Monday Prayer

My new BFF over at kristiapplesauce does this cool thing on Mondays. I've decided to copy her, since we are new BFF's and that's what BFF's do...don't you remember H.S.?

If you have a prayer, leave it..then come back later and pray for those that have requests. Answers to prayer would be cool to see as well!

Conducting business the right way

Some of you know that I'm considering selling my house...for those who don't SURPRISE!

We are looking for something to rent while we wait for the RV market to pick up & while we research the best spot to be for schooling & eventual resale.

I got on Craig's List last week to look for rentals and there was a listing posted for someone looking to buy a Granger home. It didn't look like a professional ad, just Joe Blow needing a home. It said "Need to move ASAP"

I replied with details about my home including the price. And a few hours later, I received a response. She asked if we would be willing to do a "subject to" arrangement. For those who don't sell a lot of houses...here is the jist of "subject to" arrangement. If you don't want to read all of that, it's basically that the "new owner" takes over bank payments and then turns around and rents it and gets to keep the difference. You are then free to get a mortgage on a different home. Of course she didn't explain what she was talking about just typing "subject to".

I responded to her email by saying that our neighborhood does not allow anything other than a standard sale. I got no response. No "I'm not interested at this time. Allrighty then, never mind." Nothing.

Interesting fact: This woman attends my church. She's involved in the drama group and in my kids' classroom.

Please hear me: I do not care that she didn't respond to me. I have sold many, many houses in my day and know the deal w/ folks who are out to make quick $ in real estate. I don't even care that she attends my church.

What I DO care about is if someone ELSE responded to her request...THEY got no response from her. Then THEY researched & found out that her "subject to" is not REALLY like a property sale. Or that she didn't need to "move ASAP". What if THEY googled her and found out that she attends & is active at GCC....what do they now think of US? Of our church?

Dancing w/ the Star Wars Stars

I saw this vid over at Brad Ruggles' blog. Love it so much...have to post it on my own. I'm a HUGE Star Wars fan & LOVE Dancing w/ the Stars.

These two go so natually together..why didn't I think of it?

Throwback Thursday

This is a pic of 8th graduation (1990). I wore hammer pants...nuff said.

Family night.

I was so surpised when Los twittered on Monday that they were having a Christmas themed Family night....THAT WAS MY IDEA FOR THIS WEEK! The girls had been talking about it for a week! Wed. was exactly 6 months until Christmas.

I decided to go ahead and do it anyway. And I'm so glad I did. We had a great time. First we put up our stockings that were filled with a few small treats. I LOVE our stockings. Grandma Wally taught me how to do them. They're 3-D and full of sequins & beads. So cute!

Next we made ornaments out of paint sticks. They turned out so cute. We even made a few extras.
The extra ornaments were personalized for our neighbors. We handed them out while we were out Christmas Caroling! They all had a HUGE smile on their faces seeing the girls at their door! Except poor Michelle who was out wrangling her 4 boys. We just sang to her in the street!


We came home and had a FULL ON Christmas dinner. I got a picture of the turkey & gravy...but we ate the rest too fast.


We followed it up by watching The Santa Claus 3 in the basement. I've been trying to keep track of how much I spend on these nights...Christmas night's total was JUST UNDER $4. I already had the food, it was just the small treats & the library movie rental. I already had the paint & hubby got the paint sticks from work!

If you do a family night, leave a comment...I'd love to check it out!!!

Global Food Crisis

WHAT IS THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS?
The World Food Program calls the global food crisis a phenomenon, a "silent tsunami," that is affecting families in every nation on every continent. Food prices for popular menu items like rice, wheat and beans have doubled in the last year. Though increases in food prices have hit all budgets, it's the poor who bear the brunt of price inflation. The higher prices are forcing people who survive on just $1 a day to spend upwards of 80 percent of their budgets just on food. As a result, many people, including millions of children, are going hungry. The longer food prices rise, the more people will be plunged into hunger and poverty.

WHAT IS CAUSING THE CRISIS?
Since 2005, food prices have risen a whopping 80 percent because of...
* rising fuel costs
* rising food demand from populous nations like India and China
* natural disasters destroying crop yields all over the world, including the United States
* growth of biofuels

The global food crisis is forcing poor families to spend more of their household budgets on food, leaving little for anything else. In Bangladesh 95% of the 11,782 children Compassion serves there are affected. Many children are eating only at the church-based center (also known as a Compassion project). In Haiti, inflation rates have risen 40%, pushing up food prices. All 60,000 children served by Compassion in Haiti have been affected by the food crisis there.
Experts predict the combination of a weakening dollar, soaring oil prices, and reduction in food production will not dissipate. They are predicting this long-term crisis will tighten its grip on poor countries, causing more children and families to suffer.

ABOUT THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS FUND
Compassion International has launched the Global Food Crisis Fund to bring aid to those most adversely affected by rising food costs. More information is available and donations can be made at https://www.compassion.com/contribution/giving/global-food-crisis.htm

Donations to the fund will provide:
* food vouchers to children and families needing immediate relief.
* seeds and agricultural tools so that families can grow their own food as well as earn extra income.
* supplemental nutrition services offered at Compassion-assisted centers around the world.

ABOUT COMPASSION'S DAY OF PRAYER AND FASTING
Compassion International has set aside June 25 as a day of fasting and prayer to honor the victims of the global food crisis and pray for them.

Granger Pure Sex series

This is a vid GCC did during the first few months I moved here. I LOVED it!