I've been looking for a different way to acknowledge Trick-or-Treat.  Here's one thing I found:

** Handing out a verse or a track with a piece of candy on Halloween night.

I found this at

Path Through  the Narrow Gate

What should Christians do about Halloween?

This is exactly how I feel!  About Halloween.  About Easter eggs & symbols.  About the Christmas tree & decorations.

Quoted text from Intentional By Grace:

"What are Christians supposed to do with Halloween, a holiday that celebrates death, fear, darkness, witches, and demons? A day that seems to be becoming increasingly evil in focus?

Should we celebrate Halloween in the same way as our non-Christian neighbors?

Should we turn off our lights on October 31st and huddle in the basement, hoping that people will think that we are not home?

Should we write condemning Facebook posts about the evils of Halloween in an attempt to inform the consciences of the “worldly” Christians around us?

Is handing a piece of candy to a four-year-old neighbor boy dressed up as Captain America really a sin?

Where should Christians draw the line?

I do not want to encourage any Christian to violate his conscience in the matter of Halloween. Nor do I want to guilt-trip any Christian into feeling that it is her duty to witness on Halloween. I am merely asking: Could it be that we Christians, as a whole group, are so busy arguing over the technicalities of Halloween that we are missing a beautiful opportunity to share the gospel?"

She says, "Paul did an amazing thing. He used a pagan altar with the inscription “To An Unknown God” as an object lesson to start telling the people about the One True God Who alone deserved their worship."

This is what I said in a book about Christmas I'm getting ready to publish:

Imagine that…. St. Paul used a pagan religious idol to preach about the Jewish Messiah who is the Christian Savior!

printable graduation cards

These two free, printable graduation cards are from
Cul de sac Cool.

One is called "Be Awesome" and the other is a funny card called "OMG." Both can be printed off and folded in no time. Just write a special note on the inside.

Here's the link:  Cul de sac Cool

Click to see the list of all my graduation posts

free, printable graduation card

Look at this!
This free, printable card is the perfect card for that special graduate.

There are two sizes available to download, plus the assembly instructions. 

I found it here at capturing joy

Free Christmas Fonts from Two Twenty One

I love these fonts! 
I found them all in one place. 

I've already downloaded them for my Christmas scrapbooking.

 Here's the link:  Two Twenty One. 

More Christmas Sheet Music for Scrapbooking

Christmas Sheet Music for Scrapbooking

Homemade Graduation Cards

I'm trying to get ideas about DIY Graduation Cards.



I found this homemade one that is made with stickers, stamps, & die cuts.  Click here for complete instructions:  Paper Crafting Ideas

Picture taken from the website.

Click to see the list of all my graduation posts

DIY Pop Up Scrapbook

I saw this on the Hallmark Channel's Home & Family Show.  My imagination is going wild with all that I could do with our vacation photos.

Here's where you can find all the instructions:

DIY Pop Up Scrapbook

Photo from the website.

Strawberry Donut Delight

A fresh glazed donut sliced in half and filled with strawberries and whipped cream – like a shortcake sandwich!

This is one of the new foods at the 2016 Minnesota State Fair.

It looks SO good!

Strawberry Donut Delight

God Bless America!

 

                                                                                          Picture taken from website.


I absolutely love all things patriotic, the red, white, and blue!
This idea comes from Infarrantly Creative.  She uses fabric covered buttons & her link to the printable.

Graduation Party Ideas

I love this look of Polaroid images.  This site tells a way to give photos a Polaroid border and just print them on regular photo paper. Then you can write something on each photo.

These 2 pictures are from  "the thinking closet.com"

the thinking closet  has so many ideas including:

the  look of Polaroid Images

a Table Runner 

Hashtag Confetti

Coasters

Desktop Plaque

& more

This picture is from  "the thinking closet.com"

Here's another site for making a vertical photo banner.

In Between Laundry

You are going to need the following supplies:

Photos of the guest of honor
Ribbon in coordinating party colors
Scrapbooking paper as a decorative photo border
Cardstock paper
Glue (any kind that works with paper and photos--I used Elmer's liquid and a gluestick).

All the instructions and how-to photos are here.

Click to see the list of all my graduation posts

10 Reasons Why We Homeschool

10 Reasons Why I Homeschool

1.       We can homeschool in our pajamas.

     2.       We can homeschool at any time of the day.
     3.       We can homeschool outdoors.
     4.       There is no extra “homework” – just school work.
     5.       We can homeschool and travel at the same time.
     6.       We can vacation while others are in school, thus fewer crowds.
     7.       Homeschool & Teacher discounts
     8.       Freedom
     9.       I can teach him all about God in any subject that I teach.
   10.     I love my son.


10 Reasons Why I Will Not Stop Homeschooling
   
     1.       I love the freedom to come & go as we please.
     2.       I don’t want him in public school.
     3.       I can include God in my teaching.
     4.       I don’t have to worry about being “politically correct” in my teaching - just teach the truth.
     5.       It takes me less time to teach him at home than it would just to get him to school & back.
     6.       He gets the individual attention he needs to learn at his own pace.
     7.       I know he’s eating right.
     8.       We travel a lot.
     9.       I love all the homeschool activities that are available.
   10.      I love my son.

Symbols in the Bible - EASTER

The Cross/ Crucifixion is the symbol of Jesus’ death & resurrection.  But in Roman times it was considered a most shameful and disgraceful way to die.  It symbolized an execution.  It was also a humiliation, by making the condemned as vulnerable as possible.  The length of time required to reach death could range from hours to days depending on the method, the victim's health, and the environment.

Crucifixion (or impalement), in one form or another, was also used by Persians, Carthaginians, and Macedonians.  Notorious mass crucifixions followed the Third Servile War in 73–71 BC (the slave rebellion under Spartacus), and other Roman civil wars in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC.

Many Christians today believe that we should do away with the symbols of our modern celebration of Easter.  They say that these symbols are non-Christian in origin.  And, yes, some of those symbols are too much of a stretch to associate with this Holy Day; but not all of them.  Even so, when you see a lamb, Easter baskets & bunnies, and the cross at Easter-time, people do think of Easter.  This can lead them to at least think of Jesus.  And this can lead to a Christian’s opportunity to witness to those in need of the Gospel.

Many are saying we should not associate any of these symbols with the Death and Resurrection of Christ, that they are pagan in origin.  So, since the cross was originally a symbol of execution (non-Christian), is it also wrong to think, & display, it as the symbol of Christ?

I say, NO!  Think of all the parables of Jesus, who used “symbols” in the Bible.  Jesus used ordinary things - non-religious stuff - to illustrate Biblical truths:  new & old cloth, new & old wineskins, lamp on a stand,  fig tree, seeds in the ground , weeds, mustard seed, yeast, pearl of great price, sheep, sheep gate, lost sheep, lost (prodigal) son, lost coin, rich man & Lazarus, Pharisee and tax collector, wicked tenants, wedding banquet, and more.

Jesus used whatever he needed for the group to whom he was ministering to get His point across.   So why can’t we?

I took these pictures in 2010 at The Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida.

How do we determine the date of Easter?

Palm Sunday

Happy Leap Day!

A “Leap” Day is an extra day on February 29 which is added nearly every 4 years to today’s Gregorian calendar.

A “leapling” is a person born in a leap year

A year is a leap year if it is divisible by 4, but century years are not leap years unless they are divisible by 400.

So, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years, but the year 2000 was.

Non-leap years begin and end on the same day of the week.

Leap Year Dates

2012       Wednesday, February 29

2016       Monday, February 29

2020       Saturday, February 29

2024       Thursday, February 29

Why Do We Need Leap Years?

One orbit of Earth around the Sun takes 365.2422 days—a little more than our Gregorian calendar’s 365. Adding an extra day, aka a leap day, to the calendar every 4 years brings the calendar in line and therefore synchronizes with the four seasons.

Without leap days, the calendar would be off by 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds each year. After 100 years, the seasons would be off by 25 days. The extra leap day adjusts this drift.

But it’s not a perfect match: Adding a leap day every 4 years overcompensates by a few extra seconds each leap year, adding up to about 3 extra days every 10,000 years.

Ages ago, Leap Day was known as Ladies’ Day, as it was the one day when women were free to propose to men.

Many feel that to be born on Leap Day, thereby becoming a “leapling,” is a sign of good luck.

In some cultures, it is considered bad luck to get married during a leap year.

We don’t know of any evidence supporting that marriage theory, but we do know that during leap years:

• Rome burned (64),
• George Armstrong Custer fought the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876),
• and the Titanic sank (1912).

By the same token, also in leap years:

• the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts (1620),
• Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning is electricity (1752),
• and gold was discovered in California (1848).

 

The above information was taken from The Old Farmer's Almanac:

http://www.almanac.com/content/when-next-leap-year