I rarely post on the weekends – much less twice in one weekend – but I read a couple of things this afternoon that I couldn’t wait to share.

– This post by Amanda is absolutely beautiful.

– This article on Mississippi State’s Jarvis Varnado made me smile, and if you’re a Bulldog fan, it’ll make you smile, too.

– Finally, this week’s Bible readings and Family Worship Guide are up on the Radical Experiment website. You can also watch this week’s sermon, which centers on last week’s Bible readings (files should be up sometime Monday).

I really will try to remember to share the Radical Experiment links every week, but know that I am a forgetful creature who often walks into a room with great purpose and then can’t remember what I ever meant to do in that room in the first place. So it might be a good idea to bookmark the Radical Experiment site. It’s updated every Sunday.

– I just drew for a winner in the L’Bel Paris $500 giveaway, and you can find out who won by clicking over here.

– Here’s another neat giveaway: you can win Margaret Feinberg’s Scouting the Divine: Searching for God in Wine, Wool and Wild Honey Bible study leader kit (a member book, DVD with video clips, and a CD-Rom with leader helps, music, audio files, and more). You can enter the giveaway over at AllAccess.

– About a year and a half ago I realized that Roan, a childhood ballet buddy / fellow MSU grad, has a blog, and I get the biggest kick out of reading it. She homeschools her five kids, and they are avid – AVID – runners. Anyway, Roan wrote a post about Thursday’s “Mississippi Blizzard,” and it made me smile. Such a sweet family.

– I got several emails yesterday that said, “COULD YOU PLEASE TELL BIG MAMA THAT HER BLOG ISN’T WORKING?” Made me laugh. Anyway, Melanie can fill you in on all the details (or not), but just know that everything is going to be fixed very soon. And y’all should’ve heard Melanie and me on the phone last night trying to make sense of the techy problems – it was like a couple of second graders talking about thermodynamics.

– Baked Sweet Onion Dip? Yes, please and thank you.

– I cheered for ‘Bama in the National Championship game, but I was so impressed – once again – with Colt McCoy, the Texas quarterback who was injured on the fifth play of the game. If you haven’t seen his post-game interview, it is well worth your time.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

So much good stuff on the interweb today.

– Travis has a great word for this fine Wednesday.

– Lindsay breaks down the finer points of snow panic in the South. I laughed out loud.

– Annie demonstrates the proper way to fold a fitted sheet. And I am eternally grateful.

– Jon shares some wisdom about appreciating the gift of invisibility.

– And finally, if you want to see some Southern snow panic (Lindsay’s phrase, not mine) in action, check out the ABC 3340 weather blog. A TREASURE, I TELL YOU.

– “Winter Snow” by Audrey Assad has been the subject of two different conversations with friends this week. It’s an absolutely beautiful Christmas song – and I don’t think I’ve listened to it once without immediately listening to it again.

– This post of Jon’s got an “amen” out of me this morning. Before I’d had any coffee, even.

– This post of Beth’s is just chock full of wisdom and perspective.

– A couple of years ago Shannon recommended The Jesus Storybook Bible. I didn’t order it at the time – thinking I’d get it when Alex was a little older – and then I promptly forgot about it. Because I’m organized like that.

Well, this past Monday night Andrew Peterson read from that very book at the beginning of his concert, and my friend Keely mentioned how great it is. So I ordered it the next day. And yesterday, when the box from Amazon arrived, I sat down in the middle of my living room floor so I could read it. By page three my eyes were all watery. It’s incredible.

1) A few days ago a friend of mine showed me an old picture, and I was so overcome with joy that all my pea-sized brain could do was to sit there and rattle off a numbered list of all the things I loved about the picture (“ONE, your hair! TWO, your sweater! THREE, your glasses!”). I made it all the way to “NINE, your hands!”

This morning I had a nearly identical reaction to Melanie’s first ever gift guide for the outdoorsman, which was written by her hubby, P. And when I talked to Mel a few hours ago, the first thing I said was, “ONE, afield!” The whole post just DELIGHTS me.

2) The comments on my HP TouchSmart giveaway post are working again. For real this time. All reliable and stuff. Remember that you have until December 24th to enter.

3) Same goes for the $500 L’Bel giveaway. Comments on that one are open until January 8th.

4) This morning a friend of mine from college emailed to tell me that her husband had surprised her with a weekend away – he’d made all the plans by himself – and he was taking her to Jacksonville to see Travis, Shaun and Cindy in concert. WELL PLAYED, KELLY’S HUSBAND. And what a wonderful gift, you know?

Anyway, even if your husband doesn’t surprise you (again: WELL PLAYED, KELLY’S HUSBAND), you and your whole family will be so blessed by a GLORIA Tour concert. You can check out all the dates – as well as links for tickets and info – on Travis’ blog.

5) One day a couple of weeks ago I was cooking supper and started watching “Rudy.” It sends me into the ugly cry every single time – such a phenomenal story.

Well.

This morning I saw that Mississippi State’s senior quarterback, Tyson Lee, has been nominated for college football’s Rudy Award.

This is a guy who’s listed as 5’11” in the media guide but can’t be much bigger than 5’9″. He’s a walk on who moved up to starting quarterback at an SEC school. He loves the Lord. He wants to be a high school teacher and coach. He never gave up on our team. He drives from Starkville to his hometown every single Sunday morning so that he can teach Sunday School.

Y’all. WE HAVE TO VOTE FOR HIM.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

1) Tomorrow I’m doing two giveaways – my last two of the year, in fact. One will go up around 8-ish tomorrow morning, and the second one will go up around noon-ish (central time, of course). The first giveaway is awesome, and the second – well, WORDS ESCAPE ME. It’s the biggest giveaway I’ve ever done. I CANNOT WAIT.

2) Nester has posted all the need-to-know information for this year’s Christmas Tour of Homes on December 14th. Remember, this year we’ll be touring at Nester’s blog, not mine.

3) Last week I made this beef stew recipe, and I’m still thinking about it. So delicious. Wish I had doubled the recipe because we would’ve happily eaten it for another couple of meals.

p.s. I added carrots.

p.p.s. Because my husband sort of adores carrots.

4) Finally, several of y’all mentioned in the comments of my last post that you love a good candle (AMEN, sisters). And I just wanted to mention that this candle is one of my very favorites during the Christmas season. This one is a close second. I stock up when they’re half price, and they last forever and smell so great. Love ’em.

See y’all tomorrow!