Good Monday Morning

I love how children think.  They make me laugh.  They make me smile.  They make me chuckle and sometimes even giggle.  They make me burst into hysterical belly rolling laughter.  They are simply awesome!

After finishing my workout this morning I was on the floor stretching my back; on my knees, chest to my knees with my hands outstretched above my head.  Little Miss Cassie Girl comes and lays down on the floor next to me with a blanket wrapped around her neck and giggles.  I turned to look at her and my eyes meet her sparkling blue eyes and she giggled again.  That made me smile and giggle a little too.  I moved to stretch my legs and she stood under me, looked up at me and giggled again.  What a sweet little angel!

I headed into the kitchen to make my smoothie and she went off to play.  The next thing I know she's on top of the kitchen table...this is not a new thing...with a VHS tape box.  The box is empty.  She's sits on the table, opens the box and places her uneaten slice of toast into the box and closes it.  It just struck me as funny.  I laughed out loud.  What a silly little miss.

It's the little things in life that bring a smile to our faces.  I'll be reminded of it all day long.  Have a happy day!

Peace

As I make breakfast, load the dishwasher and wash a few dishes my mind is caught up in thoughts of the Boston Marathon this week and the tragic bombings that occurred.  I remember the feelings and emotions that I felt when I sat and watched the Twin Towers collapse and crumble.  I remember the feelings of helplessness and wanting to make the pain and suffering stop.  And some of those same feelings and thoughts emerge yet again as I watched clips and footage of the race.

So many people were hurt.  So many lives altered.  So much sadness.

A hymn plays in my mind as I listen to a talk...
Where can I turn for peace
Where is my solace
When other sources cease to make me whole?
When with a wounded heart, anger or malice
I draw my self apart
searching my soul

Where, when my aching grows
Where, when I languish
Where, in my need to know
Where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand
to calm my anguish?
Who, who can understand?
He, only One.

He answers privately,
Reaches my reaching
In my Gethsemane,
Savior and Friend.
Gentle the peace he finds
For my beseeching
Constant He is and kind,
Love without end.

As I think on these things I am so thankful for a loving Savior who is the only true source of peace in our earthly lives.  We can get through these horrific acts of terror and move on and find peace and joy in our lives.  It will not be easy.  But it is possible.

A conference talk from this month's General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints talks of peace and where to find it.  Elder Quentin L. Cook does a beautiful job explaining how we can find peace in his talk entitled Personal Peace: The Reward of Righteousness.

I am so thankful for a loving Savior.

Homemade paints

Curly Girl has been bugging me for paints.  She had some and ran out and just wants to paint.  How could I resist the pleadings of a 4 year old...I didn't want to spend the money on the paint.  I'm cheap.  Haha! I searched the internet for some recipes and found this blog that had a few different recipes.

I chose to make the recipe that she said was their favorite.  Why try to reinvent the wheel?  I'm pretty easy to please.  Today I finally got out the three ingredients to make the paint and Curly Girl helped me.  She stirred the water and cornstarch mixture on the stove.  I helped when it got a little too thick for her.

Then we transferred the warm mixture into small containers that I had purchased for this purpose.  It fit perfectly into the four small 1/2 cup containers.  Once it cooled a bit more I added a very small amount of food coloring gel...in the colors that Curly Girl chose.  She wanted rainbow colors.

And there you have it...one happy girl!  Happy Painting Curly Girl!