Announcing Number Nine & Homemaking Link Up Weekend

Hello!! It's the weekend---woo hoo!!!

Hope you've all got something fun planned this weekend.  I'll be hanging out with my family, relaxing, and, hopefully, writing!

No matter what I end up doing, the goal is: REST!!!

I have a few fun things to share with you today for my Homemaking Link-Up Weekend.  First, let me introduce you to the number: 9
                                                                               
Now why do you think that number is so special today?  That's right! We are expecting baby number 9 sometime next January!! Yay!!!

We are blessed!

Awesome announcement number two:

Have you visited Theresa at Dear Creatives yet?  She has the most awesome recipe for Apple Carrot Muffins!  Don't these look delicious?

Thirdly, I 'm teamed up with Anitra from The Mama Zone in a fun twist on the old-fashioned bloggy giveaway!  Please visit my Hop & Hunt for all the details and enter to win some of my yummy homemade carmels!

Are you ready to start the weekend now?  Start it off right by linking up your favorite posts below and visiting a few others!  Thanks for stopping by!  

Linking with:

Loving Our Children Tuesday 

Make It A Home! Blog Hop & Treasure Hunt

 
Welcome to the Make It A Home Blog Hop & Treasure Hunt hosted by Anitra from The MamaZone. We hope you’re ready to win some great prizes for your home and some cash to help you make your house a home! This giveaway hop is a little different than most because it has the added element of a cash treasure hunt! As you hop through, entering the giveaways on these fabulous blogs, keep your eyes open—you just might find some hidden cash! Here’s how it works:

• Visit each blog listed below and enter their giveaways.
• Look for the mailbox on each blog. If it contains a three digit code, make a note of it.
• Once you collect all 5 randomly hidden codes, enter here to win the Grand Prize of $100 and a Mint Floor Cleaner.
• As an added bonus, if you enter every giveaway involved you’ll earn 11 extra entries into the Grand Prize drawing (Sweet!).

The hop and hunt will run May 1st-May 14th and the Grand Prize winner will be announced on the 15th.

Ready to win? Here’s what I’m giving away:

My homemade carmels are such a hit in my Etsy shop!  I will be giving away one large batch of these fresh, buttery Nibbling Carmels!  Yum!  (If needed,click "read more" below to enter!)

Contentment Part Four: Keeping a Soft Heart

This article wraps up my series on Contentment.  Here are the previous parts of the series if you've missed any:


Part One: Contentment instead of worrying
Part Two:  No Complaining!
Part Three: Coveting and finding joy in our unique circumstances


Last Wednesday, I talked about coveting and today I'm talking about envy.  I've always had a hard time understanding the difference between the two;  however, now that I've studied them both a little, I think I realize the distinction:


Coveting is an unquenchable thirst for the things of this world---material things, specifically; but, perhaps, personality traits or life circumstances as well.


Envy is more of a resentment of the joys and positive things in another person's life.


Where coveting is a verb, an active and conscious action, envy is a personality trait that festers and grows.  It can start out small, but it's fed by irrational thoughts and fears.  


James 3:16:  "For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there."

Isn't that the truth!  How many times has your respect for someone grown to admiration, then to desire to "be like her", then to feelings of inadequacy when she succeeds, then to wishing she wouldn't succeed so much, then to wanting to sabotage her success now and then, and finally to complete contempt for every good thing in her life?

That's envy.  Jealousy.  With it comes hatred, malice, and a little voice inside that tells you that you just don't measure up.  

I've been on both the giving and receiving ends of envy.  There are people I know who have lost incredible amounts of weight and I've been envious of how easy that comes for them.  I think I've gotten to the point of wishing she wouldn't succeed so much before my "voice of worthiness" speaks up and reminds me who I belong to.


As for being on the receiving end, let's just say that I've got a loving and present husband, obedient and healthy kids, and a very peaceful home life.  This doesn't sit well with some who are struggling in these areas and I truly, from the heart, feel for those who envy this good life to the point of maliciousness.


This verse in James is surrounded by wisdom---wisdom about wisdom!


James 3:13-18:  "Who is wise and understanding among you?  Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.  But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.  This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.  For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.  But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.  Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."


I think the last verse just really sums up this whole series on contentment:


"Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace."

Being content is not a place we somehow and someday arrive to and stay.  It's a conscious daily choice to sow seeds of peacefulness and reap the blessings.  Instead of actively seeking contentment for ourselves, I think that we will be much more successful at finding peace when we seek to make peace abound around us.