Once again, I have a lot of new favorites. Mostly food this week. lol

Celiac in Kids but great info for everyone
Free Printable Recipe Cards
Pine Needle Tea – sounds good, but I think I’ll have a battle with the family lol

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup– I’ve made my own Cream of Whatever Soup Mix before, but never with broth like this.

5 Ways to Preserve Small Tomatoes
Baking & Cooking Substitutions for Gluten Free
Creamy Penne Pasta Bake with Zucchini
Beef and Black Bean Taco Bake

I love entering giveaways, and have even won a few things. I really love hosting giveaways on Linda’s Lunacy. It’s so much fun to give stuff away! Now, with Thursday’s Giveaways, you can find lots of great giveaways to enter!

While your here, don’t forget to enter my latest giveaway!

The Grace Card DVD!

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The posting of my button is not required, but help in spreading the word that Linda’s Lunacy has a giveaway linky is greatly appreciated! So thank you!

Adding your giveaway to Linda’s Lunacy Thursday’s Giveaways is very easy! Just use this format, please.

Blog name – name of item being given away – ending date

See? Easy!

Please, only link family friendly giveaways. My kids read here, and anything not family friendly, will be promptly deleted. Sorry, but it’s for my kids. 🙂

Have fun, and I hope you win something!

[Read more…]

Is there something in your heart – between you and the Lord
Are you drifting apart – not as close anymore
There’s nothing you can do – that He will not forgive
Bring it to the cross – let it die so you can live

Nail it to the cross – get it under the blood
Drown your pain and every stain in the mercy flood
Nail it to the cross – find hope and forgiveness
Kneel at the tree and walk away free – Nail it to the cross

Is there a burden you bear that’s got you battered and bound
Struggling for strength, do you long to lay it down?
Don’t take another step, just kneel where you stand
Lay it at the cross and take the hammer in your hand

I have several invites left for Google+ If you would like to try Google’s new social media, but hadn’t been invited, now’s your chance.

I also have invites for Superpoints.  Superpoints is a website where you can earn points to trade in for giftcards. You can only join by invitation.

Some of the ways to earn points are similar to MyPoints and Swagbucks. You can get points for watching videos, clicking on emails, taking surveys or completing offers.

With Superpoints, you also can click on the Superpoints Button. The number of clicks you get per day is determined by what level you’re at. You get Superpoints by clicking. So the more times you click every day, the more points you can earn.

If you’d like an invite for either of these, or both!, send me an email at lindaslunacy at gmail dot com and I’ll send you one.

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

and the book:

40 Days to Better Living–Optimal Health

Barbour Books (July 1, 2011)

***Special thanks to Audra Jennings, Senior Media Specialist, The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.***

From the time Scott Morris was just a teenager, he knew he would do two things with his future—serve God and work with people. Growing up in Atlanta, he felt drawn to the Church and at the same time drawn to help others, even from a very young age. It was naturally intrinsic, then, that after completing his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia he went on to receive his M.Div. from Yale University and finally his M.D. at Emory University in 1983.

After completing his residency in family practice, Morris arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1986 without knowing a soul, but determined to begin a health care ministry for the working poor. He promptly knocked on the doors of St. John’s Methodist Church and Methodist Hospital in Memphis inviting them to help, and then found an old house to refurbish and renovate. By the next year, the Church Health Center opened with one doctor—Dr. Scott Morris—and one nurse. They saw twelve patients the first day and Morris began living his mission to reclaim the Church’s biblical commitment to care for our bodies and spirits.

From the beginning, Morris saw each and every patient as a whole person, knowing that without giving careful attention to both the body and soul the person would not be truly well.

Visit the author’s website.

Many of us would admit to being a little out of balance these days. We all want to feel happier, healthier, and more vibrantly alive. What if in just 40 days we could reach a new level of wellness and balance that we’ve never experienced before? In 40 Days to Better Living: Optimal Health (Barbour Publishing, July 2011), Dr. Scott Morris, founder of Church Health Center, the largest faith-based clinic of its type in the United States, offers a straightforward and successful plan to get there.

The first in a series of striking full color health and wellness books by Dr. Morris and the Church Health Center staff, 40 Days to Better Living: Optimal Health confirms and clarifies what many of us already suspect: living the life we’ve always wanted must go deeper than a diet and exercise program and an occasional attempt to “do better.” Morris is convinced that to achieve the highest degree of wellness requires a multi-dimensional approach and a concentrated effort to be healthy in both body and spirit. He believes, “True health is grounded in the spiritual life that embraces the physical bodies God gives us.” Morris adds, “Instead of the absence of disease, I see health as the presence of those elements that lead us to joy and love, and that drive us closer to God. Finding balance by nurturing our spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical needs is essential to the real health of the whole person.”

40 Days to Better Living: Optimal Health offers clear, manageable steps to life-changing attitudes and actions in a context of understanding and grace for all people at all points on the journey to optimal health. With plenty of practical advice, spiritual encouragement, and real stories of those who have found a better life, this simple and skillfully crafted book inspires readers to customize their own path to wellness by using the 7-Step Model for Healthy Living as a guide:

· Nutrition: pursuing smarter food choices and eating habits

· Friends and family: giving and receiving support through relationships

· Emotional life: understanding feelings and managing stress to better care for yourself

· Work: appreciating your skills, talents, and gifts

· Movement: discovering ways to enjoy physical activity

· Medical care: partnering with health care providers to optimize medical care

· Faith life: building a relationship with God, neighbors, and self

Product Details:

List Price: $7.99
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Barbour Books (July 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1616262648
ISBN-13: 978-1616262648

AND NOW…THE FIRST PAGES (CLICK ON PAGES TO SEE THEM BETTER):

I just love the Echinacea flowers.

The next picture is taken from my front porch, looking left. You can see the small purple Butterfly Bush (small being relative, it’s taller than me, but smaller than our big white bush), 2 Hibiscus – one pink and one white, branches from the Mimosa tree, and some Hostas on the lower left. The picture is blurry because the humidity is so high, as soon as I walked outside, the lens clouded up.

This is our 3rd Hibiscus bush in the back yard. The Mimosa tree on the right is the same tree that has branches in the picture above. The grape vines, (that has lots of grapes!) is to the right of the Redbud tree, behind the Hibiscus.

This is a flower from the above bush. Now I know what leaves holes in the flowers. Beetles.

We harvested a cucumber from the garden!  My 16 yo son is holding it in this picture. We all shared it, and it was so good!

Look at the Zucchini!

And more cucumbers!

We have lots of green bean blossoms.

And look at the tomatoes!!

The apples are so heavy, they are weighing the branches all the way down to the ground.

Now that you’ve seen my gardens, what’s in your gardens?

Here are a few websites I found interesting and helpful this week:
20 Common Herbs for Medicinal Purposes
Growing Tomato Plants Without Tomato Wire
How to Grow Big Leaf Maple Trees From Cuttings

Grab The Saturday on the Farm Button!

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Saturday on the Farm is a blog carnival that lets us share links to our blog post. It’s fun to visit each others farms.

To participate in Saturday on the Farm:

• Write a post about your homestead, farm, farmette, or the tomato plant on your deck. Your cows, goats, chicken, or your favorite kitty cat.
• Add the link to your post (not your main page) below.
• Please link back to me so others can join the fun, too.

For more Farm & Garden posts, please visit:
Homestead Barn Hop
Bloomin’ Tuesday
Frugal Gardening 101
Fertilizer Friday/ Flaunt Your Flowers