In the dark they break into houses, which they marked for themselves in the daytime.  They do not know the light.  Job 23:16

This verse jumped out to me one day and reminded me of an incident that recently happened, involving a young woman in our community.

The young woman had been shopping with her child in a local store when a tall man approached her.  As the story goes, the man complimented her and asked her if she was interested in buying .magazines.  He apparently showed a flyer and some “receipts” from other customers.  The young woman shared her name and address, and as the man wrote the info down, something prompted her to give a wrong phone number.

After the man wrote the info down, he offered the young woman a sticker to put on her front door, to alert other sales people.

As the young woman told me this story I was very alarmed and could hardly let her finish.  This sounded like canvassing and tagging!

The young woman quickly told me that she had a warning go off in her mind and she started backing away and getting out of the conversation as soon as possible.  She approached an employee of the store and asked if there were people selling magazines in the store.  Of course the employee said NO and took a description.

Very soon after hearing this story,  I sat my own daughters down and reminded them of the early childhood teaching, “don’t take candy from strangers.”  We spent a good deal time talking about information and how we can be friendly, personable, without letting a person past the most outer layer of who we are.  No one gets their last name, address, phone number unless they are welcomed into an inner circle of community.

I also reminded them that we do not take solicitations.  If we want something, we seek it out and get it.  Honestly, I do not take any offers at the front door, outside stores, or from any other sales person unless I initiated the contact.

PLEASE share this story.  I am not making it up, I sat face to face with the young woman as she told me the story within 48 hours of it happening. 

This was an alarming incident, and I am so glad the young woman shared it with me.

Last week I posted my goals for the week and found that it was much simpler than using the spiral notebook.  While the list was a little out of sight and out of mind at times, I wasn’t carrying it around and continually adding to it.  That is something I had been doing that was adding to my frustration.  The list was never complete because I was adding to it and copying it every few days as the page became full!

Home Environment
Read 5 chapters of Love Does aloud. Read a picture book each day with my granddaughter.
Write a love note to Ben.
Clean the dresser top in our bedroom.
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with our daughters (day full of good food, fun movie in the evening)

Personal Growth
Finish memorizing Romans 12:1, 2, continue working on Ephesians 6:1-8
Walk 3 miles this week.  Start back up on crunches & pushups
Finish reading Undaunted, Say GoodBye to Survival Mode and Alone, Yet Not Alone.
Work on knitting project

Ministry Goals

Prepare and test Perfectly Unique lesson plans
Take 5 photographs & edit them
Email 2 encouraging messages, write & mail 3 cards of encouragement or gratitude

Household Business
Finish Gathering Tax Paperwork
Submit receipts to Health Savings Account
Find a replacement for my current INR testing site
Find & Download the driver for our printer to the new laptop, was able to use the cd to put the drivers on our new laptop with Windows 7.  But I now need to see if there is a driver download for Windows 8


Goals for February 17-22.

I refined the goals just a little.  During the fullness of the week I realized that reading aloud 5 chapters is a stretch, the same with the picture books.


Home Environment
Read 3 chapters of Love Does aloud. Read with my granddaughter.
Write a love note.
Clean all of the filters and drains

Personal Growth
Continue working on memorizing Ephesians 6:1-8
3 Days of Cardio.  Start back up on crunches,pushups
Read Rich in Years, Call of the Klondike, 5 Conversations You Must Have with Your Daughter, and Where There Was No Church
Work on knitting project

Ministry Goals

Work on Perfectly Unique lesson series
Take 5 photographs, edit & process
Write 3 notes, emails of encouragement or gratitude

Household Business
Finish Gathering Tax Paperwork, submit to accountant
Scan in final receipts for HSA reimbursement
Find a replacement for my current INR testing site
Find printer driver for Windows 8

As a reader of Money Saving Mom, the blog by Crystal Paine for several years, I have been encouraged and challenged in my pursuit of a purposeful life.  It was a joy to receive Crystal’s newest book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, 9 Simple Strategies to Stress Less, Sleep More, and Restore Your Passion For Life.

It is interesting how the book arrived in the mail shortly before the weekend away my husband had planned for me and him.  At that time I was definitely operating in survival mode, and that time away was deeply needed.

Like some of what the author suggests in chapters 1 (Stop Trying to Do It All) and 9 (Sometimes It Is About You) that get away gave my husband and I time to decompress, reconnect and have some great “unplugged” time away from kids and to do lists.

The book is broke down into 10 chapters that repeat and expand on the wisdom Crystal has shared on her blog over the years.  She extends grace to the reader and encourages the reader to extend grace to herself.  We can’t do it all, and we can live a rich purposeful life, wherever we find ourselves on this life journey.

Much of what I found in the book has been said on MoneySavingMom.com over the years, but it is a great resource to have that wisdom and encouragement gathered into print.  This is a book that will go on the reference shelf in our family library.

The publisher, Nelson Books has provided mewith a complimentary copy of this book  through BookLook Bloggers

A weekend get away planned by my Beloved.  He snapped this picture while we climbed around some rocks near The Falls.

Seeking balance between margin and productivity has been more like a pendulum swing.  So I’ve taken the outline of Money Saving Mom’s weekly goal list and made a list of my own, putting into the list a couple of refreshing “love to do” activities.

Home Environment
Read 5 chapters of Love Does aloud. Read a picture book each day with my granddaughter.
Write a love note to Ben.
Clean the dresser top in our bedroom.
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with our daughters (day full of good food, fun movie in the evening)

Personal Growth
Finish memorizing Romans 12:1, 2, continue working on Ephesians 6:1-8
Walk 3 miles this week.  Start back up on crunches & pushups
Finish reading Undaunted, Say GoodBye to Survival Mode and Alone, Yet Not Alone.
Work on fingerless gloves

Ministry Goals

Prepare and test Perfectly Unique lesson plans
Take 5 photographs & edit them
Email 2 encouraging messages, write & mail 3 cards of encouragement or gratitude

Household Business
Finish Gathering Tax Paperwork
Submit receipts to Health Savings Account
Find a replacement for my current INR testing site
Find & Download the driver for our printer to the new laptop

This is just a test, to see if posting my goals where I can see them, but not having the spiral notebook in my purse or on my desk all the time, helps me to keep an atmosphere of “balance”.

join the daybook community?

There is a new trend in story writing.  Episode stories, like a weekly TV series, ending each week with a little suspense to draw you back again the next week.

Hidden Falls by Olivia Newport and released by Barbour Books is one such book. It will only be released in e-book form, and is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

I was emailed the first episode in January and enjoyed reading the story while waiting for my daughter at an orthodontist appointment.  The story was enjoyable and I am curious about how it will carry on, but I am not sure I like the idea of paying each week to read the next chapter or “episode”.  If there are 13 episodes at $1.99 each (that’s the number I found on amazon), we are looking at roughly $26.00 per complete story.

You can download the first episode here for free.  I would love to hear how others feel about “episode” books.

The ebook was provided to me by Handlebar Publishing in exchange for my honest opinion.