Joy! Congratulations! This book is fantastic. I wish I had one for all of you. I definitely recommend finding it at the library or popping on over to Amazon to pick it up. You won't be sorry. I'll get this book in the mail to you ASAP, Joy.
We are busily preparing for our first Oscar Party in the PNW. God has planted us in the neatest church with some really fun people. We are so excited to see what they come up with for our party. Also, some dear friends back in Dayton are keeping the tradition alive! We are going to link the two parties for a little while via Skype. What a fun age we live in! Can't wait to see what they come up with as well!
Zita is getting so close to walking! She stands independently for long periods of time and gets giddy when she walks with Mom and Dad with only one hand! So precious. She "helped" me unload the dish washer today by handing me items out of it (with a possible detour through her mouth) and making a sound resembling "thank you." Pointing and shaking her head (or whole body) like "no" are her new skills and she uses them constantly.
Nugget loves to help! Today she was being a bit fussy and clingy until I told her we needed to clean the floors. She got so excited! At one point she was off to "clean" the front door having already "cleaned" it once. I asked her to come back and clean the back door. "Okay! I kwean the back door!" Then she took off running (on the freshly scrubbed floor). Needless to say she had a spectacular wipe out. Instant tears and sobs ensued. I picked her up and rocked her but she crawled out of my lap. With tears in her eyes, she picked up her "quashquash" and started scrubbing the floors again. She just looked at me with tears in her eyes and kept "kweaning." This is how much Momma's Little Helper loves to help. It was quite precious. I'm also starting to wonder if her "love language" is gifts. She got a post card today from my parents saying that the girls would soon be getting Clubhouse Jr in the mail. She was so excited about the post card she took it to bed with her for nap time. It doesn't take much to make her day.
Thanks to the LitFuse Group and B&H Books for providing this book to review and one to giveaway to one of my readers.
This book is awesome! I truly enjoyed reading this and got so much out of it. Shaunti Feldhahn and Robert Lewis have so many practical and biblically based principles and tips to share in this book. They have something to say to every woman in every phase of life. I am so impressed with how general and specific these principles are to every woman. I love how they consistently pointed us back to the Word. This book really helped me evaluate my season of life which had been clouded for me by unexpected life events. Feldhahn and Lewis helped me to clarify and refocus my purpose and those things I need to be focusing on at this time in my life. This is a book I will recommend to every woman in my life.
Speaking of every woman in my life, the publisher has provided me with an extra book to give away to one of you. Please leave me a comment and I will use the random generator to pick a winner. Good luck! You will truly enjoy this book.
*EDITED: I will run the giveaway through Midnight Monday, February 21 PST*
About The Life Ready Woman:
Are you a ‘Doing it all’ or ‘Do what matters’ woman?
Whether a stay at home; or working mom, an airplane-hopping executive, an empty-nester caring for multiple generations or a single juggling high demands of career and personal life, today's fast-paced modern world leaves women gasping for balance. We as modern Christian women want to look to the Bible for guidance on how to manage our lives -- but because the world of women looks so different today than it did when the Bible was written, it is hard to find chapter and verse that seems to apply to our situation today.
Thankfully, God has given us exactly that timeless, unchanging guidance for how to find peace, clarity, and God's best for our lives once we know where to look! The Life Ready Woman: Thriving in a Do-It-All World, reveals a profound biblical roadmap for how each of us can find the abundant life we are longing for, rather than the stressful, torn, how-do-I-balance-it-all life we often feel like we are trying to keep up with today. Actually being a LifeReady Woman means that you are clear about your life, bold in your faith, and able to find God’s best for you, and the end result will be that you not only survive but thrive in our do-it-all world.
God has given every wonderfully unique woman different skills and abilities, different desires, and different temperaments -- and every woman around the planet and through the ages is certainly living in different circumstances. But no matter what a woman’s life looks like, the Bible says that God has an individual mission and plan that He’s carefully designed for each of us. And He wants us to find it. Starting January 2011, The Life Ready Woman and the Life Ready Woman Video Series will help every wonderfully unique woman to thrive as she identifies and courageously pursues God's unique design and callings for her. LifeReady Woman puts you on a roadmap to make decisions that will lead to relief, delight, and fulfillment instead of regret.
About Shaunti Feldhahn:
Shaunti Feldhahn is a former Wall Street analyst, best-selling author of the book For Women Only, national speaker, and regular commentator in the media. She has been featured on The Today Show, PBS, TNT and Fox News- to name a few. You can learn more about her many activities by visiting her website Shaunti.com or get some great mom advice from her at MomLifeToday.com. She and her husband live with their two young children in Atlanta, Georgia and enjoy every minute of living at warp speed.
About MomLife Today:
At MomLife Today you will enjoy community with real moms experiencing every age and every stage of MomLife—right alongside you.
Moms need friends we can walk through life with, but more importantly we need friends who will encourage us and equip us in our role as moms in an honest and transparent way … and that’s just what you’ll find by becoming part of our MomLife Today community! We believe that every MOMent counts!
We admit it, being a mom 24/7 is not easy. Rather than lament the role of motherhood, however, we choose to embrace that role and learn from each other how to make it through each day with the right attitude. Come share the joys, sorrows, insanity, and special moments of motherhood with us as we live it and candidly write about it…we’ll have lots of fun along the way! Join us, and do tell… What’s happening in your MomLife Today? www.momlifetoday.com
In celebration of Shaunti Feldhahn’s Life Ready Woman, MomLife Today is giving away 2 Weekend To Remember Gift Packs and much more!
Not only, is MomLife Today helping promote Life Ready Woman, but they are thrilled to announce that Shaunti will be joining MomLife Today as a regular contributor!!!
Weekend To Remember Get-Aways offer marriage-changing principles that you can take home and apply to your daily lives to strengthen your marriage. Whether you are newly engaged or have been married for 50 years, you will find value in the tools provided at the getaway.
Don’t miss this opportunity to receive a conference registration for you and your spouse … and more! MomLife Today will be randomly selecting NINE lucky recipients to receive one of these great gifts:
2 Weekend To Remember Get Away conference registrations for two. $259 value each pair (Two couples will receive this.)
Thank you to the LitFuse Group for providing this book for free in exchange for my honest review.
About the book: An Unlikely Blessing is a heartfelt story about a new pastor and life-long city dweller Alex Armstrong, who reluctantly accepts his first assignment, a two-point parish in the wilds of North Dakota. Hilltop Township, a farming community, blooms from the prairie like a wild pink rose—lovely and prickly all at once, much like the people who live there.
Unlikely
Alex quickly finds that this lovely place is in quiet peril. Farmers are struggling to make ends meet: Jonas Owens, a faithful member of Hilltop parish, is on the brink of losing the farm. Alex believes that part of why God called him to Hilltop was to help turn things around, and steps in with ideas for saving the Owens' land. But can even God's minister help save this rural community?
There are a lot of firsts for the new pastor—the annual Hunter's Breakfast, julebukking (also called Christmas fooling), King Oscar's fish balls, and the melody of the musical saw. And the new, single pastor creates remarkable excitement among the unmarried women in the community. If you could die of hot dish overdose, Alex would be a dead man. Whether performing weddings, counseling his flock, or herding cattle by snowmobile, Alex soon discovers that his new church home has as much to teach him as he will teach them. Day by day, he falls more in love with the people of Hilltop Church. People may leave Hilltop, but Hilltop never leaves them.
This was such a sweet book! I signed up for it because it made me think of my sister in North Dakota and growing up in a small town in Minnesota. It brought back so many pleasant memories. There is a comment made in the beginning of the book by one of the characters:
"'This place is full of stories.' Jared's brow furrowed. 'The people we've met-Lauren and Mike, Dixon, that sad looking man Jonas, and now the people who just left-they've all got stories, and we've only had time to experience the first page of each of them.'"
That's how I felt when I finished the book. I missed the characters. I found myself caring about each of them (even recognizing a few), anxious to "hear how they were doing" in between reading sessions. It's a simple book, with many simple but deep stories. Definitely a quick read but very enjoyable. I'm looking forward to the other books in this series.
About Patti: Judy Baer is the author of over seventy-five books for adults and teens. She has won the Romance Writer of America Bronze Medallion and has been a RITA finalist twice. She lives in Elk River, Minnesota with her husband. Follow the Hilltop characters on Judy’s blog and find out more about Judy and her books at http://www.judykbaer.com
Nugget at about 8 months and Zita at about 8 months.
I realize I have not updated you on the girls in awhile. They are both growing so much it's scary! This little momma just can't keep up! I think I fall in love with them a little more every day, though it doesn't seem possible to love them more than I already do.
Cute joint story: They were in the bath tub the other evening as we were having a 2 bath kind of day. The girls were getting a kick out of yelling back and forth at each other and hearing the echo in the bathroom. They both got to giggling so hard they could hardly breath. My little heart was just singing to see my two girls enjoying each others company so much when all of a sudden Nugget says to Zita, " I love you, Baby." So. Precious. I tell them they love each other all the time. *grin* But to have one tell the other that they do, in fact, love their sister is the best thing in the whole world.
Zita just started to wave. I just love those cute backward waves! Always kinda wish it would last forever. She says "Hi" while doing it. Has for awhile but it's a little more obvious now. This just may be proud parents reading into things, but we're fairly confident she says a version of "diaper" when we change her diaper. It is super cute! Her other favorite thing to do now is stand unassisted and cruise. She thinks about walking but pretty much just falls straight into our arms or belly flops onto the floor. The baby gates have made their way back out. She can climb half way up the stairs before she gets stuck and just goes head first down them. We may need to work on that a bit. *grin* She has four teeth and appears to be working on at least 2 more. Zita LOVES to eat and seems to be weaning herself off daytime feedings to make room for more food. She is not quite ready to give up the middle of the night feedings which is too bad. I'd rather she flipped which ones she is giving up. I do enjoy nursing so I'm glad she isn't completely done yet. This precious girl is our little snuggler. She loves to be held and will cuddle with you for as long as you will let her.
Nugget's vocabulary grows daily as do her sentence lengths. One my favorite phrases of hers is when she substitutes "can't" for "don't want" in a sentence. Instead of "I don't want to watch this anymore," it's ,"I can't want to watch this anymore." Or "I can't want anymore [enter name of food item here]." She is still a bit on the dramatic side with her "No's." She still holds her hand out to you, arm completely extended when she does not want something. Also, she knows no fear. She goes outside whenever the mood hits her: rain, snow, dark-none of it phases her. She can play independently out there no matter the conditions. We have been working on teaching her a Bible verse, James 1:17, using a song. She has started to sing a long with us! It is such an amazing thing to listen to our daughter sing Scripture! Nugget loves to help us clean--especially scrubbing the kitchen floor. She'll coming running and stop whatever she is doing to help with that chore. She also loves to help us bake and will pull a dinning room chair into the kitchen so she can reach. At this point, I am convinced she will never remember not know how to cook or clean. She has quite the imagination and is always playing "Wonder Pets" and building herself a "fly boat."
Prolific author of over 75 novels, Judy Baer, is launching her new Guideposts series, Forever Hilltop, with a KINDLE giveaway! The first book in the series, An Unlikely Blessingis available now wherever fine books are sold.
Read the reviews here.
In celebration of the release of An Unlikely Blessing, Judy is giving away a KINDLE prize package worth over $175.
One lucky winner will receive:
Brand New KINDLE with Wi-Fi
A $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com
To enter just click on one the icons below and then tell your friends! Winner will be announced on February 21st on Judy's blog, http://www.judykbaer.com/wordpress
Thank you to LitFuse Group for providing this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion. About the book: Since 1955, Sheila Franklin, a talented musician, has perfectly performed the role of devout pastor’s wife, locking away her past as Sheba Alexander and Sylvia Allen. Her carefully constructed façade crumbles with a single phone call from a young Marine named Samuel, the illegitimate son she secretly put up for adoption. Samuel begs Sheila to use her government contacts to get his fiancé, Mali, a Thai prostitute, into America. A dangerous mixture of love and guilt spurs her to help her only child even though it devastates her husband Edward and exposes her questionable past. After a quarrel with Edward, Sheila and Samuel board a C-130 for Thailand and then search Bangkok’s steamy streets for a Madonna-faced prostitute. The two whisk Mali from a brothel but are seized by a warlord who considers Mali his “number one girl.” In a teak “ghost house,” Sheila discovers God’s grace and gains the freedom she needs to find her own identity—Sheila, Sylvia, and Sheba. A framed story, this novel has roots in the bohemian 1940s New Orleans French Quarter and spans three decades, including the turbulent Vietnam era.
I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure what to expect. I had never read anything by Patti Lacy before. I found her refreshingly different. This was a fantastic story. I loved the way the story was told, the rhythm. Be sure to check out her website, there is a sound track to go with each chapter. There was so much grace in this story. It was heartbreaking to think of this young mother having to walk away from her child and then live a lifetime without him. The mom in me really connected to that part of the story. I plan on checking out her other books and suggest you do the same!
About Patti: Baylor graduate, taught community college humanities until God called her to span seas and secrets in her novels, An Irishwoman's Tale and What the Bayou Saw. She has two grown children and a dog named Laura. She and her husband can be seen jog-walking the streets of Normal, Illinois, an amazing place to live for a woman born in a car. For more information, visit Patti's website at www.pattilacy.com, her blog at www.pattilacy.com/blog, and her Facebook daily Artbites. Patti's longer bio here.
Patti and her publisher, Kregel, are giving away a NOOK prize package worth over $150 to one lucky winner!!!!
Enter the Nook eReader Giveaway and you could win:
* A brand new Nook eReader with Wi-Fi
* $25 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble
To enter, simply click here (http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/91774 ) to enter, then tell 5 or more friends about the contest. Oh, and enter soon! Winner will be announced on February 16th at Patti's Rhythm of Secrets Facebook Party.
But, wait there’s more! Come to the Rhythm of Secrets Facebook Party on December 16th!
Patti will be announcing the winner of The Rhythm of Secrets NOOK giveaway at her Party on FB February 16th! She’ll be hosting a book club discussion of The Rhythm of Secrets and giving away other fun prizes! (signed copies of her books and gift certificates to Barnes & Noble, Starbucks, & iTunes!). Don’t miss the fun at Patti’s FB Author Page on February 16th at 5pm PST ( 6 pm MST, 7 pm CST, & 8 pm EST)!
, MomLife Today is giving away 2 Weekend To Remember Gift Packs and much more!
is available now wherever fine books are sold.
