No, this isn’t a guest post. I wrote a guest post. But it’s not here. It’s somewhere else. Thus the reason it’s a guest post. Does that even make sense?
Let me start over.
Hey y’all, I’m guest posting over at Life with Mrs. G and the Artist today. Go on over and check it out!
(How was that? Better? Ok, good.)
Last week, we received a special package in the mail.
My friend Holly sent some goodies for us. And she wasn’t shy with the bubble wrap.
As I continued to unwrap, I became more and more excited.
And when I got through all the careful wrapping, I had a pile of the cutest cookies that have ever graced my kitchen table.
I couldn’t wait to dive in. Caedmon was napping, and I thought maybe I should wait for him to get up. But that thought was fleeting. Very fleeting. This cute little Razorback was too much to resist.
It was so good.
To the last…
…bite.
And when Caedmon got up, he tested one of Holly’s cookies too.
And he approved.
We so appreciated getting to help Holly experiment with shipping. That little bit of Razorback love was good for us that day.
Holly makes awesome cookies. She made some super cute Angry Birds cookies for Brayden’s party and some sweet little diaper cookies for Hayes’s baby shower. And the good news is that you can order cookies from Holly too! She now has a website at thedoughmestichousewife.blogspot.com (It may still be under construction, but she’ll be there eventually!) Or you can email her directly at thedoughmestichousewife AT gmail DOT com.
I just want y’all to know that Holly didn’t ask me to give her a plug on my blog and she didn’t pay me to say nice things about her. But I’ve known Holly and her family since…forever. And I’m more than happy to do whatever I can to help her with her new venture. So order some cookies. You’ll be happy you did!
I was contacted last week and asked if I would do a review of Dr. Ronnie Floyd’s new book, Our Last Great Hope. I was asked to review the book “from my perspective.” At our previous church, we served with Dr. Floyd. He and Jeana are special to us in so many ways, and I am honored that he wanted me to write about his book. Of course I said yes and waited for my pre-release copy to arrive.
And then later I thought, “Uh-oh. What’s my ‘perspective’? I see more loads of laundry than people some days, and definitely more diapers.” But I figured Dr. Floyd knew what he was getting into when he asked me to read it.
I knew that Our Last Great Hope was going to be about the Great Commission, as stated in Matthew 23:19-20. Many of us learned those verses as kids. But Dr. Floyd gives us perspective on the state of our world and puts feet on the verses by giving us all some practical steps to take in order to fulfill the Great Commission.
Dr. Floyd tells us that at this current time, 50% of the world’s population will most likely never even have the opportunity to hear about Jesus, much less have a chance to reject him. Wow. Go back and read that again. 50%.
My favorite thing about this book is that it’s not just a bunch of statistics and “church talk.” Dr. Floyd gives each and every person practical steps to take in every day life to fulfill the Great Commission. Things anyone can do. No excuses. He helps us understand that “go therefore” means as we go in our every day life, not just when we can find the time or money to go on a mission trip. He helps us examine our own hearts and gives advice on how to pray for and talk to family, friends, and our kids about Jesus.
And there it was. My perspective was saying, “Hello! Here I am!”
The Great Commission is not just about going to a foreign country and talking to someone through a translator. It’s about our own kids, too. And the kids our kids hang out with. Part of furthering the Gospel is helping our own children understand their need for Jesus and then teaching them how important it is to share with their friends…and the rest of the world. It begins at home. In your house. In mine.
That’s not where it ends, of course. So if you know someone who needs Jesus (and since only 11 of 100 people in the world profess to know Jesus, I’m pretty sure you do), read this book. And then put it into action. We can’t afford not to.
You can find out more about Dr. Ronnie Floyd, buy the book, or download the first chapter for free here.
Disclaimer: I was provided with a pre-release copy of Our Last Great Hope in exchange for this review, but this post was not edited or previewed by the author or publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I got up Friday with a grand plan to get the house cleaned and be productive. That lasted until about 10am. Seriously, it was pretty pathetic. Somehow I was still exhausted and sore from our trip earlier in the week. Then I had a banana for breakfast and ended up with heartburn and felt queasy all day. I managed to keep doing stuff, but it wasn’t nearly to the degree I wanted. Or felt like I should.
Knowing the coming week (this week) would be crazy, I decided to go ahead and get groceries. I know…as if shifting my grocery day to Tuesday wasn’t bad enough, I went on Friday night. But. Caedmon was at FNO and I went to the store by myself. It’s pretty sad that I enjoyed myself as much as I did, shopping for groceries. Alone. In a store full of people. But it was nice. And the best part was that when I got home with Caedmon and the groceries, Husband had picked up the house and cleaned the kitchen, totally making up for several of the things I hadn’t gotten done. He’s awesome.
Saturday was a beautiful day, and Caedmon and I went to Cilla’s birthday party. He had so much fun and it was wonderful to see friends and let him get some wiggles out! (Yes, I took pictures, but I haven’t downloaded them yet.)
Caedmon and I went by Hobby Lobby on the way home. He was a trooper, but trying to figure out how to put the finishing touches on Little Sister’s room is about to kill me. Pregnancy brain apparently applies to decorating and accessories too, not that I was that great with those things to begin with. Hopefully we’re on the home stretch and I can get things finished up in the next couple of weeks.
We let Caedmon stay up late Saturday night, thinking that maybe with the time change he’d adjust better. He woke up at approximately 7:01am on Sunday. He kills me. How his little internal timer works, I will never know. (Believe me, I’d like to adjust it a bit.)
He was much more rested than we were. Husband and I had been awakened by his phone at 5am, which was only on because he uses it for an alarm on Sundays. And it wasn’t even his alarm going off. It was a Words With Friends notification. Seriously people. Who plays WWF at 5am on Sunday morning? Especially on time change Sunday? I don’t think either of us went back to sleep, and I know I hadn’t rested well all night. It was one of those nights that Baby Sister decided to be a stinker and not let me sleep. There will be more of those ahead, and I’m just glad that she was in no position to wake anyone else up with her shenanigans. At least not yet.
Sunday was a dreary day, so it was perfect for napping. And that we did. At least a little bit, anyway. Then spent a lazy afternoon and evening hanging out together. And then watched The Celebrity Apprentice. Because that’s such a train wreck you can’t not watch and be in complete awe that these are “successful” people. I don’t know how some of them tie their own shoes.
Today I hope to do some catching up around the house and get ready for the rest of our week. I think this is our last week with a full schedule for a while, so I’d better get busy!
Thanks to my friend Jill, Husband and I are now proud owners of these.
I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited about a t-shirt in my life.
Thanks for looking out for us, Jill!
P.S. Ultrasound tomorrow! Woot!
Today I have the honor of being a guest blogger at my friend Heather’s money-saving website, Passion For Savings. Go check it out!
Need I say more?
I will anyway.
Last week, I jokingly told Ashleigh I wanted to judge at Saturday’s Chocolate Festival. I thought she’d put me on the list for next year. But to my delight, she said she’d love to have me as a judge and told me what time to show up. I don’t think I’ve been that excited about a Saturday afternoon in a long time.
Ya’ll know I watch tons of TV. Lots of cooking shows and shows where cooking is judged. There are some judges I like, some I don’t. Like the other night on Top Chef Masters, one of the judges actually said something like, “I thought the meat was mushy and without texture, but I think the general population will think it was tender.” What? It’s like they think normal people can’t taste things. And they take themselves way too seriously.
Anyway, I was determined that it was going to be fun and I was definitely going to take the chocolate seriously. Myself? Not so much. I think the other judges felt the same way. We were all about the chocolate.
As we were tasting all the yummy goodness, we judges sat together and took the chocolate quiz along with the contestants (just for fun). We got 8 of 10 questions correct, and even got the bonus questions right. We felt we were imminently qualified to eat lots of chocolate.
The Moms and Daughters played several games. Here’s one, where the daughters had to feed chocolate candy to the moms, who had to identify it.
When it came time to decide on winners, the judges convened and hashed out our decisions. I actually said things like, “It was the perfect bite” and “Did you taste cola in that?” We felt very Iron Chef/Top Chef/Chopped. Only less pompous and with much better senses of humor.
In the end, some great chocolate dishes won some fun prizes, and we all got to eat lots of yummy stuff. I think I’ll invite myself back to judge again next year.
Today, Kelly’s Show Us Your Life is about Teacher’s Gifts.
I’m still pretty new at teacher’s gifts. Caedmon’s only two. But I want to show his teachers some love. I know what it is to invest in the lives of kids and a little appreciation goes a long way.
**If you teach my son in KDO this year or in the future, this is going to be a huge spoiler.**
I’ve done lots of different little things for his teachers for their different parties. But my favorite end of the year gift is: petit fours.
Who doesn’t love petit fours? They’re little. They’re delicate. They’re special. And you can get just about any flavor with any decoration you want. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like them. Plus, they’re affordable.
So there it is. Complicated, I know. But definitely my favorite thing to give Caedmon’s teachers!
I’m so excited about my new blog design from Fabulous K Creative.
Husband has been trying to get me to hire someone to redesign my blog for a while. My HTML skills and creativity are quite lacking. I did try to design something new, but I always got stuck and ended up with something I liked less than what I already had. My one design requirement was keeping the Superlady. I love her. Yeah, I just bought her off of iStock, so it’s not like I actually envisioned her or painstakingly drew each line or anything. But we have this thing going, Superlady and me. She’s what I would want to look like if I were a cartoon superhero. And we all know how important that is.
So for Christmas, my sweet Husband bought me a design gift certificate from Fabulous K Creative. I’d never seen any of Kelly’s work (that I was aware of), but as soon as I started checking out her designs, I loved them. He made a good choice!
(He is, after all, the most awesomest gift-giver ever.)
Kelly did a great job and was so easy to work with. And best of all, her design was exactly what I was looking for, only I didn’t know what I was looking for until I saw it. I know that makes no sense whatsoever, but it’s the truth.
So thanks, Kelly, for reading my mind and doing my Superlady justice!
I know everyone’s talking about last night’s game, and we’ll get there in a minute.
Today the big story is, again, snow. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much snow in one winter. We are looking at several more inches of snow today, and possibly again later in the week. Craziness.
And just so you know, Walmart reflected the insanity yesterday. I was crazy enough to go, but only because I knew I couldn’t go today with the snow and stuff, and it had to be done. So I went. Along with every other person within a 100 mile radius, who were all stocking up on snow storm stuff and Super Bowl fixins. Ya’ll…Walmart could not keep the sour cream or shredded cheese stocked fast enough. Apparently people around here like a little dairy with their football and snow.
On Sunday, we had some friends over to watch the game. It was great to have Joel, Brandon, Jill and her famous poof, along with Josh, Jennifer, and Brody at the house.
But the big thing at our house was not just the game. It was the food. I made football cupcakes (or “pupcakes,” according to Caedmon).
Sounds like a heart attack on a plate to me.
Jill was kind enough to take photos while the guys were creating their portable coronaries. 
We ended up pulling the Tums out for Husband and Brandon before halftime. You’re shocked, I know. And for some reason, the Colts/Saints cake was only eaten on the Saints side. Hmmm. Perhaps another Super Bowl predictor? Jill will have to make one next year and we’ll see how accurate the cake consumption really is.
I’m glad Jennifer took some pictures of Caedmon and Brody playing together, because I only took a few and they were blurry. Little boys don’t sit still very long, or at the same time!
So now I’m off to do the things I should’ve done Saturday, but have to do today since I spent my afternoon sucked into the black hole that is Walmart before a snowstorm and large sporting event. Does that make sense? I sure hope so.
Because if I’m not making sense now, it’s going to get really bad after a few more snow days.
Our friends Zach and Erin are about to embark on an awesome journey.
Or, another awesome journey.
Awesome Journey #1: Last year, they adopted a little boy from Ethiopia. Addis is a great kid, and always has a smile on his face. He is loved by everyone, especially his older brother and sisters. The kid seriously cracks me up.
Awesome Journey #2: At the end of August, Zach, Erin, and their family are moving to Africa for two months. Yep. They’re taking their four kids age 5 and under to Malawi for two months. They will be interim directors of Esther’s House, a new orphanage our church has built in conjunction with another ministry. You can read more here.
We got to spend some time with Zach and Erin last week, and learned more about what their daily life will be like. They are having beds built prior to their arrival (because you can’t just go buy furniture in that area of Malawi), and when they said they needed a crib for Addis, the people building the furniture didn’t know what they were talking about.
They also will not have a hot water heater. The way their water is heated is a fire built under a giant metal tank. As long as the fire is going, they’ll have hot water.
And let’s just say that their chicken…will be very fresh.
They will have to take all basic necessities over with them. In suitcases. Yep, in their suitcases! Everything from pots and pans to bed sheets has to go to Malawi in their luggage.
And if that wasn’t enough, all of their adventures will be captured on video with the purpose of creating a reality television series.
I don’t know about you, but I am not sure I’d be a fan of having a camera following me everywhere in a foreign country with my own four kids while taking care of a brand new orphanage.
I am proud of my friends for following the call of God on their lives. It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be uncomfortable. And it might even be a little scary at times. But it’s going to be awesome.
I can’t wait to hear all the stories they’re going to be able to tell about how children’s lives were saved at the orphanage. They’ve already told us stories of some pretty amazing donations, including medical supplies for not only their family, but the orphanage as well.
Zach has designed a t-shirt to raise money for the orphanage. If you’d like to buy a pretty cool shirt knowing all the profits will go to a good cause, here’s the shirt for you. Or you can donate directly to the orphanage and go without a sweet shirt.
Please keep Zach, Erin, Easton, Catherine, Sophie, and Addis in your prayers. You can keep up with them on their blog. Hopefully we’ll get lots of updates.
First, a confession. We are incredibly boring people and have no special plans for the holiday weekend.
Husband has, however, considered starting a family tradition of reading the Declaration of Independence on July 4. And maybe the Constitution, too. Probably not a bad idea.
We may meander our way over to the Rodeo and watch the parade or hang with the family at the rodeo grounds a bit between festivities. But mostly? I'll be busy picking up trash from my neighbors' fireworks before Oz puts himself on a high fiber and black powder diet.
And praying that for the neighbors’ sake, the festivities don’t keep C up too late. We’ve already established I am not above tattling to the Police.
And recovering from the last week of post-surgery crankiness and clinginess, praying the boy is out of his funk. Maybe a little more Frozen Tung will help. 
See? We live glamorous lives.
So, may your sparklers be shiny, may you completely stuff yourself on food cooked outside with all the bugs and such, and may you enjoy the independence our men and women in uniform fight daily to protect.
I’ve never been a big fan of coupons. I guess it’s because I never knew how to use them effectively. And they always seemed to be a messy jumble.
And y’all know I can’t handle that kind of disorder. It drives me crazy.
The savings just didn’t seem worth all the time, energy and effort I had to devote to clipping, searching, organizing, etc.
Enter Heather at NWADeals.
Heather is a real live friend of mine who started couponing like a madwoman last year. She started a blog a few months ago to update everyone on the deals she was finding, and well, it’s exploded into NWADeals.net.
Heather can tell you where to find the coupons, how to get stuff for free, where the deals are, how to shop, and even shows you what she gets on her own shopping trips! Don’t worry if you don’t live in our area – a lot of the savings and deals she features are nationwide.
She spoke at a luncheon I attended several weeks back and brought her coupon organizer with her. I was in awe. I knew that if I could have my coupons organized and have help in figuring out how to use them, I could do this thing.
And since I’ve started couponing in just the past few weeks, I’ve gotten some awesome deals – with Heather’s help, of course. I’ve gotten stuff for free, paid just a few cents for other items, and even made a little money with rebates.
Each week, I’ve saved anywhere from $10-$20 by using coupons.
Yes, I said $10-$20.
It’s still a learning process, and I’ve had to change the way I think about and shop for groceries, but I think it will be a very good thing for my grocery budget and the hungry tummies around our house.
I’ve found that clipping everything at once is the best method for me. I print the ones from the internet whenever I find them, then stick them with my notebook until I’m ready to clip.
I usually clip my coupons on Sunday afternoon while I’m outside watching C play. So I stuff them all in a plastic envelope until I am finished (and to keep them from flying away).
Here’s a couple shots of my coupon organizer. It’s a baby version of Heather’s.
Having help with couponing definitely works for me. Head on over to We are THAT Family for more Works-For-Me-Wednesday tips!
