Dreaming of England with CafePress and a Giveaway!

Last month, I introduced you all to CafePress, a great company for ordering themed or personalized items for gifts, business---or yourself!  CafePress offers lots of flip flops and cool shirts for summer---and sweatshirts for summer nights.  

Recently, I treated myself to a few CafePress gifts, and even bought a couple for one lucky reader out there!

Won't this Jane Austen-themed field bag be awesome on my England trip in September?  I just read today that Jennie has bumped us up to a private coach from Bath to Winchester, and again from Winchester to London.  Lots of quiet, peaceful writing time!  I am really impressed by the quality and size of the bag.  It definitely exceeded my expectations!  It's the perfect size for my laptop and roomy enough to hold a couple of books, a notebook, my camera, and any other day-travelling essentials, as well.  

The quote on the bag says, "It isn't what we say or think that defines us, but what we do." ~ Jane Austen.  That is an awesome perspective!

I also picked up a couple of magnets with the same quote on them.  You guessed it---one for me and one for (one of) you! Again, I was impressed by the quality of the printing and the size of the magnet.  These would make excellent advertising tools for a business or blog.

In addition, I picked out two of these adorable Pride and Prejudice greeting cards.  They're blank inside so you can use yours for any occasion.  I haven't decided what I'm going to do with mine, but I'm thinking I might save it to send to my England hotel-mate after our trip.  

I'm looking forward to utilizing CafePress's personalized service to make some unique business cards and stationery with my blog logo on them.  Maybe I'll even get a couple of custom shirts with my logo on them, or a coffee mug--for tea, of course!

Now for the giveaway!  One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter on Friday, May 17th.  This giveaway is open WORLDWIDE.  Thank you to all my wonderful readers all over the world!  (widget may take a few seconds to load...)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*This article was written as a review of CafePress.com.  I was given a gift certificate to spend on personal and giveaway items in exchange for this review.  All opinions are honest and are my own.

  Hope In Every Season is on Facebook!  If you like what you've read here, please follow me and keep up with the latest posts.

Linking with:

A Return to Loveliness @ A Delightsome Life
Teach Me Tuesday @ Growing Home
Tutorial Tuesdays with Hope Studios
Courtship Connection
Women Helping Women @ Teaching What Is Good 
Domestically Divine @ Far Above Rubies
(Titus 2)s Days @ Time Warp Wife
Tending the Home Tuesday
The Bliss Project Linkup @ Grace-Full Intentions  
Wisdom Wednesdays @Simply Helping Him
Winsome Wednesday @ My Daily Walk in His Grace
Whole-Hearted Home Wednesdays 
Encourage One Another @ Deep Roots at Home
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Homemaking Link Up @ Raising Homemakers
Home @ Rose Chintz Cottage  
Inspire Me Wednesday @ MamaBuzz
What's Working Wednesday @ NextGen Homeschool 
Watcha Work-Up Wednesday 
What's It Wednesday @ Ivy and Elephants 
Simple Living Wednesdays @ Our Simple Farm
Shoe Lace Linkup @ Living In the Shoe
RachelWojo.com
Home Link Up at Raising Arrows
Homemaking Party @ Hope In Every Season
Thursday Favorite Things @ Katherine's Corner
Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple
Pearls and Lace Thursday @ Faith, Grace and Crafts
Thriving Thursday @ Serving Joyfully
Homeacre Hop 
Think Tank Thursday @ Saving4Six 
Home Sweet Home @ The Charm of Home 
Open House @ Bernideen's Tea Time Blog 
Share Your Cup Thursday @ Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
Thoughtful Thursday @ Found the Marbles 
Inspiration Friday @ Dear Creatives
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home
Family Fun Friday @ Happy and Blessed Home
Farm Girl Friday @ Let This Mind Be In You
Fit & Frugal Family Friday
Show and Tell Saturday @ Be Different, Act Normal
Or So She Says...
Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors
Finding the Pretty & Delicious @ Your Homebased Mom
30 Min. Linkup @ 30 Days
Sharing Creative Ideas @ Made By Joey  
Show Me Saturday
Sunday Showcase Party@Under the Table and Dreaming 
Sundae Scoop @ I heart nap time
The Creative Homemaker Hop 
Sunny Simple Sunday @ Sunny Simple Life
One More Time
Sunday Blog Hop @ Cuddlebug Cuties

Craft-o-Maniac Monday  
Motivate Me Monday 
Modest Monday @ The Modest Mom 
Matrimonial Monday @ A Proverbs 31 Wife 
Make the Scene Monday @ Alderberry Hill 
Inspire Me Monday @ Create With Joy 
Masterpiece Monday @ BoogieBoard Cottage 
A Round Tuit @ Creating My Way to Success 
Monday Funday @ C.R.A.F.T. 
Better Mom Mondays
Manic Monday @ Cupcake-n-Bake
Mommy Mondays
Making Your Home Sing Monday
Mommie Mondays @ Sew Crafty Angel
Monday's Musings
Monday Meetup

Prayer Card Box for Organizing Prayer Requests

We've probably all had times in our lives when someone has shared a situation or asked for prayer and we've said, "I'll be praying for you!"  We had good intentions but life got in the way and we never did remember to pray.

Check out my Prayer Box project at Simply Helping Him.

This post was published in the 119th edition of The Christian Home Magazine.

Blessed At Home #1: My Quiet Place

Welcome to the very first week of Blessed At Home!  Please visit the Contributor Page to read more about this excellent ministry from some of your favorite homemaking bloggers.

Our Featured Contributor this week is Pamela from A Sheltering Tree:

"I’m Pamela Kuhn, a girl in love with her Lord and addicted to the grace He gives.  I’ve been married to my RB for 37 years.  I’m mother to three girls:  Melanie, 29, Emily 20, and Sarah who lives with Jesus and will forever be 8 months in my heart. I have four sweet grandbabies who warm this Mawmaw’s heart. My passion is encouragement—I call it sheltering—and am filled with joy when I’m crafting little gifts for others, teaching people to shelter or using my words to bless others.  If my Kindle can be found, I’m probably right there with it. 

Reading is my favorite past time (although I say it’s necessary for my career) and while non-fiction is my fav, I will read anything—even posters at the eye doctor. Candles set the mood in my home and remind me to be a light in this dark world.  My deepest desire is that others see Jesus in me."


This week we're talking about our quiet places.  Depending on your season of life, your quiet place may be very similar to, or much different from, those you'll read about here.  I hope you're blessed and inspired as you get to know more about our quiet places.

Kate, Teaching What Is Good
Long before I was married, my quiet place was not limited to one spot: walks through the park, drives to the beach and even hikes in the mountains were regular places where I'd seek solitude from the hubbub of life around me and spend time with the Lord. As times changed, so did my opportunities for finding those quiet places.

Since becoming a mother, eventually of 8, it has often been hard to find places of quiet and solitude in our home. There is always someone calling my name, someone needing my input, someone needing intervention, someone needing. In the early years when all of my children were still quite young (and while my husband was in graduate school and working 16-20 hour days, 7 days a week) any moment of quiet meant I was taking a nap so that I could continue to minister to my children and my husband.

I remember those early years and the times when I became desperate for time off from the constant giving of motherhood. In our home, the joke became a box of Calgon bubble bath outside the door when my husband came home. If he saw that, he knew that I needed to have a respite, a time of solitude, even if only for 30 minutes. And to the tub I would go while he cared for the children and their various needs.

Like Pavlov and his dogs, I hear the tub water running and I start planning some time alone!

My quiet place has become my bathtub! I line the tub and bathroom with candles, I sprinkle some fragrant oils or salts in the tub, I grab my inflatable pillow, put on praise music and sink deep into the water and the Word. While it is not my time of intense study of the scriptures, my bath time each night is my time of sweet fellowship with the Lord. I love the imagery of letting His Spirit wash over and flow through me that the bath waters conjur up. And I love to have that hour each night to worship, pray and mediate on the Lord. I love my quiet place of water, relaxation and refreshment!

Misty, Simply Helping Him
My quiet place is time reserved for God and I alone. I get up early in the morning, before my little blessings stumble out of bed. While the time I spend is not in abundance, it is quiet and focused. I stumbled upon Good Morning Girls last year, and have LOVED following the S.O.A.P. method of Bible Study. It truly has changed my life. As a mother, I often felt that my quiet time wasn't good enough because it was less time than before my little blessings. How untrue this is! It is not the amount of time that is key, it's the commitment and having a heart focused on seeking the Lord!

Tauna, Proverbial Homemaker
"Be still and know that I am God." - Ps. 46:10a

With all the noise and go go go of parenting my little babes, I need more of God. Many days, as I teach and train and cook and clean and build and plan... My heart is not calm. My mind is not clear. 

I desire the peace of God to permeate my day. God, who knows the details of this season of life, still calls me to silence and solitude in Him. 

Silence and Solitude are disciplines of a life desperate for God. And they are the breathing in and out of His presence, whether we sit and listen for a time or create space in the moment. 

I have been reading Invitation to Solitude and Silence by Ruth Haley Barton, and while I am at the beginnings of this journey, I have already experienced much blessing.

The practices of solitude and silence set aside ourselves to "know that I am God" in a powerful way. God's presence and His movement come in to our daily rhythm, breaking up strongholds and breathing life into every interaction.

"Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life... We do not take the spiritual life seriously if we do not set aside some time to be with God and listen to him." - Henri Nouwen

How I'm Pursuing Solitude and Silence
- hiding in the bathroom in the desperate moments (haha!) and pausing to pray and listen
- Reading God's word every morning and taking time to listen silently
- listening as I work the gardens
- slowing down and creating space in the moment to dwell on God's presence
- taking yearly overnight prayer retreats
- reading Barton's book and following her suggestions for pursuing solitude and silence 

Do you pursue the practices of solitude and silence? Would you like to learn more about it?

Kendra, Living in the Shoe
When I think of "my quiet place", my mind is immediately drawn to the meadow.  I love this place!  And I don't go nearly often enough.  Of course, it's best to get there before the cows do!  But this is the place where quietness seeps into your soul, and the beauty of spring draws your mind to the Creator of life.  There are no cell phones here .... only the sound of the rushing creek and the call of the geese.  The grass is so green it reminds me of heaven.  What must heaven be like if there is a place so pretty like this down here on earth?

In the quiet, without all the distractions of my home, it is easier to pray.  To talk to God and to hear His whispering answer.  

Mrs. Smith, Just a Country Girl
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands."  Psalm 19:1 says it all for me on days like today.  It is very easy for me to come to my quiet place because I only need to walk outside and marvel at all that God has created.

I find great peace in everything outdoors.  I will admit that I'm not a winter lover, and that we have about 8 or 9 wintery months...but I'm trying.  Spring and summer are another story, though.  I can sit for
hours on my porch swing and just listen and watch.  It amazes me how every bird has a song, every cloud has a shape, every insect has a purpose.  I am especially fond of peep frogs, which are very short
lived in the spring, and crickets in the summer.

I love to stick my hands into the dirt and plant
something--anything--and watch it grow through the three short growing months we have here.  How something can start as a tiny seed and grow into an amazing plant full of many different "jobs" is just so
awesome!

I love the smell of freshly cut grass (allergies and all!) and waking up to one of many birds chirping outside my window at 4:30 in the morning during the longest days of summer.  I just love it.  It's like
God just tapped me on the shoulder saying, "Wake up, it's a new day full of possibilities."  Where my particular house is settled, I get to see it all.  With the woods around me and a river across the road,
I have birds, deer, bears, ducks, geese, squirrels, turkeys, and on and on.  Not to mention all the different trees blowing in the breeze and flowers all around... it's just quiet.

And this is where I find God.  My quiet place.  A time to reflect, share my thoughts or problems, thank Him for all this wonderful creation that is His; yet He has loaned to me to enjoy with my family every single day.  I don't read or write or take any sort of
technology with me to the back yard.  I just enjoy what is.  What He would have it be, and nothing more.  It's my quiet place.  My favorite place--all the natural beauty that God created.

 Christy
Everyone needs their own "quiet place." A place just to reflect on their life and to appreciate the gifts God has given to them. A place to thank the Lord and a place to hear what he is saying to them. 

As long as I can remember, I have found my peace in the sun. Whether it is on a rock by a small creek, or in my back yard on a quilt soaking up the rays.
My quiet place has changed many times over the years, but the setting has remained the same. It includes blue sky, water, (even if it is just an open hose) and of course, the sun.

At this time in my life, I am blessed to have a spa on my back deck. I dream and wait with anticipation all winter long about lying beside my semi-cool spa in the sun. It is my quiet place. My place to thank God for my life. 

We all need our quiet place even if it is only 20 minutes of free time in the bath. We need a place to go without interuptions to drink in the Lord's many blessings.

I hope each person reading this will take a few minutes each day to find a quiet place of their own.

Judith, WholeHearted Home
For any mother, quiet is hard to come by unless your children are sleeping. It is refreshing just to get alone when life gets overwhelming and find the peace and calm that only Jesus can give. My Quiet Place is where I can get near to the heart of God whether it be in the middle of the day's business with my children or alone.

My Quiet Place is best found before the crack of dawn when my home is quiet. Once the sun comes up the children are up, and happy or whiny chatter can shatter the stillness of the early morning. For some reason, if I miss finding my quiet place soon after I get up, I won't find it for the rest of the day. Duty calls my name and I have neglected the most vital time of my day.

An attractive setting for my quiet place makes it inviting. A desk or the kitchen table is good when you want to spread out your Bible and notebook for an in-depth study. When I just need time to commune with the Lord, the clutter of papers and notebooks are left on the desk as I sit in the bedroom rocker with my Bible and notebook.

When babies are up in the night, the slider in the living room provides my quiet place with the dimly lit room giving the atmosphere of nearness to God.

When all else fails and the morning slipped away, my quiet time becomes the restroom where no one dare follow. Keeping this room clean will make it pleasant while you find solace, rest, and renewal for your weary heart.

My Quiet Place is my altar, it is my Peniel, my Bethel, it is the place where I get alone to worship  God and receive His grace for the day or the moment of need.

Have you built an altar in your life where you call upon God?

Daniel had a quiet time three times a day. His quiet place was kneeling by the window thrown wide open!!

He prayed.

THAT is reality with God.

I go to my quiet place to seek God with all of my heart.

You are as real as your quiet time,

Nothing else in life.

You are as safe as your quiet time,

Nothing else in life.

Keith Daniel

There is a place of quiet rest,

Near to the heart of God,

A place where sin cannot molest,

Near to the heart of God.

There is a place of comfort sweet,

Near to the heart of God,

A place where we our Savior meet,

Near to the heart of God.

There is a place of full release,

Near to the heart of God,

A place where all is joy and peace,

Near to the heart of God.

O Jesus, blest Redeemer,

Sent from the heart of God,

Hold us, who wait before Thee,

Near to the heart of God.

Thank you so much to Kendra and Judith for contributing photos this week!

Hope In Every Season is on Facebook!  If you like what you've read here, please follow me and keep up with the latest posts.

Linking with:

Motivate Me Monday 
Modest Monday @ The Modest Mom 
Matrimonial Monday @ A Proverbs 31 Wife 
Make the Scene Monday @ Alderberry Hill 
Inspire Me Monday @ Create With Joy 
Masterpiece Monday @ BoogieBoard Cottage 
A Round Tuit @ Creating My Way to Success 
Monday Funday @ C.R.A.F.T. 
Better Mom Mondays
Manic Monday @ Cupcake-n-Bake
Mommy Mondays
Making Your Home Sing Monday
Mommie Mondays @ Sew Crafty Angel
Monday's Musings
Monday Meetup
RachelWojo.com
A Return to Loveliness @ A Delightsome Life
Cottage Style Party @ Lavender Garden Cottage 
Teach Me Tuesday @ Growing Home
Tutorial Tuesdays with Hope Studios
Courtship Connection
Women Helping Women @ Teaching What Is Good 
Domestically Divine @ Far Above Rubies
(Titus 2)s Days @ Time Warp Wife
Tending the Home Tuesday
The Bliss Project Linkup @ Grace-Full Intentions
Wisdom Wednesdays @Simply Helping Him
Winsome Wednesday @ My Daily Walk in His Grace
Whole-Hearted Home Wednesdays 
Encourage One Another @ Deep Roots at Home
A Wise Woman Builds Her Home
Home Link Up at Raising Arrows
Homemaking Link Up @ Raising Homemakers
Home @ Rose Chintz Cottage  
Watcha Work-Up Wednesday 
What's It Wednesday @ Ivy and Elephants 
Simple Living Wednesdays @ Our Simple Farm
Shoe Lace Linkup @ Living In the Shoe
Homemaking Party @ Hope In Every Season
Thursday Favorite Things @ Katherine's Corner
Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple
Pearls and Lace Thursday @ Faith, Grace and Crafts
Legacy Leaver Thursday @ Leaving a Legacy
Thriving Thursday @ Serving Joyfully
Homeacre Hop 
Tutorials, Tips and Tidbits @ Stone Gable  
Desire to Inspire @ A Royal Daughter
Think Tank Thursday @ Saving4Six 
Home Sweet Home @ The Charm of Home 
Open House @ Bernideen's Tea Time Blog 
Share Your Cup Thursday @ Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
Thoughtful Thursday @ Found the Marbles 
Inspiration Friday @ Dear Creatives
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home
Family Fun Friday @ Happy and Blessed Home
Farm Girl Friday @ Let This Mind Be In You
Fit & Frugal Family Friday
Show and Tell Saturday @ Be Different, Act Normal
Or So She Says...
Finding the Pretty & Delicious @ Your Homebased Mom
30 Min. Linkup @ 30 Days
Sharing Creative Ideas @ Made By Joey  
Show Me Saturday

Sunday Showcase Party@Under the Table and Dreaming 
Sundae Scoop @ I heart nap time
The Creative Homemaker Hop 
Sunny Simple Sunday @ Sunny Simple Life
One More Time
Sunday Blog Hop @ Cuddlebug Cuties