Wanna Chance for Free Christmas Cards with Shutterfly?

I absolutely love sending and receiving Christmas cards, especially the ones with photos. Every year I get so excited picking out the picture/s and the style of Christmas card. This year it is even more exciting because I'm using Shutterfly. They have some of the most beautiful Christmas card designs. These are not the same kind of card you would get at a discount store. You have the opportunity to be more creative with their hundreds of cards. It is hard to pick just one. If you want to browse their selection of Christmas Photo cards click HERE. At Shutterfly, you can also do some Christmas shopping. Personalized calendars make a great Christmas present for relatives and friends. To browse their selection of calenders click HERE. If your having a party and want to impress your guest before they even get to your party, Shutterfly also has unique and beautiful personalized invitations. To check out their collection of invitations click HERE. Now, if their selections do not impress you, you are sure to be impressed with their great deals. Shutterfly runs a lot specials throughout the year, so you can always get a good deal. But FREE is always a great deal. Shutterfly is offering 50 free cards if you blog about it! For more information about this deal click HERE.

Gratitude

I sang a song in church today, Gratitude by Nichole Nordemann. The lyrics to this song are amazing, and I wanted to share it with you. It really makes you think about God's blessings beyond the typical shelter, food, family, etc. that we typically think about during Thanksgiving. Basically, the song says Lord, please fill these needs but if you don't and you choose to provide in some other way, I will still give you thanks. I've been learning more and more about God's sovereignty. Growing up my idea of God was that He was watching things happen and if something bad happened, God would swoop in and makes things better. God is so much greater than that! Because God is in complete control, even bad things come from God. Yes, God is in control of evil. There is nothing that Satan can do that is not ordained by God. Romans 8:28 says, "God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose." (emphasis mine) I'm not saying God is evil, nor does he do evil, but he does ordain (to establish or order by appointment) evil in order to bring about his ultimate plan. His ultimate plan is for Him to receive the glory He deserves. One way of doing that in our lives is to conform us into the image of Christ. Hardships, whether just circumstances or schemes of Satan, bring about change in our lives. Have you ever considered a job loss, a death of a loved one, cancer, a house fire, or some other tragedy to be a blessing from God? It is just that. God is so good. He has blessings for us beyond what we can ever see or imagine. I pray that this Thanksgiving you will take the time to reflect on your life, through the good and the bad, and see God's rich blessings on your life. To hear Gratitude by Nichole Nordeman click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waYUzxK8TYA

Growing Up Too Quickly

Since we have friends and family far away, I wanted to do an update on Parker. I can't believe he is 15 months old! He is growing up too quickly. He amazes Paul and me everyday with everything he is learning. He is starting to point to body parts that we are teaching him. He's saying more words: b00n=balloon, puhpuh (for both PopPop and Poppy), up=cup to name a few. He loves to play with his toy drum, balls, and blocks. He loves to read and look at books. I often find him up in the recliner looking through his hardboard books. He's obsessed with balloons. He can spot one from a mile away. He even notices if they are on tv. Whenever Paul is around, he is attached to him. He eats independently. I still have to help him with the spoon if its something he has to use it with. He looks even more like his daddy as he gets older. He is so adorable(I think his daddy is adorable too)!

Name Change

In case you didn't notice, I changed the name of our blog. Originally, Paul and I were both going to blog using this blog. However, Paul never does, so I'm taking over. Muahahahaha!! (That was my evil laugh.) I know that most of my blog posts are about Parker, but I want to start blogging more about my everyday life. I want to including things that I've been learning spiritually, recipes, money saving tips, hobbies, etc. I decided to change the name of my blog to Proverbs 31 Woman because that is what I want to strive to be. I'll admit that I am nowhere near the godly woman as described in Proverbs 31:10-31. She is a very strong, hard-working woman. I am very lazy. Hopefully, this blog will hold me accountable in some way. (I know that's kind of a far stretch for an nonliving, virtual website to do.) I do hope that this will be a reminder of the life I want to live, and I hope it will touch your life in a positive way.

Spooktacular Halloween

Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, our church had a Fall Festival. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to put Parker in an adorable costume. He was the cutest cow ever! He had fun playing games and going on a hay ride.

This was his favorite game. He didn't want to give the net back, and he wanted to stay and play in the water.

Our State Fair is a Great State Fair

Back in October, we carried on the Camp family tradition of going to the SC State Fair. Arden took off his usual two weeks of vacation from UPS so he could work with his friends at the fair. I remember the first time I joined the Camp family at the State Fair. I was dating Paul, and he and I met Arden, Elise, Mollie, and Michael outside the state fair grounds. I parked my car and got into their van which was packed full of cakes and other goodies that Elise always makes for their friends. The traffic was bumper to bumper, so Arden gets out of the van with a yellow rain jacket on (it was raining lightly) and a box full of Krispy Kreme doughnuts in his hands and proceeds to walk in front of and stop the traffic to let us in. While we were still in the traffic, Arden walked on to the entrance gate. I will never forget him waving us in like we were an airplane taxing into the gate. That was the first of what is now a yearly tradition for me. This year we got to enjoy the fair with a toddler which makes it a brand new experience. We ate plenty of food (Thanks to Arden's friends at Carousel.), took in all the exibits, petted some animals, rode some rides, and visited with family. We had so much fun that in fact we went both weekends. I took so many pictures that I created a slideshow to share our State Fair experience with you.

Parker's First Birthday

I know this is three months late, but I finally got around to editing some of the pictures from Parker's birthday. So, better late than never, here we are celebrating Parker's first birthday! We had a family get together at our house. The kids enjoyed some time splashing around in the kiddie pool. We enjoyed a meal together and then, of course, some cake. Parker got many great gifts. We all enjoyed celebrating such a special day with a special boy.

This was my first real attempt decorating a cake by myself. It's not perfect, but I think I did a pretty good job if I say so myself.

Smash cake!

Mr. Independent

Parker's quest for independence has begun and along with that...tantrums! I've been allowing him to practice self-feeding with a spoon during breakfast time when he's eating oatmeal or grits. He's been doing a great job with that because those foods easily stick to the spoon. Now, he thinks anytime there's a bowl and a spoon he has to have the bowl in front of him and no one can help him. This doesn't work out so well for things like soup. So, of course, a fit of rage follows. This either makes meal time really messy or really loud. Most of the time I choose the messy versus the loud. Parker happily stabs away at his food with his spoon and when all else fails he just picks up whatever he's eating with his hands. Although it is frustrating sometimes because it would be easier for me to spoon feed him, I'm enjoying seeing Parker grow and develop. Parker has his daddy's temper and my dramatic side. This makes for a cute (well, most of the time) fall on the floor tantrum when he doesn't get his way. Most of the time he just whimpers and falls on the floor. Although sometimes that leads to bangs and bruises from hitting some object which leads to wails. Thankfully, we haven't had to deal with these fits in public. Oh the joys of toddlerhood!