Summer Cloth Diaper Giveaway Hop

 

Welcome to the Summer Cloth Diaper Giveaway Hop, hosted by Mommy's Favorite Things. Almost 50 blogs have linked up to bring you many exciting cloth diaper giveaways.  Catholic Newlywed is giving away a cloth diaper prize pack sponsored by Small Concept.   

Small Concept is an online store that describes itself as "a boutique born from the love of children". I could literally spend hours browsing the online shop which includes everything from designer baby and children clothing, feeding accessories, toys, maternity clothes, and, of course, cloth diapers.  It is a truly unique online baby/child shopping experience. I am so happy to be able to partner with Small Concept for this wonderful giveaway.  

 The prize pack includes a Itzy Ritzy Wet Happened?™ Zippered Wet Bag, a Thirsties Duo Fab Fitted Diaper, and a Thirsties Duo Wrap.

 

Enter my giveaway below and then hop to the other blogs listed at the bottom of this post to enter their fluffy giveaways as well! Each blog has a cloth diaper prize valued at $25 or more and many blogs have prizes worth over $100.

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Here We Go!

 In July 2010, I married my husband and moved from 

Colorado to Indiana where he was attending grad school:

 

In July 2011, while I was five months pregnant, we moved from 

Indiana to North Carolina for David to finish his last year of grad school:

In July 2012, we will be moving back to Colorado only it’s no longer 

just the two of us, we now have a little one we're bringing back with us.

David graduated in May and hasn’t had any luck finding a job yet.  Our lease is up next month and we decided to head back to live with my parents for a while.  We are hoping to settle in Colorado and living there will give David a better opportunity to network, meet with professors, and attend interviews (assuming that there will be interviews).  If David does find a job elsewhere, we will at least have had some time with our family and friends before moving on.

Our move from Indiana to North Carolina was unexpected, but we knew that we would only be in Indiana for two years at most.  Although we thought David might have some job opportunities here in Raleigh, we were prepared to have to move after a year.  But knowing that our locations were temporary didn’t stop us from making a home while there.  We are thrilled to move back “home” and for Lucia to be close to family, but we are leaving behind some great friends.  We’ve also grown to love Raleigh; if our family and friends were here, we would never want to leave. 

It was a difficult process coming to this decision.  We’ve been debating what the best course would be for a while.  But now that it’s made, we are excited and relieved.  I will be throwing myself into preparing for this move and I won’t look back.  And I can’t shake the feeling that I’m going home, to the place I’m from, to the place I belong, to my mama and daddy’s house.  We’ve been praying for years now that David would find a job that would take us back to Colorado.  I believe this as an answer to our prayers, although a little backwards from what we planned.  But maybe once we make the move, the job will follow.  Keep us in your prayers? 

Buying Wedding Gifts Online

We’ve been invited to four weddings this year.  We can’t attend a few of them because we are out of state, but always send a gift whether we attend or not.  In these instances, shopping for wedding gifts online seems obvious since the gifts would need to be shipped anyway; however, shopping online is my preferred method for all wedding gifts.  Here’s why:

1.  Proper etiquette.  Although it’s become acceptable to bring gifts to the wedding reception (what modern reception doesn’t have a specified gift table?), wedding etiquette still recommends that all gifts be sent to the couple even if you are attending the wedding. 

2.  Makes it easier on the couple.  As a recent bride, I can attest to this!  The bride and groom already have to worry about so many details of the wedding day without having to stress over arranging for a friend or family member to pack up and deliver the gifts after the wedding.  I’ve heard stories of presents being forgotten or lost while the couple was on their honeymoon.  Thankfully this doesn’t happen often, but is something to consider.  Also, it’s common for couples to have a destination wedding or move shortly afterward.  By sending the gift directly to the couples’ home, they don’t have to worry about getting it there themselves.

3.  Prevents mix-ups.  Nearly every bride has a story of a wedding gift with an unidentifiable giver.  Unfortunately, when all the gifts are packed up after the reception, it seems that at least one card gets separated from its gift. If you send your gift, you eliminate this kind of mix-up

4. Travel. In our mobile society, it’s not unusual to travel out of state for a wedding.  Sending the wedding present separately gives you more space in your suitcase, which is especially important now that most airlines charge for checked bags. 

5. Convenience.  Above are the reasons why you should send a gift, but not necessarily why you should buy it online.  However, online shopping is a convenient way to do the shopping and shipping all in one!  Also, shipping prices from an online retailer are often less than the cost to send it yourself and many online stores have free shipping if you purchase over a certain amount or free shipping discount codes (more on this below).

6. Saving money.  This is my top reason to buy wedding gifts online. I always set a certain amount of money to spend on gifts and try to make it go as far as possible. There are two main ways I save money online:

• Compare prices: It’s easy to compare prices online.  When you find an item on a couple’s registry you’re interested in purchasing, use search engines to find the cheapest price for that item.  If you find it cheaper at a different online retailer, you can usually call the store where the registry is and ask them to manually take the product off the registry for you (do this immediately so someone else doesn’t purchase it for the couple in the meantime).
•  Use promotion codes: I’ve find it easier to find promotion codes for online retailers than it is to find coupons for purchasing items in-store.  Promotioncode.org has codes for free shipping and other discounts from the most popular wedding registry retailers including Macy’s, Target, and Crate & Barrel.  I discovered discount codes a few years ago and now I check for them every time I buy something online.  I don’t always find an applicable code, but when I do, I often save $20 or more. 

 

This post is a paid post written by me and sponsored by Promotioncode.org.  All opinions are 100% my own.

Broken: Finding Love in the Midst of the Ruins

When I read this next piece in the Broken series, my heart was both broken and filled with hope.  Women (and men) should never have to endure the abuses that this account entails, but I pray that all who do experience it will have the ability to find the grace and healing that the author of this piece did. The author asked to remain anonymous, but please keep her and all women in past in present damaging relationships in your prayers.

__________

If I could take you back a full decade into the year 2001, I would show you the state of my heart and open my soul to you. I would take you by the hand, through the halls of my high school lined with maroon lockers and into the old classrooms that still had chalkboards. I would take you to our impressive stadium and the football field where I spent so much time doing homework while watching the team practice. I would guide you around my small town of 2000 people, pointing to the shimmering river that paralleled it. Then I would show you my old house, the one up on the hill, and I would lead you into my old bedroom. In that room I spent many nights awake, often staring at my corded purple phone unsure if I wanted it to ring or not. In most respects, I was an average teenager. I had been bullied a fair share and learned to fight back with gossip and hatred. I easily forgave my friends no matter their wrongs for that was a survival mechanism I picked up. You join in or get run over.

At age 13 I was asked out by a boy. My heart skipped a beat as I tried to refrain from smiling too big, I said yes. It was an innocent enough relationship- we held hands, he kissed me a couple times, and the novelty of it was over after 3 weeks. Once I knew what it felt like to be wanted it wasn't long before I moved on to the next relationship which started a trend that I never broke. The next few years I dated a lot and always put my heart into each one thinking that This-Was-The-One. I was the only Catholic in my school, and one of a handful of Christians- not that it meant anything to be called Christian there.

In 2001, I was 15 and dated Brad, my first long term boyfriend. He immediately put on the pressure to have sex. I wasn't willing to go that far, but thought nothing to teasing him in every other way. After several months, he was bored of me, and interested in a willing girl. I was devastated, and in a dire attempt to keep him with me, I gave him all that I had left to offer. He not only left me, but cruelly sent me emails of love and then hate. He wrote up a letter that disgustingly advertised me and lengths I had gone to keep him. He then printed dozens of copies and passed them around to our entire school. My phone rang off the hook for weeks for 'dates'. I was mortified. My email inbox was full of porn from the guys at school. The stalls of the bathroom had my name and horrendous sexual acts that I had never done inscribed on them. I thought of dropping out, and then of suicide. I wanted to end the pain of betrayal and utter rejection. I considered filing harassment charges, but I wouldn't dare repeat the words that had been said to me. Rumors about a pregnancy circulated for awhile. I fell away into the background of the most evil I have ever known. I pretended to be invisible. Brad, being the gentleman that he was, pulled me outside of gym class one day and hit me in the stomach with a baseball bat, as if to say, not only I was unwanted but so was this rumored child.

I ran away.

I prayed small, silent prayers, with no hope attached to them.

That summer brought a great sense of relief to my exhaustion. I had been single for a few months and met a guy from another town. He was a few years older and did not know this history of mine. The month of June changed my life. God can turn the worst sins into the most beautiful peace imaginable. He can take away pain and replace it with love. And, finally, the time came where I had no choice but to give myself over to Christ. My life, as I had lived it had to come to an end. This older guy took me out once on a perfectly nice date. He was fun to be around. He had a job and his own car. I thought things were turning around for me. And then on our second date he took me for a drive. We went ten miles out of town onto a gravel road. I felt no sense of fear with him.  As we drove, I looked through his glove box and found a box of condoms. I mentioned something about waiting awhile. He laughed.

Any adult idiot can guess what happened next, but I still wanted to believe in knights in shining armor that come in and save the maiden in distress. And so, with a great pride and astounding love, I will tell you what happened next. Christ came into my life and saved me from the evil that surrounded me. Yes,... I got raped, but that part didn't actually matter. Only Christ mattered. I found Him amidst the violence of my adolescence.

I cried out to God in the following weeks that I wanted to serve Him. I had been broken so badly, I never thought the pieces of my soul would heal. I allowed Him to take me away from my pain and He did. But it only happened when I was ready to completely surrendered it to Him. 

In time, I became closer to Christ through prayer and trusting Him. I know that I will never be perfect. I still sin, but I always seek Him. My life has been blessed beyond measure and I thank God for that. My husband is wonderful to me, and I have no worries of betrayal or fear of love. Christ was the hero I was searching for, and He will never abandon me.

I am in the midst of Love all the days of my life.

Burt's Bees Mama Bee/Baby Bee Giveaway

Are you expecting a little one soon?  Did you just have a baby?  Do you know someone this describes?  Enter for your chance to win a prize pack of a few of my favorite Burt's Bees products for mama and baby worth over $25.  The prize pack includes:

Burt's Bees Baby Bee Diaper Ointment ($7.49 value)

Burt's Bees Mama Bee Belly Balm ($9.99 value)

Burt's Bees Radiance Lip Shimmer ($4.99 value)

Burt's Bees Cherry Lip Shimmer ($4.99 value)

Please enter using the Rafflecopter below.  Contest runs June 18-25.  Only open to US residents.  This giveaway is sponsored by Catholic Newlywed and is not in any way affiliated with Burt's Bees.  See Terms & Conditions located at the bottom of the Rafflecopter for complete contest rules.  Good luck!

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