Books and More Books

I’m a total bookworm, so if you don’t share my love of reading or of books, I apologize in advance for all the books I will be blogging about in the upcoming weeks. :p I promise you that I would never share anything that is not beneficial to you (or someone you know).

We will start off with the Bundle of the Week that Mandi is offering this week. It includes 3 ebooks that I have already read and enjoyed. My favorite is Savoring Living Water by Katie Orr and Lara Williams. I’ve always done Bible studies in a group setting, so trying to sit down and do a study on my own for the first time was a little overwhelming. I LOVE how Katie and Lara guides us to dig into the Word in Savoring Living Water.

Five books for only $7.40? You can’t beat that price. You can click on THIS LINK or the image below to learn more or buy your bundle today. The ebooks will be downloaded as PDFs.

What are some good books you have been reading lately?

Blog Year in Review – 2012

Hello Blog Readers!

Thank you for sticking with us through this year. It has been an interesting ride. Below are some blog posts that we want to shared with you again, just because….you might also want to scroll down to the end of the post…

Some posts that need some lovin’

• Date Night
• MOPS Spring Tea
• NGD = New Guitar Day…Again!
• What We’re Eating: Make-Ahead French Toast Casserole
• Emily-ism: Jokes
• Blogger Meetup | Blogger Girls’ Night Out
• MOPS Craft: No-Sew Tutu
• Less Cluttered Home: Week 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
• Romans 8: Life in the Spirit | Heirs with Christ | Future Glory | More Than Conquerors | Hidden In My Heart

Some posts that were loved

• DIY: “Getting to Know You” Board Game
• Happy 5th Birthday, Melody!!
• 11 Randomness
• What to Send to Your Compassion Kid
• Hello Morning?
• What We’re Eating: Trader Joe’s Cornbread Mix | Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti Casserole
• MOPS Craft: T-Shirt Scarf

…And…..to kick off our year, we have something for one of our beloved readers. Words on the {social media} street is that some of you, like me, love lists. It’s your lucky day because I pick up an extra Download Membership at ListPlanIt during a sale.

What is ListPlanIt? ListPlanIt has over 700 lists for you to choose from. Do you need an emergency contact list? How about some lists for meal planning? Maybe you need an itinerary for an upcoming trip? ListPlanIt has it. With a Download Membership, you can download the list and type in all your own information into the list for a more organized 2013.

Giveaway
To win a Download Membership to ListPlanIt, you can enter once a day by leaving a comment on a blog post listed above…or well, any post will do too. Feel free to comment as much as you want (we love to hear your thoughts and stories!), but just one comment is needed to enter. Remember to come back each day until next week, Monday, January 7, 2013 to comment! A random winner will be selected.

Good luck! Happy New Year!

ListPlanIt did not pay me to say these nice things about them. I just really like lists, and thought you would like some too.

Merry Christmas from the Moys!

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those whom His favor rests.” Luke 2:14

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Hope Begins Here Fabric Wreath

These past few months I have been memorizing 1 Peter 1. I saw the words but at the same time I didn’t really see them.

Here are some of the words I memorized: “Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold.” This is how NIV words it: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors.” {1 Peter 1:18} What does that even mean? What does it mean to be redeemed?

During this Christmas season we can find reminders of this word “redeemed”. Really? All I see is the gift wrap and tinsel…and that partridge in a pear tree. Look again. You see it on the Christmas tree, the star which brought the wise men to the manger. You hear it in the songs that are sung, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.” You see it on your traditional Christmas lights tour in the neighborhoods, the lights are bright…shining “Peace on Earth”. You see it on the nativity scene on the mantels, the baby asleep on the hay.

That baby grew up. He is Jesus. He died on a cross. God has given us this greatest gift. He was given to redeem us. There’s that word. Redeem. It is not first word that pops into your head at the mention of Christmas, but there it is! In Him we find redemption. We are reminded. He is our Redeemer.

Other versions of 1 Peter 1:18 use the words rescued, saved, set free from

Melody loves to flip the page to the next day at the end of each night before bed.

Hope Begins Here Fabric Wreath and Advent Tabletop Devotional

During December, you can get a No Greater Love Than Jesus Christmas Stocking for more than half off – $12.99, and other great monthly specials!! They always have lots of great Inspired Deals.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this product free from Dayspring to review on my site. 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.”

Operation Christmas Child Update 2012

I recently received an email that says the SHOEBOXES WE PACKED were passed out in the Philippines and Panama again!!

Operation Christmas Child 2012

This year we had Operation Christmas Child on our minds all year long. We did the same thing that we did last year, saving up a few items here and there. It helps to really connect these items that we send to the child who will be receiving it.

Our MOPS group collected 85 shoeboxes this year!! And we added the boxes that were collected to those collected by Redwood Christian for over 200 shoeboxes. Can’t you just imagine the smiles on the faces of the 200 children who will be receiving these boxes? It might be the only gift that some of these little ones will receive all year. National Collection Week has come and gone, but if you weren’t able to pack a shoebox, it’s NOT TOO LATE!! Click on over to Samaritan Purse’s website to BUILD-A-BOX!

Some more exciting stuff about Operation Christmas Child…..
OCC was started in 1990, and this Christmas, the 100 MILLIONTH shoebox will be delivered! Not only that, but it will be delivered by one of my blogging friends who I serve with on the Inspired to Action team, Amanda! And….not only that, but the 100 millionth shoebox will be delivered in the Dominican Republic where our Compassion child Solissa lives!!

Wrapping paper, collected items, and shoeboxes, oh my!

Choosing their shoebox wrapping paper

Bracelets – we’ve got lots to share!

We divided the items into the 2 shoeboxes.

Emily’s Box

Melody’s Box

Choosing which toothbrushes to put in

Squish – our method to put as much as possible into the boxes is to put smaller items into the bigger items

It fits!

Squish some more

And all the stuff fit into Melody’s shoebox as well.

There were actually a few more items not pictured that we put in there as well. I wonder how they go through all those shoeboxes to check on items before sending them off. I’m hoping that one day we will be able to go to a collection center to volunteer. How fun would that be!?

We totally did ours early this year (at the beginning of October I think…??) and then I completely forgot to take a picture of the girls holding their boxes. But here they are filling in their letters:

Did you pack a shoebox this year? What did you put in there?

Operation Christmas Child 2010 Shoebox Packing | Update | 2011

Mom Heart Conference

I just wanted to pass on info on an event that is coming up. Mom Heart Conference will be happening in Colorado, California (Irvine), Texas, and North Carolina. I just started reading Sally’s book The Mission of Motherhood and it is a breath of fresh air. I have watched many of Sally’s vlogs, and she is just an inspiration and encouragement to mothers. It would be awesome to attend.

This is my entry to win a ticket to this event.

Joyce-ism: Like

So…how do you know if you use Facebook too much?

You try to “like”…
1. FB status updates, photos, and comments
2. Instagram photos
3. Tweets
4. Text messages
5. Quotes in a magazine article
6. Blog posts
7. An email

Not saying I’ve tried doing all these things…. What are some things you’ve tried to “like”?

Winnie the Pooh KIDS: Play Rehearsal

Audition

Since Melody played a bee in the play, which wasn’t a main part and she wasn’t in every scene, she didn’t have to be at every single rehearsal. Rehearsals were twice a week for 1 hour in the afternoons. Oh, and Melody was transitioning out of naptime during this whole time, so there were many days when she woke up 10 minutes before rehearsal. (psst, it takes 10 minutes to get to rehearsals. :p haha!) On days she didn’t nap, she was just spaced out. I assure you, the rehearsals were just as, if not more, entertaining than the actual show. :p It was awesome to see how everything came together. (Sorry for the fuzzy photos from my phone. I actually took more with my phone, but haven’t uploaded them yet.)

1st rehearsal (end of June)

2nd rehearsal

Mid-July (VBS)

End of July

Mid-August (8/16)

Help End Bible Poverty

I want to welcome Katie Orr to our blog today. I get to serve on the Inspired to Action team with Katie. She is the founder of Do Not Depart, which has helped me and many others to get His Word into our heads and heart. She is also a fellow CCer. Help us end Bible poverty. The following is a guest post by Katie.

It has been a year since Lara Williams and I first launched Savoring Living Water: How to Have an Effective Quiet Time. I thought we might sell a hundred or so copies of our little e-book. Yet here we are—thousands of copies later—with the book in print and a leader’s guide right around the corner.

God has chosen to use our little e-book in a big way to help end Bible Poverty. We set a crazy big goal last year to bring 104 verses to the Vidunda people, through OneVerse, a Wycliff Bible Translators affiliate.

Today, we stand with only 16 verses left.

Sixteen!

To celebrate all the Lord has done, and to reach our goal near our one-year mark, we are going to give ALL PROFITS to OneVerse for every sale of the e-version sold today, and we would love for Y-O-U to be a part of the work God is doing in the lives of the Vidunda people!

Every PDF, Nook, and Kindle version sold on Thursday, October 4th will bring $5 to the Vidunda people.

If you already have a copy, will you consider gifting a copy, or donating directly to the Savoring Living Water OneVerse project. Any gift amount is welcome!

Thank you for helping us bring God’s Word to the nations!