The Weekend Review

It was unbelievably busy.

Thursday evening we met some friends out to see their location for their nuptials in May.

Friday, I went to the Sugar Plum Market with Brenda and my neighbor, Debbie. For lunch, Brenda, Isabela and I met up with my boys for a lingering lunch. Unfortunatly, we were not hoping for a long lunch. Oh, well. During nap I made a pecan pie for Saturday's dinner. That evening we took the kids to Parent's Night Out at church so that we could research some Christmas presents and catch dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant.

Saturday, I woke up way before dawn to give my first professional development presentation for 3 hours. It did go fairly well and I am super glad it is over and I get get back to having a bit of free time working on the projects of my own choosing--blogging, cake making, scrapbooking and writing another new Blurb book! It's amazing. I just can't quit. I'm addicted to Blurb. I mixed up Cavett's soccer ball cake during nap time. That evening we headed to Brenda's for a Thanksgiving spread of the best pork chops I have ever had. Thanks for cooking Sammy.

This morning, I led my 6th graders in singing for the 8:30 service. We did skip out on the 11:00 service. Had lunch at a Mexican restaurant and spent the rest of the time before choir rehearsal icing the soccer ball cake for Cavett's final soccer team party on Tuesday.

I'm physically exhausted, but it may be because there was no time for excersicing. I'm looking forward to getting back to a regular week. Stephen is off fixing a neighbor's computer. I guess there is no more procrastinating. I better get busy catching up on the laundry now.

Happy Birthday Candace!

This Little Li...

By Candace Amanda Den...

Book Preview

This year I was reminded what a talented sister I have. Growing up she always claimed she wasn't the musical one. I remember her getting into soccer for a while. She was definitely the athletic one. She always had a loving, God centered-heart in whatever it was she was trying to do. This year, her creative writing side blew me away. I mean, I always knew she had a keen sense of writing. I think she was published in the Caddo Parish Schools creative writing book, Seedlings. She always came up with clever ideas, skits and sayings. (Indians and the Princess Bride come to mind.) But, this year she began her blog. She wrote about her kids, our parents, extended family, her friends, her work all the while focusing on God and his purpose.

One cold January evening, my Mom and I were sitting at the computer and I was showing her a website that I had just found--Blurb. They publish whatever it is that you would like published at very reasonable prices--cookbooks, photo albums, journals, poetry, stories, and blogs. We looked at all kinds of different books and we decided that the one who should be writing a book in our family is Candace. At that point she had been adding in a devotional type excerpt to her blog every 5 days or so. So, for the past 8 months I gathered them all up and put them into a Blurb book.

I am so proud of my little sister. She is such an inspiration to me and all that meet her. She sees the bigger picture and has the "Mary" heart for all of God's work and creation. I hope that you have a fantastic birthday, Candace! I love you. ~Jenny


Click here to order your own copy of This Little Light of Mine. A small profit has been added in that will go to Candace's favorite missionaries.

Blurb

For those of you who are bloggers, let me share a little secret with you. Last year, I discovered Blurb. This is a company, like "My Publisher," that makes personalized books with your photos. To tell you the truth it is the whole reason why I began blogging in the first place. I couldn't do the "scrapbook" thing. Too time consuming. I needed something where I could just type something small up when I had the chance and maybe add a pic or two. I kept looking at Publisher and I never found a way to really journal in it. It seemed more about pictures. I looked at Snapfish and others as well, until I stumbled upon Blurb.

The best part about it is that you can give them your Blogger page and download your entire blog into a book. It's fabulous. I made my first one at the end of last year. And right now I am working on 3 books--my own, a recipe book and a special surprise. (I'll tell you about that one later.)

You can also make your book public or private. If you are the entrepreneurial type, you can even promote and make a profit from the sales of your books. If you are just into looking at others books or need ideas, you can browse their bookstore. It's really amazing to see others creativity.

To top it all off, they are cheap! Way cheap compared to other companies. And, the software is free. So, get creative and give your children, grand-children, great-grand children something they can physically get their hands on for years to come. Who knows what the Internet will look like in 5 years, much less 50-100!