The Winner of Happy Beach CD!

A rainy day here and plenty of volunteers to pick the winner of Perry Springman's cd, 

 Happy Beach. 

 With eyes closed and papers mixed about...

the winner is...

(without a doubt...

because 4 children felt the need to try their hand at picking the winner,

 post the winner already being picked...and each picked....)

Congratulations Pam. 

 I will send your information along to Perry so he can send you a copy of his cd. 

 Please feel free to post about it!  

And to those of you who didn't win...I still highly recommend this album, it is joy filled and well loved by all ages in our house!

Happy Beach!

Natural Hair and Adoption

We joke that she has enough hair for at least two people.  Her older Ethiopian sister has said she herself has enough for maybe three people.  It certainly is a mane of glory.  This mama has gotten good at natural hair care, though she grew up only knowing how to care for her own hair type which certainly was not African in any way shape or form. Braids yes, french braids sure, but cornrows or box braids, um no-sir-ree.

God is full of surprises.  He brings you places that you'd never imagine.  I never imagined I would be the mother of two Ethiopian daughters and that they would have enough hair to make tons and tons of box row braids when one sets about to.  I never realized my fingers would move so quickly at parting with a rat tail comb and finding just the right product to make their hair soft and protected.  Or that a hair style could take a couple of hours to complete, never mind undoing it several weeks later.

Rarely do I keep Princess Mercy's hair down (unbraided). I have learned that it quickly shrinks up and tangles and leads to tears and long careful sessions of trying to coax the hair out of knots and nests. A battleground that this mama knows to avoid.  But sometimes this little one just wants a day of freedom and wants to take the risk of a few hours without it being styled.  It always must go into a protective hairstyle by bedtime, which means twists or lose braids, followed by a silk cap to sleep in.

Curly, kinky, beautiful African hair. I smile because I trusted Him enough to say yes. Yes to two beautiful daughters who are so different from me.  He knows how to make it all happen.  My non-African friends ask me 'Who does their hair?'  I smile and I say 'Just me.'  They tip their head and ask me how I know how to do all these things,  that are foreign to so many light skinned mamas.  I grin and explain that what God calls you to, that He enables you to walk in it.  His call, His leading, His help and my following.  

Life is good. Isn't she cute?

And hey..put your name down for my giveaway!  

Time is running short and you'll be so blessed if you are the one who gets picked.  

I think this little one will love to write names down and put them into a basket and draw out the winner.  

We need more names...so please sign up. 

 I am sure you will enjoy it, or can find someone who would love it.

And the Giveaway Winner Is...

And now with much adieu and great fanfare; using my fancy Victorian hat as our container of choice...we will now announce the winner of the giveaway!

The Picker!

AND...Princess Sunshine (who begged to be the name picker) says...

(after she opened her eyes...)

Congratulations Kristine! 

 I know you will find a great purpose for your new enamalware containers.

And as Kristine has a house full of beautiful little girls (and a brand new baby girl)...pink is just perfect!

In Love with Milk

Think the Milk People need a new spokesperson?

Hey, don't forget to leave a comment on my giveaway...tomorrow we draw our winner!

Enjoying Our Warm Evenings

Gladly answering a few questions:

Yes, this is our Christmas tree...

Yes, it is March 25th according to my calendar...

Yes, it is a real tree....

Yes, we put it out on our deck in January...

Yes, we did cut it down in November...

Yes, it is still alive...

Yes, I do know the kind of tree it is...it is called a concolor fir...

No, it isn't dropping any needles yet...

Yes, I do think it is rather a miracle of sorts...

We are hoping that it will still be standing when our Ethiopian daughter
comes home in a few weeks from Ethiopia!

Wouldn't that be cool? 

Praying that no birds try to nest in it before then!

don't forget to put your name down for my giveaway...time is running out!

Prayer Request Sunday-Giveaway Reminder

Short and Sweet:

Need prayer?  Want prayer?  Love prayer?

Leave me a comment, with your prayer requests and we will get busy taking it together before our Father.

*only 6 more days to sign up for my giveaway...

remember, this would make a sweet gift to someone you love (if not for you)!

Celebration Giveaway!

Spring is just around the corner and it is the perfect time to set things in order with a bit of spring cleaning.  As we prepare to add another precious child to our household through adoption, I have found myself nesting for the past few weeks.  Closets, drawers and children's bedrooms have been sifted through, oh how I love things when they are neat and clean!  We are just about ready for our Ethiopian daughter to come home! Oh what a glorious celebration that is to be!

As I was pondering arranging our bedrooms and wishing we could brighten up our existing sleeping quarters; it set me to looking over at some great kids bedding.  So bright, so colorful, so lovely to behold.  A girl has got to dream while she is waiting, right? Who wouldn't love shopping here to put together such bright and cheery spaces?

I ventured on to my cupboards and set about dreaming of some new lovelies to spruce up my kitchen.  I began to poke about on here and saw many wonderful things that made my heart pitter-patter!   I really loved this (we just love Paula here!) and this and this!  All of the colours make me think spring!  How fun to be able to shop from home and be able to pick from so many useful kitchen items. 

How about something a little pink for this giveaway...you know we are expecting a girl this adoption! 

This giveaway is courtesy of the kind folks over at http://www.cookware.com/-  who offered to throw this little celebration of sorts.  Just pop over to their site and tell me which of their items makes your heart sing with songs of spring! 

• 
  
   Leave me a comment and let me know what you love. (worth 1 entry)

• 
  
  If you decide to play and already are a reader of my blog...I will put you in for being such a *good friend!* (worth 2 entries!)

• 
  
  If you link to this post from your blog, helping me spread the giveaway~ you will get an 2 extra chances to win (value 2 entries)

• 
  
  and if you decide to become a reader of my blog...Hey, I will give you another chance at winning this dandy set of pink storage goodness! (value one entry)

Please let me know how many tickets I should put your name into the drawing for...this will be so much fun!  We will randomly draw the lucky winner on Saturday, March 27th -12 a.m. EST!  The winner will be notified by email, so please give me an email where you can be currently found.  The blessed winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize. If I don't hear from you within those 2 days, we will have to pick someone else to celebrate with. *This giveaway will be open to my Canadian and U.S. readers-I am sorry this doesn't include all of my friends.

And if pink isn't your bag of tricks...you could always bless someone else with this nice enameled set of storage dishes.  It's so fun to bless others!

Let the celebration giveaway begin!

And the Winner is....

What a beautiful day ...and I get to bless one of the Giveaway participants. It feels so great to be able to bless someone, so drum roll please....

and the winner of my very first blog giveaway is...

......Greta Jo.........From Guatemala to the Jersey Shore..........

Hope God blesses you over the course of the remaining days of this year, as you listen for his voice and write down every sweet word He whispers to you. Bless you

Greta Jo!

Bad habits die hard

The Prince (Tobin) sits on one of his favourite thrones

Only a few days until the winner of the Giveaway is announced...if you want to be included leave a comment at the Giveaway post! Cuz it is over ~January 31st!

My Giveaway...:-)

God put it on my heart to have a giveaway! He even directed my steps in what to give (how cool is that?) I will have the official drawing and winner announcement on Jan. 31st . So if you'd like to be included, just leave a comment at this post and a link back to you ~either to your blog or an email where I can find you if you win-you can use my email if you don't want your email posted in comments. kimmie28@gmail.com

I will be giving away a notebook (Day by Day 2008)...so as you hear God, you can write down what He says to you. I hope you will be able to look back over the year and ponder His words to you. I sewed a bag to hold your notebook-it has a little back pocket for a pen (and perhaps some tissue!) and I left a little room in case you have a bible that you'd like to slip in too? I prayed over it as I sewed the bag, asking God to give you spiritual ears to hear His voice and that it would greatly bless you as you wait to hear from Him.

I will be writing along with you...as He had me buy one too! So as I take mine out (I will carry mine in my purse)- I will remember to continue to lift you up as you wait expectantly on Him. If He says anything to you before it arrives...please jot it down and add it in once it arrives! I am anticipating lots of listening to His voice this year and I am asking the same for YOU!

Jeremiah 33:3

Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

Habakkuk 2:1

I will stand on my guard post And station myself on the rampart; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me.

Deuteronomy 5:31

As for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you.