“My husband is in Afghanistan and a few ‘favorite things’ would brighten my day!”
How about that, Sisters?!? OK, Edie, please contact Living Proof Ministries at toll free (888) 700-1999 and give us an address. Please ask for Kimberly or Susan. Knowing what we now know, all of us here would want so much to send you to the beach…but, instead, we’re sending the beach to you. ENJOY!!!
PROCEED WITH CAUTION: this post will embody most everything you anticipate and perhaps even despise about women’s ministry. There will even be pink nail polish. As the great Professor Thornbury said a few weeks ago on the Twitterverse “something is not a stumbling block if you can see it coming.” So, consider yourself warned.
Colin and I just returned from a week at the beach in Mexico. It was crazy fantastic. I slept. I read classic literature. I also swam with a dolphin named Duey. And on the day I returned home I was greeted abrasively by a stomach bug and a crick in my neck so bad I could barely move my head. Oh, and then my 100 lb puppy Winston ate my over-priced prescription eye-glasses. But how can I really be frustrated with this bad boy?
Anyway, since this weekend was the Memorial Day holiday I scrolled through numerous tweets from people who were somewhere fabulous while I was at home with a bag of frozen corn under my neck. And I began to weep for the serenity of the ocean and my dolphin Duey.
But enough about me.
I want to talk about you.
I got to thinking that there may be some of you who won’t get a break this summer. While nearly everyone you know is off to some fabulous island, you won’t get a moment’s rest. For whatever reason, you won’t be able to retreat to the beach or the mountains or to wherever else makes your heart happy. We want to send a little fun and lots of love your direction so we’re doing a random give-away. And it will not include commentaries, concordances, or anything super useful or meaningful.
This giveaway is simply full of some of my personal favorite summer things including: Bobbi Brown Beach parfum (seriously smells exactly like the beach!), classic Ray-Ban aviators, Votivo Candle in White Ocean Sands, a pair of bright yellow Moleskine notebooks, Tea Forte’ Pomegranate Blackberry Iced Tea, and America’s Test Kitchen Best Summer Dessert recipes. See the contents below:
There are really no conditions for this giveaway. My hope, of course, is that this gift makes it into the hands of someone who simply can’t get a break this year and not someone who is heading to the Maldives or Bora Bora next week to stay in one of those little huts with glass floors sprawled across sparkling turquoise waters. But truly, if this gift brings a big smile to a single one of your faces that is quite enough for me.
So, please enter your name in the comments section if you could use a little sunshine in your world. We’ll do a random drawing and announce the winner at noon on this Thursday the 31st.
You are loved.
Melissa
Count me in! The only place I am going is to work, cause I start grad school in the fall:)
What a fun give away!!! Lisa Watts
Thanks! What a fabulous giveaway! I am home with FOUR boys all summer. We are super busy. I can only dream of being on a beach with just my husband, reading a book and sipping some sweet tea!
Oh Melissa this is so sweet for whoever gets this gift. Life is hard and sometimes we are thrown curve balls that penetrate so deeply it is all we can do to breathe. Thank you for your sweet sensitivity to others. May God pour His blessings of love, compassion and grace all over you.
This is both wonderful and very thoughtful! Thank you so much for thinking of us siestas!
This sounds absolutely wonderful!! 🙂
I’ll be staying in Arizona, where it’s sandy like a beach, but no water!
Thanks for the chance to win.
Oh this would be an awesome win! Glad you had a good trip and made it back safely, but sorry about the stomach bug! I despise that thing. Horrible.
Such a lovely giveaway..we don’t do vacations, my husband likes road trips so we sit in the car for miles and miles…one year we did 900 miles in a day. Last year my daughter and I stayed home, as a treat to ourselves, while the “guys” went on a 6,000 miles trip in a 13 year old van for two weeks. Sequestered in a van for 14 days is not my idea of a good time.
I enjoy reading your blog and the insights are encouraging!
Kids everywhere this summer- mine and “other people’s”!!!!!
Im going on a cruise from Galveston with my honey. Don’t enter me. I think you are awesome!!
It looks like I won’t get a true vacation this summer due to so many work commitments and a new family of 4. This would be such a great gift and thank you for offering this to all your blog readers and siestas.
Would love to win this package to the beach! thanks for the encouragement!
This would be fantastic to win, you guys ROCK!!!!
Fun! Pick me please! Becky in WI.
Hope to win! Will not be getting to go to the beach this summer. My 2 year old granddaughter has been battling cancer and is now in remission. But we just do not have the financial resources to take a trip to the beach.
But God is Good! She is now in remission and being a typical 2 year old. And we are praising God!
Shirley
The beach IS my happy place….well that and Glorieta New Mexico!!!!
What a great gift! I love the beach. I’m not sure when I’ll have a chance to be at a beach again, so I would love anything to remind me of it. Today is my 37th wedding anniversary, but I am in the process of getting a divorce. It’s a pretty hard day, but I firmly believe that the Lord is good — all the time! P.S. I have a large dog too. He used to love to chew remote controls,but I’ve been giving him Dogzilla bones. They are a very strong nylon. He loves to chew on them and they actually last for a while.
I will be able to get away for a few days this year on a girls only trip, thank the Lord! There are wonderful ladies in my church that won’t. While I am away,they are feeding my family, my husband is the pastor. If I win, I will have a drawing and give it away at our next Ladies Luncheon! Fun! Thank you and God bless!
i see palm trees swaying and water and sand under my toes! What a sweet treat!
Thanks for the chance to win!!!
Oh what a great giveaway. We are expecting our second baby and trying to sell our condo to get a bigger house so no vacation of any kind this year. If I can’t go to the beach I would sure love to at least smell like I did, right?
Thank you for the chance to win! 😉
would love a little beach while i’m stuck at home during the summer. pregnant with our second baby, very sick, and my husband works a very intensive job and his summer hours are crazy. so we are homebound and i’m stuck home most days with no car.. not to try and tell a sob story! 🙂 but.. i would love a stay-cation. but whoever wins, may they be blessed! what a fun giveaway. 🙂 happy summer!
Thank you for being so thoughtful..
God Bless
Kellie Lindstrom
Love it!!!
I normally go to Florida once a year. But not this year. Oh, please pick me.
Yea! What a treat! I am going through a major computer conversion at work this summer and cannot take any time off, but I love to rest at home with a good book.
Good luck to all!
I adore the beach, but won’t be making it there this year. I love my job, though, so I would never complain! Please enter me! 🙂
I won’t be making it to the beach this summer so this would be the next best thing!!!
I love this idea! I would love to win this for my mom and sister (to split between them). My sister is a single mom of two kids (her husband left her for another woman), and she is really struggling financially and never gets a break! She is the best Mom and devoted follower of Christ, and I’d love to honor her in this way. In addition, my sweet Dad has had Multiple Sclerosis since 1980, and my mom has always been right by his side. She works tirelessly to take care of him and try to be the breadwinner of the family (since Dad can’t work), and also helps take care of my sister (mentioned above) and her kids, and it’s often a thankless and “break-less” job. Thanks for doing this!
Wow what a wonderful idea & so refreshing. I would love to take a mental beach vacation this summer. Thank you & best times for whoever wins this gift !
I love this sight. I found it accidentally from someone elses. It would really be nice to be entered in the drawing. No real vacation for us this year. We take it in bits and pieces, but are thankful for each little one.
L Raley
would love to go to a quiet beach anywhere and read to my hearts content. count me in. cuz vaca isnt happening for me this yr. thanks melissa!
I’ll admit I’ve been a little envious of everybody’s vacation plans for the summer. Instead I’m having our third child in two weeks (we have an 8 yr old and a 19 month old) and then we’re moving to another state 5 weeks later. fun times. 🙂
I could use a pick me up myself, but I am entering this giveaway for my daughter who has three small boys, is deeply struggling with depression and cannot afford a vacation. This might be the blessing she needs to help her see the brighter side of life in the Lord.
Thanks Melissa for thinking of us!
How exciting!!! Thank you for brightening up our summer!!
How very generous of you and the staff! The tired teacher would love a gift basket to share with others. Blessings ro you!
I would really just love to win this for the slew of single mother’s that I know that won’t be doing anything for themselves this summer to relax. this would bring tears to the eyes of the one in particular I’m thinking of. PICK ME!! PICK ME!!:)
This is just what is needed to bring a smile to any girl’s face. Plus, I’m a pink toenails in the summer kinda girl.
cool idea…thanks for this opportunity!
AWE HOW SWEET!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SPECIAL HEART AND SHARING THE GOOD NEWS WITH ME. I AM IN THE STUDY OF JAMES MERCY TRIUMPHS WITH BETH MOORE, MELISSA AND THE REST OF THE CREW! JUST LOVE IT!! MANY BLESSING MY SISTERS
DOLLY VICTORIA IN SYLMAR CALIFORNIA
That sounds like a really nice treat right now! Count this Canadian chick in! 🙂
This looks amazing! How fun! Thank you for your encouragement, love, and friendship through this blog.
Thank you …
oohhhh what wonderful goodies!! good luck to everyone!!
What a generous and fun giveaway!! I know several people who could benefit from the little bits of fun included in this gift!
I could use some sunshine. 😉
So fun! What I would give for a trip to the beach…. 🙂