Pinterest Project - Valentines

I saw a similar Valentine's wreath on Pinterest last weekend and thought I'd try my hand at making something cute for our front door.

What you'll need:

1 skein of yarn in color of your choice (I chose a wheat color)
3 sheets of felt...the kind precut in the craft department. I chose 1 each of red, white and pink
3 feet of string or yarn
Straight pins...I chose the kind with the pearl on the end, but they have them in white and an assortment pack...just pick something that matches your colors
1 straw wreath
Scissors

So...wrap the yard around the wreath 1,000,000,000 times. My advice is to skip your morning workout because although it will be worth it in the end....your arm is going to hurt after this step. There's no shortcut...just do it.

Cut out hearts (about 2 inches tall by 3 inches wide) in various colors of felt. Create a pattern of your choosing

Secure the hearts with pins.

Take remaining string or yarn and criss cross it over the hearts in a pattern. Secure string with pins on the back side of wreath.

Use remaining pins as decorative dots around the wreath.

Super Easy! Let me know if you try it...I'd love to see pictures!

Day #11 Beautiful Details

The word tells us that through Him and for Him all things were created,

That we are as clay in the potter's hands.

What kind of potter possesses the power to change the seasons

And the subtlety to bring forth a radiant flower from the smallest bud

Or endows a fragile monarch butterfly with the instinct to travel thousands of miles

Or through the thunder and lightning of a panoramic storm brings life-giving rain?

Who blesses a humble grain of wheat by some miracle to germinate and produce a stalk with multiple grains at its head?

When planted in great numbers it produces food for thousands.

The Word tells us that the pinnacle of creation,

The baby conceived in a virgin's womb by the Holy Spirit

Died on a cross to pay for his workmanship's failures

That if we believe in Him we do not perish but are re-created by nail-scarred hands

Emerging as from a cocoon

Raptured souls finding rest beyond the river

Glorifying the triune Creator forever and ever!

--Jack L. Griffin

Details are beautiful. And sometimes we need to take a closer look so we can understand better what God is up to. Looking at the details cause us to stop, think and sit in wonderment of the extreme creativity and detail that God spent on us. The human body, nature, space...it all screams of God's amazing attention to details.

And..since we were created in His image, He's given us all a spirit of creativity. Maybe it's crafting or music or computer design or gardening...if you look hard enough, you'll find an area of creativity, an area of detail that He's given you too. Honor Him with that. The details scream of God's majesty. I want to be a part of that..don't you?

Leave a comment: What's your area of creativity or attention to detail?

Outreach Ideas for Vacation Bible School

This year for Vacation Bible School our church did a little something different. Since I'm always on the lookout for new ministry ideas, I figure there might be someone out there that could benefit from hearing what we did.

Instead of crafts this year our kids did outreach activities. Grades 1-6 participated in four activities that will benefit someone else. Our VBS theme was "What's in it for me?"...and obviously we were trying to get them to think of others instead of themselves.

Here's what we did:

Monday: The kids wrapped and boxed 2500 water bottles. We printed labels with the church information...times, programs, contact information... And plan to pass them out at a local July 4th event in our community. We finished nearly 1800 on Monday and completed the rest on Thursday. We boxed them up and took them to a man in our church who has a refrigerated truck and he's cooling them down for us before the event.

Tuesday: We painted a clay flowerpot and planted flowers in each one. The kids were challenged to give there potted plant to a neighbor, elderly person or someone who might be lonely. We heard at least a dozen reports at how people were touched by this act of kindness. Our local Lowe's ordered the pots in bulk for us, so if you need an abundance you might check to see your local stores supply ahead of time.

Wednesday: A few weeks before VBS we started collecting sample/hotel size shampoos, toothpastes, body washes, lotions, conditioners and wash clothes. A local dentist donated several hundred toothbrushes. And we used ziplock bags to assemble 1400 hygiene bags. We donated these to the local pregnancy center, our church food pantry and our local hospital.

Thursday: We closed the week out by purchasing enough fleece to make 30 fleece tie blankets. We bought various colors and patterns to appeal to boys, girls and adults. We donated these to Home Health Care who will distribute them this fall as the weather gets cooler.

The great thing about these outreach activities is that the kids understood the correlation with the lesson time and the activities and had a greater understanding of focusing on others rather than themselves. It was a great week!