I just found the best site – had to share!  If you ever have a friend in need and you would like to help by organizing meals, this is a really great FREE site!  You set up a calendar, notify friends/family, and it keeps everything organized. 

Being a part of a woman’s Bible Study Group, and a pastor’s wife, I find myself organizing meals for other families fairly often.  I can’t wait to use this service!  It will make it so much easier that emailing back and forth.  I hope you find it useful one day as well. 

http://www.takethemameal.com

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The catastrophic earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12th has resulted in unfathomable chaos and devastation for hundreds of thousands of children and families.  Thousands who didn’t lose their lives, lost everything else – I can not even come close to imagining.  I know there have been please everywhere to help.  Maybe you have already given, maybe you can not give, but maybe you just haven’t taken the moment to do so. 

Unfortunately, there are also those who take advantage of such situations, and it is hard to know where the best place is to donate.  The FBI is warning of several Haiti charity scams that have popped up in the wake of this earthquake. 
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/wayoflife/01/13/haiti.charity.scams/
They are suggesting that donations only be made to organizations monitored and rated by CharityNavigator.org and The American Institute of Philanthropy.

Both of the above organizations have given Compassion International their highest approval ranking. Compassion International is the only non-profit in it’s category to receive eight consecutive years of four star rating from CharityNavigator.org.
Links regarding Compassion International’s financial integrity:
http://www.compassion.com/about/financial/default.htm
http://www.compassion.com/press/currentnews/charity-navigator-awards-compassion-highest-rating-8th-year-in-row.htm

Therefore, if you are looking for a safe place to give, Compassion International would be a great place. 

Oh my goodness, I could just scoop that little boy up!

HOW DONATIONS WILL BE USED: All funds raised in response to the Haiti earthquake will be used immediately to provide for Compassion-assisted children and families affected by this crisis. Any funds raised in excess will be stewarded by Compassion for additional and future disaster relief efforts.
You can provide immediate relief today.
• $35 helps provide a relief pack filled with enough food and water to sustain a family for one week.
• $70 gift helps care for their needs for two weeks.
• $105 helps provide relief packs filled with enough food and water to sustain two families for two weeks.
• $210 gift helps care for two families’ needs.
• $525 helps provide relief packs filled with enough food and water to sustain 10 families for two weeks.
• $1,050 gift helps care for 10 families’ needs.
• $1,500 helps rebuild a home.
• $2,100 helps supply 20 families with the basics for three weeks.

Compassion blog: http://blog.compassion.org
Compassion on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/compassionintl
Crisis Update Page: 
http://www.compassion.com/sponsordonor/crisisupdates/crisis-advisory-earthquake-hits-haiti.htm

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With New Year’s Eve approaching, drunk driving always comes to the top of my head.  It seems particularly in our area, it is an issue.  Whenever our family goes out walking, there are always several beer cans & cases on the side of the road – it really is a sad issue. 

Let’s be dedicated to being safe this year! 

In all honesty, I don’t drink – never have, probably never will – it’s just not something I choose to do.  I’m just as happy with a mocktail – Pina Colada please!  However, the majority of our friends do drink, and I don’t have a problem with a drink or two.  I do have a problem with excessive drinking and with drinking and driving.

In 2008, nearly 12,000 people in the U.S. were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes – and during the periods around Christmas and New Year’s, this number was particularly high, with 316 people killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes.  In 2007, 162,493 women were arrested for a DUI, an increase of almost 29% since 1998.  You can’t help but wonder if lives could have been saved if people thought twice before getting behind the wheel.

Take a look at Emily’s Story:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) and the Ad Council are asking everyone to drive smart this holiday season and to pledge not to drive buzzed.  You can also play an interactive game which demonstrates the difference between buzzed and drunk.  You can also follow Buzzed Driving on Twitter and Facebook. 

While at holiday events, it’s easy to lose track of a drink here or there – but this can be fatal.  This holiday season, please keep you and your family safe.

Have a safe and happy New Year, and remember that buzzed driving IS drunk driving.

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YUMMY! 

It’s Christmas Cookie Baking Season! I just love homemade Christmas Cookies – It is nice to have an assortment sitting out on Christmas day for friends & family and it is also fun to take a plate over to your neighbors or co-workers. Nothing beats a simple, cost-effective gift that comes from the heart! This year Susanne, “The Hillbilly Housewife” is hosting a virtual cookie exchange that I didn’t want you to miss! I shared a couple of my favorite recipes for it, and there are a few others I just can’t wait to try! Such as: Aunt Bab’s Tiny Green Wreaths & Fudgie Buddies – those two look like nice easy ones the kids would like to help with!

Head on over to the Virtual Cookie Exchange to see what kind of goodies you find! There is bound to be a new favorite waiting for you!  Let me know what looks yummy to you!

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Hey, I just got word that there is an opportunity to win a Zhu Zhu Pet tonight if you are interested.  I thought I would mention it since I just wrote about them a couple days ago.  Here are the details:

Don’t forget to take part in the #ZhuZhuPets Twitter party tonight! You and your kids will have a blast tweeting about the hottest toy out there.

Zhu Zhu Pets™/MomSelect Twitter Party

Date: TODAY! Monday, November 9, 2009
Time: 7 p.m. – 8 p.m. EST
Location: #ZhuZhuPets
Host: @MomTalkRadio (Maria Bailey, Founder of MomSelect)
During the jam-packed Zhu Zhu fest, we’ll be giving away over 25 Zhu Zhu Pets™ hamsters, as well as awesome habitrail pieces and accessories.  Kids are welcome to tweet alongside Mom!
For those of you new to Twitter, here are some tips on attending:

1. If you don’t already have a Twitter account, sign up for one at Twitter.com. It’s extremely simple and a great way to connect with other moms and Zhu Zhu Pet fans.
2. Make sure you are following the party hosts- @momtalkradio, @resourcefulmom
3. Follow the instructions tweeted out by the party hosts to enter the contests and participate in the scavenger hunt
4. Keep up with the conversation by searching for the party hashtag #zhuzhupets and make sure you include it in your tweets as well.
5. Grab your little ones and chime in about what you love about Zhu Zhu Pets!
6. Have fun!!

Let us know you’re coming by clicking HERE to RSVP. Your registration will count as an additional entry to win a Zhu Zhu Pet™ hamster and fun accessory! And because we know that you do a great job of spreading the word, tweet the details of the party until 7 p.m. today for additional entries.
We’re so excited to party with you and your family! Feel free to contact Amy@bsmmedia.com with any questions.

Warm Regards,
Your Friends at MomSelect.com and Zhu Zhu Pets™

We’re going to try to stop in – maybe I’ll see you there!

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My good friend, Susanne, is the owner of the Hillbilly Housewife.  She just told me this morning about something spectacular she is offering her newsletter subscribers – we’re talking REALLY good!  But you have to be a subscriber!  I don’t want you to miss out, so please quickly head over there and sign-up.  The newsletter subscription box is on the left side of the page near the top.  Have fun!

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We’re a Christian family, as I am sure many of you are aware.  It is often mentioned that my husband is a pastor.  Therefore, reading the Bible and doing daily devotions is something that is important to us.  If you aren’t interested in such things, you may want to go ahead and go read a different blog or something at this point. 

Okay… for those of you who are interested… There is a great devotional book for kids (families) that is completely FREE!  It is called Keys for Kids by CBH Ministries, and it is a great tool!  We keep this in our little basket on our dining room table that holds napkins, and salt & pepper and try to read it each day.  It is just a short one page devotional meant for kids.  (but us adults get something out of it periodically too!)   Each devotion includes a Short Story, Bible reading, a Key Verse, and an easy-to-remember Key Thought. The publication comes every other month and has two months worth of materials in it. 

You can also get the daily devotion via e-mail or podcast. 

At any rate, this is a valuable tool that I highly recommend checking out. 

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*I was not compensated in any way to share this information – I just like what they have to offer. 

It was a great day. It was so fun to watch the kids rejoice and play the day away. Our meetings went well with the school. We have made the decision to homeschool next year – Christian only. Ryan will be going back to the private school, as he his excelling there, and Dane will be attending pre-school as well. It was not a decision we made lightly, but we believe it is the right decision. There just isn’t much offered in terms of helping Christian with what he needs in the public or private school at this time. There are tutors that specialize in the type of training he needs, but they are all over a hour away. We will resort to them as needed, but plan to start out using the Barton Curriculum that is designed for dyslexic students. We then will use Sonlight for the rest of our curriculum – we used that for Ryan in Kindergarten and loved it! Our hope is to have him back to grade level by next year. The school psychologist said he is on the upper end in the IQ arena – he just struggles with reading – which is what we knew all along.

We went out to dinner tonight to celebrate the last day of school. I let Ryan and Christian pick where we were going since it was their celebration. I was quite surprised at their choice – The little Family Restaurant in town. I thought they would pick Dairy Queen, or our favorite pizza place, or even our favorite drive-in (for the ice-cream) but they wanted pancakes of all things and decided the tow diner was the place to go! It was fun, and yummy too! Matt had some kind of big burrito and I had a Turkey Club Sandwich.

On a side note, there is currently a contest running to win a really cute hand-crafted coupon organizer. Go check it out! There are some really cute designs, and I personally just LOVE Etsy shops anyway!

Have a GREAT Weekend!
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You have to act fast on this one! For a very limited time Shelley from One Roast Vegetable has opened up her Very Veggie Video Cooking Class! This is a very reasonable priced class (only $16.50 !) that you are sure to gain quite a bit of insight from as you learn from Shelley’s fun videos! (there is a sample on the site). I hope you are able to get in, I think you will really enjoy it!

Have you been able to keep up with all the peanut butter recalls? Here is a good site that lists the many products that have been recalled. http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/salmonellatyph.html#recalls