Friday, September 30, 2011

Yay...Free Friday!


Today is our very last day for Personalized Doll Orders! Our carts will not open again until Jan. 1st, 2012!

We will continue to have some finished items and OF COURSE will continue to have Yay FREE Friday, the only difference will be that we will give away finished items instead of a gift voucher.

So on that note...this week we are giving away our 2011 Christmas Doll! She is finished and ready to go! Her scripture patch reads:

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

Are you excited? I am!!


To Enter: Simply leave a comment under this post.

For additional entries: (please 1 comment for each -Each comment is one more chance to win!)

*Become (or if you already are) a follower of our blog

*Write a blog post about the giveaway (please leave link)

*Like (or you already Like) Baby be Blessed on facebook

*Share on facebook

*Follow us on twitter (all links are on the top left sidebar)

*Tweet or Retweet about the giveaway AND TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO ORDER A PERSONALIZED DOLL!! =)

*Join us on our Facebook Community of Prayer and Praise!
May we fellowship and pray together!

*Give a Blessing to the people of Uganda, Africa by giving a donation! (Today is the last day!)

Winner will be chosen on Monday!
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Thursday, September 29, 2011

This week...on "Pimp My Bike"!


Kolton has the BIGGEST imagination!  
Slow but sure over the summer (and with Daddy's help)
he got his bike exactly to his liking!  Cracks me up!! 

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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Bits of Grace...


~ flowers in mason jars

~cats catching bugs

~church bells

~a puppy in his terrible two's

~crickets singing

~leaves starting to turn

~warm sun on a cool day

~wild mushrooms dripping rain


Sharing a few bits of His Amazing Grace with you today....sweet eucharisteo! 
Praising Him for the gifts of grace that are ever flowing and never ending!

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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Too Cute...Tuesday!

Connor absolutely LOVES his BbB lion. 
We take it everywhere we go!

Oh, he is so darn CUTE!!  Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful boy! 
{Your photo's are awesome!}
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*If you have a picture you would like to share on Too Cute Tuesday, please email them to babybeblessed@gmail.com .  By emailing your photo's you are giving permission to post them on the Baby be Blessed blog and website.  Can't WAIT to see them!!  =)

Monday, September 26, 2011

Show Hope, Van Wert OH


Lori, Tina and Michelle

We had the honor, privilege and blessing to volunteer for Show Hope at Steven Curtis Chapman's concert last night!
 
Natalie (Tina's), Haylie (Michelle's) and Naomi (Lori's)
We were even able to bring our helpers!  



We met wonderful new friends! 
One of the most wonderful things about volunteering is meeting those who have been touched by God through Show Hope!  Most of who volunteered have received a grant! 

One couple shared that they just received their grant last week!! 
The JOY in their faces!!


I also met little Lucy!  She is the sweetest {and so is her Mama}! 

It's hard to process all of the wonderful stories, people and the experience of volunteering. 
My heart is so full...but one word keeps coming back to my mind and that is FAITHFUL

 God is so very Faithful! 
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Marvelous Monday!

The winner of our Yay Free Friday giveaway this week is....

Kristi from Bless the Broken Road! CONGRATULATIONS!!
*Please contact me Kristi so I can forward your voucher information to you! YAY!

Also...just a reminder that THIS FRIDAY (9/30/11) will be the LAST day to order personalized dolls for the year! We are almost out of fabric choices...but due to cart's closing down we will not be restocking. We do have the Christmas Dress still available...so make sure you order soon!! =)

We had a wonderful time volunteering for Show Hope last night! I will be posting some pictures soon!

Have a MARVELOUS MONDAY! =)


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Saturday, September 24, 2011

Weekends Are For Truth...


Spent a wonderful day in fellowship with our Church family at the Creation Museum...searching, discovering, learning more, about the most powerful weapon in the world -TRUTH!

An amazing day!
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Friday, September 23, 2011

Yay...Free Friday!

Yep...that's right!

We are giving away another FREE PERSONALIZED DOLL!




To Enter: Simply leave a comment under this post.

For additional entries: (please 1 comment for each)

*Become (or if you already are) a follower of our blog

*Write a blog post about the giveaway (please leave link)

*Like (or you already Like) Baby be Blessed on facebook

*Share on facebook

*Follow us on twitter (all links are on the top left sidebar)

*Tweet or Retweet about the giveaway

*Join us on our Facebook Community of Prayer and Praise!
May we fellowship and pray together!

*Give a Blessing to the people of Uganda, Africa by giving a donation!

Winner will be chosen on Monday!

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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Too Cute...

...Tuesday, Wednesday, um....THURSDAY!!


"...I got a few pictures of some girls from Colon, a very poor area of El Salvador.
The little girl in the yellow walker is Tanya and she received her doll a few days before her first birthday :)
Blessings to you for all you do!
Danae"

Thanks for all YOU DO Danae!!

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Monday, September 19, 2011

Marvelous Monday!

This weeks winner of YFF is-

lisaplus6 said...
so hopeful this may be our week.... thank you for giving this chance to win....

Guess what Lisa?! It is!! YAY! I've emailed your voucher information to you!

Congratulations and thanks to all who entered!

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Sunday, September 18, 2011

Weekends Are For the Unexpected...


RARELY do we do ANYTHING unexpected.  So when I told the kids we were going to go on a -Big Adventure- Natalie looked at me in amazement and said, "Really? I mean we didn't have anything planned and we're just going to go?!" Yep!  Miracles still happen and God is the miracle worker!  HA!
Keith was working and we had no set plans...just a set direction so after lunch we headed East toward beautiful Amish country!

Natalie suggested we stop in and visit Marmon Valley Farm which is a family favorite!  We spent hours loving on all the animals and playing on the huge "barn" playground.  No plans, no agenda...just time spent together doing whatever God gave us in the moment.  Each day is a gift just waiting to be opened!


We headed south and Kolton spotted a corner ice cream parlor.  Ice cream before supper?  Sure!  What else are you supposed to do on an adventure?  So we all piled out and chose from about fifty different flavors {Kids scoops $1.50 -Yay!} We sat down on the bench outside.  It was warm and the town was full of people coming and going. 

I noticed a little antique shop right across the street and thought we would pop in quick to see if we could find any treasures.  As we walked over...I noticed an older woman sitting on an old bath mat in the middle of the sidewalk, her cane was laying next to her.  She wore a big brimmed red hat with a flower on the side and was using a flat headed screw driver to dig the weeds from the cracks in the side walk. 

I assumed she was from the antique store...keeping the sidewalks looking nice for the customers.  We walked past with a smile and walked into the store. 

Our visit was short {you know with four kids and dripping ice cream cones} so back out we went as the woman in the red hat struggled to get up from the ground...trying to gain her balance off her cane which I now notice was decorated with signs.  I asked her if she needed help.  She said "No thank you.  The Dr. says I should stop doing things like this, but I just can't stand seeing it look like this."  I asked if she worked at the antique store and she told me no, she lived a couple of blocks away.  She had been working hard pulling the weeds starting at the pet groomer which was a block away.  Sure enough I saw the trail of pulled weeds and the marks from her worn green handled corn broom which she used to sweep and gather as she moved along.

I thanked her and told her that she was a blessing.  She bashfully replied "The good Lord has allowed me to do it"  I smiled as the kids and I walked back across the street. 

Something about her just captivated me.  I buckled Kolton in and I kept looking over at her.  People just walking past her...no words spoken.  I wondered what on earth I could do for her?  Could we buy her some water?  An ice cream cone??  What can we do for her Lord?

I kept looking at my camera.  I wish I had asked if I could have taken her picture.  Crazy I know, but that is how much she affected me.  I wanted to remember.  Everyone has a story...and I wanted to remember her.  Pray for her!   I stewed back and forth thinking I was crazy and then simply grabbed it.  I walked back across the street and asked her if I could take her picture!  If she could have jumped in a hole she would have! 

"I look a mess!  You don't want a picture of me! Let me go home and put on my purple dress!"  Ha ha!  She was cracking me up!  I told her that she was a blessing and I wanted a picture to remember her by.  Blushing she tucked strands of flying hair behind her ear and under her red hat, saying over and over how awful she looked.  I told her that she looked beautiful -and she was!  

So there she stood next to the brick antique shop, smiling and holding her cane which read:  I know my caboose is moving slow.  Thank God I'm still moving.  Love Smile Laugh, Have a happy day!


She was so blessed that we stopped to talk to her.  "Everyone in town knows me" she said.  In the short five minutes we spoke she shared part of her life with me.  Health concerns...love for her community and how she was in the parade every year except last year -she had her bee costume all ready to go...including a flash light in the tail...but due to the extreme heat, she just couldn't do it. 

Looking back...I think what we were supposed to give her (what she needed the most) was a little bit of our time.  The kind word spoken.  Encouragement off the tongue.  Even a silly photo request, to possibly refresh a soul.  

God turned  this day into so much more than expected!  This sweet woman is now written on my heart.  I will continue to pray for her and praise God that she was part of our adventure! 

So Love - Smile - Laugh -  and Have a Happy Day!

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Friday, September 16, 2011

Yay...Free Friday!

Back to business...

It's Free Friday!

And we are giving away a FREE doll!

If you would like to enter to win a free personalized doll, please leave a comment below.

For extra entries -simply share Baby be Blessed with your friends!

...and don't forget about our Christmas Cart!
Use coupon code: CHRISTMAS to receive a 10% discount on your order!

Have a fantastic weekend!
Winner will be chosen on Monday!

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How to cook Critter's


My life must be pretty dull (or maybe too exciting...depending on how you look at it) if my blog posts and tweets have become me talking about the dead hairy squirrel in my fridge that I'm fixin' to cook for supper!   I gross MYSELF out...I am so sorry!  

But alas, I must finish the story....this post is not for the squeamish!  

I slapped on the ol' rubber gloves (held my breath) and carefully took that pink watered bowl out of the refrigerator.   In taking a closer look...the (ahem) cleaned squirrel was still covered in hair.  I about lost it!   I scrubbed it under hot hot water...but I couldn't get it all off.  (I about didn't make it though...if you know what I mean)

So my thoughts are to make the squirrel just like I would make BBQ Ribs!  Everything is better with BBQ right?!  So I placed it in a deep casserole dish that would fit it's squirrelly shape and baked it for two hours.  Then I drained off the water (and more squirrel hair) and slathered it in some Sweet Baby Rays!  Things were a little better from that point!  =)

Grandma gave us some pumpkin blossoms so along those lines, I thought I would cook the mushrooms the same way!  Pumkin blossoms are the flowers that grow on pumpkin vines.  I have never even thought to eat blossoms off of pumpkins until after I was married.  I thought they had *lost their mind* but they are very good!  And everything is good dipped in egg then cracker and fried in oil right?! 

Problem was...I only had a half pack of crackers left so I stopped up at our Village Market/Gas Station. (I put that in there for you Laura!  It cracks her up that we can buy groceries and deli meat at our gas station -and it's good!) Unfortunately they were out of crackers.  =(  I flew into panic mode because I really didn't have a plan B so I simply used the whole wheat Ritz crackers I had on hand instead.

So with that problem solved...and my oldest girl dropped off at riding lessions...my man walked in the door!  I didn't tell him what we where having and he assumed ribs because Sweet Baby was filling the house with an awesome BBQ aroma!  But SURPRISE!!  (You know...this is where I was hoping to be crowned Wife of the Year) He looked at it and said "You should have quarted it"   Really?! YUCK!  I could hardly wash it and get it in the pot let alone cut it up!  Ha ha! 

He smiled big and couldn't wait for all of us to try it!  (um -I don't think so!)

He also thought it was funny that I was taking pictures while I was cooking so he grabbed the camera and took a few himself.  He was teasing me...see how he turns the angle of the camera and took pictures of funny things? Here are a few in his collection:



Didn't he do a great job capturing the *REALNESS* of things! 

When taking pictures I always arrange things just so to try and capture a new view making things look it's prettiest...but this was the truth behind the camera!  I loved it!

So here is the (carfully posed) finished product!

Actually the picture of the blossoms and mushrooms was one of Keith's! 

-Great Job Honey!


 Two out of four of the kids tried the squirrel...I couldn't bring myself to.  Honestly, I couldn't even watch the kids take a bite out of it.  (gives me the heebie jeebies)  But I don't want to discourage them trying things like that -they knew what they were eating.  It's not like when my sister and I grew up and ate "little chickens" for supper -aka RABBIT!!  (I think I was scarred for life.  I KNOW Michelle was when Grandpa finally fessed up  -with a giggle- that we were eating Blackie!)

On the upside! 

The puff ball mushroom was SO GOOD!!  They were awesome! (I WAS SHOCKED) I kept asking Keith "Your SURE they are safe to eat?" because you just can't eat any ol' mushroom growing out of the ground. 

 *a little disclosure *  {smile}

But they are completely safe and ended up being oh, so good!  We will for sure have them again! 

With two hunters now in the house, I'm sure it won't be our last wild-life adventure in the kitchen. 

Maybe I should ask for a "How to cook Critter's" cookbook for Christmas. =)

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Thursday, September 15, 2011

I must REALLY love him! =)

Last night at 4:46 pm, I received a text from my dear husband.

It read: "Be home in ten minutes...ive got something for supper"

My response? "okay...I'm scared since you left w/the shotgun"

Yep! I love that sweet man! And I must add that technically (my 12 yr old informed me) he didn't bring a shotgun it was a rifle. A 22 to be exact....well for any of you who would care about details like that.

To my surprise, he not only brought home the main course (a squirrel) but also the vegetable (a big wild mushroom called a Puff Ball)!

I've never seen anything like it!

I thought it was HUGE but Keith informed me that it was a small one.

Thankfully I already had supper going (whew) so I thought I had dodged the bullet...but guess what is sitting a bowl of water in my fridge...right now as I type this...yes...the gutted and skinned squirrel. LORD GIVE ME STRENGTH!

The mushroom sits in there as well, but my stomach can handle that!

Since I'm not really into eating wild game (does squirrel classify in that category) I have no idea how either of them should be cooked so I'm going to guess because they both are coming out! In case any of you want to come over for supper, tonight we will have BBQ Squirrel, fried puff balls and a big side of something the kids and I will eat!

Now where are the safety glasses and my rubber gloves?

I'm going in...wish me luck!

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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Happy Birthday My Sweet Lola!



Yesterday Lola turned nine years old.



I swallow hard because time has passed by SO QUICKLY!



My sweet flower -full of life and color!




A precious gift that is growing and blooming...right in front of my eyes!

Thank you Lord for this beautiful girl!

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Monday, September 12, 2011

Marvelous Monday!

Congratulations to...

LisaD said -Winning this give away would be so exciting since we are in the process of adopting a little girl. However, what's more exciting is the cause! May God bless your efforts and provide for the well in Uganda! I'm excited to have made a donation for such a great cause!

...for winning our Yay Free Friday Giveaway this week!!

Thanks to each of you who entered and for those who gave donations to help dig a well for Uganda!


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Saturday, September 10, 2011

2011 Christmas Cart!


Our 2011 Christmas Cart is Underway!!

Shopping carts for Personalized Dolls are now open for our 2011 Christmas Cart! This is our very first year to offer a Christmas Doll! This special doll will only be available this year and only through this Christmas Cart! What a special keepsake she is!

Christmas Cart guarantee's Christmas Delivery!

All orders will ship by December 5th.
Dolls slots are limited -so please order today !

Please email if you have any questions!
...and don't forget our Yay Free Friday in the post below!

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Friday, September 9, 2011

Yay...Free Friday!


I love Fridays! We love to bless someone each week with a free doll and know in my heart that God chooses the winner!

It makes my heart full. Typically for extra entries, we ask for you to share with others about Baby be Blessed...and my heart behind that is so we can continue to reach out to more and more people. Yes it is a business but more than that it is a ministry. Each doll that goes out is proclaiming the word of God and as his Word says, it never returns void.

It's easy for me to give. I love giving! What I am NOT good at is asking others to give. I'm not good at coming up with fun ideas to raise money and I cringe when I ask people to make donations. (I'm cringing now just typing it out)

But this week (gulp) I am boldly asking you to help us give....

I LOVE Give a Blessing! From the very start I asked God to use us as a vessel to bless others and that moved forward to giving a financial blessing to a child, family or organization in need. For the past several years we did just that. (Thank you Lord!) Again, my heart was never on the amount of money raised because I tried to keep myself in check knowing that He controls all things and would provide for their every need.

But then the giving pretty much stopped.

Prayers were poured over continuing Give a Blessing because I just didn't want to roll through the motions and get discouraged because the support wasn't there. I wanted to move forward because we were supposed to and we would push through the hard...knowing He held it in His hand.

Over the past few months, I've taken a step back asking the Lord if it was His will. I trusted that He would show us who and when.

Then I heard of Joseph....

Laura spoke of Joseph and requested prayer for his family while he was in the states. He even stayed at their house during part of his stay. She asked me about making a doll for his 5 yr old, Sofie and I was so happy that we could show her the love of Christ through a simple doll. They basically have nothing. It was the very LEAST that we could do.

That was the first time that the thought of helping them through Give a Blessing crossed my mind. Since then Chris (Laura's husband) visited Uganda and saw first hand the needs of the area. Again (I'm a fixer) my heart wondered what we could do to help these people. One thing that rings out in my mind was when Laura told me about an area they visited and the women there BEGGED the Americans to take their children! They would rather give their children away than to see them suffer and more than likely -die. My heart was so heavy...what if I was that Mother? So when it was placed on hearts to raise money and dig a new well for the community that Joseph lives in...for their animals (which is their livelihood) and of course for themselves and the surrounding communities...THIS was something that we could help with! So after prayer (and God not closing the door to help) we move forward with helping raise money to dig a new well.

Eight people have given to this cause ~Thank you!

Maybe you were the only eight that God has called to give this month...maybe all you can give is your prayers...that in itself holds much power.

This post has become a little deeper than I expected this fine -Yay...Free Friday but it is where my heart lies this morning. It hurts for these people (God's people).

To enter our giveaway this week: Please Leave a comment below

For extra entries:
-Share about Give a Blessing via blog/twitter/facebook (include link)

-If you are able...please consider giving a donation (1 entry for each $1)

Winner will be chosen on Monday!

For more information about this months Give a Blessing CLICK HERE.
Thank you so much for your support!

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Thursday, September 8, 2011

Sweet Faces!


We were BLESSED to be able to make Joseph's 5yr old daughter Sofie a doll.  She lives in Uganda, Africa.  Doesn't it look just like her?!  And oh...my heart can hardly stand the sweet girl in red standing beside her just holding the dolls hand....if I would have known we would have sent a doll for her too!  

I wanted you to see the faces of these children.  THIS is who we are supporting through Give a Blessing this month!  Would you help give these beautiful children clean drinking water? We would never allow our children to drink out of a dirty dried up well or water hole that animals bath and eliminate waste in.  We are blessed to have CLEAN water at our disposal and I praise God for it! 

God has blessed us so we can bless others!

Please help us raise money to dig a new well in Uganda, Africa. 
CLICK HERE to learn more.

Thank you SO MUCH!

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Wednesday, September 7, 2011

So What's New?


It's been a week since school has started and we are finding the rhythm of our new routine. 

Here are a few pictures I found in my camera.  Mice in cowgirl hats sitting on dusty microwaves by the sugar.  A VERY happy 10 year old getting her flute on the second day of band...practicing the three notes they taught her all weekend! (I hope she holds the enthusiasm!)

...and a proud papa moment

A Thompson Family Milestone:  Tristin's 1st Hunting license! 

And not only that!  But his FIRST squirrel!

Yep...he walked that thing right into the house by the tail and held it right up with a smile ear to ear!  A bigger smile walked in right behind him!  Talk about a wave of testosterone walking through the door!  =)  I'm not quite sure who was more proud...the father or the son!  And since Uncle Greg is a taxidermist, this prize was washed off in my sink, wrapped in a Kroger sack and placed right in the freezer next to the Popsicles.

Yep. That's right.

Needless to say, Mama got out the bleach. =)

Seriously though, I was very proud of him too and though hunting isn't my thing personally it came in the package at the alter and I'm glad that Keith and Tristin can enjoy it together.


On the doll front...Lori and I have been sewing away!  Last week Lori rocked out some dolls so I will be able to finish and ship THREE groupings this week!  YAY!!  It feels great to get a little caught up from vacation and busy summer schedules.

Our Christmas cart will be coming soon so be planning ahead if you would like to order.

Have a wonderful day!
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