150th Blog Post — Surprise Anniversary Contest Announced

Gregg here. Check this out. I have unilaterally decided to help my beautiful bride celebrate the six month anniversary of this blog which will fall on February 6th, 2009. (Suprise, baby!)

Hallee and I celebrated our fourth anniversary about the time Scott joined us. We celebrated our fifth anniversary about the time we moved into our very own quintessential Kentucky home together, and oh, the sun shines bright. Our sixth anniversary involved welcoming Jeb into our lives.

We recently celebrated our seventh anniversary while I was working over 7,000 miles away from home in Afghanistan. Well, it was one way to ensure our anniversary didn’t involve more kids or another mortgage!

We are making big plans for our 10th anniversary –that don’t involve kids or another mortgage!

This blog began on the 6th of August in 2009 with the post entitled “so it begins.” This post, the one you are currently reading, is the 150th post on this blog. In that very short time and in so relatively few blog posts, we can look back and see some amazing things happening — at least from our perspective.

Since that first post, Hallee learned how to link to other blogs, link to her own recipes, and embed pictures and videos. And she is still ridiculously impressed every time I step in and use actual code, which is cool for me.

So far, this blog has seen thousands of visitors, became “family safe” rated by the three most respected internet family rating services, become affiliated with Christianbook.com who we LOVE, received a sponsorship offer from a juice manufacturer who we LOVE, given away over $50.00 in free stuff to bless the lives of our readers, and graciously received nearly 300 comments — all feedback which is so helpful, gratifying, and enriching to us as we continue to focus the halleethehomemaker site as a ministry tool.

This 6 month anniversary contest will replace the regular monthly giveaway for February. Call it a giant upgrade.  To participate: starting on February 5th, comment on the contest sticky post. Then, on Friday, February 12th which is the first Friday after our 6 month anniversary on the first full week of the month, the lovely Kaylee will close her eyes and randomly select a winner for a cash prize of $100.00 USD –OR — you can opt for a surprise gift valued at over $100.00 retail. You can take prize number 1 or the super surprize gift behind curtain number 2! That’s right. I am playing Monte Hall (I feel so old!).

Leading up to the anniversary contest, our 300th, 400th, and 500th commenter will also receive small tokens of appreciation and thanks.

I hope that these prizes serve as a tremendous blessing to someone in the coming new year. But my prayer is that this entire blog is a grand gift to the world, a continuing blessing, a serious source of inspiration, and a constant encouragement in your journey.

I LOVE giving people gifts. Why are anniversaries so important and why the importance of gifts? Did you know that we celebrate these occasions and exchange gifts because a little over 2000 years ago, God sent His only son into the world to save us from ourselves. In commemoration of the occasion of the birth of the King of Kings, He was presented with gifts of the finest riches the world could offer at the time. We celebrate birthdays and anniversaries and exchange gifts on those occasions to honor that most important birthday and that most important anniversary.

If you are reading this, and you are seeking the truth, I encourage you to take the time to learn more about the Creator’s plan for your life, about how He loves you, about how He wants to grant you the gift of eternal life in the presence of His glory. I pray that you will accept Him into your heart.

And may God pour His blessings out over you like rain.
Gregg