Along Came You-- Review and Giveaway

Since it's nearing Christmas, I am receiving a lot of opportunities to review products. I've had some questions as to whether or not I would save the products for Christmas gifts for my girls. While it would be very nice to get my girls Christmas presents in this way, the whole point of the reviews is that companies can hopefully sell these products for Christmas.. So, we've gotten busy trying these things out..

Zondervan Publishing is one of my favorite companies that I've worked with. Adam has been doing reviews for them for a while. He slipped his contact my blog address and I got an e-mail from her saying, "just go to our site and let me know what books you're interested in and when you read them, let me know if you'd like to do a giveaway". Um, AWESOME? I still find myself asking, what's the catch? Am I going to get a charge on my credit card if I don't return it within the 60 day trial period? But, no charge. It still blows my mind that companies give me things just for me to give them my opinions on them. It's like a marketers dream. Anyway, This allows me to pick out, up front, books that had topics that I was interested in and could be pretty sure I could give an enthusiastic review. So I picked out three books and got them just a couple of days later.

"Along Came You, did not disappoint". This truly may have become my favorite children's book of all time.. Except, I'm pretty sure that it's benefits are more for me than my children. It is definitely my favorite parenting book of all time. I don't know about you, but in a world where success is often measured by dollars, I sometimes need reminded of the value of the job I'm doing. While I do think that this book serves the purpose of helping children see the sacrifices a parent makes, more importantly, it was reminder to me of the priceless benefits that come from doing such a sacred job that pays in love. The book's only downfall is that I can't seem to read it with out becoming a big emotional mess.

It's beautifully illustrated pages along with the author's fresh perspective of being a mother left me with a reminder of the amazing joy that being a parent provides and a heart much bigger than, before children, I ever felt capable of having. In "Along Came You", The writing clearly illustrates that often, simple phrases carry such great meaning: "Before you, my home was decorated in style. After you, my home is decorated in love. Before you, the biggest thrill at the amusement park was riding the roller coaster. After you, the biggest thrill is seeing your face when you are finally tall enough to ride. Before you, I slept all night long. After you, I wake to watch you sleeping.

But, you really can't get the full impact that book presents without seeing the words along with the illustrations. So click below to see a sample.

Z

Browse Inside

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Now, for your chance to win a copy of your own. To enter, simply comment, leaving a way to contact you in the case that you win. For an additional entry, blog about the giveaway or post it on facebook and come back and leave a link to your post. The giveaway will end on Wed. Nov. 18th. The winner will be chosen at random using www.random.org.

Blessings,
Dana

Deals and Matchups

To inserts in today's paper (1) Red Plum (1) Smart Source

CVS
Rite Aid

Walgreens

http://www.southernsavers.com/2009/11/kroger-weekly-ad-118-1114/

Publix
Publix penny item: Publix Oatmeal.




Also, for you Black Friday shoppers (which I AM NOT), here is a link to all the ad scans that have been released as of now.

Black Friday Ad Scans

Listed so far, Kohl's, Kmart, Lowe's, Old Navy, Sears and Toy's R' US.

Thank you Lynn for this information. I'll send you my list and save myself a nervous breakdown. :).

October Family Photos

My computer cord had one too many pulls from my kids and now it won't come on. I will be limited for a few days to computer use in the mornings and evenings which really isn't that bad of an idea anyway.

We had a great Halloween. Chloe refused to wear her costume but you'll see from the photos that we came up with a pretty creative idea of how to deal with that and we now have a great picture to put in her senior ad when she graduates high school.

Emma had a different idea of a character that she wanted to be every day for about a month but she finally landed on Pippi Longstocking.

Since Adam needs to get off to work, I thought I'd quickly throw up a link to our October photos in my smugmug account. I think I need to start watermarking my photos anyway, considering there is a painting of my children being sold on ebay. You can see that here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=300362744554&Category=60437 weird...

Edit: The auction has been ended on ebay. You can still see the painting if you click on the link and scroll to the bottom. For those of you that wanted to know how I knew about it, Adam's mom had posted the picture on her facebook page. The lady messaged Lynn with the link to the auction and told her not to feel obligated to buy it but of course, Lynn did so she made bid on it. When I told Lynn that I thought it was unethical if not illegal, she messaged the girl and asked her to remove it and she was very kind and removed it, no questions asked. I don't think I would have minded so much if she had done a private auction but I didn't like it so much that Lynn was trying to buy a painting of my girls to keep someone else from buying it. But the lady is an artist and she's saw an opportunity and acted before she thought about it. People are hurting right now and sometimes, desperate times push people to desperate measures. All is well, no one was hurt.

Until we meet again, enjoy the pictures. Perhaps I'll get some extra things done around the house.





Click Here to see all of Octobers photos

Train a Child in the Way He Should Go?

Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.


A common scripture that Christian parents of small children cling to. I write this post as I'm listening to the cries of my two year old in her bedroom. She made it until just over two years before we converted the crib to a toddler bed. But with her new realization that she can now escape her imprisonment, my security (IE climb out of the crib), we opted for a conversion that would allow us to keep her in her room where she can put herself back in bed when she finally surrenders to the nap that she so desperately needs. Is this the right thing to do? I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA. But for now, it's the best I've got. And so I cling to the thought that if I teach her to be the person that God wants her to be, then when she is old, she will have what she needs to be that person.

A wonderful assurance! If I don't think of the people I know that this scripture doesn't seem true for.. Because I know of several wonderful parents that are great people that have been devastated by watching their children walk away. So, I make up excuses so that I don't feel helpless with my own children.. Things like, "well it says OLD.. They aren't OLD yet".. And I turn it over and over in my mind with a constant fear that my children will some how grow up to walk away from their faith because of some choice that I've made. And the truth is, I have absolutely no idea how this job that I'm doing, being a mom, the most important job of my life, will come out for at least twenty years, maybe longer. So I'm left to observe the people that I know and rely on my own experiences and the one thing I can truly control, my ability to throw myself at the feet of a God that can give me the wisdom to do something I can not do on my own.

And I feel like in bits and pieces I get that direction. The other night, Adam and I were having a not so uncommon conversation about how to make life turn out the way it should for our girls. And here was my clueless response, "I don't know, but I know one thing, as big of helicopter parents that we are, we have to let them go on mission trips. Because out of all the kids that we know that have a faith that is real and is strong there is one thing that they all have in common, they were involved in mission work". I know that this realization is anemic. Obviously, this is not an A+B=C equation. Sending a child on a mission trip alone is not going to automatically equate to a life long faithfulness that can't be rocked. And obviously, there are faithful Christians that have never been out of our country. But still, at least in my experience the correlation is there. And so I being the person that I am analyze and analyze and analyze some more..

And last night, I feel like I got another small piece of this enlightening little puzzle when Adam showed this clip at church:







I'm still trying to sort my thoughts on this out.. Could it be that we have diluted the story of Jesus to much less of a story than God intended it to be? Could it be that maybe I'm telling my children but not training them? God please show me the way to not just say what they need to hear but be what they need to be.

I am now hearing only the blissful sound of my fingers clicking on the keyboard. And the picture inside the bedroom of that precious little ball of fire God has entrusted to me?



Lord if I warped her for life by giving her no other option but to turn to Mickey for comfort, please give me grace.


Blessings,
Dana

Miracle Walk

I've had a lot of questions about whether or not I raised my money and what shirt I wore for the breast cancer walk.. Well, I sort of raised the money. On Thursday before the walk, I had about half of the money raised so I hadn't ordered the shirt. I decided that I didn't want to suffer the shame of not meeting my goal, so on Thursday, I searched down for a Ta Ta's shirt.. I found them at a local graphics store for 5 dollars a piece.. Except, the writing was on the back. But, with a little of Pam's creativity, we made a view adjustments, I wrote a check for the remainder of the amount and Pam and I followed through with our commitment. I've still had a few donations trickle end and I just decided that what ever I ended up giving was what God wanted my contribution to be.

We had a ball at the walk. And I'm sad to announce that I have no juicy comments to present about the shirts. We got absolutely nothing but compliments and interest in where we got them. It's so amazing how small trivial things seem when everyone has a common goal for the better good.

Thank you all for your donations. I know that times are hard for a lot right now. For those of you that supported me in this, it means so much.

We're already making plans to do it next year. With a pink glittery sign and pink feathered boas for our group. Why don't you go ahead and make plans to join us..

Blessings,
Dana

Where have I been?

Taking pictures of course!




You can see some more of these adorable little boys and their beautiful momma HERE

Deals and Matchups

Two Inserts (1)Red Plum (1) Smart Source

CVS

Rite Aid
Walgreens

Kroger

Publix
Publix Penny Item: Green Wise toilet paper

Deals and Matchups

Two Inserts 1 Smart Source, 1 Red Plum

Couponing: Last week, I bought all of my families grocery needs for $45. I feel certain that if I put in the time and effort, I could have probably done it for $20. The question becomes: How much is saving that extra $25 worth to me? I have been couponing for about a year and a half now. This has freed us up to do other things with our money. We will soon pay off our van, making us debt free again (having equity, I consider our home an asset, not a debt. I'm also scared to say this because every time we get both vehicles paid for, another breaks) Anyway, my efforts have definitely been worth while.

But, even saving money vs. spending is your goal, it is still a delicate balance to find a place where you are ruling your spending instead of your spending ruling you. Today I'm up at 5:00 a.m. to get this done. But on some Sundays, I've started allowing myself to sleep in when I need it. I really like what the Southern Saver says HERE on Couponing Burnout. It was worth the read for me.

May you find the money saving balance that is right for you!



Drugstores
Great Week at the Drugstores for Stocking up on over the counter medicines
CVS
Rite Aid
I haven't done Rite Aid in a long time because I'm not a huge fan of their rebate system where I have to put the money out up front. However, my friend Amy and Lauren got such great deals there last week that they have convinced me to try it again. Thanks Amy and Lauren!
Walgreens

Grocery

Bi Lo

Kroger
Publix
Penny Item: Publix Bagged Candy

I don't think anyone was using the out of area posts. If I'm missing something that you were previously using, let me know. I certainly don't mind putting them up.

Blessings,
Dana

Emma's Blog

As a way to help Emma strengthen her writing skills, she and I together have built her own blog page. I invite you to stop in and encourage her to keep writing.

Hope for the People
The much more interesting than her mom's life of a first grader

PS: Don't forget to check out the family update below.

Family Friday

I'm getting requests from grandparents and aunts for pictures and updates of the kids. Imagine that, they want what they really come here for.

So, I thought I'd share a couple of funny things that they've said here lately along with some non pouting pictures that I've taken of them recently. It's likely that you've seen these things here and there on facebook, but for record keeping sake, I must compile them all in one place.

Emma

A couple of weeks ago, our friends George and Jay came with there daughter Sarah Jane so George could run in a marathon that is held in our town. I failed to get a picture of Emma and Sarah Jane but here is one that Jay took the last time they visited.



All in all, they did a great job since we were all together for the whole weekend but without the normal sleep.. However, since they were sleep deprived six year olds, there were a couple of moments where we had to all turn our heads to snicker until we could compose ourselves and be responsible parents.

Setting: Our living room
Enters Sarah Jane in a pretty pink sequin dress.
Next enters Emma in a white angel costume
Emma: We're having a contest. Who can wear the prettiest WHITE dress.

Setting: Our living Room
Enters Emma and Sarah Jane
Emma: Mom she hit me.
Jay: Sarah Jane, did you hit Emma
Sarah Jane: No, she hit me back.
Me: Emma did you hit Sarah Jane?
Emma: No, I missed.

We did sit them in time out for this one but I'm pretty sure they both are smart enough to know we found it amusing.

To hear it from Jay, this trip resulted in some funny moments for George and Jay after they left. Jay, feel free to comment :)

In the news: Emma finally lost her first tooth. This issue has been an issue of stress for Emma since she was the only kid in her kindergarten class that had not lost a tooth when Kindergarten graduation came around. She was very distraught when she had to start first grade, with all of her baby teeth still in place. So she worked and wiggled and at last, her daddy pulled the first of many..

I had my parent teacher conference with her teacher today. She's doing very well. She's doing better than very well. Now comes the challenge of keeping her challenged. Thank God that he blessed us with the perfect teacher to do that. If I became a billionaire, I would give all the teachers in the world a huge bonus because they are severely under appreciated and underpaid! Anyway, her teacher always tells me little bits and pieces of things that Emma says. She said that earlier today Emma raised her hand and said, "Mrs Bradley, don't you think it's time we tell them about adjectives"?




And here are some recent portrait shots







Before I move on to our Chloe girl, I will leave you with a funny from Emma. Sunday night after church, we went out to dinner with some friends. Sleep is crucial for my children and since they got to bed a little later than normal, by Monday afternoon, they were spent. Adam went to a meeting with a friend so I was all by myself. After more whines than I can handle, I opted for an early bedtime. Emma let out the whine that was the straw that broke the camels back. I told her to go put on her pajamas, brush her teeth, pick out a book and get in bed and wait for me to read her story. I went through all the bed time rituals with Chloe and went to read Emma's story and She had picked out the book "My Dad is Great". And yes, we do also have the book, "My Mom is Great". Smart alecks run in the family.

Chloe



*The other day, Chloe brought a hanger to me and said, "this is my dress handle".

*We've been bike riding during the day. Chloe sits behind me in the baby seat. Every time I go to stand to get up a hill, Chloe starts kicking me in the rear and yelling, "SIT YOUR BOTTOM DOWN"!

*On the way to church last night. Emma looked at Chloe and said, "She's so cute" Chloe said, "I know I'm cute"

*The other night, I was getting her ready for bed and she was singing, "oh, oh, oh, oh put a wing on it". I was trying to hard to figure out what she wanted to put a wing on when Adam came in and heard her and started singing Beyonce's "Put a Ring on It". Chloe turned and pointed at Adam and said, "YEAH, that's a good song".



And now, our weekend begins. I will see you all with coupon links on Sunday.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Blessings,
Dana