Making the Dinner Table Family Time

This is a sponsored post on behalf of U.S. Cellular.

I think most of us have always thought that sharing a meal together is good for spirit, brain, and health of all family members.  The Family Dinner Project has confirmed that.  October is Eat Better, Eat Together Month, but I really think every month of the year this concept should be practiced.  In fact, I often stay up very late until my husband arrives home from work for us to have dinner together.  (We do not have children, so this is possible.) 


When he works late, the responsibility for fixing dinner is on me.  While I use my cookbook collection (remember those?) my husband, on his nights to cook, prefers using apps.  It's not uncommon for me to wander into the kitchen and I ask what is for dinner and see him searching Yummly on his iPhone 8.  Sometimes he uses the AllRecipes Dinner Spinner to seek out something interesting to cook for dinner.  (Yes, ladies, you can be jealous that my husband considers cooking a hobby!  I realize how lucky I am!) 

My 5 Favorite Fall / Halloween Children's Books From My Childhood

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I love doing these posts to help introduce a new generation to some of my childhood favorites.  I hope you find something you and your child enjoy here.

The one Halloween book that stands out to me most is Grandpa's Ghosts Stories.  I'm not the only one who would put this at the top of the list -- it FINALLY came back into print after the ones from the late 70s and early 80s were going for huge prices on eBay and Amazon.  (I have to confess, I sold mine once when I desperately needed the $60 it was going for.)  Now that it is back in print, I plan to get another copy!  But enough about the high prices this one could fetch, let's get to what I remember about the book.   It was fun, and I think you would enjoy love it.  There's a scary thunderstorm out, and Grandpa starts telling stories of things that are a lot scarier -- like a witch that turns little boys into spiders.  I got it from Weekly Reader book club about 1979, and it's the first book I think of when I think of Halloween.  (Although this isn't exactly a Halloween book, the content is appropriate for the season.)

The KJV Know the Word Study Bible & Kindle Fire Giveaway

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Diving deeper into God's Word can be easy and rewarding if you break it down book by book, verse by verse, or topic by topic with the new KJV Know The Word Study Bible by Thomas Nelson. The book-by-book series of notes leads you through the main points of each book of the Bible. The verse-by-verse notes help you to dig deeper into God’s Word. The topic-by-topic articles, which cover 21 theological topics, guide you through a series of insightful notes and give you a thorough biblical understanding of each topic. With the beautiful and timeless text of the KJV translation, the KJV Know the Word Study Bible offers you choices of how to study Scripture and grow in your relationship with Christ.




This fall, become a regular student of the Bible and enter to win the Kindle Fire giveaway!







 

One grand prize winner will receive:



Enter today by clicking the icon below, but hurry! The giveaway ends on October 31. The winner will be announced November 1 on the Litfuse blog.

• A copy of the KJV Know The Word Study Bible


• A Kindle Fire 7


• A Kindle Fire case (winner's choice)

Matthew West's All In Album -- Power! Love! Sound Mind!

I have always loved Matthew West's albums.  They deal with real life.  They give hope, and they have always met or exceeded my expectations.  So when I was given the opportunity to review this album, I immediately was excited about it.

The Album is called All In, but I'm torn between what songs are my favorite.  I believe I have a new "anthem" for my life at the present.  But I'm thinking it's going to be three songs right in a row on this CD.

Track 10:  Power Love Sound Mind
Track 11:  Never Ever Give Up
Track 12:  Dream Again

While I have to admit that one thing that makes these three tracks especially stand out to me is my state is mentioned in Never Ever Give Up.

Use Your Talents for a Christmas Without Debt!

FTC disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links.

Do you ever get to the holiday season and panic?  Wonder where the money is going to come from to buy gifts, decorations, cards, and all the foods and candies that in our mind seem to make our December the most costly month of the year?  Do you wonder how you can cut down on the stress of the holiday and do more than just survive but actually do something you haven't done since you were a child -- ENJOY Christmas to the fullest?

The goal of this series is to arrive at Christmas without debt and to be better prepared.  Christmas isn't an emergency, and it's something we can plan for, and planning takes preparation and time.  This month I'm going to focus on homemade gifts.

The Money Challenge by Art Rainer

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The Money Challenge:  30 Days of Discovering God's Design for You and Your Money by Art Rainer is a short book, but stuffed with content.   At only 148 pages (and in a smaller sized hardcover book, at that!), this book is an easy read to get anyone started on their financial plan.

Being a savings and finance blogger, there was nothing new to me here, but I like to review books like this to let my readers see what is out there as resources.  This book is one that I would highly recommend.

Even though I am good with money, I am not where I would like to be in life with my bank account.  Part of that is because I took care of my sick mother for so long, meaning I couldn't get a job outside the house.  So, I feel like I'm starting again when it comes to money.  I'm sure I'm not the only one in mid-life like this.

College Then and College Now

This is a sponsored post.  All opinions are my own.  May contain referral links.

School is in full swing at the university town near me.  I'm in the city about once a week and I always see college students with their backpacks full of books, hearts full of dreams and a mobile phone in hand.

As I look at the new generation of students at my Alma Mater, I have to think back to my days of school in a non-tech world.  I not only had to go to a computer lab to check e-mail as no one had computers at that time, but we also had to take a floppy disk with us to be able to access our e-mail.  We were unreachable unless we were in our dorm room, and the only way we could watch a movie was to go out and rent something on VHS.

So how has technology changed how one goes to school?  Many different ways.  I remember taking an off campus class when I was in college.  The lectures were on TV on the public TV station in the early morning hours.  I had to set my VCR to tape them.  (And I waited until near the end of the semester and my VHS tape broke, so I wasn't able to access any lectures!  I still made a C in the class even though I basically didn't go all semester.)

Gift Ideas for Missionaries. Overseas Workers, And Other ExPatriots

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Because of shipping times, if you want to send your favorite (or a random!) missionary who is overseas a package for Christmas, you better get the package ready soon.  Don't know what to send? This is an adapted list of things friends of mine who are missionaries would LOVE to receive in a package from home.  Some things are inexpensive and can't be bought overseas, but might be heavy and cost more to ship.  But there are some things that are smaller and light weight that would be less expensive to mail.

Electronic Gifts:
Amazon Gift cards -- most missionaries have a Kindle.  Or they could download a new album.  You can send a gift card in as little as $1, so don't think you have to spend a lot.  If several people sent a small amount, they could get a new book.

Paypal or Money -- send them some cash -- they may live in a place that sounds exotic to us, but they don't always have the resources to do something fun in their host country.  You could even say "Take the kids to McDonalds for dinner" or "treat yourselves to a date night" or just tell them to do something fun.

Planning a Wedding that Honors Christ

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Fifteen years ago, I went to what I considered the most Christian wedding I ever experienced.  From the beginning to the end of the ceremony, it honestly felt as if it was a church service.  After that, I always wanted to fashion my wedding after it.  When I was newly engaged, I got advice from lots of people as to what I should do, what books, planners, etc., were most helpful, but believe it or not, the one I used the most was A Christ Centered Wedding.  This book included everything I had hoped to find in a Christian wedding planning book, and also gave my husband to be and I some great discussions as to what we hoped to accomplish at the wedding and reception -- and some things we wanted to leave out -- such as alcohol and dancing -- and how to handle that with people who put those expectations on our wedding.

Book Review: Fierce Women by Kimberly Wagner

FTC disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.  All opinions are my own.  This post contains affiliate links.  

Growing up in church I was taught the importance of being meek and mild.  The verse in  First Peter where women should have a gentle and quiet spirit was impressed on me.  I wasn’t the most lady-like girl in the youth group and I always thought I was failing to live up to what God expected from me.  So when I saw that Moody Publishers was offering Fierce Women:  The Power of a Soft Warrior by Kimberly Wagner for review, I couldn’t wait to request it.

The author believes that God has instilled a fierceness within every woman.  I have always been a go-getter and this really interested me -- what if my personality isn’t something to always squelch but to embrace as God-given?  The thought really intrigued me.

Yet, this was a book much about marriage.   I’m not married, but I am dating a wonderful man.  Learning about what works and doesn’t work in marriage is something that I find helpful at this stage because I feel like what I learn now is preparation.  Sort of like studying for an exam.  Yet, even with this being a book about marriage, I still gleaned a lot of wisdom from this volume especially since I wanted to see how to be godly and fierce at the same time.

I loved the list of how humility affects a fierce woman.  I think the defining one for me is she’s a soft warrior.  Not harsh.  She gets the job done in her own kind way.   Other advice she gives through the book is to watch how we give advice to men (I’m learning that already.  I might be excited about a completed project and rattle on about that, but instead of it sounding like I’m just looking forward to completion, it might be interpreted differently by a man.)  I also loved how she described how the marriage relationship parallels Christ and the Church.  This is something I think hasn’t been taught on enough in Christianity.