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Well, #BABYSWAG is a SWAGET! I’m a proud daddy of a beautiful baby girl named “Genevieve Hope”!

She came in the world weighing in at 7lb. 7oz. standing (okay laying) at 21.5 inches.

I can’t believe I have a little girl in da house… I am already pricing shotguns, so you little boys better beware!

I’m just completely taken back on how blessed I am. God has given me 2 amazing sons and now a little girl to put them in their place.

I’m already looking forward to some daddy/daughter dates!

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#BABYSWAG is due to make his/her appearance next Friday, March 16! Now this is a scheduled C-section, so for the most part we know that is the date for sure (He/She could always decide to come earlier of course…).

Even though we may know the date, there still is some elements that we don’t know… like one being IS IT A BOY OR A GIRL? So we are running this #BABYSWAG CONTEST and the winner will receive some of their very own SWAG from The [R] Project.

THE DETAILS:
The person who is the closest with the following details will be the winner:
- Boy or Girl?
- Weight?
- Height?

PLUS! We will give out an additional PRIZE PACKAGE to anyone who guesses #BABYSWAG’s name correctly (Just the first name will do…).

THE PRIZE PACKAGE:
- 1 HOPE (EPH. 3:20) T-Shirt
- 2 HOPE Bracelets
- 3 HOPE Buttons
- 1 [R] Window Sticker

LET THE GUESSING BEGIN!

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We are in the process of writing a book/booklet for The [R] Project. This will be a book filled with stories of child loss, verses of hope & comfort, and steps to healing.

Here are some scripture verses that have given us hope. If you have a verse, story, or inspiration quote you would like to share, please comment here.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” – 1 Peter 1:3

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” - Romans 12:!2

“One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock.” – Psalm 27:4-5

“God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.” – Psalm 46:1

“The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” – Zephaniah 3:17

“LORD, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.” – Psalm 10:17

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.” – Psalm 34:18

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” – Isaiah 40:31

“For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” – Romans 8:24-25

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or hope. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.” – Ephesians 3:20-21

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.” – 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” – Revelation 21:4

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Our 2nd annual Wear a Star event is taking place this April 12! Last year we were blown away by the response of those who committed to participating. We were looking to reach a goal of 1,000 and more than doubled that with over 2,000 responses!

So this year we are shooting for 10,000 commitments, and with about 11 weeks to go, we already have almost 3,000 commitments! (that’s 30% of our goal!!!)

God is amazing, and he is using The [R] Project in ways that I couldn’t even imagine! I’m looking forward to seeing where God takes us in the coming months.

If you haven’t had a chance to sign up for the event, you can do so here

Also, check out wearastar.com for more info about Wear a Star Day and to purchase “Star Swag” to help support The [R] Project and spread the message of HOPE!

the [R]evolution continues…

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We are often looking for that one “BIG IDEA” that is going to “save” our marriage. You know, that magical spell that is just going to make everything be “alright”. The thing is, marriage is more than just that one “incredible experience”, it’s a lifelong process that takes lots of “little things” to make it work.

I found this posted over at dougfields.com
Here are 20 “little thing” ideas that a friend of his stated that he could be doing to change his marriage:

1. Clean up my dishes
2. Not leave clothes on the side of my bed
3. Put the toothpaste in the drawer (I usually leave it out)
4. To hug/kiss her right when I come in the house
5. Fill-up the gas in her car
6. Not watch TV in bed when she’s trying to sleep
7. Write her a short note and put in her briefcase
8. Don’t read the mail and leave the envelopes out
9. Put stuff back in the refrigerator
10. Walk the dog at night so she doesn’t have to
11. Be more affectionate
12. Listen to music instead of sports’ radio while we’re getting ready
13. Turn the lights off when I leave a room
14. Offer to help the kids with their homework
15. Comment and affirm her more often
16. Ask her if I could do the shopping this week
17. Don’t bring my phone to the dinner table
18. Care more deeply about her day
19. Make the bed
20. Bring home flowers/dessert/gift one night a week

Now this is his list, but I’m sure most of us can easily relate to his ideas. In fact, I’m sure we could add even more “little things” to the list that we neglect to think about, but could truly CHANGE our marriage!

What are somethings you could/would add to the list?

Don’t FORGET about the #1 thing you can do for your Marriage… PRAY!

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Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S.

Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.

The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Go here to sign petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.

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If there was one thing that people would say they wish they had more of (besides money) it would most likely be “time”. It just never seems that we ever have enough of it!

In fact, if we had more “time”, there would be more things we would love to do with that time. Like take a person who is trying to be a “better” Christian. They would say, “If I had more time, I would tell more peeps about Jesus”, or “I would get plugged into a ministry at my church”, etc…

There is a lot of good things we would like to do if we had more “time”. Like spending more time with our families, taking some time to exercise for better health, spending some time organizing our stuff to help us be more efficient with our…. yea, “time”.

The problem is this. We only have 24 hours in a day and only 7 days in a week (in case you didn’t know). So our “time” is already limited to what is put in place. We can’t create more time! Or can we?…

We may not be able to add more hours to the day or more days to the week, but it is possible to add more “time” to our life. Follow me here for a second. It’s like trying to put on your favorite pair of jeans that no longer fit. Instead of trying to make the jeans bigger, you must make yourself smaller. So you must get rid of the “fat” that you don’t need, allowing yourself to fit in those jeans that you dearly love so much.

Now what does jeans and time have in common? Probably not too much, but for the sake of illustration, they both require us to get rid of the “fat” that we don’t need in our lives so we can “fit” into them better.

If we want/need more time, we need to get rid of the “fat” time wasters that are in our lives. Now a lot of these time wasters are not necessary bad things, but if not used in the right way they can easily hinder us from what we really want to/should be doing.

Some of big time wasters are (but not limited to): video games, TV, facebook (yea, I went there), texting, hobbies, shopping, and pretty much anything else that we can easily spend countless hours doing, but really have no substantial value.

LET’S BE CLEAR! I’m not saying that it’s bad to do these things! But, if we are not careful, these things can easily become “time wasters”, keeping us from doing things that we should be doing.

Can you identify a “time waster” in your life?

“So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity” – Ephesians 5:15-16

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About 2 years ago I had a life changing experience while on a mission’s trip to Kenya, Africa. Well, I’m going back!

I have the honor and privilege of being a part of Restoration 2012! We will be going to Nairobi, Kenya in April and will be headed outside the city to reach out to various villages and communities.

I’m SUPER PUMPED about being able to be a part of this amazing opportunity, looking forward to what God is going to teach me this time around!

“I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ – Matthew 25:35-40

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Do you think you have what it takes to be the biggest loser? If you are looking for a challenge to lose some extra poundage that may have occurred over the past few holidays, then step up on the scale!

Here’s the competition low down: starting this Monday, January 2 till the end of the month you will be trying to lose as much weight as possible. If you are up to the challenge you will be competing against others who are doing the same.

Here’s what you will win! Okay, so this isn’t about money, it’s all about the bragging rights and fitting into your old clothes that you thought you wouldn’t be able to wear again! It’s about walking up a flight of stairs without reaching for the oxygen tank. It’s about that little kick in the behind that you have been waiting for… that’s right, I said “behind”. As in, let’s put that extra weight behind you and move forward!

If you want to join the competition, just simply leave a comment with your name, current weight, and if you have a way to measure, your current body fat percentage. (If you don’t want your info to be posted for everyone to see, then just say “Please keep private”).

Once the competition starts, we will then ask for everyone to check in on Mondays with their results for the week. We will then post the leaders based on percentage loss.

Okay, so here is the list of who’s competing in our BIGGEST LOSER contest as of right now… I will only be posting first names and their last initials. I will not show the beginning weights, but will be posting weight loss and total percentages.

So, HERE WE GO!

Participants are:
SS
KV
WS
LV
MB
SW
MG
LMc
AG
CH
RG
AA
DH
JMc
BS
JMo

Here is the results from Monday, January 9: (by percentage lost)
JMo – 2.79%
LMc – 2.71%
WS – 2.5%
SS – 2.09%
AA – 2.01%
AG – 1.7%
DH – 1.2%
BS – 1.16%
RG – .82%
MB – 0%
Did Not Check In:
KV
LV
SW
CH
JMc

Here are the results from Monday, January 16: (by total percentage lost)
LMc – 4.53%
JM – 3.91%
SS – 3.26%
SW – 3.04%
BS – 2.33%
AA – 2.01%
RG – 1.67%
DH – 1.64%
WS – .5%

Did Not Check In:
AG
RG
MB
KV
LV
SW
CH
JMc

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It’s funny how God works. Ha ha… okay, so it’s only funny to us because we don’t always (if ever) see the BIG picture. We usually see what is either right in front of us or what we choose to see.

For example: I could be sitting in a room that is completely a mess. (now understand, I probably really couldn’t do that because I despise messy rooms, but bear with me). So, I’m sitting in this hypothetical room that is completely trashed and I could ignore the garbage that lies at my feet by simply looking away from it all. Or even better yet, I could close my eyes and get rid of it completely!

The problem is whether I choose to look away or completely ignore the problem, it’s still there. It’s not until I physically get up and starting picking things up that the problem starts to get solved.

So back to my BIG picture thing. When it comes to figuring out how God works, we often sit down and close our eyes ignoring the stuff around us. God wants our eyes to be open! He wants us to be aware of our surroundings and the people he places in our lives! He wants us to get up and physically/spiritually get to work!

So what does this mean to me? This means that I might not completely see the BIG PICTURE that God has planned for me. However, if I am pursuing Him and doing what I know I’m suppose to be doing now (LOVING HIM FIRST, LOVING OTHERS, etc…), I can’t go wrong!

So what decisions/things are you “sitting” down on? Perhaps even have your eyes closed on? Open your eyes, get up, and get to work… God has got this! I promise…

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. – Jeremiah 29:11