If you are stopping by today you might be wondering - “Hey, what happened to the QF Family blog?”. Well, this is the right place, we just have a new set of clothes on!

Cathy Tibbles of Healing Designs has designed a totally custom wordpress blog template for us! She has been a real joy to work with, and somehow, with limited direction from me, has come up with this beautiful blog template - just for us! She took the time to look through the blog and get a feel for our families vision, and this blogs purpose (something that is fuzzy even to me at the best of times). We are all so impressed with her work, DH wants her to design his blog for him as well!

She has a couple of free downloadable wordpress themes that are quite nice (and free!) for download as well. They are the last two, Rustic Country and DIVA. Actually, because Cathy is just getting started in doing design work for others she designed my blog for free, and it has been such a blessing. I have been needing a unique look for the blog so that people can actually tell when they have arrived, rather than looking like many other blogs out there. Cathy has definitely delivered for us, and we are so very thankful!

We are just working together now to get a few of the kinks worked out, and I need to put all of my buttons and neat dealy-bobbers back into my right sidebar. So I know things look a bit rough now, but give me a little bit of time, and it should all be worked out :).

Okay Entrecarders - if you haven’t heard about this BIG Entrecard credit and more, contest you may have been away from your computer for some time.  Or perhaps you just haven’t been dropping cards…anywhere.  In any case, here is the big news if you haven’t heard it yet!

You can go here to get the detailed rundown.

I am, of course, hoping to win the BIG EC prize of 10,000 credits.  Oh, the fun Entrecard advertising that could be had with such a generous prize!

Here is the complete sponsor list, oh look at all those EC goodies!  One winner per prize.

SPONSORS

Fantasy Baseball - 10,000ec — You can trade in 10,000ec for, like, Graham’s car or something.
Q3-n - 5000ec — Q3-n is selling their 1950s dinette furniture to finance this contest. They say, “You’re welcome.”
Øblog - 4000ec — Wow! 4000ec is going for like $30 on the Entrecard market. Thanks, Weird Oh.
Evil Woobie - 3000ec — Hey, maybe she’s not so evil after all! Or is she? You make the call!
Turnip of Power - 1001ec — He was going to go with 1000 then he found an extra credit in his couch. Thanks, Turnip!
Celebrity Pictures - 1000ec — Credits were acquired through legal means. Supposedly.
Evil Entrecard Kid! - 1000ec — Entrecard trivia: Evil Woobie and Evil Entrecard Kid are not related. Yet.
Modern Glam - 1000ec — With the 1000ec, perhaps you’ll buy an imaginary 1000ec pashmina and hang it around your virtual neck.
Dot Com Mogul - 1000ec — With this 1000ec, you might be able to buy back Q3-n’s dinette furniture.
Blabberwocky - 1000ec — It’s a play on Jabberwocky.
Looking For Scoop - 1000ec — Nothing says “I can buy one popular ad” like 1000ec.
Eyespi20.com - 1000ec — And she’ll teach you how she does that weird signature thing. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, look at her site.
Travelin’ Show - 1000ec — Message from the year 2012: Macy’s is now taking credits and a 1000 gets you one earring.
The Hypnotist - 1000ec — She will put you under a spell. Recognize!
Diet Pulpit - 1000ec — You can buy a lot of imaginary rice cakes with 1000ec. Side note, imaginary rice cakes taste better than real ones.
The Realtor - 500ec — You want insight. Listen to her write. It’s like magic beans growing in the backyard of your brain.
Romelo - 500ec — Romelo, Romelo, wherefore art thou 500ec?
WebATBP.com - 500ec — With gas prices soaring, it won’t be too long before 500ec goes for 501ec.
Inspire Emotion - 500ec — Almost pay for your favorite 512ec ad!
Sue Doe-Nim - 500ec — She’ll probably give you the credits then mock you for wanting them. That’s right — bonus!
Thailand Land of Smiles - 500ec — Actually, that’s 500 smiles.
FitnessLifeClub - 500ec — You’ll have to promise not to blow these credits on any fattening foods.
Lisa Cooking - 500ec — Surprise the whole family with 500 Entrecard credits.
JunkieYard Dot Com - 500ec — If you put these credits in a 401K, in 45 years you’ll have enough credits for a free e-card.
Movie Reviews - 500ec — You can’t buy a movie ticket with Entrecard credits. Yet. (Graham twirls his mustache. Contemplating world domination.)

PRIZES THAT ARE NOT CREDITS (BUT STILL WONDERFUL):

Aerten Art - She’s donating a painting. Seriously. Go look at her site and tell me you wouldn’t want a painting. Now. We’ll wait.
ImpNERD - 125×125 ad for a month — Let’s see, ImpNERD usually sells advertising for 256ec/day. You get this for a month. Um, yeah, you want this.
PoemsofQuotes - A cheesy poem about the winner’s topic — Win this and then ask them to rhyme something with, “Orange.”
Eyespi20.com - A custom made 125×125 card. Some of you need this. You know who you are.
Diet Pulpit - One week ad spot right below the banner and a personal greeting from Lady Rose saying, “Congratulations!”
JunkieYard Dot Com - Three blogroll links. Okay, the thing is, you can’t just get these. They’re prizes only won here.
The Hypnotist - A Hypnotic Audio - I don’t think this will simply be trance music. I could be wrong.

So…head on over to learn how you can enter!

It’s not fancy, but here it is :).  Top droppers here from Entrecard in the past 30 days, roughly June 10 - July 10th.  Thanks for the visits everyone!

I’m behind in listing my top droppers for the past month! We have a new group of droppers from the first 7 days that I was on entrecard (back in Mid-May) - that was my first top dropper list :).

Thanks to everyone who has been loyally dropping here! I’m AWOL as far as my EC dropping activities go - I’m back on slow speed dial up, 28 kbps since I returned home with baby last Friday. And with a newborn in arms, computer time is limited. My high speed satellite should be installed in early August, so look for me in your drops inbox then for sure! I really appreciate your continued drops even though I am unable to reciprocate at this time.

Now I have a question - Does anyone know if there is a comprehensive list of those who give linky love to their top droppers assembled somewhere? I see link lists now and then as I’m dropping around, but wondered if there is a list out there somewhere? Let me know in the comments, or feel free to leave your link if you are a top dropper EC’er.

I’ve fallen a bit behind on my carnival inclusion updates!  If you haven’t been by to read these collections of blog posts, please drop by!

June Carnival of Children’s Literature - Fathers in Children’s Books, June 23rd

Carnival of Family Life: Father’s Day Edition June 16

What are some of your favourite blog carnivals to participate in or to read?  Let me know in the comments so that I can drop by and visit them!

I’m delighted to say that I was interviewed at Notes From My Nest for the week of June 23rd - July 2nd.  Please stop by and join us for coffee in the “Coffee With” feature.  You can learn more about my impetus for starting a blog, my family etc.

While you are there you can also enter a contest for a handmade, designer handbag from Pink Lemonade Designs if you are a U.S. resident.

Enjoy!

Well, my faithful blog readers know that I’m always on the look-out for ways to monetize my blog, and bring in some extra income for our family.  Some of the other opportunities I have taken have provided enough monthly income to pay the monthly high speed internet bill, so we can now get off of dial-up!

I just became aware of another money-making income for bloggers, it looks new, and promising! BloggerWave is a new company - based in Europe - that connects bloggers with advertisers.  Their goal is to become Europe’s largest advertising media for bloggers (and they pay in U.S. funds).  Blog approval times are currently very short, this blog was approved in less than one business day.

The website looks very user friendly, and I think that it will be easy to learn the ropes there.  I look forward to writing more posts for them in the future.

Whew, it seems like all I have had time for lately is updates!  But don’t worry, I have a new review on it’s way - soon - for The Captive Princess by Wendy Lawton, it’s a historical fiction/biography of Pocahontas, and I hope you enjoy the review! (I won it in a blog contest too - mentioned in a previous update!)

Our Boys and Manners Giveaway (don’t forget to enter!) was featured at 5 Minutes for Mom today!  Woohoo!  I feel like a ‘real blogger’ now ;).  If you haven’t visited them yet, they often have great giveaways, and are run by two work-at-home moms.  These talented ladies run two toy stores online, in addition to their blogging efforts!  You can visit their stores here: A Rocking Horse To Love and Pedal Cars and Retro Collectibles.

I also see that we were featured in the latest Review Bloggers Carnival!  I’m so excited to find carnivals we can participate in :).  If you like reading reviews, or have a review you’d like to submit for inclusion next time, head on over and check it out.

Well, we are heading to the BIG CITY for the week to build fences and visit with my family.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get some good blogging in while I’m away, but…hard to say!  I wonder if I can bring my computer ;).  Might be quiet around here…

Thanks for reading!

Time for a quick round of updates!

I have a new book review up at Christian Children’s Book Reviews - Jesus Loves Me, currently my 2 year olds FAVOURITE. She just loves this book.

Camille is having a contest for a 1 year subscription to Homeschooling Today, go check it out!

Don’t forget to enter our contest for Boys and Manners Contest Giveaway, right here at the Quiverfull Family Blog.

Carnivals: A bit late, but we were included in the Carnival of Family Life this week, hosted at Live from Waterloo!

That’s all for now! Thanks for reading :).

I was just awarded my first blog award from my good online friend Camille! Thanks so much, this is such a delightful surprise for me!

Well, Camille certainly made my day last week! If I could award it right back to you, I would! Now, according to the requirements for this award, I am to choose six more recipients of it - bloggers who “Make My Day”.

So in no particular order :):

Stephanie is the blogging friend that lives the closest to me to date! She is around 2.5 hours West of us. I haven’t met her in real life…yet, but it is wonderful to be able to correspond with her through email and keeping up with her blog updates. She is my unassisted birthing hero, an inspirational, homeschooling Mom of 7!

Laura of Laura Williams Musings lives FAR away from us geographically, but I visit her blog daily to check out her daily contest round-ups (who knew that there were so many free goodies and contests to be won in the blogosphere? I’ve only realized this in the past couple of months!). I also enjoy reading her book reviews from a Christian perspective and hearing about her adventures in the garden and homeschooling her 7 children. I have learned a lot just from watching her blog and seeing how she has things set up on her site. How would I ever have found the FIRST Blog Tour Alliances without seeing those buttons in her sidebar?!

Penny Raine on her hose farm always includes so many photos on her blog, photos of her garden, photos of her family, lots of great pictures! And…she is the one who turned me on to PayPerPost (see red button in right sidebar to sign up - I’ve made over $90 in two months)! That in itself is worth a prize! Thank you sister!

Mimi Pearson - I’m going to drop this award on her personal blog, though I’m not too familiar with it.  Mimi is the hard-working, Christian, homeschooling mom, who also organizes the All FIRST Alliance Blog Tours (watch for an upcoming post)!  I am in awe of the work that she does online, tirelessly promoting Christian literature - for free.  I’m also so thankful for the opportunities that she has opened for me - a whole new world of online book reviewing.  Thanks so much Mimi!

Mama Archer - Host, organizer and administrator of the Quiverfull Blogroll - see right sidebar.  Thank you so much for connecting the Quiverfull blogging community together through your efforts.  Sometimes we can feel so alone in this area of our walk with Christ, your efforts have provided a sense of solidarity.

And one more!  Jocelyn, organizer of the Homesteading Carnival.  I have been participating in the carnival for a few weeks, and even had the opportunity to host one of the carnivals (and have another hosting slot booked in August).  Thanks for bringing all of us homesteading bloggers together!

Now I’d better get to bed!  I’ll have to drop in on all of these special ladies tomorrow to let them know about their award!

Well, I’ve had 9 days of Entrecard so far, and I have to say, it is a bit addicting!  I’ll be able to drop everyone much faster, and with more regularity after our high speed internet arrives - sometimes in the next two weeks?  Please, Lord?  We don’t have an appointment set yet with the installers :).  I love visiting the other blogs, keeping up on posts, helping to promote other blogs, and being promoted in turn.  Sometimes finding like-minded blogs is a bit of a treasure hunt in and of itself!

I noticed this type of post on another blog, and thought I’d do something similar to celebrate my first week (and a bit) at Entrecard.

Here are my top 7 droppers for my first 9 days at Entrecard.  Thanks so much for dropping me!

#1 - My good blogging friend Camille at There is a Season.

#2 - Seeking Things Above

#3 - Cheaper by the Half Dozen

#4 - Lora’s Journal

#5 - Mommies Home.net

#6 - All Cute Cats - cute cat pictures, really really cute

#7 - Lofty Matters

Thanks to everyone for coming by and ‘dropping’ in on my blog!  If you haven’t tried Entrecard yet, and are a blogger looking for some new visitors and traffic to your blog, I recommend that you check it out!