Praise and Coffee Fall Magazine is HERE!

Praise and Coffee Fall Magazine has arrived!

We are sooooo excited for this magazine issue.

Perhaps you have been at that place where you are not sure just what God is telling you.  Perhaps you have just had to let it all go.

Because that's where we were.

I sat on Sue's back deck and said, "I'll miss it terribly, but if we need to leave the magazine behind for a little while, I'll do that."

From that conversation came a rebirth of the magazine.  And not really the magazine, but the movement of Praise and Coffee.

Perfectly timed was a visit from our dear friend, Ronel.

Ronel writes a blog called Chosen For More and she is the National Director for Praise and Coffee.  She can spout out all sorts of information about Praise and Coffee at any given moment.  That is cool, but what rocks is her heart.  Her heart is with her family, her country and helping women.

And...get this...she likes to write curriculum.  I did not know this.  Sitting at the same table you see in this picture, she wrote out an entire study.  Amazing.

While we were all together out for lunch meeting some really great women (Check out their site Circle of Friends), Ronel gave a "mini resume".  I was blown away.  I looked over at her and thought, "And here I loved you because I loved your heart....But holy wow!"

Sue, Ronel and I sat around the table and from our heart flowed words — and Ronel then looked up the words to make sure the words we used were exactly what our hearts were saying.  It was an intense two day pow wow, and it was a God moment in so many ways.

What we were willing to give up was reborn and the excitement we have — spectacular.  Our vision is clear, and we know that had to have come totally from God.  His fingerprints are all over this.

Thrilled?  That would be an understatement.  We poured our heats out here, and thrilled we are with the end result. 

So look over our magazine, tell us what you think.  

I mean, really tell us!

We want to know what you think.  Check out our Facebook links, they are a way to stay even more connected and join the conversation.

Connect. Encourage, Inspire.

It's not a ministry, it's a movement.

Won't you join us?

Praise and Coffee Magazine

My article on the football phase of my life and the friends I have — a post from the heart. HERE.

Korene's amazing fall craft is EASY and found HERE.

Women's Lifestyle Magazine of Great Kalamazoo

While you are our and about this weekend in west Michigan, stop to pick up the latest FREE Women's LifeStyle of Great Kalamazoo magazine that is out JUST this week. 

I am really loving their cover this month.

When you get it, you will flip through the magazine and see some fun articles on documenting your life through facebook, style, getting your home de-cluttered, getting prepared for fall, etc.  It's a fun read!

On page 18 you can read about Salt of the Earth restaurant in downtown Fennville.  I can't wait to try to glaze my carrots in honey, I'm a huge glazed carrots fan.  This place was really cool and the back story of all the work they put into the food is amazing.  The food smelled so incredibly mouth watering yummy.

But I can't tell you how the food tasted.

They made the food, plated the food, our photographer took photos of the food and then we Never. Got. To. Eat. The. Food.  So wen you read the article, I can't tell you what the food tasted like.  They did send us each home with a loaf of bread that we ate for dinner.  The bread tasted good, but with fancy breads, it wasn't a hit with the boys who couldn't even begin to chew the crust. 

When I left Salt of the Earth, I drove to Crane's and bought myself blueberry strudel pie and two dozen donuts.  THAT place has AMAZING pie.  And when S1 bit into a donut, his eyes got big.  "Have you tried one?" he asked me.  "No," I said, not letting on I had just eaten pie before picking him and his brothers up from school.  "You need to," he told me.  And so I did.  And they were amazing.  Have I mentioned Crane's is amazing?????

On page 24, you will read my article on the Schreiber Caregiver Conference. That was tough to write.  It's a deep subject and honestly, dementia scares me.  It always has, then I read the Notebook and then it really really scared me.  Over this winter, my grandma had a stroke that effected both sides of her brain and my mom and aunt have been her caregivers since.  Writing this article made me think of them.  Jennifer Howard's heart is with this organization and this is a conference anyone should check out. 

On page 30, I get to introduce Kalamazoo to Mom's in Tow. I really do not think I could tout how wonderful I think Mom's in Tow is.  Seriously.  Jenny is a blast to talk to.  They have organizations all over West Michigan (Grand Rapids and Holland originally).  Because they are mom's, they care about children's safety but they work hard to organize get together's for mom's.  And their cards that you get for being part of their group give you amazing discounts at store's mom's visit regularly.  The whole idea on Mom's in Tow simply fascinates me.  Jenny sums it up best when she says, "Mom's in Tow, in a nutshell, is moms connecting to other moms and saving money while doing it.  Moms are looking for community.  Moms in Tow helps bring us together so we are not so lonely and can help each other in the new world of motherhood."

I absolutely loved talking with Jenny White and I really cannot say enough good things about Moms in Tow.  Welcome to Kalamazoo!!!

Women's Lifestyle Magazine of Greater Kalamazoo is blessed greatly to have an amazing photographer working for them.  Katie takes such amazing photos and brings such an artistic edge to them.  I get the biggest kick out watching her "line up a shot".  If you need a local photographer, look no further than K. Redmond Photography. She took this amazing "professional" photo of me for the magazine....

Yah, the girl's got talent.  

And she is so sweet.  So amazingly sweet.  I look forward to working with her every time she emails me and says, "Hey, meet me at such and such for pictures for this article."  

Working with the magazine on this month's issue was so much fun for me.  I enjoy writing these pieces much more than I imagined I would.  I hope to bring you the "back stories" of the articles along with the articles themselves every month - won't that be fun?

What articles do you like to read in a local town paper?  I really want to know!

You can read the entire magazine online.  But you can also click the "Get a Copy" button to find where to pick up the Women's Lifestyle Magazine of Greater Kalamazoo in the West Michigan area.  (I suggest Biggby's...but that's just me. :) )