EmpowerMoms

 

 For a limited time, you can listen to a new episode of Adventures in Odyssey for FREE! Album 58, The Ties that Bind, will be available this fall for digital download and CD purchase, but if you join the Odyssey Adventures Club, you can listen to the full album now! Guess what? The $5 special held last month was extended through the end of July, too, so you can join in the fun for only $5! Here’s what part one is about (which you can listen to for free HERE):

It’s a time of surprises as Wooton becomes the celebrity guest at Comic-Connellsville and Whit finds himself in conflict over the upcoming “Let’s Get Together Festival” in Odyssey. Plus, hear an interview with writer-director Paul McCusker about the entire 14-part series.

Album 58 was inspired by Focus on the Family’s The Family Project, a 12-session small group experience that explores the theological, philosophical, and cultural underpinnings of the traditional family, and combines that information with inspiring stories and practical tools to help 21st-century families thrive. One way families can carry out God’s design for families is by serving their community—right where God has planted them, being His hands and feet together. Want to serve your community with your family, maybe make a day of out it? Here are some fantastic ideas from some Adventures in Odyssey bloggers and club members:

• Make scarves through the year and deliver them to your local homeless shelter at the start of winter, or regularly donate food to your local food bank. —Shirley 
• Our family likes to help with Meals on Wheels. We also do reenactments of the Civil War and WWII to help educate people on history. I like to show my kids that we should be servers and givers by taking meals to people who need them (i.e. baby just born, someone died, someone had surgery, etc.). —Erin 
• We have been visiting a nursing home with friends once a month. The kids just sing and then we fellowship, but the ladies love it! —Lisa 
• We make lap blankets for nursing home residents and take the time to visit with them. We also collect food for the local food pantry. —Donna 
• We make blessing bags to give to the homeless when we encounter them. We also donate clothes and food to a local shelter. —Amy 
• Our MOPs (Mothers of Prechoolers) group supports our local Pregnancy Support Services with donations, gifts, and notes. We also supports the Durham Rescue Mission, which helps people break free from addictions and restore families. —Melissa 
• We live in a very rural area. Our church serves two of the poorest zip codes in the state, and about a decade ago, they started operating a food pantry out of a closet. It has expanded since then, so we now use the closet for storage, but the pantry is basically a classroom. The kids and I serve over there a lot. My 17-year-old and I go to Care & Share (50 miles away) to get food to bring back to the pantry. All of us help unload and stock shelves. On pantry days, everyone can get involved with helping people go through the line, playing with the kids, carrying boxes out to cars, etc. There are so many hungry folks, especially in the summer when school breakfasts and lunches aren’t available, and helping a bit to put food on some tables is such a blessing for us all. —Debra 
• We pack food bags each month for the homeless and needy through a thrift store that offers an outreach to the community. We also help clean our church and our Sunday school. —Michele 
• We work through our AHG troop to do several service activities a year. My girls just recently made bracelets they are selling, which 100% of the profits goes to Hope House in Africa to help young girls. —Sarah 
• Our church works with a homeless shelter in downtown Atlanta. We cook food ahead of time, and when our schedules allow we ride down with the group to serve the food. My son always reminds me when we haven’t been for awhile, so it’s something he looks forward to. —Maria 
• We do lots of random acts of kindnesses within our community: pay for others’ meals, leave change at a vending machine, hand out Gatorade/granola bars to people on the side of the road asking for food. We also love to support Mobile Loaves and Fishes. —Kathryn

Did that provide some ideas to give your family service activity the kick-start it needs? What other ideas do you have for serving your community? Share in the comments!

“When I fall in Love” follows the story of Grace & Max and Raina & Casper; as well as mentions characters from the previous two books in this series. 

This can be read as a stand alone book or as book 3 of the Christiansen Family series. I haven’t read the previous two books and was able to follow the family dynamics and story line just fine; although now I want to go back and read books 1 and 2 because I loved this book so much!

I loved reading about the personal struggles, family relationships, and faith building experiences that the characters went thru in this book. It felt very real and demonstrated the struggles that some of us go thru and how we can get thru those hard times by relying on our faith. There are references about having faith in God and the characters beliefs, but I did not find it too much or too preachy in this book. 

I love that most of the Grace and Max story is centered in Hawaii and during the 3 weeks they attend a cooking retreat. It was fun to read about the different Hawaiian recipes they made and it made me want to try some new things in my own kitchen. 

I really enjoyed reading this fun, romantic, clean christian book and would recommend!  
 
The next book-book 4 of this series called “Always on my mind” will be released in February. It will continue the Raina story, as well as others. I can’t wait!!     

About the book: 

About the author: 

Susan May Warren‘s newest book in the Christiansen Family Collection, When I Fall In Love,  has won over readers’ and critics’ hearts alike. With critical reviews like, “. . . an exquisite romance. Profoundly touching on the topic of facing fears, this book is a true gem,” and more than 60 five-star reviews at Amazon, When I Fall in Love is sure to please.

Susan has teamed up with some amazing food bloggers for a fun food challenge and a KitchenAid Mixer giveaway!

  One grand prize winner will receive:

• A KitchenAid Mixer
• The first three books in the Christiansen Family Collection.
• Melissa Ringstaff’s Kitchen Planner
• Jackie Brown’s Freezer Inventory sheet

Grab your aprons and wire whisks and buzz on over to the When I Fall in Love website to learn more and enter the Hawaiian Chef Showdown! Susan is challenging you to make a Hawaiian-inspired dish using coconut, mango, or one of the other ingredients mentioned in the book. You’ll get extra points for creating your own recipe—plus she might share it on the When I Fall in Love site! Or if you’re not up for an adventure in the kitchen just click one of the icons below for easy entry.

Hurry, the giveaway ends on August 10th. All winners will be announced August 13th at Susan’s blog.

Don’t miss a moment of the fun; enter today and be sure to visit Susan’s blog on the 13th to see if you won!

Finished up week 2 of Jillian Michaels Body Revolution last week and still loving it!!
(July 14-19)

Here is how my week went:

Tuesday
Workout #2 Body Revolution, JessicaSmith TV cardio workout. 

This is how my kids feel after working out with mommy! LOL 

Some of my food this week: 

How did your week go? 

I tried to eat healthy and I’m still eating clean and following examples from The Daniel Plan and Natalie Jill Fitness. I think I’m going to go back to logging my calories next week though because I haven’t been seeing a weight loss.  

I read this book in almost one night because I was so intrigued with the story line and the history of the war. 

The Butterfly and the Violin goes back and forth between two story lines-Sera in modern day time and Adele in the 1940s-both story lines merge by the end of the book. I would describe this book as being romantic, powerful and tragic. Both characters learned to rely on their faith of God and others around them to get them thru very hard times. 

I learned alot about the history of the concentration camps and liked reading the authors notes at the end of book about Holocaust art and women orchestras at concentration camps. 

This book was not something I typically read, but I was drawn into it early on and really enjoyed reading it! I would highly recommend it!    

About the book: A mysterious painting breathes hope and beauty into the darkest corners of Auschwitz—and the loneliest hearts of Manhattan.

About the author: Kristy Cambron has been fascinated with the WWII era since hearing her grandfather’s stories of the war. She holds an art history degree from Indiana University and received the Outstanding Art History Student Award. Kristy writes WWII and Regency era fiction and has placed first in the 2013 NTRWA Great Expectations and 2012 FCRW Beacon contests, and is a 2013 Laurie finalist. Kristy makes her home in Indiana with her husband and three football-loving sons.

I am so excited to share with my readers about a new website that I’ve been using the past couple of months. 
It’s called: 

About EveryMove:
EveryMove is on a mission to get the millions of Americans who are investing in their health the recognition and real-life rewards they deserve! Join an infectious, can-do community of EveryMovers who use their favorite tracking devices and apps to earn points for their active days. Our patent-pending EveryMove points system translates hundreds of different physical activities into a common metric, which allows users the freedom to switch up their tracking devices and workouts and interact with friends, no matter how they choose to move. 

Where to find EveryMove: 
Website: www.EveryMove.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/EveryMove
Twitter: www.twitter.com/EveryMove
Mobile app for iPhone: https://itunes.apple.com/app/id563721483
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.everymove.everymove

My thoughts about EveryMove:
I signed up for the Free EveryMove app a couple of months ago. I love that it syncs to my facebook, twitter, fitbit, myfitnesspal, and runkeeper apps. There’s many more apps to choose from as well.

Because I exercise almost every day I’ve been able to earn several rewards-8 rewards actually. I haven’t used all of them, but I have gotten some great discounts on some things like a Barre3 kit/subscription and a POUND exercise dvd pack. I’m also waiting on my free LUV dream flats. 

The only complaint that I have about the EveryMove program is that I wish they offered more free rewards, not just discounts. Sometimes I earn a discount and then don’t end up using it because I don’t want to buy any products from the company’s website so my discount goes to waste. 🙁 I think that the more popular this app gets, hopefully the better the incentives will be!! 

The website is super easy to use and it’s fun to interact with my EveryMove buddies. 
All you have to do is go to the website and sign up for your free account! Start logging your activities and you are on the way to earning rewards!! It’s that simple!! 

If you want to “friend” me on EveryMove, my name is “Rachel Williamson DeVaughn”. 

I am very excited that I get to offer one of my blog readers a massive EVERYMOVE PRIZE PACK!! US only-see below for details on how to win thru rafflecopter.     

a Rafflecopter giveaway