Jo-Ann Fabrics gift cards & more contest

Jo-Ann Fabrics is going to be doing a contest soon to giveaway up to a $500 gift card to their stores, as well as passes to attend their craft classes for free!  No one knows exactly when the contest will start, and the faster you respond after the contest starts, the better your chances of winning.  Sign up to be notified when the contest starts!  You can receive alerts by text or e-mail, depending on your preference.  

Check out the details here.

How One Person Can Make a Difference for Those Experiencing an Unplanned Pregnancy

I am pro-life.  I have been deeply saddened by all of the recent videos released regarding the disgusting activities going on at Planned Parenthood of selling aborted babies' body parts for research.  

I feel for everyone involved in an abortion decision: the woman choosing to get an abortion, the misguided employees and doctors who work at these clinics, and the family members surrounding all those involved.  There is pain and heartache in a decision like this, whether the parties realize it right away or not.  Some people do not believe they are doing anything wrong, others feel they have no choice or feel pressured into the decision, and yet others who perform these abortions feel they are doing something good for society.  I hurt for the babies who will never be given a chance to live their lives.  

When discussing these videos with a family member recently, they asked, "How much can one person really do though?"  Meaning, we might feel saddened by abortion, but if it's legal, what can we do to change it?  It's so easy to feel this way.  There is so much hurt in the world, and one person can't change it all, or even very much of it.  But, I do believe one person can make a small difference in some way wherever they are at.  At the time, I answered the question by saying we could call our representatives in government to voice our opinions, and while that is a good option, I came across another option today that is so easy to do, and can make a big difference too: supporting pregnancy resource centers.

Pregnant women who need help navigating the other options besides abortion can find help at pregnancy resource centers all across the country.  These are great organizations helping women everyday to choose life for their babies.  

Support Pregnancy Resource Centers

Volunteering or donating items or money to these centers is a great way to help out with immediate needs to support them in the work they do.  One very easy way to donate money is through automatic donation programs such as Amazon Smile or Kroger Community Rewards.  These programs donate a percentage of your purchase to the charitable organization you choose, at no extra cost to you. 

Let's look at the Amazon Smile program first.

Amazon Smile

I actually found out about this program from a local pregnancy resource center's donation page on their website.  

1. Go to smile.amazon.com and log in to your amazon account if not already logged in.

2. Search by name, location or keyword to find a center near you, and select that as your charity to support.

Once you have designated a charity, just be sure to shop through the smile.amazon.com link, and check each item to see if it is eligible for a donation through the Smile program.  The current rate for donation is 0.5%.  Here is a breakdown of a shopping screen so you know how it should look once you've completed theses steps.

I chose a charity at random for this example; I am not personally familiar with this particular center and I'm not suggesting they are better than any other center.  I simply picked one based off a keyword search for "pregnancy."

So that's it!  A donation of 0.5% might seem small, but added together with lots of others doing 0.5%, it can really add up, plus it doesn't cost you anything extra when purchasing your item.  It's an automatic way to give without having to think about it too much.

Any additional questions you have can probably be answered by checking out the AmazonSmile Program Details.

Kroger Community Rewards

1. To activate participation in Kroger's Community Rewards program, sign in to your Kroger.com account linked to your Kroger Plus Card.  

2. Once signed in, click on the Community tab, then click on Community Rewards.

3. Here you will click on Enroll Now.

4. This will take you to a search box where you can search by name to find an organization to select.  I suggest searching "pregnancy" if you don't know a specific charity you'd like to support.

5. On the results page, just select which charity you'd like to support and click "Enroll."

Again, this option is automatic, donating a % to your selected charity without you having to even think about it!

These are just two options I've discovered recently that I think are really easy to do to support those experiencing an unplanned pregnancy, but these are by no means the only ways.

Prayer

We can pray daily for those facing unplanned pregnancies to have wisdom and courage to carry their pregnancy to term.  

We can pray for those working in abortion clinics, that they would become convicted and leave that profession.  

We can pray for those who are making the laws in our country, that they would have the courage to end abortion.  

We can pray for those working in pregnancy resource centers to have strength and wisdom to help those they interact with.

What are some ways you can help those facing an unplanned pregnancy?

Saying Goodbye to the Green Leg

Today was a very special day for our family.  Today our middle son, who is almost 3, got his hip spica cast taken off after having it on for 8 weeks.  Almost 9 weeks ago, he hit his left knee just right (or wrong, depending on how you look at it!) on a pan in the kitchen they were using for sailing some toy boats, and it caused a spiral fracture of his left femur.  He had to be put under to have the cast put on and stayed overnight in the hospital.  He and my husband spent Father's Day weekend there at the hospital, and they got to come home on Father's Day.

I was so overwhelmed at first, especially since I also had a 3 week old newborn to take care of as well!  We had to switch the kid's rooms around so that the two older ones were downstairs so as to not have to maneuver the steps with him in his cast, which meant the baby was moved upstairs, which made it a longer walk for me for those overnight feedings.

Originally we were told he would have it on for 6-8 weeks.  We were hoping for 6, but were disappointed at the 2 week follow up to find out he would have it on the full 8 weeks.  I made a paper chain with a verse from Psalms on each day's loop for us to read at bedtime, and also wrote the number of days we had left until cast removal day on each loop.

I thought the time was going to drag by and didn't see how in the world I could take care of him and a newborn, plus start homeschool for our older son for kindergarten.  I kept telling my husband through tears, "I am not strong enough for this," but God gave me strength to get through  each day in a way that I could not have done on my own.  He blessed us with great friends and family that brought meals and came over for visits to encourage us and help me once a week during the day while my husband was at work until I could figure out how to manage everything.  

Now that the cast is off, it is so good to feel like we can start to get back to a more normal family life again.  We took the rented wheelchair back today, because even though he is not walking yet, we can carry him a lot easier without the huge cast on anymore and don't need wheels inside at least.  We are looking forward to watching him run around the house and play like he used to!

Some things we are excited he gets to do now:

- sit at the table for meals, instead of him having to sit in his wheelchair with a lap tray
- get a normal bath in the tub
- move around to get toys on his own by scooting (crawling is still shaky for him)
- get a haircut!  We cut it the night before he got the cast on, but didn't want to do it again until it was off so the little hairs wouldn't get down in his cast and make him itchy

We know he still has a recovery period ahead of him until he can walk normally again, but we are so proud of how he is handling all of this and thankful he should make a full recovery.

Goodbye green leg!

Enter to win $5,000 in the Total Money Makeover $5,000 Giveaway!

I am a big fan of Dave Ramsey.  We were able to go through his class Financial Peace University 5 years ago when our first son was just 6 months old, and through his teachings, we were able to get our finances on track in order for me to eventually be able to quit my job and stay at home with our kids. Now, we still have a long way to go, don't get me wrong, but before we learned about Dave's Baby Steps to getting out of debt, we wouldn't have even dreamed of me being able to do that.  

So I am excited to pass along the news that Dave is giving away $5,000 cash in the Total Money Makeover $5,000 giveaway!  Enter once per day using the link below through September 1, 2015.  Please be sure to read the official rules as well, since residents of New York, Florida and Rhode Island are excluded from the giveaway (sorry guys!).

FREE $35 to spend on Yerdle, plus free shipping on your first purchase, through Aug. 13!

I recently discovered Yerdle, a new e-bay alternative that's really more of a swap site, where users post items for sale, and buyers pay for the items with Yerdle $.  1 Yerdle $ = 1 US $.  If you have Y$ in your account already, when you buy something the only cost is for shipping, currently only $4-$6 depending on the item.

Today through tomorrow, August 13, Yerdle is giving new users Y$35 plus free shipping on your first item, so basically a free item!  This is a great deal, and there is a large variety of items being listed all the time.  You never know what you might find!

Another great feature about Yerdle is that there are no fees for the seller, the giver of the item!