Omaha, Nebraska

When I told some of my friends that Drummer Boy and I were going to Omaha, Nebraska for a mini-vacation, I got some confused looks.

Them: What's in Omaha?

Me: The College World Series!!

Them: Are there other things to do there besides baseball?

Me: Does it matter?

Drummer Boy and I ate, drank, and slept baseball for 3 days and we loved it! We watched 4 baseball games, experienced a crazy storm with 75 mph winds, chatted with the locals, ate some yummy-to-my-tummy meals, sat through a 2 1/2 hour rain delay before they finally called the game, and cheered like crazy for the Vanderbilt Commodores. Unfortunately, Vandy lost the game that we attended, but they aren't out of it yet. They beat UNC twice and now they face Florida tomorrow night. We are back in Houston now, but we've got our gold pom-poms ready to cheer from home!

Me and Sonny Gray, starting pitcher for the Commodores

Yummy Breakfast at Amato's

TD Ameritrade Park (I love the designs in the grass)

Participating Teams in the CWS

The crazy storm with 75 mph winds

Matthew 6:20-21

"Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where theives do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also."

This summer, I have planned several craft projects (because my girls and I love crafts) to help us hide the word of God in our hearts. Each craft project will help us illustrate or discuss or understand a bible verse, and I hope that in the end the girls and I will have a tangible item and a great memory that will help us to memorize God's word and put it into practice.

So, for our first project I picked Matthew 6:20-21. The girls are already familiar with this verse because it is put to music on one of our Seeds CD's and it is one of the girl's favorite songs on that CD. I bought a couple of inexpensive wooden boxes at Hobby Lobby and the girls painted them. Princess painted a heart on hers and Pumpkin put happy faces all over hers. It was so cute!

Before I let them start painting, I read Matthew 6:20-21 and we talked about what it means to store up treasures in heaven and why it's better than storing up treasures on earth. The girls were both so excited to do this craft, it made me feel like a good mom for once!

Anyway, after the paint dried, I painted the words of Matthew 6:21 on the top of each one.

Then, the next day we read Mark 10:21, "Go sell everything you have and give to to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven" and 1 Timothy 6:18-19, "Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life." We talked about what the bible says about how you store up treasures in heaven. Then I had each of the girls write down at least three ways to store up treasures in heaven and put those in their treasure boxes. Pumpkin wrote about giving a meal to someone, sharing her toys and helping out someone with a broken car (we stopped to help a lady whose car wouldn't start on the way home from Mimi's today). Princess also wrote about sharing and helping out someone in need.

I think it was a great craft. The girls enjoyed it and I think they understand a little bit more what it means to store treasures in heaven. And they each have a cute little treasure box to keep in their rooms. And, last but not least, they loved it so much, they can't wait for the next craft! I heard several times during this project, "you are the best mommy ever!" A smile on my face.