Doodle Roll Winner!

Thank you to all those who entered the Doodle Roll giveaway!  I used random.org to pick the winner.

Congratulations to Amari! I will be emailing you and you will have 48 hours to respond or I will have to pick a new winner.

Happy Thanksgiving!

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Psalm 100: 4-5

This year I am so thankful for the many, many blessings God has given us. Most importantly, I am thankful for my heavenly Father who provides for all our needs and so much more. My wonderful husband works hard to provide for our family and still finds time to have fun with the kids and me. My kids are growing daily and have been healthy and happy. They are doing so well in their school studies and love having fun with each other. We are blessed to live near so much of our extended family, so most of our parents, grandparents, and siblings are a big part of our lives and the kids love having them around. We are never wanting for food, warm clothes, or shelter. We truly are blessed with so much more than we need. 

Once again, Conny has been hosting her 30 Days of Thanks for the month of November.  Unfortunately this year I just haven't gotten around to participating until now.  After you finish reading my post, stop by and visit her to see what everyone else has been thankful for.

I pray that each of you has a blessed Thanksgiving!

I Love to Read!

If you haven't figured out yet from all my book reviews, I really love to read.  When I was younger and before I had kids, I read TONS of books.  After having kids, I really slowed down.  The obvious reason being that I didn't have as much time for it.   Another reason though, was that I just didn't get to the library as often for books.  Not the adult section anyway.  We do get to the library about once a week, but have you ever tried taking four young kiddos into the adult section and expected them to stand quietly while you browse for books?  It just doesn't happen.  If they aren't pulling out books or tearing pages out of magazines, they are pushing buttons on the computers or climbing on chairs to look out the windows!  Once in a while I remember to request a book and have it ready for me, but for the most part I gave up my reading time and figured I could start again when they are older.

But, enter the world of technology!  Last spring, my wonderful hubby surprised me with a Kindle when I was laid up with my kidney stones.  I have read more in the past 6 months than I have in the past 6 years!  I really didn't think I would like using an electronic reader, but it has turned out to be better than I expected.  There are tons of books on Amazon that can be sent right to my Kindle.  I think that I have close to 200 on there right now.  You're probably thinking that they are too expensive and then you still have to buy the books to read.  Well, the initial investment of the reader is pricey, but Christmas is coming. :) Amazon recently released newer versions of the Kindle and they are quite a bit cheaper than they used to be.  And once you have that, you can get all kinds of free books.  I haven't paid for a single one of mine.  Amazon has a large free section and also will have special books free for a certain time.  I have found a site at No Ordinary Moments that is regularly updated with some of these free ones, usually Christian ones.  So unless you are looking for a certain book, you can get all kinds of free stuff to read.  I don't know about your library, but ours has recently started lending electronic books too, so that is another place to borrow for free.

If you still don't want an electronic reader, I have also found that purchasing books online is another great way to get books for a great deal.  There are lots of sites that have great books and often offer discouts and specials.  One of my new favorite places is Vision Forum. They have a great selection of Christian books that are so good for building up your home and family (and they also have tons of other fun stuff!).  I love looking up their deal of the day everyday, just to see if it might be something fun the kids would love for their next birthday or Christmas.  Currently they are having some amazing giveaways that you can check out HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, or HERE.

If you don't want to purchase new books or are looking for a place to get rid of your old books, PaperbackSwap is a great site.  The way it works is that you send books you have to people that request them (you pay the shipping which is usually around $2) and then you get a credit.  You can use your credit to request books from others and they will send them to you for free!  I have been using this site to get most of the books we use in homeschool to help bring down the costs of curriculum and it has been working out great so far! Swap Books for Free - PaperBackSwap.com

If you love reading too, hopefully this has helped inspire you to find ways to fit it in even if you have kiddos climbing all over you while you do. :)

An Amish Wedding {Review}

An Amish Wedding by Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller, & Kelly Long is a book of three short novellas.  I've read a few books that contained several short stories, but the stories have never connected together before.  In An Amish Wedding, they do.  The three authors did a very nice job weaving them together to write this great book about three friends.  I really like Amish stories and these three made me want to find more by these authors.

In The Perfect Storm by Kelly Long, Rose is engaged to Luke.  They have been best friends for a long time and Rose agreed to marry Luke because she thought that friendship was a good thing to base their marriage on. But sometimes she wonders if there is something missing in their relationship.  Then she discovers that Luke has a secret and wonders what he is hiding.

In The Perfect Match by Kathleen Fuller, Naomi, the matchmaker, seems to be content being single. When Zeke comes to town, she tries her matchmaking skills again, but soon her friend is turning the tables and trying to get Naomi to see that she is the one who should be getting to know Zeke.

In The Perfect Plan by Beth Wiseman, Pricilla and Chester are planning their wedding, but everything seems to keep going wrong.  Soon they begin to wonder if it is God's will for them to marry.

I received this book for free for review from BookSneeze.

Get Swagging! {You Could Earn $300!!!}

I am just a few Swagbucks away from cashing in for my 60th $5 Amazon.com gift card.  That's $300!!! And it was all for free!  The Amazon gift cards are good for anything on Amazon, so I have gotten some great stuff for free or very cheap. Comes in handy around birthdays and Christmas time. ;)  Swagbucks also has loads of other prizes you can redeem your bucks for too.  What are you waiting for? Go check out how you can earn free stuff too!