Thursday's the big day!

Welcome to the Mother's Day Blog Bash!
The giveaway gallery will be open by noon on Thursday, May 8th, but I thought some of you might like to get a head start reading the posts that have already been submitted and joining up with Mr. Linky while you're waiting on the giveaway gallery to open! For those of you who Stumble, Mixx, Digg and Sk*rt, please let others know about this blog bash. I hope this is just the first of many but the turnout here will determine how many I do in the future. (It's a lot of hard work!)

I can not say enough about the wonderful ladies who helped me with this event. The next blog bash is coming soon! If you would like to be a hostess or a "twitterer" for the next event, details are here.

the Hostesses...
Kara at Bringing Home Ava

Tara at Feels Like Home

Milk Goddess at Life and Times of a Mom Lacking Sleep

Kristinia at Kristinia Leanna

Heather at This Thing We Call Life

Kristin at An Ordinary Life

and the Twitterers: (If you're tweeting for me and not on this list, it's because I'm not adding any new names once I publish this post but I am accepting new Twitterers until noon (EST), Friday, May 9th! See the "sticky" at the top of this page for details.)

skimbaco
DaisyOlsen
DarlaF
shelnew19
MamaKaren
lilmomthatcould

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The following moms submitted their What I Know Now posts early and have earned additional entries in each of the door prize drawings! Mom's highlighted in orange are also hosting their own giveaways during The Mother's Day Blog Bash. If you aren't on this list, be sure to get in early on the next blog bash, coming soon! Click here for more details! I have thoroughly enjoyed reading through these posts and hope that you will take some time this week to do the same. You will be blessed! If you want to share What I Know NOW about motherhood, use Mr. Linky, below!

Kara at Bringing Home Ava

Tara at Feels Like Home is giving away one free card design!

Milk Goddess at Life and Times of a Mom Lacking Sleep

Kristinia at Kristinia Leanna

Heather at This Thing We Call Life

Kristin at An Ordinary Life

Christie at Divine Calling

Sky Seery at Seeryus Mama

Lilith Silvermane at Crunchy Green Lovin' Mom

Stacey at All Because Two People Fell In Love

Sweetpea at Broad Horizons

Candace at Sometimes Can can

Kimberly at Oh My Baby is giving away a t-shirt from Girl Mogul!

Wendy at Girly Whirled

Andrea at The Laughs Will Go On

Erin at Connected 2 Christ

Sharon at My Life In Words

Diane at The Mommy Diaries

Bridget at Mama Belly

Deb at Fabulous Foods and Delicious Drinks

Colleen at Mommie Daze

Kristen at We are THAT Family

Stephanie at Figments of a Mom

Heather at Not a DIY Life

Joanna at Jo Jo's Place

Jeni at The Allen Family Circus

Amanda at A Stay at Home Mom's Point of View

Tanya at Mommy Goggles

Allison at Envyla

Gina at A Wrestling Addicted Mommy's Blog

Tara at Tara's View of the World

Just Sher at Everything Moms

Heather at A Daycare Life

Leslie at Leslie's Life

Brandy at My Life, My Blog

Nor_lou at Silly Mommy of 2 Silly Girls

Sarah at Mommyology

Sarah at Sassyfrazz

Crystal at Life at the Circus

Shannon at God Gave Me You

Janci at J Saga

Genny at MyCup2Yours

Andrea at Beautiful Craziness

Janel at Dandelion Dayz

Melisa at A Little Flower Garden

Kira at I'm the Mommy - That's Why

Heather at An Untraditional Home

Amber at Bringing Good Home

In addition to these, a few non-bloggers also got in on the early bird perks by posting their What I Know Now comments here and here.

Enter the Giveaway Gallery

(Open by noon 5.8.08!)


Don't miss the next big
blog bash...

Here's Mr. Linky, for those of you
who'd like to join the party! Share
with the rest of us what you know
now about motherhood, host
your own giveaway, or do whatever
you like to join in this Mother's Day
Celebration! Be creative! We're all
different. Just be sure to link back
here to the party. If you'd like to use
a banner, there is one here.

Two of Each © Melanie Taylor Dreamstime.com

Summer Colorful Flip Flops In the Grass © Fat*fa*tin Dreamstime.com

Don't Miss The Summer Sizzle!

If you're enjoying The Mother's Day Blog Bash, then don't miss The Summer Sizzle! There will be more blog-hopping and more fabulous giveaways!

The dates for this event haven't been nailed down yet but the theme for this blog bash will be "What are you bringing?", so dust off your recipe box and get ready to submit your favorite Summer recipe! Think of it as a gigantic virtual picnic! You'll leave with a fresh collection of Summer recipes and hopefully one of the wonderful door prizes!

You'll get to double your chances for each of the door prize drawings by submitting your recipe early so check back soon for the rest of the details! Don't submit them yet!

If you would like to receive Summer Sizzle updates by e-mail (this is NOT a subscription to my daily postings and you may opt out at any time), just comment to this post and the rest of the details will be e-mailed to you soon!

Summer Colorful Flip Flops In the Grass © Fat*fa*tin Dreamstime.com

Twitterers Needed for the Summer Sizzle!

If you twitter and have 50+ followers, you can sign up to twitter for The Summer Sizzle and gain additional entries in each of the giveaway drawings!

If you would like to participate, email notesfrommynest@gmail.com [subject: "sizzle twitter"] for more information.

Be sure to include your twitter ID. You must sign up in advance to participate!

Summer Colorful Flip Flops In the Grass © Fat*fa*tin Dreamstime.com

Taking every thought captive...

The winner of the Rosette Wall Hook
from Pineapple Hill Designs is
Ginnie from VA!
Congratulations!
To claim your prize, please send
an email with your shipping address
to notesfrommynest@gmail.com
no later than Wednesday, April 30th.

TODAY'S NOTES...
I am revisiting a book by Joanna Weaver (which I highly recommend) titled, Having A Mary Heart In A Martha World. Fear continues to be one of my greatest struggles and a passage from her book really spoke to me today.

She writes, "We must be willing to take an active role in the battle against anxiety. For too long, I'd allowed Satan total access to my thought life, and by doing so, I'd given him free reign. But as I began to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ, anxiety began to lose its hold. Instead of being led astray by fear, I took a second look at each thought as it came. Many were incognito, disguised to look like ordinary emotions. But instead of entertaining them, I handcuffed the intruding thoughts that triggered fear and took them to Jesus. Together, we interrogated them, asking two questions:

1. Where did you come from? (What is the source of this fear? Is it real or imagined?)

2. Where are you going? (Will this thought draw me to God or into fear? Can I do anything about this problem or should I turn it over to God?)

For so long, I had let thoughts come and go without realizing that if Satan controls my thoughts, he controls me." [Having A Mary Heart In A Martha World, p. 44, Waterbrook Press, 2000]

I needed to hear those words today and thought perhaps someone else does too. Do you struggle with fear? If so, how do you deal with it?

__________________________

The winners of the $10 gift cards from
Peas & Carrots are...

Laura Chilton (from Washington)

&

Meg @ blessedinlove.blogspot.com

Congratulations, ladies!

Please claim your prize by sending an
email to notesfrommynest@gmail.com
no later than noon (EST) on
Monday, April 28th.

__________________________

Seven Dogs & A Baby is hosting a

blog party this week in honor of

Connor's first birthday.

Happy Birthday, Connor!

Drop in on the party for lots
of great giveaways through
Sunday, April 27th.

__________________________

Don't forget the drawing for the
Pineapple Hill Designs giveaway
is TODAY! Submit your entry by
noon, (EST). Visit the site and
comment to this post on your
favorite merchandise to win the

beautiful Rosette Wall Hook.

{Rosette Wall Hook}

Blog Bash Details

Click here for all the party details!
If you're a blogger, join the party by signing Mr. Linky and putting the banner (below) in your party post or sidebar linked to notesfrommynest.blogspot.com

The sponsors listed here have generously donated door prizes for the Mother's Day Blog Bash! Please note that most, but not all, of the giveaways are open to U.S. residents only.

What I know now...

Mother's Day Blog Bash