Photo Books make great presents and a GIVEAWAY!

I'm a little obsessed with taking pictures of my girls and the things they do. They just change and grow so quickly and I don't want to forget a thing! So I thought that I would share one of my favorite ways of preserving memories: making photobooks! You can use any online picture service, but I like to use Shutterfly because their books are high quality, easy to make, and Shutterfly often gives out special codes and runs Groupons to make them more affordable. I've never bought a book that wasn't at least 40% off with free shipping. (And in case you are wondering, no, I am not getting anything from Shutterfly for writing this post -- I just wanted to share in case you don't already have a favorite website to make books!)

I've made baby books, thank you books for a fun vacation with the Grandparents', family photoshoot books, soccer class books, yearly scrapbooks, and a photo book celebrating 85 years of my grandmother's life.

I am currently working on 3 books: last year's scrapbook, a book of funny things my girls have said (I've been writing down their silly quotes for several years now), and a school scrapbook containing pictures of our first and last days of school, favorite art projects, educational things they have done, etc. For instance, here are a few of the things I will put in their school/ art scrapbook:

The pumpkins they decorated with glitter and sequins (of which they are ever so proud):

The fall banner they made with dots, sequins, leaf painting, and apple painting
Their thankful tree (once it is finished at the end of the month, along with a list of what they said they were thankful for)
The first page that Karis actually colored entirely

I also have 3 sets of Shutterfly codes that I can give out to 3 of our readers. If you would like to get a free 8x8 photobook, 10 free holiday cards, and free shipping, please leave a comment on this post. I'll let you know next Friday (Nov. 11) who won.

[Closed] Giveaway: 15 Preschool Activity Bags from Prayer of Hannah

Hello! Welcome to the new and improved Prayer of Hannah blog. Whether you are a long-time reader of Prayer of Hannah, or a first time visitor, please browse around and see what we are all about.

As a way to celebrate our new look, we are offering a cute little giveaway...

A set of 15 Preschool Busy Bags! The lucky winner of this giveaway will receive 15 Preschool Activity Bags, all assembled and ready to entertain your preschooler. The 15 bags come with a handy tote to keep them all stored in one place.

Here are the ins and outs of the giveaway. Please leave a comment to this post to let us know what you enjoy most about Prayer of Hannah. We will leave the comments open until 12 midnight on Thursday, August 18. At that time, we will close the comments and pick a winner at random. One entry per person. We will announce the winner on Friday and ship your Activity Bags to you. This giveaway is not limited to the United States - we will ship anywhere worldwide. We know a lot of our readers live all around the world and we'd hate to leave you out!

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking us out! Good luck!

[Closed] Book Review and Giveaway!

"Likewise we ought to read simple and devout books as willingly as learned and profound ones. We ought not to be swayed by the authority of the writer, whether he be a great literary light or an insignificant person, but by the love of simple truth. We ought not to ask who is speaking, but mark what is said. Men pass away, but the truth of the Lord remains forever. God speaks to us in many ways without regard for persons."
-Thomas à Kempis

Kevin Harvey is a friend from church. We've known him and his family for at least five years now. We see them weekly at a dinner club started by my mother-in-law (years ago when my husband was in middle school! but that's another story for another day). Our kids are close in age and play together weekly. We appreciate their friendship and the ways they minister to our church! Recently, Kevin wrote a book. He asked me if I would read it and do a review on POH....

I'll be honest, I was not super excited about the idea because I am FAMOUS for not finishing books for various reasons. But, Amy (Kevin's sweet wife) assurred me it was an easy read! And I'm here to say now that she was so right! I finished the book in less than two days and really enjoyed it.

The quote I posted above was taken from the blog of my friend, Jenn. (Also a friend of the Harveys and also did a blog review of the book. :) When I read it, I thought it was perfect. She was sure to point out that she is not calling Kevin "insignificant." But it was meant to be a reminder to not dismiss a writer you've never heard of. This book is a truly refreshing read and Kevin is a great writer!

Before I get to my quick review, here's the description of the book from Kevin's website:

For too long, the body of Christ has been focused on too many things that, quite simply, haven’t been working. The answer to a lasting, true revival in today’s world isn’t going to come from a continued focus on what we can and cannot do, which denomination has the most biblical theology, or achieving victories in social issues such as definition of family and the right to life. Instead, what our attention should be fixed upon is that the Son of God said the second greatest commandment we’ve been given is to love our neighbors as ourselves.

In this book, Kevin Harvey has taken a biblical approach to help the body of believers define just who their neighbor is and what it means to truly love them as Jesus intended. If the body of Christ began to focus daily on following that one simple idea, then maybe—just maybe—the world would finally begin viewing the church as the salt of the earth and light of the world that Jesus had in mind.

Basically, Kevin related to seemingly unrelatable books of the Bible. Jonah and First John. He uses the story of Jonah to illustrate how we are fleeing from God's "second greatest commandment" to love our neighbor. It was a really wonderful and different look at the book of Jonah. I definitely walked away with some fresh convictions on how I fall short in loving my neighbors. The verses from First John were especially convicting when used to supplement the story in Jonah.

Here's how the book is set up. Each chapter looks a different part of the book of Jonah and is broken into three sections. The first section in each chapter is basically Kevin's summary of what the scripture from Jonah is saying. The second section he calls "The Unavoidable Red Letters" and are the teachings of Jesus that relate to the passages of Jonah covered in that chapter. The third section is "A Friendly Reminder" and is a breakdown of passages from First John that also relate to Jonah.

Kevin uses tons of scripture - even apart from the passages of Jonah, the teachings of Jesus and the verses from First John. He does that too, while writing in a way that you'll feel as though you're sitting in a room with him discussing Jonah. (And I'm not just saying that because I know him and can literally hear him saying many of the lines I read in the book!)

The end of each chapter contains a section he calls "Take it Personally" with questions for individual and group reflection. This book would be great to read on your own or with a group!

If you'd like to get your own copy - you can go to Kevin's website to purchase the book.

OR you can win it here! Kevin gave us a copy of his book (titled Jonah, John, and the Second Greatest (but most avoided) Commandment - since I haven't written that once in this review!!) to give away to one of our lovely POH readers. Be prepared to be challenged in your view of who your neighbor is and whether or not you are loving them as God calls you too!

All you have to do is leave a comment here! (Be sure to leave a way for us to contact you - especially if your blogger profile isn't public!) I'll pick a winner next Sunday, May 30th.

[Closed] GIVEAWAY: A Pouch Sling!

Hello Prayer of Hannah readers! We have another giveaway ready for you this week. Leah has sewn up a beautiful pouch sling to be given away to the lucky winner. She will size it up to match the winner, so no worries there. Same rules as before:

1. To enter, leave a comment. It doesn't have to say anything specific at all.

2. Anyone can leave a comment - we'd especially love to see all kinds of first-time commenters.

3. Be sure we can get in touch with you to let you know if you win. If you have a blog and its visible in your profile - we can just comment there. Otherwise, leave an email address!

4. To enter AGAIN, make a post on your own blog about our giveaway. Then come back here and leave a second comment telling us you blogged about our giveaway!

5. The giveaway will end at 3pm (eastern time) on Friday, May 8th.

6. We'll pick the winning commenter - randomly.

7. We'll contact the winner for shipping info (shipping is on us) - and remember, we will even ship internationally, so please don't hesistate to participate.

[Closed] Prayer of Hannah GIVEAWAY!!

We've really been wanting to do a giveaway on our blog for a long time! It's just so much fun to win something and we're going to give you a couple of chances. Of course, we're huge fans of handmade items so we'll be giving away some of the crafty items we've blogged about in the past. Any guesses as to what other items we might giveaway?

Here is our first item up for bids:


Just kidding - you don't have to bid on it, I just wanted to say that. I love the Price is Right. :)

But, to enter the contest, you DO have to leave us a comment. You're "bidding" on a handmade key fob! The ribbon pictured may or may not be used, but rest assured, it will be CUTE (with few visible mistakes, hopefully!). Here are the rules:

1. To enter, leave a comment. It doesn't have to say anything specific at all.

2. Anyone can leave a comment - we'd especially love to see all kinds of first-time commenters.

3. Be sure we can get in touch with you to let you know if you win. If you have a blog and its visible in your profile - we can just comment there. Otherwise, leave an email address!

4. To enter AGAIN, make a post on your own blog about our giveaway. Then come back here and leave a second comment telling us you blogged about our giveaway!

5. The giveaway will end at 3pm (eastern time) on Friday, April 17th.

6. We'll pick the winning commenter - randomly.

7. We'll contact the winner for shipping info (shipping is on us) and get their cute new key fob in the mail, ASAP!


We know this isn't a super huge, fancy schmancy, exciting giveaway - but hope that its still fun! Our desire is to simply bless you guys and spread the word about Prayer of Hannah.

Have fun and thanks for reading POH!

(Be sure you see the post below with some new product recommendations! Stay tuned for more this week...)