Hey everyone! It has been awhile since I blogged and it feels like forever! We have been very busy lately getting ready for school - no, we have not yet started but instead took a little trip up to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons - so I guess we actually started the year with a big field trip! (  : We live only a few hours from these beautiful parks and this is our first trip to see them - I guess nothing spurs you into action more than moving away - it was now or possibly never if we didn't! My dear sweet parents are actually the ones who suggested it and so they came down for a visit and we all went together - my parents treat the entire time! Thanks again Dad and Mom! What a blessing the trip was - we saw God's hand the entire trip - His perfect timing in getting us to Old Faithful just minutes before she blew - His joy in providing a show for us when a coyote chased a deer and a buffalo right in front of us at one of the hot pools spots we were stopped at - His providence in providing a personal gorgeous log cabin with hot tub for us to enjoy for the night - everything else was full except the much to be desired for Ho Hum motel in West Yellowstone - we knew there had to be a reason it was not full and we were not desperate enough yet! There were so many other ways we saw God's hand in our trip as well! He is so good to us!

If you all have never been to Yellowstone or the Tetons  I encourage you to plan a trip - they are so fascinating to see and beautiful as well!

So onto the award...I have been given another award and once again I am very humbled by the honor and pleased to be able to pass it on to other deserving recipients as well! The award is given because nice matters....

Thanks to the very nice Lori over at In My Neck of the Woods for thinking I am nice! I am so glad that my blog posts come across as nice because I truly want it to - nice matters very much to me too! (  : And because nice matters it should well be awarded to those who bring it to their blogs - so I am so happy to pass this award onto those who also exhibit the love of God in their blog with others. I was given this award in August and have put off accepting it because it is hard to narrow my blog friends down to who comes across as the nicest - you really all do and I am blessed by every one of you! But I think I have narrowed all of you down to the 5 that I feel make an extra effort to voice niceness in their writing when they are posting and replying to comments left or commenting to others.

1. Renae over at Life Nurturing Education always has heartfelt posts and you can be assured she will reply whenever you comment with the kindest words - even when responding to a critic of what she has written! ( : 

2. Miiko who has many different blogs but mostly posts here at Sharing the Journey is such a sweet caring individual - without knowing her in person I can still say this about her with complete confidence because it truly comes across in her writing!

3. Summer who is On Wisdom's Path shares so much encouragement even through her trials as she begins homeschooling this year - her sweet blog exudes niceness!

4. Jennifer who is Homeschooling with a Family Business is one of the first bloggers I met here and she has encouraged me from the get go with her kind comments and posts - I may not have continued blogging if it were not for her! (  :

5. And I can not forget my sweet friend Jennifer and her Little Treasures - now I may be a bit biased here as Jennifer is a dear friend of mine already but because I already know her it gives me the advantage of knowing how sweet she is without reading her blog. But go and read her posts and I think you will agree with me that she is super nice!

Congrats ladies - keep it up! I love reading all of your blogs!

And the last thing I wanted to share with you all is a great resource I have come across lately - the best part? It's free! Okay actually the best part is that it is really good - free does not always equal good right?

What I have found is a great kids daily devotional called Keys for Kids - in my sidebar I have provided a link to it for you - go and sign your kids that can read up for the Keys by mail  which is a booklet with two month's worth of devotions in it much like the Daily Bread devotionals only for kids- we will be using this for the kids to develop a habit of having quiet personal time with the Lord each day - I am going to have them journal along with their daily readings whatever they feel God is speaking to them through the story and Bible passage - I will let you all know how it goes! (  :