In This House, We Will Giggle Giveaway with Courtney DeFeo

10523683_539456556187220_3429116899528224216_nEver meet someone and right off the bat feel like you have been friends for life? That would describe my friendship with the talented and Jesus-loving Courtney Defeo I am super excited to have her guest posting and giving away two copies of her new book that teaches parents to instill values and character in their kids through laughter, not lectures. (I always did that with my kids. No Wait. Or did they just laugh through all my lectures?)

Announcing In This House, We Will Giggle.  I can still remember her telling me just the idea for this book. And yesterday it came hot off the presses==>Oh how lucky are we!

Now meet Courtney.

courtneyCourtney DeFeo is a popular blogger and creator of ABC Scripture Cards featured on “The View.” She is a graduate of Auburn University and has worked in marketing for Chick-fil-A. Courtney and her husband, Ron, are the parents of two children. To connect with Courtney, visit CourtneyDeFeo.com

In This House, We Will Giggle: Making Virtues, Love, and Laughter a Daily Part of Your Family Life offers parents a practical approach to instilling virtues in their children through laughter, rather than lecture. Designed to cover an entire year, each of the 12 chapters highlights one key virtue in developing a child’s character, along with insights to help infuse the virtue into everyday life.

In This House, We Will Giggle teaches children to experience the goodness of God, the joy of following Jesus and the difference children can make in the lives of others.

 

And now on a personal note==> an event which inspired In This House, We Will Giggle.

A Wedding Cake in Ukraine

wedding photo  courtney

I was in an underground mall in Kiev, Ukraine one of the first times I experienced God’s love working through me. It was absolutely thrilling. I was giggling with joy. I was traveling with a team of Chick-fil-A leaders. We were there to teach business leaders about Chick-fil-A’s leadership model. On our “off” hours we got to see the city and spend time with our interpreters. They were mostly young girls that were just a joy to be around. Since they spoke English, we could casually get to know them.  

My boss, David Salyers, and I were getting to know Masha as we walked under the underground mall area. She told us about her upcoming wedding and was just mentioning the cost of everything. She would have to pick and choose what to include since things were so costly. She mentioned that she probably would have to do without a wedding cake.

My heart started pounding and I locked eyes with my boss.  His eyes lit up too. We couldn’t wait to ditch her. We knew this was our chance. To be the hands of feet of Jesus. To simply meet a need and show her she was so deeply loved.  We said “good night” to Masha as quickly as we could and had just 5 minutes until the mall closed. We started giggling and RAN as fast as we could store to store to find a card to hold our cash for her wedding cake.

We did it. We found a card.  We put that cash in there.  

We wrote our notes about how much she was loved.  And the next day before the leadership symposium, we slipped that treat to Masha and watched her eyes filled with tears. She never expected it, but we knew what it meant to her world.  This was a moment I will never forget. I remember thanking the Lord that night and saying to him, “Lord, whatever that was – I want more of it. I want to be used by you. However. Just let me love others like you. I want to be generous. I want to meet needs. It is so fun!”

This is truly the reason I wrote this book. I want our kids to feel the goodness of  Christ before they are adults. I want them to EXPERIENCE who we know – not just HEAR what we know.  Let’s invite them to the party.  They are not too little to be used by God.  

Now for the giveaway. in this house giggle

Leave a comment below sharing a memory of when or how laughter filled your home with joy and nothing else seemed to matter.  Or tell us of a time you performed an act of kindness like Courtney and her boss did. Or were the recipient of one. Or simply tell us why you would like to win this book!

Two fabulous people will win a copy of Courtney’s new book, In This House, We Will Giggle.

Remember laughter, not lectures.

 

68 Comments

  1. I know that the giveaway is probably over, but I thought I’d still chime in. Thank you for the timely reminder of love not just spoken but demonstrated. My friend is a recent amputee and it just snowed. When I found out that she had fallen on her deck and spent one hour trying to clear the little deck of snow I asked my husband if we could pick her up for work and take her. Today it was 7 degrees. She’s still learning how to use her walking sticks on and around ice. As she was coming down her stairs I was below her and told her I would catch her if she fell. We all started laughing at that point because I would probably just soften her fall. I doubt I’d be doing any catching :) Even though I needed to get up really early to go get her for work and I’ll need to go back this afternoon to take her home I am thankful that I get to be her friend and help her get used to the winter weather and laugh with her as she does. I know that if I was in her place and had to do it alone I’d be crying and not laughing coming down the stairs.

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  4. Sometimes when my children do the same wrong things multiple times in a day I start to lecture/preach. I know talking to your child has its place but I don’t want to turn my kids off to my words. I rely think this book could give dome great advice for me as I’m striving to raise godly children but not just “preach” at them. I love hearing them laugh-one time I jumped on the bed(usually a no) with my boys and that moment of laughter and eyes that were just brimming with happiness has never left me. I need to do more “crazy” things with them and even just the ordinary,spending time with them makes them so happy. Praying our house will have more laughter not less and that I can raise my boys to be joyful sons of the King. Thanks for the chance to win and for the message learned!

  5. I do not have children but I do teach kindergarten and so am a big influence in the lives of 16 children every day. I feel like a lot of the time due to tiredness or busyness I resort to lecturing or griping at the kids. I would love to guide them into building great character through fun and positive words. This book sounds like it could help me do just that! Maybe you could write a sequel called In This Classroom We Will Laugh!

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  7. Would love to read this book! I am sooo grateful to God for laughter. He’s given me a great gift in finding funny almost everywhere but sometimes life gets the better of me and I end up sharing the responsible, expected or short tempered me instead. Thank you for reminding me I need to lighten up!!

  8. I tried to get the very last of the chocolate syrup out of the bottle by doing the “spin” method in our living room so I wouldn’t hit anyone in the process. I managed to force the last several drops out to have some on my sundae (the last one made). Later on that evening my son came and had me look at this “black gooey stuff” all over his desk, up the wall, on the ceiling, etc. Apparently I didn’t have the snap cap “snapped” and my precious chocolate syrup left a perfect circle everywhere in our living room. That was years ago and my now adult children continually recommend for mom to get the last drop out of every bottle. LOL

  9. I would love to add some giggle in our home! ;) We have a busy house with 3 boys and this would be an inspiration to read to them at night. Our neighbors are mainly elder people. One lady in particular recently had a hip replacement. My oldest and I leave early to get to work and I have him run over and get her newspaper off the sidewalk to place on her front stoop. We have been doing this for several months, thinking she didn’t know, but found joy in knowing it probably saved her from the unnecessary steps. She came over to spool the boys with Popsicles and then gave my son $5 because she didn’t want her little paperboy think she didn’t notice. My son thanked her with red hot cheeks. He was never expecting a “reward” for what he was doing, but embarrassed more that he got caught. We talked later about do we do things to get money and attention or do we do things to be nice. I love your illustration of the wedding cake. What a blessing you all were to her for her wedding day!

  10. My daughters can be silly and brighten my day. One day we were getting ready to leave and my daughter (2 years old) put her socks in her play kitchen microwave. When I asked her why she was doing it she said because it was cold out and she wanted to have warm feet. I think this book would be great to read as we are raising our daughters! Thanks for the giveaway!

  11. This morning when I chased my children to rest time. But I am not silly often enough I would love to read this book

  12. I would like to win this for my daughter who is studying Child Development and Family Studies. She could use this with the special needs preschoolers and their families. My daughter snorts when she laughs. We try to get her laughing to hear the snort because it breaks all of us out into belly laughs. :)

  13. I feel like this is an area where God is telling me that I need to be developing with my children so they can be Christ to others

  14. Oh how I want this book!!! I would love to see how to use laughter more often in my home! And, I am also a graduate of Auburn University…War Eagle!!:)

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