Valentine Book Garland

Today was the day to take down the winter decorations!

Our poor church family (including my family) has been hit with all kinds of illnesses over the past month or so. Since there are so many sick right now, our weekly afternoon ladies Bible study was cancelled for today, so I knew I would have some extra time to work on a craft after Kelsey was working independently on her school work.

So I checked my Pinterest craft board to find a Valentine craft and was disappointed when the link was not working. The project didn’t look too difficult, so I pulled out some supplies and got to work.

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Supplies: a used book, heart template, pencil, scissors, and thread

Start by tracing the heart template onto some of the book pages. The number of hearts you will need depends on how many you want on your garland.

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Take your heart book pages to your sewing machine. You will be sewing down the middle of two hearts at a time. Leave a good length of thread at the top of the first set of hearts. When you are finished sewing through the first set of hearts, do not cut the thread! Pull the thread out some, then begin sewing down the next set of hearts. I decided that 4 sets of hearts would work for my windows. Once you sew the last set of hearts, pull the thread a few inches from the machine, then cut the threads.

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Take the garland to a table, now fold the heart pages away from each other to create a 3D effect. I did tie a knot in the thread at the top and the bottom to keep the thread from unraveling later.

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I tied a loop in the top of the thread and hung each length of hearts from a hook on a tension rod inside the window frame (which is covered by a valance).

Do you decorate your home for Valentine’s month?

Compassion Blogging

Are you a Compassion sponsor?

Do you have a blog?

If you answered ‘yes’ to both of those questions, you should join the Compassion Bloggers!

I Blog for Compassion widget

By using your blog, you can help to make an eternal difference for the lives of children living in extreme poverty. There are many people who have joined the Compassion Bloggers network. And you can be one of them too!

Every so often, there will be assignments sent to us to share with others on our blogs. It might be sharing about the latest Compassion Blogger trip or encouraging your readers to sponsor a child. It might be writing a letter from a sponsored child’s perspective or sharing about a current need for a particular child. Whatever the assignment is, every little bit helps to share the vision of Compassion with your readers and help to release more children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

Since I am not sure when I will have the opportunity to visit our Compassion kids, I love reading the stories of other bloggers who have had the chance to visit their sponsored kids. When these bloggers are on these trips, we are able to ‘visit’ along with them as they share so many things they experience while on their trips.

As a Compassion Blogger, you can also display special widgets on your blog to let others know you are a blogger for Compassion.

Ready to join the network? I hope you decide to join today!

Field Trip! – Monterey Bay Aquarium

Want to know a secret?

I have never paid admission to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium!

How do you do that you ask?

We have always gone on a Home School Day!

Now I know the Home School Days are full for this year, they usually open up reservations for their Home School Days in October. Be sure to just check back on their web site in the fall and plan your day out my the ocean!

For a while, we had been so many times that I think my kids could give a guided tour of the aquarium to just about anyone. But how can you blame me? Admission for our family of four would have cost almost $140, just for one day!

Anyway, we took a break from the aquarium for a couple of years, but I wanted to make sure that we included a trip this year since Kelsey is studying swimming creatures from the fifth day of creation.

I ended up taking over 100 pictures, but narrowed it down to just over 20 that I really liked. Here are a few of my favorites to share with you:

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Where do you like to go for field trips with your family?

My take on Fiesta Chicken Tortilla Soup

Last week while I was looking through my Pinterest feed, I found a recipe for Fiesta Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup. Everything sounded great until I saw the words ‘slow-cooker’. Now I know a lot of people just love their crock pots. But I am not one of them. The thought of vegetables slow cooking for hour after hour and turning into mush just does not appeal to me. I would prefer to cook a recipe over the stove top and eat vegetables that still taste fresh. This does require a little more planning and discipline on my part, but it is something I am willing to do to have a good tasting dinner for my family. If you love your crock pot, you will love the simplicity of dumping all of the ingredients into the crock pot for this recipe. If you want the stove top method, follow along with me here:

Fiesta Chicken Tortilla Soup

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  • Olive oil
  • 2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 can (15 oz) petite diced tomatoes
  • 1 can (10 oz) red enchilada sauce
  • 1 can (4 oz) diced green chilies
  • 1 can (14.5 oz) black beans, drained
  • 10 oz frozen corn kernels
  • 1/2 cup uncooked rice
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 2 limes, juiced
  • Extras: tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream, avocado for serving

Over medium-high heat on the stove, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the chicken pieces and saute until no longer pink. Add the chopped onions and cook until translucent; add the chopped garlic and cook for about 30 seconds more. Then add the rest of the ingredients, except the cilantro, lime juice, and extras. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for at least 30 minutes. Before serving, stir in the chopped cilantro and lime juice.

Note: I am thinking this would be good with browned ground beef instead of the chicken also. In fact, I am going to give it a try this week with some homemade cornbread.

Recipe adapted from Fiesta Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup