Marie Madeline Studio is the newest sponsor for Homegrown Mom. All of their products can be customized with hundreds of fabric choices.

They have adorable aprons…

Sweet little girl clothes

Bags

And more

Or if you like to do your own sewing, they sell a variety of fabric, trims, and embellishments.

Visit their blog. Aren’t they pretty?

They didn’t ask me to do a whole post about them, but I couldn’t resist. Don’t you love those fabrics? My mind is spinning with combination possibilities!

Are you interested in partnering with Homegrown Mom? Contact me for an advertising kit.

Happy Reading!

Parenting and Kids:
Tips for Reluctant Pray-ers. Tips for praying with and for your kids. I wrote this post for parents or kids who have trouble praying aloud.

Homeschooling Mamas Need a Planning Period, Too. Yes we do! Love this.

Tale of an Overwhelmed Mom Ever get overwhelmed with planning? I do, too and I lay the ugly truth out here for all to see. Warning: It includes Sponge Bob. And underwear. I was very tired when I wrote this post.

Classics for Kids Cool website for kids, all about classical music and composers.

Have a Heart Fabric Creation I can’t wait to make this! It looks like even I couldn’t mess up this cute craft.

Plan for A Mission Minded 2010 “This FREE guide is especially designed for Christian mothers who desire to become more MISSION-MINDED and eternally effective in this next year.” Awesome!

Would You Rather? A fun writing prompt idea I posted at Heart Of the Matter.

Spiritual Growth
Exemplify Magazine I am still excited that Exemplify offers this free magazine! Check out February’s issue here.

Worship My friend Rhonda wrote this beautiful post on worship and blogging, and blogging as worship, and worship as life.

A Woman Who Perseveres So, so good.

Memorize Philippians With Me! This sweet blogger has got me memorizing the book of Philppians. Will you join us?

Sweet
Red Velvet Cake Balls. If I was allowed to eat anything other than chicken and lettuce, I would be scarfing these down this weekend.

Poignant
The Goodbye Feeling utterly thankful and small after reading this.

Making me think twice about how I’m raising my girls
Modest Clothing, It’s Not Just to Save Our Daughters

Of Mermaids and Moral Dilemmas What the heck? This post is still driving me nuts. In a life-changing kind of way. Stuff to seriously ponder.

If you love to be encouraged
Homegrown Mom Book Club! If you haven’t joined yet, what are you waiting for? Even if you don’t have our book choice, (A Woman After God’s Own Heart) you will be able to benefit from and contribute to the forum discussions. Log on today and see how we are encouraging one another daily!

I need to announce the giveaway winners that won a 125×125 ad space! I said I would give two if more than 100 entries were made. Well, there were 22 entries, but I decided to give 2 away anyway. ‘Cause I’m cool like that.

I’m also very proud that I learned how to take a screen shot, so here is evidence of the winners:

So, the winners are #11, Phyllis Sather and #19, Angie. Angie won for her personal blog, but entered 3 so I’ll let her choose which button she wants to use.

Thanks to all who entered!

See the cute little buttons in my sidebar? I am getting ready to start featuring some new small business and/or bloggers there.

A woman with her own business approached me recently about hosting her button on my site. I really liked her product, so I told her I would host her button for free until I get ready to sell that advertising space.

Then I thought, why not offer up a couple more spots? Instead of advertising for affiliates, I can help out some fellow bloggers or working moms!

If you have a business, product, service, Etsy shop, blog, or etc. that you’d like to advertise to Homegrown Mom readers, you can win a prime spot for your 125×125 link button for 30 days! All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here telling me the name of your business/blog.

Please do Twitter this contest, announce it on Facebook, your blog, etc., but only one entry per business or blog! If you have multiple businesses, you can enter once for each. Just be sure to tell what your entry is for.

If I receive more than 100 entries, I’ll offer two spots.

The giveaway will close on Wed. January 27th.

Merry Christmas to you! I will be taking the next couple of days off, but I had to share this video with you. Watch the whole thing, even if you’ve already seen it It gives me goosebumps every time.

Luke 2:9-11
An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

Hope you enjoy these links!

For the Domestically Challenged

Want to be a knitter or teach your kids but don’t know where to start? I am so glad I found these How to Knit Videos.

The Nester has a free ebook, It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful, when you sign up for her newsletter. Great book, and I encourage you to make your hubby look at the photos of her messy cabinet like I did. Love it!

For your Homegrown Kids

Such a cool idea for Christmas shopping for siblings. Angie at Many Little Blessings is also the main lady at Homeschool Classroom and has so many cute ideas for kids. I don’t just love her because her name is Angie (close enough!) and her hubby’s name is Eric.

Want a fun Christmas idea for your kids? Read this post I wrote about making Christmas Gifts for Jesus.

Weighing the pros and cons of Facebook for kids? This post I wrote generated some pretty strong comments from readers. Find out what I decided to do.

Christmas Fun

Every post from Simple Mom is a delight. This one, Christmas Food Gifts, includes a plethor-ah of recipe links. Yummy!

For Homegrown Bloggers

Amy Bayliss has lots of cute free blog templates on her ministry online site. Amy is a graphic and web designer and has such a heart for online ministry. She’s also one of the founders of Heart of the Matter Online and A Woman Inspired. You’ll love her blog!

I met Allen from Aptune.com on Twitter when I asked a question about Photoshop. Since then, I’ve been watching his step-by-step Photoshop tutorial videos for fun. And I don’t even have Photoshop. Yet. But when I do, I’ll be ready. He also has web design videos with words like CSS and HTML. If you’re geeky enough to know what that means, check them out. And don’t think that having a beautiful blog designer gets you out of having to know, because you’ll still have to learn eventually.

Homegrown Homeschoolers

Speaking of beautiful blog designers… Feeling like a sorry excuse for a homeschooler? You must read this Letter from an imperfect homeschooler. Prepare to feel a whole lot better.

Dreading holdiay get togethers with homeschool-hatin’ family? I got some great advice when I posted this question on the Homeschool Classroom. How do you deal with family members that don’t support your decision to homeschool?

Another free ebook! Brenda from The Ties That Bind Us wrote Creating an Atmosphere of Learning She goes through every subject area and tells how to foster a love of learning. Includes booklists!

Giveaway:
The adorable Sarah Mae from Like a Warm Cup of Coffee is giving away clothing from Down East Basics. Hurry, though, because the contest ends at 12am Thursday. She has quite a few ways to enter. In fact, I think I get one entry for posting this link, but I’ll have to double check.

Want more?
Check out my new Links page full of pretty blog buttons.