Spring Forward Give Away!!!

Tonight is the deadline.  Get your entries in!!!!!
We are sweetening the pot. :)
We are adding a pack of recipe cards (picture later) and a $15 gift certificate to the store.

You have seen the pictures of the snow. You have heard my tell you that I am looking forward to Spring. I am even thinking of putting my Spring wreath up on the front door. :) I also told you that our blog would be hosting a Give Away!! Well it is here.

Here is a picture of what one of you will win.

There is an adult size Large short sleeve T-shirt with the store logo on it. There is also a tote bag with the store's secondary logo on it. One cute and sassy Yellow Felted Bag that just says Spring, a Salad Pod for those early Spring salads we are all going to grow, a Jar Spoon to get down to the bottom of those quart jars, 5 packets of Dandy Blend and a tea infuser spoon. We sweetened the pot by adding a pack of recipe cards and a $15 store gift certificate.

There are several ways that you can put your name into the hat.

1. Go to the store website and pick an item that you would really like to have. Then leave a comment on this post telling me why you would pick that. You have to do this step, or your other ones don't count. :)

2. Join the Store group on Facebook and then leave a comment here telling me that you did.

3. Post about the give away on Facebook and leave a comment letting me know you did.

4. Tweet about this give away and leave a comment letting me know you did.

5. Send an email to five other people about this give away and leave a comment letting me know you did.

6. Post about the Give Away on your blog and leave a comment letting me know you did.

Remember, you must leave a separate comment for each entry. We will just draw a number and that comment wins. You want each of your entries to count!!! The entry deadline is February 28th, 2010 at midnight EST. This is limited to the US please.

What is in Your Heart?

Have you ever noticed how all the TV shows make dads look like bumbling idiots and the moms have it all together? Have you noticed all the jokes that make the man or husband the butt of them? Do you complain about your husband to other people? Do you have friends that do that?

There is a verse in the Bible that says that our mouth speaks from the overflow of our hearts. What is our heart full of to make us speak those things? To all you married women out there, I ask you to do one thing. Make a list of all the wonderful and positive things you can possibly think of about your husband. Don't show them to him, this is just for you. What are the things that drew you to him before you got married? It could be physical things like cute curly hair, or gorgeous eyes, but also things like gentleness, or a caring attitude.... Add to this list as you think of new things.

Then, I would ask you to read this list to yourself every day for 30 days and then once a week after that. Fill your heart with the blessings of your husband. Make opportunities to do special things for him. Leave little love notes on the mirror or in his lunch.

Then when we speak, our heart will be full of the blessings that our men truly are to us and all that other stuff will fade. Pray for your husband every day. He has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders that you will never understand. Then reach out to him as his helpmeet, friend and lover. Show him how much he means to you.

Evenings With Victoria Botkin

Get a chance to win a free registration to Evenings With Victoria Botkin. She is a godly wife and mother that has been the Titus 2 woman in many womens lives. Hop on over to Jasmine's blog to find out how to win.

Product Review

I was given the wonderful opportunity to review a product by CSN Stores. We received a Nesco 18 Qt. Porcelain Roaster Oven.

Yesterday, I got to try it out. First of all, it will hold quite a bit since it is an 18 quart size. We raise our own poultry and it tends to be on the larger size. I roasted two of our larger chickens in it and would have had room for at least one more. There would have been room to add potatoes, carrots and/or stuffing all around the chickens. I believe our turkeys will fit in here and we have had trouble finding a pan large enough for them. Another reason we like this roaster is because the inside is enamel. We are picky about what we cook with.

I sat the chickens up on the rack that comes with this roaster. The chickens were very moist and tender and I was easily able to access the drippings to make a gravy. It was very quiet to use and did not heat up my kitchen, although the smell made me salivate while it was cooking. The inside cooking well lifts out which made it very easy to clean after using it. When I brought it out to put on my counter it was very light and easy to carry.

Besides cooking meats in this, I can see it being used for many things, especially during canning season. It will be great to cook down sauces or to mix up sauces in. You can bake a cake in it and not heat up your kitchen. If you had a large crowd over, you could fill it with chili or some other meal and it would make for easy serving, even in a buffet type setting.

We are very pleased with this product and can see it as a very useful tool on our homestead.

** Disclaimer: We were sent this product for review purposes only. This review has not been monetarily compensated and is based solely on the views and opinions of myself. Please note that the opinions reflected in this post have not been influenced by the sponsor in any way.**

Count Your Blessings Monday!!

Here is an opportunity for all of us to give thanks unto the Lord for a blessing in our lives. If you would like to take part great. If not that is OK too. If you would like to share your blessing, just leave it in the comments. If you want to use the picture above and list a blessing on your own site, then leave a URL to your site in the comments. There is no pressure here. I just know that I am incredibly blessed and I would like to share that and give thanks to Him who all blessing come from. This is a way that we can encourage one another. I know that I am often encouraged when someone shares a blessing with me. I think that many times we forget that it is a blessing to be able to breath, to get out of bed, to hold a baby... Share your blessings with us. We can share so many other things.... special gifts, recipes, let's take the time to share how God has blessed us!!

Today, I am thankful for seasons. We love snow at our house, but we are ready for it to be gone. :) We have had the blessing of a couple of days around 40 degrees. We know that Spring is coming. The Lord promises that. It gives us hope during the long cold and snowy days of winter.

I was also given a product to review for a company. I am using it today for the first time, so look for the review this week. I am very excited about this.

I Heart Faces - Hands

This is my great-niece, Lexi. She had just started sucking her thumb and kept gagging herself. I love her fat little hand all covered in drool. :)

Check out more pictures of hands at

Snow Glops in the Woods. :)

We have had some temperatures that were above freezing. Some snow may have melted, although it is hardly noticeable. A lot of the snow that was up in the trees has fallen to the ground. However, there are some very beautiful glops (that is my word for them) of snow all around that are making a gravity defying display. With the little bit of melting and the wind, they have become snow sculptures.

This picture does not show the gravity defying part very well. If the picture had been taken a little farther back, you would see that the snow hangs well over each side of this tree.

This glop of snow is just sitting on some brambles.

There are no snow glops in this picture, but I just wanted to show you how high the snow is on the fence.

This one looks like a giant white slug or snail.

You can see how far over the sides, the snow is hanging on this archway.

This picture was taken from directly below the tree looking straight up. I kept wondering if one of the snow glops was going to let loose and drop on me.

You can see all the different glops just hanging through out the woods on whatever they found to perch on.

We went by this church and saw the icicles. I had been wanting to get a good icicle picture, but there was always someone behind us. So, we pulled into the parking lot of this church and found some really neat icicles on several sides.

The longest icicle in this picture (about the middle) was only about 10 inches from the ground.

This is the little log cabin in our woods.

Here is another glop just hanging around.

I love how the snow is hanging down the side of the one beehive. You can also see the cat on top of the AC unit in the window.

This is one side of our house. The snow sliding down knocked our gutter down on this side. We will have to get that fixed and quickly. It smashed and bent it all up, so we will have to get new. The old one is under about a foot of snow.

I also wanted to tell you about another opportunity to earn some money online. I signed up for Ebates awhile back. Just for signing up, they credit your account with $5. Whenever you are going to shop on line, you can check to see if they have discounts, coupons or rebates for that store. You often can save quite a bit. I just received a check this week from them, so I know it works. If you use this link, then I will get credit for you signing up under me.

Great Sale and Free Book for Shipping Only!!

Between the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day’s occupations, That is known as the Children’s Hour. —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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At Vision Forum, we are constantly searching for resources that will help parents biblically disciple their children. Over the years, we have found that one of the best discipleship aids is a good story. Children relate to the experiences of others, and a well-told tale with a Christ-centered message can permanently impress important truths upon a young person’s heart. Today we are excited to offer a special book series called the Christian Character Read-Aloud Collection. From The Little Medicine Carrier to Gerrit and His Dog, these twelve beautiful children’s Gospel stories will delight your sons and daughters and teach them about God’s sovereignty, justification by faith alone, and the sufficiency of Scripture.

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The Christian Character Read-Aloud Collection Includes:

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First Impressions of God
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Reward of Childhood Truth
The Weed with an Ill Name

We hope that these inexpensive, yet priceless little books will be a blessing to your family. Enjoy!

Sale ends at midnight, February 19, 2010 (CST). Offer good while supplies last.

This is a wonderful book that I highly recommend. You can 't beat this deal.

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Yes, It is STILL Snowing. :)

This has been the snowiest winter I ever remember. There were years where we had a big snow or a blizzard, but this is like a blizzard every week end. :) It took my sweet man 3 hours to get home from work yesterday. I was so glad to see him when he finally got home.

These pictures are from yesterday, but it is still snowing today. He stayed home though, so I am thrilled. :)

Here is a video of the snow coming down. Don't forget to turn the music off in the side bar. :)

Count Your Blessings Monday!!

Here is an opportunity for all of us to give thanks unto the Lord for a blessing in our lives. If you would like to take part great. If not that is OK too. If you would like to share your blessing, just leave it in the comments. If you want to use the picture above and list a blessing on your own site, then leave a URL to your site in the comments. There is no pressure here. I just know that I am incredibly blessed and I would like to share that and give thanks to Him who all blessing come from. This is a way that we can encourage one another. I know that I am often encouraged when someone shares a blessing with me. I think that many times we forget that it is a blessing to be able to breath, to get out of bed, to hold a baby... Share your blessings with us. We can share so many other things.... special gifts, recipes, let's take the time to share how God has blessed us!!

Today, I am thankful for the snow. Most winters I feel like there is not enough snow. This winter, there has been plenty. I know it makes it hard for my sweet man to do chores outside, but I am thankful that God has chosen to send it to us. We have more on the way, but Spring is coming!!! :) I am also thankful for the promise of Spring!!!!

Thank You!!

As I have shared on here before, we are attending Financial Peace University classes right now. We are starting the path to become debt free. Our budget is pretty tight, but it has freed us up in different ways already. We are looking for ways to generate some cash to pay on debts. Michael really does not want me working outside the home, and we don't have transportation for that anyway. So, I have used many different outlets to try and help out. One of the ways that I use is by the affiliate programs I take part in. I want to say a big thank you to each of you who have used the links on my blog page to make purchases. Many times I have put up posts about sales at the various companies that I represent. You have responded. I would ask that you take the time to look at the available links on the side bar of my page. Some of the most often used are Vision Forum, Franklin Springs Family Media, Amazon, and Christian Book.com. There are also links to Lehman's Hardwared, Mountain Rose Herbs, and Ugg boots. I also have a link (which currently runs after each post) for Swagbucks. That is a link that will pay off for you as well. I signed up under Kim from inashoe.com. Each time I get a Swagbuck, she does too. I have a couple of people under me already which has helped boost my counts. I have used the Swagbucks I have earned to purchase 2 telephones and I am getting ready to make another purchase. I just use the toolbar they provide and do all my web searches through them instead of google. That is how I have gotten the Swagbucks.

Anyway, I wanted to say thank you and to let you know that all of benefits of these affiliate programs are helping us to pay off debts and become debt free.

If you know of other ways that I may be able to do something from home, please feel free to suggest it.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day to each of you. I know many don't celebrate Valentine's Day and that is OK. I use it as a day of reminder to me of the wonderful blessing God has given me.... in Michael.

This is our 32nd Valentine's Day together. Our love is sweeter and deeper than it was all those many years ago. We are each other's best friend now and that was not always the case. He is the person that I want to talk to right away whenever anything good or bad happens. He is the voice that can calm me or even still make my heart race. He is a hard worker yet a very gentle man. We have started a new path this year to being debt free. We have even grown closer through that. I praise the Lord and thank Him from the bottom of my heart for my sweet husband.

I love you Michael!!! Happy Valentine's Day!!!

The Sweater is Done!!!

I got my sweater done. It feels good to have another project done.

Here is the book that I used to make this sweater. I highly recommend it.

This shows how much snow we got in that last snow. The birdbath had been wiped clean. We have had flurries and a few short times of snow over the last couple of days. We woke up to some snow this morning and it had been enough to coat the car.

The smaller child in light pink, was hesitant to go to far into the yard because it was so deep.

Lots and Lots of SNOW!!!

It's a good thing that I like snow. We are getting lots of it. I just heard last night that we might get hit with another snow storm this weekend. :)

We woke up Monday morning and the thermometer said -5. I looked a bit later after it got light and it had gone down to -9. It was COLD!!!! The house was very cold and took a long time to warm up.

The sun came out and it was truly a wonderland outside. Since it was so cold, there was a very heavy frost on everything. The trees and everything else were sparkling like diamonds. These pictures don't even do it justice.

Then on Tuesday, another snow storm headed our way. The children who live in our apartment had cleared my birdbath of snow. It gave me a point of reference again to measure snow fall. Here it is after just a couple of hours of snowfall.

At times it came down really heavy.

Here is the birdbath a couple of hours later.

You can see my picnic table in the background.

Care to have a picnic anyone?

The sheep would come and stay awhile. The snow would build up on their fleece, but they would not go far from the sheep shed.

Would you like to be our grill chef this evening?

Somewhere out there is a pond.

This is a half whiskey barrel outside my house. It is almost covered.

There were some brave souls out trying to see how deep the snow really was. :) Glad it was them and not me.

I love the snow, but I love looking at it out my window. :)