words

Words are hard sometimes....hard to speak out loud.....it is hard to put into words those things you can not explain and on those days...a smile and a frown, a laugh or a growl can speak louder than all the words that you have in your mind. 


I have not been doing any sort of writing lately. No journaling or blogging and oh the shame of all shames very little Facebook or Twitter posting either. I know its not right, but I just don't know what to write. I want to say so many things, but too many times I just push them away. 

But I have enrolled in a NOVEL writing class and am super excited about it! So no matter if it is one line or a page I am going to write something every day. I will try to post my writing exercises from class on here too and would love it if you all wanted to post them as well! 

INFLUENSTER!

So here is my new web obsession Influenster. So basically you take surveys, reviews and participate in challenges which gives you points. Then based on your activity and interests, you are sent products or coupons to get products for FREE yes FREE to review and share. So my latest box was the Rose VoxBox and let me tell ya it was a pretty awesome box of goodies. And here they are, a LINDOR truffle and some coupons (oh yeah), Rimmel retro glam mascara, Belvita Breakfast biscuits, Kiss gradation nail polish in Film Nior (grey/black), and Dr. Scholls cozy cushions shoe inserts. I apologize for the pictures, I had a heck of a time getting them on here for some reason so it looks kinda funky but oh well. 

A Milk Chocolate LINDOR Truffle

Breakfast biscuts

Rimmel Retro Glam 

Dr. Scholl's for her Cozy Cushions

KISS Gradation 3 step nail polish

I LOVED getting this box of samples from Influenster and am a fan of the mascara, it is probably going to be my go to mascara for now on!  The Dr. Scholls are nice right now, but I will be better on snowy days to help keep my feet nice and toasty warm. The breakfast bars were a nice change up with my coffee in the morning, just will not be an everyday thing for me. But they were not bad. AND who doesn't like chocolate every now and then. I mean these truffles were so good. 

If you have never heard of Influenster before now go now follow the link and check it out. If you want an invite let me know and I will be more than glad to share the love of FREE samples with you. If you received this box leave a comment and let me know what item was your favorite.

"Little miss S" is 2!

We have a 2 year old in the house now and boy oh boy do we ALL know it too. "Little miss S" had her 2nd birthday on Monday the 10th, and she decided to let the babysitter know all about the terrible two's with an hour long fit during nap time. Poor Hannah she got the full brunt the mess that we call Little miss S. Though her birthday was on the 10th, we had a small party for her on Saturday the 8th. We invited a few friends and some of our church family, and had a little cookout. It was nothing too big or special like these pinterest parties you see these days, but oh did she have fun! Running around out side and showing off for everyone there. 





Most of her gifts were in gift bags and easy for her to dig into, all but one. And that one she wasn't quite sure what to do with it so I helped her rip a side open and instead of continuing to rip it the rest of the way she just shoved her head in the hole to check out what was in there. And the reached in to pull out some clothes and proceeded to try and put them on. I had to be the one to take the paper off of the rest of the gift. She loved all of her presents and have played with them non-stop since Saturday. At least the ones she is able to play with. 

Little miss S and her buddy Asher

For our main gift to her we got a kiddie pool, and some of the guest got her pool attire and toys. So for those items, she has not been able to play with since Saturday with our weather being as crazy as it has been. But she loved them while she was out in them after her nap on Saturday. And by the time we were all said and done, the boys were soaked from head to toe....I may have helped "Little miss S" out a bit with the water hose....

As for my first kids party, I think it was a success! Especially since it was put together in about a weeks time. I am just blessed that God has allowed us to celebrate her 2nd birthday with her!

Never Too Young to Witness

So if has been WAY too long since my last post. I have started like 5 of them but then never can seem to find the words to finish them. But I am not going to let that happen anymore (fingers crossed). Ok so last week Little miss S was running a fever and had not been acting herself. At first I just thought she was teething and didn't think too much about it. Until Thursday when her fever spiked on our way home from the babysitters. She had the chills and just looked so darn pathetic sitting in HIMS lap just a shivering. So I got her into an after-hours clinic just to make sure she wasn't coming down with something contagious or an ear infection or whatever. I really had no idea since this is the first time she has been like this since we have had her THANK GOD! 

 Anyways now picture this tiny 22 lb blond hair blue eye little girl with the saddest most pathetic sick look on her face sitting in the doctors office. She was excited about the fish tank for like 10 minutes and then she just wanted to "nuggle" (snuggle) me and her night-night (her blanket). You are probably think awe she says "nuggle" for snuggle but that there is nothing unusual about that at all right? Well it is what she wanted to me to do next that makes this post worth it. 

But I want you to ask yourself if you have ever thought you were too young, too old or not qualified to share Gods love publicly? Sure you have, if we are honest with ourselves we have all struggled with this or continually struggle with it. I know I do. But sometime I feel that I am over thinking things too much. I worry about when,  how and what I say. When in reality the old adage your actions speak louder than your words has never been more true when it comes to Christians. We can speak the most eloquent words but our actions and attitudes betray us time and time again.

Well back to Little miss S, after she got all situated and "nuggled" in on my lap she started to sing "Jesus, Jesus".  Now when we first got her we went to a Walk to Emmaus event and there was this song that we sang several times throughout the night. And ever since that has been her go comfort song. So it was no big deal for this little not yet 2 year old to sing to Jesus as she is rocking back and forth on my lap. AND then to look at me and say "mommy a Jesus" meaning she wants me to sing to her her Jesus song. So like I would at home I rock with her and sing her Jesus song to her. 

Which is still no big deal right? Well for one we were not alone in the waiting room. There was a mom with her teenage daughter there watching us interacting and us singing Little miss S's Jesus song the whole time. As well as others who came in a little later. After wards I was thinking how natural it was for us to sit there "nuggleing" and singing that song. And what must that mom and daughter think about us. It was so natural for Little miss S to let her Jesus song comfort and show the world around her by actions and words how much she loved Jesus. AND she is not yet 2, how awesome is that.

I know for me too often I don't think about how my attitude towards things or situations damages my Christian witness. Or how many times have I passed up an opportunity to show my love for my God for any number of reasons. All of which sound so legit in your head but so hollow when spoken out loud. I pray that all reading this (myself) included can learn for Little miss S and other children like her who find it so natural to go to God no matter where they are or who they are around.  

New Beginnings

Since taking a break from my Masters program a year and a half ago, I have stayed at home babysitting and taking care of our foster placements. Well that is all about to change. In two weeks I will embark on a new journey at my Alma Mater Oakland City University as the Administrative Assistant in the Financial Aid department. For a while now I have been thinking of getting out in the work force. Now don't get me wrong, I love being at home and the freedom that I have. I love the kids that I babysit for, but this is not my calling. I have felt out of touch and isolated staying at home. Then there is this big issue known as HEALTH INSURANCE, something that is non-existent in the Depoister household at this time. Which has really hurt us these past few months as I have had some health issues. To prevent this from happening again a change was needed. 

 So when I saw a few positions open at OCU, I had to try. No matter what complications could come from me applying. I couldn't let the fear of change hold me back. It all happened so fast. After talking it over with HIM, asking for prayers from our friends and doing A LOT of praying on my part I left it all in God's hands.

My favorite Scripture that has spoken to me all through out my walk with Christ is Jeremiah 29:11-12. And it has severed again as a reminder of God's promises and faithfulness. It has helped calm my fears and given me the strength to face the unknown.

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, 

“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you 

hope and a future. 

12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

I applied, got an interview, and prayed for God's will. And I got the JOB!!! I am so excited to begin but also a little nervous. Now HIM and HER really has to work together to make our household run smoothly. We have things set up pretty good but with kids you just never really know what is gonna happen. It will take some getting use to that is for sure, but I know we will do great. Plus I have started browsing Pinterest for some crock-pot meals that will help make getting dinner on the table that much easier. 

 

I am just so thankful that I get to work at a place that has given me so much. I have always said that I would love to work for OCU at some point and glad that I have been given this opportunity. Plus it doesn't hurt that HIM and HER will be working at the same place either. There will be some things that I I will miss like the freedom that staying at home has given me especially in the summer time. And the one on one time that I have been able to give to Little miss S, but I know that she will have a great person taking care of her. So here is to NEW BEGINNINGS! May you never let the fear of the unknown hold you back from the blessing that the future holds. 

DIY Laundry Detergent

If you are like me, you have wasted oh I mean spent a lot of time on this little old website known as Pinterest. I have this love hate relationship with this site. I love it because it has given me so many great ideas from food to crafts to clothes and home improvements. And I hate it for all the same reasons. It seems like there is a never ending supply of new great  ideas that I just HAVE to try out. Some good and even more not so good. I can spend hours on Pinterest and talk about these great things I have seen. But HIM does NOT like Pinterest, not at all. He says that it is an evil site and there is a never ending supply of eye rolls when it is even mentioned.

Anyways on to why you are really reading this...for a while now I have seen and heard people talk about making their own laundry detergents. And have thought hum that could be useful....but do I really want to shred, cook, mix, separate and whatever else... It just sounded like a lot of work and way too time consuming. Even if it saved me money. Well with our ever growing household there comes the never ending mountain of laundry...yes mountain(I will take pictures so you will believe me). Last week I did 13 loads of laundry....granted we washed bedding as well but still 13 loads is A LOT of laundry. I usually use Purex Natural Elements 66 loads for $6 with Snuggle's white lavender and sandalwood fabric softener 50 loads for $4.50. For a year doing about 8 loads of laundry a week I can easily spend $80.50 on just detergent and softener. And with our new additions that price was guaranteed to be a lot more.

After reading several blogs on homemade laundry detergent I settled on a dry mix (howdoesshe.com) that is suppose to last a year for a household that does 6 loads a week. I only spent $31.16 for everything and didn't even use all of the items. So the next batch will cost even less. Here is the items list:

1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax- Found in the detergent aisle

1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda- Found in the detergent aisle

1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean- Found in the detergent aisle. (This is optional, I only used half of it)

5 (5.5oz) bars of Fels Naptha - Found in the detergent aisle (could also use zote soap)

1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda- Found in the cooking aisle (You could also get two 2 lb box, we couldn’t find the larger 4lb box when we went)

1 (55 oz) Bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener- Found in the detergent aisle

I forgot to take a picture before I started but here they are after

So armed with all the ingredients, an old school hand grater, bowl and large container to mix it all it, I was ready to get started. Unfortunately I still had to grate/shred the Fels Naptha, but it really wasn't as bad as I anticipated it to be.  It looked a lot like cheddar cheese and Little miss S would come up to me saying cheese, bites please and getting mad because I had to tell her no. She is such a mess...but back to the detergent....after all 5 bars were shredded I started to add a little bit of the other items and mix with a spoon. But that didn't last long at all. I ended up just dumping everything in the bucket at once and used my hands to mix it all up. The spoon just wasn't getting it all mixed up so I just dug right in. It took me about 30 minutes from start to finish and that was with me taking some breaks to check on dinner. And to sooth Little miss S...she has been an emotional mess these past few days. I wasn't thinking about how I was gonna store it when I was at the store, so I filled the Purex bottle up with some and just covered the bucket with a blanket until I can go back and get something to store it in. I was thinking that I will just get a medium sized Rubbermaid plastic container the next time I went to the store. 

I made this batch on Saturday but didn't get to use it until Monday. I don't think I have been this excited to do laundry in my life. I figured I would test it out on my towels first since they are the one that I expect to look, feel and smell clean no matter what. And it PAST the test!!! I used the cap off of the Bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener and it worked great. I will not be going back to store bought detergent any time soon. I am now excited to see how long this will last our ever fluctuating household. So now I have to say a big thank you to Pinterest and to howdoesshe.com for this recipe!

Growing

Our household just keeps on growing! We started fostering in September of 2011 with this desire to provide a safe a loving home for children in need. Since then we have had the pleasure of having 11 children in our home. There is training before becoming foster parents and then training every year which is good for us non-parents. But even with this training we were not quite prepared for the roller coaster ride we were willingly strapping ourselves into. And boy has it been a roller coaster ride with many ups and downs and twists and turns. There were even those times when we felt like we were failing at everything we tried. But we would not take any of them back for anything. 

We know that God brought each child into our home for reasons we many never understand. And we trust that he will use their time with us as an example of a better life. It has been a blessing and a growing experience for both HIM & HER. Each child has forced us to grow in areas that we would never have thought of before and has given us a different outlook on life.

We still have Little miss S who is now 20 months old and 8 year old A. But on February 1st we added 14 year old miss K and 11 year old T. I was a little nervous about having a teenage girl. Little miss S has been the only girl we have had. And as many of you know teenage girls are an unexplainable and sometime scary force of nature. Even though it has only been 11 days, I don't see us having too many issues with either miss K or T. Both of them are such good kids they seem to just fit right into our little family. Both Little miss S and A love having them here. 

The scariest thing that we have to deal with is having only one bathroom, yes i did just say ONE bathroom (Gasp). We still haven't quite figured out a good schedule for everyone (if there is even such a thing). But we have found a way to make our morning mayhem work for us. It just means earlier mornings for me and a lot more coffee to get the day started.