A Game and a Story!

Directions for making your own Family Memory Game:

1. Get an empty Crystal Light container, and some baby jar lids.
2. Have your daughter arrange them on a piece of cardboard outside.
3. Get some spray paint.
4. Spray paint the baby jar lids and the Crystal Light lid the same color.
5. Trace a cute piece of scrapbook paper in the shape of your baby jar lid.
6. Cut out circles and write your family member names on them.
7. Print and cut pictures of your family in circles, just smaller than the scrapbook circles.
8. Put sticky stuff on the back of your circles.
9. Stick picture circles and name circles on the inside of your lids.
10. Make a circle for the Crystal Light lid with your family name on it.
11. Put the lids inside the container.
12. Get ready for a Family Fun night!!
    

I'm not exaggerating when I say this was one of the best family nights we've ever had. I can't tell you how much fun the girls had -- especially if they found themselves as a match! We all laughed a ton, and it was a great learning tool for the girls to recognize printed names. Surprisingly, even Natalie had no trouble recognizing a match!





We added one "extra" rule to this traditional game of Memory -- the winner gets to arrange the lids in the shape of the first letter of their name for the next game.


So, here's the story:

We've had ants at our home, lately. LOTS of ants. In every room... ridiculous, disgusting ANTS! I absolutely hate ants. After six years of living on this ant hill, we finally broke down and called Terminix. Why we waited so long, I have no idea! (The guy said he had never seen so many colonies out back!)

There is one positive that came out of it all -- we have been forced to clean out our cupboards! In that process, Daniel came across a bunch of baby jar lids that had no baby jar; (I had used them for MOPS last year... see THIS post!) When he asked me if we should keep them or throw them away, I told him to keep them; if I couldn't find a use for them in the next few weeks, I would throw them away! (I don't want to be a pack rat!) The next day, I thought of this idea for the Family Memory game, and I was SO excited! I saved if for my Friday Family Fun day, so that is what we did this past Friday!

I am reminded of a story that Corrie Ten Boom told, as she was a prisoner in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. Her dorm was invaded with lice... absolutely everywhere; disgusting, yucky lice! Her sister told her to thank God for the lice, as His word commands us to be thankful in ALL situations. Corrie just couldn't... what good could possibly come of it? But, her sister insisted and they thanked God for the lice. It was only after their prayers that they later found out the lice were keeping the guards out of their dorm, thus allowing them to do a Bible study!

I've never forgotten that story! I think of it often when I am tempted to be upset with my own situation, such as with the ants. If the ants had not come, I would never have found those lids and consequently been inspired toward a fun family game. And, of course, my situation doesn't even compare with Corrie's, but I just had to share! Her book, "The Hiding Place," is filled with many more incredible stories, and can be found at Amazon here.