Volleyball Themed Birthday Party

 

 

 

 

My daughter always chooses a unique theme for her birthday parties.  I had trouble finding decorations and ideas for volleyball-themed parties.  So my husband and I decided to make our own decorations.

Roger used some leftover indoor/outdoor carpet for grass.  He made the sandbox with a glue gun and some craft sticks. 

The volleyball net was plastic webbing material we bought at Hobby Lobby where we also bought the wooden dowels and the white Styrofoam balls we used for the cupcakes.  He used dowels to position the dolls (dolls bought at the Dollar Store) in various volleyball playing poses.  

He painted a box and decorated it to look like a concession stand.  Roger enlarged a family photo from our last beach trip to represent the fans. 

We made cupcakes and decorated them with graham cracker crumbs for sand and Styrofoam balls for volleyballs. 

My husband drew various sized volleyballs and my daughter colored them with markers.  Roger then made color copies and used them to decorate the kitchen.  He even made volleyball streamers with them.  We used some of the volleyballs for the treat bags (using glue dots we glued the volleyballs onto plain white lunch bags I bought at Wal-mart) 

The prize bags included hackey sacks (Oriental Trading) and tennis-type balls (Dollar Tree). 

To keep things simple, we made the refreshments self-serve.  We purchased chocolate-dipped mini-ice cream cones and they were a huge hit with both the kids and adults.  Lunch was $5 pizzas from Little Caesar's.  I managed to find some volleyball-themed plates and napkins on Ebay.  Roger filled a fun summer bucket with ice and mini-cans of sodas for the kids.

What volleyball-themed party would be complete without a friendly game of volleyball with friends and family.  We purchased the volleyball set, which included the net and volleyball, at Wal-Mart for $20.  Other entertainment included a rousing game of horseshoes, swimming and a piñata for the kids. 

We also had a door prize (volleyball/horse shoe set) drawing for all the kids. 

 

 

 

 

Easter State of Mind

Easter is only a few days away.  I love Easter because it celebrates the most important event in history.  Third Day's music will always remind me of my first Easter after becoming a Christian.  For Lent, I always give up something that is bad for me.  One year I gave up worrying (and all heck broke loose), last year I gave up eating junk food and this year I gave up eating out.  I am reading a Lent devotional by Max Lucado entitled "On Calvary's Hill:  40 Readings for the Easter Season."  I want to share with you what I read yesterday because it is so powerful:

[Speaking of Christ on the cross.]

Then, at midday, darkness falls like a curtain.  This is a supernatural darkness.  Not a casual gathering of clouds or a brief eclipse of the sun.  This is a three-hour blanket of blackness...Christ lifts his heavy head and eyelids toward the heavens and spends his final energy crying out toward the ducking stars.  "'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' that is, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?'" (Matthew 27:46).  

We would ask the same.  Why him?  Why forsake your Son?  Forsake the murderers.  Desert the evildoers.  Turn your back on perverts and peddlers of pain.  Abandon them, not him.

What did Christ feel on the cross?  The icy displeasure of a sin-hating God.  Why?  Because he "carried our sins in his body" (1 Peter 2:24).

With hands nailed open, he invited God, "Treat me as you would treat them!"  And God did.  In an act that broke the heart of the Father, yet honored the holiness of heaven, sin-purging judgment flowed over the sinless Son of the ages.

And heaven gave her finest gift:  the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world.

"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"  Why did Christ scream those words?  So you'll never have to.

That gives you goosebumps, doesn't it?  What a wonderful picture of GRACE. I hope you have accepted Christ's gift and He is your Savior.  If not, there will never be a more perfect time to ask Christ into your heart than Easter.  

Is their hope for deliverance?

I asked God today if there was any hope of deliverance for a couple of people I know whose drug abuse is escalating to the point where they are not only using pills but needles to get high, stealing from their family members, lying to everyone (including themselves) and being arrested for burglary.  I have seen firsthand the destructive effects drug abuse wreaks on every life it touches - not just the addict's life, but his spouse and his children's lives, too. 

So I asked God "is there any hope?"  I then opened my Bible to the location where I left off reading, in Psalms, and guess what the scripture was?  I believe God's answer to my question:

[God] Who forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases (drug addiction),

who redeems your life from the pit (no deeper pit than addiction) 

and crowns you with love and compassion,

who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

 

 

He does not treat us as our sins deserve (stealing from and hurting our loved ones)

or repay us according to our iniquities.

 

As far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our

transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,

so the Lord has compassion on

those who fear him;

for he knows how we are formed (He knows what we are capable of such as self-destructive behavior, etc.),

he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass,

he flourishes like a flower of the field;

the wind blows over it and it is gone,

and its place remembers it no more.

(Psalm 103:3-5, 10, 12-16) (emphasis mine)

 

 

This gives me such encouragement.  As long as our loved ones have a heart beat and a breath left in their lungs, God is giving them another chance for his redemption and mercy and there is hope that every addict can find true deliverance from drugs, not just the "con" they tell their families so that they can continue their destructive behavior.  I had a friend whose husband became addicted to drugs and he went to rehab so many times it was pathetic.  He even stole from the rehabs he was in.  He stole everything she had and pawned it for drugs.  (I still will not shop at a pawn shop for this very reason.)  Drug addicts are the best actors the world has ever seen, they have to lie to keep their family in denial so they will continue to have a place to sleep, food to eat and access to items to pawn.  The worse thing any family can do in that situation is let it go on.  No, this is when "tough love" is the healthy and godly response.  God allows us all to hit "rock bottom" sometimes so that we will turn from our destructive behavior (like drug addiction, alcoholism, destructive relationships, etc.) to Him, our only source for true deliverance.  But if a parent or spouse is there to "rescue" their drug addicted loved ones from the consequences of their behavior, then the addict just becomes a better con and more addicted than ever.  If this situation is similar to one you find yourself in, the only advice I can give you is to pray.  Ask God to deliver them from their addiction and show you what you should do, but be ready for some tough answers.  If we never faced pain, would any of us really ever change?  No.  Trust God and believe that nothing is too hard for Him who formed us from the dust.    

 



ON THE ROAD AGAIN...

As we were on our way to my cousin's in Washburn this weekend, our path was crossed by not only a deer but a very big cow...in less that 2 miles.  Thankfully, the law was behind us so I did not have to dial 911 to report a cow on the loose.  The cop turned his sirens and lights on and herded the cow out of the road (or off the side of the road where it was casually munching hay).

I began to ponder my "driving" ju-ju.  (I don't believe in ju-ju or karma, but for lack of a better word.)  Maybe it is because I drive approximately 70 miles per day or maybe it is the roads I am traveling, but I have seen some mighty strange sights in my journeys and I wonder if it is just me or if everyone has the same type of ju-ju?

I guess it all began when I was almost killed by a Port-a-Potty.  It almost fell off the truck in front of me on I-40 and splashed yucky fluids onto my car.  I still have a fear of transport-in-progress-Port-a-Potties. 

One day on my way home from working in Knoxville, I topped the hill on Broadway and in the road lay a dead body.  Luckily, another car was blocking the lane with their blinkers on or I would have ran over said dead body again with my car.  I called 911 (a reoccurring theme in this story) and told them I was calling to report a body in the road.  Their response "the one near Magnolia?"  How many dead bodies were laying in the road that day in Knoxville????  Maybe it is Knoxville...maybe it is the crazy driving capital of the world.  One afternoon in Knoxville rush hour traffic, I noticed a big, fat bull jogging (seriously) down the right lane on 11-E headed to town.  I refused to call 911 that time but I have called several other times.

Like the day I was witness to a hit-and-run and a car chase ensued.  Dudes in a red car pulled out and ran right into a big pick-up truck.  Dudes in red car took off down Magnolia with big pick-up truck right behind.  I called 911 and reported that the red car did not have a license plate, they were being chased by the victim and were probably already to Rutledge Pike at that point.  (You learn to give good directions when notifying the police of car accidents, dead bodies, drunk drivers, and car chases.)

I have called to report a table in the road, a herd of cattle in the road, a wild fire on the side of I-40, I have been on the scene of numerous car accidents (stopping for ones I have witnessed first-hand), and I was once pulled over by a guy who later was featured on "Unsolved Mysteries" (which resulted in a call to both 911 and a call to UM's tip line).

I have seen numerous car accident victims, Lifestar landing to help said accident victims, over-turned dump trucks leaving a trail of boulders, Jesus holding his cross while in Chattanooga at a women's ministry conference (ironic, huh?), a man walking across the country with a cross on wheels,

the Oscar Meyer Wiener mobile...you get the gist.

I have been videotaped driving by numerous reporters (a co-worker once saw me on TV as I drove by the scene of a car accident), I have been filmed in traffic jams, and have witnessed officer take-downs, a S.W.A.T. team standoff and of course, have been stopped in numerous roadblocks searching for escaped convicts and drunk drivers.

I never know what I will see on the road again...

A Life Well Lived

It has been a year today since my beloved Aunt Marie went to heaven. As her preacher said during her eulogy "She was old and full of days" like the prophets of the Old Testament.  She lived a good life, had more fun than sorrow and loved to travel.  Her favorite things were buttermilk, the open road and a good Danielle Steele novel.   I think I miss her more than anyone I have lost before.  I guess because we talked every day via email.  Yes, my 93-year-old aunt had a laptop and was not afraid to use it.  Of course, at first she had some technical difficulties and would call me for help.  Like the time she accidentally made a picture of her ex-son-in-law in a coffin her wallpaper.  I think that was traumatizing to her but it gave me a good laugh.  She would tell me about all her travels, stories about our family that were no longer alive and she shared her unique perception on life.  We had a bond that only aunts and nieces can form.  She was one of those people you aspire to be like.  She was one of my favorite people, my hero and best friend all rolled into one.

Some days I miss her so much it makes me cry, but mostly I cherish all the fun times we had together and all the memories she left behind.  I remember our last day together.  We went to Walmart and I had to get one of those electric wheelchairs for her.  Of course, the only one they had charged was clear across the store so here I went, riding along at a snail's pace across Walmart.  She got on it and turned it into a hot rod, even using her little horn on it.  She was a hoot!  We once were playing with her daughter's boyfriend's riding chair in Florida.  We thought it was great fun until I rode it right into his new back door and put a big dent in it.  (Two weeks later, he ran into it with the riding chair and knocked the entire door down so I did not feel too bad.)  Aunt Marie made spending the day going to yard sales the best day ever.  She taught me how to "negotiate."  We had more fun doing simple things like that than most people would going to Disney World or Dollywood. 

I know I will see my Aunt Marie again one day when I get to heaven.  I hope when I leave this world that I will leave the type of impression that she left - I want people to say my life was a life well lived...

Luke

It took 3 years and many prayers for me to get pregnant.  God gave me a verse to cling to during that time:  Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)  I knew God knew the desires of my heart - to have another baby.  I trusted in Him to fulfill that desire.  My husband thought we were too old and I reminded him of Abraham and Sarah.  My full-of-faith husband doubted we would have even one child let alone two.  I assured him we would.  I trusted God and when I found out I was expecting, I rejoiced like Sarah. 

I went to a high risk OB who commenced to scaring me - telling me how great the odds were of having a baby with birth defects because of my age (40 years old when I have Luke).  Assurances were whispered to my heart and I said "Your will, God."  The following week the doctor's office called while I was walking into Walmart.  The nurse began to spout medical jargon at me.  I finally asked her to break it down where I could understand.  Basically, some type of level was high when they tested my blood which meant I was at a very high risk of miscarriage.  To say I was stunned is an understatement.  She called in some medicine immediately for me to begin taking to prevent a miscarriage.  When I got off the phone with her and called my husband, I looked up with tears in my eyes and there was a prayer journal in the aisle I was standing and guess what it said on the cover "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart."  I got the message God was sending me.  I was still very upset by the news and asked people to pray for me.  I knew getting extremely upset might add to my chances of miscarrying so I prayed for God's strength and peace. 

All my birth defect test results came back within the normal range for a younger woman.  I am almost 26 weeks pregnant now and we are having a boy. 

The doctor's office called with bad news this week.  I have gestational diabetes.  I went to diabetes training today and again heard the terms "older" and "pregnant" used together.  I had gestational diabetes with Isabella the last 3 weeks of my pregnancy - not the last 3 months.  The nurse mentioned the possibility of needing insulin.  Now I have to watch everything I eat (which is a good thing in a way) and turn myself into a voodoo doll by puncturing myself 4 times a day to test my blood.  (I would not get a tattoo because of my fear of needles).  It occurred to me a moment ago how much I am willing to endure for my child before he is even born.  It reminded me of what Jesus was willing to endure before we were even born so we could become God's children.  I understand why God teaches us about His love for us as He is our father and we are His children, because I have an inkling of what kind of love that is due to the way I feel about my own children.  Of course, the love I feel for Isabella and Luke is intense and deep but nothing compared to the love God has for you and me - His children. 

In the end, when I hold Luke in my arms and kiss him for the first time, everything I have endured up until that moment will all be worth it. Just like all the torment, pain, and separation Jesus went through on the cross for us will be worth it when He holds us in His arms for the first time and kisses us.

Drive By Rabbit-ting

Roger called me to inform me that someone had dropped off another rabbit (along with food) in our rabbit, Ming-Ming's cage while we were at work today.  My first thought was "Only us."  My second thought was "I hope Ming-Ming doesn't get pregnant."  I started giggling and Roger said "It's not funny."  But it is.  What else can you do but laugh when something this crazy happens? 

I suggested Roger release it to the wild.  Then I heard my daughter in the background.  Her exact words were "We cannot release a poor, defenseless animal into the wild to be attacked by a dog."  My next suggestion was to call Animal Control because it is an abandoned pet.  Roger was more upset about someone trespassing on our property.  He hates that. 

When trying to determine who might have done this, I mentioned it might be our crazy neighbors who have been known to leave strange items in our yard like Easter eggs (maybe there is a theme here).  He decided to call and make sure they were not the ones who did this before having the rabbit picked up.  Our neighbors mistakenly thought we wanted another rabbit so they left it as a joke.  Roger informed them that we did not want another rabbit, especially a male rabbit.  I just hope Ming-Ming doesn't get pregnant although she seems to be more interested in the visitor's food than the visitor himself...