Thursday, April 28, 2011

Freebies!

So I've been getting a lot of free stuff lately and Lee doesn't get as excited about it as I think he should.  So, I'm going to share it with you and pretend you're as excited as I am.  I've been working on saving money lately by using coupons, looking for deals, and getting free samples.  The thing I have to keep reminding myself is that it's not really a good deal if you'll never use it.  I'm working on limiting myself, but it's hard because it's fun to get things for super cheap or free.  I'm no Extreme Couponer, but I try to save money when I can.  So, here are some of the things I've gotten and how I got them.


So I've been shopping at Target and Walgreens more than normal because they have great deals and you can stack coupons.  (If anyone gets the Sunday paper and would like to donate the coupons to me I wouldn't refuse them)  I come out of there with a lot of things for free or very close.  These are some of the things that I've recently gotten for free (well, $.04 for each of the Nivea body washes).  To help me with Walgreens deals I go here, and to help me with Target deals I look here.  They do everything for you except get the coupons and go shopping.


 I also get samples in the mail for free.  The pop-up bowl popcorn was pretty delicious.  This is a neat way to try things out before you spend money on the full size product.  I'm trying not to go overboard here though because we'd have a closet full of stuff.  To see what free trial stuff I can get I look here.  She also has lots of store deals and money saving tips.

Now for the one I'm probably the most proud of because I won it as a prize!  They were having a contest on iVillage where you answered questions every week about the book Jane Eyre.  I was super disappointed I wasn't going to be able to see the movie because it was limited release so I decided to do this.  I won 1st prize!  I never win anything.  The prize included the Jane Eyre (Movie Tie-in Edition) (Vintage Classics), the Jane Eyre (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), the Pride & Prejudice DVD, the Atonement (Widescreen Edition) DVD, a Jane Eyre pencil, two notebooks, and a bookmark.  What a prize pack right!


I also won a teeny tiny mascara sample from Clinique.  Make-up is expensive so every little bit helps.  And it's space efficient, just like me.

Now I'm pretending you're clapping and cheering me for my awesome collection of hard-won freebies.  I'm trying to be a good steward of the money God has blessed Lee and I with.  Am I perfect at it?  Of course not, but I'm working on it.  What do you do to save money?  What little victories I can cheer you for.


*Note, the links connected to the Jane Eyre prize pack are Amazon Associate links.  I get a (very) tiny portion of the money you spend when you click on those links.  Even for things other than what the links are for.  It's the same with the widget on the left side of the blog.  It doesn't cost you any more money, but it will hopefully help me fund my book addiction (or you know, pay the bills).

Kacie Woodmansee is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com

Monday, April 25, 2011

Manic Monday

So today has been a little crazy what with the flooding and all.  Mondays always seem to be crazy though.  The weather has calmed and the roads are passable so now it's time to relax.  For those who need a little stress-reliever (and maybe some help with your math) here's a little video.  You may have seen it before, but it still made me smile the 2nd time around.  Happy Monday!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!


When I see this video I think of two things, 1) the massive amount of coordination this took and 2) David "dancing before the Lord with all his might" in 2 Samuel 6:16.
Some of these folks are dancing before the Lord with all their might because Christ's death and resurrection has brought us new life.  I'm pretty sure I'm hyper emotional today because I started crying when I saw this.  I look forward to the day when I dance before the Lord in heaven, and until then, I will rejoice with all my might here on earth.
Happy Easter everyone.  Rejoice, because Christ is risen.  He is risen indeed!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Author of a Different Kind

It's been a while since I've written, but I thought I'd take time during this flood to update on my scripture memorization.  The first half of the month was Hebrews 12:1 so naturally I've moved on to Hebrews 12:2

"fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (NASB)

One of the things I have to remember from this verse is that "fixing our eyes on Jesus" means taking our eyes off other things.  Jesus is to be our focus, and the things of this world are to fall away.  That's easier during this Easter weekend.  The cross is so blatantly set before us, but that should be at the front of our minds all the time.  Christ died not for one weekend a year, but for everyone for all time until He returns.
Christ is also "the author and perfecter of faith."  This is what sets Him apart from all the examples of faith in Chapter 11.  He is the reason we have faith at all, and He carries us through, not leaving us to just figure it out ourselves. 

"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6 (NASB)

Christ had joy in suffering not because of the suffering itself, but because of the end result. Our reconciliation to God and His "[sitting] down at the right hand of the throne of God."  We too are called to suffer and find joy in that. Romans 8:16-18, 1 Peter 2:20-23, James 5:10-11, and it goes on and on.  Find joy in what Christ has done for you, and what He continues to do.  He understands your suffering better than anyone.

"[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,[4] who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.[5] For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ." 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 (NASB)

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Online Christian Fiction Book Club

EdgyInspirationalRomance

This is only for my Christian fiction fans out there.  I got this from here from this blog and I thought it was a neat idea.  I've always wanted to be a part of a book club.  The basic concept is every 6 weeks you read a new Christian fiction book.  Then if you have a blog, you write a post about what you thought of the book and answer one of the discussion questions from the back of the book (whichever one you want).  On the date of the meeting everyone posts their discussion and then posts a link on the host's website.  You can then click on all the links and check out what everyone else wrote and commenting.  If you don't have a blog you can just comment on the other blogs.  The books look pretty interesting and I'm sure most of us can read the books fairly quickly.  I'd love for some of you to do this with me.

The next book is Words by Ginny Yttrup on May 21
The host blog hasn't been chosen yet.  You can follow the blog mentioned above for more details or I'll post it when I find out.

You'll also notice on the left side of my blog the books I'm reading now (the links are to Amazon.com).  What books are you reading right now?  What do you think about them?



Kacie Woodmansee is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Running the Race

Lee and I were going to grill hamburgers the other day.  We don't actually have a grill, but we borrowed one from the BCM a while back and haven't exactly returned it yet, ooops.  Lee goes out to turn the gas on and this is what he sees.

Birds have built a next in our borrowed grill.  We ended up just George Forman-ing the burgers instead.  Lee was a little perturbed, but I thought it was hilarious.  I guess I'm also not the one who has to clean it out.
I feel like life is like that sometimes.  A lot messier than you were expecting.  Some things we can't help if they're a little messy.  Other times we let things trip us up and throw us for a loop.  The verse that I'm memorizing for the first half of April talks a little about that.

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us," - Hebrews 12:1 (NASB)

I'm memorizing Hebrews 12:1-3 this go around.  This first verse starts with "therefore" so of course we have to go back to chapter 11.  Chapter 11 is known as the faith chapter and it talks about the faith of the forefathers of the Jewish (and ultimately Christian) religion.  It talks about the great faith they had, the great suffering they experienced and the fact that they didn't receive what was promised...salvation through Jesus Christ.  Therefore, since they had so much faith and had not seen the day Christ came to earth, shouldn't we, having accepted Jesus as our Savior, have even more faith.  But why don't we sometimes?
Because we let things weigh us down and entangle us.  It talks about two things that can keep us from faith.  Sin is a big one.  Sin entangles us so that we're like that bird's nest and can't tell one thing from another and our life is a mess.  We're to lay aside our sins.  We're also to lay aside the encumbrances (or weights or burdens).  These things may not necessarily be bad, but they're keeping us from what we're supposed to be doing.  We're weighed down by over committing ourselves.  We're weighed down by committing ourselves to the wrong things.  And we're weighed down by losing our eternal perspective.  It's hard to run a race when you're weighed down and your feet are tangled up.  Get rid of those things so we can focus on running that race with endurance.  That doesn't mean sitting down and letting life happen to us, but actively seeking the will of God and doing it.  What things do you need to set aside to run your race?

 

Friday, April 1, 2011

We went to Kentucky and didn't eat KFC

As we continued on throughout the week we saw God working on Louisville, Ky more and more.  It was amazing to be a part of that.

Day5: Wednesday morning was a little different.  The girls went to help teach ESL while the guys went around to Arabic grocery stores purchasing food for that evening and sharing the gospel with anyone who would listen.  I know the guys had a few good conversations, but the girls had a blast.  We helped with the beginning English class and they learned things like city and state (Louisville, Kentucky and Fayetteville, Arkansas -  that one was a little difficult), the days of the week, and a few other simple things.  Then we got to each sit down with two at a time and have a conversation.  They were so excited to be learning and so excited we were there.  It was wonderful.  For lunch we had more Mediterranean food and then headed to another apartment complex to do surveys.  Lee and I came to a Nepali house first and found our next place Woodrow style.  We asked them where other Nepalis lived.  We had an interesting conversation with a man who was at first not interested in what we had to say.  He didn't like it when churches came in, tried to bring Nepalese people to their church and change who they were.  Make them forget their culture.  This was exactly what Woodrow had talked about.  People wanted to make them white, American Christians and have them forget about where they came from.  We really got a glimpse into how we may have looked to others.  We told the man we weren't interested in changing the Nepali people but using their culture to worship Jesus.  He was thankful for that and hopefully we've changed his mind a little about Christians so he can later open his heart to the gospel.  On the way back we stopped by the Colonel's grave.  That's right.  We went to the grave of Colonel Harland Sanders.  We payed our respects to the King of Fried Chicken and then went to dinner at one of the missionary's house.  We spent time with a few Iraqis and ate some authentic Iraqi food.  We also had good conversations with the people we had been working with all week.  It was a good time to reflect and look forward to how we would use our experiences to change our community back home.

Helping out in ESL class
Lee and the Colonel
Day6: It was seminary tour day so we observed a class (Systematic Theology woot woot!), took a tour, had lunch with some of the faculty and attended chapel.  It's a very nice campus and it seems to be a great school.  Something that was said at least a few times is that at Southern, not only will they be using the same good books other seminaries use, but the professors at Southern are the ones who wrote them.  That afternoon we went to the Louisville Slugger Museum.  They were actually making bats for opening day while we took the tour.  Lots of interesting stuff and we each got our own mini bat at the end.

Yup, we're in Albert Mohler's office
Holding a game used bat.  I can't remember whose it was though.

Day7: We traveled home, and it was pretty uneventful except for the random snow we encountered along the way.  We made it safely back home.

Even though our trip ended, we must continue to pray for the people of Louisville, KY and people everywhere:
Pray for all languages and all peoples to one day worship the name of Jesus (Revelation 7:9)