Amy . . .

What would you like to know? I am fun, but crazy. I have a most perfect husband, and 2 cats named Samson and Delilah. We are presently working on adopting a little girl from China and have a separate blog for that. I am a Christian and am working on a better relationship with him. I live in the Atlanta area and love sharing stories with people. I am also a pediatric nurse and I love it! I love to talk and meet new people and I love Disney Cruising

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Book Review The Christmas Bowl

Ok,so here is my part of the post. My review. If you know me and know how much I love the holidays, then you know I jumped at the chance to read this book. It did not disappoint. It was a quick, light hearted read and that made me laugh out loud. You are right there with the characters. What I loved most about it is that I could recognize how much my own mom wanted the Christmas season to be special,and it kind of gave me a glimpse of her thoughts!

If you have never read this author, go find this book. Now! Its not that expensive and you will fill like you have found a friend. I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to read Susan's books. I will be catching up on her books ASAP!

So if you like a good book, love books about families, books that make you smile, want to think about the holidays or want a quick read that will make your heart smile. go check out The Christmas Bowl!Oh and if you have ever served on a womens ministry, go check it out! You will find yourself in this book!

Please take the time to read about the book below and the author! She is stinkin awesome!



About The Great Christmas Bowl:Marianne Wallace is focused on two things this holiday season: planning the greatest family Christmas ever and cheering on her youngest son’s team in their bid for the state championship.Disaster strikes when the team loses their mascot-the Trout. Is it going too far to ask her to don the costume? So what if her husband has also volunteered her to organize the church Christmas tea.When football playoffs start ramping up, the Christmas tea starts falling apart. Then, one by one her children tell her they can’t come home for Christmas.As life starts to unravel, will Marianne remember the true meaning of the holidays?


About Susan:Susan May Warren is the RITA award-winning author of twenty-four novels with Tyndale, Barbour and Steeple Hill. A four-time Christy award finalist, a two-time RITA Finalist, she’s also a multi-winner of the Inspirational Readers Choice award, and the ACFW Book of the Year. Her larger than life characters and layered plots have won her acclaim with readers and reviewers alike. A seasoned women’s events and retreats speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!. She is also the founder of
http://www.mybooktherapy.com/, a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice. Susan makes her home in northern Minnesota, where she is busy cheering on her two sons in football, and her daughter in local theater productions (and desperately missing her college-age son!) A full listing of her titles, reviews and awards can be found at: http://www.susanmaywarren.com/






Link to Buy the Book:
To buy the book, visit
here!
The Great Christmas Bowl website: http://thegreatchristmasbowl.blogspot.com/
The website features a note from the author, fun updates from Big Lake Gazette, info on how to host your own Great Christmas Bowl Tea to benefit a local ministry or charity and a fun Recipe Exchange contest!

CONTEST: Be a part of the Great Christmas Bowl recipe exchange!
Susan loves getting recipes from friends, and sharing the delicious cookies, soups, breads and other fun fixings that go with celebrating the Christmas season. More than that, she loves the crazy stories about favorite Christmases – serious, touching, funny…whatever. Find the recipe contest here: http://thegreatchristmasbowl.blogspot.com/2009/07/recipe-exchange.html

Will you share your story and recipe with Susan and the readers of the Great Christmas Bowl? She will post your story and recipe on the FRONT PAGE of the Great Christmas Bowl website, and send you a link when it goes up so you can tell all your friends. Then, at the Great Christmas Bowl party (December 5th, 10am, online! Details TBA) she’ll make the entire cookbook available for download!

For every recipe/story you submit (up to 3), you will be entered in a drawing to receive one of SMW’s collections (Noble Legacy, Team Hope, Heirs of Anton, Deep Haven Series, Josey series, or THE ADVANCED COPY of Sons of Thunder – Susie’s brand new epic World War 2 novel, due out in January 2010!)

Go – run, get your recipe, then come back here and click on the link below to share your Christmas memorie

Thursday, September 24, 2009

the past

Rock Hill, S.C. The city that gave me the earliest memories of my childhood. Actually it was the house in the Wintercrest Subdivision. I had not visited since we left 25 years ago but last week after a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge, I was able to visit a most historical place. My sister,brother and I lived here longer than anywhere else. This is where we learned to stay up for Santa, learned to clean the house by 8am on Saturday mornings so we could watch cartoons, where my sister fell out of the 2 story window and where Christmas became alive to me. It was a most special place. Rock Hill also gave me my first church home, Westminster Pres Church. We actually got to visit there as well, but no pics. Loved my church. I loved Pioneer Girls. I loved the hymns the stories, the activities. I just loved the church and the school. My prayer is that LynnMarie will also find some of the same memories.

The picture on the bottom is of Miss Vera, a neighbor who I had not seen in 25 years..Amazing that she and I connected via email. You see, Miss Vera and my mom did a Bible Study at the house every week when I was younger. Those ladies were such an example to me as a young child. I remember visiting Miss Vera weekly at her home.

It was so nice to visit Rock Hill. Its been nice finding elementary school friends on facebook, we all went to Westminster Christian school. That's really been cool and catching up. I'm sure all of us share some cool stories.

That house sure does look different than it did 25 years ago, but its the same one. Same houses around but different families now occupy them.To see where my family started, where my dad began laying the foundation for our lives was so cool. I am blessed to have the family I do, and a family that has poured love on me!














Thursday, September 17, 2009

Great Wolf Concord Trip review

Pics are below..Just click to see them bigger!!!
Well last month I was asked if I wanted to visit the Great Wolf Lodge in NC for 2 nights for FREE! I quickly said yes and promised to quickly tell you how our trip was! Was it worth it? YES! Will we go again? YES!!!!

We left Atlanta and headed for Concord about lunch time on Monday afternoon getting to the GW about 4pm. Since school just started, it was not crowded at all, had no problem checking in!! Immediately we knew we were going to have a good time. Definitely wolf/mountain cabin themed and its beautiful. Customer service is obviously important to them, had friendly service from the first person that said hello! If you have never heard of GW lodges you need to know thats its a family resort that has a HUGE indoor water park along with lots of other fun stuff!

After we checked in, we got our luggage and headed to our room on the 4th floor. We got a basic family suite which was 2 queen beds, a pull out couch which could easily fit 6 adults. As a basic room, it was HUGE! LynnMarie had tons of room to practice walking and crawling and play. It also had a fridge and microwave so you could bring food to help save costs, which we did! Actually GW recommended doing that! Awesome! They provided a pack and play that had wolf blankets too!

After enjoying our chocolate covered strawberries that were awaiting us and opening a special gift for LynnMarie, we changed and headed down to the waterpark. It was pretty darn empty but that didnt stop the lifeguards who pretty much circle every area all day.. I felt very secure! We spent a lot of time in the HUGE toddler area which all of us enjoyed..It was a really big water area with slides for toddlers, splashing area and other toys. Actually we spent most of the time there before heading to the big wave pool for a bit..LynnMarie loved all of it and loves to do 1-2-3 go under water!! She is a water baby for sure. It was getting close to 730 so we left and changed for dinner. Since it was late, we first did story time in the lobby and their daily animated show which was fun and they even had a character come out and visit the kids.They invite everyone to come out in their pjs but we did not as we went to dinner afterwards..We ate at the resort and had great service plus a yummy meal. And our server gave LynnMarie a special souvenir as well! Fun times!!!

It was getting late so we went upstairs and had play time and got ready for bed. LynnMarie went to bed rather quickly.. I stayed up for a bit before crashing on the totally comfortable beds.. I loved the beds..The only bed that has ever been more comfortable is the La Quinta in Los Angelas we stayed in after we got home from China!

Tues we got up, got dressed and headed out. Busy day ahead! Had breakfast at Cracker Barrell, went to a Hendricks NASCAR museum and the walked the mall, which was HUGE and had some great stuff in their. Plus we got LynnMarie on a carousel and got her Halloween costume!! Fun times. We came back the hotel for lunch (microwave noodles) and a nap!

We got up and had more pool time and hit the arcade which was huge and had lots of fun stuff. Great Wolf is very family friendly and had LM been a bit older we could have done more. You can make your own stuffed wolf, make your own crocs or play Magic Quest which takes you on an adventure around the resort.

Dinner Tuesday night was at Quaker Steak which is a fun sports bar. We got back, gave Lynnmarie a bath and started packing up.

We took our time getting up the next morning and had Dunkin Donuts for breakfast..There is both a DD and a Pizza Hut on the property along with 3 other restaurants. There is also an ice cream/fudge shop too! We made a final stop at the fudge store before packing up the car!!!

That was the end of our trip but we will go back. There are several of these resorts around the country, I would love to visit the Williamsburg one next. But Concord is 4 hours from Atlanta, perfect for a 1-2 night stay for those of us in Atlanta!!! Please let me know if you have any questions..I warn you. If you choose to go to the website, you may end of making a reservation..It was a fabulous trip..

Great customer service, time as a family equals awesomeness!


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Sunday, September 13, 2009

After watching the VMA's last night I started wondering again whats going on in this world? Why is it okay to pretend to pray to Satan or joke about someones bisexuality? This is entertaining. I must say that i have an odd sense of humor and I can accept a lot (too much) but last night was way too far!

Its a scary world that we live in? I can't imagine Jesus walking down our streets..I know he would love all, but I can also see tears in his eyes..We just aren't getting it.

I'm ashamed. Is this the new normal? I know our world has been morally declining for years but I am so scared for LynnMarie. I don't want this to be her normal but I also don't want to shelter her!

Friday, September 04, 2009

Looking for ideas

As we contemplate sending LynnMarie to Mothers Morning out, Im looking for ideas to start teaching her some basic things..Found a great website thanks to Rebecca called No Time for Flashcards but also want to know what you do/did for your 18-24 month olds that does not include tv...Hoping for great ideas!