A Coloring Book

Have you ever wanted to make a coloring book? I think the most exciting coloring book you can have for your child is a personal one, where the pictures are full of people you know and love. Several years ago when my kids were still into coloring books, I put together a special keepsake for each of them. It's full of family photos turned into coloring pages with a fun prince/princess story written about the pictures.

I'll give you a short explanation on how to make your own coloring pages, and then I will share my complete book with you.

I use Adobe Photoshop for all my editing needs. I'm sure it is similar to other software out there.

Start by opening your picture file.

Make sure that you have the black square selected for your foreground color, and white for the background. If you have black for the background color your picture will be the inverse of what you want.

Drag your mouse over the drop down menu Filter, then find Sketch, and under that you will click on Photocopy.

You get to choose the detail that the picture will show, and how dark you want it. I usually stick with something in the middle. 12 for detail. 24 for darkness.

While this photo might be good for some; I like to clean it up a bit and give the kids more of an area to work with.

You now get to paint your picture. I use the brush tool with white foreground selected. This can be very time consuming, but the effect is well worth it. You will be giving your kid's more fun to color in! See the difference I'm talking about?

Your kids will love coloring these pages in!

I have always enjoyed writing and probably enjoyed writing the story just as much as I enjoyed fixing the photos. Feel free to use any part of my story and make it your own.

Happily Ever After

Once upon a time a king named Titus fell in love with a girl named Amanda. She loved him back just the same.

They decided to get married because God told them to. They had a beautiful wedding. Everyone said so.

King Titus and Amanda loved each other so much they wanted to have a baby to share their love with.

God gave King Titus and Amanda a beautiful baby girl. She was a princess! They named her Ariel, and she filled their lives with joy.

As the days went by Ariel grew bigger and bigger.

King Titus and Amanda enjoyed the days they spent together. They took Ariel for walks, and brought her to the park to play.

Both King Titus and Amanda were happier than they'd ever been before. They loved Ariel very much.

Ariel was so special, and they loved her so much they didn't want her to be alone. They thought it was time for her to have a brother.

As the days began to get colder, the time was coming for the new prince to be born. The whole kingdom was ready to welcome the new baby.

Princess Ariel could not wait to meet her baby brother. She began to practice for his arrival.

The day finally came. The handsome prince was given the name Gabriel. King Titus and Amanda were very pleased.

Ariel enjoyed watching the baby grow up. She was looking forward to the day when they could play together.

The prince and princess developed a very special friendship. They loved each other greatly. Jesus had brought them together as brother and sister.

King Titus and Amanda saw the prince growing into a wonderful toddler. They watched every move he made, knowing their time together would not last forever.

Just like the prince was growing, Ariel the princess was getting bigger every day. With each new day the king and queen's love grew stronger.

Over time they celebrated many special holidays together. But their favorite holiday of all was Christmas.

Pretty soon the family was growing too big for their castle. They were in search of the perfect new home. They needed a castle big enough to have rooms for everyone.

After a lot of praying and searching, God gave them their new castle. It was like a dream come true.

Sometimes on special occasions, King Titus would take his daughter, the princess, out dancing. It was a beautiful sight to see.

Life was very good for the king and queen. They loved every moment they spent with their son and daughter.

Ariel had much fun with her baby brother. He was finally big enough to be the perfect playmate. She could do whatever she wanted with him.

As the prince grew older, he began to build things. He always enjoyed building things with his hands. It was a gift that God had given him.

The time had come for the princess to find her wings. She was beginning kindergarten. So quickly had the king and queens little princess grown up. She was no longer just their baby.

King Titus and Amanda were so happy with their family. They had two of the most beautiful children. But they began to feel like something was missing, like maybe their family was not complete yet.

As they welcomed in the new year, King Titus and Amanda were very excited to share their good news with the entire kingdom. There would be a new prince who would soon be joining the royal family.

It seems it was the season for new life. After discovering her own wings, the princess, Ariel, adopted a baby bird. Valentine, the parakeet, was brought into the castle. The princess and bird were friends at once.

The day was quickly approaching when the new prince was to be born. The whole kingdom was waiting in suspense for a glimpse of him. They would not be disappointed.

Zechariah arrived in the late evening. King Titus and Amanda were amazed at this new little baby. He was beautiful.

It did not take long for the princess and prince to warm up to this new little baby. They were thrilled to have any special time with him.

It was on extra special days that the princess would exercise her new reading skills and cuddle up with the new prince. He was a good listener.

Everywhere that the new prince went, the loyal subjects would comment the same. Prince Zechariah was the most beautiful baby in all the land.

Never had anyone seen such a handsome face. He was loved by all the people.

The kingdom was flourishing under King Titus' reign. All of the royal family was living peacefully together. The children were growing up happy and well loved.

And King Titus, Amanda, Princess Ariel, Prince Gabriel, and Prince Zechariah all lived happily ever after.

The End

Unfortunately the original computer documents have been lost on this special publication. I had to scan in one of the children's coloring books which isn't quite the same as seeing it in its original form. It loses quite a bit of quality with a scan.

It was a very fun project to work on for my kids and I believe it will make a priceless keepsake to hold on to. It has been four years since I made the book, and my kids still love to have me read it to them.

Our Greatest Weapon

I am convinced that the greatest weapon we have to fight with is the Bible. If I had heard someone say that a year ago, two years ago, or ten years ago, I might have rolled my eyes and made a comment under my breath about how that's not for me. At least not on a daily basis. When I was desperate for my life to change, I would seek a verse, but I wasn't willing to discipline myself daily to get there.

I think it's been a long process and what finally happened; I fell in love with Jesus. I wanted to fully saturate myself with Him. I was no longer satisfied with just talking to Him; I wanted to know Him, to know about Him. I wanted to use every single resource I had.

I was rather selfish before and thought about my feelings too much. I wanted to do what I wanted to do. I didn't force myself to do much. Fear and selfishness ruled my life. I wanted to complain and pity myself for my circumstances but I didn't desire to use the tools laid before me. I wanted an easy fix. I wanted to say, "Help" and it would immediately be taken care of. I didn't want to have to DO something. I thought it should just fall into my lap gift wrapped with a pretty bow.

I have since discovered the gift wrapped box with the pretty bow is holding the pages of my Bible. I want to know the heart of God. What does He think about every situation? What does He think about me? I may never hear or recognize the audible voice of God, but I can get good at recognizing His character. I can learn to discern when God is speaking through someone else to me.

I used a simple idea to conquer this task of reading my Bible. I treat it like a treasure hunt. As I read the words, I am constantly thinking about how I can apply it to my life. I search for a verse to highlight, literally. Some of it reads like a novel, but even during those parts you can find a quote or saying that will stand out to you. I make myself find at least 1 verse to underline that's important to me. I can't quit until I find one treasure to meditate or contemplate for the rest of the day. There is always something.

Sometimes the verse will really stand out to me and I stick it on my wall. I have verses all over my house in key places where I spend a lot of time. They are such an encouragement.

A month ago, I found this pad of sticky notes, 101 Bible Verses that Stick. I was so excited I bought a few for my friends. I found it at our local Christian book store for $6. The concept is fantastic! It's literally 101 Bible verses already put to sticky notes. All you need to do is start sticking them up. I have them all over!

When I woke up this morning, I was struggling. I couldn't really pinpoint what was wrong. I just felt frustrated and angry. I was short with my kids and I didn't have the energy to try or the desire to. I said an angry prayer during our morning time together, and I told God I didn't care. I had no idea what was bothering me but I still felt justified in my bad attitude.

As I was sitting on my couch, feeling rather crabby, and not wanting to do anything productive, a friend texted me. I could tell she needed encouragement.

When we stop focusing on ourselves and start looking at those around us, things change. I couldn't be selfish if I wanted to reach out to someone else. As I was giving her advice I felt it come right back at me. As I was quoting scripture and stepping outside of my own feelings, my attitude changed drastically.

I wasn't angry and agitated anymore. I was happy to be alive.

I believe it was the consequence of two things. First, “Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection - or compassionate action.” ― Daniel Goleman

The second thing I did was meditate on scripture. It has the power to change you if you let it. It's a different mindset. It's our greatest weapon against the enemy, against that selfish, angry person. Me. I had the power to change the whole time. I was choosing not to.

Place scripture strategically around your home. Where do you go the most? What do you use as a source of encouragement when you're feeling discouraged? If it's food, TV, books, shopping, stick a verse there. Remind yourself as much as possible that you have the greatest weapon of this world.

When I'm washing my face in the morning, and I'm experiencing anxiety over getting my kids ready for school, "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourself." Romans 12:9-10

When I'm getting dressed or looking in the mirror critiquing myself, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

When I'm doing the dishes and starting to focus on the bad around me, "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

Remind me to turn to you when things are rough, God. I don't have to do it all on my own. Bring scriptures to my mind when I'm ready to lash out in anger. Stop me when my attitude needs adjusting. I want to be used by you and I cannot accomplish that when I'm focused on myself. Thank you for loving me each day in the way that I need it.

The Third Wheel

One of the things I really like about our elementary school is the emphasis they put on reading. You don't have to read every day, just on the days that you eat! I believe it. Reading is so important.

This week our school had their Reading Night. The school gets special funding through Title 1 for things such as these. It's a night focused on reading. Free books are distributed, snacks are provided, and a few larger door prizes are given. What makes it interesting is that they have local celebrities come and read books to the children.

My son wasn't interested in going. I was excited at the prospect of free books, but he didn't care. If he wasn't going to leave with a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, his latest obsession, he didn't want to go.

I told him it would probably be more classic style books. Stuart Little. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I didn't think they would be new.

When we arrived they had a sign up for who was attending and all the students could put their name in a drawing for two different prizes. We didn't find out until the end of the evening what the prizes were.

Something we did notice on our arrival, the table of free books held all the released Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. It wasn't explained how we would get them, but they were right there. Things were starting to look up for Gabe.

The evening was divided into three parts. We would be able to choose three out of six celebrity readers to listen to. During the first session we got our snack, gigantic cookies!

We started off the night listening to Ronald Miller, the Police Chief. He appropriately read us a book about a policeman called Officer Buckle & Gloria.

Our second session we spent with Tom Hagen, the weatherman. He read to us Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs a story about the weather.

We saved our favorite for last. The principal my children have grown up with retired last year, so it was a treat to have her back for this special reading. She didn't specifically choose one book; she shared pages from her collection of popup books with us.

The most exciting part of the evening was the drawing for the door prizes. The first prize was Jingle, (an interactive dog with a corresponding book). This was for grades K-2. The second prize for grades 3-5 was the brand new Diary of a Wimpy Kid, yet to be released, The Third Wheel book!!!

If you remember my son only wanted to come to get a free copy of the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. I dashed his hopes and told him it wasn't going to happen. I had to play the mom card and practically dragged him there. I knew it would be good for him.

And wouldn't you know, God wanted to bless Gabriel. He gave him exactly what he desired. The school drew Gabe's name! I would question what the odds of that happening are, but that's not the point at all. That was the favor of God! Since the book is scheduled to come out next week, I thought it was impossible. God sure did show me.

What's exciting to me is the fact that they even chose that book to give away. Normally, when you give a door prize you have it in your possession. You don't even think twice about giving a door prize with the promise of receiving it later. I believe God wanted to bless Gabe with that book before we even made the decision to show up that night. God knew I would make the decision that day to attend the reading night. He set the plan in motion before the thought was even there for Gabe to ask. What a unique and powerful example of God's love.

We are so blessed by God! Every good thing comes from Him. "My cup overflows with blessings... Your unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life." Psalm 23:5-6

Thanksgiving Crafts for Kids

I was cleaning out the basement yesterday and came upon our box of Thanksgiving crafts. I thought it would make a fun blog post today. Some of these were made last year, and some were made years ago. I try to find something new to add to the collection each year. It's nice to have a variety of crafts from my kids at all different ages.

I'll start with the name cards for dinner. We have one for each member of the family, and we also have a few that say "Happy Thanksgiving". We typically like to invite guests to Thanksgiving and it's nice to have something to place at their seat.

The body and head is made with a thumb print, and the tail fan is made from dipping the tips of your finger in paint. With a marker I drew on the turkey's face and legs.

I believe it was just last year that we made our Pilgrims and Indians. You can see by the different drawings of the faces how old each child was.

This idea came from the Family Fun website.

Several years ago, we all made place mats out of brown paper sacks. We cut the sides and bottom off to make it thinner. To add a picture to each side, we cut a window from the middle a little smaller than 4x6 inches. If you don't make it smaller, the picture may fall through. When both sides were decorated, and the paint was dry, we covered them with clear contact paper. This makes it easy to wipe down spills.

This is probably the oldest craft of them all. My daughter made it when she was two years old. To make the body of the turkey you trace around the child's foot. The tail fan is made out of hand prints. For our turkey, we have 8 different hand prints cut out of construction paper. The turkey used to have googly eyes on it, but, after several years passing, they seemed to have been misplaced.

Every year our church has a large Thanksgiving dinner where we celebrate together as a church, typically the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Each year there is a different Friendship Group in charge of decorating. A couple years ago, when it was our turn, we made a fun kid craft to put on the tables. We had two families in our group at that time, and didn't have a lot of extra money to purchase decorations with. This was a great idea if you're on a budget and you need to plan for a large crowd.

I love these table runners we came up with. The church had all the supplies we needed; we just had to invest a little bit of our time. We took turns making hand prints so there would be baby turkeys and mom & dad turkeys. The rest of our decorations were free. We placed leaves and pine cones with the table runner to add a little extra something.

This is a craft for older kids. You need to be able to work a glue gun. You also will need some pipe cleaners, googly eyes, felt, and a pine cone.

My last project is not really a Thanksgiving craft, just a fun fall decoration. I made these pumpkins recently for a craft day I had with my mom and sister. They were so much fun to make, and I love how they turned out! You can find the tutorial here at Creations by Kara. I made sure to find some books with scripture verses so you could spend time reading them too. It's a great conversation piece at the dinner table!

"Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Kids Say the Darndest Things

When I was growing up I never went trick-or-treating. We always had a fall party instead. We would get candy and caramel popcorn, apples and dip, and watch movies all night. The tradition has stuck with me into my adulthood.

Now that I have my own kids we still don't celebrate Halloween. We have a fall party, eat special foods, and watch movies together snuggling under a big blanket. It's fun family time.

During this season, we are in the minority. For the past couple weeks, my youngest has been asked over and over again, "What are you going to be for Halloween?"

At first he had no idea what they were talking about. But after having the same conversation many different times, he would answer, "Nothin."

That was always acknowledged with great confusion. It seemed foreign to many people that we wouldn't be dressing up for Halloween. They would often look to me the parent, and ask, "What is he going to be?"

I always very politely responded, "We don't celebrate Halloween." The conversation would quickly be dropped, some would even apologize afraid they had offended me by asking.

I have never been offended by the question. They were giving my child special attention, and I've always appreciated their courtesy.

On Halloween, we were waiting in line for lunch at Chipotle when a gentleman asked both my boys in excitement, "What are you going to be for Halloween today?"

My oldest responded with the most pleasant voice, "We don't celebrate."

My youngest, however, got a little attitude to him and with both hands on his hips, in a loud somewhat arrogant voice, "Yeah! We don't DECORATE!!"

If I wasn't so humiliated by his rudeness, I might have laughed out loud.

Do You Love Me?

Why do we always question our worth? Why can't we believe that we are loved?

I had a rather trying time with my son. He was given consequences and he didn't think they were fair. He proceeded for two hours to inform me of how unfair I was being before he finally caved and did what was needed.

It wasn't done willingly. It was done in a state of anger, and we ALL knew it by the noise that accompanied the begrudging obedience.

The rest of us were trying to go about our normal business and pretended to ignore the fit that was going on down the hallway. My other son happened to catch a glimpse of photos on the computer that were of our fun at the pumpkin patch the day before. He noticed on my blog post there were words amidst the photos and requested I read them to him aloud.

It was a scripture verse. Twice I read the post to him, emphasizing the words and trying to personalize it to him with my delivery. He loved it.

Little did I know that the scripture verse was the cause of the quietness that seemed to settle on the house. After you've listened to ranting and raving for so long, the quiet seems almost eerie. I wasn't going to question it. I figured my son had finally come to terms and was ready to accept his punishment.

Dinner came and everyone was gathered together in peace. I could tell my son had been crying. This is unusual for a fit of anger. Normally the eyes are very dry. I thought perhaps he had done some deep thinking and reflection.

I was surprised at his question. "Mom. Do you love Zech more than you love me?"

I answered him and asked, "Why would you think such a thing?" I had already drawn my own conclusion but wanted to hear his response. I figured it was because of the unfair punishment that he felt his brother should have been joining in on.

"Because I heard you talking to Zech. You said, 'I have better things for you.' You must love Zech more than me." He said this with tears in his eyes.

A simple misunderstanding. He believed I must love his brother more because of the words I was saying. He had no idea I was quoting the scripture from my blog post. I was simply reading words that were written years ago.

How many times do we misunderstand others? And how often do we misunderstand God? We draw our own conclusions based on what we think we know is true. We assume we have the facts correct.

When my son was certain of my love, he lashed out in anger. He was trying to test the boundaries to see how far he could push me. When I pushed back, he was certain of my love. He knew I wouldn't stand for that behavior. He might have been fighting me the whole time, but in actuality he felt safe and loved.

As soon as the fear crept in, and he began to question my love for him, the anger disappeared. He was no longer fighting me. He was desperately trying to earn my love back that he felt was lost. He had perfect obedience. Not necessarily because he felt the error of his ways, but because he was trying to "earn" back the love he desired.

We do the same thing with God. When we feel He's being unfair, we rail at Him, telling Him exactly how we feel about what He's done, or hasn't done. Are our facts always straight? Not necessarily. We're seeing it through tinted lenses, the lens of our life experience.

We're expecting God to be exactly like the people around us who have let us down, or left us hanging there. We see Him as human full of flaws. We figure we have all the answers and must know better than He does.

In essence, maybe we're just like my son. We lash out in anger because we understand His boundaries and feel safe within them. We may not enjoy our anger, but maybe our anger can show us how much He truly cares for us. We are feeling the loving boundaries of a father's hand.

"Don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under his loving correction. It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this."
Proverbs 3:11-12 (The Message)

When the anger is gone, and we start to worry that God's love is gone, we need to stop and check the facts. Why are we suddenly trying to "earn" God's love back? Are we looking through our own tinted lenses, or are we seeing things for how they really are?

God has a favorite child. You. God loves you as an individual. And it's never been about what you have done for Him. There is nothing you could do to "earn" His love. It is freely given.

"I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love."
Romans 8:38

Do you trust in His love for you?

Candy Corn

Who can honestly say they don't love candy corn? Never mind, I don't really need your honest opinion. It's one of my favorite candies, as long as it's Brach's candy corn.

At my last girl movie night, one of my friends made some delicious candy corn desserts. I thought it would be fun to share the recipe during this fall season. The dessert reminds me of cheesecake. It's very rich but OH SO Wonderful.

Candy Corn Mousse
1 8oz. package of cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 8oz. package Cool Whip

First you whip the cream cheese until smooth. Slowly add powdered sugar and milk. Add your vanilla. Carefully fold in Cool Whip. Divide into three sections and add food coloring. Layer in clear cups. Keep in fridge for at least an hour before serving.

It's so simple! You know me, I love an easy recipe. If it was hard, I wouldn't attempt it.

I thought I would combine this fun recipe with our fall activities we've been up to. For several years now we have the tradition, on Halloween, of taking the kids out of school for lunch and a trip to the pumpkin patch. We end the afternoon with a small craft we make for our trick-or-treaters. This year since Halloween fell on a Wednesday, we passed out our candy craft to friends at church.

We kept with the candy corn theme, and I put together a fun coloring page for the kids to color. 

You can feel free to use the coloring pages for your own PERSONAL use.  But please be kind and do not claim these pictures as your own or offer them for downloads.  It makes me sad to see my pictures on a coloring page website run by someone else.

**UPDATE NEW FALL COLORING SHEETS**

I have a couple NEW fall Bible Verse coloring sheets available ... 

More Fall Coloring Fun...

I think we can all use a reminder to count our blessings. God is so faithful and He does so much for us. Every day is a new adventure and a new blessing from God.

Care for an example? As I was sitting at my computer, typing this post, I received an email from my friend. This Christmas season our church is going to be sponsoring some families in Mexico with Christmas gifts. Three ladies, myself included, will be flying to Mexico, to deliver the gifts. We are working on raising money and getting donations to help with the flight cost. My friend has a cousin who is a pilot, or so she thought. She figured he might be able to get us a discount on airline tickets. Unfortunately, he is no longer employed by an airline. HOWEVER, yesterday he was looking into making a donation to an organization and ended up changing his mind. Later that day he received my friend's email. His donation was the same amount that the airline tickets have been selling for, and he feels this is the cause he should be donating to. Coincidence? I think not. God was behind it all. Christ's love was overflowing!

Here are a few pictures from the pumpkin patch. My kids had a blast! They changed a lot of things since last year. It's now much more exciting and full of more fun things to play on, under, and in!

"Parched ground that soaks up the rain and then produces an abundance of carrots and corn for its gardener gets God’s “Well done!”

But if it produces weeds and thistles, it’s more likely to get cussed out. Fields like that are burned, not harvested.

I’m sure that won’t happen to you, friends.

 I have better things in mind for you—salvation things!

God doesn’t miss anything. He knows perfectly well all the love you’ve shown him by helping needy Christians, and that you keep at it.

And now I want each of you to extend that same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish.

Don’t drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them. Hebrews 6:7-12 (The Message)

Happy Fall to You All!