Father's Day Gift for less than $10

We are on a budget these days, so I try to come up with creative gifts for holidays throughout the year. Father's Day always seems to be the holiday that is the most difficult to shop for - my life is full of men who, "don't need anything." I'm sure you can relate!
The most difficult person to shop for is my Grandpa, Papa (pronounced "PawPaw" around here ;) ). His gifts range from gas gift cards to socks...sometimes, cologne....he always respnds to gifts with a "I don't need anything" comment as he shakes his head and carefully removes bows and paper...love him! :)

I adore my Papa, so I wanted to give him something creative. Samuel ADORES Papa - he calls him "Gramps." Samuel visits Gramps at least once a week - they love each other. Gramps teases, Samuel sasses, all the while, they both smile and Gramps belly laughs at Samuel's orneriness. :) It warms my heart.

So this year, I created this: all for less than $10. A 5x7 mounted photo.

I couldn't be happier with how this turned out! I am ordering one for myself since this brings tears to my eyes! 

While visiting with Gramps and Granny, I had Samuel hold their hands. (What you cannot see is my mom's hands holding Samuel's arms in place - he's a child who likes his freedom ;) ha.) These are Gramps' hands holding onto Samuel's hands.

I edited it in Lightroom and added the text in Photoshop. I uploaded it to Walmart.com and ordered the mounted 5x7 photo. It was ready in a few hours (supposed to be 1 hour, but they were busy with other last-minute Father's Day orders - oops!)

This picture is now the background for my computer. I adore Papa/Gramps. He is such a good man, and I love his love for his great-grandbabies. 

Enjoy the weekend with the great men in your lives! :)

the BEST gifts

It's funny how God will teach us even when we've "not found the time" to sit and learn from Him every day.

Life has been crazy lately - Samuel is now mobile, and moving fast. So, the time I had while he would lie and play is now consumed with chasing him around and trying to stay one step ahead of him in order to head off any major accident. (When did he grow up?! :( )

Needless to say, at the end of the day, I'm tired, and the laundry I do at 10:00 each night is usually the last thing I do before crashing into bed. I hate that. I want to have time to sit and learn and talk with God. I want to have time carved out everyday for Him - that needs to be a priority, regardless of erratic nap schedules and adorably clumsy baby boys.

But, God knows my heart, and teaches me in quiet moments throughout the day.

I want to share one lesson He taught me in the stillness of a napping baby on my chest.

Samuel NEEDED a nap. He was miserable. He, however, doesn't want to miss a moment of life, so refuses to nap more than necessary. This day was no different, except that he was miserable from his short naps during that week. I rocked him, sang to him, but nothing worked to get him to sleep - he had the hiccups.

So as I sat on the bed in the nursery, I prayed and prayed for God to take away his hiccups so my baby boy could get some sleep he so desperately needed.

God did a funny thing - He didn't take away Samuel's hiccups. He simply allowed him to fall asleep and then they stopped. But he didn't fall asleep while I was sitting and rocking him in order to put him back in his crib. He fell asleep lying on my chest in bed.

You see, this doesn't seem special to you, but to me, it was extremely special. and God knew that.
I've always wanted Samuel to fall asleep on me that way, so we could rest together. But he never has - he would only sleep on his daddy that way until that afternoon.

In the quiet of that nursery, God didn't answer MY prayer against the hiccups, but He answered the DESIRE of my heart. He knew what gift to give me that afternoon - He knew better than I, what I wanted. Like always.

So I savored that sweet, squishy baby boy on my chest and we napped together - I was more exhausted than I realized. But God knew. :)

His ways are ALWAYS higher and better than our ways. His gifts are always BETTER than we could ever ask or think.

always.

This boy... my favorite gift of all!