Recent Events

There have been many things that have come up recently in our lives that have required us to live completely by faith.

Jackie and Josh's baby, Lynnlee, is miracle number one and has given us a desire to rely on God's grace and love for comfort and understanding. Find her story here.

We have also experienced things within our family that have taken us by surprise recently. I ask that as you read this you take just a minute to pray for Jane, Johnny's mom. She was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Miracle number two; the cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes (we found out today) which means that she can have surgery to remove the mass and continue to live her life glorifying God.

God does not allow our human tendencies to interfere for very long. He makes it very clear when we need his help. We have prayed more for these two situations and have in turn gained a clearer understanding of who God is and what he wants from our lives here on Earth.

Today, I decided to try something new to gift to my mother-in-law for her post-surgery pick me up. I have never really been very crafty, but I thought after seeing this post, I would try and step outside the box! So here goes nothing...and let me warn you ahead of time, it did not turn out as cute and "perfect" as my blog family's inspiration piece.

First things first, I grabbed a simple jar and lid. I purchased glass etching cream from Michaels and scrounged up the rest of the materials around our house. See below.

I printed the word "pray" onto a regular piece of paper and then with an Exacto knife cut the stencil into a piece of painter's tape (I tried the more sticky duct tape before and that was not a success). The second round of stencil cutting is seen below.

The tape I had to work with was a little too small but it did the job. Once I cut the stencil out of the tape I put the tape directly on the glass jar. I put tape on the top and bottom of the stencil tape to ensure that it stuck through the entire process.

I then applied the glass etching substance with a regular paint brush and waited a couple of minutes.

I was nervous about the etching cream soaking through the tape which caused me to rinse the cream too early. I really should have waited the entire 4-5 minutes, but I rinsed it after 2 minutes. I had good results but by no means was it perfect. I used scrapbook paper cut into small pieces to write our prayers on.

My hope is that friends and family that come to visit Jane in the next several weeks will be able to write a simple prayer on these cards for her. I know this will bring peace and help the journey she is on to be filled with God's presence.

The prayers inside will be perfect and will be heard and that is all that matters.

On a side note, what a great day for a snow day and what a fun project! You should try it!