crafting with grandma - Basket for Mother's Day

Quite a few years back, I was sent the book, 500 Baskets: A Celebration of the Basketmaker's Art to review - it is a beautiful book filled with amazing photos of baskets of all types. Today I'm sharing one of the baskets with you, which was designed and made by Mary Lee Fulkerson, as it is a fun basket you could make with your grandchildren for their mothers for Mother's Day.

The "Fiesta" basket is made from sticks and cable ties - while there are no directions for making it, I helped a child make one back in 2005 and it was a lot of fun. 

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

This is the truth upon which we build our faith - Jesus is not still in a tomb; He rose, just as He said He would do! Because of this, we are able to receive God's grace and His forgiveness for our sins.

2019 Spring Gift Review & Giveaway - Red Heart Yarn Package

Today I am happy once again to share with you some of the new yarn from Red Heart - and announce a giveaway for some of them as well. If you enjoy crocheting or knitting, these yarns will make wonderful items you could give for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Children's Day, any other special event, or to get a start on your gifts for Christmas.

Cool Kool-Aid Eggs

My grandsons will be at my house tomorrow, so we are decorating eggs for their egg hunt on Sunday. This year we are trying something new . . . Kool-aid eggs. You will find all the details at this link.

Free on Kindle April 26-30, 2019 - Deeper In 4 Grandparents & Parents, Too!

I just finished updating my book - Deeper In 4 Grandparents & Parents, Too! Praying the Scriptures for the Children You Love - Psalms Edition and from April 26-30, 2019 it will be free on Kindle.

This book provides you with 52 weeks of Scripture prayers from the Book of Psalms which have been personalized for you to pray for yourself and for the ones you love.

Hand Down the Faith with a Mystery Bag Project - Share the Message of the Cross

In two days we will remember Good Friday; it is the day we think about Jesus on the cross. He willingly took our place; the innocent for the guilty, so we are able to be forgiven and receive God's grace. Take time today to help your grandchildren remember and thank Jesus for what He did for you all with a Mystery Bag project.

Consider this fun activity which will help them understand the message of the cross. You will need . . . 

cooking with grandma - Flaky, Fluffy Biscuits

Recently I had a conversation about biscuits - for nearly all of my life . . . at least as long as I had been baking, I could not make biscuits. I know. Biscuits. Should be pretty simple, but every biscuit I tried to make ended up resembling rocks more than anything you would actually want to eat!

But, then one day a couple years ago I found a recipe for "flaky biscuits", tweaked it a bit, and gave it a try; lo-and-behold, the biscuits are actually flaky! Even better, they are delicious! My family loves them, so today I'm very happy to share this recipe with you.

The key to this biscuit is the folding of the dough over and over again upon itself, flattening, then repeating for the layers of flaky, fluffy biscuits. For added tasty enjoyment, sprinkle some cinnamon sprinkles in-between the folding and you will have a most amazing cinnamon biscuit!

This is a fun recipe to make with your grandchildren - double it and take some warm-from-the-oven biscuits to a neighbor!

Enjoy!

2019 Spring Gift Review & Giveaway - From Me to You

I was recently invited to review a couple new books from Harvest House and today am happy to share them with you - and announce a giveaway as well. One of the thigns we do to hand down faith to our grandchildren and children is build our relationship with them. One way we do this is by having meaningful conversations together. These two new books - From Me to You (Daughter): A Conversation Journal for You and Your Daughter and From Me to You (Son): A Conversation Journal for You and Your Son, are designed to do this.

Spring Gift Review & Giveaway - NIV Personal Size Large Print Reference Bible

My sister and I are both so blessed to have one of our grandma's Bibles. In them she underlined verses which mattered to her and left little notes and even clippings from papers with things which encouraged her in her life. These Bibles are amazing gifts; treasures with which our grandma is still able to hand down faith long after she entered Heaven.

Today I'd like to encourage you to consider a simple way you are able to continue to hand down the faith - after your life on Earth is over; just get a couple Bibles and underline your favorite verses in them. Jot a few notes in the margins. Make these Bibles tangible things from which you are able to "speak" when you are gone. Then, leave them for your grandchildren/children and tuck in a personal note as well. Whether you have much or little to leave when you are gone, these Bibles will be something the ones who receive them will truly treasure.

And, today I'm very happy to recommend a Bible you could use for just this thing. Zondervan sent me one of their new NIV Personal Size Reference Bible for review and share my opinion of it with you - and I'm happy to say they are making another available for me to give away.

Tomorrow, April 11th is Pet Day

Tomowrow, April 11th, is Pet Day! Most of us have, or have had, a pet and consider them to be part of our family. When my husband Dave and I were first married, we had a Basset Hound; we named her Mindy. When we had children, Mindy was a "mother hen" to them! She was definitely a part of our family for a long time!

When we lived in California we got our children hamsters (I will NEVER do that again as they were hideous; they ate their babies!!!), a cat (named Mr. Pickles) and turtle (named Tippsy!) When we moved back to Michigan (from California), we had bunnies for a short time (Snowflake and Indiana Bunny), a parakeet which talked, danced and sang (especially to Carmen's song, I Love Jesus!) and then my sister gave us an English Springer Spaniel (Scout). We also got another Basset Hound (Giggles). Scout and Giggles were loved parts of our family and we have many wonderful memories of these sweet dogs.

Since most people have dogs as pets, I thought it would be fun to share some Fun Dog Facts. Did you know . . .

Finished! Would You Read & Share Your Opinion?

Hooray!!! I feel like celebrating as I just finally finished my new book - the DNA of Grandparents & Parents Who Hand Down the Faith! I have been working on it for two years . . . which for me is forever as I typically write books in a month or less. But, since there were a couple wonderful things I was able to put in it which I would not have been able to include two years ago, I'm very happy.

At any rate, I feel like celebrating!!! Hmmm . . . may be time to pull out the Dove Dark Chocolate!

crafting with grandma - Twig Crafts

What do you get when you combine a yard with a fair amount of trees and a long, hard winter? A yard with many branches and twigs all over it just waiting to be picked up! So, I am planning to have my grandsons help pick up sticks and small branches as soon as it gets a bit warmer - and dryer - and then we will use these sticks and twigs to make some fun things!

2019 Spring Gift Review & Giveaway - Peppercorns Royale Four Pepper Blend from The Spice House

Are you a person who uses a variety of spices in your cooking, or a person who pretty much sticks with salt and pepper? Until the last year, I was more of a, "didn't use too many spices" person when I cooked. Now, my food was always tasty and full of flavor, but not really what you would call, "spicy".

However, last year my sister gave me spices from the Spice House for my birthday and I started cooking with spices - the difference is definitely noticeable! I am now a huge fan of the Spice House.

So, as I thought about this year's Spring Gift Review, I decided to see if they would be willing to send a spice for review and giveaway - I am very happy to say they did and to share with you about their Peppercorns Royale Four Pepper Blend which they sent for me to review - and another bottle for me to give away.

Your Family - God's Gifts to You & You are God's Gift to Them

Find a family photo and spend a moment looking at it. Look at each person; take time to consider the following . . . 

• God gave you each person in the photo . . . knowing who He created you to be and who He created each of them to be as well.
• God loves each person in the photo.
• God specifically chose the people who are in your family to be part of your family.
• Each child/grandchild was given to you - specifically and intentionally.