Blue

Nope, no sadness here!  Just the theme for the next I ♥ Faces contest!

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Completely Candid

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New week, new contest over at I ♥ Faces. This week the photos need to be candid shots, no posing allowed!  So here is my entry for the week.

Micah enjoying his first Oreo!

Help a Little Boy and Enter a Giveaway

Check out this great way to help out this family and be entered to win some great prizes! Head on over and check it out!

There is a little boy, named Dakin (who’s almost 2), that has a terrible disease called SMA. This disease is the #1 genetic killer of children! Many people have never even heard of this horrible disease.

Dakin’s mom, Devon, is trying to raise money for the research of SMA. We thought that we’d give her some help and donate a $10 gift certificate to our store (Bouquet of Pixels). She’s also got some other nice donations, too: 1) a gorgeous bow set from Littlest Boutique and 2) Three lovely sets of earings.

You can win one of these great prizes by simply doing one of the following:

1. Blog about the contest
2. Post about the contest on Facebook
3. Tweet about the contest on Twitter

Then send the link to your post (to be entered in the drawing) to Devon at: poundoutsma@gmail.com

You can find all the rules to the contest (and find out more about SMA) at Dakin’s website.

Contest ends October 1st, 2009.

Let’s help Devon get the word out about SMA!!!

(Thanks to Joni for spreading the word and setting up this great blog post for us to use!)

Is Your Little Girl a Princess??

Over at Brown Paper Packages, Sarah is having a give away that is great for moms of little girls! She is giving away a $25 gift certificate to My Princess Party To Go!  Head on over to her blog to check it out and get entered to win.  But you better hurry as the she will be naming the winner on September 25!

Contemplative

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So the theme over at I ♥ Faces this week is Contemplative.

thoughtful observation; full or deep consideration; dreamily or wistfully thoughtful: a pensive mood; expressing or revealing thoughtfulness; quiet modes of apparent or real thought;

Here is my photo for this week.

A candid of Sarai (my favorite of her)

Believe it or not this is a candid shot of her.  I just happened to turn around as she was sitting in the field and when I went to take the picture she was looking my way.  Not even 10 seconds later she was off and running through the field again!  This is one of my all time favorite photos of my daughter.

Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze passed away today.  That makes me sad.  I grew up watching his movies and loved him. He is probably one of my all-time favorite male actors.

Patrick Swayze

Update Look

Well, I changed the look of my Digi Scrappin blog the other day and decided that I like it so much that I wanted my personal blog to match! So I changed my look.  Hope you like it as much as I do.  Of course who knows how long I will keep it.  We shall see!

Are you a KLUTZ lover?

No I don’t mean people who are falling down, tripping, spilling things or other crazy stuff that most normal people don’t struggle with! I am talking about the maker of those fabulous craft books that I, err my daughter loves!  Well if you love them as much as we do then you will want to head over to The Crafty Crow and enter their give away! But hurry, it doesn’t run much longer!

Never Forget

I know that I will never forget that day and the days that followed for as long as I live. It has been 8 years and I still am brought to tears looking at pictures, reading things on the internet, and watching videos from that day.  My heart still aches for those who lost loved ones; fathers, brothes, husbands, mothers, sisters, wives, children. And at the same time, I am thankful that my children and I did not have to experience that.

Please take a moment today to remember and reflect on the attacks of 9-11 and how they have changed your life (good or bad). And take a moment to pray for those who are still dealing, struggling, living with the lose of their loved ones and be thankful for what and who you have in your life today.

(P.S. comments are turned off, not because I am not interested in anything you might wish to express but simply because I know (and you do too) that there are those out there that can and will disagree with my post.  And honestly, I don’t feel like giving them the time of day!)

Happy Birthday Josh!

On this day 35 years ago my husband was born to his parents Jane Ellen Swinehart (Fountain) and Gary John Monda!  I am so glad that he came into the world and into my life (several years later).  I still remember the day that a friend and I were walking across a bridge in Bethany Missouri discussing guys that we like.  She said to me one day I am going to marry Ray and I said to her one day I am going to marry Josh! And we both laughed and probably in the back of our minds didn’t believe it was going to happen at all!  But I can happily say that we are both now married to those men!

This year Josh and I celebrated 13 years of marriage! We have had two great kids in those 13 years and many, many blessings. We have moved 5 times and he has had 2 full-time positions at 2 different churches.  Of course, we have also had the trials that come with life in general.  But God has kept us through that time.  So I just want to say Happy Birthday honey! I am so thankful that the Lord has put you in my life, especially that he has given you to me to be my help meet and stand by my side throuhg it all.  I love you more today than yesterday, and I am sure I will love you more tomorrow than today!

Our beautiful miracles!

I ♥ Faces Back to School Collage

I decided to throw together a simple collage of the back to school pictures that I have of Sarai this year for the I ♥ Faces Back to School Photo Collage contest.  I just picked 4 pictures that went through that morning and put them together. Here you go:

Back to School collage

Back to School (I ♥ Faces)

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I ♥ Faces theme for this weeks contest is “Back to School” So I figured since Sarai is starting her 3rd week of school this week, that I would enter one of the photos that I took on her first day.  I love this photo not really because it is a great photo but because I witnessed the emotion behind it.  The girls were so excited to see each other and were hugging and giggeling and talking about their summer and the new clothes they got! It was so cute to see and it really brought back the memories of when I was in school and couldn’t wait to see those friends that I hadn’t seen in a while.

Sarai and a couple friends on the first day of school

10 Deadly Sins of a Dying Church

As I was browsing around the internet this morning, I came across a link to this article on Ministry Best Practices “10 Deadly Sins of a Dying Church.” I thought it looked interesting so I clicked over to read it. It was pretty accurate in what it was saying. I have seen churches that this is true in and have experienced some of these before. Here is just a small excerpt of the article.

5. Personal Conflict
Church people have found a way to make an argument out of almost anything. Political power struggles rule the day.

6. A Priority Of Comfort
Dying churches refuse to reach out beyond their own comfort-zones. When any real ministry does happen and dirty, sinful people walk in among the righteous, it upsets the apple cart. It simply isn’t comfortable.

8. Hording
It amazes me the amount of money many dying churches have in their saving accounts. The thought is that they are saving it for a rainy day, but I wonder what God thinks about this? Will he be happy if we, like the man with one talent, have not invested his Kingdom resources in the Great co-mission work when returns. Which would be best; Die rich, having saved our resources and done as little as we can get by with, or Die broke with the knowledge that we have done all we can.

9. Failure to Follow
Too often pastors are treated like hirelings and not called, anointed people of God. The pastor is forced to walk on eggshells to avoid losing their job.

10. Idolatry
You may think this is absent from today’s Church, but it is very alive. Beloved programs, versions of the Bible, furniture, paintings on the wall and the placement of objects have caused more quarrels than I care to mention. We have taken these items to god-like levels in the church and forgotten the main thing.

Hope you will jump on over and read the rest. And I pray that this does not describe your church. If it does, realize it and take the steps necessary to correct it! There are tons of resources and many, many good, solid Bible-based organizations our there that will come and help your get back on track.

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Happy Birthday

happy birthday old friend. wish i could tell you in person but that is not possible. hope your day is special.