by admin -

Articles Worth Reading

The Happy House is keeping me busy these days and I haven’t had time to write much this week. Here are a few links I liked and hope you will enjoy them too.

My friend Connie has a great tutorial on Simple Books Children Can Make. If you are looking for things to do during spring break, or a fun project for your homeschool this is a simple idea your kids will love!

I loved Amy’s perspective in her post Somebody Wants What You Have. The grass is not always greener.

This cake from I am Baker is one of my favorite ideas ever!  If you are looking for a one of a kind dessert on Sunday consider making this Faith Cake.

If you are like me and still have your Christmas cards sitting in a basket, you might want to try this creative Christmas card idea from my friend Angry Julie.

Joy is one of my first blogging friends, my blog designer, and an amazing homeschool mom. She has published her  homeschool reading list, and has many great reads picked out for this quarter.

Did you know that according to Neilsen the average American watches 151 hours of television a month? That is about 5 hours a day! Insane if you ask me. This article talks about what we could be doing with those 151 hours.

by admin -

Bible in 90 Days Chat Tonight

How is everyone doing with their Bible in 90 Days reading? I am currently a day behind, but I hope to catch up this afternoon since I am hosting the Twitter chat tonight.

If you haven’t been participating in these chats I encourage you to join us tonight at 9pm EST. It is a great way to discuss the week’s chapters, ask questions, and receive encouragement. To participate in or read the chat, follow the Twitter hashtag #B90Days.

See you tonight!

by admin -

Washington D.C. in the Snow

I must admit my husband is a pretty cool guy, he is always up for my ideas no matter how crazy. So when I asked if we could hop on the train to D.C. so I could get pictures of the White House in the snow, he said yes without batting an eye. Well, I exaggerate a little, he did give me that, “are you for real” look but he hopped on the train with me nonetheless.

D.C. was a mess, the mall was completely covered snow and you had to walk on top of the snow to get from one side to the other. I was surprised at how few people were there, but given the weather and the snow I can’t imagine many tourists would brave the conditions. We walked by the the Capital, the Washington Monument, and stopped at a few museums on the way, and finally made it to the White House.

It was just as pretty as I had imagined and it was fun to take pictures even if we had to stand outside the fence. 🙂

by admin -

Blizzard 2010

Welcome to the Blizzard of 2010, or the REAL eat from the pantry challenge. With terrible roads and three feet of snow, we are stuck in our house for the next few days. It is still snowing as I type this post, but I am hopeful it will stop tonight. Thank goodness we have power, unlike many other families, and food in our pantry as the grocery store shelves are bare! I am getting a little creative with meals and hope to share some of my blizzard food later this week.

As promised here are a few snow pictures. I didn’t actually go outside to take them because I didn’t want my lens to get ruined, so I stood in the doorway and shot a few from out the window. Sorry they aren’t the best quality. I am sure the snow will be here a few more days so I can post some more shots soon!

Someone bring me a shovel and some sunshine….

by admin -

Donate Swag Bucks to the Haiti Disaster Relief Effort

I am so excited that so many of my readers linked up and commented on the Help for Haiti post. Thank you all so much for your generosity and commitment to serving others in whatever way you are able.

It was brought to my attention that you can donate your Swag Bucks to the Haiti Disaster Relief Effort. What an awesome way for those who can’t really afford to give, to be able to give!

According to the Swag Bucks website:

Please consider donating some of your Swag Bucks to our Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. All Swag Bucks we collect will go directly toward a donations to three major relief organizations:

Below is the breakdown of how the Swagbucks are donated.

1,000,000 SB = $100,000.00
750,000 SB = $73,750.00
500,000 SB = $47,500.00
250,000 SB = $23,250.00
150,000 SB = $13,750.00
100,000 SB = $9,000.00
75,000 SB = $6,375.00
50,000 SB = $4,050.00
25,000 SB = $1,925.00
20,000 SB = $1,500.00

I am excited to be able to donate some of my Swagbucks to the disaster relief effort. I hope you consider doing the same.

by admin -

2009 in Pictures

The You Capture theme this week is 2009 in Review. I had over 5000 pictures to pick from in 2009, so here are a few of the most memorable.

Winter: Disney

Spring: Promotion

Summer

Fall

England was definitely a highlight of 2009!

But I must say the biggest highlight of 2009 is going from this:

To this:

To this:

by admin -

Bible in 90 Days Update

Photobucket

I am so excited to begin reading my Bible in 90 Days on Friday. The Twitter party last week was really motivating and I am thrilled to be doing this with so many other great women.

Amy has said that one of the keys to success is having the The Bible in 90 Days Bible. I wasn’t sure if I believed it until my Bible arrived last week in the mail. There really is a difference. While it is possible to read through the Bible in 90 Days using your own Bible and the reading chart, the 90 Days Bible makes it much easier.

To that end, if you are genuinely committed to completing the reading in 90 days, yet the cost of buying another Bible is keeping you from using a Bible in 90 Days Bible, or participating at all, Bible in 90 Days.org will provide you with a Bible free of charge. Yes, you read that right– If you want to do this, Bible in 90 Days.org wants to equip you. Even for free, if need be.

Hop on over to the Contact page at Bible in 90Days.org and make your request. Since the challenge begins Friday, your new Bible will not make it to you in time… just start with whatever you can and pick up when the new one arrives. You’ll be glad you did.

by admin -

Reflecting on 2009 ~ Faithfulness

Our fabulous and fairly frugal trip to the Outer Banks.


I planned on taking a break from blogging this week, but then I realized that Laura was hosting her end of the year Gratituesday. Even though I don’t participate every week, this is one of my favorite blog carnivals because it causes me to stop and reflect on all the blessings in my life.

I cannot believe this year is almost over, it seems like yesterday we were celebrating New Years with a large group of friends from our church. So much as happened this year and there is so much to be thankful for, it is hard to put into one post.

March 2009: The Lord provided a new (to us) van that we were able to purchase with cash. We bought this van one day before I unexpectedly went on bed rest for the duration of the pregnancy.

April 2009: Cora. For those who have followed my site over the past year, you know how thankful we are to have her sleeping in a crib next to our bed every night.

May 2009: My husband’s promotion. I never thought this day would happen after dealing with his injuries for over a year and a half. I am so grateful we had a promotion party and not a retirement party.

July 2009: The big move. I am thankful the perfect house found us this summer. I don’t miss living on base at all, and I love being closer to so many of our friends.

August-October 2009: I am thankful that we survived my husband’s constant traveling during this time almost event free. We had one broken arm, but that was it. And in our family that is definitely a victory!

November 2009: My son shot his first and second deer. I am so proud of that young man and am excited to see what God is doing in his life.

December 2009: England (SQUEE!) and being able to spend Christmas with my parents for the first time in 10 years.

As I reflect on 2009, the word faithfulness comes to mind. Even though we had no idea what kind of year 2009 would be, God was faithful to us in every circumstance, good or bad. As I look ahead towards 2010, I have faith for the future, no matter what lies ahead.

What are you thankful for this year?