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Showing posts from October, 2013

Snow on the Tulips “Amazon Reader Pack” Giveaway from Liz Tolsma!

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Liz Tolsma  is celebrating the release of her novel, Snow on the Tulips ,  by giving away an Amazon Reading Pack to one lucky winner.  Find out what readers are saying about the book here .   One winner will receive: A $50 Amazon gift card Snow on the Tulips  by Liz Tolsma Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on November 16th. Winner will be announced November 18th at Liz's blog . Don't miss a moment of the fun; enter today and be sure to stop by Liz's blog on the 18th to see if you won. (Or, better yet, subscribe to her blog  and have the winner announcement delivered to your inbox! Just enter your email address on the left sidebar of her blog.) {MORE ABOUT  SNOW ON THE TULIPS } A stranger’s life hangs in the balance. But to save him is to risk everything. The war is drawing to a close, but the Nazis still occupy part of the Netherlands. After the losses she’s endured, war widow Cornelia is

Tricia Goyer to partner with Zondervan to host 50 Christmas parties in one day

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  Unique launch of Christmas title allows book clubs across the country to connect with author Tricia Goyer and Zondervan (a division of Harper Collins Christian Publishing) have teamed up to offer a unique promotion launching her latest novel, A Christmas Gift for Rose (ISBN: 978-0310336785 / hardcover / $15.99). Goyer has invited her readers to sign up to help her host one of 50 Christmas book club brunches to be held on Saturday, December 7, 2013. Fans can sign up to participate via Goyer’s website ( www.triciagoyer.com/book-club-rose/ ) by November 5, and 50 winners from across the country will be selected from entries received. While Goyer certainly cannot be in 50 places at once, she will be joining all of the parties live via Skype with a special Christmas greeting. A part of her message will include sharing ideas on how guests can join together to impact lives in their communities this Christmas. Winners selected to host parties in their homes will be provid

Win a “Beloved” iPad Mini from Robin Lee Hatcher!

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Robin Lee Hatcher  is celebrating the release of her latest novel,  Beloved ,  with an iPad Mini giveaway!      One winner will receive: An iPad Mini Beloved  by Robin Lee Hatcher Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on November 15th. Winner will be announced November 16th at Robin's blog . Don't miss a moment of the fun; enter today and be sure to stop by Robin's blog on the 16th to see if you won. (Or, better yet, subscribe to her blog  and have the winner announcement delivered to your inbox!) {MORE ABOUT  BELOVED } Diana is ready to begin a new chapter in her life—until the husband she believed dead reappears at her engagement party. Diana Brennan came west on the orphan train and was given a home with a loving couple who cherished and spoiled her. At 17, she fell hard for Tyson Applegate, the son of a wealthy mine owner. After a whirlwind courtship and marriage, Tyson took off for adventures aro

Just One More Thing Before You Leave Home

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Welcome to the blog tour for the Gudgel’s helpful resource for parents,  Just One More Thing: Before You Leave Home .  The Gudgel’s wrote this book from their own experiences helping their three children successfully leave home and begin life on their own. {MORE ABOUT  JUST ONE MORE THING: BEFORE YOU LEAVE HOME } This is the book we wish our parents gave us. Just One More Thing: Before You Leave Home is a packed guide to help young adults enter life on their own. In the book, the Gudgels use stories, perspectives, and dialogues to discuss 30 indispensable topics to help teens survive, including: worldview, financial challenges, use of time, career moves, moral dilemmas, sex, painful experiences, and spiritual life, among others. Written from a Biblical perspective, the book is more of a guide to making good decisions than a lecture on how to live., It’s perfect for a parent and teen to go over together or to give as a thoughtful gift. This is a book they’ll reference for

Search and sing

This week's lesson outline was not age appropriate for the younger kids, so we did scripture races, searching for verses to better figure out where to find book/chapter/verse in our Bibles. Following each verse that was read, we sang a song that went along with what was being talked about. We moved through them slow and didn't get through them all, so I have some left for the next time I need to do something like this. (If you want my list, I'm willing to share.) Last week, we practiced "Thy Word" and I told them we'd sing it for video this week. They don't like looking up verses in Psalms. Our NKJV Bibles in the room have big initials at the first of each Psalm instead of big chapter numbers like every other book. Finding Psalms 119:105 was the equivalent of torture. I've not actually watched the video because you're going to hear my voice on it in spots. I was helping them stay on tune (or track-I don't know if I was on tune exactly)

What has to be the world's worst job

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You know what I think must be one of the world's most frustrating, stressful, thankless jobs, at least at this point and time in history? Being a customer care representative on the www.healthcare.gov AKA Obamacare website. Think about it. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, is having problems on the site. Very few people that I am aware of are happy about having to sign up for it. Couple with angst about having to sign up with technical difficulties. Everyone is going postal, and no one can help. It's not that I am pro-Obamacare, but complaining about it doesn't change anything for me, my individual self. I have to suck it up and accept it and try to work with it until the powers that be dictate something else. That's how I'm going into it. I just want it to work so that I can move on with my life and find out whether or not I'm going to have to re-do my budget to be able to pay for new coverage. I've had people on Facebook personally tell me not to

An emcee at a Halloween party for seniors

My life has come down to becoming an emcee at a Halloween party for senior citizens. My parents were invited to a couple's house for a Halloween party. Dad asked me to come along because this couple (who are in their 80s) are known for playing 42, and my mom doesn't play. There was an interesting combination of people there. I, of course, was the youngest, my mom was the next youngest and it steadily increased from there. The hostess then recruited me to help lead the games for the evening. First, it was a trivia game on 50's and 60's pop culture where everyone had to fill in the blanks. After that, we played the gossip game, AKA Telephone. I had to pick the two sentences that were whispered around the room. One in each direction. Let's just say when playing this game with a bunch of people that have hearing aids, or need hearing aids because they cannot hear out of one or the other ear, what gets around to the end is majorly skewed. More so than usual. At one

Eating lunch with the squirrels

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I don't know all the reasons why (I know a couple), but this week has been extremely frustrating and stressful when it comes to work. I haven't had a week like this in I don't know when. Just a perfect storm of factors, I guess. I usually don't stop for a lunch break. I'll grab something and bring it up to my desk. The past two days, I have taken a break. I've taken my lunch to the sunroom and watched the squirrels. In fact, today, I came downstairs, put on my walking shoes, blasted my guilty pleasures music to deafening levels on my iPod and walked a mile. Then, I had lunch with this squirrel. Here's something else I don't know... why the squirrels in my neighborhood have been extremely loud the past week or two. Yes, squirrels can be loud. They chatter very loudly when they are annoyed. They've been having arguments with the very loud blue jays, evidently. Another seemingly random fact, there are no squirrels in Australia. Australians fin

Neta and Dave Jackson's Derailed

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Last week I finished my latest "non-Litfuse, for my own reading pleasure book." Every once in a while I do get those in between other books I am reading for and from work.  Today's featured book Derailed , book 2 in the Windy City Neighbors series by Neta and Dave Jackson  (thank you Worthy Publishers) . About Derailed : What's it going to take to get him back on track? After marrying Estelle, the love of his life, ex-cop Harry Bentley's apartment feels too cramped, especially since he's now raising his grandson. God seems to provide the perfect solution - a two-flat that would also provide an apartment for his elderly mother. But when plans go awry, Harry has to go back to work as a detective, receiving a bizarre undercover assignment that sends him across the country by train and raises suspicions about his own son's involvement in a major drug cartel. It feels like God keeps switching signals - left, right, stop, go? Each time Harry thinks

Piecing together the big picture of God

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Children’s Ministry director Valerie Ackermann equips parents to grow their child’s faith at home The most important thing parents can do for their child is to pass on the greatness of who God is and what the Christian faith is about. However, parents often feel ill-equipped and unprepared to do so. As a director of children’s ministries, Valerie Ackermann has observed that most churches focus on developing their own programs but direct very little attention to helping parents talk about faith to their children at home where they spend the majority of their time. To address the missing pieces in a child’s faith development, Ackermann has written The God Puzzle: How the Bible Fits Together to Reveal God as Your Treasure (Higher Life Publishing / October 15, 2013 / ISBN: 978-1-939183-19-4 / $19.95) , an easy-to use workbook that parents and children can explore together. Some parents may believe their children are learning everything they need to know about God and faith i

Gunpowder Tea - Mark your calendar for “Tea with Margaret Browley”

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Margaret Brownley 's latest release, Gunpowder Tea , is receiving high praise, and she's  celebrating with a Kindle Fire giveaway and a "Tea with Margaret" Facebook party!   One winner will receive: A Kindle Fire Gunpowder Tea  by Margaret Brownley Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on November 7th. Winner will be announced at the "Tea with Margaret" Facebook Author Chat Party on the 7th . Connect with Margaret and friends for an evening of book chat, prizes, and get an exclusive look at Margaret's next book! So grab your copy of Gunpowder Tea  and join Margaret on the evening of November 7th for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book, don't let that stop you from coming!) Don't miss a moment of the fun;  RSVP today  by clicking JOIN at the event page. Spread the word — t ell your friends about the giveaway and party via FACEBOOK or  TW

The wise man, I am not

Ok, I admit it. We should practice more before I turn on the camera. I really thought about it today thinking this would almost be a given. "The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock." They don't sing it very often so I should have used my better judgment, but I'm not the wise man. One child even called it a baby song as to why he/she didn't know it. The point is, for 3rd and 4th graders, it shouldn't be. They should know it without being reminded what comes next. We're going to work more on my song cards.  Notice - Peyton is wearing the dress we went shopping for yesterday.

I accomplished 1 out of 3

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Yesterday, I posted about three things on my to-do list for this weekend. Today, I did one. Wallpaper and Obamacare got knocked off the list for today. Milk and toilet paper outranked the other two to win. After Paige's volleyball game, she and Dad assembled my mug shelves that had been on the walls at my old house into a free standing structure. Paige put one mug on the shelf before we left to get Peyton at a friend's house. Peyton had nothing to wear to church at her dad's house now that the weather has turned cooler, so I told her if we could stop staring in her closet, I would take her to buy something for tomorrow. I will remember this day before ever suggesting that again. I wouldn't call her a good shopper. At least not a decisive one. I convinced her to get the dress in the picture, but she didn't really like it. She found an outfit to wear tonight at a show she and my parents are going to. That was an accomplishment. After I went to the gro

Procrastination... and you wouldn't blame me

This weekend may end up with me facing all the things I've been putting off. Things anyone would procrastinate in doing. Like going to the grocery store. I hate going to the grocery store, but I can only go without buying milk and toilet paper for so long. My fridge is getting near empty. I've drank all the Coke Zero from the mini fridge in the office. All I have to eat for breakfast now is cereal, but I don't do well with dry cereal for breakfast. I had planned to go tonight when I got off of work, but I had to finish some things up, and at 7:00 I was over the thought of it. I didn't want to go in the dark. That's mostly just an excuse. Since October 1, I have been putting off logging on to the Obamacare website. My health insurance ends at the end of the year like many others who face the same fate due to the Affordable Care Act. I pay quite a bit now, and the letter I was sent in the mail says that there's a possibility it will be less expensive. I ha

What Paige and Uncle Si have in common

I'm not sure if you caught Duck Dynasty this week. In the latest episode, the gang in the duck call room introduced Si to YouTube. What I found hilarious about this is that he watched some, if not all, of the same videos that Paige and Emily were pulling up on YouTube at my house a couple of weekends ago.(Unfortunately, there isn't a clip of him watching the videos.) Videos such as... Si did not mention this one because the episode may have been taped before this video became popular. I had never heard of "What Does the Fox Say?" until they were over, and I've heard about it every day since. At the end of the episode, Si decided to make an instructional golf video to put up on You Tube. Another thing Si and Paige have in common are the skinniest legs known to man. I need to tell her that when I see her this weekend. Seriously! Look at his legs.

Praying for Your Addicted Loved One

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  Watching someone you love self-destruct hurts. Sharron Cosby's  Praying for Your Addicted Loved One: 90 in 90 provides ninety devotions of strength, hope, and encouragement to families coping with addiction. Realizing you’re not alone in your struggles brings comfort and confidence to face day-to-day challenges. Sharron is celebrating the release of her book with a Kindle Fire giveaway. Enter today. One winner will receive: A Kindle Fire Praying for Your Addicted Loved One  by Sharron Cosby Enter today by using the widget below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on October 31st.  Winner will be announced at the  Litfuse blog  on November 1st. Don't miss a moment of the fun; enter today and be sure to stop by  the Litfuse blog  on the 1st to see if you won.  (Or, better yet, subscribe to their blog {enter your email in the blog sidebar} and have the winner announcement delivered to your inbox) ! a Rafflecopter giveaway {MORE ABOUT  PRAYING FOR YOUR ADDICTED LOVE