Zach

You are a constant reminder of how fun life is suppose to be! You are sixteen now ( as of 4:20 am) and I am so proud of who you are and what you are becoming. You grow more and more beautiful (okay, handsome) inside and out every day. Always I treasure the days we have had together. From the moment you were born, to the days in pre- school and elementary school, Jr high and today. I can almost sense the plans God has for you and I will always be cheering you on from the sidelines. I love you! Happy 16Th Birthday!

mom

400 FREE prints, YES! I said FREE!

Okay my scrapbooking friends, here is one you do not want to miss.... Thanks to Stevan and Jessica Sheets for this one-

Jess found this deal while reading a blog she frequents (Freebies4Mom),

Here’s the deal:

A new digital photo printing site, ArtsCow is offering 400 free digital prints by signing up RIGHT NOW! You just have to register and login and the prints are credited to your account immediately. There is a nominal shipping fee, but for 400 free prints, who WOULDN’T pay shipping?!


Apparently they’re also offering everyone who signs up in the near future a free “photo book” the month of May.

Remember, there’s no cost to sign up so sign up as my referral , here is the link again......http://www.artscow.com/default.aspx?Ref=348689

happy scrapping!
joelle

Art Fair

Amanda Moore (Micah's elementary school) hosted a writer's /art fair last night.

Here is a sampling of Micah's art work....it may be we have a budding artist in the family.

Notecards with personallity

Found this great site-

thanks to 5 minutes for Mom

Next time you receive a note from The Mabeys it could very well be on one of my new, cute little notecards! I think this could very well be my new favorite site and I am so excited. Being a mom of 4 boys rarely do I find something girly and just fall in love with it! There are always exceptions to the rule and I believe this is it.

They LUUUUUUVVVVVV their friends.(If you heart us like we heart you,) share the love!!

1. Feature http://cometogethercards.blogspot.com/ on your blog and say nice things about them.

Add http://cometogethercards.blogspot.com/ to your blog links with flashy links.

Join Their email list and forward their emails to your address book.If your friends like cute things, they will love you for it!!

AND, when you email Courtney at courtney@cometogethercards.com and tell her that you did any of these, you get FREE STUFF!!

Wordless Wednesday

Zach lost a best with his dad -

It had to do with Basketball -

silly boy, should have known better.

He had to wash the car!

Second son Aaron was being a kind hearted brother-

decided to help older brother

so they could get on with the day-

including more basketball.

check out more Wordless Wednesday entries here

Tackle It Tuesday

Okay After the tackles I had prepared from last week- The dryer got fixed- But the Fridge did not.... , not that it was broken, just did not get tackled, you know, the best layed plans.....so today I will once again try to tackle "The Fridge"

I will also tackle child care with Mara 10 am -1 pm
start dinner( I think it is as spaghetti kind of night,
if they are lucky w/ meatballs
pick up Zach from school take him to tutoring 2:25- 3:00/4:00
Eat dinner,,
Matt will take Zach and Sebe and whoever else needs a ride to soccer
I will take Noah to Crossroads
and I am still trying to figure out how to get Aaron to a friends or The Palace for the Pistons game..... I let you know how it goes!
and get myself to Bible Study home by 930 ish:) I better get tackling or I know today will run out of day......

prayer-

The National Day of Prayer is just around the corner, coming up on Thursday, May 1, so I am going to jump on the bandwagon by borrowing Nike's excellent slogan to "just do it."

This week, at Extravagant Grace, sharing what we have learned about prayer from the Word, from studies, experiences over the years. It is certainly not because I have this prayer thing mastered or even understood, but because I've had to apply the "just do it" slogan often times in my spiritual life.

I encourage you to stop by each day for Scriptures and concepts that God can use to get your prayer life in shape, worked out, and refreshed by the working of the Holy Spirit.

just do it!

In our desire to grow in relationship with the Lord, prayer becomes an essential component. It is a time to both speak to with God and to listen, especially drawing on His Word. With that in mind, each day in this series, we will focus on prayer in two ways: looking at the Scripture and considering practices that focus on deepening our relationship with the Lord.Here are some Scriptures that describe how, when, and where we should pray:

Matt 6:9-13 ~ "This, then, is how you should pray:" 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

1 Thes 5:17 ~ “pray continually…”

Rom12:12 ~ faithful in prayer.

Luke 6:12 ~ [The Twelve Apostles ] One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

Luke 9:18 ~ [Peter's Confession of Christ ] Once when Jesus was praying in private

Ephesians 6:18 ~ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints

Matthew 6:5–6 ~ "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men…But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.

Mark 1:35 ~ [Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place ] Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Ephesians 3:17-18 ~ …And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

1 Thessalonians 3:10 ~ Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.

2 Thessalonians 1:11 ~ With this in m
ind, we constantly pray for you,


Here is one style for practicing prayer:ACTS • Adoration Confession ThanksgivingSupplication

This acronym takes you through each stage of prayer as you reflect on the meaning behind each letter.

Adoration is telling the Lord what you love about Him and what you know about Him to be true.

Confession is “fessing” up to the Lord about your sins and commit to walk away from wrong living.

Thanksgiving is when you give praise to the Lord for Him, His love, grace, mercy, and all the blessings in your life. And Supplication is when you present your needs and desires before the Lord.

Photo Contest

Your picture may be worth

One Thousand Dollars !

click on the mother's day giveaway picture to head over to 5 minutes for mom and find out how You could end up a winner.

Taking advantage of a schools closed for snow day kind of day, we headed to a near by hill and spent the afternoon sledding- of course the boys only pacified me with this picture but it turned out fabulous! This is my submission for the mother's day contest! I love spending time with the boys it will end way to soon- I cherish every moment together. This kind of day is what I look for around every corner.

My Walk Monday

Posted by Carolyn over at Scrapping Servant

I noticed that my enemy is threatened by my growth and he is doing his best to make me feel defeated… he wants to handicap me so I will no longer be that threat! He wants to stop my growth again. Let me tell ya - in Jesus’ name - I am not the defeated one you are Satan!!! A-men ladies?!
I learned a lot in my Beth Moore study on “Ancient Ruins” this week, or generational sins. It was nice to look back not only to see the good (that I don’t often see) in my mommy, but also to (possibly) find some answers as to why my dad’s family is how they are. It’s nice to find some positive in the situations I have been through learning that “enslaved parents teach their children how to live in bondage even with the best of intentions to do otherwise.” Read this story Beth shared, it really hit me hard…
“When I was little, my nurse Dibby’s cousin had a dog, just a mutt,
and the dog was pregnant. I don’t know how long dogs are pregnant,
but she was due to have her puppies in about a week.
She was out in the yard one day and got in the way of the lawn mower
and her two hind legs got cut off. They rushed her to the vet and he said,
“I can sew her up, or you can put her to sleep if you want, but the puppies are okay.
She’ll be able to deliver the puppies.”
Dibby’s cousin said, “Keep her alive.”
So the vet sewed up her backside, and over the next week the dog
learned to walk. She didn’t spend any time worrying, she just learned to walk by
taking two steps in the front and flipping up her backside, and then
taking two steps and flipping up her backside again. She gave birth to six little puppies,
all in perfect health. She nursed them and then weaned them.
And when they learned to walk, they all walked like her!”

I am willing to break the chains Satan has placed in the generations of my family and Satan wants to leave them there so he can choke me with them! God allowed my family to be tempted with these things, and since it is a possibility with Satan, he tries to increase the probability! He is an opportunist!
Now this promise was really awesome! In Exodus 20:5 & 6 God shows us that 3-4 generations may suffer from the sins of their fathers, but to those who love Him and keep His commandments He WILL show loving kindness TO THOUSANDS of their generations!
This is the heaviest thing I learned this week and I feel very strongly about giving Satan NO MORE opportunities. I no longer want to cooperate with him in my lazy and careless attitude, but I want to deliberately cooperate with God.
“The blood’s already been shed. Isn’t it worth a little sweat and tears?”



This week’s Bonus Question: What is the very first scripture you ever memorized? Or the one you first - remember - memorizing? And when was it?

my answer:

I think there was something before this but this is the first one that popped in my head, so who knows maybe it was the first- i learned it in song-

For I'm persuaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor power, nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate me from the love of god that is in Christ Jesus my lord - tho the devil hate he can never separate from the wonderful love of god.

I think it was around 7th grade, i know kinda late to memorize your first scripture but that is why I do not think it was the first but hey, I memorized scripture in 7th grade, taht has got to count for something. It was at a youth retreat, in the mountians somewhere, i can see the cottage but do not remeber where. Somewhere in Pennsylvania.

My Birthday

Wordless Wednesday - okay myabe I used a few words this week.....

Today is my 41 birthday! My hubby stayed home from work today after and after a little loving persuasion we enjoyed our first day to our selves in about 2 years! He took me to The mall at Partridge creek the new upscale, outdoor mall and we enjoyed lunch at Brio. A very Italian, Tuscan, rustic bistro. I loved it. As we walked around outside enjoying the 77 degree day, I though of our friends Pastor Dave and Melissa and talked about how much they would have liked it. Very modern, very hip, and chic and very technologically savvy.... the two outdoor pictures are for you guys- yes that is a fire place outside and a television court! Who would have thought!(oh, there was a P.F. Changs Too!) We talked our server into taking the picture of the two of us and asked her to get the fountain in the background so this is what we got, but hey, better than nothing right? Since I am usually the one taking the photos at least we have one of the two of us! I am grateful, plus since I told her it was my birthday we got a free, Carmel chocolate cake in a tea cup with a little white chocolate stirry thingy:) very yummy!

Tackle it Tuesday

1. Try to upload the new tackle it Tuesady button
2. Clean out fridge
3. LAUNDRY- the dryer crashed, have no idea how to fix it, and the clothes are piling up.
4. IF time, upload pictures

My Walk Monday

This week’s Bonus Question:

What do you run to instead of God?

How can you tangibly remedy that?

I am thinking I rally do not run to a thing but run away- I will tend to just shut down and turn inward. most of the time I need to process things by myself, when I should be running to HIM, I usually end up there any way but take the long way home:) after tears and shouts, and a little stomping of the feet, yes at GOD, he doesn't seem to mind; just waits patiently. Isn't that just like Him? i plan on working on this a bit more in the coming weeks by not reacting first but asking "God what do you want from me first?" then really listening. Wow that is the hard part. asking is easy, it is the waiting and listening that is hard. I will let you know how it goes.

Want some FREE Starbucks?

Get a free sample of Starbucks coffee.

It's a little tricky to get to the free sample. Let the page fully load, then click on "Explore Our Coffees", then click on "Enjoy Your Complimentary Sample" in the top right-hand corner, and the sample request form will pop-up in a new window. You can choose from Cafe Verona, House Blend, Sumatra, or Breakfast Blend and should be enjoying your free coffee in 6 to 8 weeks.

Fundrasier

matt














aaron








Okay my blogging friends

I need help!

Somehow my wonderful, thoughtful, amazingly athletic, poetic, pastor of a husband
volunteered me for something, but forgot to tell me........

Now I am sure that does not happen to anyone else but me, however now, here is my dilemma.

Our second son Aaron is playing on a Tournament basketball team. In July they are heading to nationals- it is a little bit pricey and they new jerseys, etc.... well, I have been volunteered to collect donations for prizes for a bowling tournament the team is providing as a fundraiser, wait, it get better- the bowling fundraiser is in two weeks! yikes!

Gift certificates to restaurants or stores, gift bags or boxes of different items, like lotions or cleaning supplies, board games or cards, maybe a basket of Michigan paraphernalia- oh I don't know, I am just thinking off the top of my head, anyway I am calling on help! If you possess or would be willing to purchase and submit for a donation, something you think would be a great prize-for the purpose of sending some 8Th grade basketball players to Fort Wayne this summer we would all be very appreciative, especially my absolutely adorable husband who is looking very sheepishly right now!:) gotta love them!

joelle

Wordless Wedneday

Tackle it Tuesday

Today I am just tackling life, seems like that is all I do lately.

1. Work with Mara beginning 10 am-1, 10 kids under the age of 4

2. Chiropractor 1:15

3. Pick up Maddison 2:00

4 Get Zach at the high school take him to tutoring 2:25

5. Pick up Aaron and his friend Tyler from the weight room 3:00

6. Home in time to meet Micah bus at 3:30

7. Dinner 4:30?

8. Zach and Sebe to soccer practice 5:00

9. drop off Aaron, Tyler and Noah at Crossroads 6:00

10. take Maddie home 6:05?

11. Meet with potential leadership couple for PCC 6:15

12. pick up Noah and Aaron from crossroads 8:00

13. pick up Zach from Davids house after practice about 8:15pm

14 home 8:45

15 let dogs out

BED! 9:00 :)

15 Free Prints at Walgreens Today

Upload your photos and get 15 free prints to pick-up at Walgreens today - Tuesday, April 15. You will need to enter TAXDAY as the promo code to get the 15 free prints. Since you are picking these up in-store, there should be no other fees. I love these Walgreens photo offers because you don't need to pick them up on a specific day to get them for free, you just have to order them on the right day with the right promo code.Update 7:48 am - I just ordered my 15 free prints and will be picking them up at the store tomorrow! I saved $2.85 by using the promo code. I expect the photo lab will be extra busy today - so if you can wait and pick them up later, I'm sure your photo lab would appreciate it! Update 8:25 am - But, they will email you as soon as they are ready. Wow, I guess they aren't busy yet because my photos are ready to pick up!

My Walk Monday

Do you have a favorite place or time to get alone with God? If yes, when, where and maybe why?… If no, can you think of one you could make, giving it to the Lord as a place for you and Him to hang-out together?

A few years ago, Matt bought me an antique Orangish colored rocking chair. It was aptly named the mommy chair. It was suppose to be the one place I could go and no matter what the boys were not allowed to interrupt mommy! Even if she was doing nothing:) It lasted a little while but over time the chair did not "fit" the living room anymore, we moved, colors changed. The chair stopped being used. Mommy time also became a luxury. Boys got older, activities increased, mommy got busier and busier. (Is that a word?) Well to make a long story short, the mommy chair as since disappeared but recently we got a new mattress for our bed--- (the old one had that mysterious dip in the middle, well no, it was actually like a hump, for we each had our own side, and that is where the dips were:) anyhoo, NOW my favorite place to study is my bed, I go upstairs close the door, turn on the Bose Cd player , listen to a little CECE and walla, TIME ALONE WITH GOD!

Two weeks of toys!

From 5 minutes for Mom

Life is short. Every day our kids grow a little bigger. So let’s seize the moment and celebrate the early years. Yes - it is time to PLAY!

For the next two weeks, They will be going toy crazy at 5 Minutes for Mom. They will be featuring an assortment of toys for a variety of ages. They will have toys for babies, preschoolers and grade school kids. For the next fourteen days, the rule is FUN!

To enter the giveaways you just need to:

Add a comment on the giveaway you want to enter. PLEASE note: You need to enter each giveaway individually so we know who wants to be entered in what giveaway. So make sure you click over to each giveaway and leave your comment there.

Either link back to thier post and include a “2 Weeks for Toys” Giveaway button in that post or on your sidebar (to get the code scroll to the bottom of this post,) or link to the individual giveaways you choose to enter. (If you post and include the button, either in your post or on your sidebar, and link back here, you are good for all the giveaways. No more linking required.)

As always, non bloggers are welcome to participate! They understand you can’t link - but please spread the word to your friends.

Some giveaways may be open to Canadian shipping addresses. Please check individual giveaways.


CLICK ON ON OVER TO 5 MINUTES FOR MOM BY CLICKING ON THE BUTTON ABOVE then click on the giveaways you want to enter


PLEASE REMEMBER:They will be linking to all of the giveaways in thier post and need to know who wants to be entered in WHAT giveaway. Remember you can enter in as many of the giveaways as you want.



PLEASE NOTE: Entries for all giveaways will be closed Wednesday, May 7th at 5pm Eastern and winners will be announced in the afternoon of Friday, May 9th.
Make sure you check back at “5 Minutes for Mom” on Friday, May 9th to see if you won a prize. They will be emailing you as well and you will have one week to claim your prize. If they don’t hear back from you, they’ll have to give the prize to someone else, so you might want to keep an eye on your junk mail folder.
But to be sure check back at “5 Minutes for Mom” on Friday, May 9th.

Wordless Wednesday

I wish washers were now made with built in dryers. I wish dryers had built in folding machines and that the dry folded clothes would miraculously get put away in the appropriate rooms and drawers. After a weekend like we had the laundry get mounted. (normally i do a load a day) when we are away for even just a day that is bad news for the momma! So today's Tackle it Tuesday will be to sort, wash, dry, fold, and put away 4 days worth of laundry! On top of that -I will be heading next door to help out my neighbor with her child care-while she does a pre- school pick up run and later this afternoon my little Madison friend needs a babysitter for a few hours so she will arrive here near nap time. I will then head to the high school and get Zach from taking a Spanish 3 test he missed on Friday drop him off at a friends where they will be working on an extra credit assignment, go back to the high school and pick up Aaron and his friend Tyler where they were lifting weights bring them all back here and feed them dinner, Matt will have been home by then and He will head out with Micah and Noah for their AYSO soccer practice and I will head out to my Tuesday night Bible study but not before dropping Aaron and Tyler off at youth group .....whew! I am tired just thinking about it and it is only 8:45 AM, well I better get tackling!