Five Questions

I'm playing along with Lauren at Baseballs and Bows ... she's emailed me a list of five questions which I'm going to answer. Here goes!

1. What is your favorite holiday?
Christmas, and even more now that I'm a Mama. : ) The excitement of putting up the tree, wrapping presents, designing and addressing Christmas cards for friends and family, Christmas Eve service at church, the carols, and the Christmas story ... I love it all. This year I'm looking forward to doing an Advent calendar for the first time with my girls ... N1 will be four and is already asking when we're going to put up the Christmas tree.

2. What are your strengths as a mom?
Wow. Tough question. Probably my organization and creativity in organizing ... fitting five people (happily) in a two bedroom/one bath can be tricky at times. I think I'm pretty good at being "in tune" with the little signals the girls give off ... it doesn't take me long to pick up that they aren't feeling 100% or one is about to cut a tooth. And, I think I'm willing to change. If I find that one of the girls is having problems in a certain area (i.e., right now it's N2 and afternoon naps), I experiment with new schedules for a few days or week to try and figure out what's going on with her and what I can do to help her. Note: this doesn't mean I like change necessarily, but I do like trying new things and this helps me be flexible. Clear. As. Mud. : )

3. Do you have a favorite Bible verse?
My blog is titled after my favorite Scripture. Psalm 52.8-9 reads:

But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God's unfailing love for ever and ever. I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints.

I discovered this verse while doing Beth Moore's study on David, A Heart Like His (and personally, my favorite study of her's ever). Not long after that I went through a very, very rough time of depression and about wore this verse out meditating on it.

I'm going to cheat and mention one other verse(s) that are near and dear to me. Lamentations 3.23-26 & 32 reads:

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.

Once again, these verses have walked alongside me through a recent difficult season. They are exceptionally special to me. : )

4. What is your favorite place to go for a date night?
We don't get lots of date nights, so I'm very easy to please. (At least I think I am). : ) I love it when we go to a bookstore and wander around drinking coffee. Dinner out is always fun - time to talk without having to also feed small people at the same time is a luxury round these parts. (Not to mention the perk of not having to wash the dishes and free drink refills).

5. What do you picture yourself doing 10 years from now?
Let's see ... N1 will be a teen (yikes!) and E and N2 will be 9 and 10, respectively. I would love to have had a few more little ones, but in all likelihood I would be completely out of the diaper phase by then. Hard to imagine. : ) Best guess, I will probably be homeschooling some of my girls and possibly be preparing others to enter public school as middle school students. Another possibility, if my husband ever chooses to enter seminary full-time, might see us moving. Who knows? But it's exciting to think about!

Want to play along? Leave me a comment (and your email) and I'll send you some questions to answer. Thanks Lauren! This was fun. : )

Goodness Gracious

This doggy days giveaway is INSANE! I'm over 230 comments on my giveaway post ... safe to say, yesterday I spent a lot of time going through emails! : ) And I've definitely not made it through all the contest posts myself.

Whew. I'm tired thinking about it.

Today's agenda ... a little of this and that around the house, some church work that HAS TO get done today, and some planning for the next couple months. But now, time for some time in the Scriptures before I kick it all off (or as best as I will be able to do with two little girls who decided to get up at 5:45 a.m. this morning!)

Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway - It's Here!

Happy Monday! If you are new to my blog (here via the Bloggy Giveaway hosted by Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer), welcome. : ) I'm Stephanie, stay-at-home-mama of three girls, child of King ... oh, and I like to make things! : ) In what little spare time I have, I enjoy creating invitations, notepads, notecards, and scrapbook. I love me some paper and pens.

So, without further ado, the goodies. : )

I've got two goodies to give away this week. The first is a personalized notepad for you and your family. You can see a sample here:



It is 8.5 x 5.5 and can be lined or unlined (50 sheets per pad). We'll personalize it with your family name at the top ... the bottom will have your husband, you, and then children. (If you are single and win this post, we'll talk and can fix you up as well). : ) I love making these for friends ... they work well for thank you notes or notes to your child's teacher at school. You can see some more samples of these (and other projects I've done) at my Punkin' Press website if you are interested.

Second, I'm giving away an altered binder! I made one of these a few weeks ago and it was so fun I'm giving one away. Size is 8.5 x 5.5 and you can use it for all sorts of fun things. (This is my favorite size of notebook and paper).



You can click any of these pictures/graphics to see them larger in Flickr.

Now the important stuff.

TO ENTER:

Leave me a comment by Thursday night, July 26 at midnight (CST) and let me know if you want to be entered into a drawing for the binder, the notepad or both. (Just a note, I'll be able to ship the notepads internationally, but not the binder). Anonymous comments will not be entered so please leave an email address.

Happy commenting! I look forward to travelling around to others' blogs and seeing the other goodies that are up for give-aways this week. And, feel free to look around here. I'd love to have you visit.

Self-Protection

Self-Protection
Originally uploaded by stephaniedshepherd

The story behind the photo ... a typical Saturday morning at our home. The girls are munching on dry cereal while playing in our big room. N2 takes it to a new level of protecting her food from our dog by eating it in a bucket. Makes me laugh. : )

Friday Felicities - 7.20

~ a trip to Dollar Tree
~ watching my oldest pick out a gift for her aunt all buy herself
~ picking the black jelly beans out of the bag that I bought N1
~ our first childless outing tomorrow with my sister and brother-in-law to see a movie
~ a conversation with a friend this evening
~ babies that fall asleep on your shoulder
~ little girls that like to dance and dance and dance

A Little Peek

A Little Peek
Originally uploaded by stephaniedshepherd

Something crafty that will be part of the bloggy dog days giveaway happening next week!

Naptime Toes

Naptime Toes
Originally uploaded by stephaniedshepherd

N2 likes to rest her feet on her crib bars when she is napping ... she has the best little pudgy toes. : )

Honor Your Husband - the Wrap Up

This challenge has been a great thing for me. It's forced me to look at some things that I have been frustrated with for a looooong time. And surprisingly, guess who needs to make some changes? : )

I started off the challenge with some typical wifely goals (and, please don't hear this as bad because they were/areas that I need to work on):

greet him when he gets home from work with a smile and not a frown or tired face

pick a book on marriage to read over the next 3-4 weeks

think before I speak

think before I speak (so important it needs to be on there twice!) :-)

work at doing a good job with our budget and what I have to work with for groceries and other needs (more about this later)

But over the course of the challenge, my posts and my heart took a different turn. (You can see weeks two and three here.) It was starting to get a little personal (yikes!) : ) Not as much of just greeting him with a smile on my face, but working on some attitude adjusting so that the smile and joy of serving him came from my heart.

My post from last week seemed to be the pinnacle of where the Lord was steering me during this challenge. To focus more on Him and out of that will come a better love for my husband and a great desire to serve him as I am supposed to as a Godly wife. I'm even developing a desire to get up early before the rest of my household for a few stolen minutes in the Scriptures! This is totally new for me and just a little bit exciting! : ) Right now, I'm just enjoying time in my Bible, reading a few chapters and maybe picking out a verse that strikes me to think about during the day. However, I am going to start adding some time for prayer ... real sit-down prayer as opposed to the quickies I send up during the day as things come to mind. I'm excited to see where the Lord is going to lead me during this time, and how this will start to change me, my attitude, and my marriage! My "morning meeting" has become the most important part of my day, and I can truly say that I miss it when I oversleep or a child-issue prevents it from happening.

Wow, this marriage challenge sure did a 360-degree turn! Instead of just making some surface changes (and maybe some husband-changes) I am being changed from inside out. It's it amazing how God works? : )

Thank you to Christine at Fruit in Season for hosting this!

*Also!!*

I have been so moved by this new morning time that I am having ... it's nothing earth shattering, but finally taking the time to make a quiet time with the Lord a priority has been nothing short of amazing. With that, I'm throwing out the idea of a way to be accountable to keep up with my morning meeting with the Lord. I'm going to post an update every couple of weeks on how I'm doing, what I've been reading, etc., and if any are interested in participating in this with me, I would love it. I've even (because I'm slightly geeky that way) made a graphic (or two or three) that anyone who wants to participate in could post on their blog. Thoughts? I'll probably be doing this whether or not anyone else does, but I would love the company if you need the accoutability and encouragement in this area from others. : )

Because She is Just Yummy

4 Things

I've been tagged! Lu snagged me to complete this meme so here goes. : )

Four jobs I’ve held:
1. Dishwasher at college (work study program)
2. Paralegal/Legal Assistant
3. School secretary/school nurse
4. Church Administrator/Music Coordinator

Four movies I can watch over and over again:
1. Star Wars : )
2. Sense & Sensibility
3. You've Got Mail
4. National Treasure

Four places I have lived:
1. Oklahoma City, OK
2. Dallas, TX
3. Calgary, Alberta, Canada
4. Ft. Smith, AR

Four tv shows I watch:
I really don't watch any TV other than on DVD, so I'm going to list my favorite TV/DVDs that we have liked enough to purchase! : )
1. West Wing
2. The Cosby Show
3. Alias
4. X-Files
I know ... quite an odd assortment of favorites, but that's me. : )

Four places I’ve been on vacation:
1. Yellowstone
2. Gatlinburg/Smokey Mtns
3. Colorado/Rocky Mtns
4. Lake Erie

Four of my favorite foods:
1. popcorn
2. nachos
3. huge salads (especially southwestern ones)
4. diet coke : )

Four websites I visit:
1. Women at Home
2. Flickr
3. Amazon.com
4. My library

Tag 4 people:
I can't remember who I've seen do this one and who hasn't so let me know if you do it. : )

Bloggy Giveaway

If you haven't heard ...

Shannon @ Rocks in My Dryer is hosting the great bloggy giveaway next week! Check back here for a chance to win at least one (maybe two if I get busy) Punkin' Press goodies.

You can click the graphic in my sidebar for more info on how to enter to win and/or participate with a giveaway of your own. Thanks Shannon for hosting this! : )