classroom and parties. 

DIY Fortune Cookies

I know I have been a bit MIA lately. The past few nights I have been tired and haven't wanted to sit down and think too hard. I figured it would be better to wait until the morning so my post would be better. Then yesterday morning my plan was to drop Hazel at school and go to the gym and come home and write at least one of my posts that I have been wanting to write (yes, I have plans for several in my head and photos), however I was asked by the parent/child class teacher to help out since her assistant was on vacation and the substitute she was supposed to have had a child get sick in the car on the way to school. Needless to say, I stepped in and stayed at school for the morning. So here I am today. Later today it will be time for Sharing Saturday, but for now, I'll explain why I was a bit MIA last week.

Happy Family Times--A Bible Presentation at Church

Have you done something fun and exciting with your family this week? Kelly from Happy Whimsical Hearts and I would love to hear about it. Please share below.

This week was a very special day at church. Hazel received her first children's Bible. This year they started a new Sunday School class for three to five-year-olds since we had a good number of kids in that group (based on baptisms) and we are trying to get more of these families to attend more regularly. As a result it was decided the families should receive a copy of the Bible story book being used in the class, so we can reenforce the lessons at home or help fill in gaps if they miss a week. Today was the day of the Bible Presentations. So the three-to five-year-olds received them with a parent, then the third graders got theirs and the ninth graders got their adult Bibles.

As with anything that happens at our church that involves Hazel, Steve's mother and Steve come to church with us. (They are Catholic and attend mass at their own church usually.) This of course excites Hazel. She loves having her Nonni at our church. Since it was a special day, Hazel got a new sweater dress and also wore her necklace I bought her for her Halloween costume. After the Bible Presentations, the children went to their Sunday School classes.

After church we went with Nonni to get lunch out. Hazel had a wonderful time!

Now it is your turn to share how your family has spent some quality time lately.

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Ok, now for our PARTY!! Please share your FUN Family Times!!

My Christian Values

A little different type of post. One that is very personal and controversial. I have gone back and forth about whether I wanted to write/post it, but I have decided for me to stay true to my own beliefs I really need to. Don't worry I'll be back to my child-oriented crafts and activities tomorrow!

Many Hands Cookies for Church

This year I was asked to chair the Stewardship Ministries at my church. I turned it down several times, but they kept asking so I caved. I know our church like most is really hurting for money and kept thinking who will do this if I don't. After talking to Steve about it, we decided I needed to do it. Then of course I gathered people to be on my committee. Luckily I found four willing people who have been wonderful, and we have had the full support and help of our minister. Well the church motto is Many hands, many beliefs, one journey. As I was thinking about it I came up with our theme which is Many hands, many stories, one church. Then as I was thinking about it at church I looked and saw:

on the pulpit and came up with our logo (above in black and white).

Today I kicked off our Stewardship Celebration/Campaign with a speech introducing all of this and sharing why the church is important to me. My committee also provided the coffee hour and to go with our theme, Hazel and I made cookies shaped as hands. You may remember that I have mentioned previously that I have not had luck making sugar cookies from scratch, however I decided to try again. I decided to try the recipe I saw at Christmas time over at April's Homemaking. And we had success!!

Cracking Eggs

We followed the recipe for the cookies completely. Then for the frosting I used bags of mix I had from the gingerbread house kits.

Hazel was in charge of the mixer. Oh, and since I was taking pictures, she needed to as well. However I wasn't quick enough to get her actually taking the picture.

She helped with the cutting out the first batch, but then just wanted to eat the cookie dough, so I sent her off to play with Daddy. This is what they looked like out of the oven.

This morning we frosted them. Hazel was more in to telling me stories then actually getting much done, so Steve came and helped us. We made about 7 to 8 dozen. And they were all gone after coffee hour!!

We put them on two platters--one for the juice table and one for the coffee and tea table. One of the other members of my committee brought grapes. And the children at our church during Lent always sell muffins that they bake for donations for Heifer, so we didn't want to compete with their sales.

My speech went well. Many people came up and let me know they enjoyed it and thought I did a great job. And everyone loved the cookies and got the connection with the many hands!! Overall a successful day at church. Tomorrow I'll share how we spent the rest of this beautiful day!! (It was sunny and in the low 70's here. The heat wave finally made it to the Boston area!)

Hope you had a great weekend!!