The Missing Christmas Lamb

This morning we finally set up the Christmas trees!  I say finally because I prefer to put them up the day after Thanksgiving, but it has been a very busy couple of weeks to say the least!  As we finished up the last string of lights, Cole reminded me of the Missing Christmas Lamb.

A couple of years ago, I had bought a cute little nativity scene from the Family Christian Bookstore.  Courtney was just about to turn 4 the next month, and was very interested in the little figures.  Every time she would walk by the foyer table, I would see her stop and look at the little dressed up children.  It warmed my heart to see her kiss her little finger and touch the baby Jesus. 
Maybe it was seeing her stop there everyday that made me look at the scene each time I passed, but whatever the reason, I noticed something was 'off' one day.

The lamb was gone. 

I checked under the table, I looked in the kitchen.  I even looked in the dogs' kennel.  I couldn't find the lamb anywhere. 
Now if it had been the baby Jesus missing, I would have asked Courtney about it right off the bat.  In this case, I asked Cole if he knew where the lamb had gone.

"Courtney was petting it this morning."

Hmmm.... suspicious.

I went and found Courtney playing in her room.
"Courtney, do you know where the little lamb from the table is?"
Big eyes.
Ah ha.
"Courtney, where's the lamb?"
Big eyes. Sigh.
"Jesus' lamb?" she asked, careful not to make eye contact.
"Yes, that one."

Another sigh.  She reluctantly put down her baby doll and went to her bed.  Her little hand slid under the pillow and retrieved the little lamb.
I thought it was so cute that she loved that little lamb so much she just had to keep him is a special place close to her. 

Follow my erratic thought pattern here for a second...
The lamb reminded me of how Jesus is the Lamb of God.  Jesus is also considered the Word of God. 
Psalm 119:11 says "I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." 
Aren't we supposed to keep Jesus and his words in our hearts?  Courtney seemed to be understanding this is a very sweet and simple child's way.

The next thought that occurred to me in the symbolism of the situation is how often the Lamb is lost in Christmas and goes unnoticed.  A very sobering thought for sure. 
We played music all morning while we fluffed branches and strung lights.  I can only recall two that mentioned Jesus' birth.

My children know the reason for the season (excuse the corny line).  They know it's essentially a big birthday party for the Savior.  But maybe we need to work on infusing Him into every little moment of the holiday instead of just being pleasantly surprised when an obvious reference pops up.

The lamb is back on the table. 

Now to work on getting the Lamb back in everything else :)

"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."  Matthew 1:21

Laundry Soap

Sorry, that's the most inventive title I'm up to today... my eyes are still stinging from the ammonia (see facebook post for blonde moment of the day details O_O)

So I had to make a quick stop by Wal-mart for a few essentials yesterday.  I dont' know about you, but these little stops usually land me close to $100 poorer every time.  And let me just say I _loathe_ paying so much for laundry soap and dish soap.  I guess that comes from getting it free from a friendly neighbor in Corpus Christi.  It's taken us 3 years to go through all of the tubs of dish soap she gave us!

I searched for a good laundry recipe and landed on this one from www.thyhandhathprovided.blogspot.com 
Jane has all kinds of great recipes and inspirations for getting back to basics and out of the stores ;)

Of course, I was looking this up in the middle of the Wal-mart isle on my phone via Pintrest (another note, if you're not browsing pintrest.com you're missing out on life.  Seriously.)

I was ecstatic when Walmart had all 3 ingredients I needed!  You have to understand, I live in a geographical and commercial oddity.  We are 1 1/2 hrs away from ANYTHING you might actually need unless it's bread and milk!  Here's how the recipe went:

1 (5 gallon) bucket
long handled spoon
container to store the finished soap in (*think clean juice or random plastic jug)
hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha Laundry Soap Bar (*or Ivory soap bar for sensitive skin, Castile soap for SUPER sensitive skin or baby laundry detergent-- see links at bottom of page)
1 c washing soda
1/2 c borax

(my alterations have an *)

I was a little hesitant about where I was going to store 5 gallons of laundry soap, to I divided the recipe and made a 1/4 batch.  My finished amount was about 1.5 gallons.  If you make the full recipe, it makes 5 g of concentrate and 10 g of ready-to-use.

1.  Grate the laundry soap bar and add to a medium sauce pan with 4 c of water.  Heat over med-hi heat and stir occasionally until the soap is completely melted.  *This may take a little time, but you really want to get it ALL melted down!
2.  While that's melting, fill your large bucket of choice (*I used a big 2 gallon glass jar)  half full with HOT tap water.
3.  Once the bar is melted, add it to the hot water in the bucket along with the borax and washing soda.  Stir well until everything is dissolved (*Seriously- mix well.  This is the easiest point to mix, much more difficult once it's gelled) These pics are of the gelled concentrate:

4. Add enough HOT tap water to finish filling the bucket and stir again.
5.  Cover tightly and let it sit overnight to thicken, *and it will!  Stir again in the morning.

When you're ready to use it, stir the detergent well and then fill the old detergent bottle (or whatever easy to handle jug you're going to use) half full, then fill the reminder with water.  Shake well before each use.
For top loading machines, use 5/8 c per load.  For from loading, 1/4 c.

Once you get the hang of it, you can experiment with adding a few drops of essential oils to the mix for a nice scent.  The Fels-Naptha bar has a strong clean scent when you grate it, but it's diluted considerably by the time you use it. 

An extra tip is to add vinegar to the rinse cycle!  My friend Erika suggests a 1/2 c for every load. This will remove any residue from the detergent and soften clothes nicely.  Believe it or not, you will NOT smell the vinegar once it dries...I'm still trying to convince people of this with my shampoo bars ;)  But, should you....oh, I don't know.....mix up the ammonia bottle and the vinegar bottle (hypothetically of course) you WILL smell that for sure.  I'm not sure if it was the ammonia stinging or my pride stinging O_O...... ammonia is now safely in the garage :D


If you're looking for Castile or Bastile (90% olive oil, 10% coconut oil) soap, check out these pages on etsy:
Castile
Bastile