About me...

I am linking up today with SUYL at Kelly's Korner so I thought I'd do a little post to introduce myself.

Welcome, thank you for stopping by today! 

I am married to my best friend and college sweetheart.  We will celebrate our 11 year anniversary in June.  I am so thankful for him and our relationship and how we have grown through the years.  He is the best!  We have a son who is 7 (he will be 8 in August) and finishing 2nd grade.  I am a stay at home Mom.  I taught 1st and 2nd grades before Caleb was born.  I volunteer twice a week at my son's school and also teach a class of 4 year olds at our church on Sunday mornings. 

We have lived here since December 2010.  The move was quite a learning experience for us as we went through months of waiting and unknowns.  God has been faithful and His timing about everything was perfect.  We are so glad to be here and love our little city and home. 

I enjoy reading and do book reviews here on my blog for various publishers.  I am a letter writer and love sending mail to family and friends and a group of senior citizens (a Yahoo group I found a few years ago).  I have recently started using Pinterest and enjoy finding ideas there to make.  So far I've tried out some recipes, a Valentine's Day wreath, and a Mother's Day craft. Things I like:  Precious Moments figurines, pens and stationery, Sonic Happy Hour, baking, the color purple, working with children, trying new recipes.

Have a day of blessings!

Poem

I have read this poem before but received it in an email and wanted to share it. It's called When You Thought I Wasn't Looking. Take a minute to read it.


This is an excellent reminder of our influence in the lives of our children and those around us. As I was reading I thought about how it isn't just our own children we are touching. We are touching others too, like those in the grocery store, our neighborhood, or our classrooms. Sometimes we get tired of doing the same things day in, day out. I know I do some days. I like a little variety and something that I can anticipate and look forward to. I like this poem because it reminds me that all those little things do matter. Little eyes are watching and learning. We may not see the results of our labor but one day we will. Our Heavenly Father is watching also. No one else may know what we do in a day but He does and it matters to Him. This encourages me to keep on!

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"In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." Psalm 5:3

New Look!

Today I found this great site that Sarah used to give her blog a new look. It was really cute and she said it was free so I tried it out. I'd tried one a while back and didn't like it. I think I'm really going to like this site though. It was very easy to use and they had a ton of choices. It was easy to apply it to my blog too. I picked one out of the "boy" category this time. I looked at the birthday ones since this is my boy's birthday month but they were too girly.

It has other great ideas too on this site for creating a signature so I may be working on that sometime too. I want to change it now to match the rest of the look!

Hope you like the new look! Thanks for the idea Sarah. :)
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"He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy." Job 8:21

Recipe site

My best friend sent me a link to recipe site I'd not seen before. It looks like a good one. I wanted to pass it on! It's called Group Recipes. Tell me if you find and try any great recipes.

Fun game

My friend invited me to play a game with her online. It is great fun if you like Scrabble! You can try it out at www.scrabulous.com You can play against people on the computer or have email games. You play a word and then it will send your opponent an email that it is their turn to play. I've been playing with one of my friends, my aunt, and my Mom.

I've played a few games against the other players online. They always come up with all these words that I would either never have thought of or have no clue their definition. I'm not very creative in using letters to spell words both down and across connected to each other. I kept seeing the word QI. I had no idea what it meant so finally asked. The opponent said it had to do with energy. I looked it up and this is what it says:
noun
the circulating life energy that in Chinese philosophy is thought to be inherent in all things; in traditional Chinese medicine the balance of negative and positive forms in the body is believed to be essential for good health

I guess that was my something new to learn that day. I'll be happy to play you if you need an opponent!
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"For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not harm, to give you future with hope." Jeremiah 29:11

Contest: I'm Glad I'm a Mom Because...

Hearts at Home has a contest for Mother's Day. I meant to post about this sooner and it slipped my mind. You can enter through the end of April. I thought some of you might like to enter. You can find out more information at the Hearts at Home site.

Did you listen to Focus on the Family this week?

Dave Ramsey was the guest on Focus on the Family this week. I enjoyed the program called "Let the Buyer Beware." It was in two parts. You can link to the radio digest here.

It is really about having financial discipline. So many of the financial principles used are based on scripture. These things really work! Something that stuck out to me was the idea of contentment. I've always felt that so many people in society lack contentment and continue searching for something to fill the void. He said he felt "contentment may be the most powerful financial principle there is." Another idea was that of delayed pleasure. We are bombarded with advertisements constantly, no matter where we go. It is so easy to give in just because the items are in front of us and we think we "need" them. When we sleep on it though, many times we'll find we don't really "need" whatever it is.

This Total Money Makeover is really working too! It was very exciting to see our statement for the truck loan. It is wonderful to see the amount decreasing so quickly as we have "snowballed" our payments towards the truck loan.

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"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that." 1 Timothy 6:6-8

Be blessed!

I watched a beautiful presentation this morning at Married to the Preacher. I am putting it here so you can watch too. I appreciated the thought-provoking questions asked for each stage of the "Journey to the Cross." Hope you enjoy!

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"For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many."Matthew 20:28