Samantha Needs My Help and Yours.

This is Samantha. She turned 3 years old in December. She LOVES playing outside.

Her mama, Alicia, is one of my real life friends from college and blogs at Experiencing Each Moment. Alicia is an amazing woman! Her husband is currently deployed with the Navy, so Alicia has sole care for Sam's big brother (Timothy, almost 6) and Sam.

A big part of that care is providing Sam with daily medication and physical therapy to treat her Cystic Fibrosis.

According to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation,

CF is an inherited chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system of about 30,000 children and adults in the United States (70,000 worldwide). A defective gene and its protein product cause the body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that:

• clogs the lungs and leads to life-threatening lung infections; and
• obstructs the pancreas and stops natural enzymes from helping the body break down and absorb food.

Right now, Sam is doing very well. She is healthy, growing and responding to her treatments. But, for now, this disease has no cure.

What it does have is a "predicted median age of survival ... of 37 years."

37 years.

That is way too young!!

So, what can we do to help Samantha and others like her find better treatments and ultimately a cure for Cystic Fibrosis?

First, pray.

• Pray that a cure is found.
  
• Pray that Sam continues to respond to treatments.
  
• Pray that her Daddy, Dan, stays safe as he serves our families and our country at sea.

Second, give.

• Give because Sam is a cute little girl.
  
• Give because Alicia writes a wonderful blog.
  
• Give because saying 'thank you' to Dan for his military service seems so inadequate!

Giving is super easy. You can go to Dan's GREAT STRIDES Home Page and follow the links.

Sam and her family currently need $380 to reach their goal for the CF GREAT STRIDES walk this month. I have about 30+ folks who read this blog every day. Let's each give $10 to help Samantha reach their goal AND possibly fund a cure for her disease.

Go here to give today.

Family Fun Friday

As a mom of four, I'm always on the look out for fun and frugal activities to do as a family.

The thought occurred to me recently that you are also looking for fun family activities. So why not share my ideas with you and invite you to share your ideas with me?!

So, Family Fun Friday was born!

Here are the guidelines:

1. Publish a post describing an activity 2 or more people in your family have done or plan to do together.
2. In your post include: pictures, videos, links to more information or the place you went, appropriate ages for children and how much money you spent on the activity.
3. Leave the link to your post in the comments of the newest Family Fun Friday here at SMB (I hope to use a Mr. Linky soon). I will put up a new Family Fun post every Friday but it isn't necessary for you to post on Friday. Post throughout the week and leave your comment on my most recent Family Fun Friday post.
4. Include a link in your post to a Family Fun Friday post here at SMB. Feel free to grab the button!
5. Keep your activities FAMILY FRIENDLY!! I reserve the right to delete any comments/links that I believe are dangerous, unethical, illegal, immoral or above a PG rating. :)

Let Family Fun Friday begin!!!

Living as a Single Christian Woman - Guest Series

Last week our series, "Living as a Single Christian Woman," came to an end. I'm a little sad about that. Ann, Michelle, and Alicia did an amazing job writing on some very broad topics. I loved reading their wisdom every week and am encouraged that principles for living Godly lives are the same regardless of your marital status!

In case you missed the series or would like to go back through and read them again, here are the links to the individual posts:

Living as a Single Christian Woman:

Living as a Single Christian Woman by Ann
Falling in Love Takes Work by Michelle
A Life Defined by Contentment by Alicia

Learning
Life is Learning by Ann
6 Things Every Christian Woman Should Know by Michelle
Jesus on Learning by Alicia

Life
Dive In! by Ann
Life in All Its Fullness by Michelle
LIVE it Up!! by Alicia

Thank you, Ann, Michelle, and Alicia for writing these insightful posts. I love that 3 women with different backgrounds, different lifestyles and in different States wrote articles that are so cohesive. Might be because they all share the same Lord - Jesus.

If you have been inspired, encouraged or convicted by these posts please leave a comment! Also, visit each lady's blog for more of her writing (and don't forget to leave a comment to encourage her!).