Happy New Year!!!! This morning while sleeping in after New Year's Eve festivities, my daughter ran into my bedroom telling me about Joy FM (our local Christian radio)and their New Year's Revolution challenge. She said "we are to think of something that we can do that will please God." Eden (7 years old)is so passionate about listening to Joy FM and I LOVE it!!!Well we in the Strickland household have already been thinking about that for months (some of us for years) now. A Revolution can be defined in many different ways....one being a drastic change. Well as of today, Chris & I with the excitement of our 3 kids have started the journey of adopting a little girl from Ehtiopia. We are sending off our application bright and early Monday morning (not realizing the post office wasn't open today--lol). This will be a long process, an expensive process, but also a FAITH filled process for us. We are excited about helping one of God's loved ones and how we can be a blessing to her as well as she be a blessing to us. We ask that you would pray for us on this journey. And we hope to keep everyone updated on this blog. Our first prayer request is for a teaching/sub job for myself. If I was to have a job and we continued to live off Chris' salary--it would make for a good way to pay for this adoption. There is one immediate job opening that I am qualified for, so please pray that I can get an interview and all goes well.
So in a way we are "expecting" and our family is growing in more ways than one. 2011 should be an exciting year! We appreciate our friends & family so much!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
"Make new friends, but keep the old...one is silver and the other's gold."
So.....I am on a contest/giveaway kick, therefore you are seeing an increase in the number of blog entries these days. :) I am excited to cash in on my free Christmas cards at shutterfly. That was like a $50 gift card for writing a few words about some beautiful cards. With that said, my friend Jennifer is having a giveaway at her blog Team Chase: 4 and Counting and I SOOOOOO want to enter it. She is giving away letter art from someone who donated it to her. I first saw some of this letter art at a Hearts-at-Home convention[side note: Hearts-at-Home is such an amazing weekend for moms of all seasons; working and stay at home moms---I highly recommend you check it out as well, I always leave encouraged]. It intrigued me right off the bat. Such beautiful photography and if you follow the link to the letter art donor, you will see her prices are A LOT lower than most doing this same art.
So....a little about my friend Jennifer. She and I met during our college years. We both worked at the Target (when it was brand spanking new) in Joplin, MO. We both were such responsible teens, that they put us in charge of the front lanes from time to time. We both have such an amazing work ethic, that on one particular work day, I had to clean up vomit, while Jen had to clean up poop. I am not even lying....Target can be a rough place. Joking aside, Jennifer is an amazing friend, a lovely lady of God, and I enjoyed my job because of her. She even helped throw me a bridal shower at work, because she is so kind. There aren't that many people that are younger than me that I totally look up to, but Jennifer is one of them. That is why I will go to all lengths to share about her latest journey: adopting a sibling group from Ethiopia. She is already a mom, but felt the call to adopt and she & her wonderful hubby, Trevor, are following that lead. They are taking James 1:27 literally and I am very excited about that for them as well as others answering that call. If you can't specifically answer the call to adopt, would you consider praying for them on this journey? or supporting them by looking at their fundraisers and buying gifts from sponsors that are donating some of their proceeds to their adoption? You know the old saying "Any friend of ________________, is a friend of mine."? Well turn that around and think of it this way, "Jennifer is a friend of mine, therefore (in Christ) she is a friend (& sister) of YOURS." Love you all for listening.
So....a little about my friend Jennifer. She and I met during our college years. We both worked at the Target (when it was brand spanking new) in Joplin, MO. We both were such responsible teens, that they put us in charge of the front lanes from time to time. We both have such an amazing work ethic, that on one particular work day, I had to clean up vomit, while Jen had to clean up poop. I am not even lying....Target can be a rough place. Joking aside, Jennifer is an amazing friend, a lovely lady of God, and I enjoyed my job because of her. She even helped throw me a bridal shower at work, because she is so kind. There aren't that many people that are younger than me that I totally look up to, but Jennifer is one of them. That is why I will go to all lengths to share about her latest journey: adopting a sibling group from Ethiopia. She is already a mom, but felt the call to adopt and she & her wonderful hubby, Trevor, are following that lead. They are taking James 1:27 literally and I am very excited about that for them as well as others answering that call. If you can't specifically answer the call to adopt, would you consider praying for them on this journey? or supporting them by looking at their fundraisers and buying gifts from sponsors that are donating some of their proceeds to their adoption? You know the old saying "Any friend of ________________, is a friend of mine."? Well turn that around and think of it this way, "Jennifer is a friend of mine, therefore (in Christ) she is a friend (& sister) of YOURS." Love you all for listening.
Monday, November 15, 2010
My New Found Addiction: shutterfly.com
OK---So I have heard about Shutterfly.com for a long time.....but for some unknown reason never took up on their spectacular photo offers. Finally in September, I purchased a Groupon certificate that gave me a photo book for $10. I was so excited and finally made a photo book of my wedding day. (It only took me 11+ years to do). But it was so easy to navigate around the site and being a scrapbooker, what normally could possibly take months, took me only an evening and it looks so simple and elegant. Not only could I post it online on my blog and on facebook---but I am getting a hard cover book in the mail. (View Shutterflywedding album).
So now I am excited about perusing through their Christmas photo cards. To be honest in the past I have gone through a retail store thinking they were cheaper, but their selection is pitiful. Now looking back, the price difference is pennies. There is literally hundreds of choices to fit your family's personality and chances of duplicates seem low. I even think some of the
5x7 cards could be framable. They have cards w/ the year already on it for those who save Christmas cards and those with elegant monograms. My favorite feature is the selection of cards that can hold more than 3 photos. I love squeezing as many photos of my family as I can onto a card or scrapbook page. You can peruse the card selection too @ shutterfly.com. After having made my photo book, I know that creating my card will be easy.
By now you are probably asking, "Did Amber get a new job marketing for Shutterfly?" The answer is no. I just am excited about what you can do on their site and hitting myself for not taking up on it earlier. I do however, as a blogger have a chance for some free holiday cards and if you blog you can too. Click here for details. Here are the two cards I am needing help choosing between:
OR.....
What is YOUR vote???
So now I am excited about perusing through their Christmas photo cards. To be honest in the past I have gone through a retail store thinking they were cheaper, but their selection is pitiful. Now looking back, the price difference is pennies. There is literally hundreds of choices to fit your family's personality and chances of duplicates seem low. I even think some of the
5x7 cards could be framable. They have cards w/ the year already on it for those who save Christmas cards and those with elegant monograms. My favorite feature is the selection of cards that can hold more than 3 photos. I love squeezing as many photos of my family as I can onto a card or scrapbook page. You can peruse the card selection too @ shutterfly.com. After having made my photo book, I know that creating my card will be easy.
By now you are probably asking, "Did Amber get a new job marketing for Shutterfly?" The answer is no. I just am excited about what you can do on their site and hitting myself for not taking up on it earlier. I do however, as a blogger have a chance for some free holiday cards and if you blog you can too. Click here for details. Here are the two cards I am needing help choosing between:
With Love Chartreuse Christmas 5x7 folded card
Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.
View the entire collection of cards.
OR.....
Faith Hope Love Religious
Unique party invitations and greeting cards by Shutterfly.
View the entire collection of cards.
What is YOUR vote???
Sunday, November 14, 2010
I LOVE FALL!!!!!!
I LOVE FALL!!!!I can't decide which is my favorite season: fall or spring. But I love fall so much. I think I like the colors of fall(deep reds, purple, orange), the coziness of fall (fireplaces & sweatshirts w/ jeans),& the tastes of fall(turkey dinner & apple cider). I like the sounds of spring (birds chirping), the smells of spring (fresh cut grass and spring rains), and the weather that spring brings....warmth after winter. But right now, I am feeling all cozy in fall and am grateful for Thanksgiving coming up and the holiday season. So we've had a busy fall....For my birthday on Labor Day this year I asked my kids to go to the apple orchard with me and to pose for pics....and they did!!!! It was warm for our very first apple orchard experience, but I enjoyed it none the less. In October, we've enjoyed the pumpkin patch, family pictures, halloween, I ran my first 10K, and we added a new member to our family. For Halloween, I had superheroes. They were all so fun: Wonder Woman, Batman, & Flash Gordon. Chris & I were the Dark Knight & Super Mom! (Not really, but it made it look like we were dressing up when we wore superhero t-shirts to match the fam.) My 10K went so much better than I expected. It was a gorgeous morning....I ran the entire length of the race (6.2 miles) without walking---which I have never done in any race. I also beat my goal by 9 minutes. So overall I was very pleased with myself. I plan on running the Turkey Day race with my hubby....but after that take a break while he trains for a half-marathon. I'm excited to be his biggest cheerleader. The new additon to our family is a little puppy. After a long debate and some divine intervention via a custard shop's sign, we've named her Josie. She is a little mutt, that looks exactly like a black lab. Hopefully she'll take after mama and not grow so big.... We gave Josie as an early Christmas present to the kids and they are being so good about taking care of her and playing with her. It is so fun to watch!!! Speaking of watching.....I had too many fall pics that I couldn't decide what to post---so I decided to make a slideshow. Enjoy! I sure did creating it.
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| This free slideshow created with Smilebox |
Friday, November 12, 2010
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