The Verdict

Well, hello there! I know you guys must be biting your nails in anticipation of the following announcement! Exactly who will win the coveted $10 Starbucks card?

I want to tell you, I do. And I know you will be tempted to scroll down and look for your name in the bold print at the end of this post...but DON'T DO IT! Not yet.

First I must address your comments on the subject. I will admit I was actually a little surprised that there were comments. I half expected you all to balk at my little proposal. I mean, if I'm being honest, it would take A WHOLE LOT MORE COFFEE than that to get me to do the same thing. Of course, I don't have a creative bone in my body and some of you come by that naturally! I am so thankful for those of you who come by that naturally!

Now, before I announce the winner, I feel like I should award a few "honorable mentions". I'm afraid you don't win anything (because again...I'm CHEAP and HELLO our country is in an ECONOMIC CRISIS!), but you do win my gratitude for putting some real thought into this whole thing on my behalf!

The first "honorable mention" goes to Tiffani at Bears and Belles. First of all Tiffani is super sweet and quite obviously has the gift of encouragement. I thought her idea was really cute, but she kind of lost me when she mentioned putting Spot in the header of my blog...I mean, I'm having a hard enough time dealing with him being in my house! ;-)

The second "honorable mention" goes to Heather C at A Woman's Worth. She said I reminded her of sunshine! I mean, come on...that alone deserves a free Starbucks card! So sweet. However, I can't in good conscience say that I am all that sunshiny. And when I mentioned the possibility to my good friend Janelle the other day she said, "Yeah, you're more like partly cloudy.".

And I was like...YES, that's it. There IS sunshine there, but it's not full on sunshine. Yep, that's me...partly cloudy! ;-)

And the last honorable mention goes to my "real life" friend Dawn. She had some really great ideas on a color scheme and suggested using one of my favorite verses in the header. Her comment was so nice, too. Thanks so much for your sweet words, Dawn!

And now, last but not least...the WINNER! This person went above and beyond by actually emailing me two designs that she custom made for me! I know! How cool is that? She also said she would be willing to work with me to create a special design based on some ideas that I have! Yeehaw! I'm so excited! So, the $10 Starbucks card is officially awarded to...

Jackie at Our Moments Our Memories!

Congratulations, Jackie! Thanks so much for being willing to do this. I'm looking forward to working with you on a wonderful new design. Also, many thanks to all who commented for your thoughtful and creative input!

For All You Readers

This is from a PR company that I have done some book review for...

Do you read Christian novels? Do you buy Christian novels? GRPR is conducting a research study and wants to know more about you! If you would like to participate, go to http://tiny.cc/G4IsN to take an anonymous survey about buying Christian fiction. At the end, you can enter to win a library of TEN Christian novels!

Worth a shot, right?

A Proposition

SO. I am really over this blog design. I'm pretty sure you guys are, too. How about a new look? It's only been like 3 years or something. Sheesh. I'm obviously a woman who is prone to change.

ANYWAY. Here is what I propose. A little GIVEAWAY! Don't get too excited...I'm cheap. And (I'll even admit) a bit lazy because I'm basically using this as a shameless ploy to get you guys to do the work of finding a new design for me. But at least I'm being upfront about that. And of course, it is PURELY optional. You only have to play along if you want to OR if you want a FREE $10 Starbucks gift card (you can't say I didn't warn you about the cheap part).

Wanna know how you can win? All you have to do is give me the inspiration I need to change my design. I will set no parameters on how you inspire the new design. You can find a free design online, or a really great blog designer, or come up with your own concept...the sky is the limit.

If YOUR idea, design, designer, color scheme, etc. inspires me to actually change my design...you win! You'll win the Starbucks card and ALL THE CREDIT somewhere on this blog for being the inspiration of the FABULOUS new design.

I know.

It's kind of lame.

But worth a try.

I guess I should make a deadline for the entries or something.

How about...

Wednesday, March 25th at midnight

I'll consider all the entries and announce the winner on or before...

Sunday, March 29th at midnight

The midnight part makes it sound more official...don't ya think?

Brotherly Love

I think that our boys have a pretty typical sibling relationship. We have good days and bad days. It's kind of like the whole "waking up on the right or wrong side of the bed" thing. There are days that they get along great and I stumble upon them (gasp) cooperating and enjoying each others company. And then there are days when they literally "come out swinging" from their bedroom doors first thing in the morning.

We had one of those days (the latter) last Saturday and I remember at one point in the day sighing and wondering to myself if they would ever become the kind of friends that I hope and pray they will be.

And then that evening, as if in response to my pondering, God blessed me with this...



They had asked to sleep together (something we allow when it is not a school night) and when I came in to check on them I found them snuggled together like this. I'm not sure if you can tell, but Richie had his arm around Will.

This gives me hope. A hope I will cling to on the good days...and the bad.