Thursday, February 26, 2009

Is Pregnancy Tantamount to Slavery?

"... (Dawn) Johnsen said that any restriction that makes abortion less accessible is, in her view, tantamount to “involuntary servitude” because it “requires a woman to provide continuous physical service to the fetus in order to further the state’s asserted interest [in the life of the unborn].”
In effect, a woman “is constantly aware for nine months that her body is not her own: the state has conscripted her body for its own ends.” Such “forced pregnancy,” she contends, violates the Thirteenth Amendment, which prohibits slavery."
For the rest of this article go to Doug Phillip's blog.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

A Good Wife's Guide from the 1950's

Friday, February 20, 2009

Retirement home



Every 3rd Thursday Mom ,Alicia and I will go visit a retirement home in Stanwood.

When we first started Alicia and I were very shy of them we did not talk to any of the residents very much
, but now Alicia and I have made a new friend. We always are excited to go visit
her and she is always excited to see us when we come. We go to the retirement home with several of our other friends so they bring several residents out in to their activity room and we do crafts or play games with the residents.

Yesterday we went and made ice cream in a bag, it was a lot of fun. The residents all got to shake the bag then we all, even the residents, got to have a little bite of ice cream.

We have done so many fun things there. Alicia and I always look forward to going, not for the fun things or the crafts that we do, but because we love to visit our new friend. When we are with her time goes by so quickly that when it is time for us to go she always asks us if we will come to see her the next month. We always tell her that we hope so and then she is happy to let us go because she knows that we will visit her again. We always have fun and always look forward to the next time we go to visit her.
(mom added this)
Hannah

Another Great Must See Video

You must visit my friend's blog and watch this video by a 12 year old young lady. It is awe inspiring

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Speechless: Silencing the Christians



Here is a video that homosexuals do not want you to see. They have gone as far as blocking it from being viewed on major networks. Please go to the link, view the video (it is almost an hour long) and then decide what your family can do. I wouldn't recommend it for young children, there are some scenes that could be troubling to them. I want to thank Stacy McDonald for bringing this to our attention.

The "Me Time" Myth

"I once heard a talk show host give a very compelling argument for why moms need time away. He said mothers give and give to the point of empty. They must refuel themselves so they can continue to give." To read the rest of this article by Amy Roberts go to: http://www.crosswalk.com/homeschool/11598542/

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

When We Pray for Faith Are We Really Asking for Trials?

"Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me." Job 10:2

Perhaps, O tried soul, the Lord is doing this to develop thy graces. There are some of thy graces which would never be discovered if it were not for thy trials. Dost thou not know that thy faith never looks so grand in summer weather as it does in winter? Love is too often like a glow-worm, showing but little light except it be in the midst of surrounding darkness. Hope itself is like a star—not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. Afflictions are often the black foils in which God doth set the jewels of His children's graces, to make them shine the better. It was but a little while ago that on thy knees thou wast saying, "Lord, I fear I have no faith: let me know that I have faith." Was not this really, though perhaps unconsciously, praying for trials?—for how canst thou know that thou hast faith until thy faith is exercised? Depend upon it, God often sends us trials that our graces may be discovered, and that we may be certified of their existence. Besides, it is not merely discovery, real growth in grace is the result of sanctified trials. God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians. He trains His soldiers, not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long mile with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs. Well, Christian, may not this account for the troubles through which thou art passing? Is not the Lord bringing out your graces, and making them grow? Is not this the reason why He is contending with you?

"Trials make the promise sweet;
Trials give new life to prayer;
Trials bring me to His feet,
Lay me low, and keep me there."
—Morning and Evening by Charles H. Spurgeon

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy 25th Birthday, Christopher!!

Christopher with 'big' sister Nicole, May 1984, Monterey CA


Our Little man, Monterey, CA 1987

What a wonderful Big Brother you are! Pixley, CA 1997

Christopher with ALL his sisters, Dennis the Menace Park, Monterey, CA

Wow, I cannot believe that our son, is 25 years old today. I remember VERY vividly the night (morning, 1:59 am to be exact) he was born. Time sure flies when you are a parent. Christopher is such a wonderful young man. We have truly been blessed by having him as our son. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for him in the years to come. He has blessed so many peoples lives and I know he will continue. He is a true inspiration of what a godly young man looks like. We pray for him daily, that God will continue to lead and guide him. We also pray for the wonderful young lady that God is preparing for him.
High School graduation photo 2002

Summer 2003 CA coast

Well, Son, thank you for being such a wonderful young man. I love you so much and am very proud of the young man you have become. Stay close to God and let Him direct your every step. Looking forward to many more 25 years to come.

Christopher Commissioning Day at USNA 2006 with Dad and Grandpa Noa
We ALL love you very much.

Love, MOM

Christopher at sea 2008

Selfish Choices?

Saturday, February 14, 2009
Jennifer

"...and in this world at this time large families are selfish choices that are everybody's business and everybody's problem." Mary Wells

"It is obvious to me that anyone who'd make such a statement has never cared for a large number of children at one time. Selfish? I beg to differ.When God gives you children, He not only wants them to be raised for Him, He gives us the opportunity to be crafted more distinctly in to His image. We have to pick up our cross daily, continuing to follow Him. There are very few times when you focus on yourself as a mother of young ones. I would call that an act of selflessness."

To read the rest of the article please go to my dear friend's blog Fresh Thoughts From the Laundry Room.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The Pulpit is Responsible

World Net Daily
by Dave Welch
Posted: February 10, 20091:00 am Eastern© 2009

For thousands of years, prophets, priests and pastors have served as the voice of spiritual, moral, cultural and governmental accountability to the laws and sovereignty of God. The clergy during the colonial era were known as the "Black Regiment" and were feared by the British for their role in birthing the fire of freedom. Pastors like Lyman Beecher, Charles Finney and hundreds of others among their peers stirred the flames of abolition, temperance and racial justice.

We could list columns of names and situations of those filling pulpits who took responsibility for the condition of their flock, their community and their nation. However, beginning sometime in the last 100 years, a new "Gnosticism" asserted itself, an old heresy asserting that only the spiritual has value and that all things physical are evil.

As Christian historian Timothy Paul Jones describes the distinction exposing the lie of Gnosticism, "For Christians, salvation isn't a spiritual retreat from the physical realm; it is a renewal that unites and restores both realms." Our salvation brings hope for redemption to every aspect of the physical creation and created order.

From the first century Christians on, the Cultural Mandate given by God to his stewards in Genesis was accepted to mean that everything on earth is under God's sovereignty, under our stewardship, and therefore "our business." As false teachings crept in over the last century, the church moved into a sacred-versus-secular separation that opened the door wide for many kinds of evil to triumph.

In "The Late, Great Evangelical Church," by C. Vaughn Doner, nationally renowned theologian, and biblical scholar Dr. Jay Grimstead, the authors state, "The studied creedlessnes of American Protestantism … its ignorance of the teaching of Scripture, its preoccupation with millennialism, its anti-sacramental and anti-ecclesiastical bias are all indicators of an essentially Gnostic worldview."
Does it really matter as long as we "preach Jesus crucified and rose again"?
Thankfully, there are many pastors and theologians who would say there is much more to Christianity than just preaching the salvation message, doing Bible studies and waiting for the rapture. Among them was legendary evangelist of the first Great Awakening, Charles G. Finney, who wrote in "The Decay of Conscience" in 1873:

"Brethren, our preaching will bear its legitimate fruits. If immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a great degree. If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it. Let us not ignore this fact, my dear brethren; but let us lay it to heart, and be thoroughly awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation."

The birth and growth of myriad Christ-based social betterment ministries like Prison Fellowship, Samaritan's Purse and thousands of others in recent decades is certainly positive and have produced a veritable explosion of street-level work to serve great needs in His name. Most evangelical pastors now accept the premise that we should take care of the hurting and needy among both church and community – although we could do it much better.
How are we doing if we really accept, dissect and apply Rev. Finney's statement, and measure our nation today in the categories of:
-Immorality prevailing in the land;
-Decay of conscience – reprobate minds;
-Lack of public moral discretion – moral relativism;
-A degenerate (worldly) church;
-Decreasing interest in biblical Christianity by the churched and unchurched;
-Satan dominating halls of legislation; and
-Corrupt politics threatening the foundations of government.
We are sick, and the pulpits are largely at fault. It is certainly not because we lack great pulpiteers, personalities and promoters. What, then, is the root problem? Or, like the old commercial of a national fast food franchise, "Where's the beef?"
Pastors must get back to putting the call to make disciples and teach the people "all that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:18-20) ahead of church as usual. Preach the unvarnished Word of God rather than telling stories salted with a few Scriptures. Will it empty some pews? Undoubtedly. Will it make you more popular and a pop icon? Most likely not. Will it restore the power of God to the church and bring healing to our land? It always has.
We are at a point where thousands of pastors across America must take the challenge, honestly assess whether we are accepting the full mandate in every area shown above and providing the "offensive" leadership that the church so desperately needs. The cost of not doing so can already be measured in broken lives and a weak nation.
Our God demands more and our people deserve better, so bring it on!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Al Gore: Don't listen to your parents

Ex-VP tells kids' conference 'older people don't know'
Posted: February 05, 200911:50 pm Eastern© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Former Vice President Al Gore has been tape-recorded telling a conference of young people in Washington, D.C., just before President Barack Obama's inauguration that they know more than their parents.

The story appeared via Glenn Beck's television show on the Fox News Channel, where he had Caitlin Glenn and her father, Andy, discussing the speech today. A video of the program segment was posted on Beck's The Hope For America website.

On the tape, Gore states: "When I was your age and the civil rights revolution was unfolding, and we kids asked our parents and their generation, 'Explain to me again why it's okay for the law to officially discriminate against people because of their skin color?'

"And when our parents' generation couldn't answer that question, that's when the law started to change. There are some things about our world that you know that older people don't know," he continued.

"Why would that be? Well in a period of rapid change, the old assumptions sometimes just don’t work anymore because they're out of date," Gore said.
Caitlin had been invited months before the election to the event that featured Gore as a speaker, and she was excited to attend the invitation-only event.

Her father said the family thought it an "incredible opportunity" for her.
Glenn Beck with Caitlin and Andy Glenn

The discussion about taping the speech came up late in the fall when Obama had won the election and was headed toward the White House, Andy Glenn said.

"We realized what she would be facing … Caitlin and I started having a lot of discussions," Andy Glenn said.

The talks focused on what Gore would say.

"I wanted to hear what he has to say to you," Andy Glenn recalled telling his daughter.

Caitlin Glenn said she was shocked by the instructions essentially to ignore her parents.

"We're only teens and preteens and he was telling us to do these things," she said.

Andy Glenn said when he picked up his daughter, he popped the tape into the player in his car.

"That section you just played actually was one of the first sections," he told Beck. "Right after [I heard] that I stopped it. I was so upset. I was yelling … he just told my daughter not to listen to me.

"Even coming from Al Gore I was absolutely shocked to hear that," he said.
Gore could not be reached tonight by WND for a comment.


And Baby Makes How Many?

The Duggers

By KATE ZERNIKE

THE comment from the photographer at Sears was typical. “Are these all yours?” she asked, surveying Kim Gunnip’s 12 children.
“No,” Mrs. Gunnip replied, “I picked some up at the food court.”

But it was harder to find a retort for the man in line at the supermarket, who said within earshot of her youngest children, “You must have a great sex life.”

Now her family, like other larger families, as they call themselves, is facing endless news coverage of the octuplets born in California and a new round of scorn, slack jaws and stupid jokes.

Back when the average woman had more than three children, big families were the Kennedys of Hickory Hill and Hyannis Port, “Cheaper by the Dozen,” the Cosbys or “Eight is Enough” — lovable tumbles of offspring as all-American in their scrapes as in their smiles.

But as families have shrunk, and parents helicopter over broods tinier yet more precious, a vanload of children has taken on more of a freak show factor. The families know the stereotypes: they’re polygamists, religious zealots, reality-show hopefuls or Québécois in it for the per-child government bonus. And isn’t there something a little obsessive about Angelina Jolie’s quest for her own World Cup soccer team?

“Look at the three shows on TLC that have bigger families,” said Meagan Francis, the 31-year-old author of “Table for Eight,” which stems from her experience raising four children (she is expecting her fifth next month). “One is about religious fundamentalists, one has sextuplets, the other is a family of little people,” she said, referring to, respectively, the Duggars of “17 Kids and Counting,” “Jon and Kate Plus Eight” and “Little People, Big World,” about two dwarfs raising four children, three of average stature, on a pumpkin farm in Oregon.

“You get the feeling,” Ms. Francis added, “that anybody who has more than three kids is either doing it for bizarre reasons or there’s a medical anomaly.”

In the last several days, the British government’s environmental adviser declared it “irresponsible” to have more than two children. And Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, asserted that including contraception in the stimulus package could reduce government spending. Ms. Pelosi, herself the mother of five, was arguing against unwanted pregnancies, not families who choose to have big broods. But no matter — larger families see the attacks piling up.

On Internet forums and blogs, like lotsofkids.com and largerfamilies.com, the mothers defend themselves against the accusations that they can’t possibly give each child enough love or that they are hogging the earth’s scarce resources. They resist, and resent, efforts to lump them with the Duggars, the Jon and Kates and the octuplets.

Many mothers, in fact, shared the revulsion and the ethical questions about the in vitro fertilization that led to the birth of the eight babies by the unwed and unemployed California mother. Yet they also say that the reaction to her turned harsh only when it was revealed that she had six additional children. Octuplets were amazing; 14 is gross.

Referring to a news show correspondent who seemed “disgusted” by the story, one mother on lotsofkids.com wrote, “I wanted to bounce her judgmental little head off a wall.”

Ms. Francis, the founder of largerfamilies.com, said, “I can’t imagine having 14 children, but I do think it’s possible to raise 14 and do a great job.”

She continued: “People feel like they have some say or some ownership over your kids or the way kids are being raised. It’s this symbol of who you are and your values.”

If large families are the stuff of spectacle, it is partly because they have become rarer.

In 1976, census data show, 59 percent of women ages 40 to 44 had three or more children, 20 percent had five or more and 6 percent had seven or more.

By 2006, four decades after the Supreme Court declared a constitutional right to use birth control (and the last year available from census studies), 28 percent of women ages 40 to 44 had three or more children, 4 percent had five or more and just 0.5 percent had seven or more.

“Three is still O.K.,” said Michelle Lehmann, the founder of lotsofkids.com and a mother of eight children who lives outside Chicago. “When you have four, people start raising eyebrows. When you go to five, people are like, ‘No way.’ ”

Beyond 10? “They think you are lying,” said Mrs. Gunnip, who also writes two blogs for so-called mega-families, those with eight or more children.
Leslie Leyland Fields, a mother of six in Kodiak, Alaska, recalled her boss’s response when she announced she was pregnant with her fifth child and resigning as a professor at a state college: “This is what, your 9th or 10th?”
Ms. Fields, who had four children and then two unexpected but welcome pregnancies in her 40s, said, “Inevitably, people would come up to me in a patronizing way, sidle me away and whisper, ‘Let me tell you how this happens.’ ”

In a 2006 article, “The Case for Kids,” in Christianity Today, Ms. Fields lamented new social norms that assume that multiple children burden the goals of educated, professional women: “The smart, ambitious, fully realized 21st-century woman chooses career. The ambitionless woman has children.”

In an interview, Ms. Fields added: “Choosing to have a large domestic life is often seen as negating the professional and the public. I think it’s very healthy and wonderful to have a foot in both worlds.”

With more children, she had to change jobs, but her career, she said, has become more fulfilling: she teaches graduate students instead of undergraduates now, requiring less time in the classroom, which has allowed her to write three more books.

“The criticism feels elitist,” she said. “It’s coming from educated people, which makes me think, You have no excuse for thinking in such stereotypes.”

The article in Christianity Today unleashed a flood of hate mail. One reader wrote in all capital letters: “Did it ever occur to you that if you really want to serve God you should have less children so you’d have more time to serve God?” (“You can’t enter into debate with people who have that kind of rage,” Ms. Fields said.)

With anecdotes of a boomlet in larger families in places like the Upper East Side of Manhattan and select pockets of suburbia, large families are presumed to be either really rich, having children as status symbols, or really poor, living off the dole and completely devoid of culture.

The hayseed assumption prompts a howl from Barbara Curtis, mother of 12, ages 8 to 39, in Loudoun County, Va. “They expect me to come crawling in from Appalachia or something,” she said. In fact, she is a Montessori teacher, and her husband is a commercial accounts manager for an auto company. One son is entering a graduate program in opera, and another was in New York last week auditioning for a theater touring company. Her sixth son was the only National Merit Scholar finalist in his high school class, she said.

Mrs. Curtis illustrates one of the many ways that families grow so large: she had two children from her first marriage, then, with her second husband, seven in 10 years. One of those children had Down syndrome, so they adopted another Down syndrome child, believing two would grow up happier together. Since then, they have twice accepted requests to adopt another child with Down syndrome.

“Children are a kind of wealth,” Mrs. Curtis said. “Just not the kind of wealth our society tends to focus on.”

Still, for many mega-families, existence is hard. Their homes are usually cramped; college often means community college. Parents work long hours on top of the demands of raising so many children. And while the census does not break out income statistics for larger families, women without a high school diploma have about one more child on average than women with graduate or professional degrees.

Mrs. Gunnip is a homemaker in upstate New York, and her husband works as a supervisor in a county sewer department. She says they could qualify for public assistance but choose not to apply, believing others need it more. “I can’t say how we do it, and on paper it looks like we don’t do it, but there’s always a way,” she said. “My kids never go hungry. They do activities they want to do, we go on vacation. We don’t go to Disney, but we go camping.”

Many large families are religious, and some follow the QuiverFull movement, which takes encouragement for big families in Psalm 127: children are the gift of the Lord, “as arrows are in the hand of a mighty man,” and “happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.”
Those beliefs can run headlong into environmental concerns. At 6.8 billion people, the world population has more than tripled in the last century, and demographers expect it to exceed 9 billion by midcentury.

“Every single person has multiple impacts on multiple environmental resources,” said Alan Weisman, the author of “The World Without Us,” which advocates a one-child policy to return the world to early 20th century population levels. “It’s a no-brainer that the more people there are, the more stress there is on an ecosystem that doesn’t get any bigger.”
Parents of large families counter that they have an economy of scale: a light bulb lights a room whether there are 4 people or 14. Their children learn not to take long showers, to share space, to appreciate hand-me-down toys, clothes and books.

“Large families are some of the greenest families,” Mrs. Gunnip said. “They don’t tend to have a lot of money, so they make sure things go as far as they can.”

And besides, they say, the birth rate in the United States is barely at the level needed to replace the population. Total fertility rate, which predicts the number of children an average woman will have in her lifetime, reached 2.1, considered replacement level, in 2006, but it was the first time it had been that high since 1971. A small percentage of large families, they say, is not enough to tip the balance.

As for whether their children suffer a poverty of time and attention, parents of large families say they make better parents. For while spending time with each child individually is possible, hovering is not.

“You have to let go of a lot of the ideas of the kind of parent you wanted to be,” Ms. Francis said. “That’s not a bad thing. If you hold on to the idea that you can control everything, well, you can’t. They become their own people. With big families, it gets beaten out of you.”

As for the other pointed questions about large families, defenders have developed standard comebacks, lists of which circulate on the Internet.

How can you afford so many? “Lifestyles are expensive, not kids.”

Don’t you know what causes that? “Oh, yes, I now wash my husband’s underwear separately.”

Do you get any time for yourselves? “Obviously, or we wouldn’t have six kids."

Monday, February 2, 2009

Take Fat Kids From Parents

The Daily Telegraph-Australia
By Kate Sikora, Health Reporter
February 02, 2009 12:00am


CHILDREN could be taken away from their parents if they become too fat under a controversial proposal by an Australian doctor.

With one in four children overweight or obese, Dr Shirley Alexander, from the Children's Hospital at Westmead, wants parents to be disciplined in "extreme cases" when their child becomes too overweight.

Under the proposal, child protection agencies would be called in to seize a child when parents repeatedly failed to address diet problems.
"We argue that in a sufficiently extreme case, notification of child protection services may be an appropriate professional response," Dr Alexander said.

In one case welfare authorities were forced to intervene when a four-year-old girl measured 110cm tall and weighed 40kg. The girl watched TV for six hours a day and had tantrums when denied food.

Dr Alexander said despite the efforts of health workers, a "family-focused" program failed to stop or reverse the child's weight gain.
She said child protection authorities were notified, and the child was put on a diet and physical activity program that had her losing weight.

Dr Alexander's report concludes that a doctor is duty bound to "report severe cases of inadequately managed paediatric obesity to the authorities".
Out of the 100 cases at the obesity clinic at the Children's Hospital, at least two a year are "extreme cases".

Doctors fear some parents may be neglecting their child's health, placing them at severe risk of death.

Susie Burrell, paediatric nutritionist at the Children's Hospital, Westmead, said government intervention was needed in only rare cases.

"We are talking about just one or two cases a year," she said.

"If a child was perceived at risk then child protection agencies would be called but unfortunately they are under so much pressure and childhood obesity is not deemed acute.

"We must stress this is in extreme cases where repeated management strategies have failed and a child continues to put on weight."

Children who are deemed an extreme case often have already developed adult diseases such as heart failure and diabetes.

Sleep apnoea is also a major concern, which can cause a child to stop breathing and die. Dr Alexander's report, in the Medical Journal of Australia, suggests every doctor has a duty to "report severe cases of inadequately managed paediatric obesity to the authorities".

Last year the Government deemed obesity as a health priority along with heart disease and cancer.

Every child entering school this year must undergo a health check, measuring their body mass index, an indicator of obesity.

Where will this all end? Who will determine whether a child is too fat? or too thin? or too short? or too tall? or too smart? or too slow? or too fast (ADHD)? Who sets the standards and from what are they based? It is becoming extremely hard for parents to even trust doctors, teachers, social workers or others who will decide their children's future for them, because they don't want to regard the parents input (a lot of the time). What can we do to make sure this doesn't happen in our country?

Today is our Half Year Anniversary!!

I was just looking at the little anniversary counter at the bottom of the page and realized that we have been married 28 1/2 years. All I can say is 'WOW'. Who would have ever thought that we could have made it this far. I know the first chaplain we went to to perform our wedding, refused to perform it because he never thought we would make it. He said we had three strikes against us.

1. We were too young (18 and 22)
2. We were from different faiths (Protestant and Catholic)
3. Both of our parents were divorced.

Isn't God GREAT!!! I don't believe we were too young, just unprepared. Ralph became a Christian 10 months after we were married. Here we are 28 1/2 years later and still together. And we knew it is only by the grace of God. He has blessed us and prospered us, not necessarily monetarily (but we aren't poor either), but definately spiritually. He has also blessed us with four wonderful children. What more could we ask for.

Thank you, God for blessing me with the most wonderful husband in the whole world and for helping us to remain together when the whole world didn't give us a chance.

Thank you, Ralph for putting up with a lot of immaturity over the years. I still feel I have a lot of growing up to do. But you have been such a patient, wise, discerning husband. Thank you for being the head or our home. I look forward to many, many more years together.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Sample posting with new signature

Hello Everyone,
I have created my own signature and wanted to try it out. What do you think? A special thanks goes to my certified MIT friend, Serenity!! (she gave me the 12 step program of making your own signature).

Pay It Forward Invitation is Closed

I want to thank the three ladies, Grace, Carrie and Jennifer, who chose to be a part of the Pay it Forward. I look forward to blessing them with the talents and abilities God has given me.

For those who like to participate in something like this, just invite people like I did and keep it going. This is going to be great fun!!

Update on Pay It Forward

OK, we have two ladies who have signed up, so we can have one more person participate. Who wants the final slot? Ladies, I am really looking forward to making you both something very special.

On one of my favorite and most inspirational blogs to read, Paula has posted a fun activity that is going around the blogs called Pay It Forward. How it works is that the first 3 people who sign up for it are sent a handmade item from me. After signing up, they post about Pay It Forward on their own blogs and do the same, making and sending a handmade item to 3 people who sign up. And so it continues on with each person.Pay It Forwards can be any handmade item or craft that you choose to send. The items do not have to be large, just something that you have made. According to the rules, you have 365 days to make & send the PIFs but most send them out much sooner. If you are interested in signing up, send an email or post a comment saying so. Once I contact you to let you know that you are one of the first 3 to sign up, you can then go ahead and post on your own blog about Pay It Forward. It sounds like a lot of fun and I am looking forward to doing this.Anyone interested in signing up? I can't wait to begin making and sending these items out.