Swagbucks Pre-Black Friday Sales

As a pre-Black Friday warm up, Swagbucks is offering big cash back for shopping online at several of your favorite retailers right now!

Just go to this page to see all of the deals available and get the jump on your holiday shopping.         
In order to take advantage of the cash back, just create your Swagbucks account when prompted (it takes less than 30 seconds) and then you're all set! Your cash back comes in the form of SB points, which you can redeem for gift cards to places like Amazon, Target, Walmart, Starbucks, or get PayPal cash!

As a special bonus, if you sign up through me you get a 300 SB ($3) bonus when you earn your first 300 SB before December 1st! This site's a great way to extend your shopping budget, especially around the holidays!

Three Holidays and a Birthday: A Day in the Life of Our Peculiar Homeschool

We do not mess around at our country house here in Peculiar, Missouri. We multi-task like pros, and that's a fact. Take today, for instance. Today we covered no less than THREE holidays in one day plus one birthday, all while homeschooling, working, cooking, cleaning, going for a walk, watching the movie Christopher Robin, and doing a bunch of other stuff. I caught up with my mom on the phone, we FaceTimed with Daddy in Kuwait for a loooooong time, I ran to the grocery store for whipped cream for our hot chocolate, and more.

The Power of Murals

People love passing by big beautiful graffiti murals. They identify art in something that is considered to be vandalism. But that's an obsolete point of view. Today, large and small cities seem to be more colorful than in the older days. And it's not because of the colorful flowers in Spring or change of colors in Autumn. Municipalities learned how to transform blunt, boring, gray walls, and support local talent.

Graffiti is still considered to be vandalism in some cities. What they need to see is the power of graffiti murals. They need to realize how beautifying can colorful walls and streets be. Your local talent can easily transform a regular small city with these graffiti mural designs, into a huge public canvas that attracts attention.

Travelers and tourists often visit the cities for their graffiti sightseeing. Some neighborhoods even gained their popularity through graffiti murals. You may have heard about ETNIAS by Eduardo Kobra in  Port District in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The artist painted the mural in 2016, and it has gained global popularity in no time. What seems to be just a pretty painting on a paper, is a great attraction and transforming sightseeing on the walls. The mural has its' own idea sewn in. It represents the unity of the people and five Olympic rings. You might also know about the popular "My god, help me to survive this deadly love" mural. It's one of the most widely recognizable works of art. Now tourists visit Berlin even often to see this mural.

The power of graffiti murals is in attraction and beautification. Their power describes the simple joy of our eyes when they see colors. The power of graffiti shows how a simple, talented folk can change the way we see boring canvases.

Graffiti murals are not only for the joy of the eyes. They also deliver a great social message. Sometimes the message is satirical. A lot of artists use murals to describe the tragedy of society. They describe today's situation and problems. Even with this dark and socially troubling messages, graffiti murals can be astonishing to look at.

Murals build the sense of community and bond. Some neighborhoods decided to copy others that had murals on their walls. Murals seem so friendly, and welcoming, every community wants to have one.

It's a form of art, and art is what humanity carries since the dawn of our existence. We have old forms of art, and we can also develop the definition of art. Graffiti is one of the best examples of how humanity can upgrade the list of art forms. Our creativity lives on, and we improve our skills and adaption.

After realizing that graffiti is not destruction, but it's something that gives birth to a beautiful piece of art, cities started funding projects to create murals. Nowadays, talented painters get paid to create something memorizing. They can enter the competitions and get approval for funding. Our society is creating something amazing and powerful in the form of art.

Happy Birthday to My Amazing Husband, Aron McLoughlin

My husband is 52 today. I can't believe I met him when he was 28, almost 29, and I was 24. Time has been kind to my guy ... he is still a totally hot babe and gets finer with age! I can't believe how blessed I was to find him and how good God has been to our family. I feel like the luckiest woman alive when I think about our 20-year marriage and family.

I have instructed our daughters to marry a guy who is handy around the house and who can also catch AND cook dinner.

Aron, thank you for selflessly traveling for work across the world to support your family. You are a true man of God and a blessing to all those who know you. I love that you can work on cars and plumbing and fix anything and teach our kids how to do it also. I love how you taught Joel how to drive (and worked so many hours with him on his Eagle Scout plans) and are now teaching Michael (plus building that canoe with him) and will teach three more kids before that part of our parenting journey is done. I love the respect you show for our daughters and for me. I love that you take Sam out to fish and fix his bike tires. I love so many things about you and find more to love all the time. You are the best father to our kids I ever could have dreamed up in my mind, and the husband I always knew was out there for me.

KCI airport leaving for another long trip to Kuwait to support his family

DisneyWorld in Florida, 2017 October

My man, 20 years married. Back off, ladies.

Teaching Confirmation class at our church. We weren't sure how to fit one more thing in, but he is so great at it, the kids love him, and we are both learning cool things and feel blessed by the whole experience.

With Sam on his birthday this year

With Eva on her birthday last year with her new haircut.

We love you, Aron McLoughlin!

Pulling Women Together

Joining or starting a ministry for women can lead to encouragement for each other, as well as friendship and a show of love for the Lord. There are a few ideas to consider for a women's ministry that are full of energy while keeping the faith that women usually want to pass along to others. 

One of the things that you need to keep in mind is that all women aren't designed the same. There are some who are opinionated while others are quiet and reserved, waiting to follow the lead of someone else. 

There are different lifestyles. Women have different lives at home, some who have children, some who are dealing with abusive relationships, some who are facing challenges with getting pregnant or raising their children. 

You need to keep an open mind about the women who are involved in the ministry so that everyone can be successful while feeling like they have a place to call home. The knowledge that is given about the Lord can stretch far and wide if you pay attention to the intellects of the women involved in the ministry. If you only focus on helping the emotional desires and needs of the women, then you likely won't succeed in the ministry. It needs to be a ministry that seeks to grow the knowledge of each woman while focusing on each woman's strengths. 

While there are some women who are married and have a home life, there are also women who don't have this kind of life and focus more on a career. They might want to find a spouse and start a family, but they aren't ready at the moment and are happy with discovering who they are in the world. Consider a few community projects that everyone can get involved with while instilling the love of God in the women who are involved in the ministry.