KitchenAid Mixer Give-a-way!!

Welcome to the Ultimate Kitchen Aid Mixer giveaway event! Why ultimate? Keep reading! Musings From a Stay At Home Mom and Fabulous Finds by Tiffany have teamed up with Only A Breath, Worthy of the Prize, The Mama Report, and Triple Braided along with more fabulous bloggers to sponsor this great prize!
 

The Prize:

 

One lucky winner will receive their choice of color/style Kitchen Aid Artisan 5 Quart Stand Mixer with a value of up to $350 from Amazon!

Entry:

Enter below with the Rafflecopter form. You can come back everyday for the daily tweet option - that gives you a lot of extra entries!
 

Rules:

 

This giveaway ends on November 14, 2012 at 11:59 EST The winner will be picked randomly and will have 48 hours to respond by email before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is chosen. Open to the US and Canada*

*If the winner is Canadian, they will be given a $350 Amazon.ca gift card to be used toward the purchase of the mixer.

 

 

Good luck!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Merry Mail 4-3-12

Giveaway: This is the last week to enter in the drawing for the 180 movie giveaway. This is an excellent resource for you to have and share with your loved ones and friends. It will spark intelligent conversation about one of today's most difficult subjects {abortion}. This film will cause people to think about abortion and question the propaganda fed to us all via the news media and culture. All you have to do to enter {click here} leave a comment on the post. 

IndoctriNation: If you have children, especially if they are enrolled in public schools, I highly recommend watching this movie. Our family has chosen to homeschool our girls for a variety of reasons (most of which I just believe that this is what God wants for our family) and this documentary just reinforced that decision. I have heard many parents say that they know the schools teach evolution, so they will just teach their children the Genesis account of creation at home and to ignore the evolutionary "theory". This documentary shows in great detail how the teaching of evolution is not the only problem in the government schools. There is SO MUCH MORE at stake! As a Christian Sister, I urge you to watch this documentary with your spouse and then have a heart to heart conversation about your children's education.

One powerful statement was made concerning the argument that our children are to be salt and light in the public school (an atheist educational institution). The pastor said (my paraphrase) that if you truly want to be salt and light, why not send them to a Muslim or Hindu School where you know all the other students are unbelievers? If you did that, then people would say you are crazy. What is the difference, really?

Daily Scripture Reading for the Passion Week: I should have gotten this out earlier in the week, but here is a list of the scriptures that correspond to each day of the Passion Week (week between Palm Sunday and Resurrection {Easter} Sunday). Follow along in your Bible to see what Jesus was doing the last week of His life on Earth.

Easter Story Cookies: If you have little kids at home, this would be a wonderful visual representation of the Easter story. I am going to attempt to do these without the eggs {my daughter is egg and dairy free} - wish me luck!

Are you a Christian because you {fill in the blank}: Have you been following along in this series as I try to help debunk some of the popular ways people in our culture are self-deceived into believing they will go to heaven when they die. I'd love to hear from you about any experience you have had with these popular, yet sad, reasons why people believe they are saved. I know some of these hit home for me. There were many years that I believe I was very far from the Lord, but if you would have asked me, I would definitely have said I was a Christian.

Character of God Bible Study - Free Download

Ok, this is the first peek of what I have been working on (and I am hoping to finish by the end of the year). I love learning and meditating about God. I never want to get to the point where God is just a pocket-sized version of me - something I have created in MY own image. I want to know that He is all powerful, all knowing, always there, and holy. The more I reflect on His true nature, the bigger He gets and the lower my own head bows.


Studying God's character helps to develop our own sense of humility.

So I am creating a Bible study for Moms and their kiddos. This is something I want to work through with my own daughter and I thought there may be other Moms who would want to as well. Not only will this help me to continue my own study of God's character throughout the day (when I am teaching her), but it will also share wonderful truths about God with her. You are never to young or too old to learn about God's character!

So this is a first peek at the study. This is the Chapter on God's Holiness and it is available as a free download.

I am doing this because I would love feedback. This has just been developed out of my own personal study and I am sure it is far from perfect - so please give me your input.


Follow this link for the God is Holy - Adult Lesson

Follow this link for the God is Holy - Children's Lesson


Again, I would love to hear from you. If you can, please take a look at these and let me know what you think (complimentary or constructive is welcomed - derogatory or insulting is not).


Blessings.

We have a winner!

To celebrate more than 50 followers, I randomly chose (using random.org) one lucky winner of the Thirty One fold-and-go organizer.

This is a wonderful case for a Kindle or iPad. It is also nice for just an old fashioned pad of paper (does anyone take notes on paper anymore?).

And the winner is....

Barbara Walker!

Hooray!

Barbara - please message me on Facebook your address so I can get this in the mail. I hope you enjoy it!

Thank you so much for following this blog. I appreciate all of you!

Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Thankfulness {Day 21} Understanding

{Day 20}

I was so very thankful for the day of rest on the Lord's Day, yesterday. I do not recall much "rest", but it is restful, encouraging and refreshing to spend the day with my family at home and with my church family at church. It is a wonderful day when we can spend our mornings as a family in our jammies, eating blueberry pancakes (dairy and egg free), singing worship songs, and then heading off to church. Things are a bit rushed at times (like when we get home and the toddler is starving and tired all at the same time), but we are together and that feels great!

So thank You, Lord for the day of rest! What a fabulous plan to work 6 and take a rest on the 7th!

{Day 21}

I am so very thankful to have a Christian worldview - to see life as God sees it. I am in no way, shape or form saying that I am accurately seeing this life (especially a lot of the struggles that we face) the way God does, but I am blessed with a different outlook than someone who does not have a relationship with the Creator of the Universe. The culture and the world tell us so much that is just wrong. They tell us to please ourselves, climb the ladder of success no matter who you neglect or step on, if someone does not make you happy then find someone else, if your kids annoy you then medicate them, you deserve to have all the things your parents worked years for right now so get it on credit - and much, much more.

Our happiness and joy are found in Christ. He is what makes me happy when I struggle with physical ailments. He is what makes me happy when my kids are screaming at the top of their lungs, dinner's burning and my husband forgot to tell me about a 5 o'clock meeting. He is why I am happy when my daughter is so sick and there is nothing I can do to fix it.

Without Christ, I would be lost. Without Christ, this world does not make sense. Without Christ, it wouldn't be worth it to even get out of bed each morning.

{50 followers}

I have reached 50 followers!! Woohoo! I thank the Lord for each one of you! As promised, I will be randomly choosing one lucky follower to win a Thirty One Fold and Go organizer. I post the winner of that tomorrow - so check back to see if it is you.

{Christmas Gift Ideas}

Have you visited the Vision Forum website lately? They have some fantastic products that would make excellent gifts for your loved ones. There are some fun old fashioned toys (like this rubber amo 8 shooter for $5.25) and wonderful DVDs, books and even homeschooling curriculums.

They are also running a buy 2, get one free sale! So if you purchase any 2 items, get a 3rd of equal or lesser value for free. Who doesn't like free?

Comfort and Give-a-way!

As I dropped my little 2 year old daughter (aka - the clingy one) off at our co-op nursery a couple weeks ago, she was in tears. I needed to go to the class I was supposed to help teach. I comforted her and finally, the key words that spoke to her heart were, "Mommy will be back."

She said, "ok", and walked off to play with the toys.

I was shocked! That was all it took? The river of tears dried up when I reminded her that I'd be back?

But that should not be a surprise.

Don't we find it comforting when we are reminded that Jesus is coming back? How often do we get caught up in the overwhelming details of today (and all the pain, frustrations and heartache that can entail)?

We need to keep our eyes focused on the end picture and know that Jesus could return any day, hour, minute or even this second....

Comforting, indeed.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don't forget that October is a month of missions and evangelism. I will post each day - 31 days - with stories of missionaries from the past and current evangelism experiences. This should be a wonderful time to be reminded that we are to have a passion for people and their souls.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last but certainly not least -


It's GIVE-A-WAY time!!


Ok, I'll be honest. I love followers. It makes my heart feel warm when I know that there are actually people who read what I am writing and when you take the time to follow the blog and especially when you comment - oh, joy!!!
So, if I can get up to 50 followers (combined facebook and google connect), I will randomly choose a follower and give away a Thirty-One Fold and Go Organizer. 

So if you enjoy reading this blog, become a follower. If you already follow the blog, pass the word along and encourage others to follow along.

And the winner is....

The winner of the beautiful handmade bracelet from Haiti is....Brittany! Hooray! Be looking for an email so I can get your information to send you this wonderful bracelet.  What a great way to start a short week - with a winner. Blessings to all who entered!

CoMiNg sOoN!

I love Crafts!!  The only problem is finding the time in the day to make some of the super adorable things I find online. And I have found some SUPER adorable things online. These are my top three (so far).

Living With Punks: Floor Cushions

Ruffles and Stuff: Easy Ruffled T-Shirt Scarf

The Handmade Home: Regina the Rabbit and Lulu the Lamb

I am hoping for some time to start sewing again once we settle down into our homeschool routine and after I complete this project....

Next on the agenda for September will be the 31 Days to Clean - Having a Martha House the Mary Way. This is a super challenge to do some spring cleaning tasks (in Fall) but to focus also on 'WHY' we clean and keep our home for our family. It does not profit anyone to have a super clean home, if we have a sour attitude about keeping it tidy.

There are daily Martha tasks (which require rubber gloves and bleach) and Mary tasks (which require an open heart ready to be transformed by His Word).

God does not care about how clean our floors are - only where our hearts are while we are scrubbing (but you still have to scrub -- ha ha!).

Day 15 will even be featured over at the Homemaker's Challenge.

And don't forget about our giveaway that ends on Sunday. Click here to find out more about the handmade bracelet giveway.



Giveaway - Bracelet 4 Haiti

(picture from National Geographic One Year Anniversary of Haiti Earthquake)

Can you imagine what it is like to live in a third world country where you would have to live on about a dollar a day? I mean, what could you buy for a dollar? Sometimes (a lot of the time in fact), they have to live on even less than that. They do not have the privilege to eat 3 squares a day (and don't even think about snacks). They most likely won't even have clean water to drink.

This is what it is like in Haiti. It is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere (that is where we live). It is less than 700 miles from the white sand beaches of Florida - where countless Americans drop hundreds of dollars on the all-American vacation - way more money than a typical Haitian would make in an entire year. If you have been to Disneyworld - you probably paid more to get in for one day than a Haitian makes in a year. Gulp!

What is it like to live in Haiti? It is hot, wet, stinky, trashy, poor, oppressive, and did I mention hot? Three quarters of the people live in extreme poverty. They are tormented by hurricanes and many still live in tent communities after the earthquake in 2010. Now can you imagine living in a tent when a hurricane hits?

It is an island, so there aren't a lot of options for trash. Think about how many bags of trash you send to the curb each week. Even though we recycle a lot of our trash, there is still a lot of trash. I hadn't thought about how much cardboard we used until we started to recycle it. We eat a lot of cereal! In Haiti, they have started a craft from these discarded cereal boxes. They turn them into beads - beautiful beads! It is hard to imagine this beautiful bracelet was once a box of cereal, but it was! And I'm giving it away (see what you need to do in order to be eligible below)! The bracelet comes with a tag that tells you who made the bracelet with a short description about them. This particular atisan is Beloni and is a twice a widow.

Now, you may be wondering how, living in the middle of corn-ville, USA, did I get my hands on this wonderful bracelet from Haiti. Some of the people in Haiti are making this jewelry (bracelets, necklaces, earrings) as a trade. How wonderful that they have an opportunity to make something and sell it in order to buy food for their family and send their children to school!

You can help!

You can host a jewelry party and nearly all the proceeds go directly back to Haiti. It doesn't cost you anything except opening your home (or church) to people so they can shop. The details can be found on the Three Angels website.

This is how easy it is…



1) Contact Krista McCarty about scheduling a party. Have an idea of the date & approximately how many might attend.
2) Krista will ship your jewelry to you.
3) Host your party and track your sales.
4) Collect the proceeds and send them back to Krista with any unsold jewelry.

This is how you can enter for a chance to
WIN THIS BRACELET.

I will randomly select a person from the comments on this post on Sunday, September 4th.

** You can leave a comment for the following **

** One comment after you start to follow this blog.
** One comment after you like our  new Facebook Page.
** One comment with a story of how your life (or someone in your immediate family) has been impacted by the people of Haiti (mission trip, impacted by the Earthquake).
** One comment telling me that you shared this story on facebook
** 5 comments if you decide host a jewelry party of your own

You are an automatic winner of another bracelet if you decide to sponsor a child to attend the Three Angels Academy (please either leave a comment or email me directly). How wonderful if you would decide to impact the future of a child and that child's future family by sending them to school for an education! What a blessing that would be!

And lastly - please join me in praying for the people in Haiti. They live in an environment that we cannot even imagine. At a minimum, let us all lift them up in prayer.

 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 
Matthew 25:37,38,40

This has been linked up at: