Nails and Nannying

I love when I get to spend 12 hours nannying with my two favorite little girls. We get to craft all day! They love crafting with me, and I get to test out some of the things I have been wanting to try out for myself. Today we took a stab at what I know everyone has seen on pinterest... THIS.  I asked the girls what they wanted to create: one said a flower (which I forgot to take pictures of) and the other chose the starfish shown below. It was so easy and we had a blast making them!

All you have to do is trace or draw the shape you want on a piece of wood (we chose to paint our wood a color first, which most people would, I'm sure). Then you place nails about a cm apart from each other along your drawing. Pick a figure with something in the middle of it, so you have a place to connect the string too. Tie one end of your string to a nail where you want to start, and begin wrapping! Tie it off at the end and you have your masterpiece!

These turned out so well, that I am ready to take on my creation of Honduras using this technique!

We did the starfish a little differently because of its odd shape. We ended up doing a zigzag pattern rather than straight lines of string from the outside nails to the inside nails like we did on the flower

Pillow Party

I went fabric store hopping on Thursday with a friend, and she didn't do a good job of not letting me buy a ton of fabric... So yesterday I made some pillows for my soon-to-be room using this tutorial. It was super easy and each pillow took me under 10 minutes to make!

What you need:
1/2 yard of fabric (for pillows smaller than 18 inches)
and a pillow form

What to do:
1. Cut the fabric. For my 15x15in pillow, I cut one piece measuring 15x34in. (Your fabric should measure 'pillow side' by 'pillow side x2 plus 4 inches')
2. Hem the two short sides of the fabric to make clean edges.
3. Fold the fabric in on both ends (right side of the fabric inside) so that there is a square the size of the pillow in the middle. (For mine this means that I folded each end in 9.5". There should be a couple of inches of overlap. 
4. Sew across the top and bottom.
5. Flip inside out and put your pillow in!

Here are some pics of the ones I made:

I had to stop myself from making any more! They are just too easy!

DIY: passport case

Before I left for Honduras, I was sewing like crazy. I made this awesome holder for my passport, credit cards, and boarding passes. It made traveling so much easier! I made it by modifying this journal cover tutorial. Here are some pics-

I ended up adding a fabric flower to the front after I was finished to add a little personality. Sorry I don't have a picture of that!

All you moms out there:

THANK YOU.

I have been nannying for two lovely little girls for the past year and couldn't be more in love with my job. I have learned more than I ever thought I would or could. There have been many laughs, tears, "because I said so's," and "we are leaving in 10 seconds with or without you's." Was I really so funny when I was 8? Was I so whiny? Was I so snuggly? Was I so (insert any word to describe a child at any moment). But I would say what I have gained most from this past year has been appreciation. Appreciation for all those Mom's out there who made the decision to raise their children, because man it is tough! Not only is it tough, but it is rewarding. To see a child's excitement when you compliment their tree climbing abilities or hear their laughter when they watch Ice Age 4. And it doesn't hurt that I am just as mature as my 8 and 11 year old... ha. That's my spiel for the momma's out there. You rock.

Culture Shock

Woah, it has been a while since I blogged. And my summer has been crazy. As you may know from some previous posts, I just recently went to Honduras for a month. Woah. That was a long time and right now it really doesn't feel like it happened. I think I am still in that 'shock' stage where I don't know how to feel or what to think or how to process or how to even talk about it yet. I absolutely loved my time there. I spent all of my days with precious children and wonderful people. I learned a lot of Spanish. I learned a lot about Jesus and missions and life as a missionary and living in a third world country. I was surrounded by poverty, need, neglect, abuse, starvation, and beauty in all of it. I learned that the Lord loves all of His people- all of us just the same. He loves to watch us, talk to us (will always blow my mind), laugh with us, cry with us, listen to us, and one thing that's for certain is that He will never leave us. Spending time with children who have so much joy and love to share with me after not ever receiving love in the past is an amazing thing. Seeing children who live on dirt floors, who may not get more than one meal a day, worship God more passionately than I ever have is an amazing thing. Needless to say, I can't think of a lot of things to write because there aren't many words to describe the month I spent as an intern for the LAMB Institute. I have tried to sum up the best I can to update you before I go into recent happenings and detailed stories from my trip in future posts.

Here are A FEW pics. Check out my facebook for more.

For the Lord is good.

"For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations."

Psalm 100:5

I wanted to share this story of this beautiful boy and his younger sister. They are both children at the Lamb Institute Children's Home in Honduras, and I love them very much. When I was there in December, I truly grew to love this little guy, Marvin. He was so sweet and affectionate, and although he didn't speak much, he spoke through his eyes and his actions. A little standoffish when we first met, I think I grew on him as the week went on, and he grew on me. It was hardest for me to leave this child of God, but I knew in my heart I would return to him. And with God's faithfulness, I will be returning to Marvin and all the kids at the children's home this Friday.

Here's Marvin's story (and his sister Marjeli) from Suzy's blog:

Plucking brands from the fire can be an extremely delicate activity! Satan does not take kindly to having his brands removed, primarily because he plans to use them to "steal, kill and destroy."

This image fits perfectly with our experience with two children, brother and sister, Marvin and Marjeli, who were born in Enemy territory and whose lives were surely forfeit had not the Lord of Mercy and Justice intervened.

The first person in our ministry to become acquainted with these siblings was Olga, who gave them food one day and then gradually had them on her doorstep every single night begging for supper. They said their mother was sick and couldn’t work. Could they have some food for her, too? Olga went with them to their house and discovered that their mother was sick indeed: tuberculosis. She was also using drugs and selling herself to support the habit. Her children were 8 and 1, the older brother carrying the baby sister from house to house to find food while the mother languished in their pitiful room. Their family was added to our food bank.

A few months later our daycare director, Suyapa, met the children. They had followed their friend Olga to our offices one day. Suyapa began to lobby to have them brought into our school and daycare. Some of the staff resisted accepting “street children,” but eventually compassion won out, and Marvin and Marjeli became part of the “God’s Littlest Lambs” community. Marvin was 9 and Marjeli was 2. Although Marvin had been promoted to third grade in the public school, he could not read, so our teachers got to work, discovered he was very bright, and began to fill in the academic holes.

Then their father came home. Add a drug dealer to the family, a thief and addict, exploiter of children, abusive and erratic. Marvin missed school, and when someone was sent to look for him, he was “working.” Because of the parents’ close relationship with violent gangs, nobody was anxious to “set them off,” and any talk about taking the children to our children’s home (which was suggested more than once) made them very angry.

Our staff continued to love and educate the two children,and our social worker began reach out to the parents. They were given a bed and continued to receive food. A two-week food ration, however, ran out very early, as it was often sold to buy drugs. Marvin and Marjeli began to show up at Olga’s house asking for supper again. So in addition to breakfast, lunch and two snacks, supper was added to their daily ration at the daycare. They were also bathed at the daycare, their clothes were washed, and they learned about the love of Jesus.

A few more months went by. Every time the ministry leadership came together, these two children were discussed. Everyone was in agreement that they needed to be at the children’s home, but nobody knew how to pluck the brands from the fire without risking serious retribution from the parents. Would they kill someone on our staff? Would they kill one of our children? We didn’t know what else to do except pray, continue to love, and wait.

The one day the mother went to the neighborhood health center and was re-diagnosed with TB. By law the entire family had to be tested. Both children tested positive. Government officials immediately took the children to be quarantined in the public hospital for respiratory illnesses. The parents were told that the children could no longer live with them, that they would have to go to Social Services. The parents requested that they be sent to our children’s home. 
However, as soon as the children were transferred from the hospital to our own quarantine facility, the parents began to breathe threats again: “Give them back or we will kill somebody.”

Once again God intervened. The father, a sometimes auto mechanic, stole parts from a car he had been commissioned to repair. He spent the money on drugs. The owner of the car also had close ties with a gang. He said he would kill the father if he did not pay him for the parts. The father and mother fled the city, leaving the two smoking brands behind.

But we still did not have a signed permission to care for the children. And before long a pair of tattooed young men held vigil outside of our office for most of a morning. They asked about Marvin – they just wanted to ask him where his father was, they said. It was very important that they talk with him. Our office staff was nervous. In Honduras tattoos mean gang involvement, and gang involvement means potential violence. There was talk of calling the parents to pick up the children.

We held a prayer service in the office. We agreed that we could not hand over these two innocent children to their parents. To do so would be to return them to Enemy fire, perhaps forever. We decided to wait.

Two days later the mother showed up at the office alone. We ushered her inside, gave her breakfast, listened to her story. And then we gently suggested again that the children needed to remain with us. Could she sign a paper giving permission? She began to weep: “I’ll miss them.” We prayed with her. She placed her signature and fingerprint on the permission.

Marvin is 10 and Marjeli is 3. I asked Marvin if he knew that Jesus loves him. “Yes,” he said. “At school they told me.” 

These children have favor with the Lord, they are loved, they are protected, they are beautiful in His eyes. I am so blessed to have been able to spend time with these children, to share in their affection and joy that comes from the Father. I have prayed and will continue to pray for this ministry and these children, and I look forward to spending a month with them! 

The Next Design Star....

Some fun things have been going down at the James household this week. We've been rearranging! I love moving furniture and I love rearranging the furniture in my room.. I do it about once a month... not kidding. The move was a little different this time. (Here's a little back story: in our house, we have 3 bedrooms and a 'playroom'. Each child has lived in the playroom, because it is the biggest room in our house. So my brother had it until he moved to college, then I had it until I moved to college, and now my sister has it.) We had the bright idea this summer to move my bed into my sister's room (the big playroom) and make my room into a hangout room. I know, we sound like five year olds, getting so excited about sharing a room and having a hangout room, but this thing is awesome! It basically become our craft room, and I never thought having a room designated just for crafting would be so inspirational. I have been crafting and sewing like no one's business! Needless to say, I have been busy sewing and drawing and painting since we made this room. It is going to get a new paint job soon (maybe even a chalkboard wall), but for now, it is a source of motivation and inspiration for some crazy crafting! Here are some of the crafts I have completed in the new room:

I made this awesome new bible cover, which was in my last blog post. I'm in love with it.

the outside- three fabrics I put together.

it even has these great pockets for the Bible to slide in.

I took the ugly sleeves off this shirt and made it this cute tank top!

Before

After

I made this awesome journal to take to Honduras.

Front

Back