Seasons of Change

Welcome! Stay tuned, after a long absence we're "remodeling" so to speak. Lots of Changes are taking place and lots more are in the works. Starting with our new family member, born in late summer...

Photography by Jenny Gibson Photography

Secondly, our new name, Whispers in the Willows, is one that we feel better fits us. It more evenly wraps around us, and helps draw a connection to our family business. Our life, our knowledge, our family and our business are pretty much intertwined in a big ball of yarn, so we felt that our blog needed to tie in nicely to the rest of it. Our family business "Windy Willow Pond" has become a big part of our life, but more so, it is just an extension of what we already do. Our writings are not a production of fanciful perfection, it's our life, the good, the bad, the beautiful and the messy. We want to welcome our blog readers to enjoy the adventure with us, learn with us, laugh and cry with us. So come on over, and pull up a log as we enjoy the quiet moments, sharing all of ourselves through the Whispers in the Willows.  Here are a few things yet to come:

• We're going to be working really hard to add more content, including several stories and tutes that have been patiently waiting to meet the world. *cheeky grin* 
• You'll see some giveaways, and we're digging up more opportunities for giveaways and reader bonuses.
• A new feature called "what's new at the Pond" will share a little about the behind the scenes happenings at our family business. 
• Our MYO series is going to get some love. And will also be open to requests!

What would you like to see featured on our blog? Feel free to share below... As always, we thank you for reading. It sure feels good to be back! Blessings and Shalom!

NEW Giveaway You Won't Want to Miss!

Autumn Beck of All About Cloth Diapers is hosting a HUGE giveaway she's calling My Favorite Things! She is giving away a new gift every day for 12 days (skipping sunday). She's giving away cool items from Bee All Natural, Monkey Foot Designs, Ragababe, and Abby's Lane. There are lots and lots of different ways to enter and you can complete one entry or do them all. Best of all you can win MORE THAN ONE PRIZE! Today is day 4 and she's not done yet! So get on over to All About Cloth Diapers and enter to win her My Favorite Things Giveaway!

If you like giveaways, be sure to go to my Facebook fan page, for our Windy Willow Pond store and "like" us! When we get to 38 fans we'll have a giveaway AND offer a discount code to ALL our fans too!

Thanks for reading! And come back soon, we're working on some new articles on lots of different topics!

Be blessed!
Staci
 
ps: you can find it here.

MIA - Our baby is here!

Well for those who wondered, I disappeared cause I had my baby. He was 36 weeks and we are on the mend, but it's been a wild ride. God really protected us through all of it so I want to sing His praises first.  I had a massive placental abruption and the baby also had a prolapsed cord.

Thankfully my husband and I were close to the hospital, and everyone worked quickly and the baby was safe. Another blessing is that my children weren't with me to see the horrific scene. I am recovering by the grace of God. We're here, but we're slow. I may not be on as much, while we are trying to adjust to another blessing. But, I'm here. I'll post the birth story some time soon, for those who are interested. And hopefully soon I'll begin posting regular content again soon.

"My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth." Psalm 121:2

Blessings,
Staci

We Have New Giveaway Winners! - plus details for next week!

UPDATE ON WINNERS: For the tea winners we have Mary and Jessica! Thanks for playing! Whoever emails me first gets to pick their flavor! So don't wait!

To all our lovely ladies, thanks for playing along and don't worry, family stuff and health emergencies have kept me away from the computer and the post office, but your goodies are on their way! Blessings to you and yours! Staci

Just in case we have anyone who's joining us for the first time, I want to welcome you and tell you you've picked the perfect time to join in! We're announcing this weeks winners and spilling the details for next weeks prizes, and how YOU can get them! So the first thing you want to do is head on over to my good friend's new website gracenotes and then check out this blog entry that tells you all you need to know about our awesome giveaway!

Now for this weeks winners we were drawing first for the Arnica Muscle Salve!

             AND THE WINNER IS JAIME LYNN!

And for the next item up for grabs is the All Better Butter!

                     OUR SECOND WINNER IS dontfencemein - JAMIE!

Ok, well that's it for this week! But look what next weeks winners get! A couple really great specialty tea blends. They're called sample sizes, but each bag will make about 8 servings! So you'll get plenty to try and enjoy. For our giveaway we've got a bag of the elegant

Lavender Lemongrass- here is what they have to say about it:  

"We brought this unique combination of herbs together to make a delightful, light, refreshing herbal tea that the whole family can enjoy. 

Lemongrass is know for having a calming effect, relieving insomnia and stress.  It also helps detoxify the body and stimulates digestion, circulation, and lactation.

Lavender is an excellent tonic for nervous tension and restlessness.  It is also known for relieving pain, enhancing circulation, and assisting with respiratory problems."

Next we have the rich Vanilla Rooibos - and this is why they love it:

"Smooth and delicious 

Rooibos is naturally caffeine free.  It is considered a "red" tea, although it honestly reminds us of an exceptionally mild and mellow black tea.  We have added vanilla to our Rooibos to create an especially delightful blend.

We especially love Vanilla Rooibos sweetened (with sugar or a natural sweetener such as agave or honey) and then we add milk for a wonderfully mild and creamy taste."

 Lets Do a recap- so far you can get an entry for emailing, blogging, facebooking, or tweeting about the giveaway, telling me what product on her website you'd most like to have, sharing a new product idea, following my blog and asking for that entry, and last but not least, my absolute favorite fun entry... tell me what dreamy flavor would you like to see in a sugar scrub? (if you're just joining in you can use the comments on this page to add in your entries too!)

So far that's a total of 8 possible entries and for this week I'll add another...

For your final entry you can comment below,

~tell me what body care item you own that is a total luxury but one you wouldn't want to live without?

I look forward to your responses! and thanks again for playing along!
Blessings to all!

God's Fingerprints... and Another giveaway!

                              We got snow around thanksgiving! Snow is such a blessed surprise!

Hello again! First I just wanted to give a gentle reminder to take a moment and enjoy the little things in life. There are little blessings all around us that have God's fingerprints on them. I see these things everywhere, things that are barely noticeable, but there just the same and they are things that only God could have known would mean so much to us. I think he likes to leave his fingerprints in our lives. Almost like a little love note, just to show he's there, loving us and providing for us. So for today take a moment to think about what "fingerprints" he's leaving behind in your life! Then take yet another moment to tell Him you noticed and you're thankful. You'll be blessed!

Now to the giveaway... A lovely lady over at a blog I read called "Grace is Blessed by God" is having another giveaway to kick off the opening of a family business she and her mom and sisters are starting. This weeks giveaway is for an 8 oz jar of sugar scrub! You don't want to miss out on this one so head on over. Just follow this LINK.  They'll have another one after that too and this weeks entries will count so don't waste any time entering!

2"And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God." Deuteronomy 28:2


Also, keep checking back because I'll be doing a giveaway BONANZA! Again, this is to help kick off the start of their new business. It's called Gracenotes. (Click on the name to go to their page if you can't wait!) Their website is put together so neatly and these are sweet sweet ladies. I hope you'll enjoy their products as much as I do and the best part is their prices are great!

Getting to know you GIVEAWAY!

This is going to be a fun giveaway! I can't think of a more wonderful way to get to know people than to give them gifts! It's a way to put out your hand and say "nice to meet you!" I love to meet new people and I love making smiles too! So what I've decided to do is have a DOUBLE giveaway! Here is what we're going to give away!

First up is a well written book called Peace Within Your Borders, devotions for home school teachers. I like her perspectives in this book, and they can be applied to life in general as well as teaching! Peace, after all is a wonderful place to be. This book will be a blessing to anyone who reads it!

The second gift is the gift of communication! This gift is Signing Time volume 1. It's a great fun way to teach your children to sign, and learn with them. It's amazing how they retain the signs from these videos. If you've never heard of it you're in for a treat!

 "remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." Acts 20:35 KJV

I'm going to give this giveaway one a week to complete, it will end Dec. 13 at 5pm PST,  so that the winners can have items shipped out to you by the 14th or 15th, depending on how fast I hear from you. Here is how we're doing it this time...

You do your best to get as many entries as possible and our very own VHannah will draw 2 names at the end. 1st name drawn wins the 1st item, 2nd name wins the 2nd. Now here's how to enter!...

1. You will get one entry for commenting about who you are, that's the most favorable, remember this is a get to know you giveaway. I want to know more about my readers and "meet" new ones! So comment and tell me your name and your interests. What kind of content would you like to see more? Where did you hear of me?

2. You will get an entry if you are a new subscriber! You can also get one if you're already a subscriber and refer someone who becomes a new subscriber! (they can post in their comment that you sent them)

3. You can get an entry for each time you share about this blog or giveaway, or both, on your pages. Share a link on facebook, tweet, or post about it on your blog. You can also get an entry for emailing this blog post to a friend who doesn't use social networking sites.

So there you have it! Plenty of fun ways to get in on this great giveaway and let me get to know you a little better! Post a comment for each of the things you do above for your entries! If you want to know more about me, read my sidebar info and check out my archives, there's lots to read and learn about us. I look forward to getting to know you!

Blessings!

A NEW GIVEAWAY!

This is a wonderful new giveaway by Raising homemakers You can enter to win a homeschooling pack called the prairie primer. This is a great option for unit style studies that involve multiple grades of Little House lovers!




Aren't giveaways fun! It's so neat that all these bloggers love sharing! I think sharing with each other gives us a sense of community that we need.

If you'd like to just read more info about the book, or this giveaway is already closed and you want to know how to purchase one, just wander over to Cadron Creek and they have all the information you need.

Thanks for reading and be blessed!

Has God called you on a Schmetterling Journey?

Just what is that anyway? It is the journey He leads us on as we place our lives and our trust and our faith in Him. He changes us, transforms us into a creature worthy of awe, not because we're awe inspiring but because we bare his mark. Once we have been touched by God we carry with us a mark on our soul that says "I can never again be content unless I am walking in His perfect will because I have known the Master and have felt the peace He brings." The amazing thing is that this mark is visible to all mankind, saved and unsaved. Even the lost know that God's children have something they want. On this journey to becoming what He wants us to be we fatten ourselves on His word, shed the old ways of the flesh, feel the embrace of His care and eventually spread our wings and fly. But an interesting note about this Schmetterling journey, a butterfly who cannot find food is a dead butterfly. Let us seek the feeding of the spirit so that our wings may soar like eagles and let us all use our gifting to feed the new Schmetterlings we find along the way.

"17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2 Cornithians 5:17 NKJV

While my posts may range a broad spectrum of biblical and practical topics, my desire is that God would be glorified in my words and that I would encourage all who come to embrace their own Schmetterling Journey with their Lord and Master.

Come and walk with me.