Giveaway - Chris Tomlin's Adore CD!

It's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I've got the Christmas happies, and I'm ready to do a fun GIVEAWAY to get you in the holly jolly mood, too!
Have you heard of Chris Tomlin? 
No?

Ha! Yeah, right! I'm pretty sure most of you know of this American contemporary Christian music artist (if not, you NEED this CD!). He's also a worship leader and songwriter, and he's sold nearly 30 million records! He's been nominated for 32 Dove Awards and won 19! Pretty awesome!
His new CD, Chris Tomlin's Adore: Christmas Songs of Worship, is just amazing (click here to visit the website)! I'm listening to it right now, and it's just so worshipful and beautiful, y'all. You have to hear it! This album features guest performances by Lauren Daigle (love her!), Crowder, and more. It has some classic Christmas songs mixed with some original ones. Silent Night featuring Kristyn Getty is sooooooo good! Take a look:

Songs:

1. He Shall Reign Forevermore

2. Adore

3. Midnight Clear (Love Song)

4. Noel featuring Lauren Daigle 

5. Hymn Of Joy 

6. Silent Night featuring Kristyn Getty 

7. What Child Is This? featuring Sons & Daughters 

8. It's Christmas

9. A King Like This

10. Bethlehem

11. A Christmas Alleluia featuring Lauren Daigle & Leslie Jordan of All Sons & Daughters 

Can't wait for the giveaway and must have it NOW? I hear ya, friend; it really is that good! Click here to purchase on iTunes.

Would you like to win a free copy of Chris Tomlin's new Christmas CD? Of course, right?! Here ya go, friend! (I did put a little plug in the entries for my book biz. I'll be having lots of Christmas giveaways soon over there, and I don't want you to miss out!) The winner will be announced the following day and will have 48 hours to respond to claim this awesome CD. Enter below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

"Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

 Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”

Thanks for stopping by, friend!
I can't wait to hear your favorite Christmas traditions!

A New Direction

Yup, it's what it looks like...
We're not homeschooling anymore.
God has called us in a different direction.
It all started the end of last school year when my youngest, Anna, started having extra therapy appointments during the day. We had to leave CC early for the last six weeks or so, and I knew something needed to change. My director was amazing, and the moms in class were so accommodating and supportive, but I knew I couldn't keep this up.
We first looked into different homeschool co-ops that would be less of a time commitment, but God never gave us peace. We explored the private school option, and today Mary starts her first full week as a second-grader at our church's academy. 
It's different, that's for sure. I can't believe I'm not with her; being apart from her is hard. But, she's happy (she couldn't wait to get to school today!), and we feel God's hand in all of this.
What started this spring as an extra therapy appointment for Anna has turned into weekly doctor appointments and hospital stays that have sapped my energy (and sometimes sanity). We go in tomorrow for a 24-hour video EEG to check for seizures (she's not sleeping through the night still, and Anna's first sleep study indicated seizures and sleep apnea).

Yeah, try to sleep with all that on ya; good luck!
We start vision therapy in a couple of weeks, and that's twice a day (at their office) for two weeks, then twice a day at home. We go back to Memphis next week for her laser procedure to take off her latest round of basal cell cancer spots, and the list goes on.
So, I'm not homeschooling.
And I'm finally coming to terms with that.
And we're going to take things year by year. 
And that's okay.

The best thing is that I finally feel God's peace about this whole situation.

I don't know what I'm going to do with this little blog yet, but I know that I'll keep it going. I still get questions about CC, so I'll keep those resource links up. Click here to see my Cycle 1 weekly plans from a few years ago.

The book business is going well, and I have that blog going, too. Please head over and check it out if you enjoy Usborne books! This little side business is now paying for Anna's medical bills, so God is providing there, too. Whew! And it also took us to Ireland recently! Click here to check that out!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support through the years, friends. I know many of you have been faithful in praying for Anna, and we appreciate you more than you know. I'll keep you updated on her condition as much as I can. She's been a trooper through everything, and I'm just overwhelmed by God's mercy and grace in blessing us with these beautiful children. I'm learning to trust the Engineer day by day...

Again, thank you, friends, and whatever your school year looks like, I pray that it's fabulous!

Stitch Fix Review #4

Time for another box of happy! Hoorah!
Have you heard of Stitch Fix yet? It's a fabulously fun service that sends me a box of five clothing items every few weeks. If I like them, I keep them and pay online, and if I don't, I return them. Easy peasy! Click here to learn more (and this is my referral link - thanks so much for your support!).
Last box, I gave my awesome stylist, Kalesa, a challenge! Let's see what she put in this fix!

First-Year Surprises - Part 1

 

It's been one year since I signed up with Usborne Books & More, and I must admit that I'm a little shocked about how fast time has flown. Has it really been a year? This time last year I was at Teach Them Diligently in Nashville, and I was stalking the Usborne booth; I must have visited it four or five times. I looked at the consultant kit (in a sneak way because I didn't want anyone to know I was interested - ha!) and bought a bunch of books. By the time the convention was over and we were back home, I knew I wanted to have my own book show. I messaged the first local consultant I could find with an active website to set up my party, and then I messaged her back the next day or two and said I was just going to go ahead and sign up and would that be okay (hahahahaha!). I started Usborne Book Barn, but I really had NO idea what to expect my first year with a direct sales company.
I've never sold anything in my life - and I hate the thought of being a 'salesperson.' Would I be good at this? Would anyone want to do this with me? I prayed that God would just take my business and do what He wanted with it.

Not Expecting This

Say whaaa???
(This was me on the phone yesterday with my 'Oh no you didn't' look.)
As most of you know, Anna has Gorlin Syndrome, and you can read more about that by clicking here. She's had close to 250 cancer spots removed from all over her little body; however, some of her other issues don't fit exactly with Gorlin. After some Googling extensive online medical research, we thought we had found the missing link! We mentioned it to our absolutely fabulous doctor, and she had already been working behind the scenes to have Anna's DNA tested for this exact syndrome. Brilliant! So we did the blood test and have been waiting for 4 weeks to hear back, really, just to confirm that she did indeed have this other syndrome tacked on to Gorlin (it's on the same gene, for pete's sake, so of course THIS is the missing piece!).

Welcome to Holland

Anna has been on my mind constantly these past few weeks. We think she may have another syndrome on top of her original diagnosis of Gorlin Syndrome, and we're waiting for her test results to come back. Any day now. (It's been 'any day now' for a week, which makes it frustrating.)

If she does have this new thing, I'll share more. (I've found that there's a fine line when you have a blog. How much should I share? Will my sharing help others? If the answer is yes, I try to share as much as possible with you.) 

I've wanted to write more about my journey with Anna, but it just hasn't been the right time. I've written posts in my head for weeks, and then days later I'm so glad that I waited. I was just about to go to bed a few minutes ago, when God told me to write. So, here I am. I don't have much to share right now, but Welcome to Holland is a good place to start. This poem is well-known in the special needs community, although it obviously is applicable to pretty much every life situation where our expectations differ from our realities.

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved

Welcome to Holland

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

Stitch Fix Review #3

I absolutely LOVE finding my Stitch Fix box of happy waiting for me outside my door each month! Do you know about Stitch Fix yet?

It's an amazing service where your personal stylist sends you five items in the mail, and you keep what you like and send back what you don't! It's perfect for me because I don't have time to shop for myself, plus, it's just a lot of fun! Click here to learn more about Stitch Fix, and click here to read about my first SF review, and click here for my second SF review!
Now, onto this month's box! 

Adventure To Fitness - Review!

My husband found the COOLEST thing the other day, and I just HAVE to share it with you!

Stitch Fix Review - February Box 1

Got another FIX in the mail!
If you don't know what I'm talking about, please click here to read my first review and the details. Basically, Stitch Fix a service where you get a surprise box of clothes just for you on a regular basis (think monthly, every two months, etc.). I LOVE it because it's convenient, the clothes are unique, and it's just plain FUN! Click here to check it out!
So, here's this month's FIX!

Stitch Fix #2 - December Box!

Have you ever wished and prayed for a personal stylist to send you cool clothes that you can't find just any ol' where? Yeah, me neither! BUT, that's exactly what I got when I took a chance and signed up under a dear friend for Stitch Fix!

(I am sharing my referral link, and if you take the plunge, I'll get a little 'happy,' so thank you!)