If you are in Wisconsin, which I am not, you can go here to see if your in the service area and request a siding, windows, or gutters estimate from WrightWay Inc. and they will give you a $20 gas card. Pretty good deal, I think.

What is it that makes Christians, or anybody really, feel the need to guilt each other into doing things? I am not talking about being held accountable for wrong actions, I am taking about feeling guilted into doing things that have no relevance to my Christianity or guilt me into signing something promising to act a certain way or do a certain thing.

I take issue with this. It really bothers me and I know I can’t be the only one bugged by it.

First, I make it a rule NOT to forward chain-like emails. It isn’t a time issue, I just don’t want to. I don’t care if the bottom line says that I am not a good Christian or I don’t have time for my friends. That is just dumb. The people who forward them to me are no more my friends and have no more time for me than they were or did before they sent it to me and I know that the people I might forward the email to won’t think of me as a better friend for bothering them with it. To be measured as a Christian or friend by how many people I forward an email to is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. Also, to add to it that something amazing will happen 8 minutes after I send it is just as idiotic, as well as pagan. I doubt God is going to bless me for forwarding an email.
So, typically, if I am forward an email I am not going to pass it on unless there is something specific that I think a certain person would find useful or cute.
Saying that, I don’t mind getting something cute or meaningful but I wish that little ‘guilt line’ would be deleted first. I think it is a wrong assumption that I would get a ‘better friend’ title by continuing to forward it.

Before I go on, on a similar note, if you are going to forward a piece of information that could be damaging to a person’s or company’s character (like Coke Cola has ‘Christian’s are dumb’ as their new advertising slogan) PLEASE check it out before you send it on. 100% of the forward emails I have gotten like these are untrue or skewed, 100%! Gossip is wrong whether it spews from your lips or your keyboard. It is easy to check out a spoof email. Go here and type in a few main words from it. You also might like to hang around. Snopes.com is a pretty cool place to find out what is true and what isn’t. I know this post is about me being annoyed at being guilted into things but if a Christian is gossiping they should feel guilty. It is a sin to bare false witness (the 8th commandment).

On to more guilt stuff…
Another thing that has bothered me for a while now are these little ‘guilt cards’ that many churches, including mine, are turning to get their congregation to do or not do something. Signing our name to a document is typically meant as an oath, a promise, to swear to something, a covenant, a binding agreement. It can be between two people or just for yourself; the meaning is still the same. I don’t feel these little covenant cards are right. Not just that, though, I believe they are un biblical.
As a Christian I am held to a very high standard. When I gave my life to Christ at age 23 it wasn’t a haphazard thing I decided to do – it was all or nothing. I committed in that moment to give all I had to being a Christian. ‘All I had’ has changed a bit since I was a baby Christian and, of course, I expect more and more out of myself as time goes by and as I learn more, but no covenant card brought me any closer to God. It was Bible study, prayer, devotions, and overall daily decisions that have made me the Christian I am today and, though I do have far to go, I can clearly see my past and how far I have come. A covenant card would have limited me sorely in my walk. I would be a failure if I lapsed in my covenant, an 8th commandment breaker, a Hippocrate.

I don’t feel that our church body should be getting all hopped up on little cards. For the majority of people who sign one, especially new Christians, it is just an ‘in the moment’ feeling that will flee within a few days or weeks. They are false convictions, only working for a short time. They make us look and feel like Hippocrates. Spouting that we are Christians, but making vows that we aren’t going to keep.
I may make a vow to read my Bible for 30 minutes everyday but if I miss a day I have broken that vow, which is not a good thing. My overall attitude should be to want to learn and study His word, not a grudging thing I promised I would do. God doesn’t want us to come with him with a grumpy heart. True Christianity comes from living in it, not from being guilted into signing something by one powerful speaker. It would be better to set goals for ourselves rather than vows. Broken goals can be reestablished. Broken vows are just broken vows.
I said above that I feel that these cards are un biblical, as well. In Matthew Jesus says something like this:

“Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, You shall not make false
vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord. But I say to you, make no oath at
all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is
the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great
King. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair
white or black. But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; and anything
beyond these is of evil”. Matthew 5:33-37

Then, the same idea is reiterated in James:

“But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with
any other oath; but let your yes be yes, and your no, no; so that you may not
fall under judgment.” James 5:12

I am not saying that all oaths or vows are wrong. When I married my husband I vowed to be his wife till death. I made this vow to God, which is an acceptable vow. However, to vow to God and then break it will cause you to fall under judgment.

“You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him, and swear by
His name. You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who
surround you” Deuteronomy 6:13-14

I am not saying that we shouldn’t make oaths or vows in our daily walk but I truly don’t feel that it should be a congregational thing. My walk with Christ is my own and when I choose to make a vow to God about something I am sure going to take it seriously, think on it for a time and choose my words wisely. It will never be something that I will make as a snap decision while I am having a ‘God’ adrenaline rush from a super awesome sermon.

This week I am giving away one of these Prince Lionheart Pregnancy pillows. This sage colored wedge pregnancy pillow is so soft and comfortable! I LOVE mine and still use it to stay off back pain.

• Provides relief and comfort for expectant Moms, breastfeeding moms, and those with aching back pain
• Amazing visco-elastic memory foam conforms to your body and reduces pressure
• Use between knees for better hip, leg and back alignment – especially helpful for those who suffer from sciatic nerve issues during pregnancy
• Washable quilted fabric

My personal opinion of the Prince Lionheart Pregnancy Pillow:
I love it! It is a pretty color and the fabric is soft. The memory foam makes it the best wedge pillow I have ever had. I also like that I can take the cover off to wash it when it gets covered in dog hair because our dog likes it as much as I do.

Retail Value – about $25

Now, for the rules…
US and Canada residence are welcome to enter per the rules below. Pay special attention to the closing date! You can enter twice by following the directions here by 2/10/08:

• Entry #1: If you run across this blog and you want to win this item just leave a comment.
• Entry #2: Link to this entry from your blog where you wrote about this giveaway and then leave a second comment with the link where you passed on this giveaway info. This entry should be SEPARATE from your first entry.

A winner will be chosen via a random number generator on 2/11/08. We will announce it on the blog as well as TRY to email the winner. I say ‘try’ because I often get email notices returned to me as undeliverable or the winner doesn’t give a method of contact. Please make sure you check back to see if you are the winner!

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And the winner of the ERGO accessories package is…

Kisha! She was chosen by a random number generator!
Congratulations, Kisha! I will be emailing you shortly.

If you did not win please don’t fret! We have a new giveaway starting every Monday so keep on entering to win fun baby gear!

Don’t forget to enter our big cloth diaper giveaway by the end of February!

CashCrate was a success! I made around $50 bucks total and my first check from them went through.
So, this idea is officially retired and I am on to try Blogsvertising, which so far has been a great success. I have made $23 in 4 posts. Very easy money though I haven’t been paid yet so I can’t officially recommend it yet. I will let you all know how it goes.

As for CashCrate, I do recommend it if you just want to earn a little extra money while nursing your baby or something. It was easy, and because I used a junk email address from Yahoo I didn’t get any extra spam in my regular email. I did receive a few more phone calls than usual, too, but not enough to make me regret trying CashCrate.

Overall, my review of Cash Crate is a good one. Give it a try!

Kristen from An Ordinary Life gave me an Excellent Blog Award! Thanks Kristen!!! I am touched and I really like her idea of passing it on.

Last week was very new to me. Watching poor Matthew(4) in such pain and not being able to do anything about it just about broke my heart. I know there are mothers who go through worse but for me, this was extremely out of the ordinary. From Wednesday through Sunday I was tired, having stayed up those nights with Matthew, talking him through the pain that his Tylonal 3 and Diazepan wouldn’t touch.
I couldn’t take the pain away so I prayed. I read over scripture, and prayed some more. It was during one of his series of painful muscle spasms that I ran across this message from Jesus.

Now, Matthew couldn’t understand this. He is only 4. However, I am his mother and all his burdens are mine to deal with as best as I can. This bit of scripture was such a blessing and it is what I focused on during those long nights and tough times during the days. I was heavy laden with Matthew’s suffering. I was tired and weighed down with concern and frustration because I could not help ease his pain. I wanted to holler out with him and cry his tears for him. When he would just hug his blanket and say over and over again with a desperate voice “I love my blankie, I love my blankie” I was beyond myself with grief for him. This piece of scripture reminded me that He was carrying us through this and He wouldn’t give Matthew or me more than we could handle. Although I didn’t sleep, I found rest in this knowledge.

The joy does come with the morning and Matthew only woke up once last night. We actually woke up today after a good nights sleep and Matthew was feeling pretty good although he did fall back to sleep already. His little crutches get here today and he is excited to try them out. He walked yesterday holding on to me and, even though his full leg cast is heavy, he is able to bear a little weight on it and move it forward. I am so proud of him. He is such a trooper!

This is the first broken bone (besides a few of my toes) that I have ever dealt with and it is a very new experience. I had no idea how much pain a broken bone could inflict upon a child. I have known other children who have broken bones but not with so much pain. His doctor said the muscle spasms are normal with broken bones but usually don’t happen in children. I am so glad we are past the worst of it!

Today Crystal, at Biblical Womanhood, challenged us to clean up our bathrooms top to bottom. I was up this morning with Matthew(4), who needed pain meds for his broken leg, and when he went back to sleep I decided to stay up and get something done. I like to check out Crystal’s blog every few days and she reminded me that Matthew’s pain these past five days made me forget about my chores. Sure, things like the dishes and laundry were still getting done but my bathroom was really bad. With 8 people in the house it really needs to be cleaned everyday.

So here is my before picture.

I took my Soft Scrub and went to town, starting in our shower/tub. As you can see, my husband installed two shower heads during the bathroom remodel last year and I love them! We also have those little shampoo/conditioner/soap dispensers hanging on the wall but it is behind the curtain so you can’t see them. I recommend these to anybody who is trying to organize themselves. I usually work my way back from there. This time I even cleaned the door, which usually gets neglected.
I emptied and cleaned the trash can, organized the magazine basket, and changed the hand towels after I finished scrubbing everything. Then I put everything away.
One of the green rugs are missing. Last night Ben(3) had a stinky accident and tried to clean it up himself. It was yucky and the green rug took most of the beating so it is being washed.

Here is my after picture. I usually keep my shower curtain closed so that is how I decided to take the picture but I did clean my shower and tub, honest!

It looks much better and it smells clean, too! Thank you, Crystal, for your making a home a haven challenges! It is weeks like the one we had last week that really makes mornings like today feel so good!

I looked into it, downloaded Modzilla Firefox, and discovered that Firefox doesn’t display slices like most browsers. There are some fixes for this but the trick is to know what fix you need for your particular issue. I don’t know much about that kind of stuff – I only know basic HTML so I don’t understand how to fix this. I am working on it but it seems like in working on it I may be messing it up in other browsers so I am tempted to give up for now. It is difficult to go view it in every browser everytime I try a change to the code.
So, if you are an expert or something in these things and know how to fix the problem please let me know.
If you are in any other browser but Firefox and you see the lines of death please let me know that, as well.

Thanks everybody! Hopefully Firefox will eventually get this issue figured out, however, from what I read last night they have had this problem since the beginning with no fix yet.

My husband and I always talk about going away for a romantic getaway every February. It never happens but, like little kids who dream big things, we still talk about it. I guess with six kids a long, romantic vacation is just a fun idea. I wouldn’t be too keen on leaving my littles just now anyway.