PASSION Salvation's Tide Is Rising Album Review & Giveaway #PassionSTIR #FlyBy

Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.


We love listening to Christian music, as I have said before. I am still learning about all the different artists and the different types of Christian music.  Our most recent find is the new PASSION album, "Salvation's Tide is Rising."

About Salvation's Tide Is Rising:
This brand new Passion album contains new studio recordings from best-selling artists Chris Tomlin, Crowder, Matt Redman, and Kristian Stanfill.  It features new songs written specifically for Passion 2016.  Release Date is January 29, 2016.  

Track List:
1.  Salvation's Tide is Rising - Passion featuring Kristian Stanfill
2.  My Victory - Passion featuring Crowder
3.  Remember - Passion featuring Brett Younker & Melodie Malone
4.  God & God Alone - Passion featuring Chris Tomlin
5.  Simple Pursuit - Passion featuring Melodie Malone
6.  I Turn to Christ - Passion featuring Matt Redman
7.  Your Grace Amazes Me - Passion featuring Christy Nockels
8.  All We Sinners - Passion featuring Crowder
9.  Surrender - Passion featuring Jimi Cravity
10. Good Good Father - Passion featuring Kristian Stanfill 

About Passion albums:
Since the first release in 1998, Passion albums have sold over 1.3 million units while introducing the church to worship songs like "Our God", "Holy Is The Lord", "How Great Is Our God", and "God Of This City".  Passion is coming off its best charting radio success in 5 years with the single "Even So Come", which went Top 5. 

About The Passion Movement:
The Passion Movement and the messages of founder Louis Giglio have marked the lives of millions of people around the globe, calling people everywhere to live for the glory of God.  From its inception, the movement of Passion has birthed new anthems of worship, influencing countless churches and helping to define the current worship climate and establish artists Chris Tomlin, Crowder, Matt Redman, Christy Nockels, Kristian Stanfill and others.  Louie Giglio is the pastor and founder of Passion City Church in Atlanta, GA. 

Our thoughts:
Chefy and I really enjoyed this uplifting cd.  The title song is one of my favorites on the album.  It really touched a place in my heart.  Salvation's tide should be rising!  This world is filled with hate, pain and struggles.  We need to strive for salvation and remember to let go and let God!  It you are looking for a cd that makes you feel good and think, this one is for you!

Would you like to win a copy of Salvation's Tide is Rising?  Simply enter on the rafflecopter form below!  Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway.  If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller / FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win.  Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.

Relaxing and Clearing My Mind by Coloring

When I was a child, I loved to color.  I constantly had crayons and coloring books with me and it was my favorite past time!  I never outgrew that childhood favorite either.  Through my teens and early 20's, I would color with the children I babysat.  Over the years, I colored less because all the coloring books seemed to be designed for small children and the paper was too thin.  I continued to color with my daughter, but I always hoped that I would find something that was more adult oriented.

I was thrilled when the first adult coloring books started to hit the market.  I bought one from Amazon and grabbed some coloring pencils, gel pens and BIC ultra fine markers.  Every evening before bed, I would color for a little while and I realized that all my worried just melted away.  No longer was I thinking about everything I had to do, the dirty dishes, the laundry, or the bills.  I just allowed the creative juices to flow.

Most of my coloring books are purchased from Amazon, but I have also found some at Walmart, Michaels and AC Moore.  I prefer the books with Mandalas and busy pictures.  My favorite books have their pictures printed on one side of the paper only, but I still have 3 or 4 books that are double sided.  I use color pencils ONLY on the double sided books.  The single sided pages are colored in a mixture of everything.  I pull these out of the book to color them, or I place a piece of paper behind it and color it in the book.

Have you joined the adult coloring craze?  What do you like to do to relax?  Let me know in the comments below!

Loving Target Cartwheel Savings!

My college roommates used to laugh at me about using coupons, but they never hesitated to enjoy the fruits of all the hours of labor I put in to cutting, filing, and finding deals!  I continued to use coupons after I got out of school and got married too.  I became a stay at home wife and mother when I was laid off from my job in 2004.  Initially I was unable to find another job in our small town, so I decided that my job at that time was to save my family money on everything we buy.  I got even more serious about my couponing, and Chefy was thrilled at the savings.

When I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease, and other health issues, I was able to continue to be a stay at home mom.  Through lots of ups and downs, we have been able to maintain a comfortable way of living because of the coupons I collect and the deals I find.

Lots of people have been saving money using apps and digital coupons on their smart phones.  I don't have one of those, so I always was left in the dark.  Several months ago, some of my friends started talking about the deals they get at Target using the Cartwheel App.  After researching it more, I found out that they have that App for my Ipad!  I was so thrilled.  One of my friends pointed out that there was a coupon to get 50% off Archer Farms Spiral Sliced Ham.  The regular price is $2.99/lb, and I was thrilled to check it out!  Our target was showing the hams at $1.29/lb, so we didn't think we would get any more savings....We were happily mistaken!  Our hams rang up half of the reduced price!  We got these hams that had originally been over $22 for less than $6 each!!  We bought 4!  The deal was supposed to end tonight, but it has been extended to the 16th!

If you enjoy ham, and a good deal, sign up for Cartwheel and run to Target to get your super cheap ham and lots of other good deals too!

My Guilty Pleasure -- Lip Sync Battle

We usually don't watch a lot of TV, unless it is a sporting event, but I have to admit I have a guilty pleasure.  I LOVE to watch Lip Sync Battle which airs on SPIKE on Thursday nights at 10 pm,  The celebrities look like they are having so much fun on stage, and the crowd really gets into it.  I have really enjoyed each and every episode since the beginning,  The Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson vs Jimmy Fallon was hilarious.  Just watching The Rock lip sync and dance to Shake It Off (by Taylor Swift) was awesome.

Here is the trailer from the episode tonight!!  Check it out!
The new season started tonight and it was Channing Tatum vs Jenna Dewan Tatum and I think it might be my favorite so far!  Channing Tatum dresses as Princess Elsa and as Beyonce and it was wild! I cannot wait to see who appears this season.

Have you seen Lip Sync Battle?  If you have, who was your favorite performer?  If not, what is your guilty pleasure?

Partners in Crime and Their Knight! #WW

Partners in Crime and their Knight!

Crazy Winter Weather in the South

Chefy, Kat and I took Mama with us for a little trip to Myrtle Beach, SC from December 26-28.  Since it only takes about 3.5 hrs to get there, we go as often as possible during the off season.  Hotels are much more affordable and almost everything we enjoy doing is open at Myrtle Beach.  Normally we go down there in December and the weather is cold, but not this time!  It was 80 degrees and oh so nice!

We relaxed floating in the OUTDOOR lazy river and also spent time in the hot tub outside.  The weather was so nice that lots of people were actually swimming in the ocean,  NO, I am not that crazy!.  Lots of people had the same idea and were visiting Myrtle Beach too, but the traffic was not bad and we had no problems doing everything we wanted to do!!

Fast forward to this week and things are totally different.  Our high today was 36 degrees and it is supposed to be in the teens here tonight.  Don't get me wrong, I love cold weather, but the fluctuation has been crazy!  We even had snow flurries yesterday.

As quickly as the weather got colder, it is changing again.  We are expected to be in the mid 60's this weekend, then by early next week back into the 30's for highs again!  WOW!! What a winter so far!

How is the weather in your neck of the woods?  Have your temps been all over the board?  Do tell!!  I am very interested!

A Green Bay Packers Christmas!

NFL football is taken seriously in our home.  Chefy is a New England Patriots fan, Kat is a Green Bay Packers fan, and I am a Seattle Seahawks fan (as I promised my deceased father in law).  I pull for both the Patriots and the Packers when they are not playing the Seahawks.  This Christmas, Kat received numerous Packer items and she made sure that she gave my mama and me a Packers t-shirt.  We all wore them when we went to Medieval Times in Myrtle Beach, SC on the the 26th!

Even GingerBelle got into the act with her gift!

What type of Christmas did you have?

My Word for 2016

I have seen other bloggers posting their word for the new year, so I sat down and thought about my options and one word popped out at me.  BELIEVE!

As a child, I received a lot of praise from my parents and grandparents.  I was smart, cute and outgoing.  When I was 5 years old, my grandma died and a part of me started to wither away.  As the first grandchild and ONLY girl, I was grandma's favorite and was her shadow.  A heart attack would take her away much too young.  She was only 45!  We moved about a year after her passing and I was lucky enough to have a wonderful lady across the street become a surrogate grandma to me.  She heaped on the praise and the love.  Boisterous Shelly returned for about 2 years.  During my 3rd grade year, I was molested by my next door neighbor's uncle.  I never told anyone because he threatened to kill my family if I did.  I started to internalize my feelings and stopped believing in childhood fantasies, and stopped believing in myself.  I blamed myself for what happened.

I started sleep walking and slowly started to put on weight.  By the time I was in 6th grade, I was a little chubby.  I didn't believe I was good enough to have friends and had no close ones.  When junior high started, I had several superficial "buddies", but no real friends.  I was not self confident, and I didn't think I was smart, cute, or special at all.  The only thing I believed was that I was where I deserved.   High school and college came and went pretty much the same.  I finally made a good friend in college and the first thing she started doing was talking about my weight.  She was a size 0, and she let me know that I really needed to lose weight so the guys would look at me occasionally.  I was a size 12, and I took all this to heart.

When I started working, a friend recommended that I check out a dating service.  I met and married my first introduction.  Although I always felt something was not quite right with the relationship, we were married for 11 years.  During that time, he verbally abused me and would thump me (hard enough to leave a bruise) if I said something he didn't like.  He would keep me away from my family and made the rules in our house.  After our daughter was born, he was rarely at home, and when he was there, he kept to himself and degraded me at every opportunity.  I didn't believe I deserved anything else.  One night he crossed the line and hit me, he slammed me into the refrigerator and called me the B word in front of our 18 month old daughter.  I left him and never returned after that.

My mom and I had long talks and with her help, and lots of prayer, I started to believe in myself again.  I started to believe that people were good and that I deserved to be loved.  When I wasn't looking, I met my soul mate and we will celebrate 15 years together in 2016.  I believed again.

Good times come and go and sometimes I find myself losing faith in myself, others, and sometimes doubting God.  This year I pledge to concentrate on understanding life and learning to BELIEVE!
I know I can because I can do ALL Things through Christ!!

Do you have a word for this year?  Share your thoughts with me!

My Favorite Bible Verse

My favorite Bible verse is Philippians 4:13 which says, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."  It is also my mom's favorite verse.  It reminds me that I can do anything because Christ has my back.  

In 2010 when my Papa was diagnosed with colon cancer, I was shaken to the core.  I was the first grandchild and the ONLY granddaughter and Papa and I had a special relationship.  Mama, Papa and I would go play BINGO together and the three generations would have a blast!  We liked a lot of the same things and every moment was precious.  That cancer diagnosis took us all by surprise.  It came in fall of the year, and Papa was already stage 4.  We prayed for more time with him, but saw him get weaker every day!  Papa was a lay minister, a church deacon, choir director and very active church member up to this point.  At Thanksgiving that year, Papa put on a brave face and shared in the love with his family.  The doctor told us that he probably would not make it to Christmas, but thanks to the grace of God, he did.  We had one last Christmas with Papa.  He passed away in January of 2011, after spending about 2 weeks in the hospital.  The night before he passed, I carried Kat to see him and explained that he was unconscious.  She went to his bed and rubbed his white hair and told him she loved him,  While Kat was squeezing his hand, Papa opened his eyes and looked at Kat.  He smiled and said, "There's Pa's baby.  I love you."  He closed his eyes and never opened them again.  He passed the next morning surrounded by his family.  Grandma and I were holding his hands as he climbed that ladder to Heaven.  

Losing my Papa was the hardest thing I had gone through, even harder than my divorce.  The thing that kept me sane was knowing that Papa was saved and that I would see him again one day.  When people asked me how I was able to deal with it so well, I always let them know that Jesus Christ gave me the strength.  Without Christ, I would not have made it.  HIS strength has gotten me through the deaths of my Daddy, cousin, and father in law in 2012 and my mother in law in 2013.  I am thankful that God cared so much for me that He gave His Son to die for my sins.  Believing in Christ, I am saved, and through Christ I can do all things!  

WOW! It's 2016 Already!

Hello everyone!  I can hardly believe this is 2016.  So many big things are happening this year and it is unbelievable!

If you are a blog follower, you already know that my posting was sporadic the last several months.  My family was going through a lot and I am so thankful that things are looking better.  My grandma, who turned 88 in December, had a stroke earlier in the fall and gave us all a huge scare.   She is doing better, but the alzheimer's has really started to rear its ugly head.  She is much more forgetful, and she has had periods of confusion and times when she seems to drift off and become unaware of her surroundings.  We are thankful for every day we continue to have with her!

Kat is in the middle of her senior year and she started having some issues with bullying and stress about making A's and taking the SAT really got to her.   She had a breakdown and was hospitalized for almost a month in the fall too.  This really opened my eyes!  I had no idea that she was depressed.  I had tried to talk to her about some things and she would always say that things were "fine."  I now realize that  FINE is really the F word for her!  She was not fine!  I am so thankful for her cousin texting me to tell me to check on her.  She admitted that she had considered suicide and was still having the thoughts, so we did the best thing and took her to the hospital.  We found out later that she had attempted to hang herself, but that she was too tall.  Thank God!  She had some extensive therapy and has turned around 100%.  She has started going back to church with us and she now talks to me when she is having issues!  No longer suicidal, she has even counseled a friend who was contemplating it!  We allowed her to take her classes online with Apex Academy and will return to school for her final semester in mid January!

Chefy and I have had a few illnesses, but all in all, we are doing great.  I have done a lot of praying about what I need to do, and I will be continuing on as a blogger this year.  I am scheduling time to do everything I need to do, so I should have time to get it all done!

If I owe a review, I will be posting them this month, in an attempt to get caught up.  I apologize for the delay, but my family has been and will always be my top priority.  Thank you for bearing with me.

I'll leave you with this thought...If someone you love is starting to pull away from family, exhibits suicidal behavior, or shows signs of depression or anxiety, Take them Seriously!

God Bless You All!  I pray that you all have a healthy and happy 2016!