Giveaway #2

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I mentioned yesterday that in celebration of 2,500 posts and 5 years of blogging, I’m having a few days of giveaways.

A funny thing happened last Christmas….while doing some online shopping, I clicked on the “Today’s Deals” at Amazon.com, which I had never done before. I’m not sure why I did that day. But that day they had a Scotch Thermal Laminator on sale for $17. I’d been wanting a laminator and hadn’t taken time to research them, but thought this was a great price to try one out. So I ordered it.

My husband happened to see the same deal, and he ordered one for me for Christmas.

And somehow we ended up with a third one — we never did figure out which of us accidentally ordered it or how.

So now I have three laminators when I only need one. Jim said I could use the extra two to give away on my blog if I wanted to, and they’ve been sitting in my sewing room waiting for the opportunity.

You might ask, what can you do with a laminator? I wanted one to cover bookmarks — it makes them firmer, provides a nice straight edge for those who like to use them to underline, and helps them last longer. Teachers use them to make their visuals and bulletin board items stronger and longer-lasting. Some other great ideas are here and here.

I’m afraid this giveaway has to be restricted to the USA only. I was checking around the US Post Office site to see if maybe I could include Canada, but it looks like it would cost $70 to ship there — way more than I can spend.

So if you’d like to enter for the drawing of a Scotch Thermal Laminator and have a USA address, leave a comment below. I’ll choose two winners using random.org next Tuesday morning, Nov. 15.

Entries are now closed. Congratulations to Sherri and Cheri.

Milestones, Celebrations, and Giveaways

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According to my blog stats, this is my 2500th post.

Wow. Who knew I had so much to say? 🙂

Also, my fifth blogoversary was July 27, and somehow it just blew by me. Usually I anticipate it and often have a giveaway around then. This being a “milestone” year (somehow birthdays and anniversaries ending in 5 and 0 are more milestone-ish than others) it seems especially appropriate.

So, I’ve decided to have a few days of giveaways, as a thank-you to those of you who stop by my humble online abode. I’ll have at least three — maybe more. Some will be open to everyone, some will only be open to US residents due to shipping costs. Though I’ll spread out announcing them over the next few days, all the drawings will be held a week from today, next Tuesday morning, November 15.

The first giveaway will be the two books By Searching: My Journey Through Doubt Into Faith and In the Arena by Isobel Kuhn, reviewed together here (one winner will receive both books). If you’ve read here long, you know these are special to me, and I’d love to share them with someone. This one is open to all. If you’d like to be entered to win these books, just leave a comment below any time between now and next Tuesday morning. You don’t have to have a blog to enter. I’ll use random.org to choose the winners.

If you’d like to be entered for the drawings on the other days, you’ll need to leave a comment those days as well: the comments here will just count for this particular drawing.

I thought about doing some quizzes as part of the drawings, and decided against it. So this doesn’t count for anything but just for fun:

What is my favorite flower and my favorite color of it?

Thanks so much to those who read and those who comment. You are a blessing to me!

Entries are now closed. Congratulations to Sue.

The Week in Words

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Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week  inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

Here are a few that caught my attention this week:

From Lisa‘s Twitter:

The consequences of confession are far less severe than the consequences of concealment. ~ Andy Stanley

That’s profound. It echoes Proverbs 28:13: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

From a friends’ Facebook:

Don’t ever let someone rob you of your joy because of their own issues and insecurities that they try to put on you.

From an e-mail devotional taken from Elisabeth Elliot‘s book Keep A Quiet Heart, the chapter “Interruptions, Delays, Inconveniences”:

There is nothing like the biographies of great Christians to give us perspective and help us to keep spiritual balance.

From Created For Work: Practical Insights For Young Men by Bob Schultz:

If you have great talents, industry will improve them: if you have but moderate abilities, industry will supply their deficiency. ~ Joshua Reynolds

You can share your family-friendly quotes in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below.

I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And don’t forget to leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share! 🙂

Speak O Lord

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These words are perfect for any day, but especially on a Sunday getting ready to go to church.

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
To receive the food of Your Holy Word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us
All Your purposes for Your glory.

Teach us, Lord, full obedience,
Holy reverence, true humility;
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise; cause our eyes to see
Your majestic love and authority.
Words of pow’r that can never fail—
Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us—
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we’ll stand on Your promises,
And by faith we’ll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory.

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

My favorite version of it is on a CD “Come Bow Before the Lord” by Clearwater Christian College. Unfortunately I can’t find the whole of their version online but there is an excerpt here and here.

May you have a great feast in His Word and enjoy His Presence today.

Laudable Linkage

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It’s a beautiful Saturday morning here in eastern TN! Hope it is where you are, too.

Here are a few things that were interesting to me over the last couple of weeks:

Nine Potential Pitfalls of Ministry. Very good, very convicting.

The Lost Art of Meeting a Spouse, HT to Challies. Most single people I know don’t like being “set up,” but there is some good advice here.

Dude, Where’s Your Bride? Good article on the availability of good, godly single women and the seeming lack of corresponding available men.

Idealized Domesticity, especially the paragraph on holiness.

Getting Grace, written in the context of homeschooling but applicable to all parents.

Two Ways the Enemy Attacks Authors, HT to Robin Lee Hatcher. I think the principles apply to others as well. I think whatever we do, we’re prone to crises in confidence on the one hand or “believing our own press” on the other.

Make Your Own Canvas Portrait.

White Monogram Canvas, HT to Lizzie.

This made me smile:

Friday’s Fave Five

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Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week. This has been a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

It’s Friday! And I am looking forward to “falling back” this weekend and gaining back that lost hour from last spring. Here are a few favorites from the last week.

1. Mexican food. One of my favorite things in life. Our favorite place here had kind of dipped in quality and service the last few times we’d been there, and I was afraid it was headed downhill, but this last visit was back up to par. Plus, the next day my dear husband let me have his leftover chicken chimichanga!

2. Carving pumpkins for the first time ever. Well, I didn’t — I just watched and took pictures. 🙂 But it was a fun evening.

3. Going back to bed. I really hate to, because I feel it cuts into the most productive part of my day, but it’s nice to be able to do so occasionally when needed.

4. Newspaper column. I mentioned a few weeks ago having an opportunity to be a “community guest columnist” for our newspaper for about a year. My first column was published last Sunday!

5. A good meeting and a great advocate. Some of the staff at my mother-in-law’s assisted living facility were again saying she needed to be moved into a nursing home this week. Jim met with the director and shared his concern that the care-givers weren’t working with her as the physical therapist had shown them to, and she was very receptive. The physical therapist came in as well and testified that she was improving under his care and she was not at all to the point of needing to move yet. He has been just exceptional in working with her and advocating for her. I’m so glad God brought him to her. Jim arranged to go back over after work to show the main person saying she had to lift her how we help her stand, but then she had another obligation and wasn’t able to come. Frustrating! But we have another reprieve for a while, though we do see the handwriting on the wall and are looking into other options for when that time finally does come.

Prayer request: One of my son’s classmates is in the hospital with encephalitis (same student I mentioned here with some serious issues), and it’s pretty serious from what we understand. I’m hoping he will hear more about how she is doing at school today.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Happy Housewife Day!

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Who knew we had our own day? I didn’t until seeing that e-Mom was giving away an apron to celebrate. I’m not an apron person, but if you are go check it out — you might win!

In looking around trying to find out more about it, it doesn’t seem to be a national holiday and no one seems to know who started it. But, hey, it’s a worthy day! Give yourselves a pat on the back!

I prefer “homemaker” to “housewife” because I am not married to my house, and I am trying to create a peaceable. welcoming home.

Last year I came across this poem on someone’s blog, but they seem to have taken down all their posts, so I won’t link back to it. But it spoke to me:

My Work 

by Mary Lou Burkholder 

I have the greatest work in the world;
The job of rocking a baby to sleep,
That of guiding his tottering feet,
A baby’s clothes to launder and fold,
A precious life to shape and mold,
A drink to give from a little cup,
At night his toys to gather up,
Hurts to heal and fears to quell,
A baby to keep clean and well,
A stack of diapers to put,
Oh, what a happy worthwhile day!
I am a “Mother.”

I have the greatest work in to world;
A husband to encourage when things go wrong,
When he comes from work to greet with a song,
Denims and shirts to wash and mend,
A helping hand, when needed, to lend,
Three times a day his meals to cook,
To strive to be my best to look,
His back to rub at the close of the day,
For his faithfulness to God I pray,
When hubby’s in the field I take lemonade,
for all these tasks his love has paid.
I am a ” Wife.” 

I have the greatest work in the world;
A home to keep happy, clean and bright,
Make things go smooth and strive for the right,
Jams to cook and jellies to make,
Cookies and pies and bread to bake,
Washing, ironing, and sewing to do,
So many tasks, will I ever get though?
Lettuce to wash and peas to pick,
floors to scrub, lost items to seek,
Dishes to wash and windows to shine,
These and many more tasks are mine.
I am a “Homemaker.”

Help me, Father, to faithfully work,
Forgive if I unconsciously shirk,
give me the patience and love I pray,
To keep myself in duty’s way;
With all the hustle that each day brings
May I not neglect the needed things;
Each day to spend time alone with Thee
That Jesus Christ be seen in me.
Thank you for husband, our home, our girls and boys;
Thank you for love which brings me much joy.

 Thank you , Lord.

Here are a few things I’ve written in the past, if you want some musing on homemaking today:

Encouragement for homemakers.

Wanting things to be “perfect.”

I confess: I don’t really like to cook.

A Real Home.

A Homemaking Meme.

Another homemaking meme.

A prayer for home.

Two views of housework.

Meditations for daily tasks.

Thy list be done.

(Photo borrowed from Susannah’s Kitchen.)

 

 

First ever pumpkin carvings

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We never carved pumpkins until this year. It wasn’t something I grew up with — I don’t think my husband did, either. Then when my kids were very young I was perhaps over concerned about the evil origins of things — it’s something we heard and read a lot about back then. And though I do think it’s cause for consideration, on the other hand, if it’s a tradition that has moved away from its origins and no one connects it with that today, then by and large I don’t think it is a problem, though of course everyone must wrestle with his or own own conscience in these matters. But I think in general when people see carved pumpkins, they think, “Oh, how cute!” rather than, “I wonder what nefarious reasons people first had for doing such a thing.”

Anyway, no one ever really brought up the idea or asked to carve pumpkins until this year. One of my favorite comments of the evening was when Jim teased Mittu, saying, “All these years of having boys, I never had to carve pumpkins, but I get one girl….”

Here are a few pictures from the evening:

Getting started:

Jason scooping out pumpkin goo:

Jason pretending to eat pumpkin goo:

Yuck! I had heard pumpkin innards were pretty gross, and I can confirm the truth of it. I never knew how bad they smelled, though. It smelled like…someone was having digestive discomforts of various sorts. Jason wondered where anyone ever got the idea of making pies out of these. I said probably someone who was hungry and didn’t want to eat them as is and tried to figure out a way to make them palatable by adding lots of sugar and spices.

I’ve heard roasted pumpkin seeds are good and should have tried that since we had them there, but I just wasn’t inspired to. I’m not much of a seed eater in general.

The inside of a pumpkin before scraping:

The inside of a pumpkin after scraping:

They had bought a little kit that had various carving tools, scarpers, and some patterns.

Jim got his pattern from that: Jason and Mittu got theirs online.

Jim’s pumpkin:

Jason’s pumpkin without the light…

…And with the light:

Mittu’s pumpkin:

Recognize them? 🙂

Mittu also painted one for Grandma:

Final products on the porch:

Jesse didn’t do one — he was off playing computer games. I hadn’t planned to do one, but near the end I was kind of wishing I had. I have a few small ones I am trying to decide whether to paint or just to enjoy as they are. I don’t know if we’ll make this an annual event, but it was a fun evening.

We ended up not getting any trick-or-treaters. I knew we wouldn’t get many — there are only a few children on our street. But it was kind of disappointing not to get any. I missed seeing the little kids dressed up and excited. But I am glad to get away from the Halloween in our old house, where people brought kids in from I don’t know where, and you could hardly inch your car through the streets because there were so many people, and you could run through a fortune in candy in a very short time. That was ridiculous. But it would have been nice to have a few come by. I did see one little Snow White in the grocery store and one child in a purple cape and hat (queen, maybe?) at Grandma’s assisted living place. Jason and Mittu stopped by the mall to see some of the kids dressed up there and then came over. It was a fun evening, but I’ll know not to buy candy next year, or at least a lot less!

The Week In Words

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Welcome to The Week In Words, where we share quotes from the last week’s reading. If something you read this past week  inspired you, caused you to laugh, cry, think, dream, or just resonated with you in some way, please share it with us, attributing it to its source, which can be a book, newspaper, blog, Facebook — anything that you read. More information is here.

Here are a few that caught my attention this week:

From Diane‘s Facebook:

“Nothing gives one a more spuriously good conscience than keeping rules, even if there has been a total absence of all real charity and faith.” ~C.S. Lewis, The Joyful Christian, p. 80.

Ouch! Isn’t that so true? I’m so glad our salvation is by grace through faith rather than our rule-keeping. “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Philippians 1:9).

Seen at Challies:

“A drop of praise is an unsuitable acknowledgment for an ocean of mercy.” —William Secker

From Warren Wiersbe’s With the Word commenting on Isaiah 17:

If the people you trust do not trust the Lord, their judgement may become your judgment (p. 462).

Scary thought — we’d better be careful whom we trust.

You can share your family-friendly quotes in the comments below or write a post on your blog and then put the link to that post (not your general blog link) in Mr. Linky below.

I hope you’ll visit some of the other participants as well and glean some great thoughts to ponder. And don’t forget to leave a comment here, even if you don’t have any quotes to share! 🙂

I may not feel Him standing near

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I had the last stanza of this in my files but failed to note how I came across it. In Googling a line of it, I found it came from a hymn titled, “Surrounded By Unnumbered Foes.” I have never heard it sung, but I thought it was good, especially the last stanza.

Surrounded by unnumbered foes,
Against my soul the battle goes;
Yet though weary, sore distressed,
I know that I shall reach my rest:
I lift my tearful eyes above—
His banner over me is love.

Its sword my spirit will not yield,
Though flesh may faint upon the field;
He waves before my fading sight
The branch of palm, the crown of light:
I lift my brightening eyes above—
His banner over me is love.

My cloud of battle-dust may dim,
His veil of splendour curtain Him;
And, in the midnight of my fear,
I may not feel Him standing near:
But as I lift mine eyes above,
His banner over me is love.

— Gerald Massey, 1863