You and Your Girl Simulast

Do you have a daughter in your home? Then you need to know about Vicki Courtney and her heart for raising girls in this crazy world today.

If you have a daughter age 10 or older, you won’t want to miss out on your chance to attend her mother/daughter You & Your Girl event along with other mothers and daughters in your community. LifeWay is hosting the first-ever You & Your Girl Simulcast event on Saturday, April 9th, and we already have nearly 60 churches on board to host the event!

They still have several states that aren’t represented, but the good news is, it’s not too late to join them! Here is a list of states that do not yet have a YYG simulcast host church:

Alaska, Delaware, D.C., Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming

If your state is listed, they could use your help in finding a church willing to host the event! Click here to get more information on what is required. Feel free to email here with questions as well.

If your state is not listed, you can check here to find the location at which the event will be taking place in your state. If it’s not in a city close by, feel free to arrange a host church in your area!

This event will strengthen the mother/daughter bond and spark important conversations, but most importantly it will strengthen relationships with the Lord and equip your daughters to stand up to the pressures they will face in today’s challenging culture. Hope to see you there on April 9th!

Winkflash Flat Rate Book Sale

****Offer extended until February 10th!

Remember those photo books that you wanted to make last year and never had the time?

Now is the time, my friends.

Winkflash is FINALLY having their Flat Rate Book Sale again. You can make a 100 page book for $13-$27...depending on the size you choose.

Use coupon code ILOVEFLATRATE.

No excuses! And you only have until February 3rd....so get on it!

The Tooth Fairy Mystery

It's no secret that we aren't the best at the tooth fairy round these parts. We have been known to tell our boys that it was too windy and she was unable to fly.

Don't judge.

Weston lost another tooth yesterday and faithfully put it on the same pillow that I had when I was little. Yes, we have washed it since the late 70s.

No worries.

I guess the night got away from us and I never went back upstairs to dispose of the tooth and leave the standard $2. I am sure Tray and I were trying to solve the problems of the world or just watching some brainless TV.

Fast-forward to this morning.

JT slept in and I had to wake him up at 8 to get ready for school. Imagine my horror when I turn to the dresser and see the tooth pillow.

Oh dang.

I turn to JT and ask if the tooth fairy came last night, because the tooth was gone and no money was there. I'm not sure why I asked him....the dude had been asleep. How would he know?

He assured me she did come and she left $3. This would be an important observation for later.

Hmm...that's interesting. Tray is known for his generosity... he must have come behind me and taken care of business this morning before he left. I texted him my thanks for being such a wonderful backup tooth fairy and went about my day.

He called me around noon to report that he did not partake in said tooth fairy duties.

WHAT??

Then who?

It suddenly became clear that a certain Mom owed a particular firstborn a big fat thank you for covering her forgetfulness.

When he got home from school, I snuck JT into our closet the first chance I could and asked him point blank if he helped the tooth fairy last night. He denied, denied and denied but I've watched enough crime scene TV to spot a fibber. It's all in the eyes.

Low and behold, my precious firstborn son woke up in the middle of the night, saw that Mom and Dad had blown it, took $3 out of his bank, tossed the tooth on the floor (hey, it was little and white...plus it was the middle of the night) and that was that.

I finally got him to admit it as I put him to bed tonight.

I'll hold this day closely to my heart as a reminder that we must be doing something right....amongst all the days we get it so wrong.

How did I ever get so lucky to have a kid like him?

I am a blessed mom indeed.

Made to Crave

In the South, we like our food.

We celebrate with our favorite meal...we bring food to a family that is celebrating a new life or grieving one lost...we fellowship over it...food is kinda a big deal.

As with most Januarys, any number of people are making the decision to change the way they relate to food...believe it or not, that is why our country is tipping the scales. It's not just because we are moving less, food has become way more than it ever intended to be.

Lysa TerKeurst newest offering, Made to Crave, addresses the missing link between a woman's desire to be healthy and the spiritual empowerment necessary to make that happen.

The reality is we were made to crave.

Craving isn't a bad thing. But we must realize God created us to crave more of Him. Many of us have misplaced that craving by overindulging in momentary cravings or desires instead of lasting spiritual satisfaction.

Breaking the 'I'll start again Monday' cycle is possible!

Check out the replay of her live webcast today at 11 am, 2 pm, 7 pm or 9 pm and then sign up for email reminders about future webcasts in the coming weeks.

You might also be interested in the 30 day devotional that can be found at KSBJ.org

1 Corinthians 10:23
Everything is permissible but not always beneficial

Deuteronomy 2:3
You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn North

First Monday....

January 3rd....3 days into a new year.

But you know, today is the first Monday of the new year so TODAY is the day that gyms will be packed, new highlighters and journals will accompany morning quiet times and salads will be ordered at an alarming rate at lunchtime while bread and all things carbohydrate once again get the scarlet letter C.

What about you? Have any plans for new things this year? Goals, dreams, changes to be made? Be a better wife, mom or person in general? I've been that girl...2 years ago, to be exact.

And once again I'm reminded...if I make the Main Thing the main thing, 9 times out of 10, the other things fall into place.

How wonderful that I can resign from my self-appointed job as General Manager of the Universe. As if my believing that I had control over anything did anything...Ha!

Each year our pastor chooses a devotional for our church body to study together and the one chosen for 2011 is wonderful...3 days in, I might add.

Worship the King by Chris Tiegreen is meaty but concise. You'll either find yourself saying 'Amen' or 'Ouch', depending on the day.

He has 2 others that are worth a look as well: Walk With God and One Year at His Feet.

Looking for a few others that say what needs to be said but doesn't take forever to get to the point? Check out

Finding God's Will by Gregg Matte
Made to Crave by Lisa TerKeurst
From Head to Foot: All of You Living For Him by Annie Downs
Deeper: Living in the Reality of God's Love by Debbie Alsdorf

Happy 2011. Here's to a clean slate and endless possibilities. He has great plans for each one of you! Watch and see, Sisters, watch and see.

The Wonderful World of ITouch

For some reason, I really had a bee in my bonnet about the boys not having ITouches.

I think it had something to do with the cost and possibly the ability to connect to the internet, but none the less, they weren't an option for quite some time.

Until one of my brilliant children, that is definitely bound for sales someday, introduced the idea of selling their Nintendo DS systems and games to purchase said ITouch.

Well, that sounds reasonable and logical.

And I am happy to resport the ITouch hasn't been a problem at all. With firm guidelines set by Mom and Pop, parental controls, a parental passcode, and airplane mode (to turn off the wifi when needed), it's actually been nice not having to keep up with all the games as they are directly loaded onto the device. And we recently took a trip that didn't include a dvd player on an airplane and not having to deal with that at IAH security was quite delightful.

If you find yourself with a new ITouch in your home and are overwhelmed by all the app choices, take a look at the list below.

A lot are free and the rest are either .99 cents or under $5.

A lot of the apps offer a "free or lite" version for you to try it out and then you have the option to purchase the full version later. Look for those titles first.

Most of the EA games are .99 right now

I know that this list seems crazy long, but we have had ours for about 6 months and we rotate the games on and off. And some of these games were fun initially and then the boys grew tired of them. There are even some educational ones mixed in....yes, I am a former educator. Guilty as charged.

Angry Birds
City Story
Empire Story
Flash to Pass (flashcards)
Logos bible software
Restaurant Story
Sky Racer 2
WordWeb Dictionary
ArithmeTick
Asphalt 5
Bible Memory
Deer Hunter 3D
Cut the Rope
BackBreaker
Stick Skater
Baseball 2010
Doodlejump
Fall down
ESPN Score Center
Field Goal Frenzy
FIFA World Cup (version 11 doesn't work with itouch for some reason)
Find The Difference
Flashlight
Flick Fishing
Flicky Football
Flow Hockey 2
Hangman Classic
High Caliber Hunting
Holy Bible
IRate Lego Pro
Jet Car Stunts
Knights on Rush
Lemonade Tycoon
Madden NFL
Manic Marble Free
Labyrinth Lite
Tap Farm
Tap Store
Save Stickly
I Say Free
IRate Lego
Monster Truck Nitro 2
Monster Truck Nitro
NCAA Football
Need for Speed Shift
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
Paper Pilot
Paper Toss
Parking Mania Lite
Pictureka
Pocket Weather
Razor Ultra Pro
RC Heli Lite
RC Plane
Real Racing GT
Red Bull X-Fighter Lite
Road to Mudness
Rollercoaster Extreme
Skee-Ball
Sports Car Engine
Star Wars The Force Unleashed
Tap Report
Tic Tac Toe Free
Tiny Chef
Touch Hockey
Traffic Rush
Uno
Warship Flight Deck Jam
Waterslide Extreme
The Weather Channel
XGames SnoCross
XPlane Carrier
2XL ATC Offroad Lite
2XL TrophyLite Rally
Flight Control
Rope and Fly
IKick

**now, most of the 'tap' games require wifi as does IRate , but most do not.
**I'm sure you noticed the abundance of boy games. Guilty. Not a lot of pink running around these parts

Do you have apps that you would recommend?

McCormick Recipe Inspirations

Have you ever found a really fun recipe that you wanted to try but were overwhelmed by the list of ingredients? Especially if some of the spices needed are not ones you use frequently?

I'm pretty sure I don't need an entire jar of fennel seeds and I'm 99% sure I have some spices that really need to be replaced because I've been known to view cooking as more of a one-time challenge and once I've conquered a recipe...I move on. Hence the endless jars of mostly filled spices.

Sorry...rabbit trail....moving on.

While I was doing battle at HEB last week, I came across these little darlins': McCormick Recipe Inspirations.

The new McCormick Recipe Inspirations collection puts flavorful twists on traditional recipes that will impress everyone at your dinner table. Each packet includes pre-measured McCormick spices and herbs and a collectible recipe card.

They offer 12 different recipes and I brought home the Quesadilla Casserole and Tuscan Chicken Stew.

I'm excited to try them and not add more spices to my very large spice graveyard. If only I'd these during football season!

Let me know if you try any of the other recipes