And if you didn’t technically “win” this book … you could be a winner by purchasing it, reading it to your kids {or yourself!} and learning how we bless the King when we give to others.  #justsayin

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We are huge fans of this Christmas book!  I brought it out early this year and have already read it to both Wynter and Hunter’s classes at school.

The little tag on the book says, “teach your kids to love giving!”  This book does a great job of doing just that!

It’s written based off of the following Scripture:

“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about?
When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink?
And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’
Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth:
Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked
or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’”
Matthew 25:37-40 {MSG}

The story is of a little girl who gets an invitation to the King’s royal Christmas celebration {a birthday party! and get it? it’s birthday week for me.  sorry, had to throw that in there}.  Anyway.  She grabs a few of her favorite things to take on the journey, as well as the gift of a cake to give the King.  Along the way she encounters people in need and gives them all of her favorite things … including the cake.

At the end of the story, she meets the King and is suddenly sad she no longer has a present for Him.  He kindly explains that the people Emma met along the way were angels, “out looking for the true spirit of Christmas, and they found it in you!”  He continued, “You see, by sharing your favorite things with them, you showed My people how to give Me a Christmas gift.”

“Anyone who desires to give Me a gift, behold!
Give food to the hungry and clothes to the cold,
Give care to the poor, both young and old,
Whatever gift you’ve given to a person in need,
Is indeed a gift you have given to Me.”

And now … a video from your sponsor!  {email viewers, please click here}

Um, okay … never mind!  Looks like we had some technical difficulties!  Par for the evening I had … so I’m just going to laugh about it and let you laugh with me.  Wynt was such a good sport for doing it for me, I’m gonna just keep it up there!

She basically shares a bit of what I shared above and also talked about why she likes to give.  I really think God’s given her a heart for giving.  I’ll share more on that next week …

So anyway.  On to the giving!  We’re giving away 3 copies of The King’s Christmas List.  Did you know my favorite number is three?  Well … now you do! :)

Ready for the deets?

{what}
Three winners will receive one copy of The King’s Christmas List.

{how}
~ leave a comment {any ol’ comment}
~ tweet the giveaway {but come back & leave a comment}
~ facebook the giveaway {but come back & leave a comment}
~ blog the giveaway {but come back and leave a comment}

{when}
Now through Monday, December 5 – midnight {est}

And … I’m still taking submissions to Wednesday’s giveaway.  I’m not certain how we’re going to make a decision, but I’m trusting God to lead our spirits.  If you’re in need, or know someone who is … please don’t miss that post.

1,000 posts.

5,563 comments.

4,000+ visitors a day {yesterday hit 5,000! thank you pinterest}.

3 URL’s.

6 blog makeovers.

4 different blog titles.

8.20.07 … my first post titled australia {on my iweb blog!} and here I am today … over four years later … writing my one thousandth post!

I’d also like to take a minute to give a shout out to the 246 posts {yeah, I counted them} I wrote while owner of Broadway Paper.  And I may have had to wipe away a few tears after reading this post.  And this one.  It literally seems like an eternity ago.

Anyway.  Back to the present post.  Have you heard?  It’s number one thousand!!

In other related {celebratory} news … today’s my birthday!!!

I knew this {1,000th} post would coincide with my birthday and I’ve thought long and hard about what I could do to celebrate here with you.  I think what I’ve decided on will bless big!  At least that’s my prayer!

The girls and I won’t be doing our RACK’ed activity this year … pretty much cuz we won’t be here through Christmas, but also because I’m trying hard to focus my {physical and emotional} energy on the girls and our family.

What we’re doing instead are small blessings throughout the season.  We’ve rung Salvation Army bells {people can never resist the kids!}; Operation Christmas Child; we’ll be donating many of the girls toys; the girls are each sponsoring a new Compassion child; I’m doing some anonymous giving; and we’ll be packing and donating lunches to an organization our church is involved in.  Basically just keeping an eye open for where we can help out.

There’s one other thing I wanted to do this year to bless others, but I just couldn’t get it together … mostly, I wasn’t sure how to get it together.  Someone emailed us at MODsquad last year, sharing how they put an ad on Craigslist.  The ad was something to the effect of asking for someone’s need and then filling it.  I couldn’t find the email anywhere and my obsessive mind got all caught up in the specifics/logistics and well … I just haven’t put it out there.

But!  What I did decide for this grand celebration of mine?  I’d like to bless three people this Christmas season.  It could be you or someone you know.  Someone that is really in need.  That can’t afford to buy their children gifts, food, electricity bills.  A real need.

Do you know someone?  Is it you?  Please leave a comment, or if it’s too personal, contact me through an email or the contact link at the top of the page.

The girls and I will go through all the requests {names will remain anonymous to them} and we’ll pick three needs that we’d like to help fill.  One thousand is the lucky number, because that’s how much we’ll be spending per need!  I won’t be sending cash/check … so please make it something tangible … I can call the electric company, or I can send gift cards, etc.

Make sure to have your requests to me by next week Wednesday, December 7th.  I won’t be announcing any “winners,” but I’ll contact you via email {please be sure to leave a working email address}.  If I email you and don’t hear back by Friday, December 9, we’ll choose another recipient.

I love blessing others and I’m looking forward to this giving project!

Thank you dear readers … I love connecting with you … I’m encouraged by your kind words, your support and your open hearts.  You’ve blessed me here in more ways than you know!

Now … before I announce the winner, I wanted to share one more canvas set with you … this is hanging just inside our front door.  The width of the whole set is 30 x 54 … talk about a statement!  I got the inspiration when I saw this blog post.  I’d already had the 3 Red Letter Word canvases, but wasn’t real sure where to hang them.  So when I saw the post, I ordered me up a large photo canvas and ta-da! a statement!

So … this is kinda unbelievable, but please believe me when I tell you it’s true … I counted four times!!  My bestie, Heather won!!  I guess the good news is I know where to find her! :)

Again … many, many thank yous to you all!!  This giveaway warmed my heart!

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You can learn more about the company here and as a reminder why I feel it’s so important to surround yourself and family with Scripture, I also wanted to link to my own red letter word story here.

I’m just so seriously in love with this store!  I bought up a few prints to hang around the house … some I don’t have up yet … but here’s one I wanted to share with you … I have it hanging in my office at home.  I sit right here in the morning for my quiet time with God and I’m loving this print hanging right next to me … reminding me, even in times of discouragement, that God has a plan for our family and we will persevere!

And then … you might remember this post?  The girls each have a Scripture for this year that we’re exploring, talking about, and impressing on their hearts.  Well guess what?  Red Letter Words does custom work!!  I was beyond excited to work with them in creating a piece of art for each of the girls with their 2011 Scripture!  And the way I see it … we’re starting early in sending them off into the world one day with their very own house decor! ;)

The three girls share a bedroom and each has her own shelving space.  So instead of hanging their scripture on the wall where they may not see it or notice it everyday, we have them displayed on their individual shelves.

{as a sidenote … I recently created these photo canvases to display near their beds}

And here’s Taylor’s … she wanted hers hung right across from her bed, and under her TV where she’d see it throughout the day …

So … who’s ready for the giveaway details?

{what}
The winner of the giveaway will receive one 12×12 cafe mount print of their choice.

{how}
~ leave a comment {any ol’ comment}
~ tweet the giveaway {but come back & leave a comment}
~ facebook the giveaway {but come back & leave a comment}
~ blog the giveaway {but come back and leave a comment}

{when}
Now through Thursday, February 24 – midnight {cst}.  I’ll post a winner on Friday morning the 25th.

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I’m so excited about this journal!  I’ve been working on it for what seems like months now!  Did you see the cute little pen & pen loop?  Are you pretty sure you need one?  Then head on over to the MODsquad today and you just might win one for yourself!

They’ll also be on sale later in the week … $10.00 and 100% of the proceeds will benefit The Mercy House.  Don’t know their story?  You should!  Head over and open your heart!

And we’ve got some winners!  Shauna, you won the kids devotions … and Leslie, you won the adult version!  Woo!  Congrats!

And if you didn’t win … I really, really urge you to purchase the devotionals anyway … there are so many great nuggets of wisdom and inspiration … both for yourself and your youngin’s!

So … last week I mentioned a little somethin’ about a blog carnival and giveaway?  Well … today’s the day!  Actually, this week’s the week … unfortunately {and isn’t that just the way the enemy would have it it goes?} Tommy Nelson’s site has been down this week.  So I’ll just have to give you the info here and you can check back on their blog when you have a few minutes.

First … I want to stress again how important I think it is to do devotions with your children.  I realize we all have busy lives and time can get away from us.  Quite honestly, I don’t have time every night … but I do make it a priority most nights.  I even make sure to bring devotional material along when we travel.

When we do our devotions, I do it with all 3 girls.  Sometimes Hunter {4} will wander and do her own thing, not really paying attention, but for the most part, I think it’s important just to have her there listening and aware.  And I’ll also ask her age appropriate questions to get her involved.

Anyway … for the sake of getting this post together and sparing you some craziness, Wynter and I spent some time alone last night with our devotion and here’s a clip of our thoughts:

Warning:  you didn’t miss picking up your 3D glasses and I promise this isn’t a 1970s Kung Fu film.  :)

So … who’s ready for a giveaway?  I have 2 books to giveaway … Jesus Calling and Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions for Kids.  I’m praying this doesn’t get too tricky, but what I’d like you to do, is comment with which book you’d like to win.  And, as with all my giveaways, you have numerous ways to enter … 1. Comment  2. Tweet  3. Facebook  4. Blog.  So technically, with this giveaway … you’ll have 8 ways to enter.  Unless of course, you’re only interested in one of the books.

So remember … if you tweet, facebook or blog about the giveaway … you need to come back here and leave a comment saying so.  And with each comment you leave, you need to indicate which book you’re interested in.  I’ll use random.org to pick a winner, but will split up the entries by book.  Make sense?

Entries will be accepted until Thursday, November 18, Midnight CST.  And I’ll post the winner on Friday morning.

And now the most important part of this carnival … Tommy Nelson is challenging parents to begin a habit of family devotions in their homes.  You can read more about the challenge here {please check back if the link isn’t working}.  And, if you missed it last week … here’s a link to a download of 2 weeks of devotions!

Also … be sure to link up and tell us what you’re doing for devotions in your house.  Any fun tips, tricks, ideas … what’s worked for you?  What doesn’t?  Have you been inspired to start doing devotions with your kids … or maybe even for yourself?  We’d love to have you share with us!

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