Announcing the Winners!

We are excited to announce the winners of our ten free books give away. And we are even announcing them earlier than planned--this is just to reminder that you never can predict when joyful news will arrive. Unfortunately, the books will not arrive till after the release date, but you'll be secure in the knowledge that you'll be one of the first to get one. If you did not win a book, please check back in a few days for pre-sales info.
Here are the winners:

5	Kate
49	Brittany
175	Mother Nurture Baby
83	Angie
44	One Lucky Mom
56	Cali
104	Larsens
93	Laura Nyman
24	Deanna
60	Cherylyn

Just in case there were two people with the same name I included your randomly generated number in the comment/stuff-done order. That should help you find yourself....

If you won, please contact me with your shipping info at ldsbirthstories@gmail.com. Thanks! Please continue to spread the word about the joy of spiritual childbirth.

Release Date Announcement and Contest - Win a Copy of The Book

It is July and it's my 2 year blog-iversary! It has been an amazing 2 years. I can't believe all we have accomplished--which brings me to my next exciting announcement.... Bust out the sparkling cider and the chocolate lava. We are trilled to announce that November 1, 2011 is the official release date of our book "The Gift of Giving Life: Rediscovering the Divine Nature of Pregnancy and Birth" from Madison & West Publishing.

The book has surpassed our greatest expectations. We are so grateful to all the women who sent us their stories and who have helped contribute to the book in many different ways. We are also grateful to all the men than have contributed and supported. This projects has been inspired and blessed at every turn and we look forward to getting into the hands of LDS women, birth attendants, care providers, and birth junkies of all faiths everywhere who are interested and invested in the sacred nature of birth.

To celebrate the book release we are giving away 10 copies of the book! If you'd like a chance to win one then there are four ways you can enter:

1. Leave a comment here.
   
2. Sign up for our Gift of Giving Life email newsletter (if you have already signed up for them then please leave a comment and let us know and we will give you an entry);
3. Share this blog post on Facebook, Twitter, or on your own blog (let us know what/where you have done this via comment);
4. Become a "follower" of The Gift of Giving Life blog;
5. "Like" the Gift of Giving Life on Facebook
6. Follow @giftofgivinglif on Twitter
   

The more of these four things you do, the more times your name will be entered in the giveaway. The giveaway will close at midnight on July 22, and the winners will be announced on The Gift of Giving Life blog on July 29 . Best wishes!

Also, if you don't happen to win a book, pre-sales for the book on August 1, 2011!

p.s. We are still accepting blurbs for the book, so if you have lots of birth world credentials and want to read the book and blurb it before it comes out, let me know. If anyone knows Marie Osmond, Ina May Gaskin, or Ricki Lake, and can get the book to them for a possible blurb, that would be fabulous, too.

Peace and Blessings!

Angel Melchizedek

I had an intensely spiritually trippy day. I can't blog it all, because I only have 15 mintues. But I feel that I must say something right now. Today I got sign after sign that angels watch over us. I also had this crazy moment when I was driving and could imagine what the world must be like if I could "see" everything--if i could see all the shadows and all the light warriors going about their business trying to help or hinder us.

I was praying for my little daughter, who is going through some hard stuff right now and trying to sort out her feelings and emotions and I had the feeling to ask people to pray for her. All my Gift of Giving Life girls were already praying, so I called another friend that I know from hypnotherapy school. She's very spiritual and believes in and prays to Archangel Michael a lot. So I asked her to pray. She sent me a message later that she prayed for us and then pulled an angel card. The card she got was "'Peace,' overseen by an angel named Melchizedek, 'The Divine Mediator.'"

I was kind of blown away. I love that God used my friend and her angel cards to communicate a really beautiful message to me. It was clearly meant for me. The name Melchizedek doesn't have much significance to her--but I knew what it was about.

That was just the beginning of my day. I went to the temple--literally carried there by some other feet, and God sent me many more angels with messages of peace. I can't share it all, but what I thought was interesting was my pondering of who I should have give Phoebe a blessing.

My thought process was, "Who should be blessed with this task? Whose life should I bless by asking them to bless Phoebe?"

This is so contrary to how I used to be about asking for blessings. I used to think I was such an annoyance or a burden. Now I see that God wants to bless us and that it is an honor for whomever gets to be his representative....That is all for tonight.

Oh wait. One more thing. I opened to this scripture when I was reading in the temple:

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." (Psalms 46:1)

The rest of that chapter is pretty fantastic, too.