Our Anniversary Celebration

I know I promised to post today about our extravagant mystery get away in celebration of our 15th wedding anniversary, but before I give away all the details, I first and foremost want to Praise the Lord for my marriage! I praise Him for the man He gave me and the desire that God placed in my heart , to be his helpmeet.



You see I believe in the holy union of marriage. I believe according to Scripture that marriage is the first union God created, way back in Genesis 2. (Genesis 2:18) I believe God believes in marriage. (Malachi 3:6). I also believe that Satan has declared an all out war on the holy union of one man and one wife.



Beside my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, my marriage is the most important relationship in my life. I adore my son and He is an integral part of our family, but Lord willing our son will leave our home and cleave unto the wife God brings him one day(Genesis 2:24). If I do not cherish and honor the marriage I have now, we may become two strangers at the end of our child rearing, with only fragments of a marriage remaining.



We work hard at our marriage and I believe our marriage thrives because Christ is the center of our marriage. Both my husband and I believe we are nothing in and of ourselves. Any success we have in any area of our lives is by God's grace and mercy.



Marriage is at times hard work. We are both sinners saved by grace, with an inherent sin nature. As my Husband has said many times before, our Soul got saved, not our flesh. However God has placed the desire in my heart to meet the needs of this man, I call my husband. We will be talking at length about the desire in a woman's heart toward her husband in 0ur upcoming marriage series.



I said all that, to say this , I LOVE MY MAN!! I look forward to our romantic getaway in just 2 days. As I said this is a bit extravagant for us, but we are celebrating in style this year! You can read here and see pictures of this 10 room castle.I hope to be sharing some fun pictures of the Inn and our anniversary celebration. We will also be renewing our wedding vows to one another on Sunday April 5th in our evening Church service. We want to stand before God and man and say that we are as committed today as we were 15 years ago! To God be the Glory!!!



Can I encourage you all to work hard on your marriage, cherish the spouse God has given you, and above all else seek God first in all that you do!! It is my belief, if you do all this, you will have a marriage worth praising! I am praying for you!



Blessings, Michelle



P.S. Have you hugged your hubby today?

We Love Getting The Mail

I don't know about your house, but we love getting the mail here. My son usually beats me to get the mail, and there is usually not a day that goes by that my husband doesn't call and ask if we got the mail yet. You would think that we were waiting for the Publishers Clearing House check or something!!

I love getting the mail, because at least once a week there is a freebie in it for me! Thanks, to Money Saving Mom I am usually not at a loss for free stuff! Today my son picked up the mail and tada, 3 free things!

First, this is the 3rd issue of Woman's Day that I have received absolutely FREE! I got an issue last week that was full of some great coupons. If you didn't get your copy yet, read here.

I also received a free cookbook pamphlet full of recipes from kitchen Basics. I quickly looked through and will be trying some of these real soon. I made a hefty portion of vegetable stock about a month ago, with some left over fresh vegetables that I had, and froze several quart size single use bags in my freezer. Great way to save money on stock! It is also very healthy for you.

Third, I received a card from Bath & Body for a free travel size item ($5.00 value) for their new Signature Collection, no purchase required. The card is also good for 20% off your entire purchase. I was in Bath & Body just a few days ago. I didn't have any coupons and couldn't find any deep sales, so I left. Thanks, to my free travel size item card, I'll be headed back during the sale. 4/6-4/26. Thanks, Bath & Body.

To receive each of these free items really only took a few minutes of my time to sign up! Did I mention, we really love getting the mail here!!!

Blessings, Michelle

It's Been Nearly 2 Weeks

Whew!! It's been nearly 2 weeks since we all last talked! Where does time fly. Right out the window if we are not careful.

Seriously, it has been insanely busy around here. The week before last we cared for our friends 3 children (dog&cat), while they were out of town for a conference. I was essentially running two homes (wouldn't reccommend that for any length of time) homeschooled 2 extra kids, and let a friend stay in our home who is going through a real struggle in His marrigage. Our friends were gone for 7 days and it was my hope that I could blog from their home. Secondary to some issues with their computer, I was never able to log on and get some blogging done.

Our friends arrived home on Friday afternoon and I went off to work a 5 hour shift at the hospital. I was also scheduled to work Saturday 5-9p. On Sunday we hosted a visiting Preacher and his family, who preached for our congregation, while our Preacher was out of town. It has always been a blessing to our family to host Men of God!

Are you tired yet? Move on to week two. A few weeks back, my boss at the hospital called with an exciting opportunity. There is some exciting new technology on the forefront of cardiac(heart) care and our hospital is going to be providing some of these services. As many of you know I left my full-time job as a nurse, in pursuit of a higher calling. That is, I decided with my husband and the Lord, to become a full-time keeper of our home. This means that my primary responsibilities are to my husband first and then my family, and all that goes into caring for a home. I still do work as a perdiem nurse on the average of 5-6 shifts a month. The Lord has blessed me with the ability to earn a very good hourly wage and be an incredible blessing to my husband. You can read about how I left my job here and

here and here .

At any rate, when my boss called and asked if I would be interested in becoming the nurse to oversee these procedures, I was thrilled. The procedures are one day a week, for 3 hours in the morning! Perfect for me-:) My husband gave the o.k. and I was off for the training. The training took place over 4 (10) hour days (last week). So there you have it. That is where I have been. I sure have missed you all.

Sure is good to be at a little more normal pace this week. I do have to share with you all, that God showed abundant mercy to me over the past 2 weeks! His mercy was truly new every morning. Things went so smoothly and we were thrilled to be a blessing to our friends. I got all that needed to be done and then some. (Except blogging, sorry) I know this post is getting long but............... This is the week my honey and I go away to our 15th wedding anniversary celebration. I plan on posting about this tomorrow and let you all in on the gorgeous, romantic ,elegant place we are going to stay. I am very excited to have this time to be all alone with my sweetheart!!!!!!!!!!!!

The marriage series is shaping up and I am so excited about the Ladies who will be helping me with this. Look forward to some great blogging on the subject of marriage!!

The picture in the upper left hand corner is of the tulips popping up in our backyard. It's official,

Spring is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blessings, Michelle

Last Day For Free Dunkin Donuts Coffee

I just picked up my last free cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee this morning. What a great promotion. I have enjoyed 5 cups of coffee compliments of Dunkin Donuts. Thank You DD-:)

I hope you all got in on this great freebie. Remember today is the last day of the promotion. Enjoy!!

Blessings, Michelle

Totally Free Woman's Day Magazine

I am sometimes a little leery of totally free magazine subscriptions. However, this ones for real!! I received my copy the other day. Actually the exact copy that is shown in the link. As a busy wife, homeschooling mom, and perdiem nurse I don't have a lot of time for leisure reading.


But Free is free and I do enjoy browsing new recipes. I have included the link here. In fact I just picked up the mail and received my second issue.! I don't know how long this deal is working, so hurry to get your free subscription!!

Blessings, Michelle

Free Dr. Pepper

My Husband's favorite soda drink is Dr. Pepper. His all time favorite drink, is milk. I should buy a cow. The man drinks more perky than anyone I know.

At any rate, you can get a free 20oz or 2 liter bottle here. I did this a while back and the coupon came in the mail very promptly. I 'm sorry I don't have a photo to share of Dr. Pepper, but I am having trouble loading the image and it's way past my bedtime!

Blessings, Michelle

Breaking The Budget

Well folks it is only March of the new year, and my Husband and I are all ready breaking our budget, (if you missed that post you can read here) and are we ever excited!!! We are celebrating our 15th Wedding Anniversary , in style!!!!


At first we were not going to plan much except dinner and a quiet evening together at home. Let me say there is nothing wrong with that. We have celebrated many anniversaries this way and they have been very meaningful. .


If you haven't noticed folks, our world is changing. Marriage is no longer honored as the institution God created it to be. Marriages are rarely lasting to the 5 year mark, much less the 15 year mark! I believe Satan has declared an all out war on Marriage.


In our ever changing world many young people have absolutely no clue regarding the sanctifying union of Man and Wife. They have watched everything take precedent over marriage. Husbands no longer lead and wives no longer follow and kids are mixed up somewhere in it between. If we would only follow the Bible way of marriage.


When my husband got saved and I rededicated my life to the Lord, our marriage took on a whole new meaning for the both of us. We had a good marriage prior, now we have a Christ centered marriage and I can not tell you the difference it has made.


I found a beautiful post over at A Wise Woman builds her Home. To read the article click here . I pray it is a blessing to you.



I am very excited to share that I will be posting a weekly series on Marriage that will run 6 weeks. I have asked some dear friends if they will help me with this series and I am in prayer as to what God will do!



Stay tuned I will be rolling out the details early next week.



Back to our Anniversary, I will be sharing with you our plans on making our 15th Wedding Anniversary memorable. I promise to share pictures. To get you real intrigued, it involves a 10 room castle!!!



Hope you all got your free coffee. I am off to get mine Now!

Blessings, Michelle

Reminder: Free Dunkin Donut Coffee Wednesday

If you missed my post on the free Dunkin Donuts deal read here. We have 2 weeks remaining to snag your free coffee!!-:)
Michelle.