• Free Audio Book: “The Hiding Place” by Corrie Ten Boom

    FREE Audio Book Download:


    For the month of April Christian Audio is offering a free download of their audio book The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom with John & Elizabeth Sherrill.  This audio book is about the real life story of Corrie ten Boom.  She is considered a hero who helped the Jews escape from the Nazis.  Corrie has a remarkable testimony, if you haven’t read it then this is a great opportunity to listen to the book for free when you download it from Christian Audio in April.   Make sure to submit your order by April 30, 2011  to get your free audio book.  Thanks Christian Audio!

  • Giveaway: Book “Speaking Mom-ese” by Lisa Whelchel

    I will be doing a giveaway for the month of April!  The winner will receive the hardcover book called “Speaking Mom-ese: Moments of Peace & Inspiration in the Mother Tongue” by Lisa Whelchel!  As Moms it is difficult finding a moment of “quiet” in our days and I liked how each chapter was short so I could fit it into even a busy day. A friend gave me the book when I was pregnant with the girls and I have read through at least it twice.  Lisa shares insights and stories about her children as well as encourages you as a Mom.  I think it is important even on the busy days to have even a few moments to relax.

    All you have to do to enter this giveaway is sign up to follow my blog (if you haven’t done so already) and leave a comment below by 10 PM EST on April 30th telling us how you follow Blessings Multiplied.  You can get a BONUS entry into the drawing if you leave a separate comment below telling us one of your tips for squeezing in a few moments of peace and quiet into your already busy day!  We love our family but they have a way of keeping us running all day!  On April 30th I will randomly draw a winner from those who have entered the giveaway.

  • Book: “Never Sniff A Gift Fish” by Patrick McManus

    I was thinking about the books I have read over the past few years and decided to chose one that is a little more “unique” from some of my other recommendations but nevertheless I have really enjoyed reading Patrick McManus books.  Never Sniff A Gift Fish by Patrick McManus is one that we have at our house.  The author has a way of making you laugh sometimes until your sides hurt.  He is funny and his short stories are great to read.  We have had his books in our magazine racks for years and I cannot count the number of times people have borrowed or taken the books for a short period of time to read them.  I am looking forward to reading them to the girls soon too.  A lot of his stories have to do with outdoor adventures, kid mischief, and fun.  Each chapter is another short story.  Some are more hilarious then others but there have been times I have had tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard.  Life is short so why not have fun.  If you haven’t read one of his books you really should, you’ll enjoy some extra chuckles reading the adventures in his books.   As the warmer season comes upon us it makes me think of camping and reading his books around a camp fire, great memories!   Patrick McManus actually has several books if you prefer one of the other ones instead:

  • Twice as Fun: A Visit From The Tooth Fairy

    My little Karlie is growing up!

    Karlie recently lost her first baby tooth which was an exciting day for the whole family.  It marked a new stage in her life which means my baby is growing up!  Although our girls know the “tooth fairy” really doesn’t exist it is fun to celebrate a new milestone in the lives of our kids.

    Brina was excited for Karlie too and shared in the celebrations but is now ready for her baby teeth to start falling out as well.  That is one hard part about having two at the same age, they are excited for each other but are ready for their turn too.  Each of us is made uniquely so we let Brina know she will have a chance to celebrate too when her big teeth come through.  I told her teeth will come in when it is perfect for her.  Those who know me realize that I have been dreading this stage of Motherhood because I just don’t like wiggly teeth.  I have to say it is amazing how much you can actually handle once you are going through it with your child.

    Here are some pictures from Karlie’s First Tooth Fairy Celebration:

     

    Karlie's Dollar from the "Tooth Fairy" for losing her first tooth!

    We put $1 Dollar in a butterfly Ziploc bag for Karlie losing her first tooth!  She was super excited to see cash under her pillow the next morning.  Karlie was up before the sun came up because she was so excited about losing her first tooth!

    A Special Note from the Tooth Fairy

    The front side of her present had a note from the Tooth Fairy that said – “Congratulations Karlie on getting your 1st big girl tooth!  Love, Tooth Fairy”   She thought it was super silly especially the “eyes” on the word tooth!

    A Note from the Tooth Fairy to Karlie!

    On the back side of her gift there was another note from the Tooth Fairy – “Karlie, Congratulations on losing your 1st baby tooth!  You are growing up to be a beautiful girl! Love, The Tooth Fairy”  Karlie thought it was great getting two special notes from the Tooth Fairy!

     

    Karlie's Tooth Fairy goodies - $1 Dollar and 1 Book!

    Karlie was super excited to find her treasure under her pillow the next morning.  I picked out shiny “star” wrapping paper for Karlie because she enjoys rockets, planets, and science.  She even kept the paper for several days after opening the gift!

     

    Karlie showing off her new book from the "Tooth Fairy"!

    Karlie was super excited to get a new book!  Both girls love horses so they had fun reading this book together several times over the last few days.

     

    Karlie's baby tooth in a little treasure chest!

    The dentist gave the Karlie a cute little yellow treasure chest to put her baby tooth in.  She was super excited about the mini treasure chest!

    It was a lot of fun celebrating the loss of Karlie’s first baby tooth.  Karlie knows that there is no such thing as “The Tooth Fairy” even though we call it the Tooth Fairy.  She was thrilled to get something special either way even if Mom and Dad are the Tooth Fairy.  As parents we feel like it is okay to celebrate the monumental moments with your kids, however, we chose let them know if something that we celebrate such as the “Tooth Fairy” is really imaginary.  We don’t want our kids growing up thinking we lied to them about something that isn’t even real.  Every family has to make a decision about what is best for their family.

    Please share with us your ideas on what you do to celebrate your children losing their teeth and what the “Tooth Fairy” brings for special goodies!

    Twice as Fun is a series on raising Twins and all the joy that comes with it.  We have been richly blessed to have twin daughters in our lives and want to share with you our thoughts, challenges, wisdom and love for raising multiples.  Our girls have different interests and hobbies but they both know how to add excitement to our lives and make us chuckle.

  • Book: “The Millionaire Mind” by Thomas Stanley

    As I was thinking about the various books I have read over the past few years “The Millionaire Mind” by Thomas Stanley came to mind.  In this book Stanley explains the research he did on how America’s wealthy got there.  You don’t need to make a substantial amount to be smart with your money.  Living a flashy and fancy lifestyle isn’t what it takes to be wise with your finances.  I found it fascinating learning more regarding the millionaire “mindset” and the questions he asked in his research.

    Our family has been trying to stick to our budget and be more responsible with the blessings we have been given.  We are by no means millionaires but we feel it is important to always continue to learn and grow.  My husband and I listened to the audiobook version of this book together.  If you are trying to wrap your mind around finances this is fun book to read or listen to as you work through the process as a family.  I encourage you to communicate and pray as a family as you go on this journey together.  When we were first married it became very clear that Jake and I had different patterns and views on finances.  Taking the time to listen or read these types of books together helps encourage and strengthen your relationship while providing a positive outlook on finances.  What works for one family may not be doable for the next family, however, we all have been giving many blessings in life.  We still continue to make mistakes, pick ourselves back up, and learn from the lessons God continues to teach us.  We want to purposely chose to be wise with what we have been given so we have more opportunities to share with those around us.

  • Book: “Green Eggs & Ham” by Dr Seuss

    In honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday this week the girls have been celebrating by reading his books at home and with their class at school.  One of our projects earlier this week was to pull the Dr Seuss books we have in our home library and take them to school so they could read to the class.  After gathering all our books together I was surprised to see how many we had accumulated over the years but after much exploration I realized that we only have just a handful of the ones he wrote.  Since Dr. Seuss has been on my mind this week with all the celebrations and he was a successful children’s writer I want to highlight one of our family favorites by Dr. Seuss –  Green Eggs and Ham.  We have read this book so many times over the last 6 years I think we have it almost memorized. One of the reasons I like this book is because it teaches a valuable lesson, sometimes we have a preconceived notion that something is bad or that we won’t enjoy it but unless we try it we will never known.  Taking the opportunity to try something different (it can be as silly as a strange looking meal as illustrated in the book) can often lead to a pleasant surprise and had we not tried it we would have missed out on fun, excitement, blessings, or even the simple pleasure of eating strange looking food.

    We have several other Dr. Seuss books that we read quite frequently but “Green Eggs & Ham‘ ranks pretty high up there with my girls.  Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss thanks for writing some amazing books that we can read to our children!

     

     

  • Book: “The Multiples Manual” by Lynn Lorenz

    A friend gave me this book “The Multiples Manual: Preparing and Caring for Twins and triplets” by Lynn Lorenz.  I had the first edition of this book.  It was one of the best books I had to read for Twins because it was easy to read, fun, and practical.  It was neat getting some insights from from a Twin  and a Mom of Triplets.  If you are having twins or triplets…..as my friend once said to me “Welcome to the ‘multiples’ club!”

  • Book: “God Gave Us So Much” by Lisa Tawn Bergren

    I recently read the book treasury “God Gave Us So Much” by Lisa Tawn Bergren to my twin daughters.  “God Gave Us So Much” is a limited-edition treasury of three books.  I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the depth into creation, love, and heaven the author went into for a children’s book.  The author created a pretty steady stream of “Questions” and “Answers” dialogue between Little Cub, her parents, and grandparents.

    I read the books to my girls in three separate settings.  The first book “God Gave us the World” which was a huge hit with the kids.  One of my daughters is fascinated with earth, planets, traveling and science so she had a lot of wonderful questions about the story.  It was neat hearing Little Cubs questions about all the different types of bears that live around the world and how God made each bear unique.

    The second book was “God Gave Us Love” which I read to the girls on Valentine’s Day.  It was a great reminder of all the people who love us in life and especially that God loves each one of us.  It had practical applications on ways to show love to others.  Ultimately I liked how the book encouraged the kids to know that God loved them.

    “God Gave Us Heaven” was the third book in this treasury and it paints an amazing picture of heaven!  Little Cub asked a series of common questions kids ask regarding heaven and the author did well in answering them.  I especially liked the analogy of Jesus being our “bridge” to our forever home.  She painted a pretty clear picture for children regarding heaven and salvation.

    The books mention God and many of the questions little ones ask regarding God, the world, love and heaven.  I really like how Lisa emphasized on how  our world was designed by God, that he loves us and wants us to live in heaven with him.  The only thing that caught me off guard was there is no mention of “Little Cub’s” gender until the end of books and all three of us assumed by the conversation that Little Cub was male so we were surprised to find out Little Cub was actually a female. These books had a good mixture of adventure and giving credit to God.  Each book peaked the curiosity of my girls enough to allow us the opportunity to continue the conversation for several minutes after reading the book and answer their additional questions about life, love, and heaven.

    Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes from the publisher through the Waterhouse Multnomah.  The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

  • Finding a Warm Spot!

    Our little feather friend found a warm spot between our storm door and back door! She was surprised to see us heading out to play in the snow!

    Recently we had a good 6 plus inches of snow in South Carolina which is pretty rare.  The whole family was out for a little bits throughout the day.  Brina and I lasted the longest the first round of snow playing.  I ended up carrying her up the hill to the house after sledding.  We got inside had hot chocolate, read books, ate lunch, had Snow Ball Ice Cream, did some laundry and relaxed before heading back out.

    The next time when the girls were all bundled up ready to head outside Jake opened the back door to let them out and we were startled to find a “friend” that must have tried to follow Brina and I inside to find some warmth!  We weren’t too excited about having a small bird flying around our house so we sent the girls out the garage then Brina came around to the back of the house to free the bird who was caught between the storm door and the back door of our house.  I think the bird was happy to find such a warm spot until she encountered us.  I am sure she was very glad find another warm spot away from the house!  Even the birds are looking for warmth on the snowy days.  I am thankful for a warm home especially during these cold days.