fiery darts!

q-tips!
have you ever thought about the amazingness of cotton on a stick?

clean your ears, nose, belly button and various body cavities with it
swab for dna
general nook and cranny cleaner
building material, nifty crafty stuff for skeletons, bunnies, sheep, stars, snowflakes, turkey tails, people, paintsticks, "what's that smell" game dosers, flowers, fireworks, and spider legs.   of all that funs stuff . . . . .

the most often used at our house- fiery dart!

ephesians 6:13-17
these scriptures talk about putting on the armor of God.   we did a family home evening about it that turned into a favorite past time.

 you need a volunteer to put on the armor -

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

if you don't know how to gird your loins, it is talking about the fact that everyone wore and still wears a robe or tunic.   there are a lot of different names for it, including dishdasha / dish dash, taub / thawbs, abaya . . .not my culture so i am not going to try and educate you on it or pretend that i know the difference between them.   i do know how to gird up your loins and the meaning though.

basically, if you need to run, work, or fight in a long skirt, you are going to trip.  ( i'll trip no matter what, but that's not the point. )   gather up your skirt, pull it forward and then pull the excess between your legs to the back.   pull the material to the sides and out about even so you can wrap it around and tie it in front . . .like a diaper.  you are girded!    
 
you can also just reach under and pull the back upü between the legs.   hoist it all up over the knees and pull the back of your skirt through the front of your belt.  this isn't going to stay as well though, this is like the quicky, "just gotta jump this fence" version

strap a pillow to your volunteer with tape and if you happen to have a nice full skirt, gird 'em up


too

15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

put your shoes on!   even better, a pair of rubber boots, just cuz



16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

we used the lid to a storage bin, you can use a garbage can lid ( if it's clean) or whatever.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

slap a bowl on their head, you have a helmet

now, where are the q-tips coming in?   THEY ARE COMIN' IN A BLAZIN'!

everyone else gets a straw and some of these fancy q-tips that we colored for effect ( and so the kids know which q-tips they get to play with and which  ones need to stay in the bathroom for regular use.   they steal my clean q-tips when they run out of ammo, little stinkers! )

load up the straw and you have fiery darts in a blow gun!

this game is so dang much fun!   they don't dress up anymore but they like to have these blow gun fights all the time!   i bought them a couple of the cheapo packages to use and they have to pick them back up and keep using them until the cotton falls off.   no reason to waste good ammo.   they still snag a pack from the bathroom occasionally, but they are good about asking first.

i would be completely remiss if i didn't show you the rapid fire gun my son made from legos.   he is continually making improvements to it.   it just holds several straws together and he can blow down the line like pan pipes and fire however many one right after the other.   he thinks he is very clever!   ( he is )

that is my gratitude for the day.  i hope you never think about q-tips the same way and i even hope you have a little fiery darts war.   it's too much fun to miss!