Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

After the snow all day Sunday and Sunday night, I was planning to take some photos of our one-day winter wonderland. However, I ended up going into town with Michael when he left for work Monday morning, so I wasn’t able to trek out into the snow as planned.

I did manage to get one picture as I headed to the car, though. Our one snow of the season is now almost a memory, but I do have photographic evidence that it existed!

My last trip to the thrift store was definitely a good one. I spent about half an hour at the Goodwill Outlet and walked away with all of this:

• Balderdash game – complete except for the “pawns”
• Wrought iron cookbook stand
• Card deck of ice breaker and party game ideas
• Package of paper doilies for making Valentines
• Brown fabric canvas with bird (it’s square, not rectangular)
• Paperback copy of Something From Nothing
• Paperback copy of The Book of Virtues

 

I was hoping to find some clothes for our little boy, but everything at the Outlet is always hit-or-miss and apparently that particular day was a miss for baby clothes.

Still, not a bad find for 30 minutes’ worth of treasure hunting . . . and $3.32.

{Pardon the awful pictures – I took them in the car with my iPod.}

I am callous. Numb to the incredible treasure that lies on my bookshelves. The Bible is so accessible in this country that I have taken it for granted.

Below is the stack of Bibles that my husband and I own. Between the two of us, we possess a total of nine Bibles. There’s a King James Version, four NIV Bibles, an ESV New Testament, my NAS Study Bible, a One-Year Bible, and even a Telugu translation – yes, we own a copy of the entire Bible in a language of which I can only identify three letters.

In addition to this stack, I can access the Bible on my iPod, and we have cd upon cd filled with Scriptures that have been put to music.

It’s so easy for us to hear the Word, to read the Bible, to look up any Scripture we desire. And still I fail to put the Bible at top of my priorities list every day. I wonder if I would fail so miserably if the Bible weren’t so readily available – if it were so rare that everyone considered it a treasure.

There are millions of people who don’t have the luxury of even one verse of Scripture in their own language, and here I have nearly a dozen at my fingertips.

I want to grasp the richness of this blessing, but I’m not sure that I ever can.

What I can do however, is to strive to put God’s Word at the top of my priorities list every day. And, through OneVerse,  I can help provide Scripture for those who don’t have it available in their language.

Would you like to join in this challenge? There are several ways you can participate:

1. Take a photo of your stack of Bibles. Share it on the OneVerse Facebook page.
2. Visit My Journey to Authenticity to see the other OneVerse Bloggers’ stacks of Bibles.
3. Give $26 (one-time or monthly) to translate one verse of Scripture for a people group with no Bible.
4. Pray for OneVerse, for the Bible translators, for the people who are still without God’s Word.
5. Treasure the blessing of Scripture – read your Bible!

I’ve been leaving vague notes on Facebook and Twitter over the last couple of weeks, and even posted once about this upcoming blog event. Now itt’s finally time to announce what’s happening.

Color Outside the Lines: 31 Days of Creative Thinking

Every day in March, I’ll be posting a different “challenge.” These challenges are designed to spark or stretch your creativity in a variety of areas. One day you’ll be writing, one day creating something out of assigned materials. Another day you’ll be taking pictures, and on yet another you’ll be looking at artwork online. There will be one challenge posted every morning in March, followed by my results from that assignment. I’ll have a Flickr group set up for you to upload photos of your own results, or you can link to your blog.

Some days I’ll also be posting additional information. These won’t be actual challenges, but resources and ideas for growing your creativity, discussion topics, or fun tutorials.

And there will be giveaways.

I’ve got several sponsors lined up already for some fun giveaways that tie in with the event. These will be held right here, but some of them may involve clues from our Facebook or Twitter pages, or be shared there first. At the end of the event there will be a Grand Prize Drawing for a whole bundle of goodies! You’ll receive entries for every activity you participate in, so the more you join in on the fun, the more chances you’ll have of winning the Grand Prize. Some activities, like participating in discussions, will only have points available for a limited time. Others will have points available until the giveaway closes. (I’ll post a list of all the activities and the points they’re worth at the end of the event, but you may want to keep track along the way.)

I’ve been planning this event for several months now and I’m really excited about it! I’m looking forward to sharing these challenges with y’all, seeing what you come up with from the assignments, and learning from each other.

Let’s get you started right away on earning points for that Grand Prize!

5 points: Share this event online – on your Facebook page, your blog, etc. Be sure to leave me a link so I can come visit you!

2 points (exp 2/5 at noon): Add a comment below. Will you be participating? Will you have your kids join in? Do you have any questions? Any relevant comment works.

Michael and I put our house on the market about a month ago. We absolutely love where we live, but would really like for him not be driving for 2.5 hours a day. Because we’re hoping it will sell (isn’t that why most people put their houses on the market?) , we’ve been looking at houses ourselves. And then, at the same time, we’ve been looking into buying a second car in case it doesn’t.

Meanwhile we’re working on building up our savings, talking about college and retirement funds, and trying to find good deals on the things we’ll need for the baby.

So much talk about money has been making my head spin! I wish there was some sort of MoneySupermarket where we could just go in and pull things off the shelf, comparing the little unit price stickers underneath each option as we went along.

“Let’s get this car – it’s got 5-star safety ratings, great gas mileage, and it’s on sale for a great price. It even comes in blue.”

“The college savings aisle is next. Oh look, the interest rate on this one is a lot better than the others. And I have a coupon!”

“Hmmmm. Which retirement plan? They come in bags, boxes, and bottles. Do you want fresh or frozen? Let’s just keep saving for awhile and maybe they’ll go on sale.”

“Oh, could you grab a savings account from the vending machine? Thanks, dear!”

“Looks like we’re ready to check out now. Don’t forget to give the cashier the reusable bags – we’ll get a credit!”

Yeah, it’s not that easy, but it’s fun to think about.

 

Last year I started Thrift Store Thursday, but it sort of melted away after a couple of weeks. I think I had too many weekly themes to keep up with and just got burnt out.

But, a new year brings a fresh start; I’ve dropped all the other weekly themes and will be picking up Thrift Store Thursday again. To get things started, I thought I’d link up two of my favorite finds that I shared last year – this pair of adorable vintage tap shoes, and these gorgeous lace pillowcases.

Next week I’ll start posting new finds again. In the meantime, I’d love to hear about your recent thrifting adventures! Leave a note, or a link to your own blog post, in the comments.

If you follow me on Facebook, you’ve probably seen some vague updates lately, alluding to a big event happening here in March. I’ll be sharing the details on February 1, but here’s just a little more information to pique your interest.

• The event will last the entire month of March.
• It will include writing . . .
• And photography.
• It might involve sprinkles.
• There will be fun challenges . . .
• And lots of giveaways.
• I’m really excited about it!
• So you should be, too.

Curious yet?