Holiday Giving Giveaway #2

Have you entered Holiday Giving (A Giveaway) #1?

  Be sure to head over there and get the back story on both this and that giveaway.

Holiday Giving (A Giveaway) #2

One Item of Your Choice (up to $40 value) 

from Aalbers Creations shop on Etsy.

So, this is my sister Kimberly!  Over the past 3 years she has created herself a business doing exactly what she loves.  Using 1000x more creativity than I was ever born with, she makes beautiful accessories for girls and their mom's and then travels the Renaissance fair circuit donning her wares (okay, super cheesy, I know, but that is what she does).  

Every item you'll find on her Etsy page is hand-sewn, hand-painted, or self-designed.  She dresses her girls in all her own creations, and they beg her to give them painted fairy faces almost every day.  Looking around you'll find a huge range of items from wings and fairy costumes...

 

to play tents and crowns...

 

to leg warmers and bibs...

 

I know you'll love looking through her shop on Etsy!  Check out the entry form below and let me know what you would choose!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Haven't checked out Holiday Giving (A Giveaway #1) yet?  

Head over there now and get your entries in!

Giveaway being sponsored across my blogging gamut.  

All entry forms will be combined to choose one winner for each giveaway.

Prizes are being offered at no cost or benefit to me.  Just a good sisterly deed.

Holiday Giving Giveaway #1

I started December with good intentions of helping my family give service this month and focus on other people instead of ourselves and I think we've been doing okay.  After delivering mailbox treats we've brought our neighbor's trash bins back up to the house on trash day, chose chores to help each other out with in our own house, and helped all the "big guys" put away chairs after church on Sunday.  Today, we want to offer two-fold service by supporting two of my sisters and their businesses and giving you the chance to win something fun and beautiful for the holidays!

Holiday Giving Giveaway #1

(okay, I tried to find a picture of my sister Brooke to post,

 but 1) I couldn't and 2) she would have killed me! :)

One item of your choice at

Forking Queen on Etsy

(up to $50 value, or $50 credit can be used 

towards 1 item of higher value)

Forking Queen is the business my sister Brooke started doing about 7 years ago.  She started out creating unique silverware jewelry pieces like these:

Now she's expanded with a "Leather and Lead" brand:

and some other really beautiful things! 

 Take a look around her Etsy shop and then get your entries for an item (up to $50 value) in below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ready to win a second prize?  

Be sure to enter our Holiday Giving (A Giveaway) #2!

Giveaway being sponsored across my blogging gamut.  

All entry forms will be combined to choose one winner for each giveaway.

Prizes are being offered at no cost or benefit to me.  Just a good sisterly deed. 

A Little Peace For Your Day

Thanks to Valerie at Prepared LDS Family for posting this beautiful Christmas video by the Piano guys this morning.  It's exactly what I needed to start my day.  I hope it'll give you a moment of rest as well...

Thankful Thirty Giveaway Winners!!

Congratulations Debbi and Marissa!!

Thank you to everyone who commented throughout the month of November.  

Hearing from you gives me motivation to keep on writing!

(Winners have been notified and have 48 hours to respond before another winner will be chosen.)

I'm going to take a few days off, but I'll be back next week with some ways that our family is staying focused on serving other people throughout this holiday season.

Thankful Thirty #30 (Wrapping Up)

What a November this has been!  Encouraging myself each day to be aware of the blessings in my life was sometimes hard, but helped me to see exactly what I needed to see in that moment.  Living in the moment.  It's an interesting new thing for me.

Having said that, though, I want to take time today to reflect on what I've learned over the last 30 days.  I needed the chance to slow down and realize that I'm grateful for...

~

Those people in the world

who choose to live each day in the service of the littlest and weakest among us.  

~

A Heavenly Father 
so personally familiar with me and with His plan for me.

~

A husband who knows I am strong,

 lets me be weak, and serves me even when I don't deserve it.

~

Opportunities to provide for my family responsibly.

~

My one vote can make a difference in my local, state, and national election.

~

The good influence the military has been in the lives of my friends who've served.

~

We can still hope in an America that is great. 

 We, the people, can make it great!

~

Simplicity.

~

That little 5-year-old boy

 who loves life so much he can't help sharing it with me.

~

A brief moment in our family finances when 

we can afford to have  a 1st-world problem.

~

Well-intentioned strangers, even if they don't quite know what to say.

~

The ability to keep in touch even from far away.

~

Organization in times of trouble.

~

You!

~

Thoughtful partnerships.

~

The ability to push myself in the body God gave me.

~

Having more good things going in my life than bad and recognizing it. 

~

The lessons I learn when I thought I was teaching my kids.

~

The opportunity I've taken 

to reflect this month on all I have been given.

~

Time to reflect and appreciate anew.

~

An uplifting change in routine.

~

The sweet woman who held a twin during church  
so my husband and I could wrangle older children without killing all of them.

~

The power of writing

 to bring shine back into an otherwise dismal day.

~

The home I've loved and the excitement of looking for another one.

~

The inspiration I receive from the talents of other people.

~

So, now you know what I'm grateful for!  Remember, you've got a little time left to enter the Trappistine Chocolate Giveaway especially for you, my readers.  You can comment on any of my Thankful Thirty posts, but to make it easy for you, why now comment right here?  Tell me,