Recent Family Project......

I thought I would share our most recent family project with all you.

Dad bought a rent house last year and in March we had some people who were interested in renting it!

So, since then and until about a week ago we have spent most of our Saturdays and spare time up there working on it.

As you can tell from the pictures it was quite a task!

The people who lived in it previously did not take very good care of it. Several times I wondered if we could actually get it finished!

But praise the Lord, we finally did!!!!!!

These are all the before pictures:

*Warning* They are not at all pretty! :)

Hideous dark green tile in the bathroom......






This is the kitchen after the counters were taken out.

Oh, and the lights were all on when these pictures were taken.

It was just super dark and yucky in there. :)






This is the dining room.

It has a really cute built in corner cabinet in it.







The garage was my biggest job!

As you can tell it took me awhile. :)



Sweet Guy mowing the grass in the back yard.

It has a lovely big back yard with great trees for shade!



Everyone pitched in to help!

Aren't they so big?!


Ok, now onto brighter things!
Here are the after pictures:
Prepare to be amazed! :)


This is the front door that mom found a Habitat for Humanity!
Isn't it pretty?
Sorry I didn't get a close up.
The old door was just a solid door with a peep hole.
Oh, and the exterior side was bright blue!



Here is the bathroom now!!!!!

It turned out wonderfully!

It's amazing what new tile and paint can do for a room.

Here is the corner cabinet I was telling you about!

Sorry about the cleaning supplies. Oops! :)

We also spray painted the light fixture in the dining room!

It was green before!

Back to the kitchen!

This is before we got the stove in place, but doesn't look 100% better?

It took several talented guys to make it look this good! :)

Much brighter now too!

The ceiling light fixture we got at Habitat also.

The new linoleum in the kitchen.

It looks like tile!

We also painted, fixed holes, added doors, scrubbed, pulled up carpets etc.

in the 3 bedrooms, walk-in closets and the living room.

I think I could even live in it now! :)

I'm so thankful to have this project done.

It was so fun to be able to work on it as a family (my uncle also was a big help)

We got to spend a lot of great time together!

"Many hands make light work"

Idle Hands vs. Helping Hands ~Part 7~

Here is the final part to the Ministry list!

If you only have a few minutes:

~ Be a prayer warrior! Everyone needs prayer, have your heart open to the Lord and pray for people as you go about your day.

~ Write an encouraging note to other sisters. I know what a blessing it is to get a sweet letter in the mail, especially if I’ve had a hard day. Even a postcards telling them you are thinking of them is nice! The Lord will put a special person on your heart, just when they need it.

~ Leave a comment on a sister’s blog letting her know you were thinking about her.

~ Call someone up whether it’s your Grandma, Mom, friend or whoever and let them know they are special to you! Or even text them! (technology is so nice for this)

~ Send out birthday cards to widows, singles or mommas. These people don’t usually get cards. I know it is a great blessing when I receive a birthday card in the mail! It makes me feel really special!

~Even just picking a pretty flower, putting it in a vase and giving it to someone will make their day!

Stay tuned for the next list I’m putting together, about furthering your education ideas and ways to make money from home!

I was so blessed to see that I got over 200 hits on my blog this week!
Thank you to all who commented and left ideas for me!

( I will be adding you suggestions to the lists by the way. )

If you can, please take a few minutes and let me know what you thought about the whole list. It would really be a big blessing to me to know if posts like
this are helpful or if there is anything that might need to be changed.

Thank you so much!

I look forward to reading your comments!!

"No one is uesless in this world who lightens the burdens of another."

~Charles Dickens

Idle Hands vs. Helping Hands ~Part 6~

Misc. things to do for ministry:

~ If you like to garden: plant one or add on to the one you have for the purpose of giving it away. Give the vegetables and fruit to a family who might be struggling financially or to the elderly you know who are on a fixed income.

~ Help by schooling your siblings or other children you know. I did this for two years right after I graduated. The children I schooled were my little brother and two other children whose mother had left them. Ask your Mom about this, she might not want you to take over all the schooling on a child, but might like a hand for a few subjects.

~ Just being available to the people in your community or church is a great thing! Sometimes the head librarian at the library in town will ask us to come in and rearrange to books because we have made it known to her that if she ever needed help we were available to help. Letting people know that you are willing to help wherever needed is a wonderful ministry!

~ If you can play an instrument well, why not set up with the nursing home in your community to come in and play for the people living there. I know the elderly love this! Again, it is a great way to get to know them.

For Tomorrow: If you only have a few minutes......

To read the rest of this list click here for:

Part One,

Part Two,

Part Three,

Part Four,

Part Five

Idle Hands vs. Helping Hands ~Part 5~

If you like to knit or crochet:



~ Knitted or crocheted preemie (or babies in the NICU), hats and blankets are very much of a blessing to the families who receive them. I wasn’t able to find an organization that is dedicated to just this. But one place did suggest just getting in touch with a hospital in your area to see how to get these items to the families. Be sure and pray for the baby and the family as you are creating the item!

~Prayer Shawls 4 Fallen Soldiers is an organization that sends knitted blankets to the families who have lost a family member in the war. Go to www.webpages.charter.net/ps4fs/shawls/ for more information. You can also visit http://www.shawlministry.com/ for more ideas on where to send knitted and crocheted blankets.

~ The homeless shelters can use knitted or crocheted hats, gloves, scarves and blankets. If you started now just think of how many you could donate by wintertime! And think about how

special it would make a person feel to receive something from a person they didn’t even know!

This list was a little short too. So if you have any other ideas for blessing someone with your knitting and crocheting let me know!

If you haven't read the other parts to this list go here for:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

For Tomorrow: Misc things to do for ministry

Painting by Mary Cassatt

Idle Hands vs. Helping Hands ~Part 4~

If you have a heart to help out Mommas:

~ I started a ministry using Preschool Activities In A Bag a couple of years ago. I really enjoy putting them together and I know it blesses the Mommas to receive them! To learn more go to http://www.activitybags.com/ or if you have any questions about doing this just leave me a comment. I’d love to tell you about them!

~ Another way to help out Mommas is to offer to take care of their other children when a new baby is born. This too is what I do as a ministry. I’ll go to their house sometimes a few days before the baby is born, usually when the momma feels like she is ready for some extra help. While I’m there, I will watch/play with the children, cook meals, help with cleaning or any other things that need doing. Once I ended up staying with a family a whole week, because they needed some extra help. So be ready to be a big blessing!

~You can also offer to help watch the children if Mom has a big project going on that she needs her full attention on. Like spring-cleaning, school planning, garden planning etc.
I put together a special baby-sitting box that I take with me when I go help out. It has craft supplies, games, books, puzzles and outside toys in it. It is a big hit with the children!

I didn't have as many ideas for this section. So, if you have any other ideas on helping mothers let me know!

To read the rest of this list go here for Part One, Part Two, Part Three

For Tomorrow: If you like to knit of crochet

Painting by Mary Cassatt

Idle Hands vs. Helping Hands ~Part 3~

Part 3 of the Ministry List

( go here for part one and here for part two)

If you have a heart for the Elderly:

~ Become a driver for some of the elderly people you know. Many times when a person gets older their vision changes and they don’t feel comfortable driving around anymore.
You could drive them to the store, doctor appointments or just around town.

~ Help out with cleaning around their house or go the store for them (sometimes places like Home-Health won’t do this). My Great-Grandma has trouble getting around because of a bad leg, so housework, laundry, etc. is hard for her to accomplish.
She lives over 3 hours away, so I can’t help her with this. But, if she were closer, I definitely would!

~ Even just being a companion to an elderly person, is such a blessing to them! I love to listen to them talk about their lives when they were younger. You can learn so much from them. And what a great way to practice Titus 2!

~ Volunteer at a nursing home or at a home for people with Alzheimers. Many times these place are packed full and the nursing staff isn’t able to take time to visit with the patients all the time. So having someone come in who enjoys visiting with them is a great blessing to the staff and the patients!

~Sometimes these faculties are quite short on money and time that they don’t have the funds to update the paint, magazines or wall decorations. Becoming a volunteer is a great way to help with this. At the Alzheimers home we have in town, the planting boxes outside are broken and the plants were dying, the magazines had been there for a very long time too. The fish tank they have in the foyer is in need of monthly cleaning also. So, my family is thinking about asking if we could come in and help out with those things.

~At the nursing home, you could also volunteer to do the lady’s hair and nails. I know it means a lot to them to look nice and it makes them feel special too!

~ Reading to the elderly is another way to bless them! I can’t imagine life without reading books, but as people get older sometimes it gets harder and harder to see small words.

If you have any other ideas on howto bless the elderly please leave a comment!

Or if you thought it was helpful let me know!

For Tomorrow: If you have a heart to help out Mommas

Idle Hands vs. Helping Hands ~Part 2~

Here is the second part of the Ministry list!

(To read part one go here)

If you like to cook or bake:

~ Make a couple of meals (frozen or fresh) for a family who might have a sickness going around. Mommas are very tired during this time and don’t have a lot of time to think about what to cook.

~Or make meals when a new baby arrives. When Baby Girl was born several people brought meals to our house. It helped tremendously since Mom could not come down stairs for a week and I was very busy with the other household things.

~You could also bless a family with a meal or two if you hear that they have a very busy week ahead of them or if they are going on a trip. You could bless them with a freezer meal for when they get back. I know its always a hassle to figure out what to cook right when you get back from a trip.

~ Bake a birthday cake for a family who just had a baby. When Baby girl was born, a sweet sister brought us a cake their family had made for her. It was such a special gift!

~ Do the cooking for an elderly person/couple. The elderly have so much knowledge to give and usually they love people to come and visit. So what better way to build a relationship, than to help with their cooking! You could make up some dinners for them once a week that they could pull out of the freezer. The dollar store has cheap individual sized meal containers you could put their meals in. Be your own meals on wheels!

~ You could even make up a bunch of freezer meals for your own family. This is a great blessing to my mom, especially during the summer months when we are outside most of the day. Its really nice to be able to get a meal out of the freezer and go on with other things and have dinner ready in an hour! A great place to get freezer meals recipes is in the 30-Day Gourmet Cookbook ( http://www.30daygourmet.com/ )

Be sure and comment if you have any other ideas or if you were just blessed by it!

For Tomorrow: If you have a Heart for the Elderly

Idle Hands vs. Helping Hands

When I first started this post, I was mainly writing it for young women who were graduated from school and single. But as I went along, I found that there is such a need for all young women whether still in school, graduated or married without children at home to be productively using our time!

So many young women are unsure what to with their time that we end up spending a lot of time focused on what we don’t have yet. Such as counting down the days until you can be done with your school forever, waiting around for Mr. Right to show up or feeling incomplete because you haven’t been blessed with a baby yet.
These are all things that can hinder us from truly pouring ourselves into the Lord’s work for us.
There is so much more life in blessing other people than being focused on what we don’t have.

Sisters, do you know that we have been wasting a wonderful opportunity that the Lord has given us?
For those of us who don’t have a husband or family to take care of yet what a wonderful time we have been given to fully embrace the ministry the Lord has called us to!
We don’t have the responsibilities of a family on us yet, and some of us have older siblings who can take care of themselves and share the household workload so then you have even more time to give the Lord!

For those of you who are married but don’t have a baby yet. You will have more to tend to than the singles. But there is still time during the day after the household things are done and your husband is still at work, to dedicate to the Lord!

Let us embrace the in between times and prayerfully consider what the best use of our time could be!

So, with all that said………..
I’ve put together a list of all the ministry opportunities I could think of hoping that it might help you find something you would like to do as a ministry.
I researched some websites to go along with the ideas to help you get started.
(I do not endorse these websites; I’m just using them for ideas)

I hope that something on this list will spark an interest for you!

Because of how big this list is, I broke it up into seven segments and will be posting one everyday this next week. So be sure and check back to see the newest one!

If you know of any other ministry opportunity that I didn’t add, please leave me a comment and I’ll add it to the list. I will be updating this list regularly so the more ideas I have the more help it can be to all of you!

If this list blesses you at all, please post about it on your blog (you are welcome to copy the list as long as you add a link to my blog). Or if you know of someone who would be blessed by it, please send it to them! There are so many sisters who feel unsure of how to minister from home. There is such a need for this.

PLEASE get this list out there!!!!

If you Like To Sew:

~Sew baby clothing and blankets for families of newborns in the NICU or their baby died. There are many organizations that deal with this ministry. Pray for the family and the baby while you are sewing the items.
Try this Christian site, http://www.threadsoflove.com/

~ Many moms don’t have the time to sew dresses or clothing for their children or themselves. You could have her buy the pattern, fabric and offer to sew it for her.

~ I recently found out Downy has program that delivers handmade quilts to sick children receiving treatment in the Children’s Miracle Network hospitals. What a wonderful way to pray for the child receiving the blanket and for the families of the sick child! Go to http://www.downy.com/ to find out more.

~ You can sew prayer blankets for cancer patients. While taking chemo, patients get quite cold, so having a blanket to wrap up in is helpful. Pray over the person receiving the blanket while you are sewing! http://www.prayerquilt.org/

~ I found several organizations that do sewing for children in orphanages. One was Come & Sew Ministries International( http://www.comeandsew.org/ ). They sew blanket sleepers, quilts, coloring bags, etc. for children in the Russian orphanages, as well as some other places. If you don’t want to send the items you’ve sewn thru an organization, most churches have a missionary they support. You could contact them and ask what kind of sewn items are needed and send it directly to them.

~ Many homeless shelters will take donations of sewn items. Items that might be enjoyed are baby clothing, quilts, bags and children’s clothing. Check with the homeless shelter nearest you to see what their needs are.


For Tomorrow: If You Like To Cook or Bake

A Very Hapy Easter To You!!!

I'm so very thankful that Jesus died to save us aren't you? No one made Him do it, He choose to because He loved us so much!

Doesn't that make you feel special? I sure do!

Sisters, let us remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us, by showing love, patience and kindness to the people all around us!

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you". John 15:12

I hope you have a very blessed Easter and a restful weekend!!!

Much Love,

Laura

P.S. I hope this next week to post about about things a stay-at-home daughter can do as a ministry. Be sure to stop and see it!

One Of My Favorite Songs......

Blessed Be Your Name

Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flows
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flows
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
When I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing you pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
When darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun’s shining down on me
When the worlds all that it should be
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the suffering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing you pour out
I’ll turn back to praise
When darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name!

~ song by: Matt Redman

Prayer.......

I recently had an opportunity to grow in the area of prayer.
A sweet friend passed away not long ago. He had been quite sick. Many people were praying that he would be healed. Well, a few days later he went to be with the Lord. I had a really hard time understanding why even though we had prayed for his healing the Lord took him anyway.
“What ever you ask for in prayer”…..Right?

However, I had forgot the most important thing about praying, that it is all is the Lord’s hands. I can’t make Him do what I want.
I had been demanding toward the Lord, I wanted Him to do things my way. If I had prayed with an open heart then I wouldn’t have gone to the place of questioning the Lord’s will later. I still would have been sad that our friend was gone, but I would have been in a good place in my heart about what the Lord had chosen.

I would encourage you sweet friends to remember that the Lord is like a father, our own fathers wouldn’t like a demanding child, so do you think our heavenly Father would?

This doesn’t mean, not to put our prayers before Him, but to do it such a way that it is with an open heart to what ever the Lord has.
Lord not my will, but yours be done!

Spring is Here!!!!

Since everyone else is sharing their spring pictures, I thought I'd share mine as well!!

Mine is about my favorite thing to do in the spring and summer.......


Hang up laundry on line!!!!

Baby girl's clothes and cloth diapers hanging up.
I love the way they smell after they come off the line!

My laundry helper. :)


Isn't she a sweetheart?

I hope you are all enjoying the springy weather.
And for those of you still snowed in, spring will be there soon!


I found this quote today, it describes this day perfectly.....

"It was one of those March days when the
sun shines hot and the wind blows cold:
when it is summer in the light,
and winter in the shade". ~Charles Dickens


"The day the Lord created hope was probably
the same day he created Spring". ~Bern Williams

Blessings to you all!!!!!!

Our Maker

Have thine own way, Lord!

Have thine own way!

Thou art the potter, I am the clay.

Mold me and make me after thy will,

while I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have thine own way, Lord!

Have thine own way!

Search me and try me, Savior today!

Wash me just now, Lord, wash me just now,

as in thy presence humbly I bow.

Have thine own way, Lord!

Have thine own way!

Wounded and weary, help me I pray!

Power, all power, surely is thine!

Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!

Have thine own way, Lord!

Have thine own way!

Hold o'er my being absolute sway.

Fill with thy Spirit till all shall see

Christ only, always, living in me!

-Adelaide Pollard, 1907

This one of my favorite hymns.

I love the picture of Jesus being the Potter.

Sisters, let us let Him be the maker and shaper of our lives!
When we the clay try to make ourselves into something we don't get very far. Do we?

But when give our entire life shaping to Him,

not saving any part back,

only then can He make something beautiful out of us!!!

Having Rebekah's Heart

Being a single woman hasn’t been the easiest thing for me, anyone who knows me well can tell you I have struggled with this for sometime.
A sister once encouraged me to be like Rebekah, to be busy while I wait for my “Isaac”.

So, I started reading her story and one thing really stood out to me, she was a willing and diligent worker!

“And it came about before he had finished speaking, that behold, Rebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder.
And the girl was very beautiful, a virgin, and she went down to the spring and filled her jar, and came up.
Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, "Please let me drink a little water from your jar."
And she said, "Drink, my lord"; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand, and gave him a drink.
Now when she had finished giving him a drink, she said, "I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking."
So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels.
Genesis 22:15-20

Rebekah wasn’t mopping around the house, waiting for the “ right one” to show up or just working enough to get by.
No! She was helping in her father’s house and I’m sure doing many other things to bless the people around her.
When Abraham’s servant showed up, she offered to give water to not only him, but also all his camels!
(That is not an easy thing to do I’m sure!)
She had already learned to see where there is a need and then do it whole-heartedly.

I think this a wonderful thing to learn now!
It pains me some much to watch young ladies being only concerned about things for their hope chests or planning their weddings ect.
These things are fun to do or plan, but it is very easy to become consumed with them.

At one time I was consumed with those things.
Let me tell you, that being wrapped up in this only leads to discontentment and impatience in waiting on the Lord.

It came to the point with me that obviously the Lord has other things during this season then marriage or even planning those things. It hurt really hard at first to let them go and hold them with an open hand, but I'm so glad that are better now! (I still have to lay this issue down very often :) )


I do believe that season will come around at some point, but now isn’t the right time. I do still want to be married, be a wife and mother and run my own home, but the Lord is the only one who knows when I’m truly ready.

Meanwhile, I’m working on pouring all my energy into helping my family and blessing those around me. Being aware of things that need doing, and doing them. Even it’s not my favorite thing to do, putting my whole heart into them.
This is not an easy feat; I have to lean on the Lord daily to even partly accomplish this with a smile on my face.

Remember sweet sisters to adopt Rebekah’s heart.
Be aware of those around you who need a willing heart to help where needed and a sweet smile to go with it!
Blessings,
Laura