this and that.

this picture makes me happy. . . in so many ways.
finding my sweet baby boy enjoying a book, the fact that he climbed up on that bench by himself to look at a book, an arm full of silly bands that he swiped from his brothers, the hand me down overalls that he picked out to wear even though i had picked something else out. . .  happy. :)

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i really really love summer.
i love the feeling of walking out of a chilly wal-mart and feeling the rush of sunny-hot wind wash over me.
i am happiest with the hot sun on my face.

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i love thai food.
the boys and i met aj for lunch today at a local thai place.
i asked the waitress what was that orange drink everyone was drinking.
she said "thai tea" so i said, i'd like to try it.
oh my mercy, it was so stinkin' good.
it was like sweet tea mixed with a little coffee mixed with milk or cream or something lovely.
i don't know why it was so orange but it was so good.
who wants to give me a recipe for it??? :)

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my friend, carrie (who gave us that awesome cookie recipe) designed t-shirts to raise money for their adoption.
they have a sweet baby girl in africa and are on the wait list to bring her home.

she is selling the t-shirts on her blog and this is a great way to do our part to love on orphans (james 1:27). in buying one of these shirts, you are helping bring a sweet little girl to her forever home.

from carrie's blog:
The front of the shirt has the words forever, family, love, and zehlahlum which is amharic for "forever". The back has the verse "I will not leave you as orphans- I will come to you" John 14:1.

you can chose brown or gray.

i have the gray one. the cotton is really soft, fyi.

and this is what it looks like when a 7 year old takes a picture of you, a little fuzzy, but i wanted you to get an idea of how the shirt looks on.

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last but totally not least, I want to wish a very happy birthday to my sweet step-mama. 
i can't wait to celebrate with you on Sunday! 
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okay friends, have a great weekend! I sure intend to.
i've got a hot date tomorrow night. :) Pin It

107 followers means it's time to cel-e-brate!

so remember last month when i told you i wanted to do a giveaway when i reached 100 followers?

well hip hip hooray it's celebration day!

just a little thank you to all my lovely readers.

you are gonna LOVE LOVE LOVE  this giveaway. 

this giveaway is from my cyber friend, Sara.

sara & i "met" in 2007 when i ordered christmas cards from her.  she was amazing to work with.

she was super professional, fast and went above & beyond to make sure that i loved the card.

and i did.  you can see that first card she made for me here.

and here's our 2008 version

 last year was the first year in a decade that i didn't send christmas cards. . . even though we had family photos done in november specifically for that. . . sigh.

anyhow, right away sara and i were chatty and became cyber friends i guess. i believe her husband calls them imaginary friends. ;)

she has an awesome blog, she's a great photographer, & she loves Jesus.

and lucky for you she designs amazing cards.
that's right, she designs them all herself, so the picture quality is awesome.

here are some of my faves from her shop, less ordinary designs:

see, i knew you would love them.

so here's the prize:

sara is generously offering a free design AND 100 glossy 4.25 x 5.5 printed cards!!!

this awesome prize has a value of $123! 


sara has so many designs to chose from, this is a great gift for anyone.


think birth announcement, birthday invitation, save the date card, christmas card, moving annoncement, etc. 

 so for the nitty gritty, how do you win??


****leave a comment****

that's it, leave a comment and you're entered to win this rad prize.

want to increase your odds?

for extra entries, do any or all of the following, leaving a separate comment for each one:
 *visit less ordinary designs and come back & let me know which design is your fave
*become a follower or let me know if you already are one
*facebook or tweet about this giveaway

okay good luck peeps!!  i can't wait to see who wins!

**the giveaway will remain open until Aug 5th.**
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winner winner chicken dinner

first of all thank you to all my sweet readers who came out of hiding and commented, blogged, tweeted, & facebooked about my giveaway!

there were 100 entries and i used a very scientific approach to finding a winner.

i had a great helper.

i decided that since it was july, we could lose the spray painted pine cones and use this jar for something else.

we dumped the names in, took them back out and folded all the slips in half, them stuffed them back in.

i think i'm going to leave this jar like this.  i like it. ;)

how does it feel to have your fate in the hands of a five year old?
lucky for you he can't read past 3 letter words.

finley was very serious about not looking in the jar.

Congratulations!!!!

MamaMimi said...

Count me in! Here's my comment and I am a follower...happily! =)

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  You will receive an email from me shortly.  Yay for you! 

And for all you other sweet peeps who are crying into your hands because you didn't win. . . you may want to come back tomorrow.... i'm just sayin. . . . .

ooooh, the suspense is killing you, i know it.

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we heart farmer's market

one of our favorite parts of our town is our farmer's market on the square.
we love going on saturday mornings.
it's a fun family time....outdoors......free entertainment.....and i come home with a bag full of a farmer's bounty.

all the trucks back into the parking spaces around the square and set up their tables full o' yumminess.

tons of people come out.
there's always some interesting entertainers.

sometimes there's a magician, but there's always a musician on every corner.
there are fun little shops all around the square to pop into.

where else can you get a fresh baked muffin and look at a cool bug through a microscope?

we always have to stop at the big spinning ball.
without fail the boys come away with a soaked shirt. sometimes shorts too.

besides plenty of fresh fruits & vegetables, there are tons of dogs.
the boys love petting every dog they see.

it's such a happy thing to do on a saturday morning.. . . walking around holding my man's hand.

i also love seeing people we know and stopping to chat for a few minutes.
there's just a fun camaraderie about the farmer's market. 


in other news. . . Today is the last day for giveaway!!!  Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered!  I'll announce the winner this week. Pin It

i've got to testify.

we love our church.
we look forward to going every week.
it's non-denom. love that.
yesterday's sermon was so good.  you can have a listen if you want to.

the text was john 11-12.
our pastor, Jim, asked some challenging questions that i've been mulling over and over and over.  

i have to share.

Are you making Jesus famous for the right reasons?
Are you a Jesus lover?
Are you madly in love with the lover of your soul?
Do you love extravagantly?
How do you express your love to Jesus?
Is your life so radically different that it represents strong evidence of the supernatural?
Are you spiritually attractive to other people?
Is your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness & self control evident to those who know you? (fruits of the spirit)
Are you a threat to the enemies of God - the spiritual forces of evil ?
Do you pour your time, talents, & resources into what matters?
Do you love so deeply and give so passionately that people can't explain it as normal human behavior?
On account of you, do many put their faith in Jesus?
What behaviors point strongly to Jesus?
What can I do to make Jesus more attractive to those around me?

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i have to say i come up lacking on most of those. 

instead of getting discouraged by how far i have to go, i am encouraged so much by these questions.

i so want the fruits of the spirit to be evident in me. 

i want to love people passionately and deeply. . . even those who are hard to love. 

it's so easy to love those who we like. who we get along with. who are like us. who are attractive. who are easy to love. who treat us well in return. 

it's something far different to chose to love, extravagantly love those who are not like us. those who do not treat us well. those who are difficult or messy or draining. 

i want to learn to love like Jesus loved and walk like He walked. 

part of the passage we read in church yesterday was John 12:1-7. 

in that passage mary pours a pound of expensive perfume on Jesus' feet and washed His feet with her hair. it was a lavish act of love and worship for her God.

10 months ago God told AJ & I that we were supposed to pour out our lives like a drink offering. 

here's an excerpt from my journal:

9-8-09

. . . yesterday You reminded me of the story of the woman who poured out expensive perfume on Your feet and washed your feet with her hair. She "wasted" such a valuable possession on You - in worship and adoration of You.  She was ridiculed for wasting such an expensive thing when she could have done "better" things with that money - provided for the poor.  Other people didn't understand. . .  You confirmed to me through that story that You are near. That other people might not understand but You are asking us to pour out our lives for You in worship.  Then I told my sweet AJ. . . and You, through a completely different Bible passage told him the same thing - to pour out our lives for you - no matter what other people think . . . There we were in two different rooms, but at the same time, You were telling us the same thing .

since then we have been seeking the Lord as to what that means.

how does He want us to pour our lives out?

part of that journey has been meliyah.    

she has been coming to our home a few days a week since october and currently she's been staying with us for a couple of weeks. 

a few months ago we started praying that God would show us what kind of ministry He wants to have.

we have been leaning towards taking a bigger role in potter's house.  

we believed God confirmed it, but we were still praying and just making sure because this would be a huge change in our lives.

then last monday night we met with the leaders of potter's house and just talked it over.

the next morning AJ was reading his Bible.

He was going through a reading plan, so he wasn't picking out what he was reading, he was just reading what was next on the list. 

and here is the passage. 

Jeremiah 18:3-6

³ So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. ⁴ But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

 ⁵ Then the word of the LORD came to me: ⁶ "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

that is not a coincidence. that is the Creator of the Universe being intimately involved in our lives. 

the more i seek Him, the more i learn to hear & recognize His voice. 

now that's the real stuff of life.

we know that what we're heading into is not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination, so i am so thankful we have this confirmation and others to go back to and remind ourselves of, when the work gets tough and we have those thoughts of "why in the world are we doing this?" and "why don't we just stinkin' pick the easy road for once?!" 

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your new cookie recipe is here. you're welcome.

{photo credit}

you need to stop what you're doing and go make these chocolate chip cookies .
they are seriously so yummy and easy to make.
i'm not a huge baker so when my friend carrie told me that she had a really easy & really yummy cookie recipe, i gave it a try. 
and guess what, miracle of all miracles, they didn't get all flat when i baked them.

it is easy easy easy. 
you mix up the whole thing with a fork.  now that's my kind of baking.

i'd write out the recipe, but seriously, just click over to carrie's and print it out.

plus she's a really funny writer and you need a laugh i'm sure.

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don't forget to enter my giveaway! :)

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wordless wednesday ~ around here lately . . .

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who wants some free stuff?

***this giveaway is now closed***

 

Hooray it's my first ever giveaway!!!

get. excited.

CSN stores contacted me about doing a giveaway and i was obviously thrilled to say yes.
one of you lucky ducks is gonna get something good.

CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find everything from dinnerware to to cork flooring, to slipcovers to diaper bags.

what's the prize?  a 50 dollar (one-time-use) gift certificate.  woo to the hoo. 

you could get something like this teal blue Le Creuset baking dish set for just 25 bones.

 or hows about these chalkboard removable wall decals? yes please.

if it were me, i might try this white slipcover on for size. ..

but it's not about me it's about you.
you and your $50 gift cert to csnstores.com

okay the deets on how to win:

 *leave a comment*

that's it, just leave a comment and you're entered to win. be sure to leave me an email address if you don't have a blog so i can contact you if you win.
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for more chances to win......
*follow my blog
*blog about this giveaway
*facebook or tweet about this giveaway

(leave an additional comment for each of these, letting me know what you did)
 
the giveaway will remain open from  july 20-27th. 
oh and this giveaway is open to US & Canadian residents. Pin It

summer art project #4

i got this idea from Meg.

you read meg right? of course you do, what am i asking?
everybody loves meg's whatever blog.  it's so bright and cheery and happy and real.
i don't read a ton of blogs but i do read meg, every single day.

so here's how we did it.
the first time we did castles and the second time we did flowers...geogia o'keefe style.

the boys drew their picture out with pencil.  then i traced it with a sharpee.
then they water colored it.
that's it.
seriously easy.

 the boys looked at the drawings from meg's, as well as these for inspiration.

for the flowers, i told them to draw the petals all the way to the edge of the page.

look at me, i didn't edit out avery's dirty hands and finger nails.
just keeping it real peeps. ;)

and . . . sawyer drank the paint water. yuuuuummmmm.

we used drawing paper, FYI.

it was hot that day.

 avery added some thumb prints & paint splatters to his.
i love watching their minds work creatively.

avery's "The X Castle" and fin's very colorful castle...

and their flowers.
avery's:

fin's:

the boys loved this art project.
it kept them entertained for a good while which is always nice.

i love how children come alive when doing art.
i think it's good for their little souls.
a little part of the Creator God coming out in them.



***come back tomorrow for my first ever giveaway!! :)*** Pin It