Miracle Maker: A Christmas Tale

How many of you love Christmas movies? I try to add a new favorite to my library each year and I have one to recommend this year. Miracle Maker is a story about how a complete stranger can change the entire dynamic of a town. By working small acts of love and service, hearts are healed, forgiveness forged and happiness returns to the residents of Woodhaven.

 

John Lyde and Sally Meyer once again combine their talents as director and screenwriter. The two have previously collaborated on popular films Christmas for a Dollar, Christmas Oranges, He Knows My Name, Abide with Me, Minor Details, , and You’re So Cupid. “It’s my hope that after watching Miracle Maker, families will understand that you can make your own miracles,” Lyde says. “Our message to audiences is that if you need a change in your life, you can create the change yourself.”

 

Taken from Deseret Book's website:

 

~~~"The Miracle Maker is coming!" If any town is in need of a miracle, it’s Woodhaven, a tiny town hanging on the edge of the American frontier. It’s nearly Christmas, but it’s hardly a season of celebration. Work is scarce, money is tight, love is lagging, and spirits are down. Maybe the Miracle Maker can turn things around. The town anxiously waits for someone magnificent who can change their lives. But the ragged traveller who appears isn’t what anyone expects—except for one small silent boy and a precocious little girl. It seems this man can barely take care of himself, let alone fulfill the dreams of others. But miracles can come in all shapes and sizes—and sometimes from unexpected places. Your entire family will love this Christmas tale of hope, love, and miracles. ~~~

 

My neighbor and I both loved watching this movie. And I love it when I find a clean, wholesome, family friendly show that teaches values that seem to be lacking in today's society. I strongly recommend this movie. It would make a great gift to your family, friends and neighbors. You can purchase it at DESERET BOOK, AMAZON, COSTCO or wherever LDS products are sold. This movie teaches Christian values but is not an LDS film.

 

 

 

 

Celebrating A Christ-Centered Christmas

Don't you love it when you are able to make special memories with your family that lead you closer to Christ during the Christmas Holiday. Over the past several years I have incorporated a few new holiday traditions that have helped my family focus on the true reason for the season. I love to share new ideas when I come across them and I have one for you today.

This new book Celebrating A Christ-Centered Christmas by Emily Belle Freeman is a wonderful tool to help you utilize Christmas Decorations that you most likely already have, and turn them into a sacred teaching opportunity for your children.

I love collecting Nativity sets and talking to my children about the special significance of each figure. In Emily's book she takes it a step further and quite effectively explains the symbolism in each figure of the Nativity. She also uses stories, Scriptures and songs to deepen the Christmas spirit and help you create 7 small devotionals you can deliver to your family over the holiday season.

In her book Emily shares with her readers something that her daughter said to her on a car-ride one day from the back seat..."Mom, I believe in  Santa Claus and you believe in Jesus Christ."

Like Emily, if I heard this come out of my child's mouth I would feel quite shocked. But I think that this feeling would be quite common among our children if we were to take a poll. It's hard not to focus on Santa, presents, and "magic" in our society today. Even I find myself getting lost in the twinkle, shimmer and shine of the season. But it isn't hard to curb that Santa appeal and even make the season more incredible as we slow down and focus our thoughts, activities and Family Home Evenings on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I echo the words of Lynn G. Robbins from our most recent General Conference , "Which Way Do You Face?" Have you already lost yourself in your Christmas lists, or are you turning towards the Savior this holiday season?

The GOOD NEWS is that it isn't too late. We can always turn our focus to the Savior and this new book is a great recourse to help you get back on track and do it! Make this your most meaningful Christmas ever!

This book is available for $10.99 at Deseret Book and would make a great gift.

Visit the Blog Tour for this book >>>HERE

EMILY BELLE FREEMAN is a coach’s wife, a mother to four children and a few others who have found refuge in her home, author of several bestselling books, and sought-after inspirational speaker. Her days are spent watching over teenagers, her flock of pampered chickens, and a rabbit that she adores. She finds great joy in studying the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Her deep love of the scriptures comes from a desire to find their application in everyday life. For a few minutes every day Emily forgets about the laundry, leaves the dishes in the sink, and writes. She coauthors a blog that is a stopping place for hearts seeking all that is good: www. multiplygoodness.com

Merry Christmas From the Peterson's!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!!

We have had a great year and a wonderful holiday season so far.

We have been trying to slow down.

Way down.

And focus on what is important.

Like Basketball.

Just kidding.

We have been trying to make this Christmas centered around Christ.

It has felt peaceful, calm, and wonderful.

I'm surprised at how well our kids have responded to WAY less talk of Santa and Reindeer,

and WAY more talk of Christ and his life and mission.

One of my favorite new traditions that we implemented was sharing stories of the life of Christ every night. We have used our Roku and watched Bible Video's from Mormon.org which has really helped the little kids pay attention and learn. We have also started using two new sets of ornaments.

The first is a DIY kit that I won in a giveaway and it is brilliant.

Not only did the kids get to paint and help create these ornaments, they come with

a great devotional book to help you apply meaning to each of the ornaments as you

place one each night on the tree.

The kids have loved this.

It is called

The 25 Days Of Christ

You can purchase your own set here.

The other new set that we love is this one.

The Biblical Names of Christ.
You can purchase a set at Deseret Book.

These ornaments are inexpensive and come without hooks.

So we used some cute red baker's twine to complete them.

I love reading all of these names.

I can't help but start singing Amy Grant Christmas songs when I look at them.



We hope that you are having a wonderful Season.
We hope that the spirit of Christ is in your heart and home.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Love, The Peterson's

DIY: Christmas Initial Wreath Tutorial Sponsored by The Wood Station

Every year I buy a fresh wreath from Costco.

They are beautiful.

They smell so good.

They are huge.

The are Inexpensive.

But this year I wanted something a little more fun.

So I decided to spruce it up a bit.

Okay, you...my readers know I'm not super crafty and so do my friends.

It isn't often I get crafty here on the blog but this Christmas Wreath Initial was to fun to pass up.

My friends over at The Wood Station offered to sponsor this post and provided all of the materials to decorate my wreath.

Now, that is my kind of Crafting!!!

The Wood Station Facebook Page

The Wood Station Blog

My List of Supplies was the following:

• Costco Wreath $15.00
• Wood Initial from The Wood Station $7.95
• Glitter $4.95  (This is one of those items that will last and last!)
• Paint (Already had this on hand)
• Mod Podge (Already had this on hand)
• Rustic Bells 2-pack from The Wood Station $1.35
• Ribbon (Odds and Ends I already had but probably about $2.00
• Clear acrylic Sealer (Already had this on hand)
• Bailing Wire (I love this stuff. I purchased 500 feet for 4.95 at Cal Ranch and it has lasted for years.
• A small screw.

I used my favorite crafty minion (Kate, see below)  to paint for me. Ikea kids bowls and a big cookie sheet are the support for minimizing the painting mess. Apply one or two coats of paint on each side and make sure to be careful to smooth any thick edges. I didn't even paint my Letter. It came in a great, smooth condition. 

Once the paint was dried we applied Mod Podge the entire Letter. We did this super fast and I would recommend slowing down a little and taking your time. I only applied it to the top Letter and not to the sides.

You will want to glitter your Letter as soon as the Mod Podge is on because it will dry fast. You can apply the Mod Podge in sections if it is easier because I did miss some spots and you can tell where the glitter isn't as thick.

I pour the entire bottle of glitter on the letter and shack and move it around. This helps it disperse evenly. Then I pick up my letter and shake the remaining glitter off and dump it onto a large piece of paper. Then I bend the paper and put the glitter right back into the bottle. I only used 1/5 of my bottle of glitter doing this large letter. It goes a long way!

Let your letter dry for 20 minutes or so.

You can start making your bow while it dries.

There are many ways to make a bow and I did mine like this.

After I tied my bow I attached the bells using some decorative wire, but you can use any kind and I love bailing wire, which is cheap!

I sprayed my Rustic Bells with Sealer first so that the rust wouldn't get all over everywhere. It also darkened the color a bit.

Then I cut up my ribbon into about 7 inch pieces and layered them across the bow. 

I then used two pieces of ribbon to tie around the whole bow to keep them together.

I used a wire to attach the bow to the Letter.

I wanted my Initial to hang slanted a little on my wreath.

I put a screw in the base of the letter so that I could use a wire and tie it to the wreath to help it stay slanted. Oh ya, almost done.

Then I used a burlap ribbon to attach the Letter. This worked great for me because I used an R and a P and both of these allowed me to just tie the bow around the top. You might have to get a little more creative with an W or an X! Maybe use the screw method which I used for my slant.

 Now wasn't that easy.

Simple and Easy.

And guess what. I can just take my initial off after Christmas and store it until I buy my next Costco Christmas wreath!

Let me know if you end up making a wreath. 

I'd love to see your pictures too!

Email them to someoneinmindblog@gmail.com

Merry Christmas!!!!!!

*The Wood Station is Located in Blackfoot, Idaho.

If you are ever stopping by, I suggest you drop in!

12 Gifts For Christ

Well, we are 7 days into December and so far the holiday is feeling wonderful. I'm trying really hard to focus on Christ this year with my family. We have started some new traditions and focused less on some old ones. I'm finding lots of great ideas from the blogosphere and a few that just sort of fell into my lap.

This book is one of those tools that has helped me refocus my vision of Christmas and what I want it to be for my family.

About a month ago my friend wrote on Facebook that she was already dreading Christmas and the stress and the hoopla.

Dreading Christmas???

Wow. Just typing those words make me fee scrooge-ish.

I wanted to make sure that I didn't dread Christmas this year so I evaluated some of the things that make the season seem stressful to me.

I checked *Send Christmas Cards right off my list. This seems to stress me out each year and I always procrastinate it anyway.

I decided instead to focus on 25 people that have helped me feel closer to Christ this year, and to send them personal letters or notes. Immediately I got excited about this idea. Really excited, and I felt warm and happy just at the thought of it.

So, no I ask you, how are you feeling about Christmas this year?
Are you stressing yourself out?
Taking on too much?
Worried about finances and affording the purchase of gifts?
Over-scheduling?

Maybe you need to stop and check some things off your list. What are you doing to focus on the Savior?

I think we all mean to stop and focus on Christ, but it is hard with the society that we live in to really skip the commercial Christmas and create our own Christ-Centered, meaningful one.

Without giving too much of this book away I will tell you that it really inspired me to stop and THINK about what gifts I was going to give to my family and what gifts I was going to give to Christ.

Last year I gave away my love of television. As we sat around the Christmas Tree, each member of my little family picked something that they would give or do for Christ. I can't remember what everyone said but I do know that Kate chose to be modest always, and I chose to give up Television. Yes Television.  It did come after some previous promptings (as I already shared with you in this post) and some encouragement from my dear husband...but I did it.

It has now been a year since I have watched anything questionable, inappropriate, with foul language, or that makes fun of sacred things or gospel principles. It was really hard at first. I was raised on TV. I loved it. (well I thought I did).

But I did it. And I'm still amazed.

And because of this small sacrifice on my part, I have been blessed in so many ways.

I've felt the spirit speak to me more often than ever. It is easy to turn off movies that are also questionable. I've simplified my life. I've felt the Savior close by.  And I can honestly feel the difference that no TV has made. It is measurable.

So, going into this season I am thinking about the gifts that I can give to Christ.

This book focuses on 12 gifts that we can give him.

The Gift of Personal knowledge.
The Gift of Gratitude
The Gift of Remembrance
The Gift of Repentance
The Gift of Obedience
The Gift of Emulation
The Gift of Charity
The Gift of Forgiveness
The Gift of Faithfulness
The Gift of Love
The Gift of Healing Balm
The Gift of Joy

Each of the twelve chapters contains a personal devotional with suggestions for application to everyday life. Merrilee Boyack's goal is to find ways for each family to personally enjoy more than the material blessings of Christmas by giving more to the Savior during the season and throughout the year.

This book came as an answer to my hearts Christmas wishes.

You can purchase 12 GIFTS FOR CHRIST here.

I hope you will find time to read it.

Merry Christmas Season!!!

And now your chance to have your own copy!!!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Deseret Book Lovers: Freebies, Discounts, Favorites & a NO STRINGS Giveaway!!!

Okay friends, this is HUGE.

{giveaway at the bottom, don't miss it}

Who doesn't love free reading material? Deseret Book is generously giving everybody 12 free eBOOKS with their holiday,

12 DAYS OF FREE eBOOKS

Deseret Book is giving away 12 Days Of Free eBooks. 

To Download the first book go {HERE}. 

Make sure to check the website everyday to get each new free eBOOK!!!!

Also, they are having a different promotion everyday and today you can get Free shipping and 25% off of one item at regular price.

FREE SHIPPING!!!

Use code:  CYBERSHIP

PLUS if you purchase something today use the code: DAY1 for 25% off 

And if you need ideas for Christmas let me share a few of my favorites with you.

1.

This First one is a CD of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It Features David Archuleta. My Dad is obsessed with David Archuleta so this was my dad's Birthday Present this year.

Found {here}

And here is the LIVE DVD concert...

Found {here}

2.

The Second item I love for Christmas this year is 17 Miracles. It is a movie based on Actual Events that transpired while the Willie handcart company made their journey to the Salt Lake Valley. It is excellent.

Found {here}

3.

 

The Third item is this new book called Great American Documents for Latter-Day Saint Families. It is an amazing collection of American Documents combined with great Latter-Day Saint incites and history. My Friend over at Chocolate On My Cranium also posted about this book and there are amazing photo's and more information on it {HERE}.

It Covers:

1. The Mayflower Compact (1620)
2. A Model of Christian Charity (1630)
3. Common Sense (1776)
4. The Declaration of Independence (1776)
5. The Constitution of the United States of America (1787)
6. The Bill of Rights (1789)
7. George Washington's Farewell Address (1796)
8. Thomas Jefferson's Confidential Letter to Congress (1803)
9. The Star-Spangled Banner (1814)
10. The Monroe Doctrine (1823)
11. Battle Hymn of the Republic (1861)
12. The Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
13. The Gettysburg Address (1863)
14. Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (1865)
15. The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1920)
16. John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address (20 January 1961)
17. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" Speech (28 August 1963)
18. Ronald Reagan's Speech: "The Boys of Pointe du Hoc" (6 June 1984)

Found {here}

4.

The fourth gift idea is this book titled How We Got The Book Of Mormon. It gives a detailed account of the history and events leading up to the printing of The Book Of Mormon and it's influence in the world. Check it out. 

Found {here}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And guess what?

We are having a GIVEAWAY!

The last gift recommendation I have is a new book by Emily Freeman called

LOVE LIFE

AND

SEE GOOD DAYS

Found {here}

Emily is the Bestselling author of 21 Days Closer To Christ

And here is the GREAT NEWS!!!

NO STRINGS ATTACHED!!!!

Just Leave me a comment and you will automatically be entered to win!!!