Hello friends! Today I have a special surprise for you! This post is my 800th post since I began this blog waaaay back in 2007. Hard to believe I’ve had enough things to say to fill 800 posts already!
So today, just for you, I have a GIVEAWAY! Woot woot! Who doesn’t love a giveaway? I’ll be giving away one of my handmade fabric covered notebooks {pictured below}. I mean, no strings attached here either. I’m not going to require that you follow me, friend me or tweet me or anything crazy like that. It’s just a pure and simple FREE giveaway. OK, so you DO have to do ONE thing – leave a comment on this post sharing one thing that has helped you be a JOYful wife or mother. And if you’re not a wife or mother, don’t worry – you can still share! Just say something that helps you choose joy in your life.
I’ll be honest, I’m asking you to share because I’d LOVE to hear from YOU! I haven’t seen too much in the way of comments on here {which is fine, I read a lot of blogs and don’t comment much either} but I’m sure you ALL have wonderful things to share about being JOYFUL, right?!
So I want to hear from you …. and maybe, just maybe, I’ll do a post featuring some of your comments and ideas!
Please feel free to let others know about this giveaway too. I welcome anyone to enter.
Hmmmm, you know what … now that I’m sitting here thinking about this – I’ve decided that I will give away ONE notebook for every 20 people that comment. So if more people comment, more notebooks will be given away! 25 people = 1 notebook 44 = TWO! You get the idea!
These notebooks are great for journaling, gift-giving, keeping a list of things you’re thankful for, etc, etc, etc. And the best part is that when the notebook is full, you can simply slip it out of the fabric cover, and slide a new notebook in – it’s a gift that keeps on giving! Each notebook comes with a pretty pencil too. =) Here are the styles you’ll have to choose from:
{Green polkadot w/ butterfly pocket}
{Blue Floral}
{Brown and Turquoise Paisley}
{Bright Floral}
{Brown, pink & blue stripes}
Today’s Challenge:
COMMENT here about something that has helped you choose JOY in your life. If you simply say ‘I’d love to win’, it WON’T count! {Just warnin’ ya!} =) Best of luck to all who enter!
OH ~ I will keep the giveaway open until FRIDAY, OCT. 21st at MIDNIGHT. So enter NOW!
15 comments:
First I want to say that I love this series you're doing and I sooo want to come back and read them again and do this "challenge" at another time when I can truly focus on it better! Something that helps me choose joy is MUSIC!! I loooove making music, and starting the day playing guitar songs at the table while the kids are having breakfast totally gets me going for the day! Or ending the day with some time at the piano and the kids dance around me is just the best to me. And of course I always have the radio playing to KLOVE in the car. (Your notebooks are lovely!! The blue floral is my favorite!)
Hi Kathy! I have really been enjoying your blog and especially this series you are doing. Choosing to be joyful is a challenge for me and so I have learned from your posts. One thing I have found that helps me to be joyful as a wife and mother is to meditate on where my life would be and what I would be doing if I were single or childless. Although there are days when I picture myself at Starbucks in a trendy outfit ;) most days I realize that I would be instead pining for the life that I actually have now. That girl would kick me repeatedly for not enjoying this life that I have. So I choose to be joyful in it!
Thanks for the giveaway!
Hi Kathy!
Choosing to be joyful is not always easy. I have struggled with not being joyful in the life God has given me because I never wanted to be a mom. I am not living my dream life. Every morning I have to choose to be joyful because I KNOW I am blessed beyond words and God will give me the joy, the strength, and the desire to do what I need to do everyday. James 1:2 has been a staple in my daily walk "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when facing various trials." No matter what I'm facing on a day-to-day basis (and even in those unexpected events), I have joy because I have the Lord.
Great idea on the giveaway! Thanks for sharing this eye-opening series.
I find myself so much more joyful as a mom when i remember how quickly the days are passing. I want to cherish every minute!
I find myself so much more joyful as a mom when i remember how quickly the days are passing. I want to cherish every minute!
Oh, Kathy!!!! What a GREAT giveaway!!!! ***squeal*** I'd love to win!!!!!!
Totally had to tease you there! ;)
Thank you for sharing your heart with us through this series. I've appreciated each and every post. It is a treasure to have your transparent thoughts and the lessons you have learned. God is so good! {I'm glad you posted the giveaway so that I would get in gear and actually click over from my reader to comment. I am so bad like that}
For me, choosing joy has more to do with my time in the Lord's presence and in His Word than anything else. It also has to do with surrendering my natural tendencies to Him and choosing obedience. The more I am enjoying my precious Savior, feeding on His Word, and then walking in fellowship with Him, the more the joy comes. Keeping that time a priority has always been a struggle for me. There are always a million tasks that call for my attention. I also hate getting up early. I have lots of excuses/reasons to stay in bed and catch those extra zzz's, but what a difference being with the Lord makes.
I'm so glad you're still blogging! I love reading all about you (haha). I choose joy when I stop and consciously give thanks for the blessings I have been given. Reading your blog and about your 1000 gifts project has taught me a lot about that, as well as Proverbs 30:8-9. I tend to get bummed about about money a lot (that's my biggest source of discontentment right now) and I keep that verse in mind often. God has faithfully and consistently provided just enough for us to live "in the middle," and I try to see it as a blessing rather than the curse that my brain can twist it around to feel like.
I choose joy daily...every morning I get up and choose joy in my life. I am grateful for my life, my family and my God. I receive innumerable amounts of joy from His word--studying and delving deeper into it as often as I can. I also thoroughly enjoy the fellowship of others...even if it is only through the reading of blogs and posting.
Well I might be the morbid one in the group but I choose to be joyful because all that I have could be gone in a blink. A car accident. A disease or illness. A fire.... all gone and changed in an instant. So when I remember how temporary all this is... ya that perspective keeps the joy a flowin.
Choosing Joy in parenting for me started with my eyes being opened to how precious just being able to have one child was. When I had my first miscarriage about 15 months after having my daughter Emily that sent our hopes & dreams to a screeching halt. Then shortly afterwards to loose twins at our 11 week appt. just rocked our world. We went back and forth to Yale for a few months undergoing testing being followed by the specialists, unsure if we would ever be able to bring another child into the world. It was a scary time and a day felt like a lifetime. The Lord really worked in my heart during that time & it gave me such a new appreciation for my child. Of course we were able to conceive again and in December of '07 we welcome Sarah JOY into our lives. The name largely chosen for just this reason, to remember that this life is a Joy and to never take a day for granted.
JOY...Well, I have certainly learned it is a CHOICE! It's easier to not be joyful some days. My joy ultimately comes from the Lord, and He gives it to me in so many ways. My favorite way He gives it to me is through the laughter of my children.
I didn't even know you HAD a blog!!! I love this!
Thank you for posting this challenge. I loved reading what all of these women are saying. It's funny how we can be in different seasons and forget the benefits of it. Like Christina wonders what...."I would be doing if I were single or childless." and realizes that that girl would kick her!!! LOL!!
I laugh bc that is me! I sit in Starbucks and stare at all the moms, wishing it were me!
I also identified with Amy so much. When my husband and I decided to start trying to make a family we got pregnant right away only to lose the baby at 9 weeks. We were devastated and for the past 15 months have been waiting for God to bless us with another pregnancy/baby. Between doctor visits and fertility treatments there are days when I struggle to find my joy. When one day feels like an eternity, it's a battle.
I find my joy through worship. Quite honestly, it's the last thing I feel like doing in my lowest times... but I know as I begin to worship the Lord for His greatness, His love, His faithfulness... basically getting my eyes off of ME .... JOY comes and it IS my strength!!!
what gives me Joy as a mom? Being a stay-at-home mother and teaching my children manners and how to cook...then watching them do things on their own that I taught them! Amazing! I was a child that was in day care everyday while my mom worked so for me to be able to stay home with my children is a JOY!
This is so awesome that you have this blog. I look forward to reading it more.
Since you bought the subject up about what brings you joy I have thinking a lot about it. I am not a mom or wife so I will tell you what brings joy to me.
I find joy in the every day things. As you know I am a nanny. I found joy this morning as I was laying on the floor in the kitchen (don't ask) and having a 5 year sitting on the counter laughing. Waking them up in the morning knowing that our favorite thing to do is to be tickled awake. The joy of a beautiful fall day and thankful I am alive to see it. Holding hands with someone and feeling peace finally, even if it is short time knowing that you will be thankful for that little time with them. I have found joy in realizing that even though the last few months have been a struggle that I am doing the will of my Father in heaven and that He has placed me here for a reason. I have this quote on my facebook wall by C.S. Lewis "Joy is the serious business of heaven" Doesn't that just sum it all up?
Making a conscious decision to choose to be joyful has to be daily for me. I can get so bogged down with the daily grind that I forget about all of the blessings, big ones and little ones. I find that when I focus on myself: my tiredness, my frustrations, my long list of to-do's, that I lose joy almost entirely. However, when I focus on serving my family the joy returns!
Btw, those notebooks are ADORABLE & I hope I win:)))
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