Luv'N Lambert Life

Mental Health, Homeschooling, Epilepsy and More

Embrace Grace {Frontgate Media Review}

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Embrace Grace provides a safe place for girls and women with unplanned pregnancies.  Every day finds another young girl or woman wondering what their future holds because today brought news of an unexpected child.  Embrace Grace helps women find love, comfort and a safe place to embrace their pregnancy without condemnation or judging.
Embrace Grace is a beautiful community resource that you can bring to your local church to help support these women in need.  Embrace Grace provides curriculum to teach those in your church community how to truly help these women spiritually, emotionally and practically to encourage them to not give up and keep their heads high in situations that have been previously known to bring shame.
Unplanned Pregnancy should not be a shameful thing for women to deal with.  Every child is a blessing and a gift.  To many times women are taught that having a child out of wedlock is a shameful thing, leading them to take drastic measures to see that the problem is corrected.  Embrace Grace is helping to change this stigma attached to unplanned pregnancy by giving the Church a way to help and showing support to these women who truly need to be lifted up in Christ’s Love.
Embrace Grace provides women with unplanned pregnancies with a Love Box entitled Love In A Box.  This gift box is filled with items to encourage the Mother and show support and love to her during this difficult time.  It is a wonderful way to who support of these women.
The box includes:
  • Branded Box
  • “Special Gift” Postcard
  • “Dear Brave Girl” Love Letter
  • “A Bump in the Life” Book
  • “Best Gift Ever” Onesie
  • Brave Journal
  • A free gift offer if the Mother reaches out to Embrace Grace
For this review, we were gifted the Pro-Love necklace and the Brave Journal.  The necklace is a simple bar shape with the words Pro-Love stamped on, connected by a chain to the enclosure.  It’s adorable and a great way to be supportive of Embrace Grace.
The Brave Journal is a great place to write what you are feeling, a letter to your unborn baby, take notes for your next steps.  The cover was colorful and inspiring.  It’s small to fit inside a purse or diaper bag as well.
These were only two small samples of the wonderful gifts that Embrace Grace provides to these beautiful women and soon-to-be Mothers in support of them.  Embrace Grace is a wonderful program, one that every church should participate in to support these women who need our love the most.  You can find out how you can support this program and start your own Embrace Grace program within your local church by visiting the Embrace Grace website online.
There is also a giveaway you can join in to WIN a journal and necklace of your own.  Here is the LINK for it: https://www.blessedfreebies.com/embrace–grace.html
Here are several ways you can help support Embrace Grace:
  1. Start an Embrace Grace at your local church so young women with unplanned pregnancies have a support group. 
  2. Partner with the national organization through prayer and support at www.EmbraceGrace.com 
  3. Download and print our brave girl letter (https://egrace.co/brave) and mail to address below for us to place inside a Love in a Box. 
You can mail your Brave Girl letter to:
Embrace Grace, Inc.
Attn: Love in a Box
700 W. Bedford Euless Rd., Ste. G
Hurst, TX 76053


Dear Brave Girl,
I know times are hard right now and you may not know where to turn, but don’t give up.  And don’t give in to the temptation to just end your child’s life as I know may have crossed your mind.   Media makes that seem like the easy solution but it isn’t.  Your heart still has to live with the decision long after that choice is made.
There are other options.  Adoption if you truly cannot afford the child.  There is always someone who is near to you who wishes for the very child you are carrying right now.  Someone who would be blessed by your decision to keep this child alive.
And then there is the fact that this baby, though it may not seem like it today, is a true blessing from God. One you may not realize you need in your life.  Children change our lives for the better.
God is with you, Dear One.  Do not be disheartened and do not give up.  He holds your hand when it seems there is no one around.  He will carry you, love you, support you every step if you just allow him to do so.
With God’s love you will overcome and you will find Love through your child that you never imagined possible.
God bless and many prayers for you,
Dana

To find support in a church near you, contact Embrace Grace today!

Disclaimer:
I received these items in exchange for my honest review of this program.  This post is a part of the Frontgate Blogger Network.  No money was exchanged for this review.  I am including this in accordance with the FTC rules.  All opinions are my own.
Dana Lambert, Owner and Blogger at Luv’N Lambert Life

Freewriting Creatively {Crew Review}

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What We Received for Review:

Home School Adventure Co. graciously provided us with a digital copy of Creative Freewriting Adventure: A Journey into Freewriting.  They also gifted us with an additional digital copy of the Creative Freewriting Adventure: A Journey into Freewriting, the Coloring Book Edition. Both of which have been wonderful resources for our school.
What Is Freewriting?
What is freewriting you ask?  Freewriting is a method of writing where you simply just write.  You don’t take time to correct puncuation or spelling.  You don’t worry about it making sense.  You just freely write and let your words and thoughts flow.
About This Product:
Creative Freewriting Adventure encourages students to release their creative side.  It’s suggested to set a timer for 15 minutes.  Then to write and see what comes out onto the paper.
Creative Freewriting Adventure is a bit more structured than just giving the student the assignment to write with no topic or instruction.  Students are provided with a lesson for each assignment.  There are 10 exercises included in this curriculum.
Thales was the first.  Through the lesson the student learned about Thales and how his prediction of a Solar Eclipse had stopped battle.  Then begins the writing.
There are questions to get the writers mind moving and motivated to help their writing come to life.  The scene is set for them but the ending is completely up to their imaginative minds.  And they are to write out, freely, what they think and feel happened following the suggested events in the guide.
Each lesson goes in this manner.  Each lesson explores a different person, thing or event in life.  And each lesson provides a different story for your student to freewrite about and learn from.
How We Used This:

Of the two versions, I decided to use the Coloring Book Edition of Creative Freewriting Adventure with my daughter, Emmalee who is 14.  She’s an artist so I knew this version would fit her better.  The Coloring Book Edition includes images to color and design along with your writing, so you are providing some illustration as well as the story itself.  This was a plus for her and kept her from becoming bored with just writing.
But really, she didn’t become bored with writing with Creative Freewriting Adventure because unlike other writing programs we used, this one allowed her to be herself and write the adventures her way.  She was able to not worry about what she was writing, about letter form, or spelling and instead she was able to concentrate simply on the stories themselves through her writing.  Adding in the additional coloring, artistic element as well was just a bonus.
Where You Can Buy This:

You can purchase Creative Freewriting Adventure: A Journey Into Freewriting from Home School Adventure Co. for $18.95 for the Digital Edition or $21.95 for the Print Edition.  The Digital Edition does allow typeable formatting so your student can type their stories instead of writing if you prefer that method.
The Creative Freewriting Adventure Coloring Book Edition is available as well for $21.95 in Digital Download only.  This edition has the same content as the original Creative Freewriting Adventure but includes additional art for coloring to enhance the learning experience.  We preferred this version to the original.
Where You Can Find Home School Adventure Co.:

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/HomeSchoolAdven  @HomeSchoolAdven


To Read More Crew Reviews of Home School Adventure Co.:


Resources with a Biblical Worldview{Home School Adventure Co. Reviews}

Disclaimer:

Crew Disclaimer

Eclectic Foundations Level A {Crew Review}

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When I first took a look at Eclectic Foundations, I knew this program was something I was definitely interested in giving a try.  Just the simple look of the website told me right away this program was going to fit well for us.  I often look for old fashioned educational materials that are simple in format to use with my children because I find they learn better with things that aren’t over the top.
I chose the first level of the program to review: Eclectic Foundations Language Arts Level A in the PDF format so I could print the program for more than one student.  I like this option because if I need to redo a worksheet with a student who didn’t understand it or who just needs a little more practice, I can simply print out another one.  It also allows me to provide a worksheet to my youngest child who may not understand what the others are learning but still wishes to join in.
What We Received For Review:
For review, we were sent the PDF file of Eclectic Foundations Language Arts Level A.  We were also sent a PDF copy of McGuffey’s Eclectic Primer by William Holmes McGuffey.  If you’d rather have an actual book, you can order this Primer online through various websites.
McGuffey’s readers have been a favorite of our family for years now and we’ve used them from time to time to teach reading when other readers just wouldn’t work.  They are timeless classics used by many families.  Their format is very simple and easy to understand and use without extra fluff to confuse children.  I personally tend to look for these characteristics when choosing curriculum for our eager learners to use.
The file for Eclectic Foundations Language Arts Level A was the complete PDF download of the Teacher’s Guide for this level.  It includes everything you need to get started except the reader I mentioned above.  The student worksheets are contained right in this text.  The day to day lessons plans are written out for your easy use.  To me this was a blessing.
There are 144 lessons in Level A.  The format is simple.  Lesson 1 begins with reciting the Alphabet, then moves to a playdough activity.  Next is an activity to teach children to recognize letter sounds.  And finally there is a daily poem from Mother Goose.
This format is similar daily which helps the child know what to expect and you as well.  The activities are simple but really teach the child.  Activities change by the day as well so you’re not doing exactly the same things every day.
Somewhere around Lesson 65, the McGuffey reader is introduced and you will begin to use it for daily lessons.  Before this, your lessons are all from the Teacher’s guide and the printables which are included within the guide.  The basics of the beginning of Level A, lead up to learning to read before you actually get to the book itself.
There are also word cards which are to be printed and used with the lessons.  The students color the nouns red and the verbs green to help them see the difference in the parts of speech.  We colored these and then I laminated them so they would be able to be used for a long time.
The lessons are adaptable.  You can expand on the activities if you wish.  You can use other activities that you may find that fit with the main lesson itself.  There’s many ways you can expand the program other than suggested within the daily lessons.
It would be great to find the daily Mother Goose’s poem in the actual book to read together.  You could also find a printable of the rhyme to showcase for your student that day.  Then you could expand on learning the poem by including an activity to go with that.


How We Used It and What We Thought:


The program is designed for 4 lessons to be taught a week.  Since we homeschool all week, all year round, we more than met this suggestion.  Because these lessons were so easy to use, I wasn’t overwhelmed by making them happen every day and neither were my little ones.  The length was perfect for us to work through and complete within an hour a day, sometimes less or more depending on the activities we did.  Sometimes the kids continued to expand the lesson on their own, especially on play dough days.
Some days I added in more activities because I felt the kids needed a little more than the lesson plan called for.  I also searched online for printable copies of the poems to grab the kids attention and laminated these so they could look at them through the day.  This allowed them to have extra practice recognizing words and visually see print on paper.  As it was laminated, the poems weren’t easy for my young son to damage and it was easy for him to carry from place to place each day as he played.  Sometimes he likes to read to his Dino’s.
My littles barely realized they were learning.  The activities just flowed for them.  They enjoyed “reading” with Mommy and learning.
This program is one I would have picked for my kids if I hadn’t received it for review.  We do a lot of Charlotte Mason and Ambleside style learning in our Eclectic homeschooling so it fit us really well there too.  Using the McGuffey Primer made it an even bigger WIN!  It’s definitely one I plan to continue to use and I look forward to purchasing more levels in the future.
How Can You Get This Product:
Eclectic Foundations Language Arts Level A is available on the Eclectic Foundations website.  We received the PDF file which costs $30.  Level A is for students in First Grade but could be used with a Kindergarten child or a child who is older but struggles with reading.  The skills start from the very beginning and build from there.
The printed Teacher’s Guide for Eclectic Foundations Language Arts Level A is available for $12 if you prefer the printed format.  The Student Workbook for this level is $24.  The Level A Appendixes and Word Cards are available for $20.
The program also has other Levels available for your students.
The Eclectic Foundations website can help you determine which level is right for your students.


Where Else Can You Find Eclectic Foundations Online:


Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eclecticstudent
Read Other Reviews Of Eclectic Foundations:

Language Arts {Eclectic Foundations Reviews}
Disclaimer:
Crew Disclaimer

The Answer From The GYN {Severe Anemia Awareness}

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Monday I saw the GYN.

It feels like it was a month ago but it’s only been a few days.  The visit didn’t take long.  He checked my blood work.  He checked me.  And we talked.

He asked was I completely done having children.  My answer was yes because I had my tubal.  He asked me very seriously was I finished, without considering the tubal, was I done.  That was a hard question for me to answer.

He said my uterus is slightly enlarged but not terribly.  He said I had two options to stop the bleeding: medicine or a hysterectomy but in the end it would probably be the later for both options.  In his opinion it is best to go ahead and take out my uterus.

I’m 37 years old.  Except for Epilepsy, I’ve been fairly healthy up until now.  I hardly get sick.  I make educated health choices.

I’m 37 years old and my uterus is giving out on me.  My days of having babies is ending and very soon.  My head says this is the right thing to do for my health.  My heart is broken.

I’ve had 4 babies and I’ve loved every moment with them.  I’ve loved carrying them within my womb.  I never once thought the option would no longer be there.  I’ve never once thought I’d be without something so important as this.

But here I am.  And my only option is to let it go, to say goodbye to this beautiful part of me that God has allowed me to bring forth my most beautiful gifts in.  To let go of it for my health so I can live for my children.

My heart says, “just one more”.  But then isn’t that time already passed.  I said goodbye to babies when I had my tubal.

I regret that.  I regret giving up the ability to have children.  I regret not allowing myself to have that one more baby.  But then that one more would have led into another and maybe another.  I don’t think the desire to have more children will ever leave my heart.

And I’m thankful.  I know so many women never get their sweet gifts from God.  He blessed me with 4 and two I’ll only know when I get to Heaven.  I’m thankful for that.  For the opportunity to love His children, my children in this lifetime.

So here I am, making this huge choice for my health, with my heart in pieces and hoping it’s the right answer for me.  I need to be healthy to enjoy the time I have with my children during their youth as that’s quickly passing every day.  I want to be there to see them grow and prosper.

My surgery date is March 29 with some pre-op stuff on March 27.  I picked the closest date so I could just get it over with.  I’m hoping that it’s quick and easy for me with no complications.  I’m hoping it’s like those 4 c-sections in comparison to pain.  I won’t know until I get there, but I pray for quick healing and ease in moving forward.

For now this is where we are at.

God bless,

Dana

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