Updates, Award & Contest

First of all I need to thank Deborah over at Butterfly Journey. She has given me the Sunshine Award.

This award is traditionally passed on to those bloggers that inspire others and show positivity and creativity. So, in that spirit, I picked my nominees from blogs that I visit regularly and are very informative and inspiring to me.
The rules for accepting the award are:

1) Put the logo within my blog or on my post

2) Pass the award onto 10 fellow bloggers

3) Link the nominees within my post

4) Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog

5) Share the love and link to the person whom you received this award from.

Here are my nominees, please visit them and check out their blogs! As you know we all live for comments!

1. Renee @ Black 'n Gold Girl's Book Spot

2. Lori @ Some of my Favorite Books

3. MaryLu Tyndall @ The Cross and Cutlass

4. Angie @ Never a Dull Moment

5. Carrie @ In the Hammock

6. Christy @ Southern Sassy Things

7. Susan @ Journeys of Love ... Inspired by Faith

8. Ashley @ After All ...... Tomorrow is Another Day

9. Katy @ A Few More Pages

10. Alexandra @ Stories From My Bookshelf

Now, for the news I promised. I know many of you have been praying for us about the job situation. I posted in the comments section of my last blog that we have been offered a position and are in the final stages of the process. They are doing a background check right now and have not finished it - though we thought it was supposed to only take 24 hours. The only thing we're concerned about is that he's had some speeding tickets and they issue a company car (because the job involves travel) so that may red flag us. We had to turn down another job opportunity because we accepted their offer but they still haven't told us that everything is okay yet.

On Monday we are supposed to get a call from the company to find out the details about relocating and what all they will help us with. They do provide some help - if we do it their way. We will live somewhere in the state of Missouri, but we're not sure where yet. Also, we just refinanced this house (to try and save money) and it was purchased just four years ago (and property values have gone down the last two years) so we haven't made any progress on the loan. I'm afraid when I think of trying to sell the house. With no paycheck for so long - and no equity on the house, we have to sell it for what we owe and we have only a couple months before we have to be living in MO.

Plus I have my college student son living at home (to save money). He is close to school here, but can't move with us. His job barely pays for gas, books and his little incidentals and emergency expenses for the car. He can't afford an apartment. He is looking, but hasn't found a job - especially one that works around his school schedule. So we need prayer for him to find a place to live and a good job.

So, we are pretty sure and are happy, but it does create a few more things to lay before God. :o)

We have normal spring cleaning to do plus trying to get things organized to move and sell the house. I'm way behind in reviews ... I hope to try and do better at keeping up but I hope you'll be patient with me until life slows down a little bit.

In honor of being offered the job and wanting to praise God for that, I am doing a giveaway. Francine Rivers is one of the best writers of Christian fiction and I am offering 4 hardcovers by her ~ Books 1-4 of the Sons of Encouragement: The Priest, The Warrior, The Prince and The Prophet. These books have been sitting on my shelf for a while, but I haven't read them (too many books - not enough time). I did notice that one of them has a place where the inside flap of the dustcover is rubbed down towards the pages and the top part of a couple pages are bent and have small tears. :o( It must have happened in shipping. The rest of the book is pristine - as are the others - other than shelf wear. I thought about leaving it out, but I hope whoever wins will enjoy it despite the small bit of damage.

In your comment leave an email address, let me know if you are a follower, if you chose to become one, or if you chose to share about the giveaway on your own blog. That will earn you extra entries. This is only open to the US, and void where prohibited by law. I will announce a winner May 1st. So entries have to be by midnight central time on April 30th. Good luck.