Friday Favorites

Well, let’s have a drum-roll, because today’s the day to announce the winner of The Extraordinary Book give-away!

Thanks to all who entered and who shared the book on Facebook!  With no further remarks, let me say that The name was randomly drawn and

The winner is:

Michelle Beal!

If you could please email me at my contact email and share your mailing address, Michelle, I’ll get your book in the mail.  Congratulations!

I hope the rest of you who are interested in the book will either order a copy for yourself and a friend, or let people know you’d like a copy for Christmas!  There’s a discounted price of $6.99 on it right now, , so you can snag a deal if you act quickly.  I had several people tell me they’re ordering multiple copies to give as Christmas gifts.  What a great idea! I love giving a book like this that will encourage and help the recipient!

My next favorite thing this week involves another kind of giving.  This weekend we will be sending off our Operation Christmas Child box.  I chose to shop for a girl, age 6-8.  I spent a total of $21 on the gifts and had so much fun doing it.  Here are some photos of what I found.  Several items were found on clearance like the dress and the Melissa & Doug stamp set.  Most of the other items were found at The Dollar Tree.  The little cozy slippers are so soft – I cannot believe they were only $1!  I’m praying for the little girl who will receive our box to know that not only does someone in the USA care for her, but that Jesus loves her and wants to be her Savior!  Who else is packing a box?

Last weekend was the first birthday party for the sweet little guys our daughter and son-in-law are fostering.  The birthday theme was Lumberjack and it was the cutest ever!  Here was the cupcake cake I made to help celebrate our little guys.  I used the chocolate cake recipe I shared recently for the cake part and made buttercream icing.  What a special time rejoicing in the year God has given these babies.  What miracles they are after being born at 24 weeks.  They’ve made such great strides and we love them to pieces!

I had the blessing of hosting dinner for two of our missionary families who came to be in our services last Sunday.  Before the weekend ever started, the table was set,

the Butternut Squash Soup was made, a new pumpkin dessert was prepared, French bread baked and all of that was put into the freezer.  It made making Sunday dinner so much easier because on Friday afternoon we headed to The Wilds Christian Camp in Brevard, NC where we saw this beautiful scene:

This weekend our church is hosting a Pinterest party!  The gal at church who organizes it does a FANTASTIC job.  I can’t wait to see what she’s lined up for us to make this year.  It will be a day full of fun crafting, fellowship, new friends and some good food!  I hope you have fun plans for this weekend, too!

Refresh yourself by spending extra time in God’s Word!