[Photo:  Caleb at Wally’s Party Factory in Waco, Texas]

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** POST UPDATE FROM 08/10/17:  Check out our WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT VIDEO! CONGRATS to our three winners, and thank you to everyone who entered the Giveaway and who shared it on social media!  As of 08/10/17, we have 130 subscribers!  We’re still growing!  Thank you for your support, and please keep sharing the blog with your friends and family! **

Today we are CELEBRATING a huge milestone!  The blog reached over 100 subscribers at the end of July!  Woohoo!  As of today, August 5, 2017, we currently have 125 email subscribers!

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for everyone’s support!  Thank you for following the blog and for joining me on a journey of putting FAITH and FAMILY first.

Today’s post will 1) introduce myself to all of my new subscribers, and 2) kick-off the GIVEAWAY CELEBRATION!

A little bit about me and Putting Faith and Family First:

My name is Amy, and I started the blog Putting Faith and Family First in March 2017.  I’m a social worker by day and a writer by night, in addition to being a full-time mommy to two precious boys, Caleb and Aden.  You can also tack on missionary kid, first responder spouse, musician, poet, volunteer, chocoholic, and coffee fanatic.  My husband, Danny, is my biggest fan, and I am his.

My blog expresses personal, faith-based reflections on the day-to-day struggles and JOYS of being a mother, wife, and follower of Christ.  I write from the heart, I strive to speak God’s truth, and I pray that God will use my imperfect words to inspire you and uplift you in your own life’s journey of putting faith and family first.

If you are a brand-new subscriber, I encourage you to review the past blog posts by clicking on “Blog” in the website header.  Each post has a summary excerpt to give you an idea as to what they are about, but let me help you a bit here with the following links:

You can find posts about purposeful living, following God’s call, self-worth, motherhood, fatherhood, forgiveness, setting and maintaining priorities, choosing joy when faced with trials, being still, minimalism, perfectionism, resting in God, helping children become cheerful givers, importance of family traditions, how to appreciate your spouse’s differences, That Book for Wives book review, etc.

*BLOG UPDATE: ever since I launched the blog in March, I have posted almost every weekend, but going forward I will be posting once or twice a month.  Instead of rushing myself to deliver you something every weekend, I want to take my time and deliver quality content when it’s ready and as God inspires it.  Quality over quantity is my new blogging motto!

Blogging takes up A LOT of time, time I don’t have except for the wee hours of the night, and those late-night hours are catching up with me.  I also want to make sure I’m spending enough quality time with my family—after all, this blog is about putting faith and family first!  For my family time to increase, my blogging time must decrease.

I promise I won’t disappear!  You’ll just be hearing from me a bit less often.  You can also always follow me on Facebook and Twitter where I share fellow bloggers’ articles from time to time.

Lastly, for those of you who don’t know this, I am also pursuing publication for a children’s book series.  Click on the website header “Book” to learn more about it!  Blogging has temporarily pushed the book on the back-burner, and I’m hoping to get it fired up again by not posting as often on the blog and devoting more time to publishing the book.

So that’s a little bit about me and the blog, and I THANK YOU all from the bottom of my heart for subscribing and journeying with me.  Feel free to send me a message on my Contact Page!  I love hearing from you!

NOW IT’S TIME FOR THE CELEBRATION GIVEAWAY!!!

We are giving away not one, not two, but THREE prizes!!  Yes, THREE!

PRIZE #1: Too Blessed to Be Stressed.  A charming and beautifully-written book about “focusing on your blessings and not your stressings,” by well-known inspirational speaker and author Deborah Coty.

PRIZE #2: Stephen Elkins’ cute and fun children’s book (with 8 song CD), My Book of Bible ABCs.  For more great books and songs from the Grammy-nominated author, composer, and music producer, go to his Facebook page, My Wonder Kids, and his Amazon page.

PRIZE #3: “Family is Forever” wooden box art

Check out the GIVEAWAY PRIZE PREVIEW VIDEO that my son and I filmed!

GIVEAWAY starts TODAY and runs through Wednesday, August 9, at NOON (CST).  To ENTER, all you have to do is 1) be a subscriber of the blog, and 2) go to my Facebook Page and COMMENT under the Giveaway Post, “Enter me”. 

That’s it!  Easy, right?  As a favor to me, please also LIKE and SHARE the post to help increase its visibility.

Don’t have a Facebook account?  No problem!  COMMENT “Enter me” on this blog post in the comments section below.  You have to enter your email address in the section indicated so that I know how to contact you if you win.  Your email will only be visible to me.

If you do have a Facebook account, then please enter on Facebook.

THANK YOU AGAIN for following the blog!  Please keep sharing the posts on social media and encouraging others to join the Putting Faith and Family First community!  It is my sincerest hope that this little blog will greatly bless you and your family.

Amy

Here are more great resources from Debora Coty and Stephen Elkins!