Another Year has passed

Another year has passed by and like all years that have passed by it was full of ups and downs.  2012 ended with a funeral of my husband’s grandfather which was a sad loss.  The man had some interesting ways about him but some of those interesting ways are the very thing that makes us smile in remembrance of him. 

This past year has been tough and heartbreaking but looking back on the year past…I see how much stronger I have become and how God has helped us through it, which really helps me to see how blessed I am. 

This past year flew by, I think because we were so busy this year… we never really got to stop and enjoy it.  But we had a few moments where we did… In spring we got to go camping one weekend to a campground that we had heard about the day before we left.  It turned out to be a really awesome place. The camp sites were secluded, spacious and clean.  We brought our dog Max along with us and he did great with his first camping trip.  We even got to go on a hike that was a nice easy going hike but had a spectacular water fall view.  Then in Fall our friend, hubby’s best friend came down from Oregon to visit with us for a few weeks. It was a treat to have him down and stay with us and we even got to take him to Galtinburg,TN which was fun!

One of the best things and perhaps one the main reasons why we were so busy this year was because Chandler and I signed on our own house in July.  I would have never really thought we would end up with the house we did…but it was all Gods doing.  The very house we bought is the same house that Chandler and I looked at before we even got married.. and at the time the house needed repairs and it wasn’t in our budget. Years past as we watched this house sit empty, go for sale, and then get took off the market… then this past year it was on the market and we had been thinking about moving …we always looked around you know “window shopped”  at houses.  It wasn’t until this year that we were able to make this happen… and we searched and searched.. looked at few other houses but we ended up at the very house we looked at 5years ago.  God has blessed us with a lovely place of our own… its an older house but it has great potential and we got a few things we really wanted our house to have… for hubby it was a garage aka Man Cave… for me it was a spacious kitchen, hardwood floors and fire place.  

While the house has been one of the best things, half our year was very busy because of the whole process of getting the house and then moving…which wasn’t easy when my husband had to start going out of town the very next week after we signed on our house… it made things difficult to move and get things done we needed to do.. when he worked all week out of town and would only get to come home for the weekend.  But things started calming down and then the Holidays began.  Once the Holidays started time really flew by then and now its 2013.

Today is Tuesday

Apparently as we get older, things just seem to pass by so quickly... I can't believe in just few days it will be Thanksgiving!!  Well I here in the US anyways...lol  I have to laugh about that because I have Canadian friends who celebrate on the wrong day, just kidding friends!  but yeah... lol

I am looking forward to hosting my very first Thanksgiving at our new house. So this week I have been working towards making everything look lovely around the house.  I got my grocery shopping out of the way... well I still need to pick up a few items from the grocery store I forgot lol   I seem to be more forgetful these days... does that ever happen to you?

It also keeps getting colder... I know its just that time of the year for cold weather...but yet again we are dealing with heating issues... and it looks like we will be replacing our whole unit soon enough... but the hard part is choosing what to get.   Do you have any suggestions?

Free Treat Card

Have you ever wanted to send a card but never could find the "right one" ?  Maybe as you were reading some greeting cards some sounded okay but you wished that one part wasn't in there...or maybe you wish you could add too it... well Treat lets you create one of a kind card that is sure to impress. 

What is Treat?  Treat is Shutterfly’s exciting new greeting card brand that makes it easy for people to create and send one-of-a-kind greeting cards. Treat cards are perfect for holidays, birthdays, congrats, thank yous and every occasion in between. It’s crazy fun. It’s super easy. And it’s totally personal.

All of my readers have the oppurtunity to create a treat for FREE 

please go to http://www.treat.com/  and create your treet.

and use code: TREATBLOGR  

This offer is only good through Monday 11/19-  Tuesday 11/20 

Nicaragua

You may have heard me mentioning Nicaragua on facebook, the reason why is because I am going.  This upcoming February I will be going to Nicaragua on a mission trip with my church. I am really looking forward to going, and this will be my first international mission trip. 

Many Sundays ago, I was told about the oppuritunity to go to Nicaragua....we seen photos and videos that our preacher had took when he and other pastors, preachers and men of God went to see about doing missions over there... and it just really broke my heart to see children digging for food at the dump sites... and the homes they lived in... where nothing but sticks in the ground with tarp around them... villages who had one out house for the whole village, and also one cooking site for the whole village... many villages didn't even have running water.  I just wanted to go and help...doing whatever I could... I knew that I was just  meant to go on this trip. 

After I had decided I wanted to go, I had prayed about it to make sure I was meant to go.  However I also had other things on my heart that I desired  more than going to Nicaragua.  I would have choose them over going to Nicaragua but God showed me that I needed to go to Nicaragua.  It was hard at first to give up what I wanted, what I desired although I knew it was the right thing to do... that still didn't make it easy. 
But you know what I got to a time where I realized that it was what I need to do, and I got so much peace from putting God first. 

We have many people going on this trip, so we have been doing fundraisers to raise money for our expenses.  So far we have raised some money but we still need to raise lots more.  This friday we will be having a dinner and auction at our church  (Marietta First Baptist Church)  if you would like to come and support us dinner is at 6pm and the auction is at 6:45pm.   The dinner is going to be a buffet sytle Nicarguan food,  $10 adult,  $5 kid  and $30 maxium for a family.  

If you do not live local or you aren't interested in the dinner/auction but still would like to Donate to help us go to Nicaragua .. I have a paypal button where you can send me paypal Or you also can make out an check to MFBC  and write (Nicaragua) in the subject line.   I can give you the address of where to mail it. 

But also I would love to have your prayers, as we prepare to go! 

Thanks Friends!

A Stash for Cash

Have you heard about Movember?   Movember is a month dedicated to raising awareness and money towards Mens health specifically for prostate and testicular cancer.    Men will start off with a clean shaved face and will grow out a stash.   Stash for cash...  This year my husband is taking part of raising money to support this cause.  I am proud of my husband for taking part and helping support this cause, its awesome!

My father in law has decided that if  my husband can raise $1,000  that my father in law will shave off his mustash.  This a big deal because my father in law has had his mustash and beard for 30years.  My father in law has been growing out his mustash and beard since he was a teenager and has never shaved it not once!! So not only will my husband be raising money for an important cause but we also have a goal to reach!  

This is Chandler's page   http://us.movember.com/mospace/5136341    Please check it out,  I would love for you to donate money to help, or atleast to leave comments for support as Chandler raises cash for stash's!  

Novemeber 1

Today is Novemeber 1st,  Halloween has passed by and now we get ready for holidays to come...its a wonderful time of year.  This is also when things start to get busy not only at work but in our lives...  and I want to challenge you this month to take part of 30days of Thankfulness...  Starting today just come up with ONE thing you are thankful for, its that simple.   This challenge will help you to see that you have many things to be thankful for in your life.  

I also want to challenge any Men who read this blog to take part of Movember.

Time to start thinking... about Christmas Cards!

Its getting to be the holiday season, and you may have already noticed Christmas items in stores already. So its time to start thinking about Photo Christmas Cards!  Last year I got my cards from Tiny Prints 

This was last year's card, if you may remember... and I love the way they turned out!!  They had so many card options to choose from!  So many different layouts, styles, even down to if you wanted a glossy card, to matte type of card.  I am really pleased with their work.  I highly recommend Tiny Prints to all of you and I recommend you check out the Special Offers Page  for coupons and special offers.  

This is an sponsored post by Tiny Prints!

Please go check out there website : https://www.tinyprints.com/?utm_expid=2751594-3

 Or  check out their social networking sites :
•             Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tinyprints

•             Twitter: http://twitter.com/tinyprints

•             Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/tiny_prints/

•             Instagram: Tiny Prints

•             Google +: https://plus.google.com/+tinyprints/

•             Blog: http://blog.tinyprints.com/



I am also going to give away $50 off total order from Tiny Prints to one lucky person!  $50 off total order (does not include shipping & cannot be combined with any other promos) Please leave me a comment to be entered in give away!  Winner will be announced next Saturday Oct 27th