a bag for bags and ministry resources

Yesterday we stayed home from church.  Casey, Natalie and I all had a short-lived cold bug and I had a migraine on Saturday night, so even though the girls had to miss performing a song from VBS in front of the congregation and even though I had a fun kids' church lesson planned, we decided to stay home.  Casey took Kelby with him on a few errands.  The girls played outside all. day. long.  My parents brought us lunch. Kelby took a three hour nap.  I cleaned my house, I wrote a paper (a day before the due date!) and I made a sewing project from start to finish!!! I went to Barnes & Noble later on, got an iced green tea and looked at books and on the way there, I was thanking the Lord for such a wonderful and relaxing day, such as we have not managed to have since we moved.  "He makes us lie down in green pastures, " is something my Mom has always said.  Anyway, here's the project I finished yesterday.  Previously our plastic bags were kept in a nicer plastic bag.  Now they're kept in this:

Cute, right?  My mom and I have always made these out of tea towels, but this is a step up, I think.  This pattern can be found in the latest (Spring 2010) edition of Stitch magazine. The cute owl fabric is from Fancy Tiger downtown.  If you live near Denver and you sew, or knit, or enjoy looking at inspiring things even a tiny bit, you have to hit this place up.  And, if you're wondering about that awesome apron behind the bag holder, my Mom made that for me this last week. Isn't that nice?? I wear it every day :) Thanks, Mom!

Last night, when our pastor came by to get something from Casey, he said there was a collective groan when it was announced there would be no kids' church.  It's nice to be missed :)  Since I'm on the subject, I have found some good resources that might be helpful for some of you out there.  We don't subscribe to any curriculum so planning lessons requires some creativity, but the following free online resources have been beyond valuable:

1. http://ministry-to-children.com/ I get many of my complete lesson plans from this site, then fill in with coloring pages or game ideas from elsewhere.
2. http://www.cbhministries.org/kfk/home.php  Keys for kids.  You may have heard of them.  I use this site for stories to supplement the lessons.  
3. http://www.namb.net/ This site is by the North American Mission Board and since we're starting a series on missions, is very useful for me.  I has missionaries' stories and full lesson plans for children.  
4. http://www.dltk-cards.com/bingo/ This site actually has lots and lots of great stuff, but my favorite so far is the printable bingo games.  You can choose a theme or create your own and then print the whole game. Every time you hit "refresh" a new bingo card comes up.  I print half as many as I need, then put the kids in teams.  

I'll continue posting resources as I find them or remember them :) Keep in mind, these sites have great resources for your own kids too, so even if you're not in children's' ministry, go check them out!