This past weekend I experienced a physical sensation of Scripture. Here’s what happened … I had the amazing privilege of speaking for a group of wonderful women in Wisconsin. We’ve been planning this event for several months and God led me to write a new message for the weekend. I have literally prayed and fasted for this event for months. To top it off, I took along three of my closest friends to serve as the worship team and they were extraordinary! I expected to be soaring. Seriously!

However, just before my morning message I was sitting in the pew and I physically felt like all my energy was dripping out my fingers and toes and all I wanted to do was go to sleep. I would have freaked out, but at that moment, I was too overcoming with exhaustion to freak. I simply prayed. (more…)

If you thought I was predicting the winner of today’s election, you will be disappointed. The kids and I started our day out at 6:35 at the polls, however. We volunteered to help with Kids Vote USA from 7-9 a.m. It was a blast! My favorite moment was when one little boy turned in his ballot. I gave him a high-five and some kudos for voting. Then he loudly announced, “I’d NEVER vote for … “at that moment his astute Momma clamped her hand over his mouth … and about thirty voters in the area busted up laughing. Hilarious!

We celebrated our morning by going to Perkins for breakfast, coming home to do school … and we cleaned the entire house top to bottom. If you’ve been following my speaking schedule for the last 8 weeks, then  you can imagine how dire the situation was in our house. Even the mealworms who are now, one-by-one transforming into beetles (the boys’ science experiment) were wanting out of the house!  It’s a thing of beauty now though. I see supper out in our future. After we finished cleaning, I wrapped up the proposal for the Bible study I just finished and sent it off to my agent. the hamburger remained thawed in the fridge.

Now, if you thought WINNER! referrred to the bloggy carnival, you were right!  Here are the winners of the three prizes … congratulations!  Please email me your mailing address so I can get these things sent off to you!

Ginny (scrappydesigns@gmail.com) won Sharon Hinck’s two books, The Secret Life of Becky Miller and Renovating Becky Miller

 Cheryl C. (castings@mindspring.com) won the $25 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble

Lydia (lydia@bower@gmail.com) won the foot spa

Please send me your addresses. Yes, I know I said that already, but I want you to get your prizes!!

Congratulations!

Friends, for the first time ever I’m participating in a Bloggy Carnival. The gist of it’s a breeze - just look through the posts made any time during September or October and leave at least one relevant comment on at least one of those posts - other than this one. The comments must apply to the post, and consist of more than just “great post.” ( Sorry, but I’m going to be a stickler on this … ENTRIES NOT ABIDING BY THIS SINGLE RULE WILL BE DISQUALIFIED.) You may enter up to 5 (five) times, but each entry must be on a different post and must apply to that particular post. When you make a comment, please make sure to leave an e-mail address or post using your google account so I have a way to contact you if you win. If I don’t have a way to contact you directly, I will choose another winner. Enter by midnight October 31st for your chance to win!

I’m drawing three (3) names. The first winner will receive a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble. The second winner gets a new Homedics Bubble Bliss heated foot spa. The third winner gets autographed copies of Sharon Hinck’s Becky Miller series books: The Secret Life of Becky Miller and Renovating Becky Miller.

For more contests going on this week - check over a Bloggy Carnival for a HUGE list!

Two friends are also participating in the carnival. Check out their blogs too! Tracy Ruckman and Amy Barkman

Last weekend the kids and I headed back to the farm to spend a few days with my parents, brothers, SIL, and cousins. Mike stayed back in Rochester to … clean the carpets and windows! God Bless Mike!

Growing up on the farm, I can’t tell you how familiar certain smells are to me. My kids … not so much. When we arrived at my parents’ farm on Friday, we were quickly ushered to the shed to check out their new huge camper. It was fantastic and the kids have their next vacation planned now. When we left the shed, my two oldest kids acted like they were going to die. Several miles away from us there’s a plant, and I admit, it reeks. But to see Kadi and Ben … good grief! They had their shirts pulled over their noses and were running to the house.

My dad and brother raise hogs and when the wind is out of the east, it can get fairly ripe. I can’t say I enjoy the odor, but it’s familiar and I immediately have a dozen memories pop into my head. Harvest smells, though, are my favorite. There’s a sense of excitement in the air as the family worked together to accomplish something monumental before the weather began working against us. (more…)

This past weekend I spent a glorious three days in the woods of Northern Wisconsin. I had the privilege and blessing of being the speaker for a women’s retreat. Sometimes I feel like I need a retreat after I speak for a retreat. Know what I mean? That was not the case this weekend. In fact, I felt like God tucked me on a chair on wheels and we cruised through the weekend with Him in control.

On Friday morning, before I whizzed through school with the kids while simultaneously mentally checking off all the things I still needed to gather, pack, and load before delivering children to two different locations, I spent time (again) talking to God about the weekend ahead. I asked Him to give me a fresh Word specifically for this group of His daughters. Going into retreats or events like this, I am keenly aware of the fact that He knows the hearts of each woman and knows their needs when I do not. I prayed that God would speak clearly and loudly (sometimes I don’t listen well) and that I would be obedient and confident if He asked me to leave the safety of my notes in lieu of His message. (more…)

Here it is friends, Ben’s plea to the Hershey folks. We have collected 7 letters collected so far with two that have been promised by mail. Read my last post to catch the details about this little crusade. For inspiration, here’s Ben’s letter …  (I’m well aware that it’s hard to read here. Click on the letter to read it full size!)

My 8 year old has declared war. Okay, maybe that’s a little strong. What he said was, “Caleb, are you in or out? We have got to save the world! I could use your help. Hershey can’t get away with this. They are ruining the world for our grandchildren!” Yep! That’s really what he said.

Here’s the background … last November we visited the Hershey Factory in Hershey, PA. It was wonderful and smelled amazing! Ben was in Hershey Heaven as he is a huge fan of all things chocolate. When the kids are especially cooperative at the grocery store, I often reward them with their choice of a check-out-lane/lane-where-mom-caves treat. Ben nearly always chooses a plain Hershey bar … king size if he can get away with it.

Last week, Ben and I were horrified to see a story on the Today show that spoiled our entire day. (The women at my last retreat even heard me lament about it!) Apparently, due to higher cost of ingredients, Hershey’s is removing cocoa butter from many of it’s popular chocolate candies, and replacing it with cheaper vegetable oil. (I overheard Ben on the phone with his 8-year-old buddy, Drew. Ben was telling him all about this nightmare and how “vegetable oil” makes his tummy sick if he eats too much of it in candy bars! Ha!) (more…)

Friends, if you remember, last weekend I had the privilege of interviewing Nancy Moser at the Mall of America’s ACFW event. Nancy is writing some really neat things. I was very excited to hear about her newest release, John 3:16. While I have not read it yet, (I didn’t even sign up to read this one as I’m writing under deadline myself) I can’t wait to get my hands on it. I love football and the John 3:16 signs always intrigue me. If you get to read this before I do, let me know what you think!

Also, check out Nancy’s website. She is writing some amazing fictionalized biographies about fascinating women like Mozart’s sister. (more…)

I had the most wonderful and wild weekend and I have pictures galore to share. However, since we’ve gotten our new desktop, I don’t have my Creative Memories software installed yet. I’ll add pictures soon. Actually, as soon as Mike installs everything I need. :)  In the meantime, you’ll just have to picture it all in your imagination.

Friday I left for St. Paul to pinch hit as a retreat speaker for the White Bear Lake United Methodist church. I shared with a sweet group of ten women on Friday night and Saturday morning. The event was held at the St. Paul Monastery and I had the funnies sister who took delight in harassing me. Oh, it was all good natured. I’m quite certain she’s the “Maria” of this order. Ha! Hope she’s reading this and just in case she is … I counted my shoes twice and made sure my laptop was in my bag when I left. So there. (more…)

Don’t panic. We don’t have ants. Well, at least not several ants. Just one. Here’s the deal … stick with me.

This week we kicked-off our school year. Homeschooling grades K, 2, and 7 creates many new challenges. I’m … no, we’re still working out our rhythm. I confess that this week has been a bit overwhelming, and not just for me. On Monday, Kadi and I sat down and went through her assignments for the week. We wrote out the work that needed to be accomplished over the course of the next five days. Bless her heart, she has a thoughtless mother/teacher sometimes. I failed to recognize how overwhelming it would be to receive all new curriculum, new textbooks, at a more advanced level, and then to get a weeks’ worth of work dumped on you.  She was nearly in tears and clearly stressed, and I had to  bite my tongue not to say, “Suck it up, honey. This is life. Seventh grade is NOT sixth grade.” Gulp. I’m not sure I bit my tongue in hind sight. (more…)