Ultimate Blog Challenge Wrap Up

Today I have done something that I was not sure I was going to be able to do.  I have had a new entry on my blog every day for the past 31 days.  It was because I took part in the Ultimate Blog Challenge.  It is amazing to think I found things to write about every single day.  I have enjoyed sharing, remembering, feeling and writing about so many things our family has experienced over the years.  

I want to be able to continue this journey.  I know I have many more words, stories and posts to share.  I have more pictures, recipes and homeschooling posts to share.  I love getting the opportunity to record my thoughts to where years down the road, my children will be able to read them and gain insight into their mother.  So even though the Ultimate Blog Challenge ends today.  Tomorrow, I am starting a new challenge.  I am beginning the NaBloMoPo November Challenge.  Plus I am beginning the NaNoWriMo challenge.  

The NaBloMoPo challenge will involve blogging every day during the month of November.  So stayed tuned to see what topics come up.  The NaNoWriMo challenge involves me trying to write a novel.  I have tons of material to share thanks to my husband and family.  So my goal will be to write 50,000 words by the end of the month.  I have some ideas of what I want to write about, but we will have to wait and see what develops.

As my children grow up, I really enjoy sharing memories and stories with them. But more importantly I enjoy making memories with them.  Every day is a blessing given to us by God.  Each day deserves us giving our best

Today is not just the ending of the Ultimate Blog Challenge, it is also the final day of the Proverbs 31 Ministries Online Bible Study for "The Best Yes" by Lysa Terkeurst.  I have learned so much from this book.  I don't want to focus on "people pleasing" instead I want to focus on pleasing and honoring God.  I want to spend time in His Word and in prayer.  I want to draw closer to God.  After all, He is God the Father.  He is a father who willingly sent His Only Begotten Son to die on a cross for our sins.  He was the perfect sacrifice.  I need to give Him my best yes.  This means I need to give my best yes in everything I do, say or think.  I know I will never be perfect.  As Romans 3:23 - 24 says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus".  

I want to strive to honor God, even if it means I give "small no's", so I save time to give my "Best Yes".  It means I need to take time to listen to the sometimes small, still voice of God - even when it is not the answer I want to hear.  I pray you strive to give your "Best Yes" as well.  I pray you have enjoyed the journey this month.  I would love to hear from you. 

So today I say good bye to this past month and this past study.  But I say hello to new challenges and around the middle of the month I will be saying hello to a new Bible study as we begin Max Lucado's book Before Amen and I invite you to come along with us for the journey.  This study is all about prayer.  And what better time to begin a study on prayer than in the month before we celebrate Jesus' birth.  The best part about this study is that the conference calls are FREE!  That is right for this study the conference calls cost NOTHING!  So I hope you will join us.

Pens, Pens and More Pens - I love office supplies Part 2

So as I shared yesterday, I love Planners.  I love everything to do with keeping my family's schedule.  I recently learned about the world of decorating planner pages.  And the possibilities are endless.  But today, I want to concentrate on one of the most important parts of a planner - what to use to write in it.

You study stores with great enthusiasm either online or in person.  You study every planner you see (be it one that belongs to a friend or a stranger).  Then you find the perfect one and you buy it.  You get it home or to your office/place of employment and you open it up.  You are ready to input your life into this wonderful purchase.  But what to use?  You must use the right pen or you will wind up with bleed mark through the pages or smears, or other tragedies from using the wrong writing tool.

Just like I love planners, I also LOVE pens!  I am a pen collector.  When I get a good one, I tend to become very possessive.  The one person who may get me to part with a favorite one is either my mom or my husband.  Although I typically keep mine and just buy them one of their own.  So right now I have some really favorite ones (some are thanks to some wonderful people I have never met other than online).  But their recommendations have been fantastic.

1)  Many years ago, I ran across Pilot Frixion pens and highlighters.  I sort of walked away from them because the original ones seemed to leave something to be desired.  However, after reading so many people talking about how wonderful these pens are, I decided to buy some and try them for myself.  So far I have to say I love them.  One of the things I love the most is that they are erasable, which gains high praise from me.  After all who wants a bunch of scribbles or white out in their planner.

2)  Pilot Precise grip pens are another one of my favorites.  They write smoothly.  the colors are vibrant.  All in all I have to give them high marks.

3)  Pilot G2 pens are another one I really like.  These pens have bright colors and a lot of choices.  They are ones I have used for a number of years.

4)  Papermate Inkjoy pens are one of my newer favorites.  These pens write really well, don't bleed and just look good.

5)  One of my new favorites that I found thanks to some awesome fellow Online Bible Studies ladies are the Foray brand pens from Office Depot.  Now I am not sure I ended up with exactly the ones they meant, but I still love them.  I got two different sets: one are the rollerball pens (I do have one complaint about these - the red one in the particular set I got has a lid that will not stay on - so that does not really make me too happy.  After all who wants a pen that has a cap that randomly shoots off the pen like a projectile).  But I have to say I love the  color choices and the way they write.

The second set I got are the Advanced Ink ballpoint pens.  These are one of my "go-to" pens now.  There is an awesome color selection in the set I got.  They have a rather fine point so they are perfect for writing things in small places (Like a planner can have at times).   The ink seems to be really vibrant.

So these are my five favorite types of pens.  What is your favorite type of pen?  Also what is your favorite Office/School supply?  Share with me!

Never liked English in School So How Did I Get Here?

Alright I need to be honest about something.  All through school English was never my favorite subject.  Oh, for the most part I adored reading (I am a bookaholic), but the rest of it including literature analyses and such I did not necessarily find fun, exciting or interesting.  Initially I went to school to become a teacher, but allowed some well meaning people and a few not so well meaning people to convince me I was on the wrong path.  So I switched majors and colleges to pursue a degree in Business Administration.  This was not my "best yes" by any means.

I graduated from college and despite attending numerous job fairs and interviews through the university,  I did not find a job.  Then I decided to stay in school to complete the courses I needed to get an accounting degree.  After all there would always be a need for accountants.  That first summer, I ended up getting the worst sunburn of my life along with falling through a dock and hurting my knee.  So I ended up not doing well in the courses.  I decided to withdraw.  And because of some other things going on I ended up moving to Jacksonville, NC to live with my finance's sister.  The following August we ended up getting married.

Four years later we had our first son.  Then we had two more sons and while I was working at an Insurance agency as the office manager and enjoyed my job, it was time for a change.  So I interviewed for and accepted a job as a high school math teacher.  I did what is called Lateral-Entry - it means you already have a degree and courses you need to get certified in a particular area and basically just have the education course requirements left.  I worked at the school for two years, the third son was born during that second year.  My husband and I decided it was best for me to pursue being a substitute teacher since we had health insurance through his job.

Two years later we found out we were expecting our daughter and it was in our best interest for me to quit working.  Two years after she was born, my husband went active duty in the Army Reserves and we moved on the military installation.  At that point, I decided to go back to school to finish my education requirements.  During this time, I had a wonderful instructor for one of my courses.  She was an amazing woman.  She was teaching another one of the courses I needed, but it was on the Masters Level.  She offered the opportunity for several of us who already had degrees and were in the current course with her the opportunity to take this Masters Level class.  What an amazing journey it was too!  The entire class revolved around nothing less than writing papers for the entire course and having meaningful discussions about what we learned.  This gave me a passion for writing.

During this time, my husband also went back to school and I had to proofread all his papers for him and much to my amazement I enjoyed it.  I enjoyed taking apart and putting back together theses masterpieces.  And they must have been masterpieces because he wound up with "A's" in the majority of his courses.

I also was homeschooling my children - which you guessed it, involved me teaching English.  So when we moved from eastern NC to western PA it only seemed fitting to begin a blog.  I enjoyed writing this.  I enjoyed writing about our experiences, our dreams, our thoughts and just the general thoughts that came to mind.  So even though I never liked English in school, I am enjoying it now.