The Best Of

The Best Of :: Life in Grace

January 6, 2011 By stacey 3 Comments

I found the sweetest blog, Life In Grace, over a year ago. Then I lost it. I re-found it during The Nester’s Christmas Home Tour. As soon as I landed on on her link, I thought, “Oh I love her!” I spent several minutes on her lovely red and turquoie blog and clicked on many of her posts. I remembered that I left a comment once and she sent me the nicest reply. I also remembered that her name is Edie, she is a former physician, and she homeschools her two youngest children. I made myself a promise, not to lose her again!

Then the week of Christmas, I saw this post about how everything changed for Edie in the very early hours of Tuesday morning December 21.

My heart was broken for her. And immediately I began praying, even though I have never met her. Praising God that her family made it out safely and asking Him to walk with them through the devastation and loss they have experienced.

I saw an outpouring of love for her from bloggers everywhere I turned. And I was reminded that this thing we do, with our keyboards really can touch lives.

Edie’s birthday was Wednesday. Those same love filled bloggers hacked her site, (with permission) wished her every happiness, and offered a link up for others to do the same. I knew I wanted to participate. So here is my birthday wish for Edie:

Dear Life In Grace {Edie},

Happy Birthday!

I love your blog. I am so sorry that I lost you. But I am grateful that God let me find you, again. I am praying for you every day in January (at Kimba’s invitation). I know there is nothing I can say to ease the pain and heaviness your heart feels. But since you love words, I thought I’d share my favorite poem with you as a birthday gift:

Thou art the Lord who slept on the pillow.

Thou art the Lord who calmed the raging sea.

What matter beating wind and tossing billow

if only we are in the boat with Thee?

Hold us in quiet through the age long minute,

while thou art silent and the wind is shrill,

Can the boat sink, dear Lord while Thou art in it?

Can the heart faint that waiteth on Thy will?

by Amy Carmichael,

Towards Jerusalem

Happy Birthday.

May you feel His arms holding you strongly through this age long minute.

Looking Forward,

Filed Under: Blogs I Love, Connect, The Best Of

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The Best Of {More Christmas Goodies}

December 17, 2010 By stacey Leave a Comment

{For your family}

Christmas Scavenger Hunt :: via Christmas Change. (be sure to read the questions in the comments, they are awesome.)

Christmas Change is a blog dedicated to helping you re-think Christmas by spending less and giving more. It is packed with heart felt posts from some of my favorite writers and bloggers! Love it!

{For Fun}

Christmas Tour of Homes :: via The Nester. Don’t you just love seeing how other people decorate for Christmas? This link up has about 1 million homes for you to enjoy viewing {some of my favorites are #50, #357, & #496…..mine is #73}.

{For Your Heart}

Christmas Cards That Bring the Biggest Smiles :: via (in)courage. This one may require a couple of Kleenex boxes to get through. You can make a difference. You can start with a card!

Looking Forward,

Filed Under: Blogs I Love, Connect, The Best Of

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For You {The Best of Christmas Edition}

December 10, 2010 By stacey 2 Comments

For Your Heart:

Flickr Photo Credit :: paulapaulac

When Your Heart Feels Hurried :: by a true heart encourager,Holley Gerth

For Your Gifts:

By the ever so creative Emily, Jones Design Company :: Free, click here.

For Your Worship.

A Thousand Things :: by Christa Wells

My prayer for you today is for you to find stillness in the busy, that your giving bring you great joy, and may you remember to be fully present in each Christmas moment to count 1,000 thing for His glory! Have a great weekend!

Filed Under: Blogs I Love, Encourage, The Best Of

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The Best Of {Weekend Edition}

October 30, 2010 By stacey 2 Comments

Who knew, when you went to a conference, that you walked away with so much amazing free stuff? Here are few things I found to be the BEST OF from the Swag Bag:

The bag itself:: Dayspring (Blessings Unlimited)

Life is a Gift from God – Jute Tote Bag

On our way home through the Harrisburg Airport, several conference attendees were carrying their new Swag Bags provided by Dayspring. Two women in front of me at the security check point commented on how cute they were! This gave me an opportunity to tell them that we were Christian bloggers who had attended a conference together. A quick conversation planted a seed for Jesus! The bag is also perfect for shopping, trips to the library or everyday mommying!

2. Relevant Necklace :: The Vintage Pearl

I love the simple elegance of silver hand stamped jewelry. I also love that my 1 year old can’t break it. This one, will be a sweet reminder of how God met me at Relevant 10. What do you need to be remided of? Erin has sweet designs you can choose from, or she can customize something just for you!

3. Notecards :: Red Letter Words

This past summer, I wrote a post about how to make Scripture Visible In Your Home. In it, I included Dee and Red Letter Words. She saw the post, and sent me a copy of the print. I was overjoyed to meet Dee at the conference and to tell her how much I appreciated her gift. Besides canvas wrapped prints, she has also designed note cards (check our her gorgeous Christmas cards). Send some, frame some. You will be blessed by her artistic ability – beautiful!

4. DVD :: What’s In The Bible – Tyndale

What’s in the Bible? is a new DVD series from VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer designed to walk kids and families through the entire Bible. The 13 DVD-series began releasing March 1, 2010. Tyndale graciously provided the first two episodes for the MODsquad Swag Bags. My girls previewed it for me before I left for the conference. They now can sing a 2 minute overview of the book of Genesis! Not only does it have great content, it is funny, too! This would be a great gift for any child on your Christmas list!

Looking Forward,

Filed Under: The Best Of

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The Best Of…{Cookie Edition}

October 8, 2010 By stacey 4 Comments

Cookies by Bake at 350 for Mercy House Kenya

I love cookies. In fact, I could eat them all day long. Yesterday I had a cookie for breakfast {my friend Angie claims this is no different than eating a donut, and I agree}. My cookies are not pretty. But they do taste good. I am also not opposed to the cookies that come ready to pop in the oven without the trouble of actually making them yourself. I even buy packaged cookies. My new favorites are the Oreos with peanut butter filling. Oh my, they are good!

So imagine my delight when I found out I won a giveaway at We Are That Family and the prize was one dozen cookies. These are no ordinary cookies, but some of the most beautifully heartfelt made cookies I have seen by Bake At 350. They are almost too pretty to eat. We did eat them, and my girls declared them delicious as well.

The Best Of Part is this: These cookies have a story behind them. Which you can read here. And when your heart is moved, you can pray and give here. What else can you do? You can buy cookies and other items from the Mercy House Shop. Money from the sale of these products will go towards blessing a house being built with God’s hands in Kenya. A house that will be all about Mercy. And the sweet that comes when we join God in the work He is doing.