Blog button and code!

Hey Ladies! Today over at Raising Arrows, Amy blogged about growing a blog. One of the links that she shared was to another blog (Like A Bubbling Brook) where Jamie blogged about how to create your own blog button. This has been something that I have been wanting to do, but my graphic designer husband is over worked, and hasn't, as of yet, been free to help me. So today, with the confidence gained from Amy and Jamie, I gave it a go! Here are my results (after many attempts, revisions and hours...):

<center><a href="http://servantwifemother.blogspot.com"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtDnXJZOnbp_XwbgLOFzaQk51LgIoDa6i80C66o26dox7ljlLBdPsqJIJ6fZhA_G0J66RonVQdNHRmz_ky6D_ciat8fi0n9DGu78rj-15JM12mpR7KWd1pSxDrOcZGHhIDbj7OSsGn4oQ/s249/Blog+Button1.jpg" /></a></center>

Woo Hoo! I had to take Jamie's advice and combine it with Amy's working button. I'm so excited that I have this figured out!

Here are my steps:

1. I designed my button using illustrator, then copied it into photoshop into a 125 pixel x 125 pixel box, and saved it as a .jpeg

2. I then uploaded my button photo straight to my blog. I used a widget for pictures, to upload the photo, linking it to my main blog page url, and then saved the widget.

3. I then took the working code for Amy's blog button (Thanks, Amy!) and changed the info in the code to match my blog (my blog link and the link to my button photo that was now on my blog).

4. I then added the text box code that Jamie had around her button code that I couldn't get to work (I'm sure it was a user error).

5. Finally I uploaded all of that code text as the caption to my picture, and viola!

Friday Funnies!

A friend e-mailed me the link to this video this week. It had me rolling! I couldn't help but think that you would all enjoy it as well.


Edward Reid Sings Nursery Rhymes to Run backing... by UCANLEARNPOKERdotCOM

And a special bonus giggle from my girls:

When God Created My Toes

When God Created My Toes
Written by Dandi Daley Mackall
Illustrated by David Hohn

This book helps children to use their imagination while instilling Psalm 139:13-16 into their hearts and minds and I love that they included this verse in the beginning of the book. After reading this book to my children I would defiantly say that it is aimed at younger children (ages 2-4). My three year olds loved it, while my 6 and 8 year olds weren’t too interested. For my 6 year old who loves books and enjoys even the simplest board book, for him to not enjoy a book says a lot to me. I think it was because it asked imaginative questions that were pretty silly. Personally, I think the silly questions are great conversation starters. This book could be a great teaching tool.

HOWEVER, I will probably not be recommending this book to anyone based on the pictures. It seems that the girl pictured in the book gets in trouble quite frequently. While that might be portraying real life, my boys kept saying “That’s not good,” “Why is she being so bad,” “That wasn’t nice” and so on and so forth. It really took the focus off of the valuable lesson that they could have taken away from this book. I will add that I love how David Hohn used notebook pages for the words. That was such a neat touch!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the WaterBrook Press book review bloggers program (Blogging for Books). I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Breakdown:

Worldview: Christian

Target Audience: Small children (ages 2-4)

Positive Elements: Reinforcing that we were made wonderfully by God.

Inappropriate Language: None.

Unbiblical Content: None.

Other Negative Elements: While I usually love illustrations by David Hohn, and the pictures in this book were beautifully drawn, I think that what was in the pictures kind of ruined the book for us.

Mr. Monday

It's Mr. Monday, I hope you were able to enjoy some quality time with your Mr. today! My Mr. now has Monday's off, and it is such a blessing! Today we went and got our wedding rings cleaned. :) They're all shiny now :) I love how my ring sparkles for the first few days after it has been cleaned! I have tried countless times to take a quality photo of my wedding ring, but I have failed to get anything worth posting. The pictures always come out blurry :( However, I can tell you that Mr. Amazing picked it out and did a fantastic job! He knew me so well, even if he wasn't exactly the master of all secrecy...

One day when I got off from work, I had to run by his apartment to get something that I had left there. He was at work, but I had the spare key, and he knew that I would be by. While I was there I had to use the restroom, and there on the counter was a card for Shane Co. I tried to wipe the silly grin off my face and convince myself that he must be buying his mom a mothers ring for their 50th anniversary that was in just a few weeks. However, my best friend was with me and also saw the card. We had to run by his work afterwards and she of course told him. He wasn't exactly happy with himself, but he decided since I knew that he could take me with him to see the ring to make sure he was buying something that I would like. However, he wouldn't tell me what he had picked out, he wanted me to choose for myself to see if I would pick the same one. I looked at rings for what seemed like forever. He pointed out two or three that he thought I might like, and then leaned on one of the counters while I looked through the countless cases (for those of you who are as naive as I was, the counter that he was leaning against had the ring he had chosen in it). He finally had to tell me which ring it was, and of course I loved it! I'm just horrible at making decisions. I just knew that I didn't want anything big or with a thousand diamonds, and I didn't want something that stuck out so far that it would snag on things. (I'm practical, what can I say).

What about you? Did your Mr. pick out your ring or did you do it together? Can you tell us about the first time you saw it?

Thankful for my Savior

On this Thankful Thursday, I am overwhelmed with thankfulness for my Savior. It's just so amazing to me that He would willingly leave heaven and come to this Earth! Most of us hate life in this world, He chose it willingly! Not only did He choose to live in the world, He made that choice with the knowledge that He would be put to death for our sins. He didn't choose an easy life, but probably the hardest life at all, living the entire time knowing that a painful, unjust death lie ahead of Him. Yet He endured it all, all the scoffing and all the pain, not for anything that He deserved, but because we couldn't handle our problems without His help. He knew that without everything He endured, we would spend eternity in hell, without Him. He didn't want that. He gave His life for us. He lived for us, and died for us. He did it all so that we could be forgiven, and spend eternity with Him.

I am also thankful that He didn't stay dead. On the third day He was raised! Today He is alive and well. Preparing a place for us in Heaven, and someday soon He will come to call us home. I am so thankful for His love!

Mr. Monday

Mr. Amazing just left for work. Today was his day off, so we have been enjoying it. This morning while the boys finished up their school work, Mr. Amazing was outside working on his 4Runner. He installed fog lights and replaced one of the head lights that burnt out over the weekend. He also assigned me the task of making him a new cloth top for the summer. His hard top comes off and he loves driving without it. He has been asking me to do this for weeks, but I have been putting it off. Today I finally gave in and got to work. I obviously don't have pictures of the new one (it's still in the making), but I thought I would share a photo of last years (almost?) cloth top:

The girls LOVE riding with daddy! Well, to be fair, all the kids do, but it's so cute to see the girls in their car seats with smiles from ear to ear! Anyway, back to the subject at hand... Last year I broke my sewing machine trying to sew the top for his 4Runner. It wasn't the tops fault, more of an operator error... but that's not important. We ended up stapling a blue tarp to some tarp straps. Personally, I thought it was awesome. I loved how it let the sunlight through, but kept out all of the rain. However, the wind took it's toll on the tarp and it wouldn't have made it another year. So this year instead of using a tarp, we are using ... okay, I'm not going to tell you yet! But it's turning out pretty good. It's about half way done, and my new sewing machine is holding together great! (It came with an instruction manual, and I actually read it... no repeat mistakes!)

What kind of fun or helpful things have you done for your Mr. recently?

Max on Life

Max Lucado’s latest book, “Max on Life”, is a book about just that. Lucado takes the time to answer some of life’s most asked questions from a biblical point of view. Have you ever wondered why you worry so much? How you can know what God’s will for your life is? Or even who God is? Max addresses these questions and many, many more in this book. In fact, the entire book is just common questions and followed by biblically sound answers.

Max Lucado has done it again! This was such a wonderful book and will be a great reference tool to have. Anyone who has ever wondered what God would say about something in their life would benefit from this book, both Christians and non-Christians alike. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has questions about life and is truly seeking the answers. I love the way the material is presented, the only thing that I would change is at the beginning of each section listing the questions that are contained. It would make it easier to go back and find one if need be.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”


Breakdown:

Worldview: Biblical

Target Audience: People with questions about life.

Positive Elements: Everything… can I just leave it at that?

Inappropriate Language: None

Unbiblical Content: None

Other Negative Elements: None having a list of questions contained.

The Reason Why

The Reason Why by Mark Mittelberg is a re-written version of the book The Reason Why that was originally written by Robert A. Laidlaw. It is a book that defines the Christian faith. It takes the core beliefs of the Christians and relates them in ways that almost anyone living today in our culture could understand.

When I first started reading this book I had to keep checking to make certain that it wasn’t written by Ray Comfort. Not that I have a problem with Ray Comfort, it was just so similar to what I have heard him say dozens of times. It did get into more detail, and I think it did a great job portraying the Christian beliefs. It was a pretty quick read. I would love to get some feedback from a non-Christian who reads this book and see what their opinion of it is. But overall I think it was pretty good.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Tyndale Media's book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Breakdown:
Worldview: Biblical
Target Audience: Non-Christians, or Christians who are not convinced fully of their faith
Positive Elements: Clear, concise and to the point
Inappropriate Language: None
Unbiblical Content: None
Other Negative Elements: It does use and highly recommend the New Living Translation of the Bible, which is a thought for thought translation and possibly not as accurate as the NIV, NASB, or other word for word translations… but that’s debatable.

For Women Only

For Women Only is a book that every adult woman should read. Shaunti Feldhahn spent the time and effort needed to interview and survey over a thousand men, to get insight into their thought life. What she found was astounding. Only a woman could have written this book, as a lot of her research came back with men saying “but of course women know that!” To which of course she responded, “Well I didn’t!”

I would put this book in the MUST READ category. While some of the topics are harder than others (and for each woman different sections will be harder to read), I really think she did a fabulous job presenting the information she found. Shaunti is an amazing writer, and kept me captivated from beginning to end.

There are tons of great resources that I recommend along with this book:

The website forwomenonlybook.com

And I can't not mention the program on Revive Our Hearts. They had a series earlier this year about this book, and I requested this book because of that program. You can access the first program in that series by clicking here.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the WaterBrook Multnomah book review bloggers program, Blogging for Books. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Breakdown:

Worldview: Biblical

Target Audience: Adult Christian women

Positive Elements: My favorite part of this book was… well the entire book.

Inappropriate Language: None, however there was lots of talk about sex, so I would put it in the adult only category.

Unbiblical Content: None

Other Negative Elements: None

Mr. Monday

I must admit that I have come to love Mr. Monday. It's a great excuse to brag on my man! This week I am just in awe at how hard Mr. Amazing is working for our family. As many of you know he recently switched jobs, and his new job is drastically different from his old job. Because it is so drastically different they hired him on for a lower management position. He has 3 times more management experience than his boss. He is not use to working directly under some one, and that just makes the job even more drastically different from what he is use to. He is also working the night shift. He goes to work between midnight and 3am. He works for 10 hours, then he comes home and sleeps most of the day. Despite all of these obstacles he is doing amazing! He is working hard, and still doing his best to be part of the family here at home. God has blessed me so much by bringing such a hard working man into my life. I'm pretty sure that Mr. Amazing could do anything he set his mind to!

A Friday Funny Confession

For Friday's funny this week I have a confession to make. I have been noticing it over and over again lately and it is rather amusing. You know the age old saying that you should never ask a woman how old she is? Apparently it's rude and most women don't want others to know their age. Well, my reason is a bit different... Are you ready? I don't know how old I am.

It's sad, but true. Each time someone asks me I have to stop and figure out what year it is now, then subtract the year that I was born and come up with the difference, which would be my age... The worst part is that even though I was asked this question for paperwork THREE TIMES this week, I still can't tell you how old I am... I would have to do the math again. I can tell you how old all four of my children are, but not how old I was when I had them... I know that I graduate high school at 17, but again in order to figure out how old I am now, I would have to take my graduation year and subtract it from the current year...

So my question for you this Friday is: Do you have any funny things that you can never seem to remember? I mean, I can't be the only one... right?

Friday Funnies are brought to you by Kim at her blog Homesteader's Heart:


Thanks for stopping by.

Thankfulness

We are arriving at another thankful Thursday and I am yet again finding myself overflowing with thankfulness. I have been noticing lately how thankful my family is. And while at times it can get a little annoying, like at supper when all four of my children take turns thanking me for their food, then they go around the table again thanking me for their drinks, then their forks... Of course I have to say your welcome to each individual child for each item. But I really am thankful that I have such a thankful family. It's easy to feel taken advantage of and unappreciated in today's world, and I love that my children actually voice their thankfulness.

I am also thankful that I am sitting here writing this in my newly set up office. God has been been fulfilling so many life long dreams lately, that it about brings me to tears with how much He has given me. I have always dreamed of being a writer and an editor, and as of last month I truly am a freelance writer/editor. It still seems so surreal that someone will pay me to do something that I love, but it's true. God is just solidifying His plans for me by having the pieces fall into place around me. It truly is just amazing. I have no other words to describe it. Just because I am so thankful, I wanted to share a picture of my office with you:

I am also thankful that my husband had today off. I got so use to having him home that I am missing him terribly now that he is working again. The kids are feeling it too, and it was just such a blessing to have him here today.

Are you overflowing with thankfulness this week? Why not take some time to write about it and share your blessings with us? Don't forget to link up over at Lynn's blog Spiritually Unequal Marriage by clicking the button below:

To Do:

Have you ever had so much to do that you don't know where to begin? Top that off with a headache the size of Texas and cranky children, and that describes my day in a nut shell.

My to do list:
Choose a college
Call the college
Call my old high school and have them transfer my transcripts to the college
Edit 2 books
Research 2 people
Review 2 books
Read a book for my study group
Set up a designated work space...?
Create some kind of schedule or timeline to help me be more organized
Laundry
Dishes
Clean the bathrooms
Make lunch
BE A MOM and spend time with my beautiful children
Teach my beautiful children (they are currently doing their computer work)
Go shopping
And I'm sure that I am forgetting something... I can feel it...

After writing all of this down, I'm pretty sure I should start with cleaning the kitchen (my current work space/ office) so that I can create some kind of schedule or timeline and figure out where I should start... Although, now that my migraine medicine is kicking in, I will probably start by reading my Bible, because I haven't done that yet today and it is the most important part of my day (even more important than breakfast...which I also didn't eat because my head hurt...).

I hope you have a short to do list today, and are more organized than me. :) Have a blessed day!

Mr. Monday

My husband is amazing! He started his new job two weeks ago, and it hasn't exactly been a bed of roses. He went from working in the food industry as a general manager for the past 20 years, to working in retail and a lower management position. This is a HUGE change. He is currently working the night shift, okay early morning shift. He goes to work in the middle of the night (between 12 and 3am), and works until 11 or 1pm. This change has effected our entire family, but obviously it is hardest on him. Yet, through all of this, he is still amazing. He is still making an effort to spend time with the family, and helps out with the kids as much as he is able when he is home. He even kept the kids while I went to a meeting last week. God has richly blessed me with an amazing husband and I am ever so thankful!

The storms of life

This morning as I was listening to the radio a song came on that I had never heard before. It touched my heart in so many ways, and I wish that I would have heard it years ago. I wanted to take a moment to share it with you:


I remember when the twins were little, I had Matthew 8:26 taped to the door of their room. I remember reading it and crying out for God to save me because I felt like I was about to drown. I kept waiting for my house to miraculously calm, but it rarely, if ever, happened. Most of the time though, while I was crying out to God He gave me peace and brought me through the storm. As the lyrics to the above song state, sometimes he calmed the storm, other times He calmed me, His child.

The radio broadcaster today brought up two very important verses. John 16:33 tells us that in this world we will have trouble. In other words, He isn't going to calm every storm. The other verse I forgot to write down, but I think the perfect verse is Isaiah 40:31. When we put our hope, trust and faith in Christ, He will help us to soar like eagles. Eagles can stay in the air for hours riding the air currents and wind. If it was completely calm (no wind) they wouldn't be able to fly as long. This amazes me. God can help us soar when we are weary, by using the storms of life.

Created by a Creator

Happy Friday! A dear friend of mine shared a photo with me this week that was simple yet, awesomely humorous.
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Are you ready?
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It was even funnier because she tagged the photo that she was telling her husband and brother to stop following her. Yeah, she's awesome. :)


For more Friday Funnies don't forget to hop on over to Kim's blog by clicking the button below:

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Alright, I'm posting 2 in 1 today. You'll forgive me right? This is like a continuation of my post on Wednesday, so you may need to reference it for clarity. I am still reading through the book of Leviticus, and last night I came across the following verses:

“When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, and I put a spreading mildew in a house in that land, the owner of the house must go and tell the priest, ‘I have seen something that looks like mildew in my house.’ ~ Leviticus 14:34-35

Did you catch that God put the spreading mildew in the home? God is totally in charge of everything. On Wednesday I posted something that a friend of mine told me a few years ago when I was studying Leviticus: "The physical is often a manifestation of spiritual". While I know that isn't always the case, I can't help but wonder if God allows our spiritual lives to the mildew stage on occasion so that we take the time to do a deep cleaning. In the following verses in Leviticus the instructions were to take everything out of the house, not just most things, but everything, and close it up for 7 days. I think that sometimes we need to do that to our lives. Just stop for a minute, totally take inventory of our lives, and spend sometime alone with God to reflect. I think this is why retreats (you know, those things that moms rarely get to go on) are so important. And not a retreat where everything is planned out, but one where we just go and spend time with our Creator. We need to allow Him the opportunity to cleanse us of our mildewy(sp?) lives.

So those are my thoughts for today. I hope you have a fabulous Friday!!