The 21-Day Financial Fast Your Path to Financial Peace and Freedom

 

What they say: 

Financial Peace and Freedom in 21 Days
In The 21-Day Financial Fast, award-winning writer and The Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary proposes a field-tested financial challenge. For twenty-one days, participants will put away their credit cards and buy only the barest essentials. With Michelle’s guidance during this three-week financial fast, you will discover how to:
Break bad spending habits
Plot a course to become debt-free with the Debt Dash Plan
Avoid the temptation of overspending for college
Learn how to prepare elderly relatives and yourself for future long-term care expenses
Be prepared for any contingency with a Life Happens Fund
Stop worrying about money and find the priceless power of financial peace
As you discover practical ways to achieve financial freedom, you’ll experience what it truly means to live a life of financial peace and prosperity.
Thousands of individuals have participated in the fast and as a result have gotten out of debt and become better managers of their money and finances. The 21-Day Financial Fast is great for earners at any income-level or stage of life, whether you are living paycheck-to-paycheck or just trying to make smarter financial choices.

My Take: 

I am a Dave Ramsey fan all the way, so most of what was in this book was a repeat of his ideas and plans. What really stuck with me was about the author's friend who passed away. When they went in to deal with the paperwork after her death, everything was organized and in order. She had her will, bills, life insurance policies well organized and filed, so anyone could find it and follow her system. While my husband and I live on a budget and are working to pay off all our debt, being organized is one area that I fall short in. It is funny, I was the church administrator for  7 years and kept records. I now manage my best friend's accounting since she has ALS and keep her records in shape, but doing it here at home is something that I need to get organized. If you are looking to organize your finances and get your life back, stop living paycheck to paycheck, check out this book. Now off to start organizing my disaster of a desk! 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

5 things I wish people wouldn't ask about foster kids....

1.  Are all those your kids? Yes, they are all mine. Just like the students in my classroom were my kids for the time that they were in my class, these kids are mine. I may not have given birth to them, but I love them like my daughter to which I did give birth.
2. What did their parents do to have these kids come to live with you? My nice answer is that the parents have some issues to work on. But I can't tell you the details. The details of their case is protected under the law. Often I am not given a full account of why they were taken away. Social workers paint the case with broad strokes. Drugs, violence, abuse, neglect, mental illness and sexual abuse are all reasons for kids to be taken out from their biological parents. Often it is not just one of these reasons, but a laundry list of issues. 
3. How long are they going to be with you? We don't know that. Some kids stay a month or two. Other kids will be with us for a year. It all depends of their family, the social workers, CASA workers, attorneys, and judge.
4. Don't they have relatives who could take them? Why aren't they with a family member? The process for a family member to take them into care is similar to what my husband and I did to become foster parents. It is not automatic that if the biological parents are unfit, that the children will go to the biological grandparents or aunts and uncles. Often there is no one in the biological family willing or able to take care of the children. In any case, the family members must attend classes, fill out a ton of paperwork, be fingerprinted, and have their home inspected before they can have the children come to live with them. 
5. Are you going to adopt them? Please don't ask this in front of the children. Yes, we want to provide a forever home for a child, but we are foster parents first. The parents have a year or longer to get the kids back, so my husband and I are not even contemplating adoption until we know for sure that the children will be open for adoption. We don't want to break their hearts by making promises that we don't know that we can keep. There are lots of factors to consider when adopting. When it is right and we know that we are going to adopt, we will announce it. Until then, we aren't going to discuss it.

Unglued Devotional Review

The Unglued Devotional is companion devotional to the bestselling book Unglued provides encouragement to help readers handle emotional struggles. Including a daily opening Scripture, Thought for the Day, devotion, and closing prayer, this book helps readers begin a 60-day journey in learning to positively process raw emotions, such as fear, anger, and regret.My take....I am a huge Lysa Terkeurst fan, so my view of this book is based on past experiences reading Made to Crave and her website. I love Lysa's comfortable style of writing. She makes you feel like you are her best friend sitting at the coffee table in her home by sharing stories of her family life and her love of Christ. If you are looking for a small devotional that you can put into your bag, this one is for you! 60 Days of Imperfect Progress! Sounds like my life right now! 3 steps forward, 2 steps back!  If you have read the Unglued book or studied it with a group, this book may not be for you since it basically sticks to the same information. Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com® <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back-Adoption Adventures part one

Tom is just one of my first adoptees.

Do you ever feel like that? It seems like my life is always going three steps forward, two steps back! My husband and I decided to adopt another little girl and attended classes in April of last year. After 6+ months of classes, home visits and paper work, we were told that we were approved, but would need to wait until we got our letter. There were months of silence. I didn't know what was happening and assumed that God had closed that door. So in February, I accepted a position as director of my local Classical Conversations community. I got busy planning for the new school year, became a tutor trainer. I was focused! I had a vision for where I was going!

May comes, Classical Conversations is finished for the year, and summer is upon us. We get a letter...You are now official foster parents! Wait! What???? But God, I thought you closed that door? I moved on! I am happy where I am now! Yes, I still want a child, but I'm awful busy. After talking to Alan, he wants to go forward. We get a few phone calls, but learn quickly that when they need a place for children, they don't wait for a call back! We also had an issue with my cell phone number being wrong on their files.

In June, we get our first placement, a two year old little girl with blond hair and brown eyes. She was precious and a handful. I serious questions about whether I was young enough to have a two year old! She was a handful, mainly because she had no inhibitions and no fear! I know what you are thinking...What two year old does? While it is true that most two year old kids don't, children who come from homes of neglect and abuse have much deeper issues. My first job with any new child is to create a bond. When my little girl was born, she and I bonded by nursing, singing, holding, cuddles, and generally making myself the center of her world. While I can't nurse a foster child, I can feed them, sing to them, hold them, cuddle them, and make myself the center of their world. I did this! We bonded! She didn't even want me to leave her on visits with her family. She made herself part of the family within a month. She knew the routines. I kept thinking, "God, is this our child? Please let her be ours!" Sadly, she wasn't. She went to live with her daddy after 6 weeks. It broke my heart, but I was ready to start over with another child.

More adventures soon!

I need a huge favor!

We visited the Infinity Science Center yesterday and they are having a contest.
They want people to post a picture on their Facebook page of people in their
hurricane simulator. The contest ends tomorrow and the picture with the most
likes will win a birthday party at the ISC! Would you go like my picture???

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=587526394592808&set=o.139998272698735&ty\
pe=1&theater

If the link doesn't work, search for the Infinity Science Center page. Look for
Posts by others section and find the picture by Lori Ann Ola. Thanks!!!!

My Walmart Ad Match Experience...or why Walmart lost my business!

I have a long history with Walmart. I was a an associate back in the late 80's and early 90's. My father is currently an associate in another state. While all the world complains about Walmart's corporate practices, I remember Walmart when Sam Walton was alive. I remember a store that cared about its customers, one built on the principal of putting the customer first and being a light in the community. Sadly, that Walmart is no longer in existence. The new Walmart is focused on profit and expansion. 

I was in the Slidell at Northshore Blvd. store yesterday purchasing groceries. I wanted to use Walmart's  ad match guarantee to purchase a couple of items. The first item was boneless, skinless chicken breasts from Albertsons.Walmart's price was $1.99/lb. while Albertson's was $1.48. When I told the cashier, she had to go check the price. She was gone for about 3 minutes and came back and charged me $1.78/lb. When I told her that she put it in wrong, she sighed and said "That is what they told me it was." I showed her the ad and she begrudgingly changed it. Then I wanted to purchase Purex from Winn-Dixie's ad. The ad said, "Buy one Get one Free up to $6.49." She told me that they didn't do Winn-Dixie ads, because it says "up to" and doesn't have the price printed "really big". I asked to speak to a manager and Mary came over. She told me that not only was the BOGO not valid, but since Winn-Dixie requires a shopping card, Walmart doesn't honor any of their ads. If this is true, then they don't honor Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, or several other competitors either. What is the point of having an ad match guarantee if they won't honor any of the competitor's ads? I have shopped at all 4 Walmarts in the surrounding area and have never been treated this way. Other Walmarts honor competitor's ads with no question especially when I have the ad in hand. I am not one of those crazy couponers and don't feel that I was asking for anything above or beyond what is in their ad match policy. I feel I was treated like I was trying to cheat the company by this cashier and manager. This is the second time that this has happened to me. Last time when I called 1-800-WALMART, the manager was supposed to call me to explain the policy. He did not. Honestly, I don't trust this store not to embarrass me at the check-out and treat me like a criminal. I won't shop there any longer. I will go to Winn-Dixie, Rouses, Albertsons, Lishman's and Target. As a former Walmart employee, I expect better from the company that I once loved to work for.

Unexpected Love

Book Description

How would you characterize Jesus in his interactions with women? Gracious? Preachy? Aloof? Kind? Dismissive?
Unexpected Love is an essential read for anyone eager to understand Jesus Christ’s true heart for women. We ache for a satisfying relationship with him and crave his healing touch. So did the women of the first century. Each approached him with something they wanted. They left with more than they could have imagined.
Writer and teacher Julie Coleman carefully walks readers through the gospel narratives, offering evidence of a perceptive Savior deeply concerned about the women he met. Through vivid descriptions, thoughtful questions, and empowering applications, she brings a fresh perspective to these sometimes puzzling stories.
Unexpected Love offers a compelling vision of a Savior who meets us where we are and will take us where we need to go. Discover his passion for women. What you read will impact your own relationship with him. You will fall in love with the dynamic, beautiful, and unexpectedly personal Jesus.

My Take.....

This is a beautiful book. The author brings the stories that we have heard so many times to a lovingly personal account. It made me desire a more intimate relationship with my Heavenly Father. I highly recommend reading this book and sharing it with women who are hurting!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The MoneySmart Family System: Teaching Financial Independence to Children of Every Age

Book Description

Is it possible to raise financially responsible kids of any age in a society filled with consumerism and entitlement?
New York Times best-selling authors Steve and Annette Economides raised their five kids while spending 77 percent less than the USDA predicted. And the money they did spend was also used to train their children to become financially independent. The MoneySmart Family System will show you how to teach your children to manage money and have a good attitude while they’re learning to earn, budget, and spend wisely.
Learn how to:
*Get the kids out the door for school with less stress. *End the battle over clothing—forever *Teach your children to be grateful and generous. *Inspire your kids to help with chores as a member of a winning team. *Prepare your kids for their first paying job. *Help your kids pay for their own auto insurance, and even pay cash for their own cars. *Employ strategies for debt-free college educations. *Truly help your adult children when they want to move back home. *Be prepared to deal with your adult children when they ask for bailouts.
With clear steps for children of every age, The MoneySmart Family System proves that it’s never too early, too late, or too hard to start learning financial responsibility.

 My take....

My child is a walking advertisement for whatever products are advertised on TV during her show. It really makes me crazy that the marketers focus so much attention on kids. We will walk through the store and look at items, all the while she is spouting off lines from commercials. Needless to say, we talk about money on a regular basis. The MonsySmart Family System is a great tool for parents of kids any age! It talks about helping preschoolers through young adults manage the minefield of finances. I was very impressed with the chapter on friendships through the child's life and how parents can help their kids understand that they do not have to have the same things or spend the same amounts as everyone else on weddings, prom, toys, etc... It is worth the read!

I was given this book free through Thomas Nelson Publishing's Booksneeze program, but all of the opinions are my own.

What is Borax?

I was given a box of Borax by Purex Insiders in exchange for a blog review. Of course, all of the opinions that I express are my own!

So What is Borax? According to 20 Mule Team, Borax is 100% natural mineral from the earth. Once removed from the ground it is washed, dried and boxed for consumers. Borax is the common name for sodium tetraborate: a naturally occurring substance produced by the perpetual evaporation of seasonal lakes. They add nothing to Borax, no phosphates, chlorine or other chemicals. One of the main things that Borax does is helps detergent work better by softening the water. We don't have extremely hard water like some parts of the country, but we do have minerals and tannins in our water. Anything that helps keep my clothes and removes stains is great!

So what did my precious child want to do with the box of Borax that we received in the mail? Did she want to scrub our kitchen and bath? Did she pull out all of her stained clothes and start doing laundry? Nope! She insisted that the first thing we do with the Borax was to make slime!

How do you make Borax Slime you ask? Mix 1 teaspoon of Borax with 1 cup of water. In a separate plastic bowl, mix 1 bottle of school glue with your favorite food coloring. Add the Borax solution to the glue and mix. Immediately, the glue will become slimy and fun to play with!

While I don't recommend giving it to small children, I feel better knowing that Borax is natural if I am going to let my child play with it. And it will get the stains out of her clothes!

Wanna try Borax? I have coupons for my loyal blog readers! Shoot me a comment below and we will pick the winners in a week! 

Stains! Oxy them out!

I was recently given the opportunity to try out Purex Triple Action with Oxi and Zout Detergent.   I use either Purex or homemade laundry detergent, but with a six year old with pink pants....I need something more! I poured it directly on the stains and it worked!
If you would like to try it yourself, I have three coupons from Purex Insiders to giveaway for a FREE bottle of Purex Triple Action Detergent!  I’m going to make this a pretty quick giveaway with easy entry!  Simply enter your name and email below.
You can also earn two extra entries:

• Share Princess in a Not so Fairytale World with your friends
• Retweet this giveaway link with the hashtag #purex and @loriola1 in it!

Classical Conversations Dice on Mod Podge

I am the proud mother of a first grader! Woohooo! For all of you who have never had a first grader, here are some of the joys of first grade:

1. She is big enough to use the bathroom on her own, but still needs to be reminded to wipe, flush and wash. And please do it in that order! 
2. First graders can do chores, but still need mom to remind her when, where and how.
3. My first grader can read pretty much anything that is put in front of her (Thanks Abeka Phonics!), but that doesn't mean that she will fully understand it. 
4. She doesn't like to give hugs and kisses when we part company, but still needs cuddles at home. 

We had a great time homeschooling last year, but there were some areas of her education that I felt were lacking.  For example, when you are homeschooling one child, it is really easy to get off schedule. It is so easy to forget to do the fun stuff or to swing the opposite direction and do too much fun stuff. I really wanted accountability this year, so we decided to look into Classical Conversations. We talked to some moms that were already doing it and attended an open house day. When we left the open house, my little princess asked, "When can we do that again?" I knew that I had to make this happen for my child.

I am not one to just step into something and see if it is right for us. No, I jump in with both feet! Not only am I enrolling my child in Classical Conversations (CC), I am going to be a tutor! Which brings me to the dice.... CC is big on memorization. Yes, I can hear the collective groan of the education world, and I was once one of those folks who groaned about how boring memorizing stuff is. But CC has a reason and a method of teaching that is time tested and has been proven. If you want more information on that, watch this video.

One of the tools that CC moms use are reciting the grammar in different voices. Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood created these nifty dice that suggest different voices, subjects and weeks to review. She made them so they can be printed, folded and glued into a cube shape which is really cool! The only problem is that with kids, I don't see the card stock dice holding up for a whole school year. I have been searching for other options. I found some really cool foam blocks online, but the cost was $5 and up for a set of two! I contemplated a trip to the craft store or even Home Depot for wood blocks, but with gas prices on the rise, I have to have a really good reason to drive across town. Yesterday, I was in my local Dollar Tree picking up some athlete's foot cream. I decided to look in the school supplies and see if I could find some dice. No, dice! How about wood blocks in the toys? Nope, but I found these great foam dice! A set of two for $1! WooHoo! I went home, printed the dice pattern, cut them out and Mod Podged them on the dice! They are perfect! The Mod Podge is a little flexible, so if the corners get crushed a the foam will pop back into place without cracking the Mod Podge. I love them so much, I am thinking about making some photo cubes out of the extra set for Christmas gifts!
 

The Quotable Rouge

Today I have another BookSneeze review for ya'll. This book has been out for a while and I am kind of embarrassed that I have waited so long to do this review, but then again Sarah Palin is the politician turned pundit that folks just won't quit talking about, so I guess it is okay. No other woman in my lifetime has been such a lightening rod for controversy.

Book Description

Inspiring, impactful, and revealing words from political and cultural icon Sarah Palin.
Many a pundit has tried to define Sarah Palin, but this is one woman who chooses not to wear labels imposed by others but instead to define herself by her own words and actions. Today she is one of the most sought after speakers and commentators and is poised to help to frame the issues in the 2010 election and beyond. The Quotable Rogue encapsulates Palin’s thoughts on such salient issues as health care, taxes, and government spending, the right to life, climate change, what it means for a politician to serve the people, and more.

• “We need to spend more time lifting up America instead of apologizing for the greatest country on earth.”
• “How’s that hopey-changey thing workin’ out for you?”
• “My dad always says, ‘Don’t retreat, just reload.’ Don’t let anybody tell you to sit down and shut up.”

Matt Lewis is a writer, blogger and commentator based in Alexandria, VA. He currently serves as a senior contributor for The Daily Caller. To get up-to-the-minute Sarah Palin commentary and daily news updates from Matt, please visit the following:
Website: http://mattlewis.org/
Blog at The Daily Caller: http://dailycaller.com/mattlewis/ Twitter: @MattKLewis and @QuotableRogue Book Hashtag for more Sarah Palin quotes and commentary: #PalinQuotes

My Take

First off, I adore Sarah Palin. I supported her for VP and love that she stands for the American values that made this country great.  So basically, this book is a book of quotes. It is what she believes in and not what the liberal news media wants you to think she believes. While Sarah is no Ronald Reagan, she still has storng conservative values and a love for freedom that is the heart beat of America. The book is broken down into categories that make it easy to look up a quote on whatever subject you need a Sarah Palin quote. Some of the quotes are typical Alaska "Sarah" that make the intellectual folks in America cringe. Some is straight forward, honest issues that will challenge they way you think about the world. Check it out for yourself!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Jingle No More

I decided to be legal and get my dogs their rabies shots and licenses. When I got them home and put them on the dogs this is what I heard....jingle, jingle, jingle...day and night. It was making me crazy! So I started searching for "dog tag silencers." I found two basic types. One was a little silicone bumper that goes around the tag. The problem with this is you have to get one that is the right shape for your dogs tags. The rabies tag is a heart, so no problem there. The license is shaped like a little VW Bug. Big problem finding that one! The second option is a pouch that goes over the tag. This seemed like a good idea until I saw the price. $10 plus shipping! Per dog! Ouch. For a little pouch of neoprene?

So, I came up with my own solution....Balloons! I slipped a balloon over the two tags. Now my sweet pups are blissfully quiet! She is not one to chew on her tags or collar (or anything else for that matter), so I don't worry about her ingesting the balloon. If your dog tends to chew, you may want to reevaluate if this is a good idea for you!

New babies! And I was declaired cancer free again!

Here are the newly hatched babies! They took their sweet time getting here. My calculation said that they should have hatched out Monday, but they waited a few extra days. Hopefully the straggling eggs will hatch tonight.
My doctor's appointment went well. I got the drain out, but have to go back next week for the stitches. The open wound has to heal on its own. Yuck! He did say it was looking great. Again the biopsy said that I was cancer free. I will still need a mammogram in 3 months to check my progress.
Tomorrow is date night! Woohoo!

Breast Update with a TMI warning!

I have a strict No Boobies on the internet policy, so you will have to enjoy a picture of the flowers that my friend sent me! Thanks Maegan!

Well folks, I am almost positive that the mastitis is going away! I did have the surgery which left me out of the loop for the past week, but things are looking better. I do not like being knocked out and then drugged. My poor husband has been a doll! The night after the surgery, he cooked me some yellow rice which normally I love. Sadly, when he brought it and put it in front of me, I pushed it away and puked in the kitchen trash can. Hubby doesn't deal well with puke, but he was my hero. He cleaned it up. I tried eating a piece of bread with my medicine a few hours later. Once again, it came up. Poor guy was on puke duty once again! The next day the doctor prescribed me something for my tummy.


Changing the dressing has been another adventure. Hubby is not up for that! He won't look at it. I have a drain and an open in incision that has to be "packed" daily. The first day, Mom came down and helped me change it, but after that I was able to do it. My daughter walked in the bathroom and saw me changing my bandages the other day and declared it "GROSS!" I have to agree!


Tomorrow I have an appointment with my surgeon. He will have the results of the latest biopsies and hopefully will be removing the drain and stitches! Wish me luck!

The BEST Valentine's Day Gift Ever!

I got the best gift today! A pathology report from my surgeon that says NO CANCER! According to the report, I have acute and chronic mastitis with microabcess formation. I may still need surgery to clear it up, but we are starting with an antibiotic. Hopefully, it will clear itself up in a couple of days and things will be back to normal. Sadly, when I took the antibiotic today, it only ticked off my breast even more! It is redder and has shooting pains through it. Blah! I would post a picture to show you, but....this is my breast and I really don't want to share that with the world! Thank you for your prayers!

I do want to let folks know about inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). It does not always show up on a mammogram. It may or may not present with a lump. It could just look like a rash or dry patch of skin on your breast.  IBC is rare, but aggressive and deadly. If you suspect any changes in your breast, call your doctor! Don't shrug it off! It could just be mastitis, but it could be something more. For more information on Inflammatory Breast Cancer visit the IBC Research Center's website.  Keep checking your boobies!

Doctor's appointment today and the winner is....Melicity!

Today was my first appointment with the surgeon. My ob/gyn and the radiologist had told me that they would be doing a biopsy today. Not so....It is scheduled for Wednesday. This kind of upset my husband more than it did me. He felt it was a waste of time. It was, but I guess in the medical world everything is hurry up and wait. The surgeon was very kind and respectful. He is a male which is not my first choice, but I guess that is what I have to deal with. He told me that I have small breasts! I never thought of my C cups as small, but I suppose compared to other women my size they are. I told my sister not to post that on Facebook and here I am telling the world on my blog! LOL! On the bright side, he told me that even though my breasts are small and I will probably lose the one completely to the tumors (Did I tell you that there are 2 not just one?), I can have breast preservation surgery which will allow me to keep the girls. From the looks of things, I might be able to improve them! I never had perky breasts even as a teen! So, maybe that is something positive to think about.

And Purex finally sent me the coupons for the Purex Triple Action give away! Random Number gave me #1, so Melicity! Email me your address and I will get those right out to you! Congratulations! 

I'm not feeling much like a princess....

I'm too young for this! I got the fat gene, so that is enough burden for me to carry! This isn't what I had planned for my life! I hate doctors, being sick or tired! I work for a doctor that sells natural health products for people who have cancer, so I am immune! I have been trying to wrap my head around all this, so I'm just going to blog about it and let it all go.

Two weeks ago, I went to the doctor for my annual check-up. I am very consistent about those since I have PCOS and need a prescription for my Metformin and Prometrium. During the breast exam, she found a lump. She assured me that it was probably just a cyst, but to be sure she was going to have me do an ultrasound and mammogram. I have had a couple of mammograms since I turned 40. They are no big deal. When I left the office, I scheduled the mammo and ultrasound for the first available which was a week later.

I pretty much was sure by the time that I walked into the imaging center that this was a cyst and that since I started taking the Prometrium it was shrinking. This was going to be a breeze...at worst, they will want to stick a needle in it to remove the fluid....at best, it would go away on its own and life would go on. The mammo went as they normally do. Polite conversation between me and the tech. We talked about the fact that both of us had taken Clomid. Mine worked the first time, hers did not work at all.We talked about the weather. She finished up and sent me to wait for the ultrasound.

Do you see the cow jumping over a rock? 

Now I will confess, I am a total Google geek. If you want to know anything about anything, I can google it and find it for you, so I had googled breast cyst and watched a video of The Doctors where a woman with a cyst had an ultrasound and had a needle aspiration of the cyst. I knew what a cyst looked like. I knew what it was smooth and rounded. It was dark and solid. So, when I went in to have the ultrasound, I positioned myself so I could see the screen. I joked with the woman that this wasn't going to be as fun as a pregnancy ultrasound. We chatted a little and then I looked at the screen. Most ultrasounds that I have had, the tech never said anything about what she was seeing. They won't respond generally even if you ask. When I saw what looked like a cow jumping over a rock, I said, "That isn't fluid like a cyst, is it?" And she actually responded.... "No, it isn't." I said again, "That isn't a cyst?" "No" she replied and then told me that she was going to go let the doctor look at it and that he would come back and talk to me.

A few minutes pass and the doctor and tech come in to talk to me. He introduces himself and says that he has looked at my scans from today and from a year ago. He says that there was no indication of a problem a year ago, but now there is something there. He tells me that he is going to call my doctor and let her know and that she will probably set me up with a biopsy within the next week. They asked me if I was okay several times and if I had any questions. I asked them how big it was. I told them that God was in control of this, that He has a plan for me and that it would be okay. They gave me a file with my scans in it to take to the surgeon and told me that they hoped this all worked out for me. I got dressed and took my file and left. I text messaged my sister and told her, called my mom to see if she would watch my daughter when I had my biopsy. 

When my doctor called, she told me what the radiologist had already told me. She gave me the names and numbers of a couple of general surgeons and then said, "Good luck with all this." Good luck? Oy! 

My appointment with the surgeon is Friday, February 3rd, so I have a whole week to make myself crazy over all of this. Which I have done successfully! I have told a couple of friends and asked them to pray with me about it. Most say the exact same thing, "Oh, it is probably just a cyst! I get them all the time!" Then when I say that they ruled out it being a cyst. They sullen and agree to pray with me.

I don't know the future. I don't know what all this will mean, but I know that I am not going to go down without a fight. If this is cancer, I will do everything in my power to beat it. I don't care if it means losing a breast or my hair. What is important is that little girl in that picture. She is my only child and I love her more that words can express. While I know that a diagnosis will be hard on the adults in my family, they would move on, but that little girl needs a mother. I will fight for her.

The Grace Effect

What They Say: 
“Simply defined, the ‘grace effect’ is an observable phenomenon—that life is demonstrably better where authentic Christianity flourishes.”
What does Christianity give us beyond televangelists, potlucks, and bad basketball leagues? Not much, according to the secular Left. The world, they say, would be a better place without it.
Historian and Christian apologist Larry Taunton has spent much of his career refuting just this sort of thinking, but when he encounters Sasha, a golden-haired Ukranian orphan girl whose life has been shaped by atheistic theorists, he discovers an unlikely champion for the transforming power of grace.
Through the narrative of Sasha’s redemption, we see the false promises of socialism; the soul-destroying influence of unbelief; and how a society cultivates its own demise when it rejects the ultimate source of grace. We see, in short, the kind of world the atheists would give us: a world without Christianity—cold, pitiless, and graceless.
And yet, as Sasha shows us, it is a world that is not beyond the healing power of “the grace effect.” Occasionally infuriating, often amusing, but always inspiring, The Grace Effect will have you cheering for the courageous little girl who shamed the academic elitists of our day.

My Take:  When shopping for a book I don't normally read the introduction, because, honestly, I don't see the point. Sorry, my author friends! The exception to that is when I am reviewing a book. I try to read every word on every page, so when I started reading the introduction to The Grace Effect I thought, "Oh great! a book that reads like a theology course. Time to break out the dictionary!" I WAS WRONG!

The Grace Effect is a charming and sweet story about the adoption of Sasha, a little Ukrainian girl. Once past the introduction, the story was a heart-felt true story of a family opening its arms to a little girl from halfway around the world. I was touched, because our family is planning on adopting.The author uses the story of his daughter Sasha to teach how God's grace touches our lives.

My favorite part was in chapter 3 when the author explained that good works are not in the nature of atheists. It isn't that they can't do good works like Christians; it just isn't in their nature.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Last Snowman Standing!

Photo by Fungalhorde

Always on the look out for new and interesting things to do with my homeschooler, I found a cute little game over on Math Wire called Last Snowman Standing. We did not have the cute little snowman beads that they used, so I pulled out a bag of jingle bells. Had I thought of it before, we could have made marshmallow snowmen to play with and then eaten them at the end. We also changed the rules and played it so the person with the most bells at the end won. I enlisted the help of my husband to play with us and for 30 blissful minutes, my little girl who has developed a distaste for addition added numbers on the dice. I won the game against my daughter, but lost to my husband. Oh well... We also learned to make tally marks! Tomorrow, we are going to play the same game only subtracting the smaller number from the larger. She had a great time! I love teaching when they don't even know that they are learning!