Say it FORWARD

The idea behind Say it FORWARD is a favorite of mine, now if I could just get myself in order to remember to post it each Friday I'll be doing good! Ahem. Sayin' Thank You is one of the best things you can do for someone else I believe. It is the easiest and smallest thing yet it hold incredible weight in another person's life. No, blogging isn't everything but I can't tell you how many times the encouragement God has given me has come from this blogosphere in one form or another. Ok, so I remembered this week...and here we go! :)

This week I'm highlighting a longtime friend of mine that I just adore! Her name is Mel from A Box of Chocolates and we have been friends since we were gosh, 13?? We lost each other for a while, both went off to college etc, but somewhere along the line we picked back up with our friendship even though we live in different states now! And I've been so blessed by her...she is a faithful commenter and always always writes me back when I comment. ;) Her blog is a real treat so like her. She hosts a very cool 5 Point Friday with great ideas for losing weight, etc cause THIS girl has done it!!! Visit her blog for great giveaways, recipes, teacher thoughts (cause she's one great teacher) and sweet picts of her adorable kids!! :D I love having Mel as a friend and I love having her as a blogging buddy! THANK YOU, Mel for being such a wonderful Commenter...love ya!!

*Here's your wonderful badge, Mel!!*

I love.

The You Capture. challenge this week was to take a snapshot of something you love without the flash! Awesome because I actually hate the flash and hardly any of my shots ever turn out with the flash so yay for NO flashing...er, no flash. Ok. At first I thought, something I love well, duh, that would be my kids. But I take tons of shots of them and everyone knows I love them so on to something different for a change. I thought about it alot and then it hit me.

I have this amazing patchwork quilt that my Nanny had on the bed for us every time my sister and I came to visit. If for some strange reason it wasn't on the guest bed, I would request it and she would hunt it down and put it on for me. When my Nanny passed away almost 3 years ago, my Pap asked us if there was anything that was special to us that we would want to remember Nanny by. One of my first thoughts was, that beautiful quilt!

I'm sure this old quilt wouldn't mean anything to anyone else but for me the sight of it makes me smile and say a Hello, Nanny I miss you in my heart! I love to snuggle up on the couch with her quilt and breathe deeply, believing that I can still smell the sweet perfume of my Nanny...

This just in...

Has anyone heard about Google acquiring FeedBurner?? Yeah, well I wouldn't have had a clue except for oh, one day I was looking at my blog's homepage and thought....hmmm...wonder why my feedburner stats dropped from around 55 to 25??! Either 30 people decided they didn't like my blog after all or something happened in the wonderful world of technology. So after some surfing I discovered that it's a whole new thang out there! Here's the link to read Q & A's about the deal. And here's the link to the quick start Blogger help page about feeds, transfers, etc. It's pretty easy as they lead you through the process of transferring your feed, adding widgets, etc. That's about all I know about that, peoples. But if YOU know something more than that, well leave me a comment cause I'd love to hear it!! :D

Also, has anyone noticed the the "Blog Following" thingy is different too? I'm not sure about all that...how bout you?

American Idol second 12

Alright y'all, so tonight was the second group of 12 contestants to sing. I have to admit, last week's group whooped their behinds but oh well, here we go...

Jasmine Murray — Love Song. She is a super nice and pretty girl, cute outfit too! Started out a little low in the beginning and overall it was just ok for me. No 000-ing here.

Matt Giraud — Viva la Vida. I really like this guy and I thought he did pretty good tonite. Not like crazy over the moon good but ok good. He almost reminded me a little of Justin Timberlake coming at us all hip hop and stuff.

Jeanine Vailes — This Love. Ok, I love Mauroon 5 but who sounds great singing that kind of song except them?? This was just not good, kinda weird for me.

Nick Mitchell — You're Gonna Love Me. First, why is he still here? And no, sorry buddy I'm not gonna love you. Ever. Sorry.

Allison Iraheta — Alone. Ooooh, love this girl!! 16 years old, wow!! This was a fantastic performance, loved the rocker deal which really fits here. VOTED.

Kris Allen — Man in the Mirror. What a sweet and sincere guy! I liked this performance tonite. Yeah, maybe not his niche but I thought it was really good...love the spin he put on it and the nod to M.J. VOTED.

Megan Joy Corkrey — Put Your Records On. Really want to like this girl, great personality and smile. Single mom and I give her big props for even going for this. Perfect song for her, great sound. But what up with the awkward dance moves and big girl tattoo/little girl dress??

Matt Breitzke — If You Could Only See. Family man like Daughtry and I had high hopes for him but he seemed uncomfortable up there tonite. This was just so-so for me.

Jesse Langseth — Betty Davis Eyes. Much better performance than I've seen from this chick for sure! But just not wow, kinda boring despite the nice vocals.

Kai Kalama — What Becomes of the Broken Hearted. Hmm. Just too easy and old of a song to do for him. The comfort level was there tonite but he really needs a hair cut, I'm just sayin'.

Mishavonna Henson — Drops of Jupiter. CUTE outfit, really nice tone for her tonite. Haven't seen much of her so far but I really like her! This was a nice performance and the judges were a bit harsh I thought.

Adam Lambert — Satisfaction. The jury is still out in my mind on this guy. I can't tell if I like him or am just creeped out by him. I gotta get over the weird high voice I think. It was a pretty good performance tonite...though a tad cheesy in the beginning, he worked it out in the end. I don't know. I just don't know.

My top 4 favs were Allison and Mishavonna, Kris and Adam. But due to the fact that only ONE guy and ONE girl plus the next top contestant gets through I was limited to just voting for two. I wasn't crazy about any of them except for Allison. So we'll see tomorrow! What did y'all think??

I'm dreaming...

It's that wonderful time again ~ we've rounded the corner of a new year, we get a brief whiff of spring and BAM! I'm thinking about...Summer V.A.C.A.T.I.O.N.  I just like saying those words much less dreaming about it.  Are you with me or am I just odd?  And yes, vacation always spells BEACH to me for some reason.  I can just smell the salty water and feel the warm breeze and sunshine on my face as I type..."My name is Kari and I am a Beach Addict".  Yes, hence the reason behind my blog design.

I've found a few great sites for finding places to stay on the beach.  Vacation Rentals by Owner is a good one as well as Vacation Rentals.com from Home Away. I am a bit leery of just reserving some random hotel room for fear of spending a load of money only to be disappointed.  Two summers ago we rented a condo from the owner and had good success with that. But we've only had 1 year's experience of vacationing this way. 

So I'm throwing this out there for y'all...does anyone else have plans to hit the beach this summer?  If so, where do you go?  Where do you stay?  When do you go and for how long?  Any other websites you'd like to pass along to me?

Sweet mercy...bring on the summer baby!!  :D  

Who's with me??

You Capture.

I'm sure most of y'all have either heard of, seen around or read every single day...Beth from I Should Be Folding Laundry.  She totally rocks and she is hosting a fun photo carnival that I am super excited about!

Here are the details from her blog ~ ~ ~

"I’m pleased to invite to participate in “you capture.” My weekly photo challenge.

I created a FAQ to help answer your questions as to exactly how this is going to work and yes, if you don’t have a blog, you can participate, you’ll see how below. Also, each week will be a specific challenge, so read through to the bottom to check out this week’s “assignment.”

What kind of photographer do I need to be? You can be a complete novice or a professional, it does not matter. The purpose of this feature is to encourage you to pick up your camera and look at things differently. If you are a novice and you want to get better, there is only one way to do that, by taking more pictures.

What kind of camera should I have in order to participate? Any camera. Shoot, even an iPhone camera works for me.

Do I need to have a blog? Um, no. But why wouldn’t you want a blog? (they’re free! www.blogger.com) But okay, I guess not everyone is interested in having a blog and that’s okay, so, if you don’t have a blog but want to participate, you can do so by opening up a Flickr account. It’s free (for a basic package) and easy to use. (Flickr pro is $25 a year and I totally recommend it.) I’ve been using Flickr for years now and I love it. (btw, feel free to become my contact, okay?) Each week you can easily link to that specific picture on Flickr to the challenge.

How does this work? Every Wednesday, there will be a post on I Should Be Folding Laundry called You Capture and I’ll have my picture that I took for this week’s assignment (assignment sounds so stiff, but I can’t think of another word, sorry, friends.) on a post. Below the picture, I will have Mr. Linky in the post. Then YOU will post on your blog (or your flickr page) your picture and information about this challenge. Then you’ll fill out Mr. Linky with your name and your link to this week’s picture. (in blog world, this is considered a carnival, click here for more information on carnivals.)

Who is Mr. Linky? Mr. Linky is a link hosting program for websites. Essentially, it allows me to host all of the links to the individuals participating in the challenge, it’s up to the participants to come to my site and put their links into the required fields. (so easy) To see a Mr. Linky in action, click here.

I know most of you know how this works, but I know some of you may not, so I’m trying to expain with as much detail as possible.

Am I required to participate every single week? No.

Should I edit my photo? If you want to, yes. I always edit mine. If you are looking for a good photo editing/storage answer, I definitely recommend Picasa. Hey, it’s free, too! I’m all about the free, aren’t I?

Can I link to you? Why, yes. That would be great and very much appreciated. If you are planning to participate in You Capture, I’d love for you to help me get the word out, the best way to do this is by placing the button in your sidebars or blogging about it directly. The more people that know about this, the bigger the community and the more fun this will be. I am so excited that you’ll be here during the infancy of You Capture, I can’t wait to see where it goes!

Here is your challenge for next week. Since it’s the first week, it’s going to be very, very simple. All I want you to do is pick up your camera and take a picture of something that you love. It can be a rock or your kitchen sink or your child’s toes, just capture it. Oh and since it’s supposed to be a challenge, try to do it WITHOUT your flash…

See you then!"

9 months ago

Has it really been 9 months since little Maria Chapman's passing?  Doesn't seem possible. 

Read from Mary Beth's blog some tender memories in light of Maria's salvation anniversary.

Creative Angles

MUCH to my delight, there is yet another wonderful column starting up over at the great girls at 5 Minutes for Mom!!  And what you may ask is that column...PHOTOGRAPHY!!  I'm thrilled!!  This week's post was to try out different camera angles to capture those wonderful shots.  I dug out some of my fav creative angles for this week's post...

*get below them*

*get on their level*

*turn your head and look up*

If you decide to join in on the PhOtO-fUn, leave me a comment so I can visit your blog and cool camera angle shots!!  :D

Wordless Wednesday

October 2005

 *risky business*

American Idol first 12

So we watched the first group of 12 perform last night.  AI is doing things differently this year and they are having 3 groups of 12 perform and based on the voting, the top guy and top girl will go through as well as the next person that has the highest votes.  Then there will be 3 "wild card" places to be filled, making the final top 12.

Yeah, kinda weird but we'll see how it goes.  Last night was so-so for me but here's the breakdown, y'all.

1. Jackie Tohn - sang "Little Less Conversation".  Well, I wasn't impressed with this performance.  Really nice girl, good energy but lousy vocals...and uh, ahem...black spandex pants??  I think we should leave those in the 80's.  I'm just sayin'.
2. Ricky Braddy - sang "A Song for You".  Wow, I can't believe I don't remember this guy from the auditions.  Great song choice, smooth vocals...higher vocals, sweet!  He really seemed like a pro up there.  And his mom and dad wearing cute t-shirts, "The Braddy Bunch".  Cute.
3. Alexis Grace - sang "Never Loved a Man".  This is the young single mom, cute as she can be!  She was truly soul-full and she def. pulled off great feeling with this song.  VOTED.
4. Brent Keith - sang "Hick Town".  Now, I'm all about country, y'all buuut, this wasn't super great for him.  Very fun performance and I totally get why he went this way but I'm afraid he won't make it through.  Just o.k. for me.
5. Stevie Wright - sang "You Belong with Me".  This girl is young cute and super nice but man, this was terrible.  Lots of weird low notes and she seemed short of breath almost.  Maybe it was the nerves but she was so much better than this performance.  Too bad.
6. Anoop Desai - sang "Angel of Mine".  This was an ok performance for me.  His voice is very smooth and I think he has alot of potential.  Talk about a voice not matching a body, though!  :)  
7. Casey Carlson - sang "Every Little Thing She does is Magic".  Hmm.  Strange choice of songs.  Really weird dancing and faces going on there.  Not great.
8. Michael Sarver - sang "I Don't Want to Be".  I have really liked this guy from the beginning.  He is really nice and just all around good family man!  This was a good performance but not great, wished he would have made the song more "him".  
9. Anne Marie Boskovich - sang "Natural Woman".  Not sure what was up with the song choices, everyone seemed to be picking from the karaoke greatest hits album.  Anyways, she had a great effort here and tried to make the song hers....but come on honey, Whitney...for your first time out??!  Oh dear.
10. Steven Fowler - sang "Rock with You".  This was not wow for me.  He has a ton of potential so this fell flat.  It's almost like he thinks he already has it made.  
11. Tatiana Del Toro - sang "I'm Saving All my Love for You".  Oh for heavens sake, why is this girl even to this point??!  I'm just not a fan.  Nice girl but way too much over the top for me.
12. Danny Gokey - sang "Hero".  Can I just say they saved the BEST for LAST??!  I'm a HUGE fan of this guy from the start and have high hopes for him!!  Round one goes to Danny for sure!!  :) Awesome.  VOTED.

Can't wait for tonite's show!!!  :)

My Wonderful Walls

Nursery Murals

My Wonderful Walls offers imaginative and stunning do-it-yourself kids wall murals and personalized ready-to-hang wall art for baby nurseries and kids rooms.

Owned by a husband and wife team, My Wonderful Walls is much more than a store. With their hearts of gold, owners Stephanie and her husband take the time to spread love through giving of their murals for hospital rooms and deserving children who need a little extra ray of sunshine.

“We have and are continually developing relationships with organizations that work with either medically or physically challenged children. Including TC Thompsons Children’s Hospital, several wish giving foundations and individual bloggers on the topic. We use these relationships to give our personalized murals to kids or to decorate children’s hospital rooms.”

“How it works is if someone puts our banner and text link on their home page we give a canvas mural a month or bi monthly in their name. The idea is: growing through giving. It helps us grow as a business and brings a little cheer to children who need it. We will continually let people know where the murals are going and pass on letters of thanks from parents or hospitals.”

My Wonderful Walls has teamed up with our sister site, 5 Minutes for Special Needs. By heading over there now, you can find out how you can quickly and easily add a little button to your site or blog and help a child receive a darling mural for their room.

Each month My Wonderful Walls.com will be giving away a one piece Nursery Mural OR Kid Mural of your choice. All we ask is that you in turn help to spread the love in your little corner of the world.

To find out how to win wall art for someone near and dear to your heart, head on over to 5 Minutes for Special Needs to get all the details.

Planetjill Jewelry

Ok, y'all MuSt.MuSt.MuSt. 

go visit 5 Minutes for Giveaways' 

Planetjill Giveaway!!!  

I think I've got another favorite!!!  :D

The Vintage Pearl

Toootally love this chick's hand-stamped jewelry!!!  

You must check out The Vintage Pearl's Etsy shop here...

and her lovely blog here!

Learn Love Link

Another superb community building opportunity from the girls from 5 Minuets for Mom!!  Realizing that the bloggy world is as small and close as a few clicks away...

The Mom owned store ~ Totally Out of Hand, child artwork jewelry is incredible!!  They turn your child's beautiful artwork into precious silver pins, a true keepsake long after the paper has crumbled.  What a fascinating idea, a site DEF. worth checking out!!  :)  Read the 'Inside Scoop' on this ingenious little business from 5 Minutes for Mom here.

I also checked out the Mom-Run website called Passion for Parties.  Their home page is bright and inviting and you are at once interested in seeing the wonderful ideas and helpful hints they offer there!  From party themes, to favor ideas and recipes, to photo tips ~ Passion for Parties has something for every occasion.  Check out the 'Inside Scoop' on them at 5 Minutes for Mom here. 

The next directory I visited were the Personal Blogs that 5 Minutes for Mom has listed on their site.  I clicked on a couple, one stood out to me on the list of Missionary Moms...Joy from The Stay at Home Missionary (used to be Joy in the Journey).  She is the wife of a missionary pilot and mommy to five, living in Indonesia.  Her blog is full of cute photos, interesting glimpses into missionary life as well as spiritual thoughts and encouragement!

Sweet Giveaway

Mommy Daddy Blog is giving away something you’d love to touch; 

a shiny spankin’ new 2nd Gen 8GB iPod Touch MP3 player 

and a $10 iTunes gift card! 

Click here to enter this sweet giveaway!  :)

R.E.L.I.E.F.

*introducing my new best friend*

Say it FORWARD

5 Minutes for Mom is at it again with another FAB.U.LOUS. idea for a carnival for us to have fun with! This is such a great way to give back and thank the faithful readers and commenters of your bloggy home. I've been so blessed by the sweet ones who comment here at Just Another Day in Paradise so here I go with my Say it Forward shout out...

The first commenter I'd like to highlight is Debbie from Heart Choices.

This sweet lady found her way to my blog and has been such an encouragement to me pretty much on a daily basis. She never fails to leave a note on my posts and lets me know she is thinking of me and praying for me. It just doesn't get ANY better than that, y'all!

Debbie's blog is full of great healthy tips and ideas, thought provoking and inspiring posts, fabulous pictures and just all around fun! Would y'all go over and visit Debbie, tell her I sent you! :)

Thanks so much, Debbie for being such a sweet bloggy friend and for always leaving me some bloggy love...you're the best! :)

p.s. I'm a little late for Friday's post but better late than never right??! :D

Spread the Love

Here's the challenge from the Happy to be at Home ladies...spend the 2 weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day showing some bloggy love to your favorite bloggers. 

Here is a list of suggestions, one for each day, that you can use to spread some bloggy love.

1. Comment, comment, comment! Stop by your favorite blogs and leave a comment on one or two posts.
   
2. Subscribe. If you don’t already, subscribe via RSS, e-mail, or follow the blog on blogger.
   
3. Social bookmarking. Choose a great post or two on your favorite blogs and bookmark them using StumbleUpon, Kirtsy, Digg, Del.icio.us, or any of the other social bookmarking sites out there.
   
4. Tweet. If you have a Twitter account, send out a few tweets with links to your favorite bloggers.
   
5. Click through an ad or visit a site sponsor.
   
6. Send a thank you email. Let your favorite bloggers know just how much you appreciate the dedication and hard work they put into their blogs.
   
7. Mark your favorite blogs as a favorite in Technorati.
   
8. Read through the archives. Then comment on a post or two that’s new to you.
   
9. Write a post on your blog and share links to some of your favorite bloggers.
   
10. Visit some of the blogs in your favorite blogger’s blogroll and let them know how you found their link.
    
11. Nominate your favorites for blog awards or a BlogHer of the Week post.
    
12. Find some new favorites. Spend some time exploring new blogs found through memes or carnivals.
    
13. Grab a button. If your favorite bloggers have a button for their site, grab it and put it in your sidebar.
    
14. When or if your favorite blogger hosts a Mr. Linky, do your best to participate.

I love this idea!!!  Has your day ever been made by a sweet bloggy comment?  Mine sure has and this V-Day is a great time to return the favor and Spread the Love!!  :)

Fireproof

Maybe I'm a little behind, but my husband and I just watched the movie Fireproof this past week.  Wow, can I just say WOW?!  It is hands down the best movie I have seen for a long time, y'all.  We laughed and cried...ok, I cried and was so gosh, convicted? if that's the right word.  Like a big bonk on the forehead.  My husband felt the same way.  So much so that he got online and bought the movie AND the book!  Yep, I'd say it made an impression on both of us.  Fireproof is right up there with Facing the Giants put on by the same church and has the same fine quality of acting, directing and filming.  A job well done!!!  You can click the button to find out more but seriously, if you haven't seen this movie GO RENT it or BUY it and WATCH it this weekend!  You won't be sorry, I promise!!

A Book Review

I just finished this new novel, The Centurion's Wife recently and had to let y'all in this great read!!!  Janette Oke has long been a fav of mine since well, my teens...with her Love series.  :)  Historical fiction is definitely a genre I get into and this novel fits the bill.  

Davis Bunn and Janette Oke craft this tale of culture, obligation, hope and love during the time of Jesus in such vivid way I could just taste the dust in the wind and hear the followers of Jesus talk!  The Centurion's Wife begins her life in wealth and luxury only to have it stripped away and be relegated to a life of servitude.  Friendships formed with the followers of Jesus reveal to her where true hope and love are found.  

I definitely recommend The Centurion's Wife to everyone! This will be the first in their Acts of Faith series...can't wait for the next one!

Chloe update

It's been a little while since I've updated y'all on our little ray o'sunshine lately so here we go...

As  you may remember, Chloe had a successful surgery in December to revise the bones in her leg.  For the month of December she had to keep her leg bandaged and was  unable to use her prosthesis.  It was a very long and tough month for her and for us to watch her.  She was out of school for 4 weeks.  

The week after Christmas, we had an appt. with the prosthetist who works with Chloe.  They told us that we needed to wrap her leg for another week, hoping that the prosthesis would fit again.  We tried this for another week, for another week she couldn't walk and for another week she went to school without her leg.  We had another appt. with the prosthetist and he said her leg once again fit into the prosthesis.  We had our doubts though that this would work.  But Chloe being Chloe, persevered and limped her way through another week of school.  

Two more weeks passed before we saw her Orthopedic Surgeon again, who said to us what we were thinking, "she's not walking right".  Yeah, that's what we thought.  So, 1 1/2 weeks ago we went back to the prosthetist who looked at her leg and realized it just wasn't working. Basically, the shape of Chloe's leg is completely different than it was before surgery and there's no way her prosthesis should or could fit as is.  OK!  

So we're back to square one.  The prosthetist is beginning the process to make Chloe a new leg, YAY!  :D  But it's a long process of getting it approved by insurance and ordered the parts and recasting her leg, etc etc etc.  In the meantime, Chloe is struggling with an ill-fitting leg which at times is painful.  Let me just say, CHLOE IS A TROOPER and puts us all to shame!  She is a determined and cheerful little girl who not once complains about her difficulties, not once says why me?, and not once has a pity party for herself.

Would y'all pray for a QUICK and SMOOTH process to get Chloe's new leg??!  We would sure greatly appreciate that...and I know our little sunshine would too!!  :D

I'll keep you posted...thanks so much!!

Sons of Kenyan Village Build 1st Clinic

*ABC news link*

Incredible what just one life can do!

SONS OF LWALA tells the story of Vanderbilt University Medical School students Milton and Fred Ochieng’, two brothers from Kenya whose village sent them to America to become doctors. After losing both parents to AIDS, they are left with the heartbreaking task of returning home to finish the health clinic their father started before getting sick. Unable to raise enough money on their own, the brothers are joined by students, politicians and rock musicians who put on fundraising drives throughout the United States through Blood:Water Mission's support. SONS OF LWALA follows Milton and Fred on their incredible journey as they find a way, despite all odds, to open their village’s first hospital.

The clinic in Lwala is one example of how Blood:Water Mission is partnering with Africans to work together to address AIDS in their own communities. Blood:Water is combatting AIDS not only through clean water and sanitation projects and health clinics like in Lwala, but also by directly funding late-stage AIDS hospices, community health workers, and support groups, which help in the prevention, treatment, care and support of communities affected by AIDS.

- Jena Nardella, Executive Director
Blood:Water Mission

Wordless Wednesday

(what girl doesn't need a little press-on nail action??!!)

A new "do"

It was time for the newest member of our family to get a little wash, trim and clipping of the nails done! I was totally unprepared for how darling little Quincey looked when he pranced out of the groomers room with his little red bandana for Valentine's Day on!! What a cutie-pie!!

Chloe just adores this puppy...

More snow??

Kids love snow!

Sunday Grace