ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

NAT // NICOLE // GINNY // BETH // HANNA // ALY // MEGAN // LINDSY // ALISSA What about kicking off St. Patricks's day with a good ole' Irish Blessing? That is, by blessing one of you with a $100 Visa Gift Card That's right, $100 to spend on whatever your little heart desires! Need new clothes, now you can go get some. How about some new dishes or linens? Done and done! Don't want to spend your own money on a new vacuum for your Spring cleaning, well then here you go!  There is only one mandatory entry. We just want you to let us know what you would spend your hundred bucks on ! And the other entries are bonus entries to up your chances of winning! (but seriously why wouldn't you want extra entries?) The giveaway ends on March 23rd. Good Luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway for some reason it's not displaying on the page for everyone. go ahead and click the link and it will take you to rafflecopter to enter.

... may your holiday be filled with family, friends, food and fellowship. and most of all, an overwhelming gratefulness for who He is and all He has done for us. give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever... * check back tomorrow for a fun black friday sale!

i'll be honest. that title is a bit misleading because i wouldn't actually know how to throw a party without stressing out. so i won't have any nuggets there, but i'll tell you what happened on Wednesday when we hosted our extended family for Halloween & trick-or-treating. both my husband and i are procrastinators. not a good combo. i had already bought all the "decorations" and food that i needed, but everything else was left until Wednesday. Reese goes to preschool Wednesday so i figured it'd be no problem to get everything done. except that she's the easy one. the baby decided she wasn't going to nap so i strapped her into the carseat and drove around the block a few times. she totally fell asleep, transferred perfectly... and woke up twenty minutes later . screaming and needing me to hold her. the only thing i got accomplished during that nap? writing an email. completely unrelated to the party or anything else relevant. so she was ...

i wanted to share this song with you. a lot of us can probably relate to it in some way or another. just because it's christmas doesn't mean our hurt and pain and struggles just go away. sometimes it's hard to enjoy holidays and for some of us there's no one around to spend it with. maybe there are plenty surrounding you but you still feel alone? for some, christmastime actually  magnifies  what we're going through. whatever your circumstance, this Hope that was born at Christmas is still alive today. because He came. Emmanuel. God with us. He has not left us. He's still here in the midst of everything. good or bad. great or small. this is one of my favorite singers, Anthony Evans . the song is called "Immanuel": no decorations, no tree with tinsel no lights this year at home the rooms are silent, no carols playing for the first time she's all alone but what a wonder she says there's comfort Emmanuel, our God is with us y...

i opened up one of those "group discount" email promotions today, and this was the first line: Nothing embodies the holiday season like Santa —and nothing gets kids more excited than a personalized letter from Mr. Claus himself. i wasn't ready for my reaction, but my heart literally sank . maybe it's because i'm listening to "Mary did you know" on repeat in preparation for singing it next week at our Bible study? i don't know why it hit me so hard, but the notion that "Nothing embodies the holiday season like Santa"  sickened me. [source] i'm not going to tell you that incorporating santa into your Christmas tradition is bad or evil or terribly misleading for your kids. i've heard all the arguments and i know everyone has their own convictions on the issue, some stronger than others. i've always been sort of indifferent. we don't make a great big deal out of him, but we also don't act like he's an instrument...

[found here] today, i'm thankful for: our almighty infinite God.  the one who creates, who ordains, who directs, who provides,  who equips, who saves, who redeems, who restores,  who loves more lavishly than I will ever comprehend.  the One who sent His son as the atonement for sin, as the victor over death.  who was and is, and is to come. He who has done great things throughout the ages  and continues now, in my life and yours. He is good.  it would be impossible to adequately express thanks [in words] for what He has done for me. a husband who works hard, today included, doing what he loves.  impacting lives, coaching football, and providing for our little family.  who sees me and notices when I've had a hard day.  who  orders me  to sit on the couch while he prepares for our guests,  cleaning, setting up, serving food [yesterday]. a daughter who could not be more p...

2000 years ago today... the world was forever changed death was defeated. the grave was conquered. Jesus Christ rose triumphantly to life just as He said He would. Hope is the victor. Life is ours to receive. Peace is ours to experience. Grace has been poured out freely, abundantly. Rejoicing comes in the morning. i hope so much that you've believed, trusted, received. He did it all for you. i feel lighter this morning. like a burden has been lifted all over again. do you?  Hope has risen from the grave: alive, victorious and seated at the right hand of Almighty God, actively and constantly interceding  on our behalf.   oh, how he loves us. See, what a morning, gloriously bright,  With the dawning of hope in Jerusalem; Folded the grave-clothes, tomb filled with light,  As the angels announce, "Christ is risen!"  See God's salvation plan,  Wrought in love, borne in pain, paid in sacrifice,...

2000 years ago today.... i was bought with a price. my sin was washed away. Christ endured death on a cross because He loved me. He was betrayed by one of His closest friends. sold out to the chief priests. "tried" and found guilty of simply being Who He was. beaten and flogged relentlessly, until almost unrecognizable as the chosen Messiah. on the brink of certain death. torn and bleeding and dying and thinking of me. He dragged His own cross  halfway up to the place He would die. His body frail, weak, barely functioning. people spit on Him, mocked Him. they utterly disgraced Him. the King of kings and Lord of Lords. He did not say a word  in His defense. 2000 years ago today... Jesus Christ, the savior of the world who had done nothing was put to death, nailed to a cross. yet He willingly suffered so that we might be saved. [because some would never believe] He willingly suffered for the gl...

for valentine's day, i thought i'd repost something from the archives [back before anyone was actually reading this, april 2010]. it's really really long, and i'm actually quoting myself for most of it. so it's really like a post out of the archives out of the archives. disclaimer: i think maybe i was a little more direct back when i wrote the quoted part. i think i also said some things that aren't quite right, but overall the message is good. it was written about four years ago, so just keep that in mind :) anyway, here goes: i love how God teaches us things in certain seasons of life, and brings those lessons back to us when we need them... i wrote this a little over two years ago (on my myspace page, back when people had a "myspace"). every now and then, God gently reminds me that i was once on a quest to LOVE others with a passionate, unwavering, and unconditional love. that i was going to seek out people who were hurting and needed something...

it was the night before christmas and all through the world everything looked like business as usual shepherds sat on a hillside looking up at the stars while the world fell asleep unaware just how deep was the darkness the night before christmas and the night before christmas seemed to be just a night but the wind blew like something was coming and like children with secrets that they're bursting to tell the cedars danced in the breeze while all of nature, it seemed held its breath on the night before christmas and Hope Hope long awaited the Hope of the ages would break with the dawn and the song that all of creation was anticipating would start with a baby's first cry and on the night before Christmas Mary lay down her head and Joseph, he paced the floor praying in an everyday stable in an everyday town in the hours to come God would wrap Himself up and come down from heaven and the world would forever be changed after the night before christmas "the night before christ...

i love thanksgiving. i love that we set a side a full day, every year, to be thankful. i know that gratitude and thankfulness should be a daily practice and most days, for me, it is. i love that my in-laws have the tradition that before we sit down to eat [and there are about 50 of us there] we hold hands in a circle, and say what we're thankful for. it's a big family and we're very blessed. we have a lot to be thankful for and i love hearing what everyone is thinking about each year. of course there are a few here and there that are always late, so they miss this part... and i have to admit, i hate speaking in front of people, even if they're my family! i will always inevitably cry. i've just gotten used to it now and it doesn't bother me it used to make me want to be late [so i missed this part] this year, i am thankful for about a million things, but i'll try to be concise. immediately, i'm thankful for my new [to me] piano: it was graciously given to...