Hug Challenge

Mission Accomplished!!!
This was a wonderful bonding experience with my kids. You should try it sometime. I will say that 100 is a lot of hug, double that and you will need a relaxing soak afterwards. Maybe I will have toned arms after this... Anywhoo Have a wonderful weekend!!!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY/ HUG CHALLENGE!

hug graphic from art.com
I wanted to take a quick moment and wishe everyone a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Today is a day that I like but somewhat dislike. I hate the commercialism of Valentines Day and the value system that is placed on this one day. My motto is " Love like everyday is Valentine's Day" So with that being said I won't continue to sound like a VDay basher. I will move on to the next subject. My Hug Challenge.

Of course when I told my girls about it they were estatic. So all morning I was hugging and I am down near half. Needless to say tonight is going to be a busy night. All in all I wouldn't trade the grins and laughter for anything. I may have to try this more often. Its contaigeous.

To my special Valentine's, I love you! You are the best things that have happened in my life. I will always thank God for the gift of unmeasurable, unconditional, and pure love. I am truly blessed!

Have a wonderful day full of love and if you think you have no one to love or who loves you, then reflect on Christ the one who loves you so much that he died for you. Think of your self today, make it a point to say to yourself 5 good things about you. Please don't fall into the trap of letting balloons, hearts, chocolates, bears and all that other stuff define your worth. If you don't get anything from a person then guess what, TREAT YOURSELF!!!!!

Be Blessed and Stay Encouraged and remember that GOD LOVES YOU!!

100 Hugs Valentine Challenge

Okay, work with me on this one! I know I am on a roll and am trying to catch up for lost blog time, but I am proposing a challenge. Tomorrow as we all know is the worlds most expensive display of love day Valentine's Day. I was trying to find something creative to do with my girls and voila! I have an idea. Starting now, right now until tomorrow when they go to bed I am going to give both of my girls 100 hugs.... each!

Now I am not just going to hug them robotically, but I am going to make a game of it. I am going to tell them and make them tally up each time they get a hug... Trust me they will keep me on my toes and they won't let me forget my spot.

Having them count down and keep me abreast will probably be the most enjoyable part of the whole challenge. So if you are up to it, find a creative way to keep score and hug each one of your kids and or spouse 100 times before their bed-time tomorrow! Link back in and tell me how its going if you like and pictures will always make the show brighter. So move those arms and get to huggin!

ps: It's free!

Judged By Every Idle Word- Advice & All

Today will more than likely be one of my longer posts. In part because it will be two-fold. One, I was reading a post by Anna S in which she shared a touching and sad email from a reader seeking advice about how to handle a very sensitive subject, namely her unhappy marriage. I couldn't help but to share my points of view on some of the comments that were left for the author of the e-mail. Two I wanted to elaborate on a piece of advice the reader left in her email to single women who are seeking marriage and how not to follow in her footsteps.

Please, please visit Anna's post in its entirety here. Also with her permission I included a little excerpt from her post which is a part of the email sent to her. Thanks Anna for such a wonderful post and allowing me to share my point of view.

My marriage has been a disaster. It has been emotionally taxing for me. He is not really a Christian. He smokes, decided he wanted to become a "rapper" and spends every weekend in the club promoting his music. I have seen emails where he flirts with other females and encourages them to call him. He does not want me to be a stay at home mother to our child, preferring instead for him to go to daycare. A woman sent me an email telling me that they have been having an affair for almost a year. But, he vehemently denies it.I want to get a divorce soooooo bad!!! I wish I had been wiser. I should have married a man who was a strong Christian, with longer evidence of living the Christian life. I had been wise in my relationships up until him. Me being a "silly" woman in the end and marrying this man has made my lifemiserable, and my parents stressed with worry, because they know that I deserve better, and think that I should leave him.

Okay now for my little random two cents. I feel for this lady, I feel for her so bad because I can understand how she feels. However, as I stated when I left my comment on her post, all I feel that I can do is pray that God shows her unmistakably what HE wants for her to do concerning this situation that HE has allowed in her life for reasons un-comprehendible to us who may read about it.

On my blog I try real hard not to make it practice to solicit or give out advice concerning deep personal matters on marriage, sex, childrearing and other such topics. I do share my beliefs on certian topics on according to what God shows me, but I do wonder how God feels if or when we tell another person something that may not be in His will.

Not to say that I am bashing anyone who does, but I don't feel comfortable. Some of the comments ranged from leave him, to pray for him, to you can leave him but never remarry and while they all may sound correct, how do we as mere servants have the right to advise someone on things that will have to be given an account for at the day of judgment? Scripture clearly states that we will be judged for EVERY idle word! Every comment, every piece of advice, every thought that never even made it out of our mouth.

I do believe wholeheartedly in teaching, encouraging and training and giving sound scriptural and natural advice to each other as women as well as learning from one another on biblical principles. I just don't feel comfortable with advising someone on certain topics that may cross certain spiritual boundaries or that are very personal in nature (even if I have been through the same ordeal). What worked for me in a situation may not be in God's plan for another. I fear standing before God and him saying "you shouldn't have told such and such that, she listened to you and that is not what I had in my will for her to do!" I just think that we as sisters need to make sure that when we comment on someone's personal situations we are truly led by God before we give out advise. Or better yet just pray with and/or for the person that they will be able to see and hear God's voice and understanding for thier situation. I could very well be wrong.

Okay, that's enough on that soap box. My second point was in relation to what the reader advised single women to do when waiting for a mate. This is what she said and I agree wholeheartedly.

"So, I encourage all unmarried ladies to really pray and seek God before deciding to marry someone, talk to your parents, and really know that this man leads a life of integrity. It will save you much heartache later on"

This was the most powerful part of the whole e-mail in my eyes. As a single woman who desires marriage, I don't want this to happen to me. I lived relationships enough like this before I allowed God in my life and if I could do one thing, it would be to encourage other single women to wait on God. It is so worth it! No amount of lonliness now is worth a lifetime vow of miserableness in the future. There is so much more I could say and share but I will save it for later. Thanks for reading. Be Blessed and Stay Encouraged! -smfg

Yea!!!!! I Won Something!

Thanks to my blogging buddy Terry, for giving me this wonderful award on her blog!! She and her blog Ornaments of Grace has been very instrumental in inspiring some of my thoughts and I have learned so much from her and the other ladies that she links to! Thanks Terry, I would give an acceptance speech, but since speeches and embarassment go hand in hand for me I will just simply say thanks for this blessing!!!!

In my token of good faith, I would like to pass this award on to Lylah, and Persuaded because they are my singlemomma twins seperated before conception. Llyah who once was a single mom; and is now married to her "Music Man" has been an inspirational life coach for women of all walks and stages of life. Diane (Persuaded) always tickles me with her humerous antics and promises of an arranged marriage between her darling son and one of my daughters! I love the fact that she is a Christian, single, stay at home, homeschooling mama who always is full of laughter and brightness! Thanks to all you ladies who continously encourage me and keep me wanting to write more. You will never know how much you help me daily.

Be Blessed and Stay encouraged!-smfg