Update: This giveaway is now closed! Congratulations to reader Beverly for the win!
You all are wonderful. I just have to say it.
Because five of you purchased the Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle through my links, I earned a free Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle for myself. It’s a little thank-you gift from the folks who put this whole show together, and a bit of an incentive for us smaller bloggers to work hard during these sales because they know we can’t compete with the big bloggers.
It worked, too. I might not make thousands of dollars in commissions like someone with a gazillion followers, but I’m pretty happy to get my bundle FREE!
It’s just too bad I can’t keep it.
You see, most of our marriage, we have struggled financially. We spent four years in seminary, then my husband began working toward his PhD. He couldn’t finish because we couldn’t pay for it, so he worked two jobs to make ends meet. But with five kids, his income was low enough that we’d get letters in the mail telling us we qualified for food stamps.
Then, he lost his main job, the job he’d had for five years. For the next twelve months, we lived on savings (yes, we still managed to save!) and the income he got from extra military duties.
In the middle of that, when I was feeling particularly down, I got a card in the mail from a blogger I had never met. The card included a check for $500. This woman, who has five children of her own, stumbled upon my blog one day and the Lord told her, “Send Kristen some money.” So she did.
Then her husband found out.
She read him my story, How to Get Your Toddler to Eat Anything, and he said, “Yep, that was the right thing to do.”
I sobbed for two days. I sobbed in the grocery store and I sobbed when I looked at my children and I sobbed whenever I talked to God because I was sorry for doubting. “I own the cattle on a thousand hills, Kristen. I can spare a hoof,” He said.
Thankfully, we’re out of the hallway now. My husband was accepted into active duty as an Army chaplain. It’s a big upgrade from his days as a young, enlisted Airman!
It is with great joy that we realize we can afford to purchase good and helpful things like this bundle. Six months ago, I would not have been able to spend $30 on a bundle of books I did not need. Six months ago, people needed new socks more than I needed another cookbook.
I know that’s the same for some of you. I know some of you are feeling a little torn up every time I talk about the Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle because you would buy it, if you could. But $30 is $30, no matter how good a deal it is.
I didn’t have to think very long to know I do not want to keep this freebie for myself. I am so ready to give. I want to be the person who sends the $500 checks. I want to bless one of you with a small gift because I have been given so much.
Even if you don’t need it, I want one of you to have it because I am passionate about equipping you to live better, not just through stories and funny anecdotes from the children, but with real encouragement and help. Perhaps winning this bundle (and all the goodies that come with it!) will be one small way I can equip you to live better. It’s not $500 (sorry about that) but it’s my small way of saying I’m in your corner.
Just enter the Rafflecopter below. I will announce the winner by 5 pm on Saturday, November 9, 2013 so you have plenty of time to purchase a bundle on your own if you desire to do so.
Lisa Jacobson of 
