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Monday Motivation

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Last week’s Monday Motivation:

~ Not much on the agenda this week. Resting, nursing and a little bit of work here and there. That’s about it. That’s about all I got done!

My husband’s boss surprised us by giving him a week’s paid vacation, so we are very thankful for that blessing. Due to the change of ownership etc. that occurred last year we were not counting on any paid vacation time, so it was an unexpected blessing. We are very thankful to the Lord that when we got paid last week that my husband received his full two weeks of pay. What a blessing!

~ We also celebrated our son turning seven. He is the last birthday of the year in our family until January!

This week’s Motivation:

~ Try and adopt a new work schedule amidst nursing a newborn and maybe even a daily walk.

~ Try and start getting caught up on my back log.

~ My nesting seems to have kicked in postpartum and I want to purge our house of clutter and things that just take up our time. Things that are not adding value to our lives. Things like extra clothing and stuff we seem to move around and clean but do not necessarily need. Our house is waaaaay too small to have a bunch of stuff AND ten people, so the stuff has to go since the people are here to stay!

~ One of our computer desks have completely fallen apart, so I have to clean off the cluttered one to fit the desk top PC and find a new place for the cluttered mess! Ughhhhh….we’ve been wanting to do this for the past week, but garbage day is tomorrow so it really needs to be done today.

That’s about it. I could add more, but I am trying to only bite off what I can chew.


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Sue Berk Designs Review

I received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of this review.

About Sue Berk Designs

Sue Berk Designs was founded in the Spring of 2002, by Sue Berk. She does not have any formal training in Art, but always had a love for it.

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Sue grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa, and moved with her family to Houston during high school. She has traveled all over the world and lived in Israel for a year during her Junior year of college. After completing her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas, Sue worked in high tech marketing and product management.

Tired of the corporate world, Sue then renovated houses for 5 years, appearing on The Discovery Channel and in The Dallas Morning News for excellence in home renovation. While renovating houses, Sue did all her own tiling and decided she could make tiles for less than the expensive styles she was buying. She bought a kiln and set about designing and making her own tiles. At this point, Sue fell in love with painting ceramics and started selling crosses, frames, lamps, tea sets, and other ceramic items in some of the most upscale neighborhoods in Dallas, where the company is based. The crosses soon gained in popularity, and Sue Berk Designs was born. Her designs are now sold in over 1000 stores around the country.

Sue lives in Dallas with her husband, Brad Walters, their children Emma, Rachael, and Max, and their 2 cats, Maddie and Max. She still loves to travel and goes to the beach with the whole family whenever she gets the chance!

Our Review

We were delighted when Sue Berk contacted us regarding doing a review of her designs. She sent us two items which are shown below. The first is a cross and the second is a baby blanket:

Cross– $22.95, three colors: pink, blue or white. Other styles and colors are available.

Sue Berk Baby Cross

Blanket– $29.95, two colors: pink or blue. Other styles available.

Sue Berk Baby Blanket

The cross is beautiful, as you can see from the photo, but photos often do not do a product justice and that is the case with both the cross and the blanket.

The baby blanket is incredible and has become one of my favorites for Sir Eats Alot. It is so soft and silky. One side is made of satin fabric and the other side is a micro velour, a very soft fabric. The satin side is cool for the warmer months and the velour side is warm for the cooler months.

I love the verse that is stitched on the border of the blanket, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” ~ Psalm 139:14. A reminder that God has knit our little ones together in the womb and that they are fearfully and wonderfully made by Him.

The blanket washes up really well. It makes a great nursing cover too, if you are a mom that prefers using blankets to other items. It is also packaged nicely, complete with ribbon, making it a great baby gift item.

I am very pleased with these two products. Thank you, Sue!

For more information, please visit http://sueberkdesigns.com


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FFR – Custom Charm Bracelet Giveaway *CLOSED*

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Congratulations to Janet F.!!

Comment #66 chosen by Random.org

Thank you to those who entered and a huge thanks to the Charm Bracelet Factory for sponsoring this giveaway!


Our fourth FFR Friday Giveaway is……a Custom Charm Factory Bracelet with 8 charms of your choice!!

One reader has the opportunity to win a Charm Factory Bracelet with 8 themed charms or charms that mean something to you. Yes, Charm Factory is generously supplying one reader their very own Custom made Charm Factory Bracelet!

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If you didn’t read our review of Charm Factory, please go back and read it here.

Required Entry: Simply leave a comment telling me why you want to win!

Extra Entries (Please be sure and leave a comment and link for extra entries):

1 Entry: Follow Faith and Family Reviews on Twitter.

1 Entry: Follow Charm Factory on Twitter.

1 Entry: Like Faith and Family Reviews on Facebook.

1 Entry: Like Charm Factory on Facebook.

2 Entries: Tweet about this giveaway, but only one tweet per day please. Include your tweet url with your comment. You may write your own tweet or use this one:

Giveaway: Enter to win a Custom Charm Bracelet @faithfamilyrevw! http://tiny.cc/CharmBraceletGiveaway Please share! Thx!

5 Entries: Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post and to Charm Factory’s website.

1 Entry for every comment you leave anywhere else on this blog, but please leave a link with your comment!

Details:

This giveaway will run from Sept 3rd until Sept.16th at midnight CST. The winner will be chosen through Random.org. Winner will be contacted via email on or before Sept. 30th and asked for their contact info. Winner will have 48 hours to send me their info at [ffr] [giveaways] [at] [gmail] [dot] [com] (without spaces and parenthesis). Charmfactory.com will ship one bracelet with 8 charms of their choice directly to the winner. Please note: This giveaway is open to the USA and Canada only.

Thanks and have fun!


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The Moms Blog Letters to God DVD Giveaway

Letters To God

We posted a review of Letters to God on Monday and I came across The Moms Blog which is giving away 5 copies of the Letters to God DVD. Visit http://themomblogs.com/momblog/?p=152 to enter to win your copy.


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Thrifty Thursday – Free Samples

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We all love free stuff right? Well some of the best ways to get free stuff is by signing up to get free samples in your e-mail, or mailbox. Through free sample offers I have received free snack items, free cosmetics, free lotion, tons of free shampoo conditioner, coupons, and lots more! You can do the same.

Usually the samples take well over a month to get to your door. These samples are usually just sample packets, although I have gotten a free full pack of gum to test. To get these free sample offers you don’t need anything other than a mail box and a few good free sample sources.

Here are three great free sample sources:

The Deal Seeking Mom ( I subscribe to her e-mail list so I get free samples.)

Faith and Family Freebies (I really need to update this!)

Walmart Free Samples (They have the BEST samples!)

Happy Sampling!


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Choosing to SEE – Revell Blog Tour

I received the following book in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the book.

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When I read the pitch for the Choosing to SEE (by Mary Beth Chapman with Ellen Vaughn) blog tour from Revell, I knew that I really wanted to read Mary Beth Chapman’s book. Having lost babies in utero, my dad and grandmother I understood the grief process and even though it has been a few years for some of my losses, I still grieve for them. I also knew that Mary Beth understood grief in a big way since she and her family lost their youngest daughter, Maria, in 2008 and I am always on the look out for books on grief written by credible Christian sources.

Choosing to SEE is Mary Beth’s life story. Her journey with God. I found Mary Beth as real as she could get. I laughed with her and cried with her as she shared her story. I empathized with her as she struggled to grasp where God is when things fall apart.

I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about the wife and family of Christian artist/song writer/musician, Steven Curtis Chapman, whom I have listened to since the late 1980s. I found their story encouraging and inspiring.

Choosing to SEE isn’t a book on grieving, that’s just one of my reasons for desiring to read it. Choosing to SEE is for anyone, as I am sure Mary Beth’s story will touch the hearts of all who read her story.

I love the quote Mary Beth has on her website:

Love of God is pure when joy and suffering inspire an equal degree of gratitude.


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Introducing Our New Baby – Sir Eats Alot

I know, I know, some of you are probably saying “Finally!” but here is our new baby….Sir Eats Alot 😀 We think he is a precious addition to our family. His soft, silky, thick hair is amazing! He has the most hair of all our babies. My husband thinks it is growing thicker with each passing day, but I don’t think it really is. I just love the smell of a new baby! We are very thankful to the Lord for our son’s safe arrival.

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Sir Eats Alot seems to be adjusting to life in the big bad world. I think he went through a growth spurt as soon as my milk came in because as his nickname says, he eats a lot. It has just been the last couple of days where it hasn’t been a nursing marathon of every hour or two 24/7. He has been having longer stretches of sleep and is more contented after eating. I am really hoping that he’s back up to his birth weight or beyond. I will find out tomorrow at our two week appointment.

Sir Eats Alot’s Birth

Sir Eats Alot’s birth wasn’t quite like my other home births. My water broke a few hours after the girls and I returned from mini golfing in the wee hours of August 18th. Contractions started soon after, but I waited a couple of hours before I called my midwife. We decided she should come because with my other two home births the babies came within an hour or two and she missed my last son’s birth by about five minutes!

Contractions continued to come, but did not get any stronger and as daylight broke through the sky, I knew I wouldn’t have the baby before all the children woke up. It was very challenging for me to labor with a house full of noise and people and I think it slowed my labor. I am a very private person and I would have preferred to labor quietly alone during the middle of the night. But, alas, that wasn’t to be this time.

So my labor slowed and wasn’t going anywhere so my husband took the children to the park, I tried to rest and then my midwife suggested taking some homeopathy remedies – two of them which are like black/blue cohosh – which can sometimes speed up a putsy labor. I had nothing to lose by trying. So I took that about 12 hours after my water broke, an hour or so later the contractions were getting stronger and by 3:00pm I was starting to feel pushy. 40 minutes later Sir Eats Alot was born into his Daddy’s hands. I haven’t pushed that long since my first child! I have pushed out a 9 pound 8 ounce baby in 1-2 pushes, so this was hard and tiring. All I wanted to do was lay down and rest with my new baby, which is exactly what I did!

Life with Our New Baby

It’s been two and a half years since we had a newborn in the house and oh! how soon we forget the demanding newborn days! So bear with me as I adjust my days, my work schedule, our homeschool schedule and life in general to accommodate this new baby of ours. Right now I am going on very little sleep and hoping life settles into a new normal (whatever that may be) very soon.

As you may have noticed, we abandoned our normal posting schedule this week, I forgot to post last week’s giveaway and we are still catching up on reviews from our Back to School Product Guide. It may take us another week or so to get back on track as we get all the reviews posted.

Until next time….


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Bitten by the Business Bug – A Book Review

I received the following book in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the book.

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Jason O’Neill was one of the people to respond to our Back to School Product Guide with a pitch about his Pencil Bugs and new book, Bitten by the Business Bug. He generously offered to giveaway a copy of his book to our readers, which is our current giveaway. The book was written by Jason, who is a teen entrepreneur. It is filled with common sense tips for business and life, all from Jason’s own experience.

I had hoped to have this review posted earlier but a certain little “Sir Eats Alot” (our two-week-old son) arrived earlier than anticipated and threw us off our posting and reviewing schedule. Bitten by the Business Bug is a must read for parents and their kids, whether you are interested in business or not. Jason is an inspiration. I am having my daughters read his book. Right now my oldest daughter is working her way through it and is about half way done. I will have her post her review, as well as her sisters’, so you get different perspective from them.

Schools do not teach entrepreneurship or thinking outside the box. That’s why my husband and I are interested in books like Jason’s to help fill in the gaps of our children’s education with supplemental material.

Bitten by the Business Bug is a close look at a young entrepreneur’s adventure into business ownership, the opportunities that have come with that ownership and the lessons learned. These opportunities and lessons have taught Jason so much more than he would ever learn in school alone. He and his parents have been wise in keeping school first, being a normal kid second and business third. In doing so this has allowed Jason to be a kid, but even more than that has taught him that just because he is a kid doesn’t have to limit what he can accomplish. Jason has big aspirations for Pencil Bugs and it will be interesting to see all that Jason will do in the future.

Pencil Bugs

Jason is a philanthropist at heart. Since the advent of Pencil Bugs has given portion of his earnings a to kids in need, whether that is helping kids in foster care or sick children in the hospital. From donations to gift bags, Jason has helped meet the needs of children in his community.

I think both parents and children will learn much from Jason. I know I did and hope my children do too.

Visit www.PencilBugs.com for more information about Jason, his book and business.


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Monday Motivation

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Last week’s Monday Motivation:

~ Finish reviewing products we received for last week’s Back to School Guide. With the arrival of Sir “Little” Stuff we are still working on them.

~ Get ahead on posts…maybe. We kind of did, but got behind too since we were only a few days ahead.

~ We still haven’t made it mini golfing or to the beach and those are on my lists if the weather would just cooperate on the days that I plan to do them! We made it mini golfing! We wonder if that isn’t what helped get my labor off to a start.

~ The garden. We really need to plant a few fast growing plants that we started inside, just to see how they do compared to our direct planting in the spring. Things like lettuce….We are so very behind on the garden! Still picking produce, but the weeds are overtaking us, unfortunately.

~ Hopefully have this baby! I have been very tired and uncomfortable, so I am hoping and praying that I will be rested up for labor and delivery.And I did! 😉 Amazing, I got something I was hoping for, but at the same time wasn’t all that ready for.

This Week’s Motivation:

~ Not much on the agenda this week. Resting, nursing and a little bit of work here and there. That’s about it.

My husband’s boss surprised us by giving him a week’s paid vacation, so we are very thankful for that blessing. Due to the change of ownership etc. that occurred last year we were not counting on any paid vacation time, so it was an unexpected blessing.

Sir “Little” Stuff is stirring, so I must go attend his needs before he dost loudly protest that I am not by his side…I am still only a couple feet away but you all know how newborns are, right?

Until next time…


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FFR Friday Giveaway – Bitten by the Business Bug! *CLOSED*

Congratulations to Carmen!!

Bitten by the business bug winner

Comment #3 chosen by Random.org

Thank you to those who entered and a huge thanks to Jason and his mom for sponsoring this giveaway!


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Our fourth FFR Friday Giveaway is……Bitten By The Business Bug Book by Jason O’Neil! Jason O’Neil is a award-winning 14-year-old entrepreneur/author, creator of Pencil Bugs at age 9, donating to children’s hospitals,on Forbes Top 10 list, and much more.

If you want your child to be an entrepreneur one of the best things to do is to expose him or her to other young (and old) entrepreneurs. It helps them start thinking like an entrepreneur, it gives them an “I can do this” attitude and will prepare them for their future. After all, entrepreneurship isn’t taught in schools.


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Here is what he says about his book: “Every student from age nine on up should read my book. It’s filled with personal stories about life lessons I’ve learned from my parents, grandparents, and even my great, great aunt who turned 100 years old this summer. I share my creativity, strategies, values and tips that people of all ages can relate to. You’ll get many “ah-ha” moments as you read it.”

So would you like to win his book?

Required Entry: Simply leave a comment telling me which product you like best on Jason’s website!

Extra Entries (Please be sure and leave a comment and link for extra entries):

1 Entry: .

1 Entry: Follow Faith and Family Reviews on Twitter.

1 Entry: Like Faith and Family Reviews on Facebook

1 Entry: Friend Pencil Bugs on facebook.

1 Entry: Follow Pencil Bugs on Twitter.

2 Entries: Tweet about this giveaway, but only one tweet per day please. Include your tweet url with your comment. You may write your own tweet or use this one:

Giveaway: Enter to win a Bitten by The Business Bug Book @faithfamilyrevw! http://tiny.cc/wznr1 Please share! Thx!

5 Entries: Blog about this giveaway and link back to this post.

1 Entry for every comment you leave anywhere else on this blog, but please leave a link with your comment!

Details:

Please note: This giveaway will  run for two weeks – from August 20th until September 2nd at midnight CST. The winner will be chosen through Random.org. Winner will be contacted on or before September 30th (giving ourselves a bit more time to contact you in case baby comes! Thanks for understanding!)  and asked for their contact info. Winner will be emailed and then have 48 hours to send me their info at [ffr] [giveaways] [at] [gmail] [dot] [com] (without spaces and parenthesis). Our giveaway sponsors will ship one Bitten by the Business Bug book directly to the winner. Please note: This giveaway is open to the USA only.

Thanks and have fun!


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