We don’t do a lot of toy-buying in our house. I won’t bore you with the reasons why, but suffice it to say that new toys are big-deal, must-be-a-birthday-or-Christmas special events. We don’t get new toys because it’s Tuesday and we happen to be at Target and LOOK! STAR WARS ACTION FIGURES!

So while I’m probably not a toy expert, I do put a lot of thought into which toys actually make it into our playroom. This little computer, for instance, is probably the best $20 I ever spent on a toy. EVER. And even better? Our boy learned a whole bunch from playing with that little VTech laptop. As a result, we’re VTech fans.

And that is why I’m tickled to be able to give away a pretty FAYNCEE (by my standards, at least) kids’ toy: VTech’s KidiArt Studio. KidiArt Studio hooks up to your computer (PC only) or your television, and your kids can create works of art that show up on the “big screen.” You can even save their masterpieces to your computer and email those sweet creations to grandparents. The KidiArt Studio comes complete with a little low-res digital camera and – here’s the great part for moms of little boys who might not love refining those small motor skills – a digital “pencil” that enables kids to write and draw all the live-long day.

One word to the wise: KidiArt Studio requires 8 (EIGHT!) AA batteries, and they’re not included. I think a power cord would be an excellent addition to this toy, but nobody asked me, so I’ll just smile and continue to be delighted that one of your cute kids is going to get a free toy, amen.

If you’d like to win VTech’s KidiArt Studio, just leave a comment and tell me so. Because of shipping costs (it’s a big toy in a big box), this giveaway is restricted to folks who have a mailing address in the continental United States.

I’m so sorry, Canada. Please know that I still love you deeply.

Comments will remain open until Wednesday, November 26th, at which point I’ll pick a winner with random.org.

Thanks for playing, everybody!

This giveaway is now closed.

Never, ever underestimate a woman’s desire for a new fall bag, oh internets.

Because THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN of you entered the drawing to win one of Leigh‘s cute purses.

And we have winners!

The lucky girls are Amy – commenter #13 (Amy isn’t a blogger) and JP’s Mom – commenter #54. I’ll be emailing both of you this afternoon with information about how to claim your fabulous prizes.

And even if you didn’t win a free purse, you’re still a winner – because Leigh is offering everyone who entered the giveaway a 15% discount on any purse that’s $35 or more. You can click here to start shopping.

This was such a fun giveaway to do, and I know your sweet comments have been a blessing to Leigh. Thanks for your participation, everybody!

All righty, y’all – I’ve consulted my trusty random number generator, matched the random numbers with the comment numbers (I see numbers beside your comments when I’m logged in to WordPress – it’s BLOGGITY MAGIC, IT IS!), and I now have a list of 15 lucky winners.

I’ll put the number beside the name just for clarification (count the first comment on the post as 1 and the last comment on the post as 191).

Ready?

Congratulations, y’all!

If you’d email me your address by this Thursday, that would be great.

I will not use the address to do anything other than have a CD sent to you by the lovely people at Mandisa’s record label.

And maybe sell your personal information to a large ring of thieves.

But other than that, it’ll all be TOTALLY confidential.

Almost two years ago my friend NK and I headed to Knoxville, Tennessee for a Living Proof Live event. And as we traveled up the interstate, we were terribly excited about three things in particular: 1) the opportunity to soak up God’s Word for a couple of days 2) the much-needed girls’ weekend away from home and 3) the moment when Beth Moore walked on stage, because quite frankly we were dying to see what she was going to wear.

We even made predictions about one of those three things, and I bet – if you try really hard – you can guess which one.

What we didn’t expect was that there was going to be a woman singing on praise team that weekend who would blow us away. Her voice was absolutely incredible, and several months later – when we saw her on “American Idol” – we found out her name: Mandisa.

And that weekend? In Knoxville? She rocked the house for Jesus like nobody’s business. She was a revelation.

Now I don’t know if you know it or not, but Miss Mandisa has a CD coming out July 31st. It’s called “True Beauty,” and a couple of days ago I got a copy of the first single – “Only The World” – in the mail.

Y’all.

I just adore it.

In fact, I can’t stop singing it. And dancing when I sing. Truth be told, I think it’s impossible to listen to this song without dancing just a little bit.

Even if you’re Baptist.

BADABING!

Oh, I kid because I’m Baptist, too. And come on, now – you know that sometimes you just need to BREAK IT DOWN, regardless of denomination, age, hair color, or dancing ability. Don’t fight the feelin’, internets.

Anyway. Where was I? Something about a song?

Oh yes. Of course.

You can actually hear a stream of “Only The World” here. And because I love it so much, I emailed the nice people at Mandisa’s record label to ask if I could do a little bloggy giveaway. They were kind enough to agree (thanks, Amy!) – and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

SO – if you’d like a chance to win one of Mandisa’s snazzy new CD-singles (there are two songs on the CD, and I definitely want to do another giveaway for the full CD when it comes out at the end of July), all you have to do is comment, making doubly sure that your email address is accurate. And just for kicks, since “Only The World” is a perfect get-that-puppy-on-the-iPod-and-go-for-a-walk-right-now song, tell me your all-time favorite workout / let-it-all-hang-out song. What puts some pep in your step as soon as you hear it?

I’ll turn off comments Monday afternoon (July 2nd) around 5 central time, and then I’ll draw to see which fifteen people win THE FABULOUS PRIZES.

I’m so excited to be able to share this with y’all – it’s a happy little summertime treat.

And now I think I’ll go listen to Miss Mandisa on my iPod and dance a little more.

Alex will be absolutely thrilled.

So I realized around the one hundredth comment that the whole putting-names-in-a-hat / child-pulling-names-out-of-a-hat thing was an ill-fated plan if there ever was one.

And by comment two hundred eighty one, I knew there was no way in the world it was gonna happen.

Because 281 slips of paper + 1 four year old = infinite opportunities for a mama to lose her mind.

But for some reason the phrase “random number generator” popped in my mind yesterday afternoon, so I Googled it, and lo and behold, I found one.

Then I told the random number generator that I needed 12 random numbers between 1 and 281, and two seconds later, it was all done.

Look!

Y’all, I’m telling you: this internet has everything.

It does!

Anyway, I matched the random numbers against the comment numbers from the Glory Revealed post, and within a matter of minutes I had a list-o-winners.

I’ll be emailing all of you tomorrow to get your mailing address, but just in case you’re reading right now, here are the soon-to-be owners of a brand-spankin’ new Glory Revealed CD:

42 – Laurie
43 – Heather L.
51 – Wendi
90 – npbradshaw
109 – Corinne
141 – Erica
165 – peach
166 – Babystepper
184 – s
192 – T with Honey
238 – Sarah
250 – Devera

Congratulations, everybody!

And remember, if you didn’t win, you can still click here and get a free song download AND a coupon for $5 off the purchase price of a CD.

Thanks, y’all, for such a great response – I’d love to be able to do something like this again.

(Which reminds me: hey, nice Christian music label people! We have enjoyed this CD thing very much. And should you ever wish to send more music my way, you should probably know that I will only accept such kind generosity under one circumstance: if I am breathing. Thank you and have a lovely Sunday.)