Start your bidding!

Let the bidding begin!! Today is the first day of the silent auction to benefit the Tarapchak Family Children. The proceeds from the auctions will go to an education fund which was previously set up for the Tarapchak kiddos.

Browse the master list of auctions taking place here and you'll also see more details listed.

Up for auction RIGHT HERE TODAY is an adorable navy blue tote with a trendy floral liner (perfect as a purse, pool tote,or diaper bag) filled with lots of great professional beauty products!
Products inside tote include:

FUSION ENERGY OF BEAUTY HAIRSPRAY
RUSK BRILLIANCE SHAMPOO
RUSK BRILLIANCE LEAVE IN CONDITIONER
KENRA NOURISHING HAIR MASQUE
AVON HONEY & VITAMIN E BUBBLE BATH
FUSION VENT BRUSH
OPI NAIL POLISH
CREATIVE NAIL POLISH
PINK NAIL FILE
BIOLAGE HAIR CARE SAMPLES
BATH AND BODY WORKS SWEAT PEA MINI SET

Take time to celebrate you! This package has all you need and is perfect for Valentine's Day!

(Est. value of tote & product: $60)

Hair products donated by hairstylist Mimi Anglin; Tote and Bath and Body Works product donated by Jenny Lusher.

Bidding will continue through Sunday, Feb. 15 at 8:00 PM Eastern Standard time.

100% of the proceeds will benefit the Tarapchak kids!
Flat donations may also be made to their fund on an ongoing basis.

Bid in increments of... $5.00

Place a bid by leaving a comment to this post.

Cash, check or money order will be accepted.

PayPal will be accepted, with additional PayPal fee charges added on.

I MUST have a way to contact you in order for your bid to be valid. The winning bidder will be notified the evening the auction is done!

The 4th

This is the first blog tag I've received and it's a pretty neat one, I have to say! Thanks Arminda for getting the ball rolling. But I must say, I keep so many pictures in my folders that I'm scared to find the 4th pic in my 4th folder. Let's see how this goes!

Well, 2009 happened to be my 4th folder...and this was the random pic! Making the boys smile into the sun just didn't work! Huge no-no in photography, I understand. :-) But we were happy to have sunshine this day.

Lil Brudder was not happy about the size of our snowman, even though he didn't help much in the building process. His class from school built this one (below) earlier that day, so ours really didn't measure up! He was so pumped when he came home from school that day and so energized. What awesome teachers for bundling all 12 of them up, getting them outside and taking advantage of the warm morning!

Your turn...I tag Haylee, Karen, Carrie & Kelly and anyone else who wants to jump in on this one! Who doesn't love their family photos, so you can't help but have fun digging through and finding one!

Wake Up Call!

Since the new season of Extreme Home Makeover, we have spent several Sunday evenings watching the new episodes as a family. Generally, we budge on bedtime and make it a family time, since the boys surprisingly enjoy the show so much. They get so excited when the new house is revealed and the boys are pretty moved by the heroes' stories who've been chosen for the makeovers. But I think they've seen Ty Pennington yelling into the megaphone one too many times.
Yesterday I was checking over my breastpump to make sure it would still function after several years of storage. So of course, the pieces that you see here were all revealed and the boys were fascinated by them. I didn't tell them what they were for because, well...they didn't ask, for once! But soon enough they were running around the house using them as spaceships or doing their best Ty Pennington impressions, yelling "Good morning such-and-such family!!" into them.

"Oh boys...once you see what those are really for, you truly are going to get a wake up call of your own!"

I know the questions are going to continue to flow once the baby is here, just as many have been asked during this entire pregnancy. But it's been entertaining to see what sparks their minds and how creative & couth we can be with the response! Hopefully we'll have some news to share within the next 2 weeks and we'll see if the interrogation tapers off a bit.

Pamper Me Beautiful!

Thank you to my friends, Mimi Anglin (my favorite hairsylist!) & Jenny Lusher for contributing to the Tarapchak Family Auction! Below is a description of a great tote they'll be auctioning off on my blog next weekend - (February 14 & 15)!! This item is one of several items to be auctioned, where the proceeds will go to benefit the Tarapchak kids' education funds.

YOU can be a part by blessing this dear family AND win a great pampering package!! Place your bid by including it in a comment on THIS post. At the end of the day on Sunday, Feb. 15, the winner will be announced and you'll be contacted to arrange payment. Pick up is the preferred delivery method, but shipping can be arranged.

Up for auction is an adorable navy blue tote with a trendy floral liner (perfect as a purse, pool tote,or diaper bag) filled with lots of great professional beauty products!
Products inside tote include:

FUSION ENERGY OF BEAUTY HAIRSPRAY
RUSK BRILLIANCE SHAMPOO
RUSK BRILLIANCE LEAVE IN CONDITIONER
KENRA NOURISHING HAIR MASQUE
AVON HONEY & VITAMIN E BUBBLE BATH
FUSION VENT BRUSH
OPI NAIL POLISH
CREATIVE NAIL POLISH
PINK NAIL FILE
BIOLAGE HAIR CARE SAMPLES
BATH AND BODY WORKS SWEAT PEA MINI SET

Take time to celebrate you! This package has all you need and is perfect for Valentine's Day!

(Est. value of tote & product: $60)

Hair products donated by hairstylist Mimi Anglin; Tote and Bath and Body Works product donated by Jenny Lusher

Get the Word Out!

Just wanted to post a special request from a friend over at it's me jen. In memory of our friend, Stefan and as a way to bless his wife and kids, Jen is hosting a silent, online auction. Here is the official site with more details about the auction. She has invited each of her crafty friends to participate by offering a product of their talent in the auction. The proceeds will benefit Stef & Sandi's kids, by helping fund their education.

Not being so crafty myself, I won't have a talent/product to share in the auction. But I definitely wanted to get the word out to anyone who...

1) May want to contribute some fruit of their creativity to the auction.

And

2) Will participate on the weekend of February 14 & 15!

There will be some great products and I personally am going to be working hard to win the Custom Rag Quilt that will be offered by my friend Jen. You can fight me for that one if you want! Let's get a friendly bidding war going...I dare you!

A "Heartwarming" Story

Yes, I believe I really am the most lame blogger around at this point. We had much going on in December, but definitely no more than the rest of the busy world of bloggers.

Christmastime was great and I can't believe it's come and gone already. Many memories were made and it was so much fun to celebrate Jesus' birthday in that way. We did make our way back to Iowa for about 9 days and spent time with both my family and Brent's. What a blessing that we've been able to celebrate with all of our family members for 2 years in a row. We hope that continues...it becomes more difficult though, from what we hear.

One thing we hope to do, as long as Iowa continues to have snowy Christmases, is to do some sledding as a family. One day we'll upgrade to skiing there...yes there are places to ski in Iowa. Enough to teach a kid anyhow...but it's by no means Vail!

This is where the heartwarming story comes in. (I quote heartwarming because it's such a great word and I heard it out of the mouth of our 11 year old friend the other day. He was describing the movie "Bolt" to us and said "There are a couple heartwarming scenes in it!" We thought that was so sweet to hear a boy describe something that way. I'm sure there were plenty of other adjectives most 11 year old boys would use!)

Back to the story...last Christmas and this Christmas, my family went sledding at a popular hill in the town I grew up in. Last year, we noticed one particular boy being really kind and helping Little Brudder walk back up the hill. He would also hold the sled while our little guy hopped on. This boy took him on a ride down the hill and eventually, he even let L.B. use his sled a few times. We thanked him and thought it was so sweet that he would take the time to help our little guy out. He told us his name was Christian and all of us were just touched that he was so nice, when he could have been enjoying his own time with his friends.

This year, we went sledding at "the hill" again as a family. There were only a handful of other kids there this year. After a couple of runs down the hill, a few of us noticed one boy that looked a bit taller and older than the Christian we met last year. He was being so polite watching out for the kids, sharing his sled and helping them back up the hill. After a few minutes, I asked him what his name was. It was Christian! That town isn't a huge town, but we were surprised to be back there on the same day. We all laughed and told him how nice it was for him to be helping the kids out again. My mom and I both mentioned that maybe he was our little angel on the hill. :-) It's so nice to see young kids out there who look out for others and not only for themselves! What a great lesson to remind our boys of...we pray they will look out for others in the same way as they mature!

2007 - Christian and L.B. chatting up the hill
2008 - Christian (in the same purple hat!) and L.B. going back up the hill again.

Music of the Season

Well, I've been a bit silent around our blog lately and possibly for good reason...possibly not. I've had some very up days and surprisingly very down days lately. This has kind of taken me by surprise during a pregnancy that I've expected to be full of glow and bliss. The hormones and emotions that are so common during pregnancy are hitting me harder than they did with my other pregnancies. Not to mention more anxiety. But God has been good and is walking through these days with me and showing me how to deal with the sometimes sleepless nights and the somewhat down days.
With Thanksgiving approaching next week (my most favorite time of the year...probably even my fave holiday!) I have had so much to focus on with a thankful heart. For the past month, our women's Bible study at church has also been about Prayer and Praise. We are reading through each Psalm, writing down attributes of God and noting how He turns the negative things into positive praise and focus on His sovereignty. It's been a great exercise to keep my mind on God's truth and off the lies that sneak in when I'm down or anxious.
With much to look forward to this week and over the next month, I am also getting so excited to pull out the Christmas music and start playing it non-stop! I usually restrain myself until after Thanksgiving, but Walmart and certain other stores I frequent have left me at their mercy to listen against my will! I do feel for those poor employees that have to hear to it for 2 months straight! Thankfully, I get to CHOOSE which songs I listen to!
Brent and I are big Casting Crowns fans and bought their Christmas CD several weeks ago. Can't wait to pop that one in and wear it out. I'm also checking out Mandisa's songs on iTunes and reading how great her new release is. Saw that Harry Connick Jr. has a new Christmas CD out...it's only $7.99 on iTunes...maybe there's a reason it's so cheap. We've all had fun with "When My Heart Finds Christmas" and the boys love a few of the songs on that one.
So what do YOU know? What's worth picking up to listen to these days and what's worth leaving for Walmart to put their employees over the edge this time of year?