30 Days of Thankfulness Challenge

Last year, in my Facebook Status' during the month of November, I challenged myself to only write a post that showed thankfulness (I even starte it with "I am thankful for . . ".  Some were easy, some where not.  I was thankful for everything from hitting a deer (we have insurance!) to the mini-van I had to drive while my truck was in the shop (and I hate mini-vans!) I noticed that November was better when I concentrated on what was good.  I also had quite a few people thank me for being thankful and that made me feel good too!  So this year, I'm carrying it one step further and throwing out a Thankfulness challenge.  Starting November 1st, post one blog a day telling about something you are thankful for in anyway you want.  By that I mean - share pictures of your family, a sunset, the first snowfall, a surprise or unexpected "something"; share a link to a song - I love music and sometimes a song reminds me of something to be thankful for; share a written post - it could be a one liner to a paragraph of something you are thankful for at this time.  Thankfulness can be funny too - so be thankful for the little things too! 

So who's up for this???  I wish I had a button for you to grab but I am still trying to figure out all of this code stuff despite some GREAT tutorials out there!   I spent about an hour the other day trying to get a code to add to the above picture to work and couldn't do it!  Maybe before the 30 days is up I'll be thankful for figuring out how to make the code work!1

So feel free to Link Up with me throughout this next month :-) I'd love to read what you are thankful for too!! 

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 21

Day 21- A Picture of Me

Normally, I am the one behind the camera so I have very few pictures of me!  These are the two most recent - one from the Cider Mill trip and one from when we got Halloween Pictures taken.  

Remember to check out other posts by clicking on the button on the left side bar for Katie's Journey!

Holiday Journal - Part 1

As promised, I want to share with you my Holiday Control Journal.  I'm going to do this in several steps over the next few weeks.  The original idea comes from Flylady and you can access her actual Holiday Control Journal to download and/or print by choosing The Table Of Contants on the sidebar of her site and than chosing "Flylady's Control Journals" from the Fly Zone Box.  I took her Holiday Journal and morphed it into my own. 

I have two Control Journals, the green one is my every day Control Journal, which I realized I haven't shared yet either!  And the black one is my Holiday Control Journal. 

When building your holiday control journal, don't wait for the perfect supplies.  Just grab a binder, a folder, or even a file folder; some loose leaf lined paper or typing paper, and a pen or pencil!  I prefer to do mine on the computer but you don't have to - just do what works for you!!

I also use page protectors, but that is something you can add later!

So the first section in my Holiday Control Journal is my "Holiday Plan" which you can view here.
My plan begins the first week in November with cleaning and decorating the Dining Room.  Because I decorate every room in my house for Christmas, I have chosen to divide my house by zones, ending with the Living Room.  This way, it isn't so overwhelming when it is time to decorate the tree and we can actually enjoy doing that final touch.  I than spend December working on the other things like taking the family Christmas picture and writing our Christmas letter, baking cookies, and wrapping gifts!  We also have a Birthday to celebrate just a few days before Christmas so the week before that is all for Birthday plans! You may also notice some traditions thrown in during December: 1) Baking Christmas Cookies 2) Delivering baskets to neighbors 3) Searching for the best lights (we drive around, look for great light displays, get the address of the home and send a thank you!) I write those down so I don't forget to do them!   The things that are underlined in my journal are things I need to purchase (please note, that they more than likely will not all get purchased this year but I went ahaed and included EVERYTHING that came to mind!)

Are you ready to start?  First, I would decide how many weeks you need to get things done.  Maybe you really gear up for Thanksgiving - than start your control journal with Thanksgiving plans so that when you get to the week of Thanksgiving you can relax.  That is the joy of it being YOUR journal, write the plan that works for you!  Second, if you are still buried in Clutter, I would take 15 - 30 minutes a day and concentrate on clearing the piles.  Don't do deep decluttering, just clean the piles so you have room to decorate.  Third, just start writing your plan!!

Part 2 will be on Holiday Traditions and the all important menu! 
Part 3 will be on gift giving and traveling
Part 4 will be on other holidays in your journal

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 20

Day 20 - Nicknames

I just have a few.  I, of course, was given the nick name "Jack-0-Latern" fairly early.  (It is just a natural fit with "Jackie") and I still get it to this day.  I find it ironic that people think I've never heard it before LOLOL

Other ones - just plain "Jack" - close friends call me that and one man in my dad's church that I grew up in, Mr. Anderson, has always called me Jack and still does to this day.  When I hear it I often think of him! (I love his wife too - she inspired me a lot and still does!)

Lets see, my oldest brother calls me Jack-Baby because he still views me as the "baby" and I am his baby sister.

And I think that is it LOL  Not to exciting! 

Don't forget to click on the the Katie's Journey button on my left side-bar to read more!

Show Us Your Life - Guest Rooms

This week over at Kelly's Korner it is "Show Us Where You Live" Friday!  The room of choice today is the guest room but, I do not have one :-)  I gave that up when we needed child room # 1! I didn't want you to miss out on the opportunity to see other great rooms though so click on the link above and check them out!

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 19

Day 19 - Something You Miss

My husband and I were just talking about this the other day.  Something I miss  . . . . this is deep . . .. are you ready?  Shopping as a single person ! :-)  We were sitting here the other night and both commenting on how we were hungry but there was no food in the house.  I said, the one thing I miss from my single days is being able to grocery shop for just me!!  To buy the foods that I like, the  snacks I like, plan meals I like etc!!  PLUS when I bought the snacks I liked, I didn't have to worry about  someone else eating them :-)  Not to mention that some of the things that I love, my husband does not like so I don't get to make them anymore! 

Lets see, I miss our last apartment.  It was brand new, had a great laundry room, a master bathroom and a walk in closet!  Not to mention that someone else did the maintenance!  Granted, we had noisy neighbors and no yard - that, I don't miss!!

I've missed camping.  We didn't go at all last summer - with two babies, it just wasn't something we really wanted to do.  The summer before we went twice but it might as well had been December with as cold as it was!!  Maybe next summer we can pick it back up!

I missed going to Lake Michigan this past summer.  Due to Darryl working two jobs our weekends were quick and we just never made it.  I need to go to the beach and am missing that feeling very much!

I guess I miss more than I thought :-)

Check out Katie's Journey for more links

I never win anything - - well, ALMOST!

My Faith Box

I've talked before about the accountability group that I am in and it is part of Good Morning Girls.  As with lots of blogs that I follow, they do give aways periodically. I, of course, enter with just the slim hope that my name will be randomly picked, which it 'never' is!  Imagine my surprise when I checked e-mail the other night and there it was, an e-mail with a subject line of "You Won My Faith Box"!  I was beyond thrilled to say the least.  Than I checked the blog to see my name "up in lights" as the winner only to discover that the blog post-er (is that a word?) had given one to every one that commented!  You can ready the full post here.  It was really her husband's idea because they feel so strongly about this new parenting tool!

So, this is what I won - "My Faith Book" which can be purchased from here and there is also more information on it as well.

Here is the explaination of the box from The Good Morning Girls Post here

What is the My Faith Box? I’m so glad you asked! Basically it’s a box that you can decorate and place special keepsakes in, BUT the exciting part is what’s inside the box! Inside is the My Faith Book. What I LOVE about the My Faith Book is how as a parent you can record your child’s faith journey! From birth until age 18, you can record each year how you are praying for your child and create an intentional plan of passing down your faith to your child. Each year contains areas for you to record special memories, what they are learning about God, what they are praying for, favorite bible stories etc. As your child gets older, he/she can then start filling in each year. The book also contains areas for photos as well as areas for older children to personally write about their journey thus far with God. What I love is this book helps create a history of your child’s faith that they can turn back to in later years. The My Faith Book is a tool that can be used to help them remember the faithfulness of God as they flip through the pages and see how God has answered prayers that were written down years before

Isn't that awesome?  I already prayer for my boys daily but this will be such a great legacy as well.  I'm so looking forward to getting this great gift!  Once I get it, I may have to purchase a second one if it isn't made to list items for both boys, which is fine since it is such a great thing.  It would also make a great gift for a new parent as well!!

This book is also available through the same site and I already had this written down as a must read.

Now I know I have to get it for my next set of reading materials starting in January.  I thinking building your child's faith is of the utmost importance today.  Too many times, Christianity is made "lite" and things are acceptable now amoung Christians that the Bible teaches are not acceptable.