Favorite Things about September

I know I say this every month, but is September really over?!? 

What?! Where's the time going?

So, it's that time again....time to link up with Dancing with Ashley for Favorite Things.

Here are a few of my favorite things from September: 

1. NO HOSPITAL VISITS!!!! 

This is the first month in a while that I can say that. We had a crazy summer! I am so thankful that Lee is doing better. It has been such a relief to just be normal.

There he is....whole and healthy!

2. TRACK OUT!!!!

I've been on a break for most of the month. Oh, the joys of year round school. I love it. If you're curious, I wrote about year round school at this post.
 

3. September was Blog for Compassion month.

I really enjoyed using my blog to spread the word about Compassion this month. I think I may stay on as a Compassion blogger. You can read my posts from this month here, here, here, and here.

4. Visiting downtown.
Lee and I have lived in North Carolina for a little over 2 years now and we've never really been to downtown Raleigh. While I was off work, we were able to go downtown and enjoy a relaxing afternoon.

5. Announcing Ornaments for Adoption.
This idea is something I have been working on for a while and I was finally able to make the announcement about it this month. I have been working on finding a family to help, finding guest posters, finding promoters, and making ornaments for the majority of the month. Check back Monday as I begin to sell ornaments and feature adoption stories.

What are your favorite things from this month?

One Thousand Gifts Book Club Week 3

It's week 3 of the book club which means we read chapter 3 of One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.

You can read my thoughts from Week 1 or Week 2 if you missed them.

Eucharisteo   This is a Greek word for giving thanks.

Is it okay to only give thanks for the good?

How can giving thanks create in us a sense of pure joy?

Joy is more than just begin happy. We can't only be thankful when things are going well.

One of the most often quoted verses is Philippians 4:13, but I think it is often misquoted. People need to back up and read the verse before it.

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."

Philippians 4:12-13

We need to draw upon Christ's strength to learn to be content no matter what.

Everything we have is a GIFT from God. It's not something we deserve or have earned. It's something God chose to give us.

Is this something that comes natural?

Not at all! We are naturally selfish and ungrateful.

We have to learn to be thankful in any and every situation.

I loved the quote from Jean Pierre de Caussade that she included in this chapter: "When one is thirsty one quenches one's thirst by drinking, not by reading books which treat of this condition."

It won't do me any good to read this book and not apply anything that I'm learning. 

I have to practice being thankful until it becomes natural.

So, I'm going to start today. Here are 3 things I'm thankful for today:

1. The yummy oreo McFlurry I ate...my diet starts in October :)

2. The sweet older couple I saw walking near my neighborhood holding hands

3. The fun and helpful people I work with

What are you thankful for today?

 

Through the Eyes of a Child

Looking around and what do I see?

Dirt.

It's even on my dolly.

I cough as the dust of it enters my lungs.

It's hard to see with just the sunlight coming through the door.

I get up and walk outside. 

The sun is blinding.

As my eyes adjust, my nose senses something.

My stomach growls in response.

Mommy is cooking rice!

Daddy must have gotten paid yesterday!

Mommy dips me out a spoonful of rice.

Sharing with 5 other people is hard.

I pick up my first bite.

I chew slowly to make it last.

What's that crunchy stuff?

Dirt.

It's everywhere.

 

 Yesterday was my birthday.

I didn't have a party.

I didn't have a cake.

My friends and family didn't buy me gifts.

If I had a sponsor, they might have sent me some extra money.

If I was sent some money, I would buy a new pair of shoes.

I've walked holes in the shoes I have now.

The nice people at the Compassion center gave me this pair of shoes.

I loved them so much and didn't want to wear them at first.

It took me 3 weeks to wear them for fear of messing them up.

Maybe the next time I go, they'll give me a new pair.

I'd love that!

 I don't like the dark.

Bad things happen in the dark.

People scream and cry.

Sometimes when I wake up, people are missing.

Maybe they got sick.

Maybe the bad people took them.

No one ever tells me what happens.

I'm scared that something will happen to me in the dark.

At night, I hide in the corner until I fall asleep.

Unless my sister's coughing keeps me up.

She's had that cough for 3 weeks now.
I wish it'd go away.

***

Obviously, I don't know if these are the things these children would say. I don't even like to imagine what life is like for any of these precious children. What I do know is that I can make a difference in the life of a child. I can give up eating out a few times a month. I can give up having a fancy cell phone. I can give up buying new clothes. I can give that up so that Alan and Malaiyarasi can have food, an education, and health and hygiene training. Most importantly, I can give those things up so that they can know that they are special and loved and that they can have a relationship with Jesus.

Would you be willing to help make a difference in the life of a child? You can sponsor Camila, Shasika, Benjamin, or any of the other children who need a sponsor today.

While I can only guess what one of these children might say, the people in this video have lived it. They were children growing up in poverty whose lives were changed because someone sponsored them through Compassion.

4 Books

It's time for Tuesday's link up with The Austin Family Diary and Life. Love. Lauren. for the 10 Day You Challenge.

Last week, everyone had my mouth watering with their food lists. This week is  4 books. I can only choose 4?!? I love to read.

1. The number one book in my life would have to be the Bible. I love reading things I've heard my whole life and have God teach me something new. I've also learned that I do best to read whole books or stories at a time. I like things in context.

source: www.amazon.com

2. Although, technically this is 7 books, they can be counted as one-the Harry Potter series. My favorite fictional books ever! I can't tell you how many times I've read through this series. I usually read it about once a year.

source: www.amazon.com

3. Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis is probably my favorite nonfiction book. This book really had a big impact on my life. Katie is an inspiration. You can read more of my thoughts on this book here.

source: www.amazon.com

4. The Mark of the Lion series is probably my second favorite fiction series. It is Christian fiction, and it is also historical fiction. I love historical fiction. It takes place during the height of the Roman Empire. I have read through this series several times also.

source: www.amazon.com

*Bonus*

Since I could write a long list of books I love, I decided to include a bonus. This is a series I started reading a few weeks ago. There are 6 books in the series, but the last one hasn't come out yet. Several of these books I read in less than 24 hours. They are hard to put down. I'm ready to find out how it ends, but have to wait until April! It's called the Gone series. I think this will join my list of favorite books/series.

source: www.amazon.com

While we're on the subject of reading, if you're an avid reader, I would recommend you check out Good Reads. This is a great place to rate and list the books you've read, read synopsis and reviews on books, and get recommendations based on what you've read. I'm using it to keep up with how many books I've read this year. You can find me on Good Reads here.

 

   

      2012 Reading Challenge
   

       

         
       

     

        Megan has
             read 30 books toward a goal of 40 books.
     

     

       

hide

     

     

        30 of 40 (75%)
     

       

          view books
       

 

   

What's one of your favorite books or series?

Announcement!!!

Before I make the announcement, I still have some spots available for a FREE gift made especially for you by me from my Pay it Forward post. Check it out.

***

I am very excited to share with you something that I have had in the works for many months. 

This started out as an idea that I gradually built upon.

I have been doing a LOT of behind the scenes work in the last few weeks.

My biggest desire for my blog and the #1 reason why I expanded my blog beyond friends and family was to use it to help others.

Earlier this year, God laid on my heart a desire to help families trying to adopt. I can't tell you how many times I have sat in front of my computer and cried over stories of adoption and orphans I've found posted on people's blogs. 

Since then, I have found many different blogs and other websites where people have been trying to raise funds for an adoption. Lee and I have done what we can to try and contribute.

We've bought tshirts, a bracelet, and donated in various ways.

However, I still wanted to do something more. This feeling has been gnawing away at me until a few months ago, I had an idea of what I could do.

I present to you: 

 

I hope you will support me in this venture as I hope to make it a yearly event. 

What is Ornaments for Adoption? Well, you can head over to my Ornaments for Adoption page for more information.....

or....

....I will give you the basics here:

From October 1-December 17, I will be selling ornaments to raise money for a family trying to adopt. You can find pictures of examples of ornaments on the OFA page or on my Facebook page.

(Which I would suggest liking because I'll be adding more photos as I complete new ornaments.)

I will also be hosting a weekly feature about adoption every Monday from October 1-December 17. Each week I will either be posting information I've found or ways I've found to help families trying to adopt or orphans. I will also be having some people guest post who have personal experience with adoption.

What can you do to help?

Well, obviously you can purchase an ornament during the selling time.

But right now, I would also love to have you help spread the word. Post the OFA button found in my sidebar on your blog. Link this post to your Pinterest account. Post about this on Facebook tagging me @Just a Small Town Girl's Blog. Tweet about this post tagging me @JASTG_blog and using #OrnamentsforAdoption.

Do you or someone you know have personal experience with adoption? I still have a few spots open for guest posts. Email me at mdhall88@gmail.com if interested.

I look forward to seeing this dream become a reality.

Pay It Forward

Saturday night I saw this post from Going with the Flow. I thought this was a great idea and was excited to participate.

It was started by Mandi @ Debonair Bandit and the basic premise is that the first three people who comment on this post will get some sort of item from me as long as they agree to do the same for 3 more people.

The rules:

+The first three people to comment on this post will receive a little gift - something personal from me to you.

+I'll create something unique to share with the first three people to comment on this post.

+But in order to receive your present you have to play along. Spread the love on your own blog promising to send a little special something to the first three people who comment on your post. 

+You get 72 hours to re post, or I'll have to move on to the next person.

+Please only comment if you're willing to pay it forward.

-If you want to receive something unique and self-made from me in the mail and if you're willing to do the same for others, leave a comment below! Please leave your email address so that I can contact you directly! And blog URL so that I and others can visit your blog!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Sunday Social #2

It's Sunday, which means Sunday Social time. I hope you'll come back tomorrow for a BIG announcement.

1. What is something you have wanted to do but are afraid of?

I think I am facing many of my fears through blogging and putting myself out there. I also am taking a risk by starting something new on my blog tomorrow. Right now, I think the biggest thing I want to do, but am afraid of is talking to my parents about some of the things Lee and I want to do in our future.

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

 Hmm...This is difficult to answer because I've learned not to make too many plans because it makes it more difficult when life doesn't go according to your plan. I hope in 5 years that Lee will be finished with school and he will have a job as a full time pastor. I hope we will have children and I can be a SAHM (hence why I he needs to be finished with school and have a full time job). I hope that I will still be blogging and that I will have met many more great people!

3. What are you looking forward to before the end of 2012?

 I am looking forward to the thing I'm announcing tomorrow that I can't talk about yet. You'll have to check back tomorrow to find out more.

4. What are your hopes for your blog?

 Of course, I hope that my blog continues to grow and I gain new followers. More than that, though, I want followers who actually read my posts and interact with me. I have met many great people so far and want that to continue. I want to continue to find ways to use my blog to help others and to share my faith.

5. Do you always see yourself living in your current town/city?

No. We moved here for my husband to attend seminary. We really enjoy living here, but it is really far away from family. Plus, my husband's in the ministry so we probably will move at some point.

6. What is your morning routine

Of course, some morning are crazier than others, but this is my ideal morning routine when things go according to plan.

5:50 AM-Alarm goes off, get up, get dressed, stretch

6:00-6:30- Walk on treadmill while watching TV

6:30-6:45-Shower, brush teeth

6:45-7:15-Bible study and prayer

7:15-7:30-Prepare my lunch, breakfast, and get together anything else I need

7:30-8:00-Put on make-up, fix hair, and get dressed

8:00-8:20-Drive to work 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the last bit of your weekend!

A Crafter's Dream Christmas Giveaway

I am so excited to have heard about this awesome giveaway link up. I was already planning to do a Christmas giveaway with Dots and Curlz, but this will help get the word out even better.

If you're a blogger or a crafter or a small shop owner, you can participate as well. Check it out:

I'm so excited to bring you, along with My Merry Messy Life, Earning-My-Cape, and Tutus & Tea Parties, A Crafter's Dream Christmas Giveaway! 

This is a group giveaway opportunity with a Christmas, crafting, and supporting small business theme! Each blogger is offering her/his own giveaway worth $25 or more. It will run from October 21, 2012 to November 4, 2012 and bloggers, as well as shop owners, are welcome to sign up to join in the celebration. Bloggers who are not crafters and shop owners who are not bloggers can still join the giveaway by pairing up together! If you need help finding a shop or blogger to link up with, we will do our best to help.  

 <a border="0" href="http://earning-my-cape.blogspot.com/2012/09/acraftersdream-christmas-giveaway.html"target="_blank" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1251.photobucket.com/albums/hh547/EarningMyCape/a-crafters-dream-christmas-giveaway.png"/></a>

About our theme:

Christmas is just around the corner, and the time to start crafting our gifts for friends and family is now! Some of the blogs in the giveaway group will be giving away some awesome crafting supplies! 

Sometimes we want to give a handmade gift, but just don't have the time or know-how to make them ourselves. This is a great opportunity to support small businesses and shops who offer handmade items! Some of the blogs in our giveaway group will be highlighting such small businesses and offering giveaway items for them, as well. Even if you don't win the giveaway, we hope that you will keep these small businesses in mind when shopping for that perfect gift for your special someone.

Here is how it will work:

Bloggers:

• Each blogger will run their own unique giveaway, worth at least $25 or more, on their own site using Rafflecopter as the entry form. Please set your Rafflecopter to start at 12:01am October 21, 2012 and end at 12:01am November 5, 2012. You have total control over what you would like to give away (as long as it ties in with our Christmas/craft/small business theme) and to whom (country). 
• Please announce that you have joined on Twitter using this hashtag - #ACraftersDream, and/or make the announcement on your Facebook Page.
• Facebook Group - (this is optional) find our group, A Crafter's Dream Giveaway Group, on Facebook and request to join (you must be using Facebook as your actual name and not through your blog page for it to work)
• Please write a post announcing you have joined the giveaway, and include the html from the form that you will fill out.
• Grab the giveaway button and put it in a prominent place to promote it on your site! The more bloggers who sign up, the more entries we ALL get!
• Please fill out this form to get started.

Shop Owners:

• You can team up with a blogger on your own, or we can help match you with a blog to sponsor with a giveaway item worth $25 or more, from your shop.
• Please announce that you have joined on Twitter using this hashtag - #ACraftersDream, and/or make the announcement on your Facebook Page.
• Facebook Group - (this is optional) find our group, A Crafter's Dream Giveaway Group, on Facebook and request to join (you must be using Facebook as your actual name and not through your blog page for it to work)
• Please fill out this form if you would like help being paired up with a blog.

If you want to participate, you can go link up your blog here.

New Blog Design (More Help Needed)

Well, I took some of your advice from this post a few days ago.

I chose to try my hand at redesigning my own blog.

I knew I wanted to simplify things.

Overall, I am quite proud of myself.

I know it's nothing fancy, but I like it.

I just have a {kind of BIG} problems. I'm hoping someone out there can help me with it.

Perhaps you noticed that I have no header! That's because I can't get my header to load. I actually made 2 different headers and wanted to see which one I liked better. I have tried to upload them as an image and I've tried linking the images from Photobucket. Every time I try to upload it as an image, I get this error message: "We're sorry, but you have exceeded your photo upload quota. For more information, check out this Blogger help page." I understand what it is saying, but I don't understand why. I have no problem uploading photos to my posts. Every time I try to link it, it either does nothing or tells me it's not a valid link. I need my header! Can anyone help me with uploading it?

See...I can upload it to this post, but not to my header. :(

I'm considering having no header and putting my blog name in with my image if I can't figure it out. 

Any and all help is appreciated!

I Need Your Help!!!!!!

Ok, maybe the exclamation points made it a little dramatic, but I hope I got your attention.

As I've previously mentioned, this month is Blog for Compassion month.

What is Compassion? It's a wonderful organization through which you can sponsor a child in poverty.

Have you met my "children"? Their names are Alan and Malaiyrasi. I love writing letters to them and receiving letters from them.

Compassion's goal this month is to have sponsors for 3,108 new children. They are half way to that goal. Would you be willing to sponsor a child and help them reach their goal?

Now, let me tell you about the simple Pinterest contest Compassion is having. 

If you sponsor a child through Compassion, you can click here and learn more about how you can enter your sponsored child in the contest.

Everyone with a Pinterest account can help me out with the contest. Several winners will be chosen and one of my sponsored children has the opportunity to win up to $100 for their family.

All you have to do to help me is repin my pin about this contest. You can click here to find my pin and then just click repin. It's that simple! Each repin is another entry and another chance for one of my sponsored children to win.

If you sponsor a child and enter this contest, let me know so I can repin your pin also.

Have a wonderful weekend! I'll see you back here on Sunday for my second week at Sunday Social.

One Thousand Gifts Book Club Week 2

I keep forgetting to post about this, so I'm going to do it here first. I want to give a big THANK YOU to Megan at {All Things New} for nominating me for my second Versatile Blogger Award! I greatly appreciate it! You guys should check out her blog and follow along with her family as they are starting on their adoption journey. ***   It's week 2 of the book club. This week, we read chapter 2 of One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.
We're all living the American dream. It's been engrained in us since childhood.  The American dream is defined as a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility achieved through hard work. Not all of the ideals of the American dream are bad. However, I feel that the American dream is now all about always wanting something bigger and better. What we have is never good enough.   Should this be what we seek after as Christians? Did God call us to live prosperous and materialistic lives? In Mark 10, a rich, young man comes to Jesus and asks him what he must do to inherit eternal life. He tells Jesus how he knows the Law and has kept it since birth. Jesus' reply: "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." (Mark 10:21) In Matthew Jesus teaches the Sermon on the Mount and says: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21) Do I believe that Jesus is telling all Christians to go and sell all their possessions? No. I believe the last verse points it out. It's a heart matter. What do you value? What are you spending your life seeking?    Voskamp pointed it out in chapter 1 that I reviewed last week that we too often have a problem with ingratitude.  She says: "Our fall was, has always been, and always will be, that we aren't satisfied in God and what He gives. We hunger for something more, something other."   So, what is the solution to all of this ingratitude and selfishness?  Eucharisteo   This is a Greek word for giving thanks. Fascinating enough, this word also contains two other Greek words. The first one is charis. I love this word. This word means "grace" or "undeserved gift." The second word is the word chara which means "joy."
We have been given charis for which we should eucharisteo which will bring us true chara.  Obviously, I don't know if I used these words in the right way, but we need to stop and look around us and think of all the things God HAS given us rather than the things we don't have. Then, we need to give Him thanks, even for the little things. In giving thanks and noticing all the things we do have, we will experience joy.   I want to challenge us all to stop living the American dream and to stop being ungrateful. Instead, look for all the things you do have to be grateful for. Then, give thanks to God for them.
*On a side note: I think this is going to be a difficult book to read through. While I can appreciate the author's obvious gift with words, I wish she would have written this book in plainer language. It is often difficult to figure out what she is trying to say because the meaning is hidden behind her long, poetic descriptions. I am trying to ignore that, though, and appreciate the message that the book is trying to convey.*  

Blogging is Hard Work!

In my continued efforts to expand my blog, I've created a twitter account for it. I'm still not too sure on how to use it, but I know I'll get the hang of it. I would love any advice and tips you have for using 

Twitter!

Follow me on Twitter here.

I also have my Facebook page which has been rapidly growing recently.

 

Follow me on Facebook here.

For my last bit of social media, I also have my own personal Pinterest page that I would love for you to follow along with. I love sharing and getting new ideas on Pinterest.

 

Follow me on Pinterest here.

Oh, but how could I forget? I would also love for you to follow along with GFC over on the sidebar.

If you follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or GFC, leave me a link to your pages so that I can check them out too. Thanks!

Ok...enough with the social media stuff. I've been thinking a lot lately about updating the look of my blog. I love the plain, simple, and clean look so many blogs have now. I would love to just have a white background with my own header and then some social media buttons. I would also love to have cute headers above the different features on my sidebars. I've seen tutorials on how to do these things, but I still can't figure it out! It took me forever just to make my current header and get my blog arranged the way it is now.

I would love your advice on changing blog designs. I also would love recommendations for affordable places to find blog designs. Who and what would you recommend?

5 Foods

It's Tuesday again which means it's time to link up with The Austin Family Diary and Life. Love. Lauren. for the 10 Day You Challenge.

Last week, everyone shared their favorite places. Today is  5 Foods. This one was easy to write because I love food.

1. I love to eat at Mexican restaurants because I love chips and white cheese dip. Yum....

2. One of my favorite snack combos is popcorn and M&M's. I love to pour the M&M's in the bag of hot popcorn. The M&M's get a little melty and they're so good.

3. Pizza Hut pizza, breadsticks, and marinara sauce. We eat Pizza Hut way too much. They have the best marinara sauce!

4. If it's ice cream and oreos, I like it. Blizzard, McFlurry, Blast, milkshake...I don't care...if it contains oreos inside ice cream, I want it. I also love the make your own frozen yogurt places that are so popular now. I feel better about it because it's frozen yogurt, but I more than make up for the little bit of healthiness with all the junk I put on top!

5. Olive Garden's Fettuccine Alfredo is SO good!!! I love when they have the never ending pasta bowl.

Please ignore the fact that none of this is healthy. :)

What's one of your favorite foods?

Holes Activities #2 & FREEBIE

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the activities I'd been using in my class with the book Holes by Louis Sachar. To read that post, you can click here.

My students loved the book and they loved the activities we did along with it.

Before we began reading the book, I created a choice board activity that the students could complete after we finished reading. It has 9 activities and the students have to choose 3. The top row has character related activities. The middle row has plot related activities. The bottom row has setting related activities. The students had to pick one activity from each row.

I love to share, so I'm attaching the document I created. You can find it here.

One of the activities was to create a diorama of either Camp Green Lake where Stanley had to "serve time" or Green Lake, Texas where Katherine Barlow was a teacher. The students loved creating these dioramas. I wish we'd had more time and I had more money to have spent on supplies. Despite all that, I think they did a great job.

Before you see their visions of Camp Green Lake, here's an excerpt from the book that describes it:
"There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. There once was a very large lake here, the largest lake in Texas. That was over a hundred years ago. Now it is just a dry, flat wasteland......
The only trees are two old oaks on the eastern edge of the "lake." A hammock is stretched between the two trees, and a log cabin stands behind that."
Camp Green Lake is a juvenile corrections center where young boys are sent to dig holes in order to "build character."

Here are some examples of Camp Green Lake:

Green Lake, Texas is the town that was in the spot of Camp Green Lake a hundred years ago. Here's an excerpt from the book to describe it:
"One hundred and ten years ago, Green Lake was the largest lake in Texas. It was full of clear cool water, and it sparkled like a giant emerald in the sun. It was especially beautiful in the spring, when the peach trees, which lined the shore, bloomed with pink and rose-colored blossoms.....It was said that Green Lake was "heaven on earth"...."

Here are some examples of Green Lake, Texas:
 
 
 

First Time at Sunday Social

Many of the blogs I follow participate in this weekly link up. I always love reading everyone's responses to the questions. It's a great way to get to know other bloggers better. So, this week I thought...why don't I participate in this link up?

1. 5 items you can't live without on a daily basis(water, food, shelter, and clothes dont count) 

1. A computer with internet connection

2. A good book (I get SO bored when I don't have something to read)

3. Floss (I hate having stuff stuck in my teeth...It drives me crazy!) 

4. A blanket (I love cuddling up under a blanket. I don't like when our house is too hot for this.)

5. Ponytail holder (Right now I'm growing my hair out and trying not to use a straightener on it, so it's pretty much always pulled back.)

2. All time favorite book? Why?

 Harry Potter series. I can't tell you how many times I've read through these books. I read through them about once every year to year and a half. It never gets old no matter how many times I read it. To me, that's the mark of a great book. I love the story and the characters. I also cry at various times throughout the books no matter how many times I've read it. I get so involved in the story.

3. Something you'd like to accomplish before the end of 2012?

I want to read at least 2 more nonfiction books. Reading more nonfiction was one of my resolutions this year. I've done a really great job with it so far. I've read about 7 nonfiction books this year which is a vast improvement from reading none.

4. If you could go back and relive any year of your life which year would it be?

Anywhere between 2008-2010. This was part of the time I was in college. College is the best years of your life. You only go to school for a few hours a day and if you're lucky like me...you don't have a job. I had very few responsibilities yet I had independence from my parents. I took a nap almost every day. I chose those years in particular because those are the years I lived with my best friend. We had so much fun doing random stuff together-things that you can only do while in college.

5. What do you wish people knew about you without you having to tell them?

 I'm not shy! I don't like being called shy. Shy is defined as being scared or having little self-assurance. I'm just quiet. I don't talk for the sake of talking. I don't think of things to say easily. I'm no good at "small talk." I think before I speak and often over-analyze so that I end up saying nothing. I enjoy listening to others and often don't realize that I'm adding nothing to the conversation.

Well, there you have it....my first Sunday Social. I'm looking forward to reading other's responses as well as participating in many more!

Happy Sunday!

HUGE Giveaway @ Chasing Birdies

Yay for the weekend!!!

One of my sweet, swappy sponsors, Shelby (yay for an alliteration) is hosting a HUGE giveaway in honor of her upcoming 18th birthday. 

There are 24 prizes and each prize will have a different winner. So, you have many chances to win.

You can visit Shelby's blog or you can enter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Letter to God

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you so much for how you've blessed Lee and I in our 2 years of marriage. You have provided Lee with a job that he loves. You provided me with a job when we first moved here and then provided me with another one after the first one ended due to budget cuts. I am amazed at this fact. You've also provided Lee with scholarships to pay for school. Despite everything that has happened in our lives, we have never had to go without our needs and most of our wants. We can only thank you for that.

You have burdened both of our hearts to not keep these blessings for ourselves. Because you blessed us, we can help others. This brings me so much joy to know that I can impact the life of someone else. I am in awe that you want to use someone as inadequate as me for your Kingdom's work. Please Lord, continue to break our hearts for the hurting in this world. Show us what we can do to help more.

I thank you that because you have provided so generously for us, we are able to sponsor 2 children through Compassion. They have been an amazing blessing in my life. I love to get their precious letters. They make me smile as they tell me of the things they are doing and hope to do in the future. I love to have them tell us what they are learning about You and what they would like us to pray for. I love when they tell us they are praying for us. Oh, how I'd love to hear those sweet prayers! I love having their beautiful pictures proudly displayed on my refrigerator. Even though I've never met them, I feel like they're part of our family. Lord, if it be your will, I'd love to meet these children one day.

For Alan, I'd like to pray that you would continue to grow in him a curiosity to know You more. He has expressed a desire to be a preacher. Lord, if that is Your will for him, give him good teachers to disciple him and grow him in You. I ask that you will be working in the lives of his family, even his grandparents. Let them grow and have a relationship with you. Please give them good health and jobs to provide for their needs. Please let him have a good school year and do well in school. I pray that he will develop healthy, Godly friendships.

For Malaiyarasi, I pray that she will continue to grow in her relationship with you. She lives in a country that desperately needs you. Show her how to be a shining light in her country. Help her to be a witness to her friends and family.  I pray that her family will have good health and jobs. I ask that she will have a good school year where she can add to her education and give herself a bright future. I pray that she will develop healthy, Godly friendships. I want to continue to build our relationship with this sweet little girl. I hope she knows how much we love her. Please bless the money we send to help her in the way that she needs it the most.

Please let this Compassion month be a success. Create in others a desire to help these children affected by poverty. Please let Compassion exceed their goal of getting new sponsors for  3,108 children.

Thank you again for your wonderful blessing. Please help me to always remember them. Even when things seem dark, help me to remember how much I DO have. Please forgive me for the times that I am ungrateful and selfish.

I ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

One Thousand Gifts Book Club Week 1

I am excited to be participating in my first blog book club.  I was a little late coming into this so my book actually arrived yesterday afternoon. We only had to read one chapter, though, so it wasn't a problem. I must admit that my first thoughts while reading the first few pages were What have I gotten myself into?  She describes things in a lot of detail and has a unique way of dragging out an event. I suppose this is done to help you better understand the feelings behind the event. For example, why just say I was born when you can describe it as she did. If you haven't read the book and would like to know what I'm talking about, you can read the first few pages here. I'm not so sure that I like her writing style. It confused me and I often had to go back and reread to understand what she was trying to say.  Well, enough negative...on to the positive. I am still looking forward to going more into this book. I have heard only positive things about it. I know that I need to be challenged to find joy in every day life even when things appear dark. I know in the grand scheme of things, I have not dealt with tragedies that other people have had to deal with, but like all people I've had times of darkness. Times where I felt hopeless. Times where I've questioned God. Times where I've been ungrateful. Most recently, I've been dealing with Lee's health problems. What started out as a stomach issue escalated into a stomach issue plus psychological issues. This is not what is supposed to happen early in a marriage. We're supposed to be living out early wedded bliss not living in and out of hospitals. It makes it even harder to see and hear about all the things your friends are doing. You begin to compare yourself to them. You begin to think why does all this bad stuff happen to me? Why is their life so great? I have battled those feelings for months. I know it's not the right thing to think and do. I know that I don't know everything that is going on with the people I'm comparing myself to. I know that God has brought us to this trial for a reason. I know that He is always in control. But often, the human side of me would win out and I didn't want to think about all the things that I knew from God's word. On a side note, Lee is doing a lot better at this point, but we never know when a stomach pain episode will come on.   That's why certain things in the first chapter really stuck out to me.    Ann retells the story of her brother-in-law preparing for the death of his second child from a terminal genetic illness. Ann basically says that if she were in charge instead of God, she'd let him live. Her statement prompts her brother-in-law to retell the story from the Bible of King Hezekiah who prayed for more years to live. God gave him his request and King Hezekiah had a son who led the Israelites to do a lot of evil. If Hezekiah had died sooner, this son would have never been born. Then, her brother-in-law says "Just that maybe....maybe you don't want to change the story, because you don't know what a different ending holds." How hard must that have been for him to say! He is about to bury his second child. How many of us would have that strong of faith? How many of us have questioned God for smaller things? I know I have. Why do we never stop to think that God is in charge and He knows what's best? Is this easy? NO! Not at all. Another things we forget to do is thank God for what we do have. Too often all we can see is what we don't have. When Lee was going through being sick this last time, I tried to make a conscious effort to thank God for the things we do have. We have food, a place to live, clothes, and health care. That's more than the majority of the world has. We also have salvation, jobs, entertainment, cars, family, and friends. We are so blessed. Ann points out that so many of our sins start as sins of ingratitude. We're not happy with what we have, we want more. "Our fall was, has always been, and always will be, that we aren't satisfied in God and what He gives. We hunger for something more, something other."   When will we learn to let God be enough? Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.   Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,   who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,   who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:1-5