January Scripture Writing Plan 2016

For those who did the December Scripture Writing Plan and enjoyed it,

here's the plan for the month of January!

As we start a new year this is a great way to spend

a few minutes each day focusing on what is truly important! 

There is something about writing out scripture that seems to 

make the word come alive for me- 

and I'm thankful it's been a blessing to so many of you as well!

You can find a copy to print out for yourself in the folder HERE.

For those that have asked, there is also a blank form 

to write your verses on that can be found HERE. 

I'll be updating the plans for the new year 

so if you check back at the end of each month, 

I'll have the plan posted for the following month! 

UPDATE:

Thanks to a sweet reader named Carolyn, you can find the Spanish version HERE. 

Thank you Carolyn! 

Ring and Run Christmas Fun

Several years ago we did something super fun at Christmas- Ring and Run!

Ring and Run is based very loosely on the song The 12 Days of Christmas

and is kind of a Christmas random acts of Kindness!

I'm not sure who had more fun- us or the family we did it for! 

Here's how it works:

You choose a family to surprise and every day for the 12 days leading up to Christmas 

you leave a little treat on their doorstep along with part of a poem, 

ring their doorbell, and run away!

The year we did it we chose a sweet family with 3 little girls 
and I cannot tell you how much fun we had buying and delivering little treats for them! 

Although this tradition is supposed to be totally anonymous, 

we altered that rule just a bit and let the parents know what we were up to. 

{Sneaking around in someone's front yard might tend to cause the police to get called and 
so we wanted them to know that we were not prowlers or burglars 
and filled them in on what we were doing.}

It was so much fun sneaking up to their front door, leaving a treat, and speeding away!

If you just want a copy of the poem, you can find it HERE.

{Only the first page is listed below but the link is all of the poem!}

I made some fun tags that you can use to print out

to leave with y our gifts- and even included the gift for the night

at the top of each tag.  

You can print out your own tags HERE. 

{Don't try to just save the little images above, they'll be too little and blurry!}

Who can you bless with Christmas Ring and Run?  

Scripture Prayer Cards

I'm a HUGE  believer in the power of prayer. 

I think many people WANT to pray but 

sometimes we all struggle though with not that we should pray,

but WHAT specifically we should pray. 

So a few years ago I made some prayer cards. 

I made one set of things that I wanted to daily pray 

my daughter and another set of things

 I wanted to pray specifically for my husband. 

Each card includes a prayer and a scripture. 

I printed them out 4 per page, cut them out, 

laminated them and put them on a ring. 

I keep them in my purse and they are a great reminder 

to me to pray specifically for those I love the most.  

If I'm stuck in traffic or line somewhere I'll pull them out and quickly pray. 

I love having something specific to pray- rather than just a general prayer. 

I have given these cards to lots of friends as gifts 

and have so loved hearing how much they have loved and used them. 

One friend has her set for her husband in the shower 

(since her set is laminated) and 

prays for her husband every day while she showers. 

Such a smart use of time isn't it?

Another friend who I gave a set to for her son says 

them out loud to him while he eats breakfast each morning.  

He got so used to hearing them that he has memorized 

the prayers and one day she sent me a video 

of him saying some of the prayers himself! 

So precious and such a great reminder that little ears are ALWAYS listening.

I had the cards listed in my ETSY store but recently had to remove them 

because I just didn't have time for the printing, laminating, mailing 

parts of creating them for orders. 

But this weekend I've added them back- this time as instant downloads!

 As instant downloads you can purchase a set, print them out 

and keep them for yourself or give them as a gift! 

The great thing about a digital download

 is that you can print as many copies as you'd like!

So you buy once, and can print multiple copies!

All of the cards can be found HERE in my ETSY store.

The praying for your husband set comes in 3 different colors (navy, red, or green) and come 16 to a set. Each of the 16 cards has a prayer and a scripture reference and are great to keep in your purse and card as a reminder to pray often for you husband. They would be great to give at Christmas but also make a super sweet wedding or anniversary gift!

The praying for your daughter, son, children, or grand children come 14 to a set and can be printed 4 per page. Each of the 14 cards has a prayer and a scripture reference.and are great to keep in your purse and card as a reminder to pray often for you sweet children. They would be great to give at Christmas but also make a super sweet baby shower gift!

All the digital download sets have general names on them (son, daughter, children, grand children, husband) but if you'd like one with a specific name, just message me through ETSY and I'll be happy to personalize a download for you and create a custom order. 

From now through Dec. 15th, use the code
 MERRY15 for 15% off your ETSY order! 

12 Days of Finals Care Package

My daughter is a college sophomore 

(how is that even possible when she was just a teeny tiny baby girl what seems like a few days ago?) 

& one of my absolute favorite things to do is send her finals care packages. 

I seriously wish I could start a care package business. 

How fun would that be? 

This year instead of sending one big box of stuff like I usually do, 

I decided to space it out and send The 12 Days of Finals gifts. 

 I sent the wrapped gifts back with her after Thanksgiving 

and she will start opening them 12 days before the end of her finals. 

It works just like the 12 Days of Christmas song so 

day 1 includes 1 thing, day 2 includes two things, etc. 

I thought it would be more fun to have something to 

open each day rather than one giant box. 

For the gifts I alternated between gift cards, 

food treats, and fun brain breaks and little gifts.

Many of the days include treats for her sweet roommates too!

Here are a list of some things you could include:

• Snacks (cookies, beef jerky, crackers, popcorn)
• Drinks
• Gift cards to Starbucks, Sonic, a fave restaurant, etc (most can be in any denomination so they are great for higher number days)
• Cash (always a big hit!) 
• Coloring books/crayons
• Water guns
• Nerf guns
• Gum
• Candy
• Fun/holiday socks
• Play dough 
• Magazines/books
• Makeup or nail polish
• Silly string
• Christmas ornaments
• Craft ideas/supplies
• School supplies
• Cookie making supplies

And here's what I included:

1. On the first day of finals my mommy gave to me 1 iHop gift card. 

2. On the second day of finals my mommy gave to me 2 magazines. 

3. On the third day of finals my mommy gave to me 3 bottles of nail polish. ($1 each at Walmart) 

4. On the fourth day of finals my mommy gave to me 4 coloring books. ($1 each at Walmart)

 5. On the fifth day of finals my mommy gave to me 5 five dollar bills. (of course you ould do $1 bills)

6. On the sixth day of finals my mommy gave to me 6 cans of play dough. (they came 8 to a pack so I pulled out 2) 

7. On the seventh day of finals my mommy gave to me 7 boxes of candy. (the movie kind- that's less than $1 a box) 

8. On the eighth day of finals my mommy gave to me 8 cozy socks. (1 pair per roommate bought at Michael's a few weeks ago in their dollar spot). 

 9. On the ninth day of finals my mommy gave to me 9 packs of popcorn. (10 in a box so I pulled out one) 

10. On the tenth day of finals my mommy gave to me $10 to Starbucks. 

11. On the eleventh day of finals my mommy gave to me 11 cute new pencils. 

12. On the twelfth day of finals my mommy gave to me $12 to Sonic.

I created some fun tags for each day's gifts. 

I put a card on the outside of each gift as a label and 

then another card inside explaining what the gift was. 

I made the tags gender neutral so they will work for boys or girls 

and printed them four to a page. 

My tags said.....

On the first day of finals my mommy gave to me... 

but I also created versions that say parents, daddy, and aunt 

as I shared the idea with some friends on FB and they asked for cards to print too. 

If you'd like to print them out you can find all of the label cards in the folder HERE.

It was fun to package them up and get them ready to give them to my sweet girl! 

I even found ribbon at Hobby Lobby that matched perfectly!
{And of course it was 1/2 off! I love Hobby Lobby!}

If you don't have a college aged student you could 

easily adapt this idea for a younger child or your sweetie pie- 

and do it for the 12 days leading up to Christmas! 

If you have any other ideas for items to include- 

feel free to leave them as a comment below and I'll add them!

The items I included for my sweet girl were...

• one IHOP gift card
• two magazines
• three bottles of nail polish
• four coloring books

December Scripture Writing Plan

For those who did the November Scripture Writing Plan and enjoyed it,

here's the plan for the month of December!

Writing scripture down each day is such a great way to really focus on God's word!
During this super crazy hectic time of year- this is one way to spend
a few minutes each day focusing on what is truly important! 

One of my sweet readers, Lori, translated this month's plan into Spanish- 

how sweet is that? 

You can find a copy of both to print for yourself in the folder 

HERE in English and HERE in Spanish! 

In case you missed it, November's plan can be found HERE. 

For those that have asked, there is also a blank form 

to write your verses on that can be found HERE. 

I'll be updating the plans for the new year 

so if you check back at the end of each month, 

I'll have the plan posted for the following month! 

Thankful for YOU Printables

I LOVE Thanksgiving for many reasons but mostly I think it's because

 it's the one time of the year people stop to tell 

those they love how truly thankful they are for them.  

I think we all think those things- 

we just don't stop very often to tell those around us 

so Thanksgiving is the perfect time to do so! 

Most years I post some sort of Thanksgiving printable

or tag so I thought I would put them all in one place this year! 

These I formatted these so they will print 6 per sheet.

You can find all of these in a folder HERE. to print out! 

Why not print some out and share them with folks you are thankful for today? 

Give Thanks

It's easy to be thankful when things in life are going well 

and life is happy and easy and good. 

It's a little (ok, maybe a lot) harder when things aren't going very well- 

when you are faced with a crisis, financial problems, relationship issues, 

and everything seems like to a big old giant mess. 

John 16:33 reminds us that we WILL have trouble in this world:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. 

In this world you will have trouble. 

But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

I've found that when going through those difficult times in my life, 

if I focus on being thankful for 

the little blessings that happen even (and especially) 

during tough times, my perspective completely changes. 

 As I notice and recognize the Lord’s provision during trials, 

I can genuinely and truthfully express gratitude. 

I often don’t know what the purpose is for each problem or trial I face, 

but I do know without a shadow of a doubt that 

God is good and trustworthy and faithful.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 is one of my favorite verses because 

it is such a beautiful reminder to thank God, no matter what!

You can print out your own copy of this verse in the folder HERE.

Give Thanks

This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of my favorite gratitude quotes. 

It's such a beautiful reminder that we shouldn't 

overlook the little things! 

You can print out a JPG or PDF copy HERE. 

Grateful & Joyful

 I'm a strong believer that if we practice being grateful, 

we will be more joyful! 

The very best way for me to get out of a funk, is to count my blessings. 

This quote sums up that belief perfectly! 

You can print out your own cop in either JPG or PDF HERE.  

Hey You.....Did you know that YOU MATTER?

A few weeks ago I posted a fun printable HERE for folks to 

print and post as a reminder to others that God loves them.  

When I made that printable I also made another version to be used in my school district

and posted about it on my Technology Rocks Seriously blog this morning. 

If you'd like to print and post either one, you can find them both in folder HERE. 

Why not print one out and take the time to remind folks that they matter? 

Gratitude into Blessings

I love the month of November for many reasons- 

one being that so many folks seem to focus on being thankful during the month.  

I'm a firm believer that counting your blessings is 

something that can truly change your mindset 

when you are struggling or feeling down and is something we should do daily!  

I'm a huge lover of quotes and have a ton saved on gratitude and being thankful. 

I decided I'm going to make some printables of my favorites this month and share them.

Because when I have my cranky pants on- sometimes just seeing a visual reminder, 

can turn my stinky attitude around! 

This is one of my favorites by William Arthur Ward that I actually did a printable 

for years ago but decided it needed a makeover!

You can print out your own copy in the folder HERE.  

November Scripture Writing Plan

Happy Halloween y'all!

For those who've been doing my scripture writing plan all year, 

here's the plan for the month of November.

Writing scripture down each day is such a great way to really focus on God's word!

You can find a copy in the folder HERE and I'll post another one at the end of each month!

You CAN do Hard Things

Seems like I know so many folks struggling- 

with family issues, with work issues, with marriage issues, 

with financial issues, with friend issues, with children issues. 

Sometimes when we struggle we need a reminder that 

we are strong, someone believes in us, and we CAN do hard things.  

I made these printables to hand out to the fab teachers 

at our Teacher Leadership Academy yesterday 

but thought you or someone you know might need the reminder too. 

So, here you go.....

You can download your own copy HERE.  

Hey YOU! Did you know....

I don't know about you but there are some days 

that I SO need the reminder that God loves me. 

I mean, I KNOW intellectually that He does- 

but sometimes when things are yucky 

(root canals and rashes and a mouse in your house, OH MY!)

I tend to forget the truth that....

He is always with me......If anyone leaves, it's me, not Him.

He will bless me......Just not always in the ways I think.

He will provide for me......ALWAYS. 

He will give me rest......If I will listen.

He will go before me.....And with me. 

He will guide me.....I just have to seek Him. 

He will answer me.....If and when I shut up long enough to listen. 

He will strengthen me........He IS my strength. 

He will always love me.....NOTHING can separate me from His love. 

I typed up a little reminder for myself 

and to post in bathrooms and mirrors and bulletin boards- 

for anyone that might need the reminder too! 

You can print out your own copy HERE.  

October Scripture Writing Plan

NOTE: If you get a permissions error when trying to find one of the scripture writing plan, it just means it's being updated or their might be a newer version. Just click the blog header above so that you are taken to the most recent version of the scripture writing plans!  Occasionally there are mistakes and changes to the plan and those are done on the most recent version.  Thank you!  

Happy October and happy fall y'all! 

Below is the October Scripture Writing Plan!

You can print your own copy HERE.

T-shirts for Sale!

 Five years ago I started my t-shirt fundraiser hobby with this shirt 

to raise funds for my precious friend G 

who was headed to Guatemala on a mission trip. 

Since then we've sold LOTS of shirts but I still get requests 

for this first one every time I wear it. 

So, we are doing our first shirt again! 

The shirt comes in forest green, cranberry, or black v-neck 

(the v-necks are not slim fit- they are the BEST v-neck I've ever worn!)

and in forest green and black crew neck long sleeves. 

All profits will go to my sweet friend to help fund her Jan. 2016 trip to Guatemala 

where she'll work in two orphanages and with the organization Mayan Families. 

If you are interested, you can purchase your shirt at this link: https://goo.gl/DB3YH8

September Scripture Writing Plan

NOTE: If you get a permissions error when trying to find one of the scripture writing plan, it just means it's being updated or their might be a newer version. Just click the blog header above so that you are taken to the most recent version of the scripture writing plans!  Occasionally there are mistakes and changes to the plan and those are done on the most recent version.  Thank you!  

Happy September!  

Below is the September Scripture Writing Plan! 

You can print your own copy HERE.

Sending your Child to College is like Sending your Heart Away

Sending your child away to college is hard y'all. 

It's like sending your heart away and it's hard not to worry

that you won't be there when they need you. 

So last year when my sweet girl left for college, 

I bought a bunch of cards, wrote in them, labeled them 

(For when you are sad, For when you are sick, 

For when you need a reminder you are loved, etc)

 and put them in a box tied with a bow. 

(Hobby Lobby has a great selection of cards 

that are perfect for this and don't cost a ton!)

My mama did this for me when I went away to Baylor too

and I remembered how much I loved them. 

Because as much as I loved college, 

there were times when I so missed my mama

and those cards were a sweet reminder of her. 

 I placed the box in Madison's drawers to find later. 

I wasn't sure if she read them but when we were 

unpacking her things in her new apartment last weekend, 

I saw the box. 

When she saw me holding the almost empty box- she asked. 

"You are going to write me some more cards, right?" 

So of course I did. 

And as I wrote in them today I thought of how much my mama 

would have loved me carrying on this tradition. 

#imissmymama

Randomness on a Wednesday Morning

Conversation Cups: 

How cute are these? 

This set of four glasses can be used to encourage conversation

 at the table with your family!

So stinkin' cute! 

You can purchase them HERE.  

Drive Beehive App: 

Do you or someone you know struggle with not using their phone while driving? 

Then this free app is for you! 

Drive BeeHive allows you to pair with another user as either their Sponsor or Driver. The Sponsor enters a reward and a total # of miles needed for the Driver to reach that reward. 

Before Driving the driver opens Drive BeeHive and goes on their way. A lock screen will appear on the phone and will count the driver's "Safe Miles". So long as the phone isn't used behind the wheel the driver will earn those miles for that trip - Use the phone and your miles are reset back to zero! Once the Driver reaches their goal, their sponsor will be notified to release their reward.

Learn more about the app HERE

and download it HERE. 

FREE online Bible Study: Taming the To-Do List by Glynnis Whitwer

Begins Sept. 8- October 6th 

You can purchase the book HERE

and sign up for the study HERE. 

Here's a description of the book: 

Ever just wish the world would stop for a day so you could catch up?

No matter how hard women work or how much they accomplish in a day, there's lingering anxiety and guilt over what they didn't do. But do we really have more to do than the women who came before us? Maybe not.

In Taming the To-Do List, Glynnis Whitwer exposes a seismic shift in society: from one in which most of us were proactive to one in which we carry the burden of having to respond-- to every email, text, tweet, and message we receive. This creates a cycle where everyone else sets the priorities for our days rather than us directing our own lives. The result? We procrastinate, putting off the important stuff for later while we tend to the "urgent" stuff right now.

It's time to take back your schedule!

Taming the To-Do List addresses this significant change in how we manage our time and the issue of procrastination from a woman's point of view. It addresses the common household tasks many women put off, like doing housework and scheduling doctor's appointments, and moves on to the larger, more life-impacting delays of dreams and goals. Combining practical, easy-to-apply advice with solid research and biblical truth, this book is a compassionate yet challenging message of hope for those struggling to choose their best work over busy work.

I just signed up because boy do I need this!