Taking a Break for Holy Week

I have this over whelming desire to stay as far away from my computer as I can.

This next week is Holy Week.  I struggle every year with how to impress on their hearts the dire importance of understanding this event above all others in the Bible.  I'm not saying that the rest of the Bible isn't important, but the rest of it is based on the sacrifice of Christ.  It is seen throughout the Scriptures.

I think that may be why I want to stay off the computer.  So I can focus better on the reality of what Jesus did for me.

I hope as you enter into a new week that you will become mindful of who you are in Christ and the amazing love he has for you.
I hope that you will spend time together as a family discussing the Biblical events that led up to Jesus death.
But more than that, I hope that you will come into a deeper understanding of what his death, burial & resurrection means.  I hope that as you come into a deeper understanding you are truly humbled to the point of falling on your face in worship of your Savior!

I can't adequately point into words what all of this means to me. I am overwhelmed to the point of tears every time I try.  Maybe one day.  In the mean time, I am taking a break.

"But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  He is not here, for he has risen, as he said."

 Matthew 28:5-6

Review: Campus Book Rentals

I’ve heard of renting cars, jewelry, furniture & appliances.  I even rented my wedding dress because I could not afford the style I wanted.  Now I have learned that you can rent college text books! I love this idea!  How many of you still have your old college text books & you really don’t know why because you haven’t used them again since you were in college?

The textbook market is roughly $10 billion annually. There are nearly 20,000,000 college students attending nearly 8,000 schools in the United States. Renting their books rather than buying sounds like such a great way to save money.  

Founded in 2007, Campus Book Rentals is a relatively young company that provides such a service.  They describe themselves as being the Netflix for textbooks.  Students pay to keep books for a specific amount of time.  By using their services, students can save around 50% on college textbooks.  I played around on their site a little searching for books I thought my daughter might be required to have for college and I found all of the books and most could be rented for 40%-50% off of the retail purchase price.

The website is inviting and very easy to maneuver around.  Every question I could think of to ask, I found the answer on their site. Membership and registration is free.  Their website touts,

“Pretty simple, No hassles & No worries!”. 

I googled their name & tried to dig up some dirt on the company and couldn’t find anything.  In fact they stand above many of the older companies because they offer free shipping .  

There were many perks I found to using this company.

• You choose the time you keep the book.  You can keep it for a semester, quarter,  summer or you name the date in which you return it.  If you drop the class or just don’t need the book anymore & return it within 30 days, there is a full refund! 
•  They have a grace period.  From the website; “We have incorporated, at no extra charge, a  15 day grace period which allows you to rent your book early or hold on to it late in the case of a later than normal final exam.” 
•   Returning the books is easy.  They send ,with your books, a return envelope. 
•  You don’t have to be in college to rent books.  They will let anyone rent from them. 
•  If you decide that you really like the book, they let you buy it! 
•  Books are shipped free & returned for free.
  

If books are lost or damaged the student is responsible for the remaining value of the book. So if a student rents a book for $40 but the retail price of the book is $75 then the student will have to pay the $35 if something happens to the book.  They do have a Protection program.  From the website; “Our Loss / Damage Protection program offers you peace of mind at an incredible value. If you select the protection option during final checkout, should your book become lost, stolen, or damaged beyond reasonable use, we will promptly send you a placement copy (if you still require the use of your book), or waive the full purchase fee. When you protect your books, you can worry about your studies, not your books.”

Ok, now there is another big plus to using Campus Book Rentals.  They take a portion of the money from rentals and give to Operation Smile.  If you haven’t heard of Operation Smile you will be so blessed by their mission.  They perform surgeries on children in other countries who were born with cleft palettes.   Campus Book Rentals has partnered with Operation Smile to help them raise awareness and money.  Campus Book Rentals goal is to fund 1,000 surgeries. So not only do you save money on your textbooks, but you are also helping a very good cause. 

I encourage you to give their site a look over, especially if you have students about to leave for college.  This site could save you a lot of money!

Waiting to Be an Aunt!

I hate waiting! But it isnt' near as hard on me as it is on my sister & her husband.

The picture is a little rough, but this came from my mom's phone.  This picture was taken on my sisters' due date which was April 12th.  We are still waiting for "Peanut" to make his grand appearance.

Hoping it is soon!

Blessings from a Broken Phone

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

I don't blog much about our personal trials.  Usually those closest to me can read between the lines in my posts.  But I just had to share this with you, because it is just so cool!

The story starts a few weeks ago when my son was playing in a friends garage with some other kids.  They were running around.  One of the kids laid his new phone on the ground & while the kids were running around, my son accidentally stepped on it.  He didn't even realize he had done it, but just the same, the phone was broken.
A few hours later, the mom of the boy showed up on my door step demanding that we buy her son a new phone NOW.  She was hopping mad!  I tried to be as nice as I could, but when she got in my face I popped off, "Well, I"m sorry this happened, but my husband is without a job and there is no way we can buy your son a $250 phone.  We don't even have phones that cost that much!" 
She backed off a little & then told us to contact her ex-husband because he bought the phone.
No problem, my husband said.
That night the dad called & he & Scott talked.  They got everything squared away as well as most men can...completely non-emotional.  :o)  The dad could fix the phone & we wouldn't have to pay a thing.
In the mean time, the dad found out that Scott was without a job & decided that he wanted to do something to help us out.  He happens to be a manager at Sonic & emailed 16 other managers about us.  They decided to do a food drive for us.

That is 600 employees collecting food for us.

The response was so overwhelming the managers were completely shocked!
Scott got a phone call Friday by the dad (of the kid with the broken phone because of my son) explaining what they had done.  WooHoo!  God is so good!
Today, they brought over the donations.  It literally took 2 pick-up trucks to get it all here!
They filled up my living room with boxes of food & other things. 

Then they told us the best news of all!  

Oh, I'm just so excited about this part.
They had such an overwhelming response that they didn't even bring us all the food.  They took a lot of it to 2 other families who also needed it.  Is that not cool?

It get's better!

They decided that their Sonic Restaurants would hold a food drive twice a year every year to help families who are in need.  How fantastic is that!?! 

All because my son stepped on a cell phone!

I took pics of my living room, but really it doesn't do justice.  I can't fit it all in my pantry, so we have canned items sorted into boxes under my kitchen table.  Crazy huh!

"And we know that for those 

who love God all things work together for good, 

for those who are called according to his purpose."

Romans 8:28