Thankful Thursday V11.2

I'm a little late to the Thankful Thursday Link Up parties this week, but, better late than never, eh?


Just in case it happens to be your first time stopping by Thankful Thursday let me tell you a bit about it. It's a weekly link up that myself (and other bloggers) host every week in which we list off things we are thankful for. Now these things can be serious or completely ridiculous, BUT, something we are thankful for nonetheless. I leave my link up open for an entire week because honestly you shouldn't just be thankful on Thursday, but EVERYDAY. And you are welcome to link up with me whenever. :) I'd love to have you join in on our fun! The button is below, feel free to grab one and link on up!

<center><a title="Brown Eyed Bell(e)" href="http://browneyedbell.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://i632.photobucket.com/albums/uu46/HeatherLC02/thankfulthursday3.jpg"/></a></center>

This week I am thankful for:

♥ a whole day of fun with my best friends step kids whom I consider to be my niece and nephew. we went to the lake and fed the ducks, went to a local park, ate at 5 guys, and swam in my pool, all before I rushed off to work.

♥ the ability to laugh at myself :)

♥ these adorable candles that my room mate brought me back from her trip to Georgia. She knows me well. Clean Linen is my favorite candle scent!

♥ that three of my friends that needed a job have all found one within the last two weeks. God is good.

♥ pool time with my pups

♥ that Monday we are having someone come out and install a sulfur filter, yay, no more rotten egg smelling well water. YUCK!

♥ what my Dad thought was his transmission going out in his van apparently isn't.

♥ random compliments

♥ a Wet & Wild trip that I get to take tomorrow. Hooray for water adventure parks.

That's just a few of the things I have to be thankful for this past week, I hope you have some of your own as well!

I am linking up with some other Thankful Thursday's this week: The Fontenot Four, Kate Says Stuff, A Punk, A Pumpkin, and a Peanut, Black Tag Diaries, & First Day Of My Life.

Target Gift Card Giveaway

It has been too long since I've done a giveaway... just over 3 months to be exact. SO, since I hit 400 followers this week I decided I'd celebrate by giving something away to one of you lucky readers! :)


Everyone seemed to enjoy when I gave away a Target gift card, SO, that is what is up for grabs!

A $10 gift card to Target

You can enter now (July 9th) through July 23rd winner will be announced on Tuesday July 24th

As for the (many) ways to enter:

1. Become a follower of Brown Eyed Bell(e) with Google Friend Connect. To do so, you can click JOIN THIS SITE on the right hand side of the screen and follow it with your google/blogger, twitter, yahoo, or AIM login info) and then leave a comment below letting me know you are following me. NOTE: If you are already a follower, just leave a comment letting me know. That is your entry. You MUST do this entry first in order to be eligible for other entries.

You can also earn other entries by doing the following:
2. become a follower of my pet blog 4Paws4Love
3. update your status on facebook with the link sending people here to this contest
4. LIKE Brown Eyed Bell(e) on facebook
5. LIKE 4Paws4Love on facebook
6. LIKE Kidney for Kristy on facebook
7. blog about this contest, with a link sending people here
8. tweet about this contest, with a link sending people here. If you do so please use the following tweet: @heatherlc02 from Brown Eyed Bell(e) is giving away a $10 Target Gift Card you can enter here http://browneyedbell.blogspot.com/2012/07/target-gift-card-giveaway.html
9. Follow me @HeatherLC02 on Twitter



In order to qualify PLEASE remember to leave a separate comment for each entry that you do.

That's NINE (holy cow!) ways you can enter!!

GOOD LUCK FRIENDS!

Next Week.

Tonight I am scouring over pinterest looking for ideas for fun stuff to do this summer with kids. My best friends step kids are in town for the summer and I get to babysit this coming Tuesday, Thursday & Friday. To say I am excited is an understatement. 

Those two beautiful kids above hold a huge chunk of my heart. Those pictures above are from 2008 and they've grown so much since then. It's unbelievable. I know all you Momma's out there know what I am talking about. What's crazy is due to issues with custody the kids haven't got to spend the summer in Florida in 2 and a half years so the last time I saw them before a few days ago was Christmas of 2009. WOW!  To hear them say Auntie Heather just melts my heart every single time. Hopefully I will have some fun pinterest projects to share with you in the near future. Any suggestions for something to entertain an 11 year old and 9 year old would be much appreciated.

I hope you all are having a great weekend!! <3

Thankful Thursday V11.1 Mom Edition

Just in case it happens to be your first time stopping by Thankful Thursday let me tell you a bit about it. It's a weekly link up that myself (and other bloggers) host every week in which we list off things we are thankful for. Now these things can be serious or completely ridiculous, BUT, something we are thankful for nonetheless. I leave my link up open for an entire week because honestly you shouldn't just be thankful on Thursday, but EVERYDAY. And you are welcome to link up with me whenever. :) I'd love to have you join in on our fun! The button is below, feel free to grab one and link on up!

<center><a title="Brown Eyed Bell(e)" href="http://browneyedbell.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://i632.photobucket.com/albums/uu46/HeatherLC02/thankfulthursday3.jpg"/></a></center>

Today is a very special Mother's edition of Thankful Thursday.

Today would have been my Mommy's 68th birthday. Yes, she had me when she was 40!

If you've followed my blog for awhile, you know that my Mom passed away during my senior year of high school.  Today and every day I am so thankful that God chose her to be MY Mommy. 

Since my Mom passed when I was just 17 I feel like we didn't really get to have that adult relationship that I see so many of my friends have with their mothers now. That saddens me a great deal. BUT, I have to remind myself of all the other amazing memories that we were able to make during the 17 years of my life that she WAS with me. 

I'm thankful for:

♥ the sacrifices she made for our family

♥ her love of animals that was passed on to me

♥ that she loved me even when I didn't deserve to be loved

♥ her selflessness

♥ that she always told me about my sister as I grew up so it was never a shock to me that I had a half sister

♥ the freckles that I most definitely got from her, and she always told me they were kisses from angels

♥ MommaMiaLoveMe (an inside joke between us)
♥ the trips we took to Ohio
♥ beach vacations to Treasure Island

♥ the opal ring she gave me before she passed away

♥ her amazing strength and resilience that was most definitely passed on to my sister

♥ all of her birthday's that we stayed up til midnight on the 4th to celebrate 

The list could go on, and on. 

I am just thankful that I was able to call her MY Mommy.

Happy Birthday, Mommy. I love and miss you very much. 

I also wanted to share with you two of my favorite blog posts I've done in the past about my Mommy in case you are a new reader:

Story of a Yellow Butterfly - I tell of why yellow butterflies remind me of my Mom
A Blessing in the Mail - I document a letter I received from my sisters adoptive mother in which she tells me about the day my Mom interviewed her as a potential parent to adopt my sister. I cried when I read this letter.

I am linking up with some other Thankful Thursday's this week: The Fontenot Four, Kate Says Stuff, A Punk, A Pumpkin, and a Peanut, Black Tag Diaries, & First Day Of My Life.

7 reasons not to worry

I have been attending Starting Point, a new Sunday school class at my church recently. This class is for new believers or young believers. We are journeying through the Gospel of Matthew and it is awesome. Granted, I am not so much a new believer as I became saved in 2008 however there is just so much I don't know. I started attending this group mostly so my Dad would also go. I knew he wouldn't go by himself, and we have been attending together the last few weeks. What a blessing. A friend of mine who is much like me in that he didn't grow up in church is also attending the class with us. Today as we worked our way through Matthew 6 I came across a page in my study book that had 7 reasons NOT to worry and I wanted to share these great reminders with you. They are so important because I know, if you are anything like me, you worry. It's hard NOT to, I have been labeled a worry-wart many times over. Here is what I was reminded of today:

Matthew 6:25: The same God who created life in you can be trusted with the details of your life.
Matthew 6:26: Worrying about the future hampers your efforts for today.
Matthew 6:27: Worrying is more harmful than helpful.
Matthew 6:28-30: God does not ignore those who depend on him.
Matthew 6:31-32: Worrying shows lack of faith and understanding of God.
Matthew 6:33: Worrying keeps us from real challengers God wants us to pursue.
Matthew 6:34: Living one day at a time keeps us from being consumed with worry.

                                                                                     Source: Uploaded by user via Amy on Pinterest

                                                                                       Source: Uploaded by user via Haley on Pinterest

I hope each and every one of you have had a blessed weekend.