Operation Pretty Things

I received this email last week from a friend of mine...her small group is doing something pretty amazing this holiday season. Read on:


hello ladies!!

so, in the spirit of the holidays (and tradition)...my small group is doing our 2nd annual "operation pretty things" (OPT) - we collect all the "pretty things" that we have poking around our medicine cabinets (the never-been-used/un-opened things), make little gift bags and bring them to a woman's shelter here in town. last year was our first time doing this. the bags were received with so much gratitude and appreciation. it was awesome!! so, we are at it again...

this year we wanted to give our friends and families an opportunity to join us!
Ps 9:9-10 says..."The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you." another version says... "God is a safe-house for the battered, a sanctuary during bad times."

some of these women are facing some pretty bad times. our hope is that we can show the love of Jesus, by simply reminding these ladies that they are beautiful in God's eyes, and worth every drop of His unfailing love. In each bag, we place our favorite verses from the Bible, to encourage them with truth.

along with your favorite verses, we are looking to fill these bags with the usual cosmetic fare (make-up, lotions, nail polish, cosmetics, etc)...
things that you are not using and wouldn't mind giving to these woman - some of whom have had to leave all their pretty things behind.

this year, we are gonna kick it up a notch, too!! if anyone has jewelry they are not wearing, or little accessories and/or extras (like scarves or hair brushes or, I don't know...extras) that you are not using/have never been used/new!...let's collect those too!! and feel free to purchase pretty things too...no one is gonna stop you :) the more pretty things, the better! and if you have little gift bags or tissue paper you want to donate as well, that would be awesome!!

if you have any questions, please shoot me an email. i need to collect everything by Thursday, December 10th...which will give my small group time to assemble, and deliver the bags before Christmas! if you've got "pretty things" bring them to church or let's set up a time to rendezvous!! just collect what you can, and email me or call!

also, please pass this on to anyone that might be interested in joining us.
I don't have a lot of email addresses, so maybe you all can help me on that front. ok, that's it for me!
Missy Boneske

If you'd like to help out, you can either email Missy directly (missy@abbafirst.com), or you can email me (sunshinegrl243@aol.com). I just think this is an awesome way to help in a way that is often overlooked. Happy hunting!!

Marking a Moment

One year ago today I was baptized as a Christian. That night was absolutely incredible. I was excited, I was a little bit nervous, and I was thrilled that so many people had come to share the moment with me. I wish I had words to describe it, but I could just feel God’s presence so clearly…it was a moment that I specifically recall wanting to tuck away…for those days when things don’t seem so clear.

Right before everything got started, Mike met with all of us (12 or 13 I think) that were going to be baptized. He made sure we understood what would happen, and then we all prayed together. One by one, we made our way to the edge of the pool. I took off my glasses and waded into the water where Mike was waiting. My wonderful friend Cindy read the testimony that I had prepared ahead of time. She started crying just a few sentences in, so of course I was crying! As she finished, Mike said “it is upon your declaration of faith that I now baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. With that, he leaned me back and dunked me under the water. As I came up out of the water, everyone in the room was clapping and cheering (my small group was the loudest!!!)

For the rest of the night I swear it didn’t feel like my feet even hit the ground. The whole thing was just so powerful – publicly declaring as an adult the fact that my life belongs to Jesus Christ. A bunch of us went to O’Charleys afterwards to continue the celebration and even Edwin joined in the festivities.

A couple of weeks ago I was listening to a sermon given by Perry Noble (pastor of New Spring Church in Greenville, SC) about baptism. He was saying that adult baptism is not a denial of your past, not a denial of any ceremony during your childhood. It’s affirming what your parents prayed for when you were sprinkled as an infant. Then he said this (and it was so good I listened a couple of times to get the quote right). “Baptism comes after salvation. It doesn’t matter how many times you got baptized before you became a Christian – all you were was a wet sinner.” I totally agree. That night was not me denying how I was raised…in fact, I’m grateful for growing up knowing about God. However, it wasn’t until the past few years that I’ve had a personal relationship with Jesus, and that’s why I got baptized.

Happy November 18th!!

Something New

I was sick of looking at the picture of random coupons, so I decided it was time for a new post.

I went to the dentist yesterday. I haven't gone since before Edwin was born. I have 8 cavities. If that's not incentive enough to go brush and floss your teeth right now...you're hopeless! (in my feeble defense, let me just say that I never used to go to the dentist. I can't remember having a filling past the age of about 6. So this is a big number yes, but that's considerably better than it could have been when you take into account that I obviously neglect my dental health).

I brushed and flossed this morning!!! (don't worry, I always brush my teeth..just not so much on the flossing)

Ok, I have surprisingly little to say right now. Hope everyone's having a great day :)

Harris Teeter Triple Coupons!

This was just a quick trip to get a few things that we'll need around the house....

4 cans Swanson broth (14oz each)
3 boxes Fiber One chewy bars (5 ct each)
3 bags Domino sugar (5lb each)
1 can Folgers coffee (the normal size, not the cheapo size)
1 Crisco Extra Virgin Olive Oil (16.9 oz)
3 pkgs Keebler Sandies cookies
3 Reynolds cut-rite wax paper (75 sq ft)
1 Always pads (18 ct)
1 Always pantiliners (60 ct)
1 Mr Clean Magic Eraser (2 ct)
2 Colgate Total Toothpaste

Total # of items: 23
Original Total: $77.20
Paid: $28.44

Savings: $48.76

I'll admit, this trip wasn't as exciting as my trip to Lowe's for their triple coupons a few weeks back, but it's still nothing to complain about. After all, one can never have too much free toothpaste, right?

God's Word

Romans 13: 1-7

1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

1 Timothy 2: 1-4

1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Does It Really Need to be Said?

VOTE!!!

(Duh).

Having said that, I also want to share a scripture that Mike (pastor at PC3) referenced on Sunday. It's Proverbs 21:1 "The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes. "

Basically, we all need to remember that God is in charge here. Yes, we have been given an amazing opportunity and privilege to vote...and I believe we should take full advantage of that. Ultimately, God is the One who decides which man will become the next president. And once that decision has been made, God also is the one who has absolute control over that man's heart. Keep that in mind as you're watching the results come in...

Happy Voting!!

Trunk-or-Treat 2008

As I mentioned earlier, tonight was the annual Trunk-or-Treat put on by Port City Community Church. Here are some pics from the evening (in no particular order because I can't figure out how the heck to do it on blogger!!). Enjoy :)

Aren't my boys the cutest?

(Thanks to my friend Amber for letting us borrow her son's monkey costume!)

Rebecca & Cindy decorated one of the "trunks". Rebecca's Mazda was transformed into a beautiful fishy! Aren't they gorgeous?

Edwin had a blast!

My friend Brittany was there with her man Brad and their super sweet daughter Ella. What an adorable pumpkin!! This was actually Brittany's costume when she was little :)

Edwin and Ella are so cute together!

We just thought this guy was soooo cool. Can you say Pirates of the Carribbean??

Rebecca and her lovely daughter Maggie

Look closely at his eyes...can you tell this was taken moments before we left? The paci was in, the blanket was being snuggled...Edwin fell asleep halfway to mom & dad's house. He wore himself out!

Ok, this was the funniest costume idea in my opinion. "Sarah Palin" had two dog leashes...one held "Bark Obama" and the other held "John McCanine". Awesome!!

Another clever trunk (and its designers)

I wish you could see this better, but they even had the Bat Mobile! I can't remember which number for sure, but I know they took either 2nd or 3rd in the contest.

I'm telling you...people go all out for this event!

Ed enjoyed the trunks so much that he decided we need to decorate one next year. Should be interesting! I hope everybody had a great Halloween.

(P.S. I have no idea why our internet is still working. The cable and phone have both been cut off. Oh well...I'm not complaining! I just don't want to see it on our bill! haha)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

We're going to Trunk-or-Treat tonight with the whole fam. Hopefully I'll have some great pictures to post here in a couple of days. My little monkey is going to be so cute!!!

Strange

This is weird. I called ATMC today and dropped our house phone, our internet, and our fancy cable...we now get 13 channels (only about 5 of them are "real" channels).

I knew this day was coming. In fact, I've felt for a couple of months that this is something I needed to do....sort of 'unplug' from the television and spend my time doing other things. Ed & I both agreed that this was the best decision for our family. We're working on getting out of debt, and by cancelling all of this, we'll be throwing an extra $100 a month on our debt snowball. That's $1200 a year!!

I'm almost embarassed to admit how dependent I've become on tv...I'd venture to say probably to the point of being sinful. I have been making the television my idol and the Bible clearly states we are to have no other gods besides God.

So like I've said before, my blog posts will slow down a bit. I can still post from work (on my lunch hour of course) so that's not a big deal. If anyone reading this is also friends with me on Facebook, most likely I won't be on there very much at all. It's blocked from work (with very good reason), so I'll have to settle for checking stuff at mom & dad's house...which is actually where I am now.

Anyway, after the initial shock wore off, and I got some great tips from a fabulous friend (you know who you are!), I am looking forward to this change in my life. I'm looking forward to spending more quality time with my husband and my son, I'm looking forward to reading more, I'm looking forward to having more intentional quiet time with God.

I'll let you know how it goes :)

****************

Exodus 20: 1-4

1 And God spoke all these words:
2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Camera Happy

I didn't realize how much I missed having my camera...or how much I take it for granted...until I left it with Katie for about a week. Suddenly I have the urge to take pictures of anything and everything! Lucky for you, right?


I took this one this morning...just before we left the house...he still has bed-head! (and yes, I still give my child a bottle in the morning. I love our snuggle time!)


He did NOT want to get up this morning!



Self portraits are so much fun, don't you think? (although I must say, my head looks HUGE in this picture!)

Grandma Jeanie sent a package to "Dewey" yesterday, and I couldn't resist putting him in the pj's she sent. He wasn't being as cooperative with pics as he was the other night, but you get the idea.

He's Gotta Work For It!

Since our son eats more than the average 6 year old, we've decided that he needs to earn his keep. So we've put him to work doing some light housekeeping.

Check out this video of him using the vaccuum (he gets soooo mad when we turn it off!! It's quite amusing actually).

Thoughts?

Please click HERE to read a very interesting article. It may make some of you angry, it may make some of you roll your eyes... What I do hope though is that it makes everyone who reads it think.

I know how I'm voting.

Here's the link again. Any thoughts?