The other day, I put out the request for others to send in their blogs, and I got an immediate response - from my own son! For those of you who may not know the Tinkel family, we have three children, John Allen - 12, Joshua - 7 and Jacob - 2. I thought that this would be a good homeschool project and John Allen heartily agreed. I was really pleased at how he stepped up right to the plate and got started. So here it is - John Allen's Blog . You can either press on it here, or go to the new section to the left in "My Favorite Blogs". Check it out and check it often. I'm very proud of him and he'll be writing more soon.

Another blog that I am adding, really isn't a blog at all. It's a link to our prayer letters. Most of you know that Sarah and I are full time missionaries. We run a small mission called "Good News Mission" near the low income housing area in the town that we live in. Our town is very small, so it's nothing like the projects in big cities, but, nevertheless, the people here need the Lord just like the people in the larger towns. I will be blogging about what we do and the things that happen around here frequently but check out our newsletters as well. Sarah writes most of our letters, so you will get a different perspective of things . Just click on Prayer Letters to the left under the "My Favorite Blogs".

I'm still looking for other bloggers to send in their blog and give permission to post them. Just send an email or post a comment. Hope you all enjoy the links so far.

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You all know that this is a blog with the primary goal of helping us all to have strong, Christian families . One way of achieving that goal is learning from others. I would like to start linking to other blogs that share that same desire. If you have a like minded blog that you would like me to link to please leave a comment or send an email to tink38570@yahoo.com. I would love if some of you would like to link to my blog as well. Just drop me a line before doing so to let me know. Thank you all for your help.

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Like all good parents, for many years, now, I have told my children stories of how hard I used to work as a child. Recently I was recalling my days as a salesman. I used to sell Christmas cards from the "Olympic Card Company" (is that still around?), Greeting cards from "Cheerful House", thin green mints in order to go to day camp, strawberries for extra money during the summer, and all sorts of things as fund raisers for school and church. I became quite good at selling things, so much so that a high school teacher that I had wanted to hire me to sell first aid kits for his side business.

After all of my bragging...uh, I mean, recalling, John Allen decided he wanted to go into business himself. Enter "Wreaths of Maine". Wreaths of Maine is a company that sells Christmas wreaths and primarily works with homeschoolers. In order to receive the "intro kit", you either had to send in $10, or write an essay on what you would do with the money. John Allen's was short and simple. He would save some, buy a few things for himself, buy some Christmas gifts for his younger brothers and, get this, give some to his parents to help with the bills. It seems that JA had overheard Sarah and I having our monthly discussion on how to make ends meet and decided he wanted to help.

Needless to say, Sarah and I were very touched by this. We've decided not to steal his blessing, but to take whatever money he may give us and spend it for Christmas gifts. Probably from Vision Forum. So, ultimately, he will be getting most of the money anyway.

We are making him do most of the work and he is doing very well. He's memorized his spiel, learned how to fill out the order forms and paperwork, and is learning to be positive and persevere when no one seems to be buying.

So, if you are in need of a live Christmas wreath (they are really quite nice), and want to help with the Tinkel's bills, you can visit the Wreaths of Maine web site at http://www.wreathsofmaine.com and enter John Allen's code #4086 where it is called for.

Thanks ahead of time. John Allen would be thrilled.

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Mood:  a-ok

A

As I mentioned in my first post, one ofA the goals of this blog is to strengthen families. I can think of no better company that promotes family unity than Vision Forum. Vision Forum, Vision Forum, is a Christian company that not only promotes family values through its books, media, and toys, but also believes strongly in remembering the Godly heritage of our country.

Two years ago John Allen and I had the greatest time participating in the Jamestown400 Treasure Hunt. Vision Forum developed a very elaborate hunt that began with the "Mystery of the Vision Forum" catalog, that lead to secret websites and eventually a physical hunt in the Jamestown, Yorktown, Williamsburg triangle for the top 100 sleuths. Along the way, we had to solve elaborate codes and learn a slew of history that was all intermingled in a complex plot. We loved it! We were blessed to be in the top 100, but were unable to go to Jamestown for the final hunt. They have some type of hunt every year (although usually not as big as the Jamestown hunt)A and this year is no exception. It doesn't appear that this year's hunt is a big one, but we aren't sure yet! There's still time to get involved - why don't you order a free catalog and join the fun.

John Allen isn't the only Tinkel child that enjoys Vision Forum though. Joshua and Jacob love the special promotional videos they have for some of their products. Check out this one for their new remote controlled amphibious tank http://www.visionforum.com/hottopics/blogs/dwp/2008/10/4426.aspxA .A Anyone who wants to purchase that as a Christmas gift for the kids (especially little Timmy!) is welcome to have it drop shipped right to us!

Vision Forum also runs www.Behemoth.com where you can download Christian music, videos, audio books and more. They have specials daily where you can download something for free. Unfortunately, you need a credit card to register. Sarah and I tore up our credit cards a few years ago so we haven't been able to take advantage of any of the freebies yet.

Of course, most companies aren't totally perfect. There are some religious views that Vision Forum has that I don't completely agree with, but those are few and far between and minor. Check out their website and let me know what you think. If you should decide to order, I am hoping to become an affiliate soon, so please use the link on my page before ordering. We could always use the extra money.

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I must admit, that when I created the title for this entry, my first thought was of the movie The Sound of Music and my first introduction to that song. You have to understand that I was a very naive 18 year old that came from a backwoods town  in PA. I was very blessed to have been chosen to tour Europe with a concert band and choir that is now known as The Sound of America (then it was All Student Groups USA). While playing a selection of Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, I couldn't understand why the choir kept singing "...when the beasties"! Of course I know now that it's "...when the bee stings" and was quite embarrassed when I found out. Obviously I didn't get out much then. I was completely out of my comfort zone traveling around the big cities in Europe. I'm glad we mostly stayed together as a group or I would have been totally lost. Maybe someday I will tell you about some of my adventures.

Oh well. That's not what this entry is about. It's really about my favorite websites. They are posted on the left side of this page and are broken down in to two catagories...Family Links and Homeschool Links. I will be talking more about each one of them in the days and weeks to come and telling you why they are my favorites, but don't wait until then. Start clicking and exploring now. And remember, this is a sharing blog, so let me know what your favorite sites are as well. 

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