kiddo kraft - MAY

MAY i help you? whew - where has this month gone?

i still haven't "recovered" from my mission trip, and i hope i never will, and my craftiness has been dowsed in sweat cause it's already stinking HOT HOT HOT and mosquito-ville down here in H-town.

we took some weekend trips to the beach (where leila turned into a lobster - ouch) and to sea world (SHAMOOOOOOOO), and now i'm planning for leila's birthday party! where did the time go - four precious, lightning-speed years?!

so, anyhoo, my creative juices haven't been flowing - more like a drip-drying, so i got an idea about our kiddo-kraft for this month.

i don't know how many of you do mission trips or work briefly with children for special events/activities, but, i thought maybe showing you a couple of easy-smeasy art projects we did with the orphans in guatemala as gifts for the missionaries (and ourselves), that maybe it's something you'd like to do as a teacher gift or thank you gift for a children's event coordinator?

so, this month's kiddo craft of the month is: hand print thank-you art

(very creative description, right?)

of course you could do this a variety of ways - we did 2 in guatemala.

i bought a value pack of flat canvases from michael's (they were on sale for 50% off) - some 8x10 and some 5x7.

with the 5x7s, i traced each of our hands on the canvas with a black sharpie marker. (and i wrote our names on the back so we knew which hand was whose!)

then, we had 2 different colored inks (the type doesn't matter) and had each of the orphans place their inked thumbprint inside the traced hand. there were 40 orphans, so the hand got filled up without any problem. and, there was a one-month old baby there, so one of my teammates had the idea of printing her foot instead of her thumb - since she was so tiny ( ~6 pounds!).

on the finished project i wrote: my hands on them, their prints on me. and i wrote the orphanage and country and year. i have plans to frame it, somehow. until then, it sits propped up "smiling" at me. this would be a cool teacher gift if you could swindle Mr. or Mrs. Teacher's hand print/outline.

even though i hugged them, i hand-washed their dirty clothes, i prayed with them, I I I I I I I I I....i could say everything I did, but THEY touched my life more dramatically than any of my small tasks! i think this is a pretty good visual representation of that idea.

for the second hand print project, we used the 8x10 flat canvases. i don't know what i was thinking about the size. if there's a bigger one, i'd use it - because 40 hand prints (and some foot prints) in an 8x10 space is pretty much chaos - but pretty chaos! ;)

we used crayola finger paint because it was easy to clean off the kids, but if i could do it again, and if i had bigger canvases, i would use acrylic. BUT - it worked where we were at. and even though it looks like one big giant mess - you could distinguish their fingers (and toes) in certain places on the canvases. so even though you couldn't see all the hands, i wrote every one of the kids' names on the back of the canvas with a thank you note (from the kids) to the mama workers and the missionaries. the mamas seemed to think they were nice - and the KIDS were so excited to GIVE something to the women who help take care of them at the orphanage.

so, these are two simple thank you ideas (or keepsakes) you could use when there are plenty of paint-ready fingers around and some thanks or some love needs to be shared (or remembered).

two week/weak reminder

i cannot believe it's been two weeks since i was in guatemala. i really feel changed - and i'm not done yet and i don't want to be done. people are still asking me about my trip and i feebily cannot muster the appropriate positive and excited emotional response about it.

that's not to say it wasn't a positive and exciting time for me - on the contrary - it really really was, and trying to share everything that has rooted in my heart is difficult. i don't want to appear like a tourist - because that's not what it was at all! we had an amazing week - fabulous. some work, some play, and great relationships built within our team and with the missionaries.

but i will be forever grateful for our last moments at Eagle's Nest. we were flying high, readying ourselves to leave guatemala and return home to our families, so many positive, wonderful experiences overwhelming our hearts. as we waited outside the children's home for our driver who'd be taking us to guatemala city, we left our light luggage on the sidewalk and decided to take one last opportunity to love on some of the babies in the orphanage.

we walked in and saw the sweet trio of lizzy, dulce, and marisol, and of course sweet maria was there too to give us lots of elbow and hand kisses and hugs and wanting us to flip her. but there was another boy there too...polo. and he wasn't responding to our presence with smiles and hugs, no, he was sitting on a stool crying. at first we left him alone, not sure why he was crying...but he was sitting near the door, so as we prepared to leave, we stopped to find out what was wrong.

polo had arrived at Eagle's Nest while we were there. his father had died just 2 weeks before and his stepmother had been hurting him. he arrived dirty, frowning, and calling for his father. he tried to run away the next day, but he was quickly found and brought back to the home and given lots of hugs and cookies. and then the following evening was our pajama gifting and we gave him a pair, too. he lit up like christmas and was as happy as could be. how silly of us to think that a roof over his head, clean clothes, food, and some new pajamas would be enough.

i knelt down and looked in polo's eyes and spoke in my basic Spanish:

-what's wrong?

-i don't want to be here. i want to go. (tears)

-what's wrong, polo?

-i want to go! (looking in my eyes - more tears)

with my limited Spanish and hurting heart, i tried to encourage him:

-soon you'll get to go to school with the other children, and the mama workers love you.

-i want to go. (tears)

then, a flood of compassion filled me and the Spirit spoke to my heart and reminded me of why i came to guatemala.

-polo, Jesus loves you. it's going to be okay.

i believe the children knew we were there because of the Lord - like all their short-term mission trip visitors, but i hadn't said as such to them. and here i was, my last opportunity to share Jesus' love, and i was reminded that was the most important thing i could do with my time in guatemala - show and tell of Jesus' love for them!

polo was still crying when we left. i don't think he was comforted by my bad Spanish or the mentioning of Jesus. but, boy was it a wonderful way to leave the orphanage - with the reminder that, even though these children have a good orphanage, clean clothes, food, education, etc., it is not enough. they deserve more. they deserve a loving family.

of course, in the meantime, it is a blessing to be where they are as God has looked after them. but, i am so grateful for the reminder and that it wasn't just a smiling-everything's-just-fabulous face that was our last one to see. God desires more for us - to look after the orphans in a way that He would be pleased.

--

it's been two weeks. the first week was a real tough transition. seeing everything we have and take for granted...listening to the whoas of friends, going to a grocery store stocked so full it could vomit, hearing my children whine about their toys... BUT - i was more patient with my children, i prayed for my friends and their needs - regardless of their seemingly small matters because they mattered to them and therefore mattered to God, and i bought the necessary food i needed but not the unnecessary.

but on week two, i became weak. i endulged in things i said i didn't want to. i got angry and yelled at my children again. i flared in moral righteousness and looked down my nose on things that i am guilty of too! what had happened to me so quickly after my heart had felt change?! it's so easy to resist change. it's so easy to return to the cultural/spiritual norm.

part of the trouble with me not sharing my trip's experiences with others is that i haven't allowed them the opportunity to experience a little part of it for themselves through me...and therefore haven't re-experienced the emotions and change in myself. God's not finished with me yet, and i still feel his calling in me to something greater/bigger, even through my weakness. it's in my weakness that He is strong. it's in the tears of an orphan that He is working.

i'm ready God! gently continue to change me, mold me, move me closer to You through my experiences. and please don't let the weeks make me weak!

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courtney's quest: Guatemala mission trip



my mission trip to guatemala was amazing. i had a blast doing everything from playing soccer with the kids, speaking Spanish and translating the gringas, washing (by hand) dirty clothes, helping to pin & iron curtains, teaching english at the elementary school, giving my testimony to ~20 natives, organizing clothes, doing craft projects with the orphans, giving a devo to the feeding outreach children, climbing a hill in the pouring rain and trying to push our van out of a ditch, making an ugly tortilla, fellowshipping with some fabulous missionaries and their kids, buying food and supplies for one of the campus workers and praying with his family, falling on my butt while trying to play soccer in a cloud on wet cement, etc. etc. etc.

i was so blessed to have 3 of my friends from my MOPS (mother's of preschoolers) group brave the trip with me - and we were all so glad that we did. each of our talents/personalities worked well together while we served there.

one of our favorite things we did was hand-out the jammies that our MOPS moms had purchased for each of the 40 orphans. i bribed the kids to hurry and brush their teeth after dinner by promising them all gifts. they sat on the floor in a big group with large eyes, eager smiles, and some were so excited they were bouncing up and down on the floor. they had no idea what was in my big suitcase, they were just excited that they were going to get something/anything!

i called out their names one by one, from youngest to oldest, and gave them their baggie with jammies inside. it was like the price is right...with the winner jumping up and smiling and running to the front of the room and the others would cheer and chant the child's name with glee. it was electric!!!!

hillary was sitting with one of the older boys whose name would be called close to last. he was visibly nervous about whether he would get some or not. hillary just kept whispering to him, "tu tambien, tu tambien" (you too, you too) after each of the other children's names were called...and when i called his name, this boy, usually frowny-faced and difficult to get to his heart, stood up with the biggest smile you've ever seen and was ecstatic to get his bag. and his smile didn't stop. :) that evening, the clouds in his mind floated away, and a beautiful rainbow filled their place! he may have been wearing Angry-Birds on his jammies, but his smile was as big as the sunrise!

  

out of 40 children, only 1 pair was too small (so i quietly escaped down to the storage room and exchanged them for a pair that fit him better). isn't that miraculous?! one of the boys had just arrived the day before and he was so excited that he laid out his jammies on the floor like a person and then he laid on top of them smiling crazy big. the missionary said he probably has never received anything before. the children may have been the ones receiving the gift, but it was really the 4 of us who were blessed that evening.

wow.

and that was just one evening of my trip! i've got nearly 600 photos from my time there and many more stories... my prayer is that i won't let them simply be stories but beautiful moments of my life that impact me and change me from here on. perspective!!!

re-entry failure

it's funny how many things look ridiculous that you once enjoyed/found important a week before you had to live without them and experience the REALLY important things.

needless to say, today was a rough day.

don't get me wrong, i loved seeing my kids for the first time in a week and holding them and kissing them and smelling them and looking at their faces and re-memorizing every inch of them. i loved taking a hot shower and not worrying about accidentally getting the water in my eyes or mouth. i loved stopping at whataburger from the airport and not having to ask for 'no ice' in my drink or having to remove the lettuce and tomatoes from my burger. i loved that my husband bought me roses and my favorite dessert and he patiently looked at my 3,458 pictures (give or take a few, j/k) as i told him every single orphan's name and their story or laughed at inside jokes from the pictures. i loved being home and being able to speak English and not having to think how to say things in Spanish.

but, some things today were just STUPID! i couldn't help but transfer my mind back to Guatemala and think how ridiculous some of my activities, actions, amenities were today in light of where i was and what i was doing and who i was hugging yesterday. it's so surreal!!!!

don't get me wrong - again - i had the absolute BEST mission trip in the world. maybe that's why it's so hard to just come back home and resume my life as it was before.

right before we got on the van which drove us to the Guatemala City airport, the last orphan to arrive at the home was crying and saying over and over again that he wanted to go, he didn't want to be there. tears were streaming down his cheeks. i told him that all the mama workers loved him and that he'd be going to school with all the other kids soon and that it was okay to be sad and miss his recently deceased father. but the most important thing i mustered for him was that God loved him and it would be okay - but what kid is comforted by those worlds when he has just lost his family and has been made to come live in a new place with strangers?!

again - don't get me wrong! - i believe what i said and it was the truth, but in light of his temporary suffering and the reality of his future...it was a somber way to leave the orphanage. the orphanage we went to was really awesome. it's way better than government run orphanages (as is my understanding and from heresay), and there are missionaries working for his best interest and, even better, they've got God working through them for His glory. but, that little boy is stuck there now - without a family, with 39 other kids with similar or worse backgrounds, under the care of mama workers who may be there because they love the kids or they just want to keep food on their tables.

how can i enjoy a cooking class where mentors are teaching me how to make a delicious herb-crusted, garlic&herb stuffed pork loin with horseradish red potatoes with spinach and artichoke casserole after seeing that boy's life turned upside down and be orphaned as he calls out to me over and over again, I WANT TO GO HOME!?

i'm having re-entry failure.

at dinner at a MOPS testimony event tonight, my travel-mate was recounting one of the best experiences of the trip and i just had to shut my eyes as the tears came in droves down my face. i wanted to transport myself back to that moment and freeze time so i could be in Guatemala. it feels weird calling this place (my home) home when my heart is still waiting for it's ride to the airport and sitting right outside the orphanage.

i know God is working in me right now. i feel the painful sawing of my rough edges and preconceived notions and biases being chiseled off. i know this trip is making me a better person, but it hurts. reverse culture shock.

kiddo kraft - APRIL

i have gotten SO MANY hits on my blog from my april kiddo kraft last year (resurrection eggs) thanks to pintrest, so if you're new here, howdy! ;)

i know i just posted a couple hours ago why i've been so absent (i didn't mention spring break, a death in the family with a funeral out of town, or other "jobs" keeping me busy). but, in light that i am leaving in less than a week, and the fact that i'm sure i will not get a non-mission-trip post in after my travels, i figured i'd just go ahead and kiddo post now!

so, this month's kiddo kraft was inspired by two of my MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) friends Eva and Dallas. on a facebook MOPS group post about curbing bad behavior, both of them mentioned remembering to focus on positive reinforcement of good behaviors through the use of a jar to collect stones/marbles/something and then the child gets rewarded when it's full.

another inspiration came to me from the teacher of my Apples of Gold bible study yesterday who was discussing parenting specifically by teaching our children to receive and respond to God. what really rang with me was using kingdom-verbaige in discipline: i.e., "did XXXX (lying, hitting, whining, disobeying, etc.) reflect God's nature." - but she said in the affirmative: "when you did XXXX (shared, waited your turn patiently, let your brother go first without whining, gave your old toys to children without them, held your sister's hand when she was scared, were kind to that animal, etc.), you showed God's nature."

so...dadadada! this month's kiddo kraft is: (INSERT YOUR CHILD'S NAME HERE) JAR

i'll tell you how to make it (cause it's less than 30 seconds) first and then tell you what it's for after. and, at first i was going to let them completely cover and decorate them with stickers and then modpodge it, but then i realized, wait - this jar is supposed to reflect that it's THEM, so it should just have a picture of THEM on it.

so here's how you make a picture into a sticker: get your handy dandy Xyron sticker maker (i used the permanent cartridge), run your cut-out picture of your kiddo through it, stick it on your jar. your child could stick their picture on it if you want them to...or you can be anal like me and let them watch you align it "perfectly" for them. if you don't have a sticker maker, i HIGHLY recommend it. i use it for all sorts of projects! love it love it love it love it. use your 40% off coupon and buy one or put it on your bday/christmas/mother's day gift list.

i bought my jars at Michael's for 3.99 each. before i let the girls pick which color they wanted, i made sure that the stones/marbles i picked out would fit through the opening of the jar first! lol. and they got to pick out the stones' color too (i bought a big bag at the same store for $6.99 before my 40% coupon). with the picture sticker on, i think the jars look so cute - they look like they're laughing together at something. ;) maybe at me?!

anyhow, the crafty part is done! i was also thinking of writing a Bible verse on it (see the verses mentioned below), but i have stalled that idea for now. maybe i'll come back to it after they fill up their jar...as a way of seeing that they have been "filled" X number of times? i'm still brainstorming on that part. :)

now on to what these jars are for!

in the Bible, there is a story that demonstrates the idea of God being the potter and man being the jar. God crafted the jar of clay, molded it, poured his love into His creation. well, you and i (and your child) were made by God. we are jars of clay, and we get to choose what we fill ourselves with - good God stuff or not good stuff. the thing is that God blesses us when we choose the good God stuff. so it is with these ideas that i made the LEILA JAR and the MACY JAR.

after i made them, i put a bowl (conveniently shaped in the shape of a heart - get it? God is Love!) full of colored marbles (which they picked out at the store) and i told them that these were all the characteristics of God and that He wants us to show these characteristics, too. and then we talked about some of these characteristics based on some bible verses that they've learned at wednesday night church. (Colossians 3:12 - compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness; Matthew 22: 37-39 - love the Lord and love your neighbor; Galatians 5:22 - fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peaceful, patient, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control, gentleness; etc.)

so after i told them some of the characteristics of God, i then explained that when i or their daddy or their sister or their grandparents saw them do something that "looked like Jesus" they would get to choose a marble and place it in their jar. and, as they filled themselves up with God's characteristics, He would bless them and we would celebrate with something fun/big when their jar was full. (maybe chuck e cheese, day at the beach, sleep in a tent in the backyard/living room [<- the latter was Dallas' gem], etc.)

macy is 2.5 years old and leila is 3.75 years old, and they IMMEDIATELY got this and wanted to do something that looked like Jesus. i told them that i would watch their actions and that i'm sure they would soon be doing something that looked like Jesus. sure enough, leila immediately picked up a marker and gave it to macy and said, "mommy, i shared with macy. can i put a stone in my jar?!" and of course i let her. ;) but i started catching them looking like Jesus without them asking for a stone and i quickly pointed it out to them so they'd understand the concept better. (i.e., i asked leila to do something, and she did it immediately without whining or straying from the task (which doesn't always happen!), and i told her that she looked like Jesus because she had a good attitude and she did what the Bible instructs when it says, "children obey your parents." and for macy, she stopped whining when i told her that it wasn't her turn to chose the story to listen to in the car, and i told her that she looked like Jesus because she had self-control over her anger and was being patient.)

and YOU'LL be amazed at how you can relate their good behavior BACK TO GOD! i found myself even bringing going to the potty (macy is not potty-trained yet) back to God (i.e., God wants you to take care of your body because He made you, and you show self-control when you choose to go in the potty instead of in your diaper...). it may be a stretch, but moms are good at making things up on the fly! ;)

AND i'm amazed at how much they DO look like Jesus. they teach me and remind me about Jesus while i'm trying to teach them. I LOVE IT!

i love this craft/activity because it was super duper easy smeasy, and it is parenting-focused, but more importantly, it is God-focused. i don't want my children to obey me JUST because i'm their parent and i love them. i also want my children to obey me in response to God because they've received Him in their lives! and, it's never too early to plant the seeds of God's love in their hearts!!!!

(yes, i just totally threw another craft at the bottom of a craft - but it fit in with what i had just said. ;) that's a flat canvas with the girls' hands traced with permanent marker and their inked fingerprints as leaves. they are supposed to be handprint trees. i gave this to our children's minister with a thank you note on the back.)

countdown to Guatemala

it's been quiet on my blog...because i've been uber busy preparing for my mission trip to Guatemala next week. you heard right - Guatemala!

ever since last summer (when i realized how long our adoption might take), i've been itching to get back into the mission field as a short-termer, and it was difficult for me to make a decision as to where to go. my heart is for missionaries and orphans - and i found a great orphanage in Guatemala run by american missionaries (thanks to my buddy Kandy for sharing a fellow Ethiopia adoption mama's blog with me).

i had been following http://buildingtheblocks.blogspot.com/ for a little while when Amy posted about short-term mission trips being available at their location. i contacted them right away and began to make plans early last fall.

i wanted to share this experience with some friends, so i invited some moms from my MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) group, and 3 of them responded to the call. we all have young children (preschool to young elementary), so we're leaving our children in the care of others while we go to the orphanage.

some of us have been met with verbal resistance by others.
some of us have hit financial snags/job losses/etc.
some of us have delayed serious family pursuits/plans for this trip.
but all of us have overcome the stumbling blocks are excited to go and serve and be the hands and feet of Christ!

being the team leader has been a little stressful, but a lot of fun. and the group i'm going with is absolutely fabulous. they are all so supportive and willing to go along with whatever i come up with. we've been doing some spiritual preparation that i have enjoyed, and everyone has chipped in with getting project donations. i am so pumped...and so blessed to be with these ladies.

what, you may be asking, are we going to do there? well, we're going to be playing with the orphans at the children's home, giving Bible devotionals at the manna feeding house (for the community children), teaching some English to the children at school through preschool songs, participating in their sports ministry and playing soccer (oh yeah!), doing crafts with all three groups, learning how to make homemade tortillas, doing some outreach foodsharing, sewing and painting, and pretty much doing anything and everything we can to serve alongside the missionaries and their families to show Christ's love.

so, i would ask for prayers for our safety, our children's care and their caregivers, our health, that our communication capabilities not be overly hampered by our lack of Spanish language knowledge, and that 'whenever we open our mouths that Jesus would fall out' (<- Beth Voss said that and i thought it was the bees' knees).


taataa & God bless you! i just love that we'll be arriving after Easter Sunday and we can excitedly tell them - He is Risen!!

“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” - Acts 20:35