About Me
My name is Tami and I live in central Illinois with my husband, Larry and three children, Caleb (8), Camden (7) and Emma (4). I hope you'll enjoy reading about my life as a wife/mother and about our family's adventures. What I’m Reading
Bloggy Giveaway (Fall 2008)
It’s that time again and I am so excited about my giveaway. Back in March, when I went to the Hearts at Home Conference, I picked up a great children’s devotional. My Big Book of 5-Minute Devotions is one of the best devotionals for children I have found. My 5 year old, Caleb, absolutely loved this book. Even when we were in the middle of another book, he would request that we read this book instead.
This book has different devotionals based on God’s creations and character building lessons. There are approximately 40 devotionals that give some facts about an animal and then a character building lesson to learn. Some of the lessons are about accepting others, obeying your parents and being a good friend. This book also has excellent illustrations and is very engaging for children.
We are actually going to begin reading this book again with Caleb and including our 3 year old, Camden, as well. We feel the lessons are timeless and can not be repeated enough to our children.
To enter this giveaway, leave a comment with a way to get in contact with you. I will be ending the giveaway on Friday, October 31.
Head on over to Bloggy Giveaways for more great giveaways.
Tags: 
Bloggy Giveaway, 
children’s devotionals, 
My Big Book of 5 Minute Devotions, 
God’s creation
An Afternoon of Freedom
Ever since Caleb, 5, was born, I have been lucky enough to have a set of grandparents take him for one afternoon a week. Since Camden, 3, and Emma, 1, have been born, they have been added to the time with the grandparents. When my mom was alive (she passed away at Christmas time last year) she would also take them for a day a week. I knew she would not live through their childhoods, so I let her take them as much as she wanted. I knew they needed the memories with her.
So there were almost two days that I had for myself. Since my mom died and my in-laws have retired and hit the road in their motorhome, my days to myself have been few and far between. But, we have adjusted and I appreciate the days off more when I do get a break. My in-laws just got back into town from six weeks on the road. So yesterday afternoon the kids went over to the grandparents and I attempted to knock some things off of my to-do list. They are only in town for two weeks, so they are taking them Friday afternoon and next Friday for an over-nighter. The boys are looking forward to movie night at their house along with grandpa’s popcorn.
On the night the kids are not home, Larry and I will be enjoying a date night. We celebrate each year the day we started dating by going to the same restaurant, Beningo’s. It is a little italian place that we like. We are also going to go a see some live jazz at a local restaurant.
Also, this week, I started my fall bible study at church. I love meeting with this group of ladies. I gain so much wisdom from the older ladies in the group. We are still on our Beth Moore kick and are studying A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place. I really love the bible studies where we study history. This bible study concentrates on the Tabernacle. I am looking forward to an intense 11 weeks.
Tags: 
bible study, 
Beth Moore, 
grandparents
Our Compassion Child
One of family goals for this year was to sponsor a child through Compassion International. In January, we picked a little boy from Thailand.
Our boys are so excited about corresponding with him as he grows up. The other day, we received our first letter from him (written by his social worker) and a picture that he colored.
Caleb and Camden are excited to be coloring an Easter picture to send to him this week to send with our next letter.
Tags: 
Compassion Child, 
Thailand
Seeing Old Friends
This past weekend, our family went to see our friends, Jonathan and Kim and the church they now pastor at. Jonathan used to be the Youth Pastor at the church we attend and has recently accepted a Senior Pastor position at a church a couple of hours away, near the St. Louis area. He was having his installation service on Sunday, so we loaded up the car and headed down.
We haven’t seen them or their son, Elijah, for a couple of months. Camden and Caleb were beside themselves to see their friend. Camden and Elijah are only 2 months apart in age and have grown up together since birth and are best friends. They still ask for each other on Sundays and throughout the week. It is very sweet.
We are hoping to go back down in March while Caleb is on spring break and be able to hang out with them for a few days and then hear Jonathan preach on that Sunday.
Here is a picture of the boys together (Caleb, Elijah and Camden).
friends
St. LouisTuesday Happenings
My Tuesday morning bible study started back up today. This spring we are studying, Living Beyond Yourself.
This is the third Beth Moore bible study that our women’s group has studied and I am sure it will be as excellent as the first two were.
The rest of our day was spent going to vote in our state primary and then eating pancakes, that I made for my family, for Pancake Tuesday.
Tags: Beth Moore, 
Living Beyond Yourself, 
voting, 
Pancake Tuesday
Snowflakes From Heaven
This week, I went with a group of women from my church and we decorated a Christmas tree for The Baby Fold’s 14th Annual Festival of Trees. We had a great time together.
The Christmas trees, 4′ and 7′, along with a gingerbread village, wreaths, centerpieces and celebrity trees are all auctioned off to support the children and families of The Baby Fold. They also have performers and special events throughout the 5 day event. It is one of our favorite family traditions for Christmas. My kids really enjoy the Jingle Bell Junction, where they have all kinds of kids activities…Santa even makes an appearance and there are sugar cookies from the Cookie Shop.
This is our finished tree…Snowflakes From Heaven. My son has a field trip Friday morning and I am excited for him to see the tree and our family will be going on Friday evening.
Tags: 
Festival of Trees, 
family, 
Christmas, 
Snowflakes from Heaven
Mission Moment – Ghana, Africa
This week during VBS, the mission money we collected was going to Ghana, Africa. The pastor from the church in Ghana spoke to our congregation last summer and then our senior pastor and youth pastor went to Africa on a missions trip this past spring. The people from Ghana, Africa have really touched our church family.The kids were so excited to give money this week for our mission. They also had a little extra motivation. The kids had several goals to reach and with each one reached, a VBS teacher and the senior pastor got a pie in the face. We ended up reaching, and exceeding, our final goal and so the VBS director agreed to a get a pie in the face. This was the best VBS weeks we have had for several years. The kids were so excited and had so much fun.One of the projects that we did for the children of Ghana was to decorate a banner (see picture above). The sign said “Jesus Loves the Children of Ghana” and all of the kids wrote their names, messages or pictures on the banner.
Tags: 
VBS, 
Ghana, Africa, 
missions
VBS – Fiesta
We are having VBS at our church this week. This is the first year that our son has been old enough to participate and he was so excited to go to “PBS” last night. I have great memories from VBS when I was a child and hope that my children enjoy it as much as I did. My husband and I will be there all week since we volunteer (the baby is in the nursery). I will be helping with snacks and my husband is (for the 3rd year) the official picture taker. He will put together a slide show for the final night. It is always a highlight for the kids to see themselves up on the big screen.
The VBS coordinator always give the volunteers something for participating. This year we got a Fired Up For Faith bracelet.
Our Sunday School teacher asked us last week to bring back a favorite memory from the week to share with the class this next Sunday. So far, it would have to be watching my son sing his heart out and dance to the music. I can hardly wait for the last night to see him perform on stage with the rest of his class.
Tags: VBS
Children’s Daily Devotions
We have recently started doing daily devotions with Caleb, our 3 year old. They have become part of his bedtime routine. We read a book and then do a devotion. He will ask at night to read his “ocean”. The book we have been using is God and Me: 365 Daily Devotions. Each devotion has a short message, prayer and a scripture reading. Each page is very colorful and has pictures of children in everyday situations. Doing his devotions at night is something that he really looks forward to. This will be a book that we will use for many years with each of our children.
Tags: 
children, 
children’s devotions, family
Miscellaneous
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