A Winner & A Journey...

Amy H is the winner of the Made to Crave book!  Thanks so much to all of your for commenting!

God made us to crave...only we crave the wrong things so much of the time.  Filling ourselves with any form of meaningless junk that we can get our hands on when instead we could go directly to the One who created us and knows our deepest longings and needs.  

And sometimes the things we crave are good, spiritual things.  But if we crave them, more than we crave Him we end up in the same empty spot.

Learning to crave Him most is hard.  Very hard.  Logically, it shouldn't be so hard.  But sin has no logic.  Ever.  

So the journey continues...

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A Giveaway

It's been a long while since I did a give-away on the blog.  A very long while. 

I bought an extra copy of this book that I previously mentioned here.  So, it's time to share.

I've read it before, and now I'm working my way through it again since we are studying through it at our Ladies Bible Study.  

It's about food and so.much.more.than.food.

It's SUPER easy to register for a chance to win it.  Just leave a comment telling me (us) what you crave.  One word is fine.  

For another chance to win, you can head on over to my facebook page and leave a comment there as well.  And while you're there, go ahead and "like" the page and you can follow me via facebook, if you're not already.  Granted, I'm as exciting there as I am here *yawn* but still, just do it. 

If you already have a copy, no worries, register and get an extra copy to give to a friend.  Or to any enemy.  Or a stranger.  Whatever.

I'll enter everyone in and draw a winner on Friday.  Which means I'll make my kids write out your names and cut them into slips and draw them out of a bowl.  We are scientific like that.

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Make a Difference & Giveaway

If you haven't read yesterdays post.  You'll want to...unless you're one of those people who can jump into the middle of a movie and keep watching till the end, not even caring that you have no idea what happened in the beginning.  Not that I mind that *cough*


Yesterday I mentioned that I am SUPER excited about something...mostly because I love it.  A lot.  And I think you will too.  


Haleigh (from yesterdays post) is going to be going on a Christian Missions Aid trip to Kenya in November.  They'll be working in orphanages and doing other CMA relief and developmental projects.  You can learn more about it here.


To raise funds for the trip, she has put together a lullabies CD called Lullabies for Africa.  There are several different ways you can purchase it for download, all of which you can check out at the website  HERE.  And if you'd like to purchase the CD and case (below) you can here.

I downloaded it last week.  I can't even tell you how much I adore it.  It's a compilation of songs that Haleigh, her friends, and her sisters wrote and sing and it simply blows me away.  Every time I listen to it, I think of those babies in Africa...and I think of my own kids...and I just love it.  It's beautiful and fun, we've been listening to it all day long around here.


I just think it's such a great, creative way to not only raise money, but minister to people.  


It's the perfect gift for yourself, a friend, anyone...and the bonus is that it goes to such a great cause. 


The Lullabies for Africa website will have all the information you need to buy as much as you'd like.  Super simple.  You can even listen to some of the songs first.  We have some favorites in our house.  Bugga Boo is the song we sing non-stop around here.  Even my hubby is humming and singing it.  Right now, as I type this, I can hear (through the baby monitor) Ben whistling it.  For Real.  We also love Rest Your Head, One Two Three, I Love Ya, and Rest Your Head for the Night...you get the idea, we like it. 


There are also some ways you can help get the word out, so that everyone everywhere (go big or go home, right?) can get their hands on this music and fund this ministry opportunity.  I can't go to Africa to do the work needed.  Haleigh can.  The least I can do is help...and listen to music. ;)


I'm also excited to be GIVING AWAY a CD as well!  There's a few ways to enter.  For each way you enter, just leave me a separate comment telling me what you did.  


1 - Go to Lullabies for Africa and "Like" on Facebook. (you can also do this from the Lullabies for Africa website.


2 - Mention and link to the Lullabies for Africa website on your blog.


3 - Share the link on Twitter


4 - Purchase a copy or download it from the website (enter yourself twice for that!) and if you win, then mark someone off your Christmas list. ;)


5 - Listen to Bugga Boo and tell me you too cannot stop singing it.


Ok, I think that's it.  


I'm gonna leave the chance to win open till Friday.   Now it's your turn.  Spread the love.


Isn't this fun?!?  

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Winner and Terrible Song

We have a winner!  Gretchen @ Lifenut...it. is. YOU!  (email me your address:)


I'm a little giddy about this because she is one of my favorite bloggers.  I always leave Lifenut completely amused by her writing style.  And her.  And her family.  Well, you get the idea.  


And, in honor of her win, and this post that has kept me thinking of terrible Christmas songs all week long....I give you the Christmas song I desperately despise, with all my heart. And after my few years of working retail, back in my early 20's, (which was not when this song was new, by the way!)  I can honestly say I've heard it 1.2 million times.  


Enjoy.  *cough*  


">

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8gmARGvPlI

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Friendship and a Giveaway...

There's nothing quite like a friend who has known you for forever.  There's something magical about going through significant stages of young life, together.   Preschool, grade school, awkward stages, puberty and junior high, high- school, community college... :)


I've made some really great friends as an adult, but there is something different...something I can't quite put my finger on,  about those relationships with people that have known me forever.  The history shared together really is priceless.  They've seen me at my best, and seen me at my worst.  Over the years, we get to see each other grow and mature...and it's really quite amazing when I think about it.


Today is my friend Shell's birthday.  She's one of those friends.  And her name really isn't Shell, it's Michelle...but sometime in college I started calling her Shell, and now for the life of me I CANNOT STOP.  It's like my pet name for her. ;)  


I give you us, at our senior prom.  (me on the left, Shell in the middle, ignore the girl on the right)  

Happy Birthday Shell!  You're still the amazing, beautiful girl you've always been.  Love you!

Oh wait, there's more...

In honor of Shell's Birthday, and Christmas Time Baking, and the fact that I've eaten through two bags...I'm doing a little give-away.

Of these:

Brachs Chocolate Stars

I have no idea why, but these things are a-maze-ing.  I've been talking about them on Facebook, for weeks. They are delish on their own, or, you can make these:

 

The recipe is on the back of the bag :)

To enter the giveaway, leave me a comment about friends, or chocolate, or your senior prom...whatever you feel the need to share  AND go over and visit my beautiful friend, Shell at Giblogger, and look at her beautiful family and wish her a Happy Birthday...but don't even bother asking her to dish secrets about me, because we decided long ago, in our tiny little apartment together that "what happens in the loft, stays in the loft."

The End.

Oh wait, not quite...the giveaway will end at midnight tonight...along with Shell's birthday.

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A Winner!

This is how our week has gone:

Early out
Snow Day
Late Start

Ben was also home Monday (like usual) and then home sick on Tuesday.

Today though, everyone is going back to school and back to work. And I will do laundry.

Good times.

Anyways, I decided to have Eli show you his 7 year old mouth...the teeth, they just keep falling out.

As you can see, he was thrilled to take a break from watching his movie so I could snap his picture. I also made him pick a number between 1 and 71 for the book give-away. In true Eli fashion, he picked 80 just to be funny.

And then I gave him *the look* and he picked 50.

Fringe Girl you are the WINNER! Email me your address and I'll send this your way! YAY!

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Finally I Give the Book Away!

The day has come.

Finally.

The chance to win the book! Lisa even autographed it for you. And I even autographed my quote for you. Kidding. I'm only kidding. I totally didn't sign it...although I may have smiley faced it.

I really do love this book. I know I've told you that already. There's just a few more things I want to share about it before you enter to win.

• I cried in chapter one (p. 26) I love their story, and their call to ministry, because it has God's handwriting all over it. You see Him do the seemingly impossible, and can't help but say to yourself, Yep God, only You...
• I did the most underlining in Chapter 2, which bears the same title as the book. In particular, she speaks of being winsome. And frankly, it's something all women need to hear. Couple quotes:

• People are much more likely to overlook faults when mutual love undergirds the relationship. And, in order for people to love you, you need to present yourself as lovable. (p. 53)

Girls, people need to like being around you! (p. 52)

Amen.

Good stuff. Practical, useful stuff. Hurts so good kind of stuff.

Alright. I'll let you enter now. Just leave me a comment to get yourself entered. I tried to think of something clever to have you comment about, but apparently I haven't had enough coffee yet...

I'll randomly pick a winner on Wednesday.

If you're not a blogger, please leave me an email address so I can reach you if you win!

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Speaking Of...

The end of last week and into the weekend are sort of a blur...I've had a bad cold, which has turned me into a total whiner...I'm not even exaggerating.

I woke up this morning in disbelief that it could actually be Monday already. Do you ever do that?!?

Praise God that I have a fresh stock of Dunkin' Donuts coffee in the fridge. Phew.

Speaking of donuts...my bloggy friend Mama Belle is from Louisiana and she had a little giveaway which I happened to WIN! YAY! My odds were good people. She was giving away a King Cake and as soon as she said it was like a big donut I entered myself repeatedly. I heart donuts.

The cake arrived via the UPS man on Thursday.

It took me all of 45 seconds to open the 2 boxes, cut a slice equivalent to 4 donuts, warm it in the microwave and eat it with a cup of coffee. It was delish.

I should mention that as I sliced into the cake, I immediately found this:

It was a little disturbing....until I read the instructions...which then told me this was the baby Jesus and whoever finds it has to purchase the King Cake next year. Tradition.

I did what any reasonable person would do since no one else was around...I shoved it into another piece of cake ;)

I'm no dummy.

Thanks Mama Belle for giving this life-long Midwesterner a touch of Louisiana...and for helping me gain 10 extra pounds. Who can resist a big donut?

Oooh....this makes me think of something Julie said last week. She's a little nervous that she's going to turn into a "giant" during her stay in America. Apparently our reputation for eating junk is loud and far reaching. I couldn't deny it...we do eat a lot of junk...thus my need for the less than enjoyable running.

Speaking of eating...yesterday I took these two girlies out to eat and then shopping :) This is an exciting picture of us waiting to get into the restaurant.

They're the two that are responsible for me wanting a foreign exchange student in first place. They're so much fun that I wanted one of my own :) And now...I have one! Well, sort of. Technically she won't be here for 5 more months, but I feel like I know her well enough to call her my own already :)

And since she's already part of the parsonage family, it is my duty to post this, my favorite of all the pictures thus far...it was made by her best friend, Audhild.

It's how we knew she fit perfectly into Life in the Parsonage.

Love you goofball Julie who reads my blog but hasn't commented for a long time ;)

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3 Winners & Cute Jeans...

You should know that Ben and I were quite entertained at all your comments. You should also know that we are both easily amused.

Two things come to mind.

1. I am not the only one with a desire to get my house and life in order. I'm in good company.


2. "Ain't too proud to beg" also comes to mind, which is fantastic because we all know pride is such an ugly thing. :)

Random. org will be choosing the winners because I, of course, could never choose between you.

Winner #1: Commenter #62 : Jennifer @ Perspective From the Parsonage

#2 Commenter #131: Laurie M: Self proclaimed lurker :)

#3 Commenter #194: Beth @ Preserved By a Promise

See all you lurkers out there, it totally pays off to make yourself known. :) Winners, email me your real address so I can send them to you!

On a completely unrelated note to anything having to do with organizing and cleaning...last weekend when we had our little get away we found some good deals shopping. I mean cheap stuff.

My favorite by far though, was these jeans I got for Eli for $3.97 plus an additional 25% off at Gap. They are so him.

Gap calls them skater jeans. We call them rock star jeans ;)

Rock on friends, rock on.

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Bring On the Comments...

It's been about a month since I began my cleaning/organizational tangent.

That little tangent began after picking up this cute little book at the local Christian bookstore.

A month later I can still say that I really love the principals this book lays out. It has motivated me and helped me to tweak areas of my home and areas of my own thinking in order to make things run more smoothly.

I'm not talking perfection, here. After all, the book is not called The House That Cleans Itself and Stays Perfect Without You Doing Anything Ever Again...although I would have totally bought it if that were indeed the title.

Organization requires maintenance. Dang it, but it's true. I have to make a point to put stuff back in it's newly labeled place. I have to remind my boys, pretty much every day, to hang up their coats. But at least we all know where the stuff now belongs, and that is huge!

Is everything perfect? No way. Perfection is not my goal. My kids would hate me if I required perfection...I would hate me too.

The key to an organized house is not that it looks super clean all the time...the key is that when you pick up, it goes QUICKLY, because

1. There's not a ton of extra junk around that you just don't know what to do with (because you've sorted, pitched, and donated)


2. Everything has a place...basically.

I love this book. I have picked it up dozens of times to re-read certain sections. There is still many ideas that I haven't implemented yet...baby steps.

I'm telling you, no matter how neat and organized you think you already are, this book has more ideas. For real. And if you're feeling overwhelmed, this book has ideas. Really good ideas.

The author Mindy Starns Clark sent me three autographed copies...all her idea, I didn't ask her to do it, she's just generous like that :)

Leave me a comment, about anything you'd like and you'll be entered! I'll pick THREE random winners tomorrow! Leave me different comments and enter yourself as many times as you like...why not?!?

Happy Organizing and Thanks Mindy! :)

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Two Things...

So the title of my post yesterday was sneaky, I'll admit. Shame on me ;)

I think I could start a new blog series called "Why it's better to have a pretend teenage daughter than a real one" For example, yesterday was our first day we were able to communicate and one of the first things Julie wrote was, "You are so young." I'm pretty much positive this is not something a real teenage girl tells her mother.

It made me love her even more. Of course.

And I think when she gets here, we should all talk her into doing a regular guest post on Life in the Parsonage: The teenager from Norway version...good stuff.

Here's some stuff I learned about her already:

• Her English vocabulary may be better than mine. She used the word flabbergasted. Which impresses me beyond belief. Nice that I need to have a foreign exchange student in order to expand my own English. By the time she lives with me for a year, she'll be using made up words and improper grammar like no one's business. :)


• She is not a "pink person" which is good, because I'm not either. No pink bedroom walls in this house. But I've got a girlie plan that is cute as all get out, and I'll share it with you when it's complete in its perfection.


• She is sweet. And charming. I can tell she's charming already...I just can. And witty! Go check out the comments on my post yesterday, she commented at the end.

I have one picture of her that I got from our exchange student coordinator...wanna see her?!?

Bloggy friends, meet Julie:

In other news: Remember that book The House That Cleans Itself that I went on and on about?!? Well, the lovely author of that book, Mindy Starns Clark sent me THREE autographed copies to give away to ya'll! Thanks Mindy!

Two things:

1. The give away is not until TOMORROW! So you have time to tell your bloggy friends OR be selfish and keep the news to yourself in hopes of increasing your odds of winning. It's between you and the Lord ;)


2. Comment on the post tomorrow and then on Thursday I will randomly choose THREE winners!

See ya tomorrow!

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We Have a Winner

I am so excited to give this book away!

Without further ado, the number that the random generator chose out of 94 comments is..... *drum roll*

#3, Cindy @ Simply Cindy...YAY!

I used this generator (because I couldn't find the one everyone else seems to use...someone let me know what the link to that one is for future giveaways;)

Now Cindy, you're gonna totally have to let us know how it goes, OK?!?

And for those of you who've already ordered the book, you must MUST let me know how it goes.

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We Have A Winner...

Remember this little give-away?!? :)

I tried, really I did, to figure out that fancy little random number generator that I've seen on countless give-aways...but obviously, in my computer idiotness I totally couldn't figure it out.

So I resorted to a much more scientific approach.

1. printed off the comments
2. cut them in strips
3. folded and placed in a bowl
4. mixed them up

Then, the boys, picked one.

And the winner is........

Tracie @ Coffee with the Crains!!!!!! Congratulations!

I had to smile, because after all the printing, cutting and folding and mixing of those comments...Eli draws the first comment on that post :)

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A Tiny Town Give-Away!

So...if you've read my blog at all this summer you know it's been quite eventful in tiny town over the past several months.

All that God is doing here in the midst of it...just continues to take my breath away. Sometimes to appreciate today, one must go back and remember where they were.

Here's a little journey down memory lane...

May 25th 2008: An EF5 tornado came through the and devastated the West side (just outside of town) and the North end of town where the cemetery and new housing development stood.

Looked a little like this:

This was my friend Shanon's home. It has been bull-dozed and the new framing of the house should start going up this month! YAY! Many of the other homes that were hit are also in the process of rebuilding.

This was the cemetery. All of the big pine trees that lined it were totally gone and head stones turned over. The headstones have been put back in place, and this fall new evergreens will be planted.

Then, during the midst of the tornado clean-up, on June 8th 2008, tiny-town experienced one of the worst floods in its history. This is a town that is used to flooding...it's just part of life...but this flood covered most of the town in water and it was devastating...to say the least.

As I went back to find pictures of it, I realized that at the time, every time I went to get my camera, I was just too sad to even take a picture of the devastation. I have some of our basement, which was so very minor compared to the rest of town, which if probably why I have a pic of it.

Here was our basement:

We've since gotten a new water heater, and a new furnace will be installed soon. BUT, it's dry...and still smells a little like bleach :)Rubber boots were the staple for quite some time...I have to say, I miss them a little.

OK, now starts our journey through tiny town. I was trying to be discreet and take pictures (from my van and yes those are stickers stuck to it, imagine that) while driving around...yeah, that doesn't work so well :) AND in tiny-town you can't do anything without someone you know seeing you...my friend Connie ran into me when I was down by the CO-OP and said "what are you doing?!?" ...because generally, I don't hang out at the CO-OP...although I might start...

I digress...the above picture is what several homes in town now look like. Many had to be burned down.

While others:

Just got jacked waaaay up in the air...whatever works.

Many are trying to sell what's left and move on, and others (below) have decorated their house before it's scheduled destruction...

And we also have some good 'ol FEMA trailers...which by the way, I have NO IDEA how a family fits in there.

This was our Kwik Star that...hmmm...how shall I say it....totally abandoned us in our time of need. I do not heart kwik star anymore.

We did lose the gas station, but the car wash re-opened! And, for the record, it has a pop machine...which I've visited on more than one occasion ;)

And last, but certainly not least...the beloved post office! IT'S OPEN!!! In it's honor...I give you a pic of our PO Boxes...exciting, I know.

So, for my very first give-away in honor of the post office, I'm giving away 3 of my favorite things...

1. A $10 gift card to STARBUCKS


2. Some Aveda Conditioner


3. And a "green" bag from Target that folds with velcro tabs into the size of a wallet...SO CUTE!

Leave me a comment, tell me anything, and you'll be registered in my little drawing! It'll be open through Saturday and I'll post the winner on Sunday! If you're not a blogger or are a blogger without an email address listed, please leave me your email in your comment so I can get ahold of you!

HAPPY FRIDAY! It's Homecoming Game for tiny-town tonight...GO BIG BLUE!!!!!

PS - if you're interested in reading more about tiny town you can go to the left side of my sidebar and click on tiny town under "things I blog about".

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Post Office: I love You...

First off: Your comments yesterday were so incredibly encouraging to me, thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm feeling better about walking through that fear, realizing that it's going to feel scary, but maybe that's how walking in faith is supposed to feel...

Second: This bloggy friend had such a clever post yesterday...I'm totally wishing I'd thought of it...oh, and it mentions my name in it...and it's funny...and you should just listen to me and go watch it :)

Third: Guess what openes in tiny-town TODAY?!?
Did you guess?
THE POST OFFICE. Yiiiippppeeeee!
No more driving into the bigger city just to get my bills mail. But, it really was an excellent excuse to drive thru Starbucks...so for that reason, I might miss it a little.

Or not. I can still hit the Starbucks on the way to Target ;)


So, tomorrow, in honor of the post office re-opening and tiny-town (and me) recovering from this and this and this and this...I'm gonna have some pictorial updates and my very first GIVEAWAY (which I can send out from my new fixed up post office!)


I'm not entirely sure what the give-away will be yet...but it will certainly involve some of this super smelling stuff ;)


So...come back tomorrow and visit and enter yourself and then I can have a good 'ol time drawing names! :)


I have now resorted to bribing you....wow....it's kinda like you're my children now.

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