Cult of Christ?

So it has been a long time since I have posted, Shalisa has done a great job keeping the blog active and fresh while I have been on a bit of a posting hiatus. I am not even sure if I am ready to return to active blogging, I am dealing with some other aspects of my life right now that need more attention and trying to exert my time and focus there (more time spent in prayer, and more time spent in education) but there was something that struck me tonight that I was considering. I don't even have an answer to this question, I don't know where I stand, it's just something that is rolling around in my brain and while I am thinking of it I thought I would elicit others opinions.

The question is "can you have too much 'Christ' in your life?" Now let me explain where I am going with this BEFORE you jump all over me. Often times we see churches that focus too much on say, the Holy Spirit. They obsess over that aspect of our triune God, but they neglect to really talk about or teach much about God the Father or Christ our risen savior. It isn't a healthy environment.

Likewise, there are some churches that focus too heavily on God the Father. These are your traditional fire and brimstone, repent and be saved because our judgmental God is coming to judge YOU. Again, not the healthiest environment.

But right now we are in the day and age (at least it seems to me) of Jesus. All churches are gearing to point to Jesus, and all action is done to point to Jesus. Now I would argue for a church to be doing this on a whole, isn't nescisarilly bad, as a missional church needs to be promoting Christ the risen savior. But at the same time, are we then fostering in our congregations an unhealthy view of our complete God?

The question then becomes, can we have too much Jesus in our life, where we begin to neglect God the Father, and the Holy Spirit. We forget that God the Father made a sacrifice by sending his son. It wasn't just a sacrifice by Jesus, but also by the Father. Likewise, do we risk neglecting the work that Holy Spirit can do in our lives, the fact that he was given to us to be a part of us and to commune with us at every moment of our lives.

I don't really know how I feel on this topic. On the one hand, Christianity is really all about Christ, he is our hope and our savior. It is through his sacrifice that we are saved. Yet at the same time, there is so much more to "God" than JUST Christ, if all we focus on is Christ we are missing 2/3rd's of the picture of God.

So what do you think, can you have too much Jesus in the church and in your life? (to the point where it fosters an unhealthy relationship/view of our complete God)

Half a Year

6 months old.

Doesn't sound like my baby is very old does it...but then you say "half a year"...and now it sounds old.

Annora Jane - 6 months old. Half a year has flown by. She's 15 pounds and 26 inches. Does a belly crawl...or sometimes I like to think of it as the belly flop scoot. She's cutting her two bottom teeth. Is allergic to bananas and avocado in a pretty severe way. But she LOVES to eat. I mean LOVES to eat. Sometimes she cries when we're through. She really likes zucchini and pears. She giggles when I tickle her under the chin and laughs when we dance. I relish any moment just spent with her. Sometimes I put her down for her nap later so we can just laugh together. I'll miss these baby times. But I won't be sad. Because God made us this way on purpose. We weren't supposed to stay 10 pounds and gurgle and sleep all day for years...just 6 months. And I've enjoyed it. And now I'll say hello to the next stage of this well designed life God has given us.

Double Decker

It's rainy here...how about where you are? I welcome it, enjoying the respite from heat and the green it brings in my garden. But we needed some good crafts for the day.

So, we made this bus craft. I only had 18 pack egg cartons though, so we made a London double decker instead. Maddie did a great job of painting. I just laid out the paint and said, "OK, paint it red and we'll make it into a bus"...and she went to it. Good job Madeleine!

Very simple, very quick, and Maddie loves buses, always wants to ride them, so it was very fun.

Travel Gear

Our trip to Disney World this year includes a nonstop red-eye flight. The "plan" is that the kids can get sleep on the plane. So, to make this nighttime a little more comfy cozy for little Madeleine I made her a quillow backpack complete with stuffed animal harness. There will also be a travel pillow that I have yet to sew up that will fit inside the quillow pocket.



I thought I'd show you how I created this in case you say, "Man, that's uber cool! I've got to make one for little dude!" So...

I started out with a yard of fleece. The girl chose little mermaid themed of course. It would be very easy to make 2 out of 1 yard for a toddler. However, I wanted the blanket to be just a tad bigger for ultimate plane comfort, so I cut it to 42 inches in length. I bought 3/8 yd. flannel for the pocket and straps (Now...I don't really fully understand myself here, because I would have had plenty of leftover fleece to make the whole thing...but...whatever.)





I cut a 12x13 inch rectangle for the pocket and pressed a 1/2 inch hem around the entire piece.













The top of the pocket got a hem and then I pinned the pocket at the center bottom of the 36 inch width of the fabric (so between 12 and 24 inches) and sewed on the sides and where fleece and pocket fabric meets at bottom.

Now you can fold in thirds, Then in half and half again and turn pocket out so the blanket is contained in the pocket.

Here is where I made the straps, which were 3" strips. You decide what length is best for your child. Mine were about 14 inches. I pressed the raw edges in 1/2 inch on each side and then pressed over to make a 1 inch strap.

These I sewed close to the edge on both sides.

I pinned them to the quillow where I wanted them, then unfolded the quillow and sewed them on, keeping raw edge under strap. (I found that keeping the top of the strap in the center was essential to keeping it on the child's small frame.) Now it's finished.

Unless you want to add a harness for your child's stuffed animal, which I failed to take pictures of. However it's a simple "Y" type shape which I finished raw edges around the "leg whole" and top portion and then sewed on the center of the pocket at sides and bottom. Stuff in a LIGHT stuffed animal (our Pal Mickey was too heavy as it brought the pocket out-could be remedied by a button or tie or maybe positioning straps upside down)

Now I didn't finish the edges of the fleece because they really don't need it and this was a simple fast project, but it is my intention to serge the edges to prevent stretching. The End.

Bed Tent and Other Stuff

We've been busy thinking about our upcoming trip to Disney World...soooo excited! And we like to think of ways to make our trips easier. Sometimes that's packing breakfast foods and snacks, or vaseline for the feet to cut down on blisters, or bright bag tags to help identify our luggage at the claim, or larger sunshades for the strollers. A couple weekends ago we went camping and I got to thinking about putting Madeleine down for naps and bedtime in the hotel and it would be great if she could have her own place where we could not be seen for awhile...thus I came up with the bed tent idea. I wasn't sure what was out there commercially, but when I came home to search online I found plenty. However, most of them were twin size. And the beds at our resort are Doubles. And at 55 dollars I started saying..."I can make that". (Which is what happened last year with the stroller sun shade)

So, two sheets at 2.19 from the thrift store, a fitted sheet we already had at home, and tent poles from an old tent and voila...I give you THE bed tent. Yeah, it's not princess themed like the ones online...BUT it has a real cotton sheet instead of nylon and since my kid didn't see the princess one first she doesn't know the difference.









Now we are notorious for packing light, so packing this baby up might not be that fun...BUT it's just a couple sheets really and 2 tent poles. So, it's worth it. I think I'll make a bunch of bloomers like these ones I made and that way I'll cut down on clothes space.

For those of you that may be travelling by plane soon and want to avoid the terrible luggage fees that most airlines are now implementing may I suggest mailing a package to yourself or using an online store to ship goods to yourself. One in particular I was going to use is http://www.drugstore.com/. I found everything we needed - diapers, wipes, snacks, toothpaste, sunscreen, baby food, and a few other things for around the same price as I might buy it here, and free shipping over 25 dollars. I could have it shipped to my resort and not have to worry about packing that stuff, or paying the resort price to buy it. They sell travel sized toiletries too, and since I was going to buy it anyway, I figured "Hey, it's extra space in my bag!". Most of it I wouldn't need to pack back either. However, Alaska Airlines only charges for 2nd bags, and since Madeleine has a ticket, we can take 3 bags for free. Like I said, we're light packers, I'd rather just have 2 bags, but we decided that on the way there we can check a box with all our diapers and baby food and snacks in it and get rid of the box on the way home. With Disney's Magical Express we don't have to do much baggage handling, so it's really not a biggy. How about carrying on our luggage? Well, we used to ONLY do that till we had kids. It's a bit tougher with 2 little ones. Someday I'm sure we'll go back to that.

For the grandparents that might be reading...here are a few pictures. Madeleine actually woke up one morning this past week and told me that her and Annora needed ponies in their hair. And then after I put them in she sat down and said, "picture for grandma"...that would be what my mom is teaching her :)

Maddie is getting to be such a big helper! She loves feeding Annora her food. Unfortunately on this day it was bananas, and during the night Annora had a barf fest. Pretty sure she is allergic to bananas. Who is allergic to bananas? So...we're sticking to peaches and peas and watermelon.