Happy Black Friday!

It’s been an interesting 24 hours for me.

Thanksgiving Day, on the way home from my aunt’s house, we were rear ended by another car!

It was dark, rainy, and wet.  A fender bender had just happened in front of us, so my husband slowed down to a stop.  As we sat there, he noticed the car behind us kept driving quickly toward our car and wasn’t stopping.  He said, “This car is about to his us!”  And WHAM!  It did.

It pushed our car forward quite a bit and scared my boys to death.  There was a lot of screaming and crying as we tried to calm everyone down.

Thankfully, no one was hurt in either car.  It totaled the car behind us, and they had to get a tow truck to haul it off.  But our big honkin’ suburban just got the bumper messed up.  We sat in our car for an hour waiting for the police to arrive and finally write up the report.

Anywhoo, we made it home safely.

But I didn’t let that stop me…I took off from the house around 10:30 pm for Black Friday shopping.  Let’s just say I shopped til I dropped.  :)  I love the madness.  I’m never in a hurry, so it all makes me laugh.  I didn’t get in until 8:00 am this morning!  Seriously.  It’s the first time I’ve stayed out all night like that.  I got some good deals, but nothing amazing. The best part was the “snow globe” snow that came pouring down around 1:00 am.  It was magical!

So I have gotten a couple hours of sleep now, and I am ready to announce this great giveaway!

Leen the Graphics Queen is giving away

a $25.00 Gift Certificate to her online store!!!!

Have you visited her online store before?  It is full of beautiful and unique vinyl wall decals and sayings.  Here are a few of my favorite…

She has several Christmas designs to chose from…

I love this one because it makes me think of my four little monkeys…

You can get custom made numbers just like Leen made for Layla at The Lettered Cottage….

This is one of Leen’s new designs…

And who, of course, doesn’t love a little chalkboard action?  Isn’t this one adorable?…

Now how excited are you?

Here’s how to enter:

1.  Stop by Leen’s online store and take a look at her great stuff, tell me in a comment what you would use your gift certificate for.

2.  Tweet about this giveaway, and tell me in a separate comment.  (You can just click the “tweet” button at the bottom of the post, if you’d like.)

3.  Share this giveaway on facebook and leave me a separate comment about it.

That’s three chances to win!!!

Leen is having an amazing Black Friday-Cyber Monday sale right now too.  Everything in her store is 25% off!  So you may want to do some Christmas shopping while you are there!

Check out the sale HERE.

This giveaway ends at midnight on Sunday, November 28th.  I will announce the winner on Monday.  Goodluck!

Also, don’t forget to enter my Red Letter Words Giveaway HERE.

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I am so happy to announce that my sponsor, Leen the Graphics Queen, is having a Black Friday-Cyber Monday Sale and Giveaways at her online store!!!

It starts at 12 noon on Thanksgiving and runs through Monday at 11:00 pm.  All items on her site are 25 % off!!

AND all orders over $35.00 placed between 11/25-11/29 will receive a FREE Merry Christmas door decal (an $8 value).

AND she will be doing random giveaways throughout the sale!  Every order placed during the sale will be entered into a contest for random prizes, including her Beautiful birch tree decals (value$110), gift certificates and more!

So when you visit her site, be sure to sign up to follow her on facebook and twitter so you can get in on all the prizes!

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!!!

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Before I share with you my favorite Fall recipe, here are some giveaways I wanted to let you know about…

My sister is giving away one of my Gingerbread Family Ornaments on her blog!

It ends on Wednesday at midnight, so hope on over THERE and enter.

Next, be sure to enter my Red Letter Word Giveaway!  I posted about it yesterday and you can enter HERE.

Look what you have a chance to win…

A 12 x 12 Cafe Mount Print

and matching candle!

Now for my favorite Fall recipe.

I posted about this last year, and it was one of my readers’ favorites!

So I just had to share it again.  Enjoy!

Wednesdays with Wanda

October 28, 2009

Today I wanted to share with you one of my mom’s favorite recipes.

Poppy Seed Bread

She used to make this a lot in the fall and give it away as little gifts to people. She taught me how to make it, and I have been making it every year since!

This recipe makes 5 to 6 mini-loafs, the perfect size for sharing with others.

So I decided to make 4 batches and share them with the precious ladies I work with. I teach music two days a week at a Mom’s Day Out Program at an area church. It is the most wonderful place to work!

The ladies I work with are amazing. I was flooded with love and prayers when Mom first became sick. Many of them helped take care of my boys, so I could help take care of Mom and go to her many doctor’s visits.

And when Mom passed away, I cannot tell you how much these ladies blessed me. Many of them came to Mom’s visitation and funeral, they took turns making my family dinner for two weeks, they collected money to give me a gift card, they gave me a beautiful decorative frame for my home, and they prayed and prayed for me.

I felt their love in every hug and every tear as they comforted me.

I wanted to do something for them to show them how much they meant to me, so I made them each a loaf of Mom’s poppy seed bread.

Here is the recipe:

Poppy Seed Bread

3 cups flour

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1 1/2 t. salt

2 1/4 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups oil

1 1/2 T. poppy seeds

2 t. butter flavoring

2 t. vanilla

Mix together the above ingredients and beat for two minutes.

Fill 5 or 6 mini-loaf pans 2/3 to 3/4 full.

Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Glaze:

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup orange juice

1 1/2 t. vanilla

1/2 t. butter flavoring

Mix in a glass measuring cup. Pour over hot bread when removed from the oven. Let stand for 30 minutes.

Now, when Mom would make these, she would remove them from the pan, wrap them in plastic wrap, and tie them up with jute string.

She would usually attach something cute to it, like a tag with a scripture on it that she had made on her computer, or a small type of flower or leaf. She was great at “embellishing” a gift.

My attempt wasn’t quite as cute as what she usually did, but I thought it turned out nicely.

I just tied a fall leaf to each loaf with a card that said “Bless You”.

And my prayer is that God would bless my sweet friends for all the ways they have blessed me!

Mom and I talked about this recipe a few weeks before she passed away. She said that one time she made some of these and took them to work. (She was a secretary at a church.) And when a needy person would come to the church for help, she would give them a loaf of poppy seed bread to take home with them.

She thought is was such a simple way to show someone you loved them.

Can you think of some people this week that you could show God’s love to?

A teacher?

An elderly person?

A friend at work?

A neighbor?

Your Mom?

One batch of poppy seed bread would cover all of these people!

Make some poppy seed bread and take it to them with your own little note attached.

I know you will be blessed as much as they will!

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

Recipe for Living

I shall pass this way but once.

Any good thing that I can do,

Any kindness I can show,

Let me do it now.

Let me not defer it or neglect it.

For I shall not pass this way again.

(This is a poem that Mom kept on our refrigerator when I was growing up. She also cross-stitched it and hung it on the wall in a frame. I memorized it as a child, not knowing fully what it meant. But I do now! We only get one life on this earth…let’s make the most of each moment!)

Thank you, Mom, for always teaching me (and showing me) it is better to give than to receive.

God bless you all!

(This is a weekly post that I am doing to honor my wonderful mother, Wanda, who passed away on September 22, 2009. It is a place for me to share precious memories of her…for myself, for you, and
most importantly, for my children.)

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A BIG thank you to everyone who entered my Reluctant Entertainer giveaway!

I LOVED reading all of the comments!  There were so many wonderful definitions of hospitality…it really touched my heart.

Also, a big thank you to Sandy for giving away two of her amazing books!

If you do not win a copy of her book, you can purchase it HERE.

And if you want to get more great recipes and thoughts on genuine hospitality, you can follow Sandy’s blog HERE.

Now for our two winners….

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I know I have shared a post with you about “worry” before.

Maybe it’s because I worry too much.

Have I mentioned that I worry way too much?

I worry about future things.  Things that haven’t even happened yet, and may never happen.  Do you do that?

Well, whenever I read a devotional about worry…it really touches my heart.

Last Tuesday, on my 40th birthday, as I was sick in bed with a cold, I read a devotional from this book:

I received this book for free in my Relevant swag bag.  They also gave us  a children’s devotional book that coincides with it.

My boys love reading the same devotionals that Mom and Dad are reading, but it is on their level so they can understand it.

The devotionals are written from the perspective of Jesus, as if He is talking directly to us.  And then it shares scripture to go with it.

Here is the devotional I read.  I pray it gives you peace.

November 9

SIT QUIETLY WITH ME, letting all your fears and worries bubble up to the surface of your consciousness.  There, in the Light of My Presence, the bubbles pop and disappear.  However, some fears surface over and over again, especially fear of the future.  You tend to project yourself mentally into the next day, week, month, year, decade; and you visualize yourself coping badly in those times.  What you are seeing is a false image, because it doesn’t include Me.  Those gloomy times that you imagine will not come to pass, since My Presence will be with you at all times.

When a future-oriented worry assails you, capture it and disarm it by suffusing the Light of My Presence into that mental image.  Say to yourself, “Jesus will be with me then and there. With His help, I can cope!”  Then, come home to the present moment, where you can enjoy Peace in My Presence.

— Luke 12:22-26 —
Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

^{–Deuteronomy 31:6 —    ”Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”}

–2 Corinthians 10:5– “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

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I am so very excited about this giveaway!

Not only do I love what I am giving away…I love the one who wrote it!

I was so super blessed last year at Blissdom to meet Sandy Coughlin.  We sat together at lunch one day and made an instant connection.

We have kept in touch throughout the year, and her friendship has become very dear to me.

In just a couple of months, I will get to see her again at Blissdom, and I cannot wait!

Sandy is an amazing person.

First of all, because she loves the Lord with all her heart.

Secondly, because she loves her husband and children passionately.

Thirdly, because she has used her blog as a way to encourage other women to practice hospitality in their homes…without fear.  :)

Sandy has so much to share about this topic that she wrote a book about it!

I was so thrilled when I received my very own copy of it in the mail!

(I will be taking this book to Blissdom to have Sandy sign it!)

Isn’t it beautiful?!!

I am learning so much from Sandy about true hospitality.  Sometimes I avoid having company because I am worried about not “having it all together”.  But Sandy is reminding me that I don’t need to have it all together to be hospitable.

Her book has been getting amazing reviews by everyone who has read it.

I found this review by kathyscottage at Amazon…

“I purchased two of these books. One for a friend and one for myself. Sandy Coughlins’ common sense ideas and encouragement for the reluctant entertainer are wonderful! She takes the fear and drama out of entertaining and puts the emphasis where it belongs, on just being with people you love. If you hesitate to entertain, this book is full of beautiful ideas that anyone can do, encouragement to not get caught up in appearances, and delicious recipes and suggestions to get you started. A must have for any new bride or for those who would love to entertain more but are afraid they can’t do it well.”

Here are a couple of reviews from bloggers well-known in these parts…

The Nester, author of Nesting Place
“For any excuse-making woman who avoids inviting guests into her home, this book should be required reading. The Reluctant Entertainer gently unveils common misconceptions about entertaining and guides women to the freeing truth: The art of hospitality is about connection, not perfection. I wish I could have read this book fifteen years ago.”

Melissa, author of The Inspired Room

“The Reluctant Entertainer is my go-to guide for practical and inspiring ideas for opening my home to others. In her gracious and gentle way, Sandy helps us women move past our fears and personal hang-ups by providing the tools and perspective to make entertaining doable and enjoyable!”

Now for the giveaway!

Sandy is giving away TWO of her books to TWO of my readers!!!

Woohoo!!!

Here’s how you can enter this giveaway..

1.  Leave a comment telling me what hospitality means to you.  :)

2.  Tweet this:  ”I want to win the book The Reluctant Entertainer, @SandyCoughlinRE at Beneath My Heart http://www.beneathmyheart.net/2010/11/a-giveaway-you-will-want-to-win/” , then come back and tell me about it in a comment.

3.  Share this giveaway on facebook and come back and tell me about it in a comment.

Goodluck!!!

The giveaway will end Thursday, November 18th, at midnight EST.  I will announce the winner on Friday, November 19th.

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(If you are reading this via a reader or email, you may have to click on the link to view the video.)

Do you need a meaningful and inexpensive Christmas present for a friend,teacher, coworker, or family member?

Then stop by my Etsy shop and check out my Gingerbread Family Ornaments!  (My Esty button is in my sidebar.)

I have been selling these ornaments for almost 20 years, and I make them every year because they are by far my best sellers at my craft shows.

These ornaments are extra special to me because my mom is the one who created them and made them first.

She and her sweet sister, Nancy, would make beautiful ornaments and sell them at Christmas craft shows.  Their “business” was called My Sister and Me, and they always had the most beautiful and successful booth at every show they were at.  I loved tagging along and helping them personalize the ornaments.

Those were very special times!

They stopped making their ornaments around the time I became a stay-at-home mom.  So Mom encouraged me to make the ornaments to help pay for Christmas.  (We were broke.)  :)

I did this for many years.  Actually, I have made my ornaments almost every year since then!

The smell of my ornaments baking in the oven is one of my favorite Christmas memories now.  And for my boys too!  :)

I decided to share my ornaments by video because pictures just don’t do them justice.  It’s hard to really see their cuteness in a flat picture.

****I talked a lot in the video about buying these as gifts for grandparents, but they would be great for any family.

Actually, most of the families I make are 4 or 5 gingerbread men long.

My family ornament could be personalized like this:          

Dad, Jonathan, Luke, Adam, Eli, Mom

or

Cy, Jonathan, Luke, Adam, Eli, Traci

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in the comment section and I will get back to you.  :)

I will be taking orders through Sunday, December 5th to make sure you get them in plenty of time.

Blessings!

***If you would like a magnet board like the one in the background of my video, they are for sale in my Etsy too!  I have several choices.  :)

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