Neat contest from Tyndale

Dear Bloggers,

I wanted to fill you in on an exciting contest that is currently being run and sponsored by the New Living Translation. We’re highlighting three ministries, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Oasis International, and The Dream Center, (click on the link to learn more details about these ministries) and by voting for one of these ministries you’ll be entered to win one of many prizes.

To enter, visit the NLT Facebook page by clicking here:
http://www.facebook.com/NewLivingTranslation?v=app_28134323652&ref=ts

There are several levels of prizes you can win, here are the details:


With the Give the Word Bible Contest and Giveaway:
• Ministries win: Each time the NLT Facebook Page reaches a fan count milestone, votes will be tallied and the three ministries will receive cash donations from the New Living Translation and Tyndale House Publishers.
• Everyone wins: Everyone who enters on the Bible Contest website wins a free download of Matthew West reading the Christmas story.
• Daily NLT Study Bible winners: Vote on the NLT Facebook page and you will be entered to win two NLT Study Bibles—one to keep and one to give away. A new winner will be chosen every day.
• Weekly Give the Word Locally winners: Tell us about a deserving local ministry on the NLT Bible Contest website and they could win five NLT Study Bibles and $250 worth of NLT products.
• One Grand Prize winner will enjoy a unique trip customized just for them and their family (or three guests of their choice), to Wycliffe Bible Translators world headquarters and the WordSpring Discovery Center where they will experience firsthand the exciting world of Bible translation. The Grand Prize winner could also choose to donate the value of the trip--$2000--to Wycliffe instead.

South Dakota Trip 2010

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Review: Outlive Your Life - You Were Made to Make a Difference by Max Lucado

This is the most recent book by popular Christian author Max Lucado.  This book celebrates his 25th year in publishing and all of his royalties from the book and other Outlive Your Life products will be donated to World Vision.  How cool is that?!  It is written in Mr. Lucado's common everyday language that makes his books such a refreshing easy read for me.  I finished this book in 3 days which hasn't happened for a few years due to the ages of my children and the amount of activities we are involved in. This book got my attention with the opening fable of Father Benjamin and kept it all the way to the discussion and action guide at the end.  The book is based on the book of Acts.  It retells the story of the first christian church with present day examples of things every person can do both big and small to make a difference in this world even after we have departed it.

Mr. Lucado really shows us that everyone, even your average ordinary "Joe" can do something to make the world a better place and to leave a legacy behind.  Yes, God can use even you.  Whether it's saying a prayer for someone, sharing hospitality or adopting an orphan from another country EVERYONE can do SOMETHING to make this world better.  If I could recommend one book that everyone should read this year, this is that book.  This book has the potential to change the world one reader at a time.  Thank you Mr. Lucado, for giving us inspiration and hope!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Life Update Part 1 - Summer 2010

So here's a sampling of what we've been up to since May:

The kids had fun at Cougar Day in May

 On May 8th, we picked up 2 calves and brought them to a farm close to our house to work with and train for the 4-H Fair. We had no idea what we were getting into!

We had a visit from family in May – Burt’s parents and 3 of our nephews. They had a lot of fun at the farm with all the different animals. There are horses, newborn chicks and newborn kittens in addition to our calves.

Uriah played little league and Burt ended up coaching his team and Tori & I assisted. We had a lot of fun!

Tori & Jersey

Uriah & Maurice

 We practiced walking the calves down to our house and back to get them used to being led. In addition to going down 2x a day to feed and water them.

In addition to all this fun, Burt took Memorial Day weekend off and the 4 of us went to Wisconsin Dells for the weekend.  We stayed at Hotel Rome and went to Mt. Olympus, Pirates Cove and rode the Ducks.  It was a nice, relaxing family weekend.

We took the calves to Dairy Day in June.  They walked in the morning parade and got 60 tickets each for the rides later.

After the parade they showed the calves in the dairy show.  It was a great warm up for what the fair would be like.  They learned a lot!

A fun nerf fight turned into an all out water fight outside on a hot summer day!

We had a great time at Vacation Bible School in June :)

July was fair time!

The club project was taking care of the Butterfly Garden at Mattke Park.  They took pictures through the whole process and wrote up the project.  They ended up being selected for the State Fair!  Way to go S-F Lucky Clovers!

The big day finally arrived - bucket/bottle calf judging!

The kids did excellent and both received blue ribbons!

My sister, grandmother and niece came for a quick visit so they could see the kids show their calves.  It was great to have them here for a few days!

Did I mention that the weekend before the fair (4th of July weekend) we went camping in Wisconsin with Burt's family?  It was a great time!  Could have done without 2 days of rain, but it was still good to see everyone again.

Review: The Boy Who Changed the World by Andy Andrews

Book Description:

Did you know that what you do today can change the world forever?
The Boy Who Changed the World opens with a young Norman Borlaug playing in his family’s cornfields with his sisters. One day, Norman would grow up and use his knowledge of agriculture to save the lives of two billion people. Two billion! Norman changed the world! Or was it Henry Wallace who changed the world? Or maybe it was George Washington Carver?
This engaging story reveals the incredible truth that everything we do matters! Based on The Butterfly Effect, Andy’s timeless tale shows children that even the smallest of our actions can affect all of humanity. The book is beautifully illustrated and shares the stories of Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug, Vice President Henry Wallace, Inventor George Washington Carver, and Farmer Moses Carver. Through the stories of each, a different butterfly will appear. The book will end with a flourish of butterflies and a charge to the child that they, too, can be the boy or girl who changes the world.
My thoughts:  This is a beautiful children's book!  I did think that the writing would be hard for younger kids to follow so I would say this should be geared towards kids ages 9 and up.  The message is clear and good for adults too.  I especially found it interesting as we live so close to Mr. Borlaug's birthplace.  I do plan to use it for a children's sermon illustration soon.  Thank you Mr. Andrews for sharing such an important, inspiring story!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge - Book Review

Summary:  This book was written by a husband and wife team to help women of all ages and stages. 

"You are a woman to your soul, to the very core of your being....The desires that God has placed into our hearts are clues as to who we really are and the role that we are meant to play....We think you'll find that every woman in her heart of hearts longs for three things:  to be romanced, to play an irreplacable role in a great adventure, and to unveil beauty.  That's what makes a woman come alive."

Reactions:  What an amazing book!  It really touched something in me and helped me realize how much shame I was carrying around needlessly.  The Eldredges take it back to the very beginning and put a whole new light on Eve - one I had never thought of or realized before.  I always thought of the apple incident when I thought of Eve, but no longer.  Eve was created as a perfect woman to complete man and the world!  What an empowering feeling!  They also encourage women to find, or should I say dig out, their inner dreams that have been buried for years.  What a wonderful, life changing book.  I would recommend this book to any woman.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Vegetable Slicers

So we purchased a new food slicer yesterday for $20.  Burt was using it to slice up some cucumbers when he accidentally sliced his pinky finger on the blade.  He couldn't stop the bleeding on his own and with his diabetes now he didn't want to take any chance with an infection.  He went by himself and I started to finish up what he was doing by slicing the onions.  Do you see where this is going?

About 30 minutes after Burt left I was on my way to the ER after slicing off the tip of my middle finger.  What are the chances?!?  Soooo, 2 ER visits, 2 tetanus shots, some silver nitrate to stop the bleeding on my finger and 2 bandaged fingers later, it turned into a very expensive vegetable slicer!!

Everyone got a good laugh out of it in church this morning, but it made helping at the corn roast a little difficult.

Live and learn! :)

It's been too long!

Wow, have I really not posted anything since May??!!  Yeah, I guess our summer was really busy and now it is after midnight on a Friday night and we have 3 children in addition to our own staying here tonight.  Tori has 2 friends over and Uriah has 1.  The girls just stopped giggling minutes ago at 12:30!  I have no idea on the boys, but I'm thinking there will be some naps taken tomorrow. :)
I need to post about wonderful and busy summer, but it's going to have to wait until I have more time because we have lots of great pictures to share.  We took a family vacation to South Dakota! 
Later!

Review: Plan B by Pete Wilson

Book Description: 
Learn how God often does His best work in our most hopeless situations.

What do you do when a shattered dream or an unmet expectation causes you to turn to Plan B? Pastor and author Pete Wilson uses real life stories of disappointments and tragedy along with biblical stories such as David, Joseph, and Ruth to help readers face their own overwhelming situations and through them to learn God is working to help them surrender their plans to receive His. He identifies our common responses to difficulties and offers hope, helping us to understand what God might be up to. 

Review: Overall I thought this was a great book that everyone should read at least once and in my case, re-read often. It is a great reminder to trust God with all things and that God's plan is greater than any we can come up with on our own. I really liked how Mr. Wilson wove his own personal stories, stories from his congregation and stories from the Bible to prove that if we stop and listen to the voice of God, He will see us through. I really appreciated the fact that Mr. Wilson did not presume to have all the answers and his writing style was very easy to read. He writes all of this in "common", easy-to-read language which is not for someone looking for a deep theological book.  Wonderful message!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Ah Spring! What have we been up to?

Wow, there is nothing like spring! Birds are singing, flowers are blooming and activities are flying. :) We had 4-H Communications day last Sunday and the kids did great! They both gave a speech and performed and Tori modeled some clothes. The kids had their spring concert last Tuesday night. Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Allison do such a great job teaching the kids! The kids are having fun with soccer and Uriah is excited to start baseball soon. Tori still loves trampoline and tumbling and was so excited when she took 3rd place at her first trampoline competition this spring.
Burt - well, he has been very busy with church work and Lions Club activities. He can't wait to start getting out on the golf course again soon and we are both looking forward to getting away on a family vacation this year!
Me - I'm enjoying all the kids' and church activities and I'm actually enjoying work. Sure it has its challenges, but I look forward to going every day and the days just fly by!

Tori and her 3rd place trophy in trampoline

Sumner-Fredericksburg Lucky Clovers at 4-H Communications Day
Great job everyone!

Tori playing "Ode to Joy" at Communications Day

Tori about to demonstrate how to make cake mix cookies

Uriah giving a speech about the Lightning War from WWII

Tori modeling her $3 outfit (including shoes!) for the 4-H $15 clothing challenge

Uriah, Jasper, Ethan & Avery at the spring concert

Uriah and his best friend Ethan during the spring concert

Thanks for the great pics Sandy!

5th Grade singing at spring concert

Kids' Easter dessert (adults got cheesecake)

Easter 2010

Review: The 39 Clues Book 2: One False Note

One False Note by Gordon Korman


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
It was a good book that really keeps you interested. I am reading the series with my 9 year old daughter. This book was hard to put down.

View all my reviews >>

Review: Going Rogue by Sarah Palin

Going Rogue: An American Life by Sarah Palin


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book was a little hard to get through as the time frame kept jumping around which made it hard to follow. I really like Sarah Palin as a person, mom and leader and I think she really stands for what this country was founded on. I really think she got a bum deal from the political higher ups in the election race. I hope she continues to try to help this country get back on track.

View all my reviews >>

Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl by N.D. Wilson

I received the book Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl (Wide-Eyed Wonder in God's Spoken World) by N.D. Wilson for free from Thomas Nelson Publishers to review it. Instantly it took me back to my high school sociology class. We read some really neat things in that class that challenged how we viewed other people and the world around us. It was a really fun class and this is a really fun book. It's quirky and therefore not for everybody, but it's a great ride if you're willing to dive in.
Mr. Wilson compares the everyday mundane things most of us take for granted and puts them in perspective of God's wonderfully created world. It is very easy to read as a daily or weekly devotional as each chapter focuses on a different topic. My favorite part is in the chapter 'Talking Rocks':
"To exist in this poem is a greater gift than any finite creature can imagine. ...and to hear and feel and see and taste and smell the heavy poetry of God, that is enough."
Thank you Mr. Wilson, for reminding me how truly wonderful God's world is!

Happy Blizzard!

Well, the move went very smooth and we arrived in Iowa at our new home on midnight 12/22/2008. The church family here (and the whole community for that matter) is so loving and caring. I felt at home right away and I haven't felt "home" since our first move out to Maine! I've made many good friends, joined some groups and found a great job only 10 miles away. The kids seem to have made the transition ok. They are still making friends and figuring out where they fit in here, but they have both joined 4-H and Uriah played football this fall! Tori found a great trampoline and tumbling gym 20 minutes away and we have really enjoyed that again. Burt is trying to find his groove here and is almost there.

We had a blizzard all day today! No one went anywhere! Tomorrow the high is 5 degrees without factoring in wind chill, but I have to go to work and Burt has a doctor appointment. The kids don't have school though.

I need to go to bed, but hopefully it won't be another year before I post again. :)

God's blessings on you!

Review of The American Patriot's Bible, NKJV

To sum it up in one word - WOW! What an amazing book! This is the perfect Bible for any American history buffs and patriots. I knew that this country's founding fathers had great faith and relied on God to guide their works, but I had no idea how much of our country was founded on faith. I had read some of the reviews before getting this book that said how fundamentally wrong this book was and how you just can't combine our government, and our country for that matter, with the Bible and religion. I knew they were wrong, but after seeing the book I realized how wrong they really were. How can you NOT talk about the early days of our country and the religion it was based on?

My favorite part of the book was learning what Bible verses our presidents put their hands on while taking their oath of office. I also greatly enjoyed the full color illustrations and all the amazing, little known stories about our founding fathers and past presidents. I can (almost) guarantee that anyone who reads this book will learn something they didn't know about the history of our great country, the United States of America.

The workmanship of the book itself was a higher quality than the norm making this a perfect gift Bible. The typeface was a little small so that elderly might have a hard time reading it.

I received this book as part of the Thomas Nelson Publishers book review program. They are requesting non-biased reviews of their books that contain both positive and negative feedback. You can get more information at: http://brb.thomasnelson.com/

Excitement!

I did something I shouldn't have done. Something just for me.
I joined Thomas Nelson Publishers' book review blog program! They are going to send me a free book and all I have to do is read it and post a review on my blog and a public retail site like Amazon or Barnes & Noble. I am so excited to be getting free books I can hardly wait! If you want to look into the program, just go to:

http://brb.thomasnelson.com

Happy reading!

PS: Just because they are sending you a free book does not mean you have to write a positive review on it. They want you to be honest, which I love! Thank you Thomas Nelson!

Change is Good

Well, we're moving again and it's a lot sooner than we expected or wanted. Even though we are back in the midwest the "novelty" of a 9 hour drive to our families instead of a 27 hour drive from Maine wore off pretty quick. Maybe it's just that I'm getting older and all day road trips aren't as fun to me anymore. Maybe it's that some of the terrain by the interstates in the midwest is pretty darn boring. Whatever it is, 9 hours is a long drive!

After struggling for a long time with our decision, we realized that we are just not a good fit for the congregation we are at. It's going to be sad to leave, but there is no doubt in my mind that God is calling us to Iowa. Yes, I know it is only one state over from Nebraska, but it cuts the road trip to our families in half. It also makes my sister-in-law who I love like a sister only 2.5 hours away and my cousin and a close friend in the twin cities only 3 hours away. Life will be good!

The downfall to moving: Saying good bye to close friends here, explaining with care why we are moving, having the kids change schools half-way through a school year.

We are hoping to move the week before Christmas. At least it won't be the hottest day of the year like it usually is when we move in July! :)

Pray for a smooth transition for all of us!

10 years

Well, my husband and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary this last Thursday. Pretty amazing I must say! There came a time when I never thought we'd make it to 10 years, but now I know we will make it the long haul.

I think the key to a long and happy marriage is communication. Men are not mind readers and even if they were, they would not understand the things that go through a woman's mind! Wives need to communicate their wants and needs to their husbands without telling them what to do. And men, you need to just stop and listen to your wives and not think you need to fix everything! We are strong women: we carried and gave birth to your children, we work 40+ hours a week and keep the whole family's schedule going, we make most of the meals, clean up after everyone and still have time and energy for sex (granted not as often as husbands would like, but often enough). We do NOT need you to fix every little thing we tell you about!

That being said, it is very nice having a man around, especially one who is your best friend! Every year brings its own trials, heartaches and fights and every year we learn that much more about each other and grow that much closer. The key is communication and listening. Listening not only to what the other person is saying, but listening to yourself and how you say what's on your mind. That is the part I need to concentrate on right now. I am much better at voicing what's on my mind than I was 10 years ago, but sometimes it does not come across the way I intended it.

Here's to another 10 years! I love you Babe!

An AWESOME blog!

I came across this blog under the "Blogs of Note" and I am so glad I did! It really makes you take a good look at the simple things in life that make you happy or at least smile. Check it out and do some thinking of your own. Just imagine what the world could be like if everyone did this every day???
Three Beautiful Things: Celebration, dogcart and legend.

Thank you Clare of Kent for sharing!

-Beckster

I HATE CANCER!

I feel like I'm being surrounded by cancer and I HATE it!

I lost my mom to Melanoma in 1997 (remember that bad year I mentioned?) and now my dad's sister has it. My aunt doesn't have the results yet, but they removed a big chunk of her leg (just like my mom) and I guess she's in a lot of pain.

We found out last week that a friend of ours from Maine just died of melanoma. Her daughter is a senior in high school this year.

The daughter of a good friend of mine in Wisconsin has leukemia and she is going to be getting a bone marrow transplant. She has young children, too.

One of my friends since junior high just told me her mom is in the last stages of colon cancer and is in a lot of pain, too.

My husband's aunt is fighting cancer right now, too. I believe she is almost done with her chemo.
I went to a new hairdresser last week and she is a breast cancer survivor, but her mom just found out she has lymphoma.

My grandma (mom's mom) is a 2-time breast cancer survivor and is turning 93 tomorrow! I really look up to and cherish that woman! She is a true inspiration and a very stubborn German! :)

Well, those are all my cancer stories. Now do you see why I feel surrounded?? It really seems to be becoming an epidemic and I am terrified that something will happen to me and I won't be able to be there for my kids and watch them grow up. If anything good is coming of this, it's really making me take a hard look at my lifestyle and make some healthy adjustments.

I would rather be unhealthy and not have any cancer in anyone's life, though.