my blessed life

I don't know if you're into YouTube at all, but my family is a big fan. Mostly because of Vince. I would never keep up with that sort of thing otherwise, but he keeps me current. He has done a lot of videos for church, contests, etc. and you can check out his stuff here . Yesterday morning we headed out for Miami, Oklahoma to meet up with some YouTube royalty, Rhett and Link. Over the weekend we discovered they are on a coast-to-coast trip and would be making a stop about 2 1/2 hours from where we live. So...of course, Vince begged and I said "sure" ...or something like that:) Those meeting them (at no later than 8:30am...which meant I had to get up by 4:30am~I am seriously reconsidering being their fan!) were asked to bring some piece of *America* for them to take with them to use in a future video. We brought hog noses...Razorback hog noses, of course! We had a lot of fun meeting them~they are really great guys! And so funny and talented! It wa...

We got our Christmas tree up this past week. It's the first time I've ever put mine up before Thanksgiving. After trying it, I think I still prefer to wait until after Thanksgiving to put it up, but my goal this year was to have my Christmas shopping and my decorating finished before December. Here is a little video Vince put together of our tree trimming time. If you're wondering about that extra person helping, that's my sister. P.S. Ignore the mess in the background:) This post is linked to: and also Kelly's Korner.

Today I visited with someone whom I love very much and who is also facing a major life event very soon. This soon-coming event has the potential to have negative repercussions, but the odds are that it will have very positive benefits for this person instead.  And yet I realized today that this person has become paralyzed by fear. Ever since this event has been scheduled they have very nearly ceased *living*~in the joyful, vibrant, make-the-most-out-of-life kind of living. They have virtually holed up at home to just anxiously dread the coming event and hope they make it through.  While I have not faced this particular kind of life event, I have had some pretty major events to happen in my life. And I'm sure I will face more. Seeing this person's reaction to a crisis has made me look back and think about how I faced things in the past and wonder about how I will face them in the future. In a couple of particular instances I know I struggled with being...

This has been a fun and full week! I love the weeks when we really have some great memorable moments and don't just *get through* our work~and this has been a memory-making week! We are doing well staying on schedule with our subjects. In fact, Mr. B is a little ahead in at least one of his subjects and I'm thrilled with that. The Princess is right on track, too! Of course, this is only week 3~I get that~but still it feels good to be tracking well. Our Bible lessons have been going very well. We are studying a character trait each month and this month's trait is loyalty . I am pleased with how much the kiddos are retaining~they seem to enjoy the lessons a lot. In history we have been learning about the early inhabitants of the Nile River Delta and have just started talking about Egypt. We made White Crown King crowns to wear (this is a fun quick project using wax paper, just don't expect these to stand the test of time...haha). We also created our own...

Never buy shampoo again~at least not for my hubby:) LOL Happy Birthday to the best husband in the world!!!

Well, Vince is at it again. The creative juices are once again flowing. So I'm here to beg for votes!! This is a YouTube contest for Lowe's that had multiple categories--and you could enter as many as you wanted. Vince entered two and has placed as a finalist in both categories. Woot Woot! So here they are for your viewing pleasure. After you take a look we'd really appreciate it if you would click here and vote for both of them. Just a few quick notes: you do need a YouTube account when you get to Lowe's contest page, click the *vote* tab look for the two videos with *Vince* in the title (you may need to hit the arrow tab) VOTE! Thanks so much!!

I mentioned last week that The Princess has been learning a poem during the month of April, since it's National Poetry Month. Vince filmed her just in time for Earth Day~it seemed appropriate. As a proud mama, I just had to share.... We've been having some Earth Day fun picking strawberries at a farm here in Arkansas (we arrived here yesterday). Now we're getting ready to make some jam~yum! I'll have more to post on that soon! What have you been doing today?

He's done it again! Vince's most recent YouTube contest entry has made it to the Top 20 for Ford's Sync This Contest! Whoo Hoo!! You can go here , type Leadrunner in the contest search box and his video will pull up (you can also just scroll down and look for Leadrunner in the favorites box--it's #4). Then vote for it (*Thumbs Up* please) once a day until the end of the contest which is June 4th. We would really appreciate your votes. Hope you enjoy it!

So, last week went very well....I am lovin' this menu planning! This week I did another little inventory of the kitchen to decide what we're having this week. I always find such good stuff that I forgot that I bought! Besides what I've planned here for us, I've also got a couple of extra meals to plan out for some friends who've recently had babies. I remember what a blessing it was for us when our children were born to have friends bring us meals during those first weeks, so I always try to do that for others. Monday: Vince is taking me out--to bribe me to be in one of his videos * Tuesday: chicken fried rice, eggrolls, teryaki noodles, stir-fry veggies Wednesday: fellowship meal at church Thursday: 3-cheese tortellini w/marinara sauce, salad, garlic bread Friday: grilled salmon, mashed potatoes, veggie side dish All-in-all a delicious week! I have some good leftovers saved up for lunches, too. The weekend will be busy and fun. My parents, sister and a friend...