Waiting....

I'm about two weeks from my due date, that means any day now..... OR a few more weeks.

I'm a at that stage where I'm interested in trying some of those interesting foods that have been said to put women into labor.

There's the prego pizza.... while the original is not near here Rob (who is always up for trying an interesting pizza) called a local place to try to duplicate it. It was a GREAT pizza, but obviously it didn't work.

I've been thinking of making the lemon drop cupcakes that are supposed to put women in to labor. The problem.... they are not local, I don't want to put the effort into making them, and that is just too much sugar. Maybe next week I'll be more interested in putting in the effort?

Maybe we will go out for spicy food for our anniversary?

In the mean time I've been so blessed and encouraged this week, but thats for another post....

My creation Bible winner!

I'm sorry, I've been moving so slowly this last week or so, I kept forgetting to draw the winner for this giveaway.

The winner for this giveaway is comment #10, Sarah! I'll be contacting you by e-mail so that I can get your book to you!

August move to do list; take it easy!

I've been working hard for months to get our house and our family ready not just for a new baby, but for our move that is coming up in September. I've had a "to-do-list" for the last few months and have worked through just about everything on those lists! I do need to finish a bit of school planning, but that can be done from the couch or bed resting and/or recovering!

Now is the time to start enjoying the fruits of my labor! Here is my "to-do-list" for August

1. finish move prep- this is here only because this job never seems to end and I figure I'll have some nesting energy to put to good use. I don't have anything specific to do, and if I don't do anythings else that's fine too!

2. have a baby- I can't wait to meet this little guy! I'm actually looking forward to labor/delivery (for the most part), it usually goes fairly quickly and without much pain so for me this is one of the easy parts of pregnancy. The hard part is the waiting and wondering when!

3. recover- I need to have some recovery time, no matter how much we have going on around here if I don't get some good recovery time up front that could lead to bigger problems later. The plan- when I get home from the hospital I'll go to my room for a week and enjoy a bit of bed rest, after that I'll have another down week getting up a bit late and cuddling with my little guy downstairs (all of this will of course include plenty of cuddles and interaction with the rest of the family). We've been blessed with wonderful offers of help from friends and my Mom will be here for a few days too, so even if Rob needs to go into work we should be able to follow through with this plan. I'll be taking it fairly easy for the remainder of our time here in CA as well, we will be in "survival mode" doing the minimum that we need to.

4. Prep graduation stuff- Getting a PhD is a big deal, and my husband has worked hard for this. I want to make sure that between the baby and the move that his accomplishment is not overlooked and that we take the time to celebrate it well! I have some simple but special things in mind for celebrating.

I'm linking to organizing junkie this week.

Colds all around!

Last night I started writing a post about feeling ready to have this baby (even though I'm only at 37 weeks and have never had a baby earlier than 39 weeks), that was until the first report of a runny nose. Then Miss C was up quite a bit during the night, not feeling well (Thanks Rob for taking care of her). By this morning I was feeling stuffed up as well....

Who wants to go into labor sick? Not I! Who wants to bring a newborn home to a house full of sick kids? Not I! So I will wait patiently as this passes through. I hear it only lasts about 3 days (it seems to be the virus going around the area, some friends we have not seen in a while just got over something similar).

Fortunately my right hand (aka Miss E) is not sick right now (but 5 of us are). What a blessing she is to us! We will spend the next few days laying low, and I'll pull out some of my back up plans to keep the kids busy with little effort from me!

My sweet hubby picked up a supply of scones and mascarpone cream for me, so I'll be munching on those and drinking plenty of pregnancy tea while I'm taking it easy. So don't feel too sorry for me!

Quiet times for kids

While we do quite a bit of Bible reading and just family reading and discussion, we've been wanting to help our children along with developing their own relationships with Christ. We've been wanting to encourage them to do their own Bible studies, but it can be hard to find something that is age appropriate and will help them grow.

I was so excited when I got an e-mail from a friend I recently met at a church gathering asking if I would be interested in reviewing her newest Bible study for kids; it is on the Armor of God. Both my husband and I took a look at her site Quiet times for kids and were impressed with what we saw, so we agreed that doing the review would be a good idea for our family.

I was so impressed with this Bible study. Mrs Davidson does a great job of drawing the kids in and asking great questions to get them thinking. In reading through the study I was happy to see how much the kids are expected to really give thought to the scripture they are reading and also give thoughtful answers. I also love that there are activities for the kids to do. The cubes to cut out and put together are great, as well as having the kids draw pictures, and the lego diarama projects really got the attention of my boys!

I'm so excited to be having my kids do this Bible study, and we plan to purchase more of the Bible studies that Quiet times for kids offers in the future!

Quiet times for kids is offering a $2 off coupon for the Armor of God Bible study, after applying the coupon code this Bible study will cost only $6! The coupon code is 'twodollarsoff'

They are also running a Lego diorama contest through August 31st with a great prize for the winner! My kids are super excited about that!

*Though I was provided with a free copy of this Bible study to review I was not otherwise compensated for this review.

Divided the movie

Sunday School? Youth Group? Family Integrated? God's design for family and His church?

Divided the movie is about Modern Youth Ministry and how it may be dividing the church. It is a great one to watch if you have children/teens involved in youth ministry. It is available to watch here for free for a limited time.

This is also a great one to watch if you know our family and have wondered why it is that our kids are always with us in church and not in any of the children's programs.

Favorite Baby books- and a give-away!

I just posted on our Family Bible Reading. It is important to us that our little ones hear God's word from the time they are born. Allowing little ones to touch and hold Bibles and Bible stories is helpful in teaching them to love God's word.

We've found that by the time they can walk around they usually want to cary a Bible around with them! We do let them handle our regular Bibles, but take a look at this post for one of the hazards to that (and for a good laugh). We like the "My Creation Bible" by Ken Ham that Answers In Genesis puts out. We really like that though it is not scripture it shows a more Biblical account than most "baby Bibles" do. It starts with a quick explanation of what the Bible is, and who God is and then goes on to give an account of creation and the first sin; all in a nice easy to read rhyming pattern. It also gives the account of Noah and the Tower of Babel, all while connecting sin and our need for a savior (and that Christ offers that salvation)!

Answers In Genesis has generously provided a "My Creation Bible" to give away! I'll give you a few ways to win this book.

1. Leave a comment here with your e-mail address (spelling out the "dot") so that I can contact you if you win.

2. Be a follower of my blog (leave a separate comment)

3.Facebook a link to this post/giveaway (leave a separate comment)

I'm linking to Giveaway Day at Hip Homeschool Moms