Shutterfly

I was recently sent a link from a friend who alerted me that I can get 50 FREE Christmas cards just by posting about Shutterfly.com on my blog.  Who can resist 50 FREE cards?  Certainly not me…so here goes!

I discovered Shutterfly several years ago and have loved using their site to create photo books, order cheap picture prints, share photos and so much more.  The first project I ever made on Shutterfly was a photo book for our wedding.  The features of the photobook center are super easy to use and offer many layouts and designs.  It made for the perfect wedding album, especially since we never received our professional album!  Be sure to go to http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books, and check out their products.  Right now they have Buy One, Get One 50% photo books! 

Shutterfly offers some great designs for their photo cards too.  I recently ordered some Thanksgiving photo cards to send to friends and family!  They turned out so cute.  There were so many designs to choose from and uploading and adding my photos was super easy!    Check out all of their Holiday card designs by clicking on the following link.  http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

For Christmas, I am very excited to use Shutterfly.  There are so many cute cards to choose from, I am having trouble narrowing it down to one.  We just put our Christmas tree up this weekend and plan to take some photos by it so we can send out our Christmas cards very soon.  If you are planning to send out cards this year, stop by Shutterfly and check out their amazing Christmas card designs.  http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards.  Maybe you can help me choose our design!

Well, I hope that this post has interested you in Shutterfly.com! 

Embracing Powerful Peace

Last weekend, I attended an E-Women Conference in Rockford, IL.  The theme for the weekend was Embracing Powerful Peace.  The conference featured some very dynamic speakers...and I felt like they were speaking directly to me!  I entered the weekend feeling stressed, tired, overwhelmed and a bit defeated. I was not even close to embracing peace.   

Since the birth of our son, Joe and I have struggled to find a balance in our relationship.  I am sure many of you have encountered a lack of balance in your marriage.  Well for us, what started out as tired, worn-out, and weary turned into bitterness, anger and apathy.  How could this happen in less than 8 months?  We had allowed our relationship to plummet to the bottom of the pile.  On top of it, we had heaped work, school, grocery lists, laundry, unspoken expectations, the stress of caring for our new baby boy and everything else.  Our hands were full of everything BUT a solution to our marriage woes.  We attempted to pull our relationship to the top of the pile a few times, but it was quickly covered but other “pressing” matters. 

We had a discussion about our marriage on our way to and from Rockford.  Though we were not sure what to do, we both agreed that something had to change.  Stubbornly, we expected the other to find a solution which paved the way for a fight about not being able to drum up a solution.   

After we got home, I began to pray and reflect upon the weekend.  Through this process, I was continually drawn to one main point I heard from Donna VanLiere, NY Times Best Selling Author.  She said, "God gives where He finds empty hands." 

I realized, it was this statement that made the whole weekend worth it.  I understood that Joe and I were in the place where God wanted us to be.  God had been waiting patiently for us to figure out that we couldn’t improve our marriage, but He could.  Our hands were empty and our hearts were searching for a solution.  After I told Joe about my revelation, he too understood that we needed to focus on giving our relationship to the Lord, rather than try to fix things ourselves. 

In the short amount of time between the conference and now, our relationship has already taken a huge turn.  Though we are not any less tired or stressed, we are more patient and considerate of each other.  Even when Joe does forget to take the chap stick out of his pocket before throwing his pants in the laundry after I have reminded him what seems to be a thousand times.  I know that if I didn’t have Joe tomorrow…it wouldn’t matter if I had chap stick stains on every piece of clothing I owned.  So I have decided that the little things don’t matter!  I am continually trying to serve Joe and focus on the wonderful things he does, instead of dwell on the things that tend to irritate me.  I know I am not perfect and I will allow myself to get irritated from time to, but I trust that Joe will be patient with me and I know the Lord will gently remind me what is important in life.    

Galatians 5:22 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…”  I pray that God will help me to not only Embrace Powerful Peace but cling to an attitude that produces the sweet fruit of the Spirit!

Some things are not meant to be shared!

Dear sweaty man at the gym this morning,

I am posting this in hopes that you will discover that you have a sweating problem.  No, the problem does not lie in the fact that you merely sweat.  The problem is that you shake your arms and fling the sweat toward the innocent cyclists around you.  Please don't get me wrong, I admire your hard work and dedication to Spinning but in the future would appreciate if you kept your sweat contained within a 2 foot radius around you.  Also, feel free to clean up the pool of sweat beneath your bike when you are finished. Perhaps you could borrow a mop from the janitor. 

Sincerely,

Grossed out

This one's for you Jan!

The other day I went to Dominick's for a little grocery shopping and left with that great feeling of, "I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico."  Except I really saved a bunch of money by switching to coupons!  Thanks to the encouragement from Janice, my sister-in-law, I have begun to clip and use coupons.  For those of you who don't know her...Janice is like the Lebron James of Bargain Hunting.  Her shopping skills are like a carefully executed slam dunk!  She leaves the competition (or at least the cashiers) wishing they had chosen another profession!

Anyway, the reason for my excitement is that I saved more money than I spent after the sales and coupons!  I saved $80 and spent about $73.  This deal included some amazing deals but the best was the boneless, skinless chicken I got for $1.74 a pound! I bought 13 pounds of chicken and saved $34 on the that alone!

So I declare this day, Janice Landi Day!  Grab a coupon and save in honor of Janice!  And if you are really good, you too can save more than you spend!

No No!

My son, Logan, is 6 months old and has been crawling (army style) for about a month.  I am amazed at how fast he can move across the floor...especially when he is really determined to get to something.  Unfortunately, his new-found skill has paved the way for a new-found word in my vocabulary (okay so it is not new, but it is used a lot more!).  "NO!"   You all know the word very well.  "No Logan, don't touch the electrical outlet."  "Nooo, don't bite the power cord to the computer."   "NOOO, we can't go down the stairs yet."    As soon as he hits the ground, he bypasses all of the really fun toys in front of him to get to the things that are not good for him.



Logan looking a little mischievous!



Why is it that Logan wants to go for all of the things he is not supposed to touch?   I understand that he is a curious little guy who wants to explore everything and he doesn't know the ramifications of touching something dangerous.  As a parent I know that it is my responsibility to protect him and ultimately teach him how to protect himself.

As I think about the number of times I will say "no" to Logan over he next 18 years, I am reminded of how many times God must look at the decisions I make in my life and say "No."  Oh, how His heart must ache, each time I choose to disobey or allow my curiosity to get the better of me.  I can hear Him saying, "Meghan, you were taught better than that."  In the busyness of life, more often than not, I forge my own way, without even considering God's plan or love for me.  It is in those times I end up feeling extremely overwhelmed and even depressed

In Ephesians 6:10-11, the apostle Paul, reminds me of the protection God offers.  Paul writes, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes."   Paul goes on to list each piece of armor and the measure of protection it provides.  I am reminded of the importance of guarding myself each and every day so that my crazy schedule does not consume my life, leaving little opportunity to spend time with God.

So here I sit, asking that each of you pray for me as I seek God's guidance and protection for my life.  I also ask that you pray for Joe and I as we raise Logan.  I pray that Logan will learn how to pursue the protection that God offers.

I encourage you to read all of Ephesians 6:10-18, so that you too will realize the protection that God offers for your life. I challenge you to put on the full armor of God as you pursue that protection!

Who would read this stuff?

Everyday I am faced with an event or circumstance that I think to myself..."this is definitely blog worthy."  The only hard part has been, I didn't have a blog.  I have decided to take a stab at posting the random happenings of my life in hopes that someone out there can sympathize, laugh or cry with me.  You just never know what is going to happen and sometimes when things happen you just have to tell someone, this way I can tell everyone (well anyone who actually cares to read this blog)!