And The Winner Is...

Well the contest has come to a close. The good people over at random.org have chose the winner!
They chose comment number 16!

Allyson & Jere said...
Stopping by from SITS. I would totally have to go for the stroller. I need something lightweight and easier to lug around. Fun giveaway!

Congrats Allyson! I have a brand new stroller coming at ya!

Please e-mail what color you want, and your info to jennie.newland@yahoo.com by tomorrow at noon!

Thanks for playing!

A Big Man In A Little Boat

From the insistence of Angie I bought Zach The Jesus Storybook Bible. I can only think of one word to describe this book. Wow. This book has touched me in ways I would have never expected from a children's book.

Angie actually wrote a post on this about this time last year. I urge you to go read. She writes far more beautifully than I could ever hope to.

In this book they put the point of what you are reading so simply that it just becomes so clear! I feel like when I read it that its stuff that I was already aware of, but until I read it "dummed down" I didn't really know it. I was reading in it yesterday and came across a story that made me put the book down and spend a few minutes at my Father's feet.

(Just as a side note...is that not a beautiful image? To be kneeling at the Holy nail scarred feet of the one who gave his life for us? To me, its an image that is just so humbling like that's exactly where I'm supposed to be...)

Any who, back to the original post...

It's a story that I have read a million times. I had it pounded into my head at Sunday School for years. But I haven't thought of it this way before. It is the story of Jesus calming the storm. It says this in the book:

The fishing boat was blown and buffeted and tossed and turned-back and forth and up and down and left and right and round and round!

And in the middle of the storm, Jesus slept.

Now Jesus' friends had been fisherman all their lives, but in all their years of fishing on this lake they have never seen a storm like this one. No matter how hard they struggled they couldn't control their boat. This storm was to big for them.

But the storm wasn't to big for Jesus.

"HELP!" they screamed. "Wake up!" "Quick, Jesus!" Jesus opened his eyes. Jesus stood up and spoke to the storm.

"HUSH" he said. That's all.

And the strangest thing happened... The winds recognized Jesus' voice. Immediately the wind stoped. The little boat bobbed gently up and down.

Then Jesus turned to his wind torn friends. "Why were you scared?" "Did you forget who I am?" "Did you believe your fears instead of me?"

Jesus' friends had been so afraid, they had only seen the big waves. They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, they had nothing to be afraid of.

No matter how small their boat-or how big the storm.

Wow.

I can't begin to tell you how many times I focused on the storms of my life, and forgot that if Jesus was with me I had nothing to fear.

It's almost as though I can hear my Lord say:

Jennifer, why do you focus on the waves? My child have you forgotten who I am, and what I can do

No matter what type of storm you may be going through right now, we serve a God that no storm is to big for. He is with you, and you have nothing to fear.

Tonight I choose to rest in the presence of a Lord that can speak and calm the storm.

Who Dosen't Like Free?

I am excited to announce a first here at Everyday *Mis* Adventures....A GIVEAWAY!!!!!

Yesterday I was contacted by Sean at CNS Stores. This great website that has over 200 online stores! They have Counter Stools, Anything For Baby Stores , and Furniture Stores !!! Pretty much any item that you need they have a store for it! Right down to Bar Stools! It really is a great company that has way to many good things to mention! He wanted to know if I wanted to do a giveaway, or a review (aka I get something for the cheap price of writing a review of whatever I get. Also known as free) I chose to share with you guys and do a giveaway!

Pure sacrifice people, pure sacrifice.

So lets take a look at what you could win:

You can win this beautiful 16 piece dinnerware set. It has a beautiful design that would go great with any decor! I love this set!
Or this 9.5 ounce Wine Glass set. It has a cute dragonfly motif and comes in a set of 6!

This just about made me go with the review! I have made it no secret that I LOVE my coffee. You could win this 2 cup espresso/cappuccino maker!

Or, you could also win ONE of these strollers. They are super lightweight and super cute!

So, what do you do to win? Well its actually really easy...

LEAVE A COMMENT TELLING ME WHICH ITEM YOU WOULD PICK IF YOU WON!

That's all.

The contest will end Tuesday March 30 at Noon Eastern Time.

Good Luck!

Compassion

These past few days I have felt conflicted.

Have you ever felt like that?

You know the feeling, right?

Where you know God is wanting you to do something but you don't know what it is yet.

Satan is telling you it is all in your head, you will never be able to do it anyways, its never going to work out, blah, blah, blah.

I think that is a pretty good way to describe it actually, blah.

I just feel blah.

I do want to tell you guys a few things that are going on right now.

Compassion International
has sent out the new group of bloggers. They are in Kenya, and the stories will rip your heart out. Please be in prayer for these bloggers, and they allow God to break their hearts the way only He can.

Also, if you can and you feel like it is something you can do, please visit the site and sponsor a child. After you read the stories, you will see what just $30 a day can do to change a life.

You may notice one of the bloggers that are on this trip,
MckMama is in Kenya with her Husband and the other bloggers. The pictures she shows and the stories these guys tell are amazing!


Want to know a little secret? Doing something like this has been a dream of mine for a while now. I think this is why I feel so blah, every time Compassion sends out another group of bloggers. I know that Compassion needs to send people that get a lot of traffic so that those sweet beautiful faces will have a better chance of getting a sponsor. I know that in my head. But in my heart I want to be able to help.

I want to go see for myself what wonderful work Compassion does.

I want to see the difference that I know they are making.

I want to kiss those sweet little cheeks.

I want to help!!

So, you see the top left of my side bar I have a Compassion Button. That is because I have committed myself to writing about Compassion once a month on the topic they give me. I know that is not much, but if it will bring one child to be sponsored then it's done its job.

Then...maybe one day...well you never know what God might have in store!!

After all, a girl can hope, can't she?

Really Bad Coffe, A Horse's Hindend, And My Mama

My Mom recently had a Birthday. (If by recently you mean January 29, and I have been too busy with school, and work, and everything else to celebrate it with her) So, yesterday I finally had the time to take her out. We went shopping, and to our favorite place to eat.

Seriously, if you like Chinese food, and there is one in your area I STRONGLY urge you to go! They have the best food, they completely knock the buffets out of the park! However the coffee? well I'll tell you about that in a minute...

Going into the restaurant they have this beautiful statue. I'm not very sure what the significance of it is, but its beautiful none-the-less. (Good time to mention here, if you take a look at that sky it was COLD that day friends, C-O-L-D!

They give you these beautiful sauces to put on your meals. The Waiter/waitress always mixes you up their creation of sauce. The one our waiter made for us was really really good!

You get your choice of white or brown rice. I always choose white.

We had a beautiful meal together.

I am really really bad to want a cup of coffee after I eat. I think it makes your tummy feel really good after you eat, and makes your food settle better.

So, we ordered a cup of coffee. I took one sip and about died! It was the worst thing I've ever put in my mouth! We had asked the waiter to bring us a new cup thinking that maybe it was just old. So he brought us the new cups...

Still pretty bitter...

After much "doctoring" ....

It was still really, really bad coffee. Actually I have had gas station coffee that was better than that! I can't even describe...BAD!

So after the great meal, and much overdue mother/daughter time it was time to go catch a movie. We went to go see "Dear John" and let me tell you that is a GREAT movie! I laughed (mostly at my Mom, but there are funny parts to the movie as well), I cried, I couldn't peel myself away! Which turned out to be very inconvenient because midway through the movie I had to pee. Bad. I squiggled and squirmed but I toughed it through.

And as I go, I will leave you with the view when you leave the restaurant. Really poor design if you ask me! Someone really did not think this through!

Mama,

Happy Birthday! I wanted you to know that I had the best time with you! I am so blessed that God chose you to me my Mother, and I can't thank you enough for everything you do for me, Stacee, and Michele! You are the best Mom anyone could ask for and I hope you had as much fun as I did.

Hate.

It has come to my attention that there is a lot of hate going on around the blogging communities. This makes me so sad on so many levels.

When did it come to the point that women were finding joy in tearing others down? When did it become OK to say things that would rip a Mothers heart out, just for the point of saying it? Why do we feel free to say things on the computer that we would never say to someone in person?

It is not OK!

Here is the great thing about blogging....It is not a required read. If you do not like the author, her beliefs, her parenting strategies, or even her hair then DON"T READ IT!! No one is making you read it, you will not be tested on it later. Just leave them alone! Go about your way peacefully and move on to something you like.

One more thing before I go...

When you use a Mothers greatest loss (her child) as a weapon to say mean things you have went to far! When you use a Mothers children, or her abilities as a parent to criticize her, and tell her that she is a bad Mother, you have crossed a line.

Quite frankly, if you read this blog and you are one of the ones that have done this...listen to me carefully here....

Please do not come back! I'm not very sure that is the type of person I want hanging around here.

Now, I am not saying that you have to agree with everything ever written, a lot is learned when people have different views, what I am saying is you do not use a Mother's Children to hurt her.

That's All.

Thanks for listening! Ummm.....Reading :)

A Few Things...

Hi all,
I was just setting here trying to think of something to write, some deep meaningful, great post that would just knock your socks off and make you think that I am the best writer known to man and just love me forever...

(That is the longest run-on sentence ever)

(I think that proves that I am no where near a great writer, I'm not even good at it )

I never came up with my earth shattering post. I thought I'd share some of the things going on right now (also known as the most useless post ever) So, here we go...

1) BRANDI IS HOME!!!!! I actually found her a house about 200 yards away from mine!! Let me say this again.. WERE GOING TO BE NEIGHBORS!!!! If you have read my blog for any amount of time you know that Brandi is kind of a constant character around here, so you understand why I am doing the "fat happy dance" about this! Just one problem..they have not been able to move into the house yet because the people that are there are stalling about getting out. They were supposed to be out by the end of January and they keep postponing...week after week. So, well see, they need to hurry and get out Brandi and I have made plans for a lot of coffee drinking together!

2) Stacee caught her stove on fire yesterday while watching the boys. You just need to go read her rendition of it...no on can exaggerate like my sister! (If you do go read it, please leave her a comment to let her know who you are and that you were there! She is new to the blog world and is looking to make new friends)

3) Zach is wearing his "big boy pants" all day during the day. He still has accidents of coarse, and still wears diapers at night but for the most part he is doing great!

4) Have I mentioned that BRANDI IS HOME!?!?!?

5) I had a brave streak today and decided to try to fix The Pioneer Woman's Spicy Pulled Pork. I bought her cookbook yesterday in an attempt to become more domesticated. (Is that even a word?) I went to the grocery store, bought all necessary ingredients, went home and prepared according to the directions and popped that baby in the oven. Then I read the rest of the instructions, which call for it to cook for 6-7 hours. This was at 5:30. So that means it will be really late when it is finished. SO, here I set :)

6) In a previous post I mentioned that I was going to try to forgive, and show the Love of Christ to Brandi's Husband "J". Last Friday I went over to see them because in case you didn't know BRANDI IS HOME!! I really impressed myself on how easy it was to be kind to him! I even had him over to my house!! I let him in my home, something that I swore he was never welcome! I have come to believe that when God wants you to do something, he makes do-able! Well see how it goes but so far-so-good!

7)I like to watch TV. I have found this show that I am in love with. If you guys don't watch White Collar, you are really missing out!

So, that is all I have for you at the moment. Sorry that this may just be the most boring useless post in history!

I'm going to go wait on some pork, it only has 3 hours to go..(It's 11pm just so you know)