StephanieS has won the 2 tickets for Son of God which opens this weekend.  I pray that this is a blessing to you.  Instructions for redeeming the tickets will be in your email this morning.

Posting these goals is a great way to build momentum in goal setting & goal reaching!  I am enjoying having a non paper record!

Goals for February 17-22

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, The Power of a Half Hour, Million Little Ways
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 you can find it here!

Goals for February 23- March 1

Making Home
Read 3 More Chapters of Love Does, Read with my granddaughter
Write a Love Note
Declutter Master Bedroom & add some pretty touches

Personal Growth Continue working on memorizing Ephesians 6:1-8
3 Days of Cardio.  3 Days strengthening exercises 
Read ~ 5 Conversations You Must Have with Your Daughter, Where There Was No Church, The Power of a Half Hour, Million Little Ways  Listen to 2 Chapters of Bonhoeffer audio book

Ministry Goals
Work on Perfectly Unique lesson series (chapters 5, 6)
Take 5 photographs, edit and process
Write 3 notes, emails of encouragement or gratitude

Household Business
Submit tax paperwork to accountant

Find a replacement for my current INR testing site
Bottle new batch of Vanilla!

Larson Fam you have won the giveaway drawing!  Please email me at byquietwaters at gmail dot com!

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to read and review “Say Goodbye to Survival Mode” by Crystal Paine, aka Money Saving Mom.  You can read a few of my thoughts here.

How would you like a win a copy of “Say Goodbye to Survival Mode”?

For entries:

Leave me a comment telling me one way that you build margin into your week?
Share this post on Facebook and comment telling me.
Like By Quiet Waters on Facebook, and let me know in the comment.

The contest runs from today through March 2nd.  A winner will be drawn and announced here on By Quiet Waters on Monday March 3rd.  Please check back then and email me your mailing address so I can get the book right out.

Thanks for joining!

The winner is StephanieS~  An email has been sent with instructions to redeem.

It’s been quite awhile since there has been a giveaway on By Quiet Waters, and so let’s give something away!

Have you heard of or seen the trailer for the new movie “Son of God” to be released February 28?  Compassion International is partnering with the producers of the mini series “The Bible” to promote this new movie, because of two things they have in common; a belief in the power of Jesus, and a desire to share His love with the world.

Here is the trailer:

In select cities there will be a message from the producers of Son of God, Roma Downey and Mark Burnett.  They will explain the ministry of Compassion International, and invite viewers to share in breaking the cycle of poverty by sponsoring a child.

I have 2 tickets to give to 1 reader for this movie.

This is a short contest and will be ending at 3am February 27.  The winner will be announced here on By Quiet Waters by Noon February 27. 

To enter: Do any or all of the following AND please include your email address so I can notify you!

Leave a comment here and tell me who you will take to the movie if you win the tickets.
Like By Quiet Waters on Facebook and leave a comment telling me you do.
Like Son of God on Facebook and leave a comment telling me so.
Like Compassion International on Facebook, and once again, let me a comment.

Thank you for participating!

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.