Home Decorating and Remodeling

Good morning. Thanks for stopping by! Today we begin. The first installment in a week of linky love and welcome gift's from the new home of My Quiet Corner.

Here are a few sites I have found that focus on home decorating and basic home remodeling. You will find the first opportunity for a gift listed below. Let the fun begin...

A Beach Cottage

Nesting Place

The Inspired Room

Remodeling This Life

Remodeling Guy

What other home decorating and remodeling sites am I missing?

Today's Gift:

I so enjoy these links, not only for the great content they contain, but also for the wonderful and beautiful photos they include. In honor of beautiful photos, today I am giving a photo themed package.

The winner will receive this grouping which includes two photo frames (one 4x6 and one wallet size). You will also receive a 4x6 photo album that holds up to 100 photos as well as 10 die cut photo note cards with matching envelopes.

To have your name entered once tell me, How often do you read blogs? For example: more than once a day, daily, 2-3 times a week....?

Tweet, Facebook, and/or post at your blog about this giveaway (come back and tell me) and receive another entry.

This giveaway will close tomorrow, Wed., July 1 at 9 AM (CST) and a random winner will be selected. Be sure to leave a way that I can contact you. All winners from this weeks giveaways will be posted on Tuesday, July 7.

Be sure to stop back by again tomorrow for more links and a chance at winning another welcome gift in celebration of the new home of My Quiet Corner!

Welcome

Hello my friend! Please, please come on in to the new location of My Quiet Corner! Could I offer you a cup of coffee, tea, diet coke or other beverage? I have a seat saved just for you and an extra throw blanket if you need it.

I hope you have a few minutes to stay for a chat. I have spent the last few weeks getting ready for your visit here. I have some things I'd like to share with you.

Why Move?



When I first started blogging, I did so completely anonymously. I also did so completely unaware of what I was doing and how to do it.

I selected a user name that became a bit awkward with time. I used that user name as the URL address of My Quiet Corner. I also used that name for my e-mail address. When I revealed my real name, it became even more cumbersome as my user name no longer applied to My Quiet Corner but was still so intricately tied to it.

My New Address



Have you noticed my new address? It's "m" for my, "q" for quiet and then corner with the blogger address. (mqcorner.blogspot.com) I also have a new mail box to go with my new home address here. My mail can now be sent to mqcorner@hotmail.com.

I would appreciate it if you would please update your feeds, links and other contact information to this new information. Also feel free to share my new address with anyone else you think of. I appreciate your effort in helping me with my move in that way.

Things to Come

I have many new ideas, thoughts and things coming in the future. I am so excited with what is ahead!

While I finalize the finishing touches here at my new place, I am going to start off with a week of link love. Each day I will not only share links you may be interested in, I will also have gifts!

Be sure to stop by each day this next week, not only to give me the opportunity to share links I have found, but to also learn how you can be eligible to receive one of the gifts I am giving.

Time to Relax


Please relax and linger for as long as you'd like. If you are new to My Quiet Corner, you will find my archives in the right sidebar that will link you to my former corner of the blogosphere.

Thanks for stopping and know you are welcome anytime! I will always have a seat saved just for you. Grab your beverage of choice, kick off your shoes, have a seat, put your feet up and take a moment to relax here in My Quiet Corner. I appreciate the presence of you!

Don't forget to stop by Tuesday. You will find a little link love and the chance at a welcoming gift to the new address of My Quiet Corner. Be sure to spread the news!

A Praying Mother

I admit it. I have sometimes found it difficult to pray for my children. Not difficult because I don't want to. Difficult because it seemed that my prayers became redundant. It felt that I was reciting the same wrote lines day after day.

I ask my children each morning, "How can I pray for you today?". The last two sentences they hear as they get out of the car to go to school are "I love you" and "I'll be praying for you today".

The practice of asking this morning question has helped to develop my prayers for them. However, on the days they didn't have something out of the ordinary happening, it seemed to be the same redundant words.

I have now added something to my routine. It has deeply enriched my prayers for them. I have even started a journal for each of them so they will be able to someday look back and be able to see exactly what I was praying for them.

When I first started I had a new focus each day. Somehow that made it seem like I was glossing over the potential depth of what it was that I was praying for them. I have since changed to a new focus every week.

So, what is the focus of my prayers? I am praying Scripture for and over my children. Each week I choose a new Scripture and pray it every day. I choose one for each child each week and write it out in the journal I have for them.

I have found that by the end of the week, not only have I prayed it, it has somehow become quite personalized for that child. I also have the idea of the verse memorized after a week of saying it each morning and thinking of the truth of it specific to my child throughout the day.

Each morning as I gather the items for my quiet time, I get their Scripture prayer journals as well. I open to the personalized Scripture that week and start my day off with focused thoughts and prayers for them.

It never ceases to amaze me how often events in their life seem almost orchestrated to fit so perfectly into the verse I have selected to pray for them that week. Coincidence?... I think not.

Reading List

2011

2010

Lessons I Learned in the Light By Jennifer Rothschild

Having a Mary Spirit: Allowing God to Change Us from the Inside Out By Joanna Weaver

So Long Insecurity: You've been a bad friend to usBy Beth Moore

The Dangerous Duty of Delight: The Glorified God and The Satisfied Soul By John Piper

Balcony People By JoyceLandorf Heatherley

Self Talk Soul Talk By Jennifer Rothschild

Friendship for Grown-ups: What I Missed and Learned Along the Way By Lisa Whelchel

One in a Million: Journey to Your Promised Land By Priscilla Shirer

The Reluctant Entertainer: Every Woman's Guide to Simple and Gracious Hospitality By Sandy Coughlin

How to Win Friends and Influence People By Dale Carnegie

No More Christian Nice Girl By Paul Coughlin

Sacred Influence By Gary Thomas

Every Day Deserves a Chance By Max Lucado

Lessons I Learned in the Dark By Jennifer Rothschild

The Knowledge of the Holy By A.W. Tozer

Beautiful Things Happen When a Woman Trusts God By Sheila Walsh

Fearless: imagine your life without fear By Max Lucado

If God is Good: faith in the midst of suffering and evil By Randy Alcorn

30 days to taming your tongue By Deborah Smith Pegues

Practicing the Presence of God: a modernized Christian classic By Brother Lawrence

Detours, Tow Trucks and Angels in Disguise By Carol Kent

Out of the Salt Shaker & into the World By Rebecca Manley Pippert

Developing the Leader Within You By John Maxwell

The Faith By Charles Colson and Harold Fickett



2009

Home Warming By Emilie Barnes

Simple Secrets to a Beautiful Home By Emilie Barnes

Beyond the Masquerade: unveiling the authentic you By Dr. Julianna Slattery

15 Minute House and Budget Manager By Emilie Barnes

In Praise of Stay at Home Moms By Dr. Laura Schlessinger

A Heart Like Jesus By Max Lucado

Cure for the common life: living in your sweet spot By Max Lucado

The Noticer : sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective By Andy Andrews

The Grand Weaver: How God shapes us through the events of our lives By Ravi K. Zacharias

When the game is over, it all goes back in the box By John Ortberg



2008

Boundaries By Henry Cloud

Boundaries for Kids By Henry Cloud & John Townsend

A Resilient Life By Gordon MacDonald

Safe People By Henry Cloud

Dealing with the Crazymakers in Your Life By Dr. David Hawkins

The Ultimate Blessing By JoAnn Lyon

Get Out of that Pit By Beth Moore

Becoming a Woman of Influence By Carol Kent

1/2 Price Living By Ellie Kay

One Tough Mother By Julie Barnhill

The Divine Mentor By Wayne Cordeiro

The Total Money Makeover By Dave Ramsey

If You Want To Walk On Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat By John Ortberg

The Treasure Principle By Randy Alcorn

Dangerous Surrender By Kay Warren

Character Makeover By Katie Brazelton & Shelley Leith

Have a New Kid By Friday By Kevin Lehman

Everybody's Normal till You Get to Know Them By John Ortberg

The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands By Laura Schlessinger

Love as a way of Life By Gary Chapman

Hello and Welcome.  Allow me to introduce myself.

I suppose I’m not much different than your neighbor down the street or the lady standing behind you in line at the grocery store.

               
My days are filled with being a wife of 16 years and a mother to 2 teens and a toddler.  My schedule includes everything from high school sporting events to going to the park and play dates.  A few hours each week find me working as a Registered Nurse.

 I keep busy maintaining three different school schedules as our son in high school attends a private school.  I home school our daughter through the private school program in addition to getting her to the public school for a couple of classes each day.  Our little guy is my constant companion in the midst of it all.

With what time I might have left .... I am involved at church leading the music, snuggling babies in the nursery, and facilitating various small groups with my husband on topics such as parenting, marriage and finances.

I am a reader, piano player, and wanna be gardener and cook.  I search for new ways to be frugal and make good financial decisions.  I am a student of how to navigate the world with the special needs of my child, a contributing writer at Crosswalk, and a  blogger.

I do not share many details of our little guys adoption.  I do not expand on our daughter’s fight with death twice and the lifetime obstacles those experiences have left for her/us to navigate.  Their stories are not mine to share in this public place.

However, the way I approach life and the lens through which I view the encounters of my day are very much influenced by the daily experiences those situations bring.  As I process and share, these things are very much a part of who I am and who God is creating me to be.

More than anything else I am a child of God. I treasure the personal relationship I have with Him. I am not afraid to tackle the more difficult questions of life. I do not back away from the tough questions of my heart.

In turn, I often share those here with you in hopes of challenging, encouraging and inspiring your own heart and soul at its very core.

I hope you always find yourself welcome to come and sit awhile at My Quiet Corner. Take time to rest, to reflect, to be quiet. I hope and pray that you find here transparency, encouragement, honesty, support, laughs, tears, a listening ear, a praying heart, and a friend.

Thanks for sharing "My Quiet Corner" with me! I enjoy the presence of YOU!

Enough about me.  I’d love to hear about you!  

Awards

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JD said with the Friday Flip Up: "Her style of writing is ..... real. Lately I have been filled with heartfelt thanks for her tender posts. She has bravely thrown out a very personal and genuine post out into, the sometimes scarry and bottomless, world of the net. I know from her feedback that she is inspiring not only me but so many others as well. She writes as though she has a direct connection to the center of the human soul. She credits her Maker in all she does. Her posts have truely have become an uplifting part of my day around blog land. "


NOMINATIONS:

From Busy to Quiet

Busy

Do you know the word?

Four simple letters out of a 26 letter alphabet, that, when put together create a word that can be so consuming in a life. At least I find that to be so in mine.

Keep the "u" and take 4 other completely different letters from that same 26 letter alphabet. Put them all together and you form a completely different word.


Quiet

I need quiet. Quiet is a good thing, a necessary thing, a longed for thing that does not penetrate into my schedule and my days as often as it should or I would like.

I have challenged myself to practice and learn to be quiet. To intentionally find time and a place for quiet. To slow the pace of a moment, for even a moment more.

I also find that the busier I become, the more self focused I become. In taking time to slow the pace and be quiet, I begin to notice those around me more. I start to recognize ways to go beyond myself to serve others, even in the simplest of forms.


My Quiet Corner

This place is one place where I come to practice and learn quiet. It's where I can take a minute or two to sit, put my feet up, and be real.

As I sit in this place, I sort through and share the thoughts and ramblings of my heart as it relates to learning and practicing to slow the pace, to quiet myself. I reflect on my focus and evaluate where it has largely been, on me or others.

It is also a place where I record those things that challenged my heart, inspired my spirit and penetrated my soul as I make time to spend alone with God.

I hope you will come and join me. My goal is that you will find encouragement and inspiration to slow the pace. I also hope you will find my own shared challenges of seeking quiet to challenge your own heart as we take charge of our busy worlds and intermingle moments of quiet into them to rest, relax, refresh and restore tired and weary souls.


Slow the Pace

Take a seat, put your feet up and sit back to relax... if even for just a moment. It may be just exactly what you needed...