The Beautiful Wife

Celebrate with Sandy by entering her Kindle Touch Giveaway and coming to her "Beautiful Womanhood" Facebook Party {3/8}!

One beautiful winner will receive:

• A Brand new Kindle Touch with Wi-Fi




• The Beautiful Wife By Sandy Ralya




• The Beautiful Wife Prayer Journal and Mentor's Guide

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends 3/7/12. Winner will be announced at Sandy's "Beautiful Womanhood" Facebook Party on 3/8. Sandy will be hosting an evening of chat, laughter and encouragement - bring your friends! She'll also be giving away some GREAT prizes: gift certificates, books, prayer journals and a live chat with Sandy for your Bible study or small group!



So grab your copy of The Beautiful Wife and join Sandy and friends on the evening of March 8th for an evening of fun.

Don't miss a moment of the fun. RSVP today and tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on March 8th!

About the book:

The Beautiful Wife uses these inspiring stories along with biblical principles to guide and encourage any wife looking for God's best in her marriage. The Beautiful Wife answers serious questions women have about their roles as wives. Discussing everything from romance and money to beauty, communication, and sex, Sandy challenges women to open up and share their journeys so that together they can see God's plan for their marriages. "It is my passion to help women discover God's heart for their marriage, just as the other women helped me," writes Sandy. "When women share with each other the details of their journeys with God as wives, it's a beautiful thing indeed." The Beautiful Wife has two companion resources - Prayer Journal and Mentor's Guide.

About Sandy Ralya:

Sandy Ralya is the founder and director of Beautiful Womanhood, a marriage mentoring ministry based near Grand Rapids, Mich. Her marriage testimony was the focus of a popular three-day interview on FamilyLife Today, TV's Walking by Faith, and Time Out for Women. Sandy is a sought-after speaker, presenting Beautiful Womanhood seminars to hundreds of women each year at MOPS groups, women's retreats, and church leadership conferences across the country and in Canada. Sandy and her husband Tom have been married since 1980, and have a growing number of grandchildren. www.beautifulwomanhood.com

Link to buy the book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0825442206/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=sprightly-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0825442206&adid=1W3K2YQ18448XYFD3ZQ8

 
 
Check out these videos:
1. Sandy’s Testimony. This is directed primarily at wives. Sandy speaks to the mentors for a few seconds near the end, but her testimony will be one that resonates with wives as well.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2F7GIhZZF0&feature=youtu.be

2. About BEAUTIFUL WOMANHOOD Ministry. This uses Sandy’s experience to speak directly to the marriage mentor to encourage and equip her role as a mentor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV3cJFyo1mI&feature=youtu.be


My Review:

I was given The Beautiful Wife book, Prayer Journal and Mentor's Guide to review.  I LOVE this resource!  First of all I am always a fan of a biblically based marriage resource, but to come across one that works on you, the wife, is even better.  I was challenged weekly to pray for my spouse, talk about things with my spouse on how I could be a better wife to him, and of course draw nearer to the Lord.  Sandy really is a beautiful writer, and I could really relate to her since she had gone through so many troubles I have.  I was really amazed with all the different topics that she had me work through as a wife, and was doubly amazed at her honest of her own flaws. 

The Prayer Journal is a must to go with the book!  There are so many extras in it, that you really can not get the full extent of The Beautiful Wife without it. 

Thus being said, the Mentor's Guide was great as well!  I was not able to do this in a group setting or with an accountability partner (an extra plus for this resource!) but do look forward to doing it in the future with some of my wife friends and believe that I will get even more out of it then.

I was also drawn to the Beautiful Womanhood website where there are even more resources for you as a woman!

This is a set I recommend to all of my wife friends!  And with that I am giving away a copy of The Beautiful Wife book, Prayer Journal and Mentor's Guide!    Just comment below and for more entries share this review on facebook, twitter, or your blog (1 entry for each, 2 for sharing on blog~ just make sure to comment when you do {you may leave 1 comment for all, just let me know what you do!} and then I will randomly pick one winner on March 1) 

Happy New Year!

Well... this was an interesting New Year for me!  We went to our neighbor's barn for their annual New Year's Eve party.  Just a little secret I am going to let you all in on... I am not very good at social situations.  I love them, but am not good at them!  Tonight I had at least 2 very awkward situations, 1 trying to talk to people but ended up talking about the train crash outside our house... and to say the least my conversation was a train crash!  Next was someone trying to say hi from long long time ago and well... I didn't say much and it was UGLY (that is just putting it nicely), even Greg sitting there, who usually saves me, was uncomfortable by it all!  Then the New Year's Eve spokeswoman (some lady all dolled up and perky) was pushy about dancing... We don't dance.  Part of our prenups! (Just kidding... but maybe we should have!)

So, we had great food, good time for a little, and then my train crash... And well add all that on top of my first night out from the baby, and being very very sleep deprived, I ended up in tears by 10:15 and came home... 

I made it to midnight (it is actually 12:45, got sucked into a NCIS I haven't seen yet) wished the hubby a Happy New Year and then off to bed.

Oh and to make tonight even tougher, Isaac (new baby) is in the kids' room for the first time tonight!  Oh my can I just add another thing to the night?!?! 

So now I am left thinking about my 2011 and what I want in 2012.  So I have come up with these resolutions/goals for the coming year.

*Start working on loosing some of this baby weight and getting healthier! (by the way this is baby weight from 2007 and baby #1!)


*Build a stronger love relationship with the Lord


*Read through the entire Bible this year and read more of it to the kids


*Build a farm and start a little home business with it


*work on our marriage, bring us closer to the Lord together


*become debt free and start building savings/emergency fund/vacation $


*build up the blog, get more consistent on it, and make it more successful

So what was your New Year's Eve like?  What are your resolutions for the year to come?  I would love to hear from you!

Good Morning Girls Week 3

So we are on week 3 of GMG 1 John study.  I must admit I got a little behind last week while we were traveling, but got all caught up this week!  So far we have done 1 John 2:1-8. 

I love the reminder in verse 1 and 2 where John says he wishes we would not sin, but if we do sin Jesus is the sacrifice for those sins and He speaks to the Father in our defense!  (Talk about the ultimate defense!)

Then we are hit with a harsh reality... We can not say we know Jesus yet not follow His commands!  Yikes!  Are we really walking like Jesus did? 

There is a lot to think about this week and I am very glad for our Friday Reflection this week!

As for life here in the Gandy world...  We are still getting settled, however probably after this weekend, we will be able to unpack some more stuff... See, my mom is moving into this little 2 room cottage next to the house, but it needs to be carpeted, put the gas heater in, seal the walls, put a finished ceiling in one of the rooms, and put a new door on it!  It really isn't that bad considering it is pretty small, however Greg has been working on a Habitat for Humanity job site this week, he put in an application with them for a Project Manager, so I think he is trying to show them that he is the right guy for the job!  So he is gone most of the day and pretty tired at night!  And until the cottage is done, there is still a lot of mom's stuff in the house, so we can't unpack our stuff!  Oh well, all in God's time right?

To A Different Drum...

I recently read an amazing autobiography about Dr. Pauline G. Hamilton, a missionary to China and Taiwan from 1947 to 1978, called To A Different Drum.

What an amazing story of trusting God, going where called, and sharing the love of Jesus no matter what.

I loved how Hamilton wrote her life story, there were times I was laughing at her situation, crying with her, and finding myself fearing for her as well.

This story really hit close to home for me, as right now we are on our way to start preparing for a life in missions.  This is something that kinda hit out of nowhere, as the hubby and I never really felt called until last year!  We have no idea where or when God will send us, we were just told to prepare!  So, upon reading "Grandma Han's" story I really started to see what life would be like... 

You can get this book for as little as $0.01 + shipping right now on Amazon.com (used of course)

http://www.amazon.com/Different-Drum-Autobiography-Pauline-Hamilton/dp/9971838397/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316919507&sr=8-1

1 John Study with Good Morning Girls

Today kicked off the fall session of Good Morning Girls and the study of 1 John!  I got up a little earlier with no trouble, had some breakfast, made my cup of coffee and settled on to the bed with Bible, notebook and pen... 

This 12 week study breaks down the book of 1 John to, most days, only a verse a day!  They use the SOAP method

S~ Write out the SCRIPTURE of the day
O~ Write out 1-2 OBSERVATIONS from that scripture
A~ Write out 1-2 APPLICATIONS from daily scripture
P~ PRAY over what you learned

So simple! 

Well, today was 1 John 1:1
 
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life."


Question I am leaving with you today... 

Are you proclaiming the things you know, things you have touched, have seen, have heard concerning the Word of life?

I know I am not doing it as much as I should! 

My prayer is that I will proclaim the things I have seen, heard, touched that glorify Him and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ so that others may come to know Him and love Him and spend eternity with Him in Heaven.