These are the blogs I like and visit a lot and wanted to nominate. Remember, though, each blog has to have at least 3 nominations SO, if you haven't nominted anyone yet, feel free to copy and past this list into this nomination form over at HSBA if you want :-)

Thanks! Oh, yes, and nominations close Friday the 24th so hurry up.. I mean, I procrastinated long enough for all of us...ROFL...

1. Best Homeschool Mom Blog http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/

2. Best Homeschool Dad Blog http://www.visionforum.com/hottopics/blogs/dwp/

3. Best Blog Design http://www.inpursuitofproverbs31.com/

4. Best Artistic Content Blog http://www.allyouhavetogive.com/

5. Best Crafts, Plans & Projects Blog http://handmadehomeschool.wordpress.com/

6. Best Family or Group Blog http://www.inashoe.com/

7. Best Encourager http://hskubes.blogspot.com/

8. ‘Live-What-You-Believe’ Homeschool Blog http://servenclan.blogspot.com/

9. Best Unschooling or Eclectic Homeschooling Blog http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/eclecticeducation/

10. Best Geographical Blog (Canada)http://littlehomeschoolonthehill.com/

11. Best Current Events, Opinions or Politics Blog  http://principleddiscovery.com/

12. Best Homemaking or Recipes Blog http://pleasantviewschoolhouse.blogspot.com/

13. Best Teen Girl Blog http://hskubesgal.blogspot.com/

14. Teen Guy Blog ??? I haven't got a clue....if you know of someone good, let me know and I'll go back and send him in...

15. Teen Group Blog    http://www.growingingraceonline.com/

16. Funniest Homeschool Blog  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/crazyhouse/

17. Best Cyber-Buddy Blogger http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Angelheart/

18. Best Curriculum or Business Blog http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/ --- or for blog I guess it would be the one below but I didn't know which to put but they are the same place -- http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/hsbcompanyblog/

19. Best Variety http://www.heartofthematteronline.com/

20. Best Thrifty Homeschooler http://thefrugaleducator.blogspot.com/

21. Best SUPER-HOMESCHOOLER http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/

22. Best Nitty-Gritty Homeschool Blog http://humblemusings.com/

23. Best NEW Homeschool Blog http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/brite00eyes/

24. *new!* Best Homeschooling Methods Blog  http://heartofwisdom.com/blog/

Sallie

Several years ago, Rev. Billy Graham did a sit down interview before one of his sermons. Out of everything he said, the one thing I most remember was “I wish I’d prayed more.” I was in awe that he would humbly admit that and I wrote the quote and the date on a piece of paper and stuck it on my fridge. Two moves later, I’m not quite sure where that paper went. Perhaps it isn’t hanging on my fridge anymore but it has been permenantly etched on my heart nonetheless.

Click here to read the rest of my article today over at SBCVoices....

Sallie

Train Up A Child Thursday is based off of Proverbs 22:6 which says "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."  

We have four beautiful, sometime mischievous, children that we are blessed with on earth but we have multiple in heaven as well. We don't typically do special remembrances of them but we talk about them  in our normal everyday life whenever questions arise, or just the subject in general comes up.

The loss we talk about the most is Arin... the name is a combo of Aaron and Erin because we didn't know if we had a boy or girl but we wanted to name our child, nonetheless. This past Sunday my husband was thinking on Arin quiet a bit and was very tearful and sad. My heart ached for him because I know he quite often buries his hurts deep. Arin would have been about 15 years old and was a near mid term miscarriage. I was 16 weeks when our babies heartbeat just stopped. We don't know the reason. But God knows and we rest in that!

Our children know about each of our losses and mourn their siblings as well. Age appropriateness is important, of course, but though they may have been too young when some of the losses occurred, they aren't too young now to understand. We don't tiptoe around the subject but joyfully speak of each child that God now has with Him.  I have to tell ya, as a mom who has suffered loss and hurt, it is one thing to console an adult friend who is going through that loss. It is entirely something else when you see your child sitting with a young friend with their arm thrown around their shoulder saying "I know.. I been there.. you can cry and I'll hold you." At once your heart breaks that your child DOES understand that pain but at the same time your heart wells with joy that they have learned to turn it into comfort for others. What a blessing!!

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God [Who is the Source] of every comfort (consolation and encouragement), Who comforts (consoles and encourages) us in every trouble (calamity and affliction), so that we may also be able to comfort (console and encourage) those who are in any kind of trouble or distress, with the comfort (consolation and encouragement) with which we ourselves are comforted (consoled and encouraged) by God."

Do you have losses within your family due to miscarriage or stillbirths? Have you kept it hidden from siblings or just don't talk about it within your family? I encourage you to open up and share. Our children learn so much when we live our faith out in front of them! They in turn learn to live their faith out as well..

What are you teaching your children today? Feel free to leave a comment and a link to share with others! 

Would you like to join in on Train Up A Child Thursday and be added to the list in my sidebar? Just send me an email with train up a child in the subject line and a link to a devotion you have written on your blog about training your children in the way of the Lord.

Sallie

BUT I've always been terrible at keeping secrets so I'm gonna share with ya'll... ssshhh, come closer cause I have to whisper..

I got a little excited when my October giveaway comment form topped Septembers, and then a bunch more excited when it topped 100, and as I watch it climb closer to the 150 mark I can barely contain myself so I set into motion my plans to have the best giveaway ever next month for ya'll!!

My November giveaway that I am planning is gonna be...............HUGE!!!!

I mean big. As in B-I-G big!! As in over the top big!!

 I'm so excited :-)

I already have double digit numbers of folks lined-up who have made some AWESOME donations just for all of ya'll!! And, I'm still taking emails... yippee!!! There is jewelry, and custom prints, and photographs, and jewelry, and gift certificates, and baby socks and hats, and jewelry... oh, I'm excited!@!@!

So, keep an eye out that first week of November... I'm just saying ;-)

Sallie

I bought this lamp on Saturday at an antique store. I love the chippy paint on it and the worn patina. I also love that its curves and base fit my style and decor (has roses on it -- sorry but couldn't get that in the pic and still showcase the pretty tassel). I found the makers mark on the bottom of the lamp when I was rewiring it with a kit I already had on hand and it is a Rainaud Lamp. These lamps were made in the early 1900's and the rare, intact ones have a tiffany style stained glass lamp shade with them. They can be worth upward of $1500 when complete. Unfortunately, mine is missing the shade, which is the only reason I could afford it...LOL.

Anyway, I think I've found the perfect antique dealer at the shop I bought the lamp at. He's a self proclaimed pack rat and has been buying things at auction just for the sake of buying them for over 50 years. Most of it sits in a warehouse or his mama's barn and he brings in a few pieces every weekend to sit out and sale. He is trying to open a small store but it is so crowded you can't hardly walk around. He has bought another section of the strip mall, too, and is working on getting more moved in but admits it will take many more months. That's one way of keeping your customers wanting to come back... they never know what new stuff you might have!

Don't you just love the tassel I bought from the Nester? I think she must have been loading new items at her Etsy store because I was searching around and looking thinking I didn't want anything and then clicked back to her homepage and this was at the top of the list. I loved it immediately!! Etsy seems to be one of my favorite places lately. I mean, just the week before I bought a silver creamer that had been turned into a pincushion from Dawn's sewmanyroses Etsy store. Unfortunately, every time I try and take a pic, it turns out blurry. You'll just have to trust me that it's cute as a button!!

This pillow isn't an Etsy purchase but I patiently waited for three months for it to go on clearance!! It was originally close to $50 but I watched and watched and finally got it for $7!!! Can you believe it?! It is so romantic and so cute. The white maybe looks like an appliqué in the picture but in reality it is tiny little beads sewn on! It doesn't sit on this chair usually but I put it there to get enough light for a good picture. It usually sits on an antique school desk I have.

I am not typically someone who has stuff sitting around that you can't touch. The desk though was a spur of the moment purchase about two years ago and doesn't get used often. It had just been restored by an antiques dealer (who I personally knew liked to restore his own estate finds) in Yuma and I was just starting back to homeschooling again. It isn't completely off limits but it definitely isn't used a lot because of the older cane seating. We will occasionally use it for spare seating if we have company for dinner because a child can easily sit at it with their plate but it can also still be pulled close to the table. It is pretty much the only "sitting" piece of furniture our dogs can't climb up on, too, so the pretty pillow is safe sitting on the desk chair ;-)

I had fun switching our living room around with my daughter today. I like to try and see what works best and every so often if I think some layout just isn't working then I will move things around and see how the new layout works for a few weeks. I thought the original layout I set up when we moved in on June 1st was best, and maybe for maximum floor space it was, but I think this way will make it more easy for conversation flow. I would rather have good flow than space if having space means guests on one end of the sofa feel like they are screaming to get the person in the chair at the other end of the room to hear them. It's never good to have your guests feel like they have to scream...or to feel left out of the conversation, either!!

Another reason I felt I needed to rearrange the layout a bit was that we have so many doorways in this house! There is a center hall that leads back to the powder room but you can also go into the living room, the dining room, and the office/music room from that hall. The living room also has a door to the dining room. The dining room has a third doorway leading to the kitchen. The office/music room is on the other side of the kitchen, which is a galley so it has two doorways as well (hall and kitchen). I wanted to block off the access to the dining room from the living room so we moved our sofa and sofa table onto that wall/doorway space. For people who love their wide open "every-room-runs-into-the-other" spaces, it probably seems really silly that I wanted to block off one of the doorways but I just wanted the space defined a bit better. I like the way it looks anyway and my husband came home and said it looks good. I guess that's what really counts!

I also got a great deal on some vintage metal patio furniture... you know, the metal slatted iron kind that you put cushions on?! I got two chairs and a loveseat for a whopping $10. The loveseat is missing the arms. However, I have actually been on the lookout for a backless/armless bench to sit in a small alcove by our front door, so I am just gonna take the back off and it will fit perfectly! The two chairs are in great shape and all I have to do is purchase a few new cushions and I'll have a major portion of my much wanted bistro set taken care of. I'll also keep an eye out for a large unbroken white metal sofa to add later.  So, that means my front patio is almost taken care of and my screened porch is coming along nicely. For that, I already had a double size lounge. I want my screened in porch to actually be a bit romantic so we are fitting it out with a pretty white battenburg lace bedskirt, a shabby chic kind of comforter, lots of fluffy pillows, and some hanging glittery wicker ball lights. I am keeping an eye out at walmart for some pretty (but cheap... like $2 a panel cheap) lace/sheer panels to hang on tension rods between the posts of each screen section. I can perfectly imagine sitting out there and reading a book or just relaxing and talking to my honey. I'll try and get pictures of all that up as soon as I get the new cushions and such.

Oh, do you think I should add artwork to my screened in porch? I've thought about it but not sure how it would hold up in humid North Carolina. Let me know if ya'll have up artwork in your outdoor "rooms" please. Even if you don't have porches, I'd still love your opinions :-)

Sallie