9 Things Before Nine{AM}

                                                                                       Source: flickr.com via Monica on Pinterest

Okay, friends. Let's just cut to the chase.

1. Blissdom'12 was mind blowing. Inspiring. Overwhelming. I am honestly still processing it all, but I learned more than I bargained for. I also met some pretty cool people. More on that soon.

                                                                   Source: stopthinkingforyourself.tumblr.com via Consuelo on Pinterest

2. Did you watch the Oscars last night? All I can think about is how young Tom Cruise looked. I felt like I was in a time warp....and it was a good one. Can anyone say Top Gun? ; )

3. I also found a rerun of Grey's Anatomy playing. ( If you're a fan, it was the "shooter in the hospital" episode.) I'm amazed at how that one single episode can still completely stress me out & make me break out in a sweat the 3rd time watching.

4. I got to wear my dress from the Grammys again on Saturday night. ; ) I truly thought I'd never wear it again, but hey....it fit. I hope to have a few photos to share from that soon. (And I'm going to finally post the photos from our time at the Grammys. TWO YEARS AGO. Sheesh. I know.)

5. So...grass stains. I can't stand them. Maddox has stains on almost every single uniform item he wears to school so, last night, I poured bleach directly on all of the white items. Guess what? Stains are still there. Mhmmm. I hate bleach now, too.

6. Maddox wrote and recorded another song right before he turned 6 this month. We're working on a full album. We should have 10 songs by the time he's thirteen if we continue to do one every year. So far, so good. They are pretty darn cute and I keep forgetting to share. Hoping to post the first 3 sooner than later.

                

7. During Blissdom, I received a free signed copy of the book Quitter by Jon Acuff. He was an amazing, inspirational, hilarious, and very real speaker. I came away with so many things to think about and started reading it yesterday. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

                

8. This morning on the drive to school, it was just me and Maddox. I cranked up my current favorite soundtrack and used my still-a-little-bit-sick-awesome-raspy-singing voice to sing Bruno Mars' "It Will Rain". It was perfection. So I did it twice. With feeling. (Don't be thinking 'poor Maddox' because he was singing along, too. Promise.)

9. And lastly. *sigh* I can't find the key to my new treadmill. : / How's that going to work out now? Hmmm. Still looking....

HAPPY MONDAY!

I Will Survive

If you know me well, then you know I don't like the winter season.

It's just cold. 

Too. Freezing. Cold. 

I'm a summertime girl and could live in a bathing suit,

all oiled up,

book in hand,

lying on a float in the pool

on the hottest days here....

for the rest of my life. No lie.

BUT....

yesterday it started snowing and when I finally raised my weary head after the 3rd time hitting snooze on my alarm clock, I went to check my cell phone and Maddox's teacher had texted me this:

"No school today."

In my head, I suddenly broke into The Hallelujah Chorus.

And I can handle that. : )

You know why?

Pardon me, as I share two important (horrible quality) cell phone photos from after school yesterday.

Reason #1 that we will survive the next few months:

Oh yes. He reads now. Chapter books! Alone!

He just discovered The Magic Treehouse Series two nights ago with me and he wants to read them all the time now. He literally asks if he can read them when he wakes up, before bed, after school. He is so excited about finishing each chapter and moving onto the next. 

I am giddy with excitement that I might have a fellow bookworm in this house! : )

And for the more active member of our home....Reason #2:

Baby got a brand new bike.

Yes! And she loves it! So does Brother.

(I just realized that she's wearing one of her new aprons in the above photo. Aunt Heather - she loves it! She received 2 for her birthday, which was great because she didn't have one yet, and both of them were given to her by two different Heathers. They are so adorable and she wears both. Ha!)

Back to the bike. This is so fantastic actually....the trike is a Trek Trikester/Trekster and it has real wheels.

We found this used locally, but in perfect condition. Normally retails for over $200, but my thrifty self found it for $75. SCORE! The awesome thing is that our downstairs has an entire "track" for them to ride on the hardwood floors. 

If you've been here, you know....if you haven't, here's how it works. : )

You start in the kitchen, then speed through the long hall to the foyer (as shown above),

then make a sharp right through the dining room, continue through the butler's pantry into the kitchen.

Another sharp right take you THROUGH the kitchen and back around to where you started. 

You're pretty much going in a large circle around our stair case and closet, 

and

IT

IS

AWESOME.

Maddox loves it and speeds so fast that he tips over. 

After seeing them do this today (or riding together since there are "running boards" on the back for another person to stand or kneel on and hang on tight to the driving/pedaling sibling) I realize that we will make it through this winter. 

In addition to the above new additions to our lives, our house organization is undergoing some changes that will also aid in wintertime boredom. I pray.

As they grow, I constantly need to rearrange areas in our home to suit our growing needs and the main one right now is our sunroom. My current focus and plan is to turn it into a craft/art/homework room for children and have enough space for everyone who comes over to play. These changes are very quickly spilling over into the other areas of our home and I'm very excited about moving out of the stage of having all of my rooms so baby & toddler friendly!! : ) I have big kids now!

I picked up some used children's furniture for an absolute steal today and will refinish it when warmer weather arrives. But for now it is usable. I'm hoping to share photos soon as I get after-holiday life back under control. Until then....

Giveaway Winner of One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

Good morning! It's a snowy day here at our house, so I curled up by the fire in a blanket after Chad woke up this morning and took a short nap. : ) So, I apologize that this is later than I had planned on posting!

It is now officially time to announce the winner of the giveaway from Monday!!

I chose the winner of the book One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp using Random.org's automatic number entry system. There were 14 comments, which was a great turnout for my first one, so it was exciting for me to see who the winner would be! For some reason, unknown to me, I chose to use my PC to do the random number generator. BAD IDEA. It will not let me do a screen capture to save my life. I've tried and tried and I just can't get it to work. Obviously, I couldn't go back to my Mac and do another one because then it would pull a different winner. And that would be totally unfair. So, I did the next best thing: I took a picture with my cell phone. Haha!!

Without further delay, here is the winner:

Oh, wait....who was #13, you ask? : ) 

Congratulations to davis family who commented: "i would love to read this book. i know that you always have good taste so it has got to be good. would love to do it as a bible study and discuss it with all you guys."

Wow! Thanks. I'm flattered that you think I have good taste. And since we actually know each other personally, it will be fun to read this book together! I'm excited for you! : ) I'll be getting it to you as soon as I can. 

For those of you who did not win this copy, go buy your own to read. I just saw on Amazon today that they are selling it for $8.94! What a great deal! : ) Here's the link: One Thousand Gifts on Amazon. And don't forget to join in the {in}Courage Bloom book club starting on February 6th.

Stay tuned for more posts. (I promise I'll get the birthday photos up soon....PROMISE.) Thanks for playing, friends! I appreciate all the support as I continue on this journey with Magda Row. : )

{First Giveaway!} One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

Edited to Add: Comments have been closed for this giveaway. Winner has been announced HERE.

There's a blog I've been reading for some time now. I have it delivered to my email inbox daily and it is always a breath of fresh air. Always a new way of looking at life. Always focused around the grace of God and the love the author receives from Him. Her story is inspiring, and no doubt...she is inspired.

A Holy Experience is written by Ann Voskamp, a beautiful lady married to a man she calls The Farmer. : ) They raise their 6 children on their piece of land that she so willingly shares photos of throughout her posts. She clings to God and his promises so tightly, and then writes about it so beautifully that it resonates in my mind for a nice long time. I personally can't get enough.

And now...

She has written a book.

Wait...did you catch that?!?



SHE HAS WRITTEN A BOOK!!!!

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So much excitement for me in those words!! : ) I'm a book-a-holic as it is, but to be able to hold her words in my hands is just too much! The perfect highlighter and pen will have to be found before I open the first page. I have already read the first chapter online (you can read it HERE) and it is phenomenally powerful: One Thousand Gifts: A Dare To Live Fully Right Where You Are. A true story from the heart. Here is the introduction video and Ann's dare to Live Fully, and it is beautiful. Don't miss it:

One Thousand Gifts has just been released for purchase this past week and my copies are in my home library now. What could be better, I ask?

Oh, yes. Maybe the fact that you can join in on the {in}Courage Bloom book club and read along with the lovely ladies, Jessica and Angie? This is the first book they've chosen after they have joined forces with {in}Courage. (Check out {in}Courage and it's many Christian authors focused on women. A true blessing.) And what could be better than a book club that's reading Ann's book?!?

Ann Voskamp, herself, has joined Jessica and Angie in their weekly videos to talk about each chapter of her book! I am so giddy over this that I can hardly wait for the first one to start. : ) You can join in just like I will be doing and watch the videos. Here is the video from yesterday, where they introduced Ann to the book club:

You can even join the actual community and have online discussions with others reading as you are, right from the site. Very exciting news!

And the final awesomeness that I have to tell you?...because Yes! it gets even better??? ; )

I bought an extra copy to give away to a lucky someone! That's right! YOU could win a free copy of One Thousand Gifts: A Dare To Live Fully Right Where You Are. 

I went to purchase mine (because it was on a huge sale last week - details below) and I felt compelled to buy an extra...just because. I bought it along with the few other copies I decided on for upcoming gifts and it hit me that night I purchased them. Why not do a giveaway? So here I am.

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I hope this book blesses someone else out there. Just reading Ann's heartfelt and genuine blog posts have been a blessing to me all this time. And wow, does she have a story to tell.

If you want it, here's your chance. : )

Giveaway Guidelines:

• Open to U.S. addresses only
• You must make a comment on this blog post for 1 entry. Comments made elsewhere will NOT be counted.
• No anonymous commenters please. If you don't have a blog to link up, please leave your contact info in the comment (i.e. email address, Twitter name).
• You have 2 days to enter. The giveaway ends Tuesday, January 25, at midnight CST.

That's all! I'm making this very simple so that anyone has the chance to win this lovely book. And unfortunately it's a short giveaway. I want to leave enough time to ship the book to the winner before the book club officially starts (February 6th). 

If you can't wait and want to purchase your own, here are the links to the best deals:

• Dayspring.com is where I bought my copy for $10. I bought 5 copies ($50) so I received free shipping. I believe that if you buy 2 or more copies, you can enter the coupon code BLOOMBOOK through the end of today (Monday). After today the price goes back up to retail.
• Amazon.com is the other site running a great deal. Because of the amazing amount of purchases of this book last week, it made it into the top 10 sellers on Amazon. I think it was up to #7! Yeah!!! They are currently selling it for $9.14. 
• If you would like to buy a book as a sponsor for someone who truly cannot afford it, please click HERE. Dayspring will send it to someone in need who has already filled out a form requesting one. 

Now, get clicking!!

Thanks & Good luck! : )