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I Love Mother’s Day. Why Am I So Sad?

May 9, 2010 by Laura 71 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Today is Mothers’ Day. I love being a mother. I am so thankful that God blessed me with four wonderful children. I take them for granted, when truly they are the best gift God has given my husband and me.

My husband and boys do a wonderful job making Mother’s Day special for me. They don’t let me cook. They don’t let me do dishes. They take special annual Mother’s Day pictures out by the peach tree we planted four years ago. I love celebrating Mother’s Day with my men.

And yet, for some reason…all I can do today is cry.

I miss my own mama.

And today would have been her 61st birthday.

Why in the world did her birthday have to fall on Mother’s Day this year? Mother’s Day is hard enough. Her birthday is hard enough. Both on the same day? Ugh.

For a couple of weeks now, so many things I’ve seen and heard are painful reminders that I no longer have my mom around. Our radio keeps asking people to call in and share about why their mom is so special. There are ads all over the place suggesting that we should get our mothers flowers and other wonderful gifts.

You know what I would have given my mom for Mother’s Day/her birthday this year?

A new shirt.

Because that’s what I gave her every year. Because that’s what she always wanted. Because she loved getting new shirts. Because even though it felt boring and unoriginal to give her the exact same thing every year…if I didn’t pick out a new shirt for her…deep down I think she would have been disappointed. Because she loved getting a new shirt. And she loved it when I was the one picking out the new shirt for her. I knew just what she liked.

This time of year, I am drawn to shirts that my mom would have liked. When I am out shopping, I see a cute button up blouse (usually in some shade of blue) and I almost buy it. Every year. Because I always got her a new shirt.

And now, every year, I hurt and feel joy at the same time when I see a shirt that she would have liked for her birthday or for Mother’s Day. And I feel ridiculous standing in the clothing department with tears running down my face because for Pete’s sake, it’s a shirt. Who cries over shirts?

I do. Every May.

Anyway, I love Mother’s Day. It’s a wonderful day to honor precious women in our lives. 

But today, I’m hurting. I’m weepy. And I miss my mom.

I figured you wouldn’t mind if I shared that with you.

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12 Tips for Planning a Memorable Frugal Family Vacation

May 6, 2010 by Laura 9 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

The following is a guest post from Jeri who writes a frugal family travel blog where she shares family travel tips like airplane games for kids. Having flown over 75,000 miles either pregnant or with kids, she has some experience in the field of family travel. 
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‘Tis the season for gearing up and trying to figure out what the family will do to entertain the youngsters while on summer vacation. If you want to plan an  amazing family vacation, these tips will help get you on your way.

How to Plan a Memorable and Frugal Family Vacation

1. Consider your budget.  So, maybe you can’t fly your family of 12 to Europe this summer, but surely there are more options. Look at your family budget, decide on a number, then continue with the planning. Make it a challenge: where can we go and what can we do with this much money?

2. Ask for input. Even if you have young children, ask the family for their ideas. I know my 4 and 2-year-olds love to be involved in our travel conversations. Sometimes I’m amazed at the ideas they have in their minds.

3. Create anticipation. In our home, we read books and play a game we invented called “Airplane, Airplane” where my husband pretends to be a flight attendant and we all practice being passengers. Even very young children can learn words like “departure”, “arrival”, and “rest area.” Get the kids (and yourself) excited about the adventure ahead  -whether it’s a road trip or someone’s first flight. Count down the days or months together.

4. Tell stories from past travels. My two-year-old son still loves us to tell the story over and over and over again about how he ate buffalo food at a Bison Ranch in Wyoming last year. He doesn’t remember it, but he loves to hear all about it. And it breeds more anticipation for future travel. My children also love to hear about all of the countries they’ve been to and the modes of transportation they’ve taken.

5. To save money, be flexible with your dates and destinations. (And, just be flexible in general.)  Make sure you do all you can to book cheap travel and start planning in advance! (That’s why I’m telling you now.)  Also, depending on your lodging, consider cooking meals instead of eating out.

6. Be ready and willing to entertain the kids. After all, it is a FAMILY vacation. Yes, it takes more energy, but it is worth it. I notice that when I pay attention to my children and go out of my way to spend time with them (at home or on the road), I have a lot fewer behavior problems. It’s even possible to keep kids entertained on flights.

7. S-L-O-W down!  Is it really necessary to visit every museum in Washington DC in a single day, go out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and enjoy the latest viewing of the latest movie that was released, and stop for ice cream on the way home? (Phew!)  To enjoy a vacation with children, make it simple. Make time for naps – that is, if you’d like your 2-year-old to be good-natured at dinner. Fewer activities = fewer dollars, too. We try not to plan more than one “big” activity per day for our young family.

8. Take pictures.  You’ll want to remember what you did on your vacation, and this is an easy way to do it.

9. Check out free activities. I was amazed when we found a FREE museum in Brisbane, Australia on one of our vacations. Also, it’s often the simple things that matter most. Hanging out at the beach or a local park for a picnic can be just as memorable as paying big bucks for Universal Studios. 

10. Stay with friends on vacation. Sometimes I’m afraid to ask because we might be intruding, but we’ve always enjoyed staying with our friends on vacation. (And I think that deep down they like it, too!)  The best part is that after you put the kids to bed, you can hang out with your friends. The days can be spent doing something with your own family, and communicating this with your host family is important. It saves you money, and gives you some time to invest in a relationship that maybe you’ve neglected over a few years. Conversely, we would always welcome our friends to “vacation” in our home. Speaking of which, anyone up for a South Pacific vacation this summer?

11. Pack light. Even if you’re taking a road trip, there’s no reason to take the whole kitchen and bathroom sink with you. As you pack, ask yourself, “Can I survive a week without this?” If the answer is “yes”, leave it at home. This one is tough for me since we’re missionaries in Papua New Guinea and travel for months at a time. But, I can tell you firsthand that it is no fun having too much luggage! Besides, now it is costing more and more on flights for extra weight. More weight often means more wait in many circumstances.

12. Preserve your memories.  I keep a travel scrapbook for our family, in which I make one page for each trip we take. If you’re not into scrapbooking, consider making a short slideshow to view with your kids days, months, or years later. Trust me, it’ll be worth it.

For us, family vacations are important. They have knit us together in a way that every day life can’t. 

What are your vacation plans for the summer?

This post is linked to Frugal Fridays.

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Our Healthy Eating Journey, Wrapping it Up

May 5, 2010 by Laura 60 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

healthyeatingjourney

If you missed them, please catch up on
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 , Part 7, Part 8 and Part 9.

I had finally accepted and realized that our bodies needed nourishment. Eating food wasn’t just about filling a hole. Eating food was about providing our bodies with all of the right nutrients, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and fats.

I re-read Nourishing Traditions. I asked millions of questions of my friends who knew more about healthy eating than I did.  I got completely overwhelmed.  I began throwing processed foods out of my pantry. I pretty much turned into a Nazi about healthy eating. If it wasn’t organic, raw, fermented, grass fed, soaked whole grain or cultured…I was scared to let it pass our lips. We would probably die! We would for sure get cancer! Malachi’s eczema would get worse! My asthma would get worse! We would all get terribly sick!

This way of thinking turned me into a nervous wreck anytime we went anywhere. If I was at home, I could control what we ate. But if we were at a friend’s house or out of town visiting family or if someone offered my children candy…I was scared to death to let us eat! Those foods were poison!! It sounds crazy (because it was) but that’s how I was when I first learned about eating nourishing foods. When you’re first learning about the harmful ways animals are raised for meat and milk and how many pesticides are sprayed on produce, it can make you want to run away screaming. 

It took me a few months to come around. Part of it was that I just needed to wrap my brain around this new lifestyle. I had to figure out how to eat and serve my family a healthy diet. I had to learn where good food sources were. I had to learn to spend money on food (and figure out where that money was going to come from). I had to learn how to grow my garden organically. I had to learn how to cook and bake differently.

But I had to learn to CHILL OUT.

I learned that while we could try our best to eat the best foods we could most of the time…we could never eat perfect foods all of the time. And guess what? That’s okay! The stress of trying to eat perfectly, and the fears I had developed when we couldn’t were probably more harmful than the occasional store bought pizza or non-organic apple we might eat.

And so I discovered a healthy balance. More importantly, so that our children would come along with us on this journey and not be afraid that Mommy would be serving them yet another weird dish that they’d never heard of and that they hated…I learned to re-create all of our favorite foods. Now, we could eat all of our favorites (Pizza, Mac and Cheese, Tacos, Nachos, Spaghetti, etc.), but they were made with healthy and wholesome ingredients! The kids were happy. The parents were happy. Our bodies were happy.

So that’s where we’ve landed. We don’t eat a perfect diet…we just do the best we can. Our journey continues, because that’s what journeys do, don’t they?

Now my goal is to continue to develop more healthy and tasty recipes that my family loves and share them with you!

I’m wrapping up this series about Our Healthy Eating Journey today, with plans to launch into another series of sorts in which I’ll share some simple steps you can take toward healthy eating if this journey is new to you. I’ll share specific information about healthy meats, dairy products, eggs, spices, grains, produce, fats, etc. More importantly, I’ll give you ideas and tools for where to start. You DON’T need to change everything all at once!

My goal is to help you know that eating healthy is a possibility for EVERYONE. No matter what your budget, your cooking ability and experience, your understanding of nutritious food. You can do this!

Healthy eating tastes so good! Learn along with me that changing over to a healthy lifestyle is simple, affordable and delicious!

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Gratituesday: One Girl

May 3, 2010 by Laura 25 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

gratituesdaynov09[1]

My husband and I felt very convicted after our local Christian radio station made us aware of One Girl ministry. Convicted to pray. Convicted to act.

Brace yourself, but please read here about the sex trafficking going in Nepal. More than 10,000 young girls each year are taken across the border into Indian brothels where they are forced, usually within 24 hours of arrival, to become prostitutes. They are welcomed into the country by being gang raped and beaten. 

Our hearts hurt…our stomachs feel sick after hearing about these innocent girls whose lives are forever changed.

Because our local Christian radio station made us aware of this and urged us all to become involved, we decided to join in to help. When you realize that you can do something to help these girls who are so far away, hope replaces despair. There is something we can do.

There is a place of refuge called Princess Home  which is run by a pastor and his wife. Here, women who have experienced the abuse of sex industry find hope. They are provided with counselling, job training, Bible training…a new start!

By donating just $11, we could make a difference. The money will aid in the ministry at Princess Home. We will also be sent a bracelet, made by the girls at Princess Home. We can wear the bracelet as a reminder to pray for these girls and for this ministry.

We decided to buy 6 of these bracelets…one for each member of our family. The idea of this becoming a family ministry sounded just right to us. We explained to our boys (with careful discretion of course) how girls are being stolen and abused and that we can wear bracelets to remind us to pray for God’s protection over them. The boys are excited about this opportunity and so are we.

I’d like to urge you, if you feel called, to consider taking part in this ministry too. You can sign up to pray for one girl here.  And please know that I would never participate in or encourage you to participate in a ministry that was a scam. You can trust the people at Tiny Hands International.

Today, I’m thankful that we were made aware of this ministry. I’m thankful that we were able to help. I’m thankful that this is a ministry that we can take part in as a family. I’m thankful that prayer is powerful.

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!


Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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Swagbucks

May 3, 2010 by Laura 8 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

I’ve shared before about how I love using my Swagbucks toolbar as a search engine so that I can earn points to trade in for Amazon eCards and Target eCards. 

So that I’m not repeating myself, you can read more about how Swagbucks works here.    And you can read about how I’ve been able to save on organic groceries using Swagbucks here.

This week, Swagbucks is doubling all swag earnings…which I find very exciting! 

If you’re new to Swagbucks and sign up now using this code:  SWAGNATION5 you’ll receive 50 points just for signing up!

Trust me, there is no catch, you just use Swagbucks as a search engine and earn free money. I love it, which is why I’m sharing it with you!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Freezer Cooking for May, Calling for Back-up

May 3, 2010 by Laura 21 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

It was bound to happen. With all the soccer games going on, and the musical, and the company, and the soccer games. Sorry, but there have been a LOT of soccer games. Oh, and the pollen count has been sky high.

Anyway, I got completely worn out. Exhausted. I’m really not sure how I lasted as long as I did actually. When I started losing my voice last week, I thought it was from trying to yell and coach soccer games. But it didn’t take long for me to realize, “Um Laura? You’re sick.” 

I was finally able to take some time off on Tuesday and rest. And Wednesday. And Thursday. And Friday. Wow, I think I was more exhausted than I thought I was. I’m still not back to 100%. I’m getting there though. I’m focusing on eating nourishing foods (and lots of it), drinking water like crazy, getting a chiropractic adjustment every few days, taking  Congaplex to give my immune system some help (per my Chiropracter’s instruction) and resting. Ah, rest. Where have you been? I’ve missed you so.

My husband has been a rock star and my boys have been learning from their daddy. They’ve kept the house from falling apart and they’ve done a great job helping to put meals on the table. 

However, we’ve depleted all of the prepared food in the freezer and the healthy “convenience” foods I normally make to have on hand. We have no tortillas. No bread. No burritos. It’s starting to look scary in the freezer. (Well, we have a lot of frozen meat, but I wanted to give my boys something easier to make for lunch than say, fried chicken.)

Knowing that I didn’t have the strength yet to pull off a freezer cooking day, but knowing that we HAD to have food on hand that would be simple to prepare…I enlisted the help of the boys on Saturday.

I can not tell you how proud I am of my boys.

I started them on these homemade frozen hashbrowns. I figured if we had a bunch of frozen hashbrowns ready to pull out…we could fry them up with some hamburger meat, or with some turkey sausage, or stir them into a breakfast casserole, or fry them and put cheese on top, or scramble them with eggs…

There are so many possibilities with these hashbrowns. And so, my biggest boys set to work.

They scrubbed, stabbed and baked TEN pounds of potatoes. All by themselves. I had them just throw the potatoes into my big roasting pan for baking:

baked_potatoes

They went and played for a few hours while the potatoes baked, then cooled. Then, they set to work peeling and shredding. All of them. Without my help.

boys_making_hashbrowns

There was a bit of a mess on the floor when they were done, but I didn’t care. (Well actually, I made them clean it up.)  Then they put the shredded potatoes into the freezer overnight. 

hashbrowns_for_freezer

We bagged them up (and ate some of them) the next day!

While the big boys were working up the potatoes, Malachi helped me make a double batch of Whole Wheat Waffles. (Don’t worry, I sat down between rounds of pouring batter.)

waffles_for_freezer

Now, we can just pop these into our new toaster oven
and heat them up for a quick and easy breakfast (or dinner).

Today, I’m hoping the boys can help me make a couple of Pizza Casseroles and some Chewy Granola Bars. We’ll see how far we get though. They’d have to make some Peanut Butter before we can make the Granola Bars, but since making Peanut Butter is so easy (and because the boys like making lots of noise), they should be able to handle it.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my family?

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Menu Plan for the Week

May 2, 2010 by Laura 14 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

You may be interested to know that I took your advice and got myself a new toaster oven. Thanks to Swagbucks, I was able to order a free toaster oven that is exactly what we need! We chose a Euro-Pro Convection 6-Slice Toast R Oven. We’re having so much fun warming our food in it and of course, toasting bread and biscuits in it. Thanks for your help and advice on this!

toaster oven

Here’s our menu for this week:

Sunday, May 2
Oatmeal, pears
Venison roast, potatoes, carrots, gravy
Simple soaked pancakes, turkey sausage

Monday, May 3
Whole wheat and honey zucchini bread , bananas
Tuna salad on tomatoes, strawberry milkshakes
Pizza casserole, tossed salad

Tuesday, May 4
Scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, oranges
Potato soup, strawberry peach slushies
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas

Wednesday, May 5
Whole wheat waffles, raspberries
Chicken and rice with carrots and peas
Spaghetti, corn, tossed salad

Thursday, May 6
Mini breakfast pizzas, clementines
Sloppy joes, sweet baked beans, carrot sticks
Roasted chicken, cream scalloped potatoes, asparagus

Friday, May 7
Mary’s whole wheat cinnamon raisin coffecake, applesauce
Spicy avocado dip, corn chips, creamy orange cooler, carrots
Homemade Pizza, apples

Saturday, May 8
Honey whole wheat bagels, bananas
Leftover buffet
BBQ meatballs, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli

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National Day of What?

April 30, 2010 by Laura 8 Comments

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We already covered the fact that Monday was National Pretzel Day.
 
But did you know that this upcoming Friday is National No Pants Day? I wish I were kidding. First of all, who came up with that? And how in the world was it approved as a national holiday? And what on earth is the purpose? To celebrate free will? To rebel against constricting legware? To save money on laundry detergent for a day?
 
If you can’t get into that holiday, perhaps you’ll like Saturday’s holiday better. It’s National Stay Up All Night Celebration. Yeah, I can make it until about 10 pm and then my sentences no longer make sense and my eyes start to glaze over. Staying up all night does not work for me. I can’t do it. But if you want to, go right ahead. It’s a National Holiday after all.
 
Last Friday was National Hairball Awareness Day. I am quite aware that hairballs exist. I’ve seen cats cough them up and it isn’t pretty. I’m not sure how much more aware of hairballs I need to be. Perhaps I have been in denial of how many hairballs there really are in this Nation of ours. I feel slightly ashamed of my lack of attention toward the matter.
 
While we’re on the subject of cats, did you know that there’s a What If Cats And Dogs Had Opposable Thumbs Day? Yep. It does make you pause to take a moment and reflect on the possiblity, doesn’t it? Okay, I’m all done reflecting. Moving on…
 
Oh wow – another cat day. Sure enough, December 15 is National Cat Herders Day. I’ve herded cows before and have found that it is not easy for me. I can’t imagine herding a bunch of cats. And by the way, where are we trying to get them walk together in unison? While I don’t really want to participate in herding a group of cats into one specific place, if you are planning to do it, please call me because I’d kinda like to watch.
 
There was a day in January in which Rid the World of Fad Diets and Gimmicks Day was celebrated. Yeah, I’m pretty sure it was not highly effective.
 
The last day of the year is apparently Make Up Your Mind Day. Should I celebrate it though? I can’t decide. I keep going back and forth on that one. 
 
There is also a National No Interupptions Day. While I would love for my children to celebrate this day – every day- I can’t help but think of the insanity of not being able to interrupt a radio or TV show with an important announcement. “We interrupt this broadcast to inform you of a severe weather alert. Oh WAIT, never mind! It’s No Interupptions Day. Go about your business. Take care.”
 
Well, use your best judgement about National No Pants Day coming up next Friday. I may stay home all day, just to play it safe. Because while I certainly don’t want to go around without my pants, I really don’t want to see you without yours.
 
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One Pig, One Puppy, One Goat…and a Cowboy?

April 29, 2010 by Laura 16 Comments

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I’m not sure if you sensed all my stress with coming up with costumes for my four boys for The Three Little Pigs musical they were in last week. (The people living near me did!)  I felt absolutely confident about planning for all of the refreshment for after the musical…and absolutely NOT confident about creating costumes for a musical. Thankfully, we had an awesome director and I had some awesome friends who helped me out. 

All of the characters were a different kind of animal. All the kids (except for the three little pigs and the very adorable big bad wolf) were able to chose which animal they wanted to be.

Elias decided to be a doggy. My friend Kim enlisted the help of her mom on this one. 

elias_puppy_costume2

It seems that she took a fuzzy gray zip up jacket with a hood…cut the arms to fit and created some ears. Then, we just put him in black pants and black gloves. Ooh, and we used some black sticky felt for spots. Ta-da! We have a doggy.

Look out, now he looks hungry! (What’s new?)

elias_puppy_costume

Asa chose to be a goat, which was such a fun choice for an almost 13 year old! He was the fella who sold bricks to the third little pig.

asa_goat_costume

We put him in old farmer clothes and found some junky suspenders at Goodwill. The director added horns to an old hat and created a goat-ee out of yarn. He was a hoot!

Justus was the third little pig. He was to play the “smart pig” who kept a notebook and pencil in his pocket so that he could stay organized. :)

justus_pig_costume

In order to look the part of the smart, sophisticated pig…Justus wore dress pants, a dress shirt and suspenders. His director made his ears out of the corners of an old pillowcase. Adorable!

Oh, and take a look at the tail the director made…

justus_pig_costume_2

Not to be outdone…even though he decided he just didn’t want to be in the performance this year…Malachi dressed for the occasion in his usual cowboy garb. After all, you never know when it might come in handy to have a cowboy around when a big bad wolf comes to blow down your house.

malachi_cowboy_costume

You’ve gotta love a cowboy in a soccer shirt.

boys_costumes

And here they are all together. Yep, they’re characters alright!

Once the costumes all came together, I had to wonder why I was so worried. Everything always comes together when people work together!

It’s a concept I would do well to remember…

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Family Photo Album

April 28, 2010 by Laura 19 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

A few weeks ago, we were privileged to be given a family portrait session from Jennifer Albin Photography. Despite the fact that the grass and trees had no green on them yet…and the fact that the wind was blowing like mad…Jennifer did a wonderful job taking our pictures.

Allow me, if you will, to show you some of my favorites?

Here’s one of all the boys together looking (if I do say so myself) oh so very handsome. They also look so quiet and calm. What is that about?

boys_best

The sun was shining so brightly that day, which helped to make up for the lack of color around us. Here’s one of all six of us:

family103sm

And…I have to show you this one just to prove how crazy the wind was that day. I don’t know HOW MANY shots Jennifer took that were perfect of all five men…and then there’s me with hair all over the park and neighborhood. Shew, talk about crazy hair….

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Here’s another of our boys. Doncha love their soccer jerseys?

boys102sm

Jennifer took several of just Matt and me. I LOVED that part of our photo session the most. I realized that we’d never really had pictures done of just the two of us. Our engagement pictures were taken at Walmart 15 years ago for a whopping $4.95. It was so much fun to take several different poses with him now.

Here we are in our matching soccer jackets:

mattandlaura10polesm

  Did I mention how much fun it was to take these pictures?

mattandlaura103sm

Okay, now we’re just goofing around:

matt_and_laura_fun

I don’t know why, but I think this one is my favorite:

matt_and_laura_sitting

There are a ton more pictures, but I didn’t want to scare you too much with all of my fly away hair. I’ll leave you with these for now! Jennifer, thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to capture our family forever on film. What a wonderful blessing you gave us!

I realize many of you live a little bit far from me (like in other states or over seas and such). BUT, if you happen to live somewhere within Nebraska or northern Kansas or western Iowa or southern South Dakota you may be very interested in learning more about Jennifer Albin Photography! If you live in any of the above mentioned areas (or if you live farther away but feel like visiting me in York sometime soon!), you have a chance to receive a FREE Family Photo Session with Jennifer Albin Photography! This is such a generous offer! Email me with the subject line:  Family Photo Session and let me know you’re interested! I’ll email you back and tell you more about this fantastic opportunity Jennifer is offering!

Be sure to check out all of Jennifer’s beautiful work at her website and facebook fan page!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!
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