Welcoming Wednesday #7---its a Linky Party!!!

Good morning! Its that wonderful time of the week that 

so many of you look forward to--

I really hope you share with your friends, and get them over here, because everyone that wins "featured Blogger of the Week" will be entered into a Grand Prize drawing for a $50 gift certificate to Amazon that will take place at the end of November---just in time for Christmas shopping! And...I might throw in a few other special little goodies at that time too, just depends on how things are going around here!

This last week was totally amazing,
with so many fabulous links and posts that it was, again,
 really hard to choose.
 However, 
one post stood out above the rest,
and resonated so much with me
(and many of our readers since it was the most "liked" post of the bunch).

It was written by Gretchen of 31 Cups Blog, titled: 
"The Pillow of Selfishness"



Here is a short teaser of her story:

"From somewhere inside me rose up this pure frustration-laced anger. It literally bubbled up inside like an erupting volcano. I wanted to wake him up from his effortless sleep and scream:

Give Me My Pillow!

It is mine. I have almost nothing that is mine. 

Everything is shared. Nothing is truly mine. My time, my creativity, my love. It is all shared. My kitchen is my home school room. My bedroom is the hangout. My pencils are used. My scissors get lost. I share gum, and kleenex, and my lunch. I share the Wii remote, and the chair I am sitting on. I even share the bathroom, almost every time I use it, with my potty training toddler. I can't shower without a little someone needing to brush their teeth. I can not go anywhere without a tribe coming along. My clothes are shared. My shoes are shared. My Bible time is even shared. 

Don't I deserve one little thing that is mine? 

What a Pillow of Selfishness."

What an wonderful, honest, amazing story this post turned out to be, and honestly, how many of us haven't walked that same path over and over again? Thank you for writing something that will impact so many people, and sharing it with us, Gretchen.

and now...

Gretchen,

please feel free to add our Welcoming House button on your post, and the statement that you were featured by us. I will have my Featured Blog button up and running in a couple weeks, and will be sure to contact you with that. You will also be entered in my Featured Blogs Contest that will continue throughout the year, where all the blogs will be entered for a large prize, to be announced in November.

 Due to some issues with our Linky server unexpectedly going to a paid service, we will be using different other providers until we find one that fits.

 ******************

Would you please read the following and link up your posts? 

Each blog is allowed to enter two posts that fit in these categories.

 Entering your link is super easy, just click on the widget, and enter your URL link and thumbnail picture. It may take a little while to appear, but it will, just check back in a little bit! Please remember I moderate things, so it may take a little bit if you leave a comment as well! :)

 The Welcoming Wednesday Link Party is open to anyone who is sharing posts from their blog in the following categories: 

DIY: what crazy creations are you concocting over on your homepage this week?

 Faith-based: Do you have a word of encouragement, life lesson, or heart speak to share with readers? ( please note, this is a Christan faith based blog, and this is the genre I am looking for..)

 Family-based: growing and raising a family is important stuff, and we want you to share your latest! Crafts, fun ideas, recipes, crazy pics? We want to see them all!

Herbs: Are you growing them? using them? Learning about them? Share with us! 

 Gardening: if you love the dirt, then this link up is for you! 

Frugal ideas: We can ALL use more ideas on how to save money, time, and to reuse, recycle, upcycle, or retrain our brains to put more money in our pockets! 

 Canning or preserving: Got a recipe? Want to crow about your latest accomplishment? Dare to share your failures? We are right here waiting for it! 

 Homesteading: We want to live vicariously through your efforts, so please give us updates on your homestead and all its accomplishments: 

 Preparedness: I am a firm believer in being prepared as much as you can be and not relying on someone to swoop in and save you, so posts dealing with this are welcome!

 Please no giveaways or affiliate links without prior permission. 

 Our rules are super simple: PG rated.

 Nothing vulgar or crass will be tolerated. 

 In fact, a single verse comes to mind when I am looking for the heart of posts to be shared on this link up: "Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things!" (Philippians 4:8) 

  Be sure to link back here to the Welcoming House post so your readers can see all the wonderful posts from the Welcoming House community! You can find the code for my button right over there on the right side, just edit your post, go to HTML, add the script at the bottom of your post and click update. Voila! Ready, set, go! 

Many blessings to you and yours, 

Heather