Operation Christmas Child

Our church has participated in a great mission that has really grown worldwide over the past few years. Basically, you take a shoebox and fill it up with some goodies and gifts that will be sealed up and shipped to children in countries all over the world.

This mission is part of Samaritan's Purse, an evangelistic organization founded by Billy Graham's son, Franklin Graham.

This is my first time to participate in this and I'm telling you it felt good to pack that little box and imagine and pray for the young lady who will receive it! I mean, I spent 20 bucks on the stuff to fill the box...20 bucks that I would probably have blown on this and that throughout the week.

If you decide to participate in something worthwhile this Christmas, you might consider this. The big collection week for boxes is coming up: November 16-23, and there are drop off locations everywhere. Check out the website for more information. Operation Christmas Child

You do have to include $7 shipping charge, but I found out you can pay that through their site and get a tracking number that will keep you informed via email of your package's progress and final destination, which I thought was pretty cool. You can also choose whether your box goes to a girl or boy and the age group of the child.

I chose a girl, aged 10-14 by the way, as you will notice from all the pink and bright colors that I added to my shoebox!

One key to this mission working is to pray for the child that gets your box.

Whether it's this or another mission - do something for someone else - it really doesn't have to be Christmas either you know!

My friend Diana has the right idea...regardless of her financial situation, she finds ways to pay it forward or brighten someone's day.  Check out her blogpost for some great ideas: Blessed in Texas.

Have a great weekend! :)

After the rain

Amazing amounts of rain the past few days...weeks...actually months!
But the past couple of days was ridiculous.
Lot's of flooding around here.
This evening though, this filled the sky as the sun was setting:





Note the huge pond in our driveway!
Sure makes a nice reflection though.



God always figures out a way to send something beautiful even in times of turbulence.

Blessings to all for a safe & fun weekend - Halloween? yes, there is controversy surrounding it...celebrate or not, those kiddos sure do enjoy dressing up and eating lots of sugar!
I say you can celebrate any holiday in a pagan or Christian way, so don't miss out on an opportunity to have some good, clean fun!
and eat candy!

(but that's just me)

:)

Wheeeeee! December Daily time.

Ali Edwards has already started posting about the December Daily 2009!
I'm so excited to do this project again!

I hope you will join me.
Here is her post to help get you started:
Ali: December Daily

Need more inspiration?

credits here:

1. december eight, 2. Day3 copy, 3. December Daily {25 inside}, 4. December Daily - Day 3 - Page 2, 5. December Daily {3}, 6. xmas diary, 7. December Daily – Finished!, 8. December daily, cover, 9. christmas diary1, 10. December Daily - door decor, 11. day 29 back, 12. December Daily Album: Day 24, 13. December Daily Album: Day 24, 14. Christmas tree, 15. dec-20, 16. 11, 17. December Daily - Day 20 - Page 2, 18. Day 9 Page 1, 19. December Daily Album: Day 21, 20. December Daily Album: Day 18, 21. album , 22. my book, so far..., 23. December 10, 24. Day 15, 25. Day 10 - page 1

Here is mine from last year: Dec Daily 2008

Merry Christmas!!!! (don't be a hater....the stores are already putting the stuff out ya know!)

Fall Prompting

Again, excuse my tardiness in posting the prompt this week!

This week's prompt is CRISP. A little tougher than the first two I'd say, but I love me a challenge! :) Here is my interpretation:

This was on an early "crisp" morning on my way to work. Caught Murphys' longhorns standing in that golden pasture against the early morning sky and had to stop the car! I think he enjoyed the paparazzi!

Post your "CRISP" photos over at Flickr in the the Fall Prompting Group. Need help doing that? Don't hesitate to ask! OR - link up your photos here.

Some Fallness going on around these parts

So I've said before that Fall is not my most favorite season.
Yes, the colors are great.
Yes, it's crisp and cool.
Blah, Blah, Blah.

Just don't like what comes after...
GRAY
COLD
WINTER!
UGH.

But, I do embrace the short timeframe of beauty that is autumn and this weekend was no exception.
Heck, I even used my groovy little remote to take a picture of myself in the fall element!

Had the annual hayride and bonfire at Nancy's, complete with cute kids in costumes, games, and food!




















Looking forward to getting my Crazy Daisy Kit Co. kit for November.
Check out the sneaky peek!
November
While you are checking out the new kit, check out the fun new grab bags and add on kits!

Fall Prompting for the week

Sorry to be so tardy on posting the Fall Prompting prompt this week.
I did post it on Facebook while I was out of town, but I know some may not be on Facebook. *GASP*
Not on Facebook?
Really?
Unbelievable!
Anyway, the prompt this week is leaves.
How appropriate for this time of year, right?
Here is a picture I took this afternoon of some pretty orange leaves I spied.
It is really looking "fallish" right now and I hope to have some more photo ops in the next few days.
Feel free to interpret the prompt in any way.

Join in the Fall Prompting group over at Flickr, or link me up to your pictures here.
Feel free to post your "colorful" pictures too.
Just get that camera snapping!

daily blessings

using some October Crazy Daisy Kit! :)

Check out the entire kit here:
Crazy Daisy Kit Co.

New photo challenge for Fall!!!!

So I've been needing some inspiration to get my camera clicking and what better inspiration than the season?

A friend made a suggestion of getting a list of words together from different people of what Fall means to them, so I put it out there: on Twitter and Facebook and got a great list of about 25 words to use a jumping off place for this challenge.

Sooooooo, if you want to play along, I'll be choosing one word from the list at random each week for a prompt and have starting a flickr group entitled Fall Prompting.
{You don't have to add it to Flickr, but it is fun to see them all together! Link me up if you have your photo somewhere else.}

The first prompt is COLORFUL! What a great one.

We'll have a full week to do the challenge, and we'll start a new prompt next weekend. Feel free to add as many photos as you want and please keep in mind there are no rules for this, besides adding anything that is inappropriate of course! :)

It doesn't even necessarily have to have anything to do with the season....be creative! I just want everyone to feel inspired in some way from these Fall words.

Can't wait to get started. :)

Blessings & Thanks

I decided I've been mully-grubbing too much lately and have forgotten all the things/people I'm surrounded by that I'm so blessed with, so I'm bringing back my daily blessing ATC's. I actually started on Sunday and debated on whether or not I would post them this time around, but decided that maybe my daily thankfulness might inspire others to reflect on their daily thankfulness too!

So without further adieu here are my first five days of blessings.

I'll admit that I was a little intimidated when I took out that first card thinking that I might not think of original thoughts or designs, but then I thought how silly that was and that is not the reason I'm doing them anyway. Once I got started, it felt good to put one together!

Also, I'm loving all the suggestions for photo challenges!

Got another one from a friend on Twitter to have different people send you words that represent how they feel about fall. Then pick a word each week and photograph what that word means to you. Reminds me of the diptych challenge Mandie and I did last year. I love the thought of doing this in conjunction with the season.

Any takers out there want to play along?

If so I'll start gather up a list and we can get started this weekend.

unmotivation

For some reason that has been my blogging desire lately.
I think it's because of the distance that's come between my and my camera.
Just been busy and not capturing the moments as much.

That is all about to change I tell ya!
Even though I'm not a "Fall" person, I do enjoy this time of year for photographs. The lighting is perfect and the Fall colors are irresistible.

I am wondering about a photo challenge of some sort.

Any ideas out there?

Look what I had today

ETA: Sorry, the photo was goofy. Should be here now.

That's right, it's a Honeycrisp!

And it was absolutely delightful!
Thanks to my friend Suellen for sharing her find.