Blog Linkage, Family Devotions, Pre-Party, The Party, Post Party AND How Can So Many CUTE People Take Such Not-So-Cute Pictures?

Good Saturday morn!

Blog Linkage - Go to www.kellehampton.com and click on her post entitled "You've Got Mail Fall Movie Night," and read every single word.

Look at every single picture.

Such a fun idea!

RANDOMNESS #1 - Family Devotions - I found a Bible Study I enjoyed on Instagram this week, and it was all about the importance of teaching the children in our lives (beginning at a very young age) everything we possibly can about the Bible.

The importance of helping them memorize scripture.

The importance of being in God's Word daily.

The importance of worship music.

The importance of prayer.

The importance of obedience.

This "Important List" continues to grow as the child grows.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 says, "These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - The above scripture is as clear and concise as it gets, isn't it?

Bejeweled Pumpkin

You will need the following:

Pumpkin
Tulle
Ribbon
Bag of Gemstones (Dollar Tree)
Hot Glue Gun

Things to do pre-Devotion:

1. Cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin, but DON'T take any pulp out of the pumpkin. Remove it to make sure it comes off easily, and then replace it.

2. Get a large square of tulle, and place the pumpkin in the center of the square.

3. Gather all the edges of the tulle up around the stem, and tie a pretty ribbon around the base of the stem to hold the tulle in place.

NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - Do NOT glue the tulle around the top of the pumpkin. You need to be able to untie the ribbon, push the tulle away and lift the top to look inside during the devotion.

4. After securing the tulle with the ribbon, decorate on top of the tulle using the hot glue and gemstones.

ANOTHER NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - I got this picture from the computer, but it is very similar to the one I made back in the day (minus the ribbon and gemstones).

Now you are ready to call the family together for the Devotion.

Devotion – There are two words I am going to use a lot in the next few minutes. The first one is "pretty," and the second one is "beautiful." You can be a very pretty person on the outside, but did you know God is much more interested about how you look on the inside?

Share 1 Peter 3:3-4.

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

This does not mean it is wrong to fix/curl/braid/straighten/etc. your hair or dress in stylish clothes. It doesn't mean you can't wear bracelets and rings and earrings with your outfits.

God created girls. He knows they love pretty things. They like to try new hairstyles and dress up in all kinds of fun clothes. God understands the way a girl's mind works, because he made you.

But more important than the way you look on the outside, God wants to see you spend time and energy striving to be beautiful on the inside. He wants you to have a beautiful heart.

Even when a woman grows very old and her physical beauty fades, she can still be very beautiful if she has spent time during her life acquiring the kind of beauty God truly appreciates.

Let’s look at this pumpkin more closely.

I am going to untie the ribbon and pull the tulle back...

And look! The top of this pumpkin has been cut. I am going to take the top off so we can see inside.

(Let the girls take turns seeing the yucky inside of the pumpkin. Make sure they smell it, too.)

This pumpkin looks so beautiful on the outside, but when we look closely, it is NOT beautiful on the inside, is it?

Do you think God knows when someone is pretty on the outside, but not pretty on the inside?

Do you think God knows when girls say mean things, or do not share or do not treat their brothers and sisters nicely?

Yes, He does.

No matter how much you might try to hide what is on your inside, you can hide nothing from God.

YET ANOTHER NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - This will be a good time to tell/remind them that no one can be "good" all the time. We all make mistakes and sin, but God is merciful and forgiving of our sins when we talk to Him in prayer.

Being beautiful on the inside isn't something that just happens. It takes a lot of work every single day...

But as you grow up and get older and older and older, how wonderful would it be to have "the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit"?

And even better than that...

To know "it is of great worth in God's sight."

Let's pray.

RANDOMNESS #2 - Pre-Party - Little Miss showed up for the September/October birthday party in all of her "cupcake" finery...

And that is why she gets her very own RANDOMNESS Pre-Party Section.

RANDOMNESS #3 - THE Party - Courtney's birthday is September 14...

Roxie's birthday is September 25...

And Josh's birthday is October 4.

That is why a few years ago, we started celebrating these three together.

I went with a Luau party theme...

And it seemed to fit everyone's mood.

Remember I told you I would show you Bev's birthday gift to me in the next post?

Do ya?

Well, here it is!

The tallest bassett is Eunice, and I've had her since Judith was the only Grandtot.

The shorter bassett is Rufus, Walter or whatever. It is still undecided.

All I can say...

The only thing better than one giant plastic bassett hound...

Has to be TWO giant plastic bassett hounds!

Looks like she agrees.

RANDOMNESS #3 - Post Party - Mimi and Boss (Melia's parents) sent their inflatable bounce house over for the day's festivities, and it made everyone pretty happy.

RANDOMNESS #4 - How Can So Many CUTE People Take Such Not-So-Cute Pictures? - All Roxie wanted was one good pic of her with her nieces and nephew.

She might as well have asked for $1,000,000!

Honestly, we still had a great deal of hope at this point of the picture-taking process...

But by the time we took this one, I could tell Eden wasn't going to willingly hang around much longer...

And Little Miss ME had spotted some hair within pulling distance.

In other words, things were going south quickly.

Not getting any better!

And we are OUT!

I hope you and yours have a wonderful cool, autumnal weekend.

I'll be back soon with another October Family Devotion and more pics!

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda

Some call it multi-tasking, but I call it doing something else while I try to remember what I was doing in the first place.