Comfortable

AH! I'm almost done with grad school. I have completed all of my required courses and am now involved in an internship at a local private counseling practice. To most this would be super exciting. While I am happy to be nearing the end of school for now, this nearness of the end also brings great anxiety. Why? Because what comes next is.... THE REAL WORLD...duh duh duh. I am comfortable in school. I enjoy it. I enjoy not having to work 8+ hours a day, five days a week, because I'm "still a student." The real world brings uncertainty, especially in today's economy where jobs are hard to find. I'm not sure if I'm ready to join the real world. 


Then I think about my purpose and about what God has designed me to do - to worship Him and to become more like Him each and every day of my existence and to guide others to Him as well. This is pretty easy to do when you are surrounded by Christians at one of the largest Christian universities in the world. This too has become comfortable. Almost so comfortable that some days it's meaning is no longer something great and special in my life... it's just "normal." I don't work hard at it anymore...because if I don't feel like stepping up to encourage one of my discouraged classmates or co-workers, I can know someone else throughout the day will...it's a big university after all...so no big deal. Wrong attitude! 


Here is the point. COMFORT = COMPLACENCY


I like being comfortable, but I'm tired of it. I've been thinking about this more and more over the past week. I'm tired of being comfortable...of knowing what each day will hold. I'm tired of just coasting and waiting for weekends. I want to fulfill me purpose to the fullest! To serve God with my whole heart...to go out of my way to serve Him! 


GOD DOES NOT CALL US TO BE COMFORTABLE! In fact, He states the opposite to be true. 2 Timothy 3:12-13 says, "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."


Bring on the real world! 

Resourcefulness!

I admit that I am not the most resourceful person out there, but I do what I can. Thanks to Pinterest, one of my favorite websites to browse, I found a fun way to make your house smell great!

Oranges were on sale at the grocery store, so I bought an 8 pound bag, because oranges and clementines are some of Rob and I's favorite snacks to eat in the evenings. Unfortunately, when I got the oranges home, I discovered that the oranges were pretty old and that almost all of them were hard and not tasty. I was pretty bummed, and was going to throw the whole bag of oranges in the trash. Then, I remembered a post that I saw on Pinterest, and decided to try it out, so that I could at least use the rinds of the oranges.

I put a bunch of the rinds in a pot of water, along with some cinnamon and a very small amount of freshly ground nutmeg. I brought it to a light boil, and let it simmer for quite a while.

It made my apartment smell so good and fresh! I love the smell of fresh oranges! I had so many oranges that I saved some rind for another time. (I'm sure Rob wondered why I had a tupperware container full of orange rinds).

This is the first thing that I've done from Pinterest....and hopefully there will be many more Pinterest-inspired projects to post on here!

Let's Try This Again!

So, I've really been missing blogging lately, and am determined to get back at it! I am going to take more pictures of fun things, and write more often!

It's my favorite time of the year ----CHRISTMAS TIME! I've been listening to Christmas music since about 2 weeks prior to Thanksgiving. I love Christmas music... it makes me happy and warm and fuzzy! Great feelings! So many memories accompany Christmas! One of my favorite Christmas memories from last Christmas was going to the nursing home that my Grandpa Adams spent his last couple of years of life in. My whole family went and sang to the residents and nurses there and passed out Christmas cards to them! It was a really neat time!

Here are my mom, dad, and uncle singing.
One of the residents joined us! 

We took a family picture in front of the nursing home's tree
after we sang! 

This Christmas season so far has been full of Christmas parties, baking, friends, and other festivities! It's been great so far! This year for Christmas my family has eight people in it...our small family of 4 has doubled with the addition of two spouses (Rob and Rachel) and two foreign exchange students that my parents are housing for the year (SeoHyun and Sara). Since there are so many, we decided to draw names for Christmas girls and then since we won't all be together, skype on Christmas day while each one opens his or her gift. This will be a fun and different Christmas for us! I'm going shopping for my person this weekend! I can't wait! 

I'm sure that more Christmas cheer posts will come soon as I LOVE Christmas! :) 

Blogging Fail

So, I am officially the worst blogger ever! I am constantly thinking of things to blog about...however I never actually blog about them. I always say I'm going to be better at keeping up a blog. I make no promises.  :)

Quick update on grad school: After my summer classes, I only have two classes left, and then need to complete my internship. I am looking for an internship right now! Crazy stuff! After that... 60 more credit hours under my belt, and a Master's in Professional Counseling. Then the decision of going on to become licensed must be made. It never ends... The internship I'm in right now is Diagnosis and Treatment...probably the most intimidating class to me. I'm a bit overwhelmed right now, but by Friday, hopefully I'll know a little more about what I am doing.

Other fun things that are going on here:

• I discovered the cutest cupcakery in Roanoke the other day; it's called Bubblecake! Love it! 
• I finally found this baseball field that is practically in my backyard...I spent months trying to figure out where the entrance to this field is, and with Rob's help (must give him credit) I (he) finally found it! Mystery solved! 
• Roanoke now has a Chipotle! That means it's only an hour drive for us, instead of the hour and a half that we drove to Charlottesville....however, Charlottesville is a cooler city. 
• I joined a water aerobics class that meets 3 times a week...with a whole bunch of adorable elderly people...I love it! They are a riot! 
• Our little tiny nineteen cent goldfish are now humongus pigfish that eat more that I do!
• Summertime would be more fun without homework. 
• WWE wrestling shows are not for me as everyone around us smelt awful!
• All I do is read textbooks. 

...and that's about it. I will try to be a better blogger this summer! :)

Oh Springtime, Where Art Thou

Last week Rob and I spent 4 lovely days in sunny Orlando, FL where it was in the 80's and was absolutely gorgeous!  We went there with our youth pastor and his wife and met another youth pastor couple that we know and all went to the Youth Pastor's Summit conference.  The conference is put on by Student Leadership University and the first day takes place in the Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Studios (as seen below), then the next day is held at a local church where we have break-out sessions.  Along with the conference we also get free pass to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure parks. 



We had a blast there! It was so lovely and warm and so nice to have a break away from the norm here in VA.  Some of our favorite speakers were there also, like Francis Chan and Ron Luce. 

One of my favorite parts of the conference was the opportunity they gave us to prescreen a new movie by the makers of Fireproof, Facing the Giants, and Flywheel. The new movie is called Courageous. It is about men taking a stand and being godly fathers and the leaders of their families. It was PHENOMENAL! I'm so sad that we have until September for rest of the world to see it.  I have always been skeptical of Christian movies because they are so cheesy and the acting is horrible, but I absolutely LOVE this movie! I HIGHLY recommend it! It has a wonderful balance of quality humor and heavier serious parts.  The message is great and the Gospel is presented more clearly in this movie than in any of their previous movies.  The producer and lead actor in the movie and the pastor of Sherwood Church spoke to us in the conference and spoke to us before and after the prescreening.  It was so interesting to here the "behind the scenes" of how this movie was made, and I was amazed at how they were so determined to be sure that every aspect of the movie was from God, and solely for the purpose of bringing glory to Him, not themselves or the church.  They said that the movie-making process for them takes so much longer than any hollywood movie because they spend so much time in prayer over every single decision.  I really enjoyed hearing about this movie and looooooved the movie itself! I can't wait until September! 

Anyways.... I need to go check my very first ever attempt at banana bread that is currently in the oven! I knew that keeping all those bananas in the freezer would one day result in something positive! :) 

Sunday = Funday

So, day 1 of our challenge went well.  We came home and made lunch together, which is always fun.  Then tonight we went to a concert, then got home somewhat late.  I know that normally we most likely would have grabbed something fast on the way home, since it was late, but we came home and made a quick dinner together out of leftovers from a couple of nights ago.  So, it went well! 

We went to see Jimmy Needham at the new Muse Eight-Thirty coffee house/club in downtown Lynchburg.  It was such a great concert! I really enjoy soulful music...I didn't used to, but in the last few years, I've really begun to love it! Not everything needs to be hard and fast.  I love when artists are real and genuine on the stage...and don't have an arrogant attitude that everyone is there to see them.  A number of times, he spoke about how his main purpose is to spread the gospel and exalt Christ higher through his life and work...and talked about working towards having the attitude of John the Baptist, that we should completely desire for Christ to increase, we must decrease.  That is such a foreign concept in today's narcissistic, self-focused, self-worshiping culture.  It was really a message I needed to hear.  It was a great evening....and I saw a couple friends that I haven't seen in a while, so that's always fun!

Our 2-Week Challenge

So, Rob and I eat out a lot.  Definitely too much.  Since I've been working full time, it's so much easier to stop and grab something to eat on the way home than take time to cook once we get home.  And this semester is one of our craziest as Rob has class until 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursday (I go to the library and do homework from 5-6:30) and then I have zumba on those same nights at 8.  Wednesday nights, we get off work at 5 or a little after, and have to be in Bedford which is 30 minutes away by 6:30 for youth group.  Friday night we usually designate as date night. 

So, tonight Rob and I were talking about where we'd like to go out to eat for Valentine's Day (which we are actually celebrating on Saturday, the 12th).  Somehow that conversation turned into how we need to eat out less.  I then came up with a challenge for us:  We do not eat out at all until Valentine's Day.  If we fail the challenge, we eat at home for Valentine's Day and spend the money we'd normally use for dinner that night on groceries.  Rob agreed to it, and now that is our challenge for the next 2 weeks.  I am excited to try it and see how much money we save...but also know that it means I need to do more planning ahead as far as meals go so that it lessens the temptations to just grab something quick on the way home.  I think I'm going to try to use my crock pot more.  I use it every now and then...but not nearly enough.  Another strategy is to make some casseroles and then split them into gladware for lunches for the week, so that we can just grab them out of the fridge in the morning....and get some fruit and crackers for snacks.

So, I'll keep you posted on how things go! :)    

    

Wishing for Spring

I absolutely HATE to admit it, but I think the south is wearing off on me.... in this one area at least.  It has been unusually cold lately for Lynchburg, VA (meaning consistently in the 20-30's) - nowhere close to Minnesotan cold or anything, however, I am so ready for winter to be over and for spring to arrive.  The issue is that our apartment rarely gets warmer than 60 degrees (mostly around 55 degrees).  We were told that our heat pump is not made for "record breaking cold weather" (haha) and that there is nothing we can do to get our heat to work better.  On top of that...my office is consistently cold as well.  Therefore, the only times I can get warm are when I'm in the car, at the gym, or in bed under 3 comforters.  I cannot wait for it to get warmer.

Another reason that I am anxious for the arrival of spring is because springtime brings along with it lots of green and other bright colors.  I have been itching to go on a photowalk for the past couple of weeks...and I'm ready to capture some great colors of spring!  Oh warmth and sunshine...please come soon!!

Here is a lovely picture to hold me over for a couple more months.  I wish.

 

2011 Begins..

It is now 2011.  Each time I approach New Year's, I feel both sadness and excitement.  Sadness because another good year has passed, and I'll never have the same experiences ever again.  Excitement because I never know what adventure's will take place in the new year.  2010 carried a lot of new adventures.  Some of the highlights being: working at Camp Good News in MN in July, surprising my dad for his birthday in MN, moving to a new apartment which we LOVE LOVE LOVE, me working full time, Rob getting a big raise, working with our youth group, making new friends, our trip to Kansas City for Christmas, etc...

I am excited to see what 2011 will bring.  Moreso than that, I am excited to see what God will do in 2011, and am excited to be a part of His work.  I believe that some big things are going to take place in 2011...and I can't wait to see how God guides.

It's Fun to Stay at the....

YMCA!

Rob and I joined the YMCA this week! We live across the street from it, so we really have no excuse not go. So far, it's been a blast.  I've been swimming, and been to a couple Zumba classes with my friend, Anna.  It has really helped me relieve stress.  This week has been super stressful as the accreditation team is here to check out our department at work and all the work that I've been doing for the past year is getting checked out and validated.  So, joining the Y could not have come at a better time.  I really want to work hard to get back into better shape.

I'm so glad that tomorrow is Friday!  I am definitely ready for the weekend to get here!  Rob and I are going to Roanoke to hang out and just do something different.  Maybe take some pics of the leaves and trees.  They are absolutely gorgeous right now!  God's creation is so amazing!  Yay for weekends. 

Granddad's 75th Birthday Cake

So, every fall Rob and I go to Gross's orchard's apple festival.  This year, the apple festival just happened to be on the same day as Rob's granddad's 75th birthday party in Jacksonville, NC.  Even though I was bummed, heading to NC for a weekend to see Rob's grandparents and a lot of other family was a ton of fun!  Rob and I made the cake for the party.  Here are a few pics of the progression of this massive cake. 

Layer 1

Filling and half of layer 2.

Time to haul to NC. Avoid all bumps.

With the trees and fish. All set up at the party.

Birthday boy!

Close up of fisherman. I made the fish from chocolate.

Almost gone.

Everyone loved it! It was 2-layer, almond cake with buttercream icing, and a strawberry preserve filling.  It was such a fun weekend! We got to spend lots of time with family and I got to know a lot of them better.  This was way better than the apple festival!  Best of all, there were no clowns! haha. For those who have been to Gross's apple festival, you know exactly what freaky clown I'm talking about.  The one that I've had nightmares about since last year's festival.  Just kidding...kind of.  It was a great weekend!

If YOU Want Me To

God has been rocking my world lately, in numerous ways, but specifically through the life of Joshua as I've been reading the book of Joshua.  God told Joshua to do some crazy things as he led the Israelites, but Joshua obeyed immediately every time.  He NEVER questioned God or hesitated one bit, and God blessed him greatly because of this willingness to trust and obey.  I need to be more like Joshua!

Then the other night on my way home from Bedford, I heard Ginny Owen's song "If You Want Me To" on the radio, and I've always liked that song, but the words really go along with the book of Joshua, but with a suffering twist.  We are to obey even in the midst of pain and suffering, or if obeying may bring upon us suffering.  In the end, it will bring us closer to God.  I found the video of her singing this song and wanted to post it in case anyone hasn't heard it. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q8pWgDsv1E

I'm back. :)

So, it has been quite a while since I have posted. 

Recap of my summer: 

• May - Counseling Intensive. Good but tiring!
• June - Trip to MN for camp - was AMAZING! Def. going back next summer! It is a priority!
• July - Trip to MN to surprise my dad for his 50th birthday.  Had sooo much fun spending time with family and seeing a ton of good friends!  We also moved to a new, amazing apartment.

That's about it.  August 2, I started working full time, and time has disappeared ever since then.  I can now say goodbye to any freetime I ever had.  My life consists of work, homework, housework, and Rob and I do fit a lot of fun and together time in too (gotta have that).  I just always feel that there is always more to do, but I think that will always be the case from here on out, so I just can't let myself become stressed over it.  However, working full time has also made me become much more disciplined in the time I do have, which I like.  I enjoy my job and my co-workers and I have learned a lot from what I am doing which will be reflected in my future, so I am very happy where I am, even if it takes my precious free time away.

And speaking of the future... some interesting and surprising events could be going down... but not sure yet, so just gotta wait and see.

So, we LOOOOOOOVE our new apartment! I'll put pics up once we get it painted.  And if anyone knows me, they know that when it comes to colors, I love BOLD BOLD BOLD.  I'm not going crazy though, since we don't own the place, but you had better believe that our living room will soon be RED (once we find the time to paint, reference above).  This whole move has been such a blessing! We were so wanting to just leave Lynchburg but felt that that is not what God wanted for us, but now we are so happy with where we are.  God definitely knew what He was doing.  Doesn't He always.

Traditional or Non-traditional?

Every morning as Rob and I drive to work we listen to the same morning radio show out of NYC.  It brightens up our mornings.  The other day I was listening to this show after dropping Rob off and heading to my office and they were talking about this woman who called into the show and was about to propose to her boyfriend because she wanted to get engaged and thought he was never going to ask her.  The next day she called back and said that her boyfriend said yes, but also told her that he wished she would have let him propose.  After that a number of women called in; some saying that they had proposed to their boyfriends, and others saying that after hearing the show they were now considering proposing to their boyfriend.

I read online that the only day where it is traditional for women to propose to men is on February 29th, Leap Year day.  Interesting little tidbit of information if you are ever on Jeopardy.

I am not a super traditional person, but the woman proposing to the man just seems weird to me.  Then I ask myself why it seems so weird.  Both people are part of the relationship and technically have equal rights to asking for the others' hand in marriage so why is the man the one who is expected to propose?  Perhaps it is connected with the man's role as the leader and initiator of the relationship....which if that is the case, then I definitely agree that the man should be the leader.  I am not all that traditional, but I never would have even thought about proposing to Rob, (although I did get him an engagement ring that I carried around for a while whenever we were together, "just in case" he were to pop the question).  I found it quite interesting that so many women were open to proposing to their boyfriend after hearing about this topic on the radio.  I think I kind of like things as they are, with the man doing the proposing.      

Funny Memory

Whenever I think back to when I was younger, I always think the same thing: Man was I a dumb kid! haha.  I think we all did things that we thought were "cool" at the time but later on realize that it was far from cool.  That's what being a kid is all about. 

Lately I've been thinking about this one time growing up that my brother, Matt and I always laugh about now that we are older (and wiser, of course....right).  This particular memory takes place when we were approximately 11 and 7.  We lived next to this man who had a large great dane.  We were scared to death of it.  This particular day we had our rollerblades on, and for some reason we were walking along the side of the house in the grass, in our rollerblades.  We always rollerbladed on the dead end street in front of the house.  I have no idea why we were in the grass, but we were. 

Right as we were pretty far into the yard, the neighbor's great dane bolts out of his garage and charges toward us at full speed, barking.  We both screamed like little ninnies, but we couldn't run or move because we had rollerblades on and were in the grass.  So we just stood there and held on to each other.  Fortunately, our neighbor heard the barking and our screaming and ran out and called the dog back before he got to us.  It was terrifying.  We both shuffled quickly on into the house and stayed inside rest of the afternoon.  We were now even more scared of that stupid dog.

I have always been terrified of dogs, and I am wondering if this was the initial incident that may have caused my fear.... I don't know.  But either way, it's a funny story.  One of many funny/dumb incidents that happened as we were growing up.  I'll post more in the future.

The Power of a Positive Attitude

School has been killing me lately.  It has been insane.  One thing that God has shown me lately, through my text books and class discussions (that's the great thing about being a counseling student, the majority of what you learn can easily be applied to your daily life, what math or business student can say that?) is that:

ALTHOUGH OFTEN YOU CAN'T CONTROL THE SITUATION, YOUR ATTITUDE HAS THE POWER TO INFLUENCE THE SITUATION

I love this and have been applying to my life and.... IT WORKS!

One example - this woman who works down the hall from me is a real debbie downer, and one of my biggest pet peeves is when people automatically see the negative in everything, because I am exactly the opposite.  I had begun to kind of just focus on my work and not say much to her when she would be in our office, because her negativity would frustrate me.  I decided to try out my new found approach on her one day.  When she came in, before she even had a chance to say anything, in a real upbeat tone of voice I gave her a complement and smiled at her real big.  She sat down in our office and did not say one negative thing the whole time she was there.  Her entire attitude was different.  It works!

I am now on the lookout to see what other situations I can influence with a good attitude, so watch out!

Tea Time

One thing I really love is tea.  I have always loved tea in the form of sweet tea. Around middle school I started drinking this one particular type of hot tea.  After I started college I started trying a few other hot teas, and now I am totally in love with all tea and have at least one cup of tea a day.  I love black tea, red tea, green tea, white tea.... all tea! haha.

In Fredricksburg, VA, there is this amazing tea store called Teavana.  It's a chain, so there are more than just this one, but this is the one nearest me.  It has looseleaf teas, and these have become my all-time favorite!  They take a little more work than bagged tea, but it's so worth it.  You can check out their website here. I HIGHLY recommend the Peach Cran-Tango looseleaf black tea. It's amazing! Here is what it looks like:

Tea is a fun hobby. It can be simple or extravagant, yet it is always yummy, whether hot or cold, green or black, looseleaf or bagged. It's a great drink to enjoy, and has great health benefits as well, unlike other drinks like coffee. This is making me thirsty, I'm going to go make myself a cup of tea! 

Change of Face

So tonight Rob told me that he might start his own blog, so that means that this blog is all mine now.  So, time for a change.

I named MY blog Ruby Red Perspective because I feel that I have a unique perspective to offer.  Red is my favorite color because it is bright, vibrant, and cheerful.  The Chinese view red as a sign of good fortune and many paint their front doors red as a way of wishing wellness on all who enter.  The Zen philosophy considers red a sign of positive energy and happiness.  I'm not a follower of the Zen religion, but some of their concepts are kind of neat.

I get told a lot that it seems like I am always happy, and yes, there are very few days where I don't have a smile on my face.  I can have joy through Christ and I truly desire to love people for who they are, not what they should be.  I have a very positive yet realistic view on life and love to share the joy God has given to me with others who need a breath of fresh year every now and then.

"Going green" is a big trend right now, and I'm all for it and want to do my part, but along with going green, I want to "live red." Studies show that positivity, laughing and smiling are therapeutic and are healthy for the body and mind.  Through Christ we are new creations, and even though life may send us through storms, Christ always guides us through them.  For that reason, we can smile freely without guilt!  I am excited to take this blog in a new direction and see where we go.  Yay for a change of face.

Bekah

February - Month of Love

Wow, January flew by, as did Christmas break. My Christmas break was actually cut short due to an intensive that I took the week before actual semester classes began. My relationship with intensives is one of love/hate. I love getting a class knocked out in 1 week, and I love how close I get with other intensive students in just a week, but I also hate the insane amount of pre-work and post-work that comes with the intensive. I also hate that most of the people I get close with are online students and live outside of Lynchburg, so once the week is over, they go home, and the closeness we have gained goes with them. But, all in all, it was a good intensive, in 2 weeks I'll be done with all the post-work, which will make it even better!

I've done a lot of Girl Scout stuff in January. Last week I had the girls become architects and we had a "Challenge" (like the ones on food network that I deeply love) where all they could use was marshmallows and toothpicks. The girls got so into it and had a ton of fun. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera, so no pics were taken. I'm doing the same activity with another group I lead this next week, so I'll try to take pics with them.

Speaking of camera's, Rob and I have taken on yet another hobby together: photography. It's something we have been talking about doing since we were dating, we just never had the money to buy a nice camera. With Christmas money and money I was blessed with from an outside medium apart from my regular work, we had just enough money to buy the camera we've been looking at for the past couple years, and she's a beauty! We are now taking a weekly photography class and are looking into other workshops and events to learn how take quality photos. There are endless possibilities with newer SLR Digital cameras.

We still love decorating cakes together and are going to take a more advanced decorating class in March to continue developing our skills. With school and work, we don't get a lot of time to decorate for fun, but hopefully we'll get a handful of chances as time goes along. I'm taking a couple of candy/chocolate classes this month and next month to learn about making chocolate sculptures. It will be fun to incorporate chocolate with cake. Everyone loves chocolate.

Well, that's a quick update on us for now. The first month of 2010 has been a busy one, but a great one. God has taught me so much lately and I can't wait to see what the remainder 11 months of 2010 has in store.

AH! It's December!

So, today on the phone my mom told me that I need to update my blog. So this is for her! :)

I can't believe it is already December. Time flies. I don't feel like it's December though because the grass is still green, and yesterday it was in the 50's. Being from northern MN, this is still spring weather, not winter. One thing that cracks me up is seeing people's yard decorations... like those huge blow up snowmen...ON GREEN GRASS. Looks kinda funny. I also think it's funny to hear southerners complain about the "cold." One girl I know from SC has been wearing a winter coat, scarf, and boots for months now, because it's so cold out! haha. I have yet to wear my winter coat. A light fleece is suffice, and even warm at times. I've worn my gloves once, and that was just because I think they are cute and felt like wearing them.

This semester has been crazy! The workload has not been too bad...only bad at times. This semester has been one of growth though. It has been hard, because it has really brought me out of preconceptions I've had. It's increased the depth of my knowledge about and passion for God, but has taken some work to get there and I'm still working through a lot of things. It's not really anything I can describe with words in a blog. But, I have made some amazing new friends this semester and grown closer to friends I had already and am so thankful for them!

Through a long chain of events happening, this year I run two different girl scout groups in youth centers in downtown Lynchburg. I was never in girl scouts and really know little about it. It's not your normal girl scouts, it's more just me going into these places and having crafts and activities for the girls to do. I really enjoy it because I love these kids and have a real heart for them. This past week, while at one site, I brought in mini gingerbread houses for them to make... they came in a kit. You would think that 3 inch tall gingerbread houses would be easy as pie to make....but this is not the case! There were 5 styles of houses, and 2 of the styles were impossible to make with the materials they gave, so after working for a long time with the girls trying to make the houses look like the do on the box, I resorted to telling them that it is their house and they can make it however they like! haha. Here are some of the results:

Some girls were way more interested in eating the houses than actually making them, so I told them they could eat them after they made them, but I think most of them ate them while making them. They are so fun to work with!

Well, today is Friday, which is my day off, so I'm going to go try to be productive! Hope everyone has a great weekend.