Arbonne Giveaway!

I am excited about this giveaway!! What mom doesn't love a free - high quality skin care product?!

Here is the giveaway. I am giving away a tube of FC5 Ultra-Hydrating Hand Creme. This cream works - obviously, with all the diaper changing I do, my hands are very dry. They crack and bleed regularly. Since I have been really happy with a number of other Arbonne products, I thought I would try the hand cream. I am glad I did - it works great!! I received a tube of the Ultra-Hydrating Hand Creme free right after I bought some myself. So, I decided to share the love.

I am going to give you a couple of options to enter this giveaway. Anyone can enter - even my friends and family. I will use random number generator to choose a winner. Please enter by Friday at noon. I will pick a winner on Friday evening.

1. Go to the Arbonne website. Come back here and leave me a comment telling me what product interests you the most.

2. Blog about this giveaway. Come back here and leave a comment with a link to your post.

(If you do both, make sure you leave 2 comments.)

As a bonus, my friend and Arbonne consultant, Katie, is generously offering you a great deal if you decide to place an Arbonne order. Email her at katielmohr@gmail.com with your order and she will give you 35% off your order - but you have to order by Friday, April 9!! That is a great deal - you do not want to miss this!! Thanks, Katie!!!

One more thing - if you have been reading my blog recently, you have read about my passion for Reece's Rainbow, an adoption ministry for children with special needs. If you donate to Reece's Rainbow sometime between now and Friday, April 9th, your shipping on your Arbonne order will be free. Go to Reece's Rainbow, click on "Waiting Children" and donate to a child who tugs at your heart! Then let Katie know when you email her with your order.

Norah is 6!

Wow! The last year really flew by! I'm sure adding another kiddo to the mix made it go by even more quickly!! Norah is growing and changing much more quickly that we like to admit! Watching Norah learn to read and then become a fairly confident reader has been wonderful! One (of the many) things I love about homeschooling is that I get to be a part of every little learning experience. I love that when she figures out a new word - I get to experience her excitement! When she learns a new concept - I get to experience her excitement! I am so thankful that we get to experience this thing we call "school" together - I don't have to hear about it from someone else.

Norah is an incredible big sister! I thought the excitement of having a new sister would wear off eventually - but so far it hasn't. Norah loves being "mommy's helper." If Daphne needs something, Norah is quick to respond and Daphne knows it, too. Daphne often looks to Norah for help.

Norah's imagination continues to crack us up! She often lives in a land far, far away. She always has some elaborate story going on that makes sense only to her.

In some ways, this year has been hard - Norah is a VERY passionate little girl and we are finding that discipline gets harder the older Norah gets, but we know she is maturing and learning that having Jesus in her heart means something big. While we know she will never fully grasp what that means (will any of us, really?), we pray that she continues to learn more about God's Son and his sacrifice. And we pray that she chooses to model her life after His!!

I am having issues uploading pics to blogger so I will just link you to last years birthday pics!! I'll post a couple of pics from her party soon!!

I Love Our Church!

The last couple of weeks our pastor has been talking about serving in the church and working together as the body of Christ.

Here is a video of the "skit" they did last Sunday. Enjoy!

14 Months

What?!? 14 months? Seriously, can't be possible!!!

In the last month, Daphne has gone from cautiously walking to RUNNING! Norah and Lucy are constantly chasing her and she runs away and squeals in delight!!

She still isn't saying much - mama and dada. We think she is saying ball. A couple of times when she has a ball or you tell her to get the ball, she says, "Ba." Could just be a coincidence, though.

Daphne does follow simple directions, which totally cracks us up. She seems too little to get what we are saying. She understands a lot of words, too. When we say, "blanket," she does this silly little giggle and instantly snuggles whatever is closest to her. The words that get a verbal response are food, eat, and outside.

Daphne is getting good at yelling. If someone takes something away from her, she yells - LOUD. If she is inside and wants to go out, she yells - loud. She also might drop to the floor and throw her head back - you know, just for effect. Although, as the third girl - she gets little reaction.

Daphne likes to carry things around with her. As she walks circles around our main floor, she has at least one thing in each had - more if she can handle it.

She enjoys being read to now - which is so fun! She loves the touch and feel books. Although, as of this week, pulling the books off the bookshelf is much more fun than even reading!

Daphne likes to put phones up to her ear, only it ends up more on her shoulder with her head tilted. She will use a real phone, pretend phone and sometimes the remote.

Norah and Lucy seem to think Daphne should know her body parts by now, so they work on that with her regularly. Funny to watch.

Just thought I would throw in some "day in the life" pictures. Enjoy!

That Little Tug

I will resume normal blogging soon, but I want to share something that is on my heart. I have posted several times recently about Reece's Rainbow, but I want to share today WHY this ministry has tugged at my heart strings. I mentioned my friend, Erin, first introduced me to RR a couple of months ago as her family began their adoption process. As I scrolled through the pictures - I cried. Cried for each of those precious babies who doesn't have a home, a family. They don't have a mama or dada to love on them. They don't have brothers or sisters to hug them and play with them. My girls are praying faithfully for several of these children. They pray for the girls at least 3 times a day. I often hear Lucy randomly praying for these girls all throughout the day. In less than a month 4 of the 6 girls we have been praying for now have families. Only God can do that!!

Now let me tell you about Brooke. She is one of Lucy's friends. Brooke's parents are GREAT friends of ours and Brooke's sister, Kate is one of Norah's best friends. Karen and Jeff didn't know before she was born, but Brooke has Down Syndrome. I know Karen would tell you that they are the blessed ones with Brooke in their family. She is funny, happy, and lovable. She is a favorite at school - she would have been one of my favorites, too!! What makes me mention her today is that when I first looked at the RR website I started wondering what Brooke's life would be like if she didn't have the family that she has, if she hadn't received the therapies that she has, if she didn't go to the school that she does. Thankfully, Brooke was born into an incredible family - one who loves her dearly and will always do what is best for her - no matter what the cost. She is doing incredible!! Karen just told me recently that in many areas, Brooke is developing just like other "typically developing" kids her age. Brooke is an incredible little girl and we have been blessed just to be her friends!

So, seeing her grow and thrive and love life is what makes me sad for all these children you will see on Reece's Rainbow. Even if these children were born into great families, the families have been trained that babies born with a disability are shameful. They are taught not to love them and to abandon them. Reece's Rainbow is working hard to change this mind set, but it will take time. So for now, these babies are abandoned.

Last night as I was trying to fall asleep I had a picture in my head of the story in the Bible about Jesus calling the children to Him. He didn't just say, "Let the healthy, strong, typically developing children" come to me. He said "Let the little children come unto me." All of them. All. of. them. These precious children need our help too.

James 1:27 says, "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."

Proverbs 24:12 says, "Don’t excuse yourself by saying, 'Look, we didn’t know.' For God understands all hearts, and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew. He will repay all people as their actions deserve."

Like many of you, we have not been called to adopt, however, I think we are all called to help these children somehow. As part of World Down Syndrome Day, Reece's Rainbow is asking people to help ease the financial burden that adoption can bring to a family. Most of the families who are adopting through Reece's Rainbow probably can't afford it in the eyes of the world, but I know that God's plan is so much bigger. He can and will provide.

I am asking you to help little Milana today. Please help her family bring her home. Can you donate $5? $10? What about $21 for World Down Syndrome Day on March 21? Can you skip eating out one time this week and give to Reece's Rainbow instead?

In my heart I know that when I stand before God, I don't want to make excuses and say "I didn't know these children needed families or I minister in other areas or we give in other areas, we couldn't give here too." I want to stand before Him knowing in my heart that I did as He called me to do. I want to know that I am using His money to further His kingdom. Please click on the "Chip-In" button on my right side-bar and help Milana's family bring her home.

God is Amazing!

Just days after posting this, I learned that Milana has a family!!! Praise God for this! However, it is still an expensive adoption so I would again like to ask you to give a little to help fund their adoption. As I said before, it will cost around $25,000 for this family to bring Milana home. The sooner she gets home to her new family the sooner she can begin the therapies she has missed out on for 2 1/2 years and she will begin getting the love that she has not felt yet. Please help us be a "Warrior" to this family and to little Milana - click the Chip-In button on the right of my blog!!