January Scripture Writing Plan 2016

For those who did the December Scripture Writing Plan and enjoyed it,

here's the plan for the month of January!

As we start a new year this is a great way to spend

a few minutes each day focusing on what is truly important! 

There is something about writing out scripture that seems to 

make the word come alive for me- 

and I'm thankful it's been a blessing to so many of you as well!

You can find a copy to print out for yourself in the folder HERE.

For those that have asked, there is also a blank form 

to write your verses on that can be found HERE. 

I'll be updating the plans for the new year 

so if you check back at the end of each month, 

I'll have the plan posted for the following month! 

UPDATE:

Thanks to a sweet reader named Carolyn, you can find the Spanish version HERE. 

Thank you Carolyn! 

Ring and Run Christmas Fun

Several years ago we did something super fun at Christmas- Ring and Run!

Ring and Run is based very loosely on the song The 12 Days of Christmas

and is kind of a Christmas random acts of Kindness!

I'm not sure who had more fun- us or the family we did it for! 

Here's how it works:

You choose a family to surprise and every day for the 12 days leading up to Christmas 

you leave a little treat on their doorstep along with part of a poem, 

ring their doorbell, and run away!

The year we did it we chose a sweet family with 3 little girls 
and I cannot tell you how much fun we had buying and delivering little treats for them! 

Although this tradition is supposed to be totally anonymous, 

we altered that rule just a bit and let the parents know what we were up to. 

{Sneaking around in someone's front yard might tend to cause the police to get called and 
so we wanted them to know that we were not prowlers or burglars 
and filled them in on what we were doing.}

It was so much fun sneaking up to their front door, leaving a treat, and speeding away!

If you just want a copy of the poem, you can find it HERE.

{Only the first page is listed below but the link is all of the poem!}

I made some fun tags that you can use to print out

to leave with y our gifts- and even included the gift for the night

at the top of each tag.  

You can print out your own tags HERE. 

{Don't try to just save the little images above, they'll be too little and blurry!}

Who can you bless with Christmas Ring and Run?  

Scripture Prayer Cards

I'm a HUGE  believer in the power of prayer. 

I think many people WANT to pray but 

sometimes we all struggle though with not that we should pray,

but WHAT specifically we should pray. 

So a few years ago I made some prayer cards. 

I made one set of things that I wanted to daily pray 

my daughter and another set of things

 I wanted to pray specifically for my husband. 

Each card includes a prayer and a scripture. 

I printed them out 4 per page, cut them out, 

laminated them and put them on a ring. 

I keep them in my purse and they are a great reminder 

to me to pray specifically for those I love the most.  

If I'm stuck in traffic or line somewhere I'll pull them out and quickly pray. 

I love having something specific to pray- rather than just a general prayer. 

I have given these cards to lots of friends as gifts 

and have so loved hearing how much they have loved and used them. 

One friend has her set for her husband in the shower 

(since her set is laminated) and 

prays for her husband every day while she showers. 

Such a smart use of time isn't it?

Another friend who I gave a set to for her son says 

them out loud to him while he eats breakfast each morning.  

He got so used to hearing them that he has memorized 

the prayers and one day she sent me a video 

of him saying some of the prayers himself! 

So precious and such a great reminder that little ears are ALWAYS listening.

I had the cards listed in my ETSY store but recently had to remove them 

because I just didn't have time for the printing, laminating, mailing 

parts of creating them for orders. 

But this weekend I've added them back- this time as instant downloads!

 As instant downloads you can purchase a set, print them out 

and keep them for yourself or give them as a gift! 

The great thing about a digital download

 is that you can print as many copies as you'd like!

So you buy once, and can print multiple copies!

All of the cards can be found HERE in my ETSY store.

The praying for your husband set comes in 3 different colors (navy, red, or green) and come 16 to a set. Each of the 16 cards has a prayer and a scripture reference and are great to keep in your purse and card as a reminder to pray often for you husband. They would be great to give at Christmas but also make a super sweet wedding or anniversary gift!

The praying for your daughter, son, children, or grand children come 14 to a set and can be printed 4 per page. Each of the 14 cards has a prayer and a scripture reference.and are great to keep in your purse and card as a reminder to pray often for you sweet children. They would be great to give at Christmas but also make a super sweet baby shower gift!

All the digital download sets have general names on them (son, daughter, children, grand children, husband) but if you'd like one with a specific name, just message me through ETSY and I'll be happy to personalize a download for you and create a custom order. 

From now through Dec. 15th, use the code
 MERRY15 for 15% off your ETSY order! 

12 Days of Finals Care Package

My daughter is a college sophomore 

(how is that even possible when she was just a teeny tiny baby girl what seems like a few days ago?) 

& one of my absolute favorite things to do is send her finals care packages. 

I seriously wish I could start a care package business. 

How fun would that be? 

This year instead of sending one big box of stuff like I usually do, 

I decided to space it out and send The 12 Days of Finals gifts. 

 I sent the wrapped gifts back with her after Thanksgiving 

and she will start opening them 12 days before the end of her finals. 

It works just like the 12 Days of Christmas song so 

day 1 includes 1 thing, day 2 includes two things, etc. 

I thought it would be more fun to have something to 

open each day rather than one giant box. 

For the gifts I alternated between gift cards, 

food treats, and fun brain breaks and little gifts.

Many of the days include treats for her sweet roommates too!

Here are a list of some things you could include:

• Snacks (cookies, beef jerky, crackers, popcorn)
• Drinks
• Gift cards to Starbucks, Sonic, a fave restaurant, etc (most can be in any denomination so they are great for higher number days)
• Cash (always a big hit!) 
• Coloring books/crayons
• Water guns
• Nerf guns
• Gum
• Candy
• Fun/holiday socks
• Play dough 
• Magazines/books
• Makeup or nail polish
• Silly string
• Christmas ornaments
• Craft ideas/supplies
• School supplies
• Cookie making supplies

And here's what I included:

1. On the first day of finals my mommy gave to me 1 iHop gift card. 

2. On the second day of finals my mommy gave to me 2 magazines. 

3. On the third day of finals my mommy gave to me 3 bottles of nail polish. ($1 each at Walmart) 

4. On the fourth day of finals my mommy gave to me 4 coloring books. ($1 each at Walmart)

 5. On the fifth day of finals my mommy gave to me 5 five dollar bills. (of course you ould do $1 bills)

6. On the sixth day of finals my mommy gave to me 6 cans of play dough. (they came 8 to a pack so I pulled out 2) 

7. On the seventh day of finals my mommy gave to me 7 boxes of candy. (the movie kind- that's less than $1 a box) 

8. On the eighth day of finals my mommy gave to me 8 cozy socks. (1 pair per roommate bought at Michael's a few weeks ago in their dollar spot). 

 9. On the ninth day of finals my mommy gave to me 9 packs of popcorn. (10 in a box so I pulled out one) 

10. On the tenth day of finals my mommy gave to me $10 to Starbucks. 

11. On the eleventh day of finals my mommy gave to me 11 cute new pencils. 

12. On the twelfth day of finals my mommy gave to me $12 to Sonic.

I created some fun tags for each day's gifts. 

I put a card on the outside of each gift as a label and 

then another card inside explaining what the gift was. 

I made the tags gender neutral so they will work for boys or girls 

and printed them four to a page. 

My tags said.....

On the first day of finals my mommy gave to me... 

but I also created versions that say parents, daddy, and aunt 

as I shared the idea with some friends on FB and they asked for cards to print too. 

If you'd like to print them out you can find all of the label cards in the folder HERE.

It was fun to package them up and get them ready to give them to my sweet girl! 

I even found ribbon at Hobby Lobby that matched perfectly!
{And of course it was 1/2 off! I love Hobby Lobby!}

If you don't have a college aged student you could 

easily adapt this idea for a younger child or your sweetie pie- 

and do it for the 12 days leading up to Christmas! 

If you have any other ideas for items to include- 

feel free to leave them as a comment below and I'll add them!

The items I included for my sweet girl were...

• one IHOP gift card
• two magazines
• three bottles of nail polish
• four coloring books