Giveaway Winners!!! :)

It's the moment you've all been waiting for...time to announce the giveaway winners! :) So without further ado...

Day 1: Uppercase Living Vinyl Chalkboard: Susan @ Peanut Petunia
Day 2: Paper Products - Natalie @ Team Imhoff
Day 3: Name Blocks - Unknown Mami
Day 4: The R House necklace - Kate @ When Hello Means Goodbye
Day 5: Winner's Choice - Annie @ Chapters of our Life

Congratulations to the winners! I have already sent you an email or commented on your blog to let you know you won. Please be sure to email me at sjg_ou@yahoo.com so we can arrange for you to get your prize! :) If I do not hear from you by tomorrow, Tuesday, September 29 at 2 pm CST, I will have to select another winner, so please make sure to contact me.

Thanks to everyone for entering and for all the well wishes...I'm about 37% better. Can't get rid of the cough and the fever is back today, but progress is progress and I'll take it...yeah! :)

Day 5 Giveaway: Winner's Choice!

Well we made it to Day 5 of the giveaways, and I have a confession to make. I wrote all these posts last week (fortunately), as I have not been awake enough hours of the day this week to produce an actual post. (I did add in the bits about being sick before posting them - that is actually happening this week.) Anyway, I said all that to say this...I still have this flu type virus as well as bronchitis, so I still don't have much energy to be on the computer. I didn't prepare a 5th giveaway last week, so can I go the easy way out and let today be winner's choice?

It'll go like this. The person who wins today gets to choose their prize from the other 4 giveaways I posted. So if you win, you can choose from the following:

*Uppercase Living Vinyl Chalkboard
*Paper Products
*Name Blocks
*The R House Necklace

Thanks for understanding my lack of energy, and hopefully the way I just explained this made sense. I'm a little discombobulated right now.

Want to win? To enter, do the following, and leave a separate comment for each entry. (I will be using a random generator so will not add additional entries for you if you leave them all in one comment):


*Leave a comment saying which giveaway was your fave.
*Became a follower, or leave a comment saying you already are.
*Blog about this giveaway - leave a comment with a link to your blog post about it.

Contest is open until Sunday, September 27th, at noon CST. Winners must respond within 24 hours or another winner will be selected. Thanks for playing! :)

Day 4 Giveaway: the r house necklace

If you have not heard of the r house blog, you are missing out. Mrs. R is an amazing lady who shares about her journey of adoption, and much, much more. Currently they are in a court battle to keep their sweet son, and in an effort to help cover court costs, she started an etsy shop selling some beautiful necklaces. So today I am going to give away one of her necklaces! The winner can select which design they want from her shop. They are all so pretty...this is one of my faves.

Go visit her etsy shop here to see her beautiful creations!

Want one? For a chance to win, do the following, and leave a separate comment for each entry. (I will be using a random generator so will not add additional entries for you if you leave them all in one comment):

*Leave a comment.

*Became a follower, or leave a comment saying you already are.

*Blog about this giveaway - leave a comment with a link to your blog post about it.

Contest is open until Saturday, September 26th, at noon CST. Winners must respond within 24 hours or another winner will be selected. Thanks for playing! :)

Day 3 Giveaway: Name Blocks

Day 3 of my blogoversary celebration, isn't this exciting?! Right. I'm not really in the party mood since I have the swine flu am a little under the weather.

Anyway, remember these name blocks I made? Today I'll be giving away a set of these customized to your specifications!
You pick the colors and let me know what you want the blocks to say, if you want a picture, etc. I've even done some that say people's last names, so this can be for a kiddo or for your house decor...we'll just change the design to fit your style & look! Also, you do not have to order these right away...so if you're waiting to adopt/trying to get pregnant or not sure what you want them to say...no rush! The winner can just let me know when they're ready to order - no time limitation.

Want it? For a chance to win, do the following, and leave a separate comment for each entry. (I will be using a random generator so will not add additional entries for you if you leave them all in one comment):

*Leave a comment saying which kit you would choose.

*Became a follower, or leave a comment saying you already are.

*Bring me some chicken noodle soup. And crackers. Don't forget the 7-Up.

*Blog about this giveaway - leave a comment with a link to your blog post about it.

Contest is open until Saturday, September 26th, at noon CST. Winners must respond within 24 hours or another winner will be selected. Thanks for playing! :)

Day 2 Giveaway: Paper Products

I'm sorry I'm so late in getting today's post up. I have come down with a nasty flu-type bug and haven't had the energy to put together this post. This sickness hit me fast & fierce and I can't remember feeling like this since I had strep in 2007. I don't have strep, but possibly the flu so will go get swabbed tomorrow to make sure it's not anything serious. Hopefully just a bug that will pass in a day or so.

Well enough about me...on with the show! For the 2nd day of giveaways, I decided to share some fun paper products with you! I LOVE all things paper, and especially black & white damask or swirls...my fave. So when I saw this paper line, I had to grab some goods for me, and decided to get some to share here, too...3 packages of file folders, a pack of notecards, a shopping list, a little tin, and a pen. Here's a pic of what's up for grabs:

Want it? For a chance to win, do the following, and leave a separate comment for each entry. (I will be using a random generator so will not add additional entries for you if you leave them all in one comment):

*Leave a comment.

*Became a follower, or leave a comment saying you already are.

*Send me a vaccine for the swine flu.

*Blog about this giveaway - leave a comment with a link to your blog post about it.

Contest is open until Saturday, September 26th, at noon CST. Winners must respond within 24 hours or another winner will be selected. Thanks for playing! :)

Day 1 Giveaway: Uppercase Living Vinyl Chalkboard

Happy Blogoversary to me...let the games begin! To kick off the par-tay, I will start by having a giveaway for one Uppercase Living vinyl chalkboard kit. It comes in 3 different styles, and the winner gets to pick which kit they would like.

{weekly planner kit}

Schedule in appointments and plan the days ahead with our unique Chalk Wall Weekly Calendar Kit! This reusable, chalkboard surface, allows you to "pencil" in all your to-do's, then simply erase them once they're completed. Measures 20" x 26" Includes: Week of:______, To do this week, and Sun-Sat expression.

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{home organization kit}

Organize your busy life at home (or even at the office). This reusable, chalkboard surface, allows you to write a to-do list, jot down notes, or even create a menu plan, then simply erase when finished. Measures 18" x 24", Includes: Menu/To Do/Notes expressions and 3 decorative embellishments
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{playroom kit} Inspire your child's creativity with our unique Chalk Wall Playroom Kit! Featuring a reusable, chalkboard surface, this functional kit is perfect for doodling, drawing, and practicing letters and numbers. Measures 20" x 20", includes: ABC's, 123's, and doodle-board expressions and **** _______________________________

Each Kit contains:

*1-Chalk Wall Sheet
*1-Expression Sheet (Includes a variety of expressions & embellishments)
* 2-Pieces of White Chalk
* Chalk Wall Application Instructions

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Want one? For a chance to win, do the following, and leave a separate comment for each entry. (I will be using a random generator so will not add additional entries for you if you leave them all in one comment):

*Leave a comment saying which kit you would choose.
*Became a follower, or leave a comment saying you already are.
*Send me a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts.
*Blog about this giveaway - leave a comment with a link to your blog post about it.

Contest is open until Saturday, September 26th, at noon CST. Winners must respond within 24 hours or another winner will be selected. Thanks for playing! :)

Fragmented Friday Freewrite

The Office Quote of the Week
"It's like I used to tell my wife - I do not apologize unless I think I'm wrong, and if you don't like it, you can leave. And I say the same thing to my current wife, and I'll say it to my next one, too." - Stanley
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Sooooo Office fans, what'd you think? Pleasantly surprised? Or bitterly disappointed? I thought it was pretty good! The opener was hysterical...I think I watched Andy falling through that box like 10 times. And two of my favorite quotes from last night (loosely translated...I should've written them down)...the one where Dwight says, "People trust me. It's because I have low cheek bones." and Michael saying that the only way to fix a rumor is to make up more rumors...he makes me cringe!! Oh, and was anyone else as surprised as I was when it turned out Stanley really was having an affair? I thought he was pranking Michael with the interns...trying to get him back for being nosy or something. But I was shocked when it was true...maybe I was just a little late to the game?
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So I've decided to do a giveaway every day next week in honor of my blogoversary. Yes, technically I'm a week late for my blogoversary, but I'm late to everything in real life, so I thought I should continue the trend on my blog. About the small pony...unfortunately I couldn't get the details worked out (shipping would've been a beast - literally), so I won't be giving one away, but I do have some wonderful things coming your way...check back on Monday for all the deets!
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Check out what I got in the mail yesterday....the adorable notecards I won from Kim at The TomKat Studio! They are SO beautiful...I cannot wait to use them (for a special occasion, of course.) She also threw in a set of her "party circles", also known as cupcake toppers, but they really can be used for more than that, so she's calling them party circles now. Check out all of her awesome products in her etsy shop! Thanks again, Kim...I love them!! :)

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I knew there was an excuse for why I haven't had my cholesterol checked. Now I have a valid reason - there's no way I could meet these requirements.

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Happy weekend, friends!! :)

The Office starts tonight!!!

I CANNOT wait.

Digitial Scrapbooking Freebies!!

I recently came across the blog Scrapping with IkeaGoddess, and am oh-so-glad I did!! She compiles the best-of-the best digital scrapbooking freebies that are available each day, and then posts them on her blog. There are templates, alphas, kits, wordart...a little bit of everything. If you're thinking of getting started on digital but want to try before you buy lots of products, check out her site.

And you want to talk about the goldmine of free templates?! Check out Manda Girl, which I found thanks to Scrapping with IkeaGoddess. SOOOO many amazing templates...all for free!! Yeah!! :) (These are templates that can be used in PhotoShop or something similar.)

I soooo wish I would have come across these sites while I was working on our Life Book...so many great products!! Oh well, one day I'll have a little bambino so I'll have plenty of things to scrap (if I can find the time). :)

Blog Commenting: A Poll

Okay, so I'm on a never ending quest to figure out the best way to handle all things blogging. One thing that I'm still hashing out is commenting & replying. Let's discuss, shall we?

If someone comments on my blog, I try to make a point to reply to them, especially if they have a question. However, I cannot tell you how many times I've received questions in a comment, but that user doesn't have an email address attached to their profile, therefore I'm unable to reply to their comment. So how about a little Tuesday morning poll?


From here, there are 2 things I want to discuss:

Do you (think you) have an email address attached to your profile? I've talked to a few people who were shocked to find out they didn't. Let's take a little field trip to check & see.

1. Login to your dashboard via blogger.com.


2. Once you login, on the left side of the screen (next to your picture) you will see "edit profile" - click it!


3. Under privacy, do you have the box that says "share my email address" checked? If not, than it doesn't matter if you have a blog or blogger account, people cannot directly reply to you via email. I say go for it! I don't get any spam because of this. If that is a concern of yours, just set up an email account specifically for blogging (if you haven't yet). I promise it will be worth it and you will probably hear back from more people, if you're a commenter, that is.

Moving right along...I've recently noticed some people (author of the original post) replying in the comments. I personally don't check the box that says "send follow-up comments to me", but do most people? I'm afraid I might have missed quite a few replys to things I posted because of not checking to receive follow-up comments.

Thanks for bestowing all your blog knowldege (blogedge?) upon me.

Fragmented Friday Freewrite

"The Office Quote of the Week"

"Uh....kind of a good news and bad news there. I was able to be on the scene so quickly because I was driving the car that hit her." - Michael Scott

(extra credit for my fellow Office fans...who is he talking about?)
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I can't believe it's already been 8 years since 9/11. What a sad day that will forever be etched in my memory. I was a junior in college and getting ready for my Financial Public Relations class when I saw it on TV. It didn't seem real. I loved how our country came together in the aftermath though...so beautiful. The families & friends of all those effected are in my thoughts & prayers especially today.

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So I think my blogoversary is coming up, but I'm not sure of the proper etiquette on this. I actually signed up for a blog last September, but posted like 2 entries and really didn't start blogging until the end of May. Do I still count September as my blogoversary? If so, I might have to do a giveaway. I'm just trying to think of something cool for it, like a small pony.

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And in honor of back to school time: always remember - you can't just focus on one subject at a time...they all relate, right?




I'd go with 14.
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Happy weekend, friends!! :)

{Easy} Apple Dumpling Recipe

OMGoodness these are FAB!! I love them, but more importantly...I love how easy they are to make!! Here's a little step by step with some pictures (full recipe below).

First, slice & peel the apples. Then wrap apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in dish; sprinkle with cinnamon.

Put butter, orange juice, and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Pour over dumplings and sprinkle pecans on top.



Bake 30 minutes or so; remove and drizzle with caramel (optional -I added that part).

Serve it up in a bowl, add some ice cream, then drizzle some of that fab sauce over the ice cream for 5 extra pounds good measure. Enjoy!! :)



Quick Apple Dumplings

2 medium Granny Smith apples
1 (8-count) package refrigerated crescent roll dough
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup orange juice
1 teaspooon vanilla extract
1/2 cup very finely chopped pecans

1. Preheat ovent to 350F. Grease an 8-inch-square baking dish.

2. Peel and core apples. Cut each apple into fourths. Unroll and separate crescent roll dough. Wrap each apple section in a crescent roll. Place in pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

3. Combine butter, sugar, and orange juice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour over dumplings. Sprinkle pecans over top.

4. Bake 30 minutes, or until crust is golden and beginning to bulle and apples are just tender when pierced with a fork.

5. To serve, spoon some of the syrup from the baking dish over dumplings. Serve with ice cream, if desired. Serves 8.

Our Adoption Story

People often ask how we arrived at the decision to adopt, so I thought I'd share a little bit of our story. After trying for nearly 2 years to get pregnant, we found out that it wasn't going to happen. We took the next few months to pray about it before making a decision. We went as far as we felt comfortable going medically, then decided to pray & fast for direction in the month of April this year.

My prayer during that time was not to get pregnant, but that whatever God had planned for us would become the desire of my heart. Adoption was something we had always discussed, but we figured it would be after we had biological children. Regardless, God showed us both a lot during that time, and our relationship with Him grew incredibly strong. As we prayed for direction that month, we didn't share with each other how we were feeling led as we'd decided to wait until the end of the month to discuss it. The pastor of our old church used to say that before making any big life decision as a couple, it is wise to pray & journal about it separately for 30 days, then come back together and share because ideally, if you both heard from God, you will be on the same page and ready to move forward as a team rather than one person having to convince the other to get on board.

I will never forget when we sat down to talk at the end of the month...the excitement in both of our eyes & hearts was amazing. God had prepared us to start the journey of adoption, and I truly felt as excited as if I had just found out I was pregnant!

We originally were trying to decide between domestic and international adoption. My husband is part Brazilian, so we looked into adopting from there but quickly learned that wasn't going to be a possibility. So we decided it'd be best to adopt domestically this time. We then began the search for an agency, which was discouraging to say the least. It is criminal the way some agencies operate, with charges that are clearly taking advantage of the adoptive parents. I will be honest - there were times that I thought, "God, are you sure this is what you have for us?" because we did not feel settled at all about any of the agencies we'd been in contact with. Then one day, a friend told us about an amazing non-profit Christian agency. Within minutes I had called and spoke to the director, and we mailed our application the next week! The timing of coming in contact with this friend who knew of the agency was a total God thing. He has an amazing way of putting all the pieces together! We absolutely love our agency and are so thankful for the work they do. Their ministry to birthmothers is absolutely incredible. As they say, they are not finding babies for families, but finding families for babies.

This journey has been nothing short of amazing. My faith is stronger than ever, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for our future! :)

Fragmented Friday Freewrite - Boomer Sooner!!

"The Office Quote of the Week"
"Ever since I was a kid, people have been telling me that I can't do things. You can't be on the team, you can't move on to second grade. Well, now they're telling me that I can't win back clients using old-fashioned business methods. We'll see about that. And FYI, I eventually aced second grade, and I was the biggest kid in class." -Michael Scott
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I am soooo behind on my blog reading it is notevenfunny. We're talking over 300 unread blogs behind. Replying to comments from 2 weeks ago behind. I am trying to get caught up, but man...work has got me working way too much right now! I might have to hire someone to read them all out load to me since I've sworn off driving and blog reading. I mean, sure, it's the safe decision, but it really cuts down on my productivity. (I must always be multi-tasking.) Speaking of being behind...Holly, I missed the deadline for signing up for your blog! If you're reading this, will you please email me at sjg_ou@yahoo.com? I'd love to still be able to keep up with you.
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Well it is officially football season friends!!! I am a proud OU Alum and die hard OU Football fan! And because I'm Super Fan, I will tell you to watch this video. The promo videos that the media department put out seriously give me goosebumps. This one is from 2003, which was my last year there, and it's one of my faves. I'm nearly teary-eyed when Bobby talks at the end. Sooner Magic, baby!


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I recently found Flashback Friday at Web Savy Mom & thought it'd be fun to link up!

When I was in school at OU, I was part of a group called Crimson & Cream. We basically assisted with recruiting and hosted potential student athletes when they'd come to game day. It was SO much fun & I met so many neat people (& families of the athletes) through doing it - such a great experience! Here is an oooold picture of me & some of the other girls on the field right before the OU/Texas Tech game in 2002.

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And a little weekly...."Are you serious?" to help you realize that you truly are a genius in this crazy world.

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Boomer Sooner! Can't wait for tomorrow!! Happy weekend, friends! :)

Adoption Tidbits

First things first - no news on the adoption front. I can't believe it's already been 2 weeks since we submitted our life book...time is flying by! I was sure it had only been a week, but then I noticed my handy-dandy little ticker in my sidebar proclaiming otherwise. Hopefully our time during the wait will continue on this path (of going by fast!). I have such a peace and have not been anxious wondering when it will happen - which is definitely an answered prayer!

Several people have asked me if I'm going to call our agency every so often to see if we've been profiled. We do not plan to do so, simply for the fact that we feel we have nothing personally to gain from that knowledge. If we were profiled and the birthmother didn't select us, then we weren't the right fit. Nothing more, nothing less. Someone asked me how I can feel that way, and I would say it's basically because I feel our life book accurately portrays us. We are who we are, and we cannot and will not change that to sell ourselves to a birthmom.

Our prayer has been this - that when our birthmother sees our book, she will feel such a peace and know that we are the family for her. Whether she has a relationship with the Lord or not is irrelevant, because we do and we have been interceding on her behalf. I pray for her so often and that she would just feel the love of God so strongly that if she doesn't have a relationship with Him, that a desire to do so would be stirred within her.

Someone else I talked to was adamant that we should call and check on if our profile was shown to hold our agency accountable. However, that is absolutely not necessary in our case as our agency is phenomenal and I have 110% faith in everything they do. Unfortunately I know this is not the case with all agencies, but we were extremely blessed to find such an amazing non-profit agency who has a desire to minister to the birthmoms in wonderful ways, and I have no doubt that they will show us if we meet the birthmother's requested criteria.

Moving right along...in true Sarah fashion, I'm taking things to the extreme and am going to give adoptive breastfeeding a shot. Say WHAT?! I know; I never knew it was possible either. But apparently it is, though there are varied levels of success depending on what protocol you follow. I am hoping that I am able to at least get 50% of my milk supply through nursing. Aside from the obvious benefits of breastfeeding the baby, I think it will really help with us bonding.

So I'm ordering all the paraphenelia supplies this week and hope to get started soon. It is a bit overwhelming, so I'm glad that my friend Kellie is going to do this along with me! The preferred protocol takes about 6 months to build your supply. Kellie is really close to having a match (or 3!) and with the birthmother's due date(s), this timing works perfectly for her. Obviously we haven't been picked yet so I don't know what kind of timeline I'm working with, but I figure worst case scenario is I have a milk supply and I start pumping and storing! It's unlikely that I would produce that much, but you never know. I'm sure I will have stories for days about this adventure alone, so stay tuned! Any adoptive momma's out there who have breastfed? Or tried? :)

Baby Martin's First Book!

I was so surprised to come home from a weekend in Dallas and find a package from my friend Jennifer. Jennifer and I worked together when I first moved to Waco, before I went back to school to be a teacher. She is so sweet and sent me this book, which as it turns out, is Baby Martin's first book and will be so special to read to him/her!
Thanks so much, Jenn! I will think of you everytime we read this book. :)