The SG Notebook

When you purchase items from a catalog or from an online store, are you ever resentful about shipping? I know I often am. You see something you really want at a reasonable price and then upon checking out, you see the shipping costs added on and wish you didn’t have to have those extra dollars put on your account or credit card. But alas, these charges are a necessary part of the buying and selling of merchandise in the world in which we live. Of course, going to the store and getting it yourself can undoubtedly be more cost effective, at least if it’s not too far. Personally, I like shopping right here from my home, sparing myself from needing to take the time, gas expense, and wear and tear on my car and nerves. So, I’d rather pay the shipping. I’m pretty thankful for that truck which pulls up at my front door, delivering me the goodies which I’ve not stepped one foot out of my house to go and get.

Here at SG, we think we have shipping charges which are more than reasonable and economical, but do want to let any folks know who happen to live in the metro Philly area in PA or NJ, that you can now choose “Pickup” as a shipping method when checking out. If you want to work something out with us on how to facilitate that, give us a quick call or email us about it. We’ll be glad to do what we can to help you out!

Blessings,
Maxine

This is a vacation week around here and I forgot to say things would be a bit slow for most of the week. Hope all is well with you who stop by. We’ll be back soon!

Beverly and Maxine

Quick note: I’ve been having trouble accessing this blog from my computer for a few days now and I’ll have to troubleshoot. Also, we won’t be doing a newsletter until September, Lord willing. With the technical issues here and Beverly having much on her plate these days, we may have to neglect this blog a bit. That will probably mean no wedding tip this week. So sorry!

If you happen to stop by, thanks for your patience!

Blessings,

Maxine

Changes, changes, changes. We’ve had an abundance of them lately, wouldn’t you say? The latest is this: we’re moving our children’s ministry to a new place of its own! It won’t be at our website anymore, and for those of you who appreciate the writing activities, puzzlers, devotionals, etc. for your kids, we wanted to let you know that helping children to grow is still important to us, but it seemed that with all of the expanding we’re doing with our products and scope, having a separate site for the young folks was best.

So, that’s what we’ve done. Well we’re almost done. We still have a few more “rooms” to pack up and move, but the new site (blog) is now up and running and ready for visitors. If you have kids who are still in a schooling situation, home or otherwise, come over and see what we’re doing for them in this new place. Bookmark it or become a follower so that you can know when new things get added.

For those of you who don’t know about our “Speakables” for children, they are writing activities which we offer which have the purpose of getting youngsters to consider writings from days gone by and to respond to them. More than anything, we’re trying to encourage kids of today to gain from the valuable moral and biblical thinking of the past. Now and then, we also have a writing contest using the Speakables.

But that’s not all. We believe in having fun, so you’ll find some of that there too!! You’ll find puzzlers and party ideas.

What’s the name of the new site you ask? Well, what else? It’s called “Helping Children Grow” and we invite you to come on over now!

Beverly and Maxine

Did you know we have tips and tidbits for brides? Well, we do. Every week we post a link or links to useful articles and resources to help with the wedding planning. Every now and then we may even include some spiritual encouragements. So far, we’ve posted links to helps with wedding hymns, writing your own vows, cake designs, and a link to a pretty decent sale going on of some items online. We even had a suggestion last week of what we think would make a great flower girl gift: paper dolls. I like that idea so much that I think we should post it again in the near future. There will be plenty more suggestions and tips, so if you know anyone else who may be interested, please let them know and have them come visit us. Our weekly tips page is here. This week you’ll find info about how to properly stuff the invitations.

By the way, if any of you have any links you think would be helpful to the bride-to-be and would like to pass them on, let us know in a comment or email us. We would especially welcome links to money saving suggestions. We’ll put any links we get into our tidbits folder and maybe feature it on our tips page. Thanks.

Happy Planning,

Maxine

Well, hello! Welcome to the Speakable Gifts blog. It’s great to meet you. We’d like to introduce ourselves.

Ours is a family organization, owned by Maxine Randall and Beverly Smith, mom and daughter.
We offer publications,

Gift boxes,

Our Touch of Grace Favor Bags ,

and other items to help your family live & give.

All of our gifts have a message. The message may be in a frame, in magnet form, or printed on a bookmark or label. We package our gifts in cello bags, boxes, paper bags, and organza bags.

We are SO pleased that you stopped by! Please find us on Twitter @SpeakableGifts, and search for us on Facebook! Let us know who you are and we’ll pay you a return visit.

Enjoy the rest of the party,

Maxine and Beverly

We’ve been doing some renovations at the site, and have been running into some technical difficulties. We’re working our way through them, however, but I thought I better let you know. Please disregard anything that isn’t where it should be (or is missing). You know how you have to move things around when you do renovating work in your home? Well, that’s what is happening here and the tech problems have not helped! But, by the grace of God, we’ll have it back together again soon, along with a few of the changes and additions in the product line.

In the meantime, may you and your family enjoy a blessed and joyous Resurrection Day. HE LIVES!

Lovingly,

Maxine

Yes, we are still dedicated to helping children grow! However, as we’ve hinted, we are expanding the scope of our services to you. We feel that the name of our newsletter needs to reflect these changes. When you receive your next newsletter in your inbox, it will be titled, “Helping Families Live & Give.” We’ll talk more about why we’ve changed the name in our upcoming newsletter.

Hope you are enjoying Spring,
Beverly

Love and marriage, love and marriage
Go together like a horse and carriage
This I tell you brother
You can’t have one without the other

Love and marriage, love and marriage
It’s an institute you can’t disparage
Ask the local gentry
And they will say it’s elementary

Try, try, try to separate them
It’s an illusion
Try, try, try, and you will only come
To this conclusion

Love and marriage, love and marriage
Go together like the horse and carriage
Dad was told by mother
You can’t have one, you can’t have none, you can’t have one without the other!

This is one secular song that I have to say I do like the words. This was a popular song at one time; its catchy little tune was heard in many stores and restaurants and, of course, on the radio. But are its lyrics, which were probably memorized by many folks, still believed in the day and society in which we live? And how are they believed? What truths are applied to them today?

Well, I would purport here that these words are certainly believed by God. Love and marriage definitely go together. And in speaking of the kind of love that is resident in a marriage, you can’t have one without the other. Now notice that I did not say which of these necessarily comes first, but that they go together. There is an important concept which I have believed for a while now, and here quote from my Companion to Aunt Jane’s Hero (still yet to be published): “Let us see if they learn in the pages to come what many of us have had to learn: that it is not their love which must keep their marriage dwelling intact, but it is the marriage itself, and their commitment to it, that must sustain their love.” Hopefully, you understand what’s at the root of that statement. I think you probably believe it too, because the statement that immediately follows is that “we all know Who must sustain the marriage.”

That is the nature and heart of the Christian marriage; it’s sustained by God. And when both husband and wife love God and Christ is the focus, that which naturally follows is love for one another. It’s a beautiful thing; actually you’ll have to look hard and far to find anything in this earthly journey that so closely resembles the relationship of Christ and His church. Actually, marriage is the ONLY relationship that does. So, if it is truly sustained by God, then love will be there, because it flows from Christ.

Everyone loves a wedding. Well, almost everyone does. That’s because it’s known to be one of the happiest events of life. In my opinion, what makes it truly special indeed is the fact that it begins a marriage. And if the two people involved love and belong to the Lord Jesus, it is an event of great magnitude indeed. It deserves celebration. Even our Lord has attended at least one such celebration. But, for years it has been impressed on my heart, and I know others who feel the same, that it’s not the size and fanciness of a wedding that sets it apart, but the strength of the commitment of the couple to be a blessing to their families, and to bring glory to God. We have been to a few like this, and I hope as time goes on, in a world which has less and less regard for matrimony, or else distorts it, we will see more and more couples who hold it in high regard, and who seek to be a blessing as they enter into it.

Here at SG, we are taking some steps in the direction of the Christian bride, with a hope that we can provide some gifts and favors which might help her and her groom to be the blessing I just spoke about. We’re moving along in that direction now and hope to introduce a few items soon to get started. In the meantime, bookmark this page on our site and check back with us soon.

Lovingly,
Maxine

In celebration of spring and for a limited time, we’re offering the Bright Gems for His Crown book at a special discount rate to churches which sell books. Churches only have to buy six or more books to get a 45% discount off the list price. So, if your church sells to its members by means of a book shelf or table or has a book room where you can purchase books, it would work to your advantage to have them take us up on this offer. They could then pass the savings on to you! So whoever is in charge of this ministry in your church–let them know and tell them to call us! The information is here, so you can send them the link to the offer page.