McDonaldSpot Giveaway! (now closed)

For some time I've been curious about how some established bloggers (like P Dub and McK) manage to do fun giveaways, from jewelry to kitchen gear to mailboxes and more. I'm sure there are multiple ways that these things come about, but I can now say with excitement that one of those ways found me. McDonaldSpot can now host a giveaway of our own!

I was contacted the other day by CSN stores. They offered me the chance to give away some absolutely FREE, absolutely CUTE picture frames to one of you. I don't receive anything tangible in return for this, except the chance to give a random winner a "Thank You for reading my blog" gift!

Would you like to see them?

These frames by Trend Lab each hold a 4x6 photo.

Tulip

Heirloom

Caterpillar

These might be just the thing for your own home or for a gift to give! Here's how to enter:

Decide what set you'd like to win, then leave a comment below telling me two things:
a) which design strikes your fancy
b) one person you're thankful for, and why. (No bonus points or extra chances of winning for mentioning me, by the way! Ha! This isn't me fishing for compliments -- Just giving us all a chance to exercise gratitude!)

One entry per person, please!

You have until 10 pm Central Time on Sunday to leave your entry comment. I will randomly select and announce the winner on Monday morning!


CSNStores will ship the gift to the winner for free and has assured me that they refuse to give out personal information (addresses, etc) to advertisers.

Are you reading?

I must confess I'm a few days behind on my readings for my Through-the-Bible reading plan. I think it'll be easy to catch back up, though. I love that the plan I use also offers the chance to receive the day's reading via email. It serves as a good reminder, and since I sometimes check email on the go with my cell phone, I can read my passage even if I don't have my Bible with me.

How are you doing? Don't let yourself feel guilty if you haven't started at all or if you have fallen behind! Just commit to read it through from now to a year from now!

2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us that

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."

I'm confident that whether you read the Bible through daily in 2010 or into 2011, God will bless your commitment! What a great opportunity to see how God has woven His plan for redemption throughout His Word!

Let's get busy reading!

See Ya Lewter

I hate saying goodbye. So I don't.

Mostly, it's been me having to do the leaving, as God has shown us that our time in one place is up, and a new beginning awaits us elsewhere. Not this time.

We recently had to say See Ya Later to some new friends we met when we moved here. The Haiglers became great friends, and it was bittersweet to see them move to Shreveport to begin a ministry there. The Normans were also precious, and now that they're pursuing the call of the Lord on their lives away from here, I hope to keep in touch with them frequently!


But that's not what I'm posting about here.


Now we must say goodb See Ya Later to some dear friends that we didn't think we'd get to spend even this much time with. Brad and Kati became special to us when we lived in Springfield (back in tha day). They loved on Caleb with us. Scott and Brad hunted together. Kati and I chatted often and scrapbooked. We had Anna just a few months before Lana was born.

Unfortunately, we had to be the "leavers" for them when we moved to our current place of ministry. Much to our surprise, though, the Lord allowed our time with them to continue a little longer, as Brad came to be the Student Pastor at our church.

Since then, we've laughed, cried, worked together, and have gone through pregnancies together once again. Now, as many in ministry (and our friends in the military as well) experience, we're having to part ways as we continue to follow the Lord's plan for our lives.





Brad, Kati, Lana, and Layton, we pray that the Lord will bless this next segment of your lives, and we look forward to getting frequent updates and visiting you (and vice versa) whenever possible! May He enrich your marriage, your family, and your ministry as you put Him and His plans first in your lives.

So for now, it's see ya later!

Bumblebees everywhere

Anna is halfway through her "school" year at Parents Day Out. She may have been a "skunk" last year, but this year she's a "bumblebee".


We love our busy little bumblebee!

No, she's just 2 months old.

**This is a catch-up post from November**

I was in a children's clothing store yesterday, and a mom with a baby said, "Oh! She's so cute", referring to Abby, whom I was carrying in a sling. "How old is she?" I replied, almost 2 and a half months. She hesitated in surprise. "Wow, I thought she was nearly 8 months. You've practically got a toddler there!"

I laughed it off, and told her of our surprise as we have watched our sweet girl growing since birth. I gave her the statistical rundown that I'm about to share with you:

Sweet Abby Grace is almost 10 weeks old! She went to see our pediatrician for her two-month appointment and vaccinations last week. Our sweet nurse took one look at her and called her "Chunkers". :) Abby weighed in at 12lbs 10 oz (almost 2 lbs since the one-month appt) and measured 24 inches long (over 2 inches since that appt).

She is a cheerful girl who has just begun cooing and trying to interact with us. She holds her head up pretty well, LOVES bath time, and is no longer stationary. Yes, she is somewhat mobile! When I put her on her playmat, whether on her tummy or her back, she uses her legs/feet to scoot. Now, granted, this is not movement with a destination in mind, but it's movement, nonetheless! (Slow, gradual movement, of course)

There are periods of time that our precious girl does cry at the top of her lungs. This is either when we have to go somewhere and she's placed in her carseat just after feeding (I think she reserves a bubble or two in her tummy) or around 8pm some evenings (colic? but inconsistent if it is). The evening cries have become less frequent as she has grown.

Abby has made night time fairly easy for us (or for ME, since her sweet Daddy, though he wants to be helpful, sleeps deeply and can't really address her nighttime needs). Since about 8.5 weeks, she has begun stretching to 9 hrs between the two night feedings. Whoop! Yippee! Now if only I'd go to bed right when she does... but there's always something that needs to be done, or there's a show on our DVR, or something else that keeps me from taking advantage of the large quantity of sleep I could be getting.

This picture is from the week of Barron and Betsy's visit to our home!

To Do List, aka True Confessions

In some order, I hope to:

• Catch up on the McDonaldSpot
• Finish some embroidery items for sale
• Organize my craft room/Abby's room
• Put away kids' outgrown clothes
• Find clean my bedroom
• Catch up on Abby's baby book
• Make her footprints before her feet have grown another inch
• Put the Christmas tree and numerous Nativity sets away
• Snap my fingers to make the dirty laundry clean
• Organize my closet
• Help the kiddos to pare down their toys and give some away
• Trim the backyard tree and honeysuckle
  
• Begin quasi-homeschool with Anna
• Find my garage Get ready to have a garage sale
• Breathe? :)

Maybe it'll all be done some time in 2010. How about you?

Join me! It's not too late!

Scott and I are going to read a little each day and make it through the entire Bible during 2010. Will you join us?

I've found a nifty way to post it on my blog for you to click and read, but if you want to do it without visiting my blog each day, there are 6 nifty ways to follow the same reading plan we are:

The ESV Study Bible plan (you don't have to have the English Standard Version translation, nor the Study Bible variety, though) from Crossway Publishers

Web: Click here to find the web page that is updated daily to reflect the reading passages for the day.

RSS: This is the RSS feed that can be delivered directly to your Feed Reader (like Feed Burner, Google Reader, and some cell phone browsers) Incidentally, it's also how I power the widget on my blog (above).

Email: Click here to enter your email and receive the daily passages directly in your Inbox. You must respond to a simple confirmation email, then you might have to make sure that your Spam Filter doesn't relegate the first email to your spam box.

iCal: Have a Mac or other Apple product that uses iCal? Get your iCal file here.

Mobile: This is the link to the mobile-friendly website that posts each day's passages. Read from your cell phone on the go!

Print: Like having a hard copy of the plan but don't have the ESV Study Bible? Print out the PDF file by clicking here!


You're not starting too late!
All you have to do is start at Jan. 1st's passage. Read that day's passages plus one extra day's worth till you get caught up! No problem!

Please let me know in the comments below if you're joining us in our quest! That way I can pray for you and encourage you!