Jeremiah 29:11 | |
Be One of the First 100! Grace Talk Soup 100th Show Giveaway!
Posted by Communication FUNdamentals
Grace Talk Soup's 100th Episode!11:10 PM, Jan. 8, 2009 .. Posted in Issues Thursday .. 0 comments .. Link  Thursday, January 8th at 8am PST/ 11am EST! Grace Talk Soup is my weekly podcast where I can be found:"Boldly Serving Up God's Word with a Side Order of Grace and Humor!" Each week brings a new guest(s) serving God's mission and news items every Christian should know! This week's guests are all sponsors of the Say What You Mean Convention sharing the mission the Lord has for them and how they discovered it along with details about what you can expect at the 4th Annual Say What You Mean Convention! Come get a preview of all the seminars, workshops, contests and freebies that will be taking place at the 3 day online convention February 4-6th! Also A La Carte with Bette Dowdell, author of How to Be a Christian without Being Annoying! Bette shares some of the scriptures the Lord has for us concerning communication skills! Free Copy:100 Greatest Communication Quotes to the first 100! Join us live to learn how to be one of the first 100 to get a copy of this beautifully illustrated collection of the greatest humorous and inspirational quotes ever! It is available for download free of charge if you happen to be one of the first 100 people! HALF OFF Say What You Mean: Defending the Faith for first 100! Also learn how you can be one of the first 100 who get 50% off this valuable resource. The only one of its kind that combines communication skills with apologetics showing you not only what to say but how to share and defend your faith. Make a New Year's Resolution to uphold the Great Commission and do it now for HALF OFF! How to join the show via your computer: http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/19736 How to join the show via phone: Phone Number: (724) 444-7444 Call ID: 19736 From JoJo's Purple Crayon  Teaching communication skills the FUN way!The Love Dare Challenge!After The 12 Days of Christmas... SHMILY Style, I was wondering what I could do to "hold on to" the fun times Mike and I were having with each other. Well, I had someone send me info on the LOVE DARE that was going on at Family Life and I HAD to "hop on board"! I saw the movie, FIREPROOF, and it really had a great message... and as far as the "Love Dare book" idea... well, I think that anyone married should take a look... but especially anyone struggling with their spouse or wanting a divorce. What a great thing to HAVE to do BEFORE a divorce... I wonder if people would still get divorced or not... hmmmmm... Anyway, they showed some of the LOVE DARES in the movie, but not all of them, so I'm excited to see what all of them will be! I took the following from their website: It's not too late to join in!... I will also be posting the love dares on my blog... (although I won't make any promises as to how timely I'll be with that... just know that they will eventually all be on here for you to see). It doesn't matter when you start... start at any point... but just start! I'll be doing mine a week later than their sent through email so I have some time to process and journal a little about it here... Even if your marriage is great (which at the current moment, mine is... tee hee) you still can "fireproof" it! Our Christmas Gift from God
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12:55 AM, Jan. 7, 2009 .. Posted in Cool things God is doing .. 0 comments .. Link I wanted to share (and chronicle for our family's future which is an added benefit to blogging) that we received a wonderful gift from God this Christmas. The Sunday before Christmas, we found out from our realtor that several houses in our new subdivision have had problems with their loans going through and were back on the market. BW used his excellent detective work(looking online) and found that one of the houses had been marked down to the same price as the one we were building but had an additional bedroom. Our realtor called yesterday and found out that it is on a culdesac. We went and looked at it Monday morning, and decided that it would definitely work for our family and in the long run be a better investment to have the additional square footage and to be on the quiet culdesac instead of the busy corner at the entrance to the subdivision. Also, the builder chose not to charge us the deposit on the other house, but let us just move our deposit over to the larger house!
Additionally, the house is almost done, and we will close escrow sometime at the end of January. This will give us about a month before our lease is up in our rental to paint, put in our window coverings, and make a few other changes. We also have a fireplace, a jacuzzi tub and vaulted ceilings(things not in the other house), as well as a homeschool room off the living room(or space for family to stay when they visit)!
I have to admit it was a little bittersweet as we had already placed a piece of our hearts at the other house and there are some things we wouldn't have picked(white tile with white grout in the kitchen), some things that we had picked in the other house but isn't in this house(upgraded appliances, prettier cabinets), but God has been good to show us in the past 3 moves that we can make do with just about anything. We are just amazed as 3 years ago we really thought that we would never own a house again and now we will have 4 bedrooms on a culdesac with a lower mortgage payment than we had in Elk Grove. Truly something awesome that only God could have orchestrated.
Blessings to all!
-J
The Charge is. . .Intellectual AbandonmentHomeschoolers have been brought to court for many reasns but I think this is the first time I've heard of intellectual abadonment. Such is the charge against one homeschooling family in Brazil. Currently homeschooing is illegal in Brazil but a bill is in congress that could make it legal.I believe homeschoolers have proven that home education heightens one's intellect. The Nunes children have proven through various tests that their intellect isn't neglected, let alone abandonded. Pray for the Nunes family and that Brazil will make homeschooling legal. Tia Linschied Senior Editor of HSB Foot in Mouth Man: Smaller Bills!
Posted by Communication FUNdamentals
8:41 AM, Jan. 7, 2009 .. Posted in Misadventures of Foot in Mouth Man .. 0 comments .. Link  Episode 132: Smaller Bills! Blogger Cable is "Going Green" in an effort to use less paper. Starting 2009, they will be sending out small note cards instead of the several page itemized statements. Each customer's itemized statement will be kept on file over the internet if they want it. FIMM decided to share that news with all of his customers so for the last few months he had put a notice on all his emails as well as his paperwork for his instillation and service calls. The other day several customers stormed the Blogger Cable office upset that their bills were exactly the same as they were the month before! The manager had to be called to handle the angry mob. He was shocked that so many wouldn't have received their new Go Green statements, but was even more perplexed by the number of people so concerned with the environment! That was, until he read FIMM's notice: "Starting 2009, your Blogger Cable bills will be smaller!" ============================================= FIMM: Don't be like Himm! Click here to read through the FIMM Archives and to view FIMM's video! Check out Art of Eloquence to learn communication skills the FUN way! ============================================= From JoJo's Purple Crayon Teaching communication skills the FUN way!On this day in 1838: Morse's telegraph system is demonstrated for the first time!
Posted by Communication FUNdamentals
I receive an "On this Day in History" newsletter each day. It's fun to go back and read how certain things got their start. 7:02 AM, Jan. 6, 2009 .. Posted in Tuesday Tips .. 0 comments .. Link On this day in history in 1838, Samuel Morse demonstrates his telegraph system for the first time in Morristown, New Jersey using Morse Code in which dots and dashes represent numbers and letters! "The telegraph, a device which used electric impulses to transmit encoded messages over a wire, would eventually revolutionize long-distance communication, reaching the height of its popularity in the 1920s and 1930s." In 1843, Congress funded the construction of the first U.S. telegraph line that stretched from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore and in1844, Morse sent the very first official telegram: "What hath God wrought!" "Because telegraph companies typically charged by the word, telegrams became known for their succinct prose--whether they contained happy or sad news. The word "stop," which was free, was used in place of a period, for which there was a charge." While Western Union introduced a creative and fun telegraph service called singing telegrams in 1933, Americans came to dread the sight of Western Union couriers during WWII because the military had been utilizing them in order to notify families when their loved ones had died. "Over the course of the 20th century, telegraph messages were largely replaced by cheap long-distance phone service, faxes and email. Western Union delivered its final telegram in January 2006." With each new tool invented for making communication faster and easier, we must still learn to use that tool effectively and we must remember that the communication tool does not guarantee communication success.
We must never confuse communication technology with communication effectiveness. The technology only affords the user the ability to reach more people in a shorter period of time. Each can only begin the process with the communication skills he possesses.
No matter in what form the communication may come, it has always been important that it be done effectively! From JoJo's Purple Crayon Teaching communication skills the FUN way!CHD: Week 1 - Trustin' Him As I looked back at what I'd written last year about this verse (I only did it for a few weeks... yes, I started ANOTHER thing I didn't finish) I had to smile at how "in the dark" Mike and I really were about our future. We had NO idea what we would be doing or where the road would take us. Since then, we've had some answers to some of our questions... but for the most part, we have a lot of unanswered things.
We went to the Assessment Center for potential church planters last January with MANY questions... and from there, we got the answer that church planting would be a "good fit" for us. We needed more training in ministry and we questioned where that would be... and The Journey North Community Church (a church plant itself) found us and answered by asking us to come there (where we're currently serving, learning and preparing for our church plant)... But that's pretty much where the answers ended. While we know we're going to plant a church... we have no idea where that will be. We have a couple of places in mind, but God hasn't made it clear yet and so... we're waiting. We fasted for ten days a few months back, praying over 10 cities in Minnesota that we'd been given to choose from. A couple stood out (for whatever reason) and we even took the kids to have a picnic to those places to see what they were like... but when the ten days were over, the only real thing we'd done is narrow the original ten down. Trust Me... I gotta be honest here... I was disappointed. I thought for sure that God was going to tell us where we were to plant HIS church. We had 10 people that committed to praying (and fasting) for us in this very important decision and we took it seriously. I mean, I fasted, so certainly God should honor that with an answer, right? (smirk) The ten prayer warriors called and asked what city we'd chosen... we didn't know. How embarrassing... Trust Me... We've been fund raising (a whole other story) and it's only "logical" for them to ask... "Where are you going to plant?" How logical is the response we give, "We're going to go where God tells us..." Come on... I know it sounds crazy and I'm sure some think, "well, that's nice... why don't you come back and talk to me when you've picked a city cuz right now you sound like a fruitcake." (my interpretation italicized) Trust Me... why do you worry about what others think? They are not giving you their money... it's all Mine. And so we've had some really tough and uncertain months... and we didn't know how Mike would drive to work with the price of gas (for awhile there)... Trust Me... ... and then a family called and told us they wanted to give us their car (with great gas mileage) for the year that Mike was driving to Brainerd (35 miles away). There have been times when we didn't have enough food to make one complete meal for our family... Trust Me... ... and then someone would bring us groceries, or once we even got an anonymous envelope with four $100 gift cards to Cub foods and it was signed, "From the Lord". And Christmas was coming again with nothing to spare... Trust Me... ... and people gave us gift certificates, cash (some anonymously), "practical, every day items" (in totes I could use again even), bikes for my older kids and toys for the younger ones, a retreat for Mike and a day at the spa for me and when it was all said and done... we'd received more than we'd EVER had and were overwhelmed. And after all that, I still struggled with the fact that we didn't know where we were planting... not because I was worried about it... but that we had to continue to raise money for the church plant, and all I kept asking the Lord was, "how will people support this vision when we don't even know where it is?" Trust Me...
... and then on the 31st of December, an anonymous gift was given online to our church planting account for a very significant contribution! We did nothing… God did, as He has all along.
I know the plans I have for you... plans of a future... plans that I created you for... trust Me... no matter what others say... no matter what others do... no matter what the circumstances are... no matter what you see... no matter how "illogical" it seems... I have it all under control... You just have to trust Me. And so I start this year, unsure of many things but knowing that God has brought us this far and has taken care of everything. It hasn't always been easy… it hasn't always been in the way we would have liked it to be, or without loss. But we know that to lose everything and gain Christ is to lose nothing. He didn't promise it would be easy, and honestly looking back, it was in the times that I had no other answers... no other way... no other hope... that I came to the place where all I could do was trust Him... the same God who put the stars in place, parted the sea to lead people into freedom, and came to earth as a baby born of a virgin... Who is still the same God today and worthy to be praised... and trusted. Changing housesWe are in the process of building a new house. The house pictured at the top of my blog burned to the ground on Sept.25 while we were on vacation in Wisconsin. Praise God we were not there and my last sight of my house doesn't include rushing family out and forever scarring the little ones who live with us. This is what it looked like when we returned on the 26th.
Now we are building a new house on the same spot. It will be very similar to the old one. After all, we loved that house. Already it looks like this. And they just started Dec. 29!
A New Creation...As we begin the new year, some look at it as a way to begin a "fresh start". They start making resolutions as to how they'll be different... do better... have more... so at the end of THIS year, they'll be happy. Some decide they'd rather not try to change... that things are they way they are... and they go on living without the hope of something different... or better... or more... so at the end of THIS year, like ALL the rest... they won't be disappointed.
Truth is, regardless of how you've viewed the years in the past... or even how the years have been... there's always a way to start fresh and begin again... every single day... at any time of year... Where are you at as you begin 2009? Whether you're a Christian or have yet to work that out... take some time to evaluate your life... what did He create YOU to be? New Creation from Pace Hartfield on Vimeo. To read another take on this video, check out my husband's blog post, "Do we stifle creativity?". Homeschool Blog 'n' Tell Jessica is doing something new for 2009! If you don't know her, she blogs at A Path of Promise and is the owner of an amazingly helpful Yahoo group Notebooking2Learn where she offers an abundance of professional quality lapbooking and notebooking printables for FREE. I always admire moms who freely give away the things they make. Some people are just generous, and Jessica is one of those people.Her new venture is called Homeschool Blog 'n' Tell.  Each month has a different theme: January - Lapbooking February - History March - Homeschooling Basics April - Notebooking May - Homeschool Humor June - Nature July - Unit Studies August - Science September - Organization October - Math November - Encouragement December - Crafts & Projects Go nominate your favorite blogs each month and find some new gems to read as well. See you at Jessica's blog! { Last Page } { Page 1 of 5 } { Next Page } |
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