As my Bible reading progresses I’m now moving into the books of Daniel and Job. I found the account of Nebuchenezzar’s (no idea if I’m spelling this correctly!) madness fascinating, and his subsequent praising of God incredibly inspiring. That might seem like an odd response to an account of a man’s descent into temporary insanity, but God often brings us low in order to show us His sovereignty, and power, in order to turn our hearts towards Him – reminds me a bit of my own conversion .

Now I’m reading Job, which is also fascinating! What a man of faith, if only all of us could demonstrate this amount of concern for treating God with respect and fear while we pass through valleys and struggles.

Only a month and a week left of the Old Testament, and I’ve actually picked up a few days of missed readings over the past week or two. Daniel and Job have proved to be somehow more readable for me than Ezekiel, which I just finished prior to this.

Keeping on, keeping on.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.

And I hope you all had a great one!  We spent the day at church and at the beginning of summer church picnic, and had a great time!  Still, it’s not too late to stop celebrating or to get a last-minute gift for the special Dad/husband/man in your life!

What does Charter do? A bit of everything! They offer internet access (very affordable), digital cable, pay-per-view, and even phone service!

For Father’s Day, Charter is having a HUGE promotion with prizes (win an iPod Touch, no purchase necessary), gift cards with purchase of their popular (up to $300 at Home Depot!) This Father’s Day celebration is also celebrating Charter’s new iPod app, that will allow you to check tv and on-demand listings, view trailers, access news, sports, and weather, and even get support, and billing information. Maybe you’ll be one of the 100 winners of an 8 GB iPod Touch. Enter now to win an iPod Touch!  Now that would make a great gift for Dad! 

In addition to checking out their deals, gift card offers, and free contest, you can also get updates, fun extras, and facebook only deals on Charter’s Facebook page.

For some reason I always decide a month or two before I get pregnant that I never will, and that I might as well stop tracking my cycles.  As a result, my midwife always asks, “Do you know the first day of your last period.”  My answer is typically, “Umm…I think it was around…insert date here.”  She then responds, “Weren’t you tracking Jen!?”

Ehm.  In any case – I think I’m accurate to within a week either way.  She’s got me set up with a due date of December 06th, so I think my official due date for myself will be “some time in December”.  That way I’m good to go in a wide variety of date ranges and hopefully, won’t get too jittery as the date approaches .

I have to say though, being pregnant with #4 looks MUCH different than being pregnant with #1 did!  LOL!  We’re all very excited to have this new little love join us this year .

As news of Zenni Optical’s extraordinarily cheap eyeglasses continues to sweep across the internet, consumers looking for deals aren’t the only ones paying attention.  I just read through a recent board on a forum for opticians that deals with consumers of affordable online glasses asking opticians for their pupillary distance (between their two pupils).  Now, I just get my husband to measure, but apparently there are some brave souls asking their eye doctors for help, and who are being rejected.

The reason?  The opticians would rather keep the business for themselves.  I suppose this is understandable, but during difficult economic times, the difference between a $10 pair of prescription glasses and a $300 pair is palapable.

So, what do you think?  Would you be willing to pay a fee to get a professional to measure your pupillary distance?  Some are considering changing their policy in light of the huge swell of internet eyeglasses sales.  Apparently there are some liability issues from their side, so consumers should definitely consider that when asking as well.

Personally, I think I’ll just keep going with my standard prescription that results from an eye exam that I pay for, followed by getting my husband to pull out his ruler and do my pupil distance!  We’re incredibly thankful for affordable glasses .

We just returned from the city (our trip to the midwife that turned into a two night stay).  It was productive though!  Not only did we see our midwife for the first time in 4 years (I can hardly believe it was so long!) but we also took in our MacBook to the new Apple Store on the south-side of Edmonton (in Southgate Shopping Center), and they said that our repairs would be done in 24 hours!  

No sense going home, them coming back in that period of time, so we hung out another night and picked it up in the morning!  I HIGHLY recommend AppleCare, it is so worth it.  Get as much as you can!

Our iMac broke its logic board ($1200 repair), and our laptop needed its disc drive replaced, some diagnostics done because of panic kernel crashes, our hard drive wiped and system reinstalled, and a new keyboard and laptop ‘top’ not sure what to call it, because it had cracked out.  Now if you have that problem it’s covered up to 3 times without AppleCare even!

So, all of that is to say that we DIDN’T have to pay $400 for our repairs this time, and we still have 2 years of warranty left!  Yay!  This was the fastest service job EVER, and the Mac people are so friendly .

This is a Mama Buzz review. The product was provided by IntelliGender for this review.

UPDATE!

Our baby girl was born on December 15th, so our IntelliGender test WAS accurate!

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Original Post

I have to admit, that when I first heard about IntelliGender’s Baby Gender Prediction Test I was entirely blown away (and very excited, just ask my extended family!)

As many of you know, I’m pregnant with baby #4, and we have three beautiful girl-children already.  So when I heard about a urine-based test that you could perform at home, and that promised accuracy results of around 90% I was terribly excited!  We normally avoid ultrasounds unless medically indicated (we don’t go in for routine procedures at a certain date), so often we don’t have our babies gender-checked.

What was even better, is that I was selected to review a test – score!  Recommended for moms who are at least 10 weeks pregnant, I was around 11 when I took my test.  Want to see the results?

Sorry, I know it’s blurry (new camera!)

So, what exactly does that mean?  Check out other sample test results here…looks like a another girl according to IntelliGender!

Now, the test comes with a lot more parts than a pregnancy test does, but it was really easy to do!  It has a 10-minute wait time, get down at eye level to the test and read the results against a white colored background without disturbing the container, and voila!

Now, I have to say – I don’t know if we’re having a girl or a boy for sure.  The test says girl…AND I’ll make sure to let you know once baby arrives!  Very fun, and super-exciting in any case.  It has also saved us a LOT of money – I was about to go gonzo buying boy clothes before I heard about this test .  Now, even IntelliGender says not to make permanent choices or heavy emotional investments based on the results of the test (ANY test, even ultrasounds can be wrong, you never know till baby is in your arms!) but DH and I had a lot of fun with this test.

Also,IntelliGender has GREAT customer service, they are super-responsive and eager to help if you aren’t sure about your test results – just take a picture and send it off and they’ll help to interpret it for you!

The test costs $34.95, AND yes, they do ship to Canada (I asked customer service.)

Intelligender also makes IntelliCeuticals for moms and babies (though I haven’t tried them.  They also have a Twitter presence, so you can hook up with them there too.

I rarely post petitions (and many are amateurish affairs), but this time I felt like I had to share this one with you.

Here is some of the details from the email I received

“Comedy Central is currently making plans for the program “JC” portraying Jesus as a “regular guy,” as oppose to the Son of God. The show depicts him moving to New York to “escape his father’s enormous shadow.” The Father is characterized as an apathetic dad, virtually addicted to video games and totally uninterested in his son’s life.

Comedy Central is set, unless we intervene, to blaspheme two-thirds of the Trinity on a weekly basis. This mockery will be similar, but much worse than “South Park” and “Family Guy” since the entire program will be based on this lie.

Comedy Central is showing favoritism for one religion over another. Recently, Comedy Central bowed to pressure from Islamic groups and heavily censored an episode of “South Park” that showed Mohammed in a bear costume. The hypocrisy here is staggering.

Comedy Central shows more respect for Mohammed and Muslims, who represent 2% of the American population, than for Jesus Christ and the 83% of Americans who believe in Him.

We need to send a message loud and clear to Comedy Central, its owner Viacom and all potential advertisers of “JC” that this kind of insulting programming is completely unacceptable. If we speak with one voice now, we can keep this program from ever seeing the light of day.”

Please consider signing this petition here.

Thanks for reading.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Swiss Army. All opinions are 100% mine.

We all know that Father’s Day is looming (this Sunday!), and if you’re anything like me you’re wondering what to get your husband!  Thankfully there is a classic, timeless choice that most fathers and husbands will enjoy!  The Swiss Army Knife has a long tradition of being a portable, “mans-man” kind of tool, one that a fellow can easily tote around and be prepared for a number adventurous  situations at a moments notice.

The Dual Pro X (that’s it to the right) is sort of a “no way to lose” gift choice – I can just imagine my husband’s eyes lighting up at getting a new man-toy to play with!  My husband is a bit of an amateur woodsman, and a hobby farmer, so he’s always coming up with surprising uses for tools, he’d have a blast with this multi-tool knife!

You can also “like” the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife Share the Adventure Facebook Page and participate in their “Share the Adventure” contest that lets you enter to win product, and compete to win a $25,000 Ultimate Adventure – wow!

Have a great Father’s Day this weekend!

All three of my little girls are currently involved in a spontaneous Daddy-dancing session. Spontaneous, family-dancing time is a big part of my happy-childhood memories and it’s so exciting to see my own family creating those sweet memories.

Larry’s family never really been very musical, so he sort of missed out on the family singing/dancing memories. I’m so happy that he dives right in with our daughters although he didn’t have that foundation laid for him as a child.

Larry, I love you!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Glidden. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you seen Glidden’s commercials on the TV about their great selection (282 shades!) of paint colors that you can test drive with their little, affordable testers with built in brushes? If you didn’t end up winning testers in their “Glidden Paint, Get Color, Give Color Giveaway”, you can find them at any Home Depot for only $2.94 each.

What I like the most as a mom of 3 is that these little samplers are easy to stash in a cupboard for wall touch-ups following wall scrapes, run ins with permanent markers, and any other child-related paint accidents! Just grab that little bottle and go, much easier than scrounging up a big can, brush, tray, etc. Of course, it’s also super-easy to take these home and put them on your actual wall to make a purchasing decision!

Glidden makes it easy to narrow in on colors and coordinating shades with their Top 10 Color Palettes that have been carefully designed, and their large paint chips that you can take home for free to view in your homes own unique room lighting.

You can also play around with their online room painter (very fun!)