Please pass the kleenex!

So, last week, I shared with you about the invitation I received to visit my sponsored child, Eduardo, in Mexico. God has been moving mountains over the past week and I did make a deposit on the trip! I have shed so many happy tears over the past week! I still have quite a bit of money to earn, but so many people shared some wonderful ideas that I can put into place to earn the money to go. Here is what I have done so far:

1. I have sold a couple of furniture items (2 unused desks) and some tupperware. I figure this is a great time to go through my home and sell some items we are not using. No point of it sitting around collecting dust. Over the next few weeks, I will be going through the rooms in our home to see what else can be sold.

2. One sweet blogger sent me money to use for my trip! (insert happy tears!!)

3. I revised my ‘public’ Facebook page (Gifts from Our Little Corner) and have begun posting some homemade items to sell. Three batches of cranberry-strawberry jam sold to some of my friends in just a couple of days, so I made 2 batches of strawberry jam yesterday. You can also find some homemade flannel baby blanket and wash cloth sets. See something you like on the page? Be sure to ‘like’ the page and we can negotiate shipping/handling costs if you live out of my area.

4. To keep track of what I am earning toward the trip, I printed out a check register and at the top of the paper I wrote, “The Lord will provide” – Genesis 22:14. This will be a good reminder for me in case any moments of discouragement come up over the next few months as I continue earning money for this trip. If it is His will for me to go on this trip, I believe He will provide the funds in His timing and I need to trust in Him through this whole process.

Over the next few months, I hope to keep you posted on how things are coming along as I prepare for this Compassion trip to Mexico to visit Eduardo. I am so excited about this opportunity!

‘Parenting the QBQ Way’ Review and Giveaway

My friend Kendra told me how encouraging John Miller was at a retreat she attended earlier this year. So I ordered his first book and liked what I read.

“How much better things would be if we all tried to mold and shape our own thought and actions rather than those of others.” – John G. Miller

Then I learned he had a book on parenting. Now that my kids are older (one is even an adult!), I am not sure how effective it is for me to spend a lot of time reading parenting books, but then I read this quote:

“Parenting never really ends. It changes.” – John G. Miller

Parenting is something that each one of us do differently. Is there a right way? I believe when we follow God’s teaching we can make good choices, but since we are all sinners, we are not always going to make the best choices. Mr. Miller’s book gives some great ways for us to take more personal accountability in helping our kids to learn about personal accountability. One of my favorite sayings is ‘your walk talks more than your talk talks’.

“Modeling is the most powerful of all teachers.” – John G. Miller

Here are some things I just love about Parenting the QBQ Way:

1. Nice short chapters – I know that many parents are so busy that they don’t make time to sit down, let alone sit down to read. Most of the chapters in this book are 3-4 pages. Plenty short for any parent to take the time on a lunch break, while the kids are napping, just before bed. No excuses here.

2. Plenty of great quotes – each chapter starts off with quotes from some great people: Abraham Lincoln, Helen Keller, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, C. S. Lewis, and even a few Bible verses. There is always thing for us to learn from the Bible and from people who have lived before us.

3. A whole section on transforming your IQs (incorrect questions) into QBQs (question behind the question). – Haven’t you ever asked yourself, “Who made the mess in here?” And what is the usual response? I know, ‘nobody’ lives in our house sometimes too. But if we ask instead, '”What can I do to help my child learn good habits?”, it helps us to make sure we take the time to train our children to take some personal accountability for their actions.

4. Remembering that life is fair – a good friend of mine is always telling us that God doesn’t say ‘oops’. He has a plan for things that happen in our life, good and/or bad. But here is one quote from the book that puts this personal accountability thing into perspective:

“Life is fair…because bad things can happen to anyone. The difference is always in what we choose to do about it.”

So now I know you would like your own copy of this book! But before you run out and purchase one, I actually have 2 copies to giveaway!

Giveaway details: In the comments below, share with me your favorite parenting book. Entries will be accepted until Thursday, May 9th at 11:59pm Pacific time. Giveaway only open to residents of the United States. Winner will be randomly selected from comments on this blog post. Winner will be notified by e-mail on or after Friday, May 10th.

Disclosure: I was given a copy of Parenting the QBQ Way in exchange for my honest review of the book.

Capture Your 365

Five pictures for you this week and here they are:

lavender

ISO 100, 116mm, f/4.8, 1/80 sec

Day 111 – Blooming: This lavender plant in my backyard is blooming like crazy! I need to do some cuttings and start drying some of these.

mail

ISO 100, 80mm, f/4.2, 1/4 sec

Day 113 – Mail: I was able to mail off letters to my Compassion kids last week! I hope they enjoy the bookmarks I made for them. Do you send your sponsored kids handwritten letters?

mobile

ISO 100, 55mm, f/4.0, 1/160 sec

Day 114 – Mobile: trying to get back into the routine of walking a few days a week. On my iPod, I have a playlist of upbeat Christian songs. This is a great way for me to focus on how amazing God’s love for me is while I do what I can to keep my body healthy.

oreo moon phases

ISO 100, 50mm, f/4.0, 0.4 sec

Day 115 – Spotlight: When I saw this idea on Pinterest months ago, I penciled in our history book to give this a try. We had just read about the Battle of Marathon in the Mystery of History and one of the activities was to learn about the moon phases. Always fun to combine lessons with food!

fence with poppies

ISO 100, 50mm, f/5.0, 1/250 sec

Day 116 – A Fence: Well, there is a fence behind the California poppies, does that count?

So what have you been taking pictures of this past week? The May list for the Capture Your 365 is now available to print out. Go get the list and join me for capturing the little details of your life.

Just received ‘An invitation to meet Eduardo’

So yesterday in my inbox, I received an e-mail from Compassion with ‘An invitation to meet Eduardo’. Having the chance to visit one of your Compassion sponsored children has got to be the dream of a lot of Compassion sponsors.

About a year and a half ago, we started sponsoring Eduardo and we picked Mexico, hoping that it would be more affordable for me to have the ability to take a trip with Compassion. Do we have the money in the bank to pay for a trip right now? Of course not! But I have already started thinking of ways that I can earn the money necessary to pay for this trip. God knows if I will be going on this trip or not.

Given the chance though, I know this trip will be a life changing experience. I have read many blog posts about bloggers who have visited their sponsored kids (and shed many tears reading those posts!) You can read posts from some of the past trips at the Compassion Bloggers web site.

My pray and hope, that given the chance to go on this trip, or one in the future, that It would give me a better awareness of the effectiveness of Compassion programs so that I can be a better advocate for these kids. This trip wouldn’t be for me, it would be for the millions of children who are growing up, living in extreme poverty, that I could be a voice for them.

If you have any suggestions on ways you have been able to earn about $2500 in a five month period, I would love to hear them! Please leave your ideas in the comments section, and I would love your prayers too!

Update 5/1/13: I am beyond excited! This morning I made a deposit on this trip and picked up my first passport application! Praying for God to direct my efforts for earning the rest of the money over the next few months. Yay!!!

Walking on Water

“But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”“Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.” – Matthew 14:27-29

Have you ever heard Jesus prompting you to do something? Right now, I am kind of feeling like He has asked me to jump off of a cliff and I am suppose to trust Him to catch me before I am splattered all over the ground. He tells the disciples to ‘take courage’ and ‘don’t be afraid’, so why are we so different? Fear of failure, fear of what people might think if we fail, fear of disappointment, fear of discouragement, fear of not being good enough to follow the path you feel you are being led to follow?

I am not a writer, plain and simple. In school, math was my favorite subject. I loved algebra, trigonometry, pre-calculus, all those calculations! With a calculator and pencil in hand, I was one happy girl. There was a definite black and white answer for every problem. But English and writing? So subjective. The ‘right’ answer was in the red pen of the teacher. Couldn’t I just read my way through English?

So why I am telling you all of this? Because Jesus has asked me to ‘take courage’ and to ‘not be afraid’. He has placed on my heart a writing project that I really cannot say ‘no’ to. I really can’t give you a lot of details right now, because we are still working on some approvals, but it is a project that I am really exciting about. And for someone who is not a writer, that is saying a lot!

In the meantime, will you join me in prayer? I sure would appreciate it!