Back to School

So has this Summer just flown by or what?! It occurred to me last night that I have roughly 2 weeks before my kids will be in school. I'M NOT READY! I don't want to make them go! I have had a fantastic 3 months with my boys. We went shopping today and picked out backpacks, lunch boxes and first day of school outfits. I almost cried :( It's exciting though! Both boys will be playing soccer this year! Both will be in school, double the parties and fun! Not to mention BOTH boys will be in AWANA's this year too! My 3 yr old will be a Cubbie!! I'm so excited for him!! This will be my third year teaching AWANA's at our church.. I haven't decided if I'm going to teach Sparks again or try Cubbies with my little one, decisions decisions.

While I deliberate I'm going to try and relax and enjoy these last few weeks before the hustle and bustle of Fall takes over ^_^

Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Proverbs 3:5

I wrote earlier about our troubles with my car. I wasn't worried about it, I was at peace, God is going to take care of us. It was really strange though because even my husband didn't seem too worried about it. With his work schedule there would only be one week a month where being a one car family would be an issue, we would make it work.

We met Eric's Aunt and cousin for lunch as they were passing through town. On the way home the text chime sounded on Eric's phone , it was his childhood friend Josh, who remains a good friend our family. He was chattering about this and that, I was relaying what Eric wanted to say and adding my own "Hi how are ya's" We got on the subject of our car related woes. Josh is an excellent mechanic as well as a computer guru so I told him about it. He piped up with, "Hey I can get you a GREAT deal on a car!" I was like, go on... We had discussed getting a replacement car but were on the fence about it. This one was perfect size , priced within our budget and I firmly believe put there for us. I was trying not to get excited. I started praying again then I opened up my ipad to read ahead in the B90Days (Bible in 90 Days) schedule. I came across this verse :

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord you God is with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9

It's sad that God had to remind me that he's taking care of this.. the slightest little thing and my faith was starting to waver. How sad is that?! Eric makes a few phone calls to 2 different banks, seeing how good of an interest rate we could get (yay for good credit!) The car is ours!

Tuesday Eric calls from work.. hey.. I have an offer to go work for 2 weeks in South Carolina, do you mind if I take it. Eric hasn't taken an out of town job since our three year old was born. I told him sure, go for it, we would be fine! The extra money he would make out there would replenish our savings a little and help out quiet a bit. An added bonus is Eric's nephew is to be staying with us those same 2 weeks. He's a huge help and a great kid, so I will have a hand with the kids while Eric is gone. Another blessing with God's perfect timing. The only way I can think of ending this post is with this :

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.

Psalms 107:1

^_^

I'll post more when I know more but for now this is my song :

Lemons & Lemonaid

So today didn't start out as planned. We've been having issues keeping the house cool in this historic heat wave. I was working into the wee hours of the morning blocking windows with film that's supposed to absorb heat, reflect light yada yada. I'm willing to try anything at this point. It's almost 2pm and it hasn't hit 80 inside yet so I'm hopeful.
I got up this morning and skipped church. My husband's birthday is today and he has requested a special dinner. I didn't have the required items to make the meal (homemade pizza) so I had to run to the store. I opted to go early to avoid the after church crowds and get home before it got hot. So I loaded the kids up, headed out.. and the car starts acting up.. joy.. we've had transmission problems out of it off and on since we bought it. This time is worse than the others, which means it's going to cost more to fix it. I felt bad that I had to deliver this joyous news to my dear husband on his birthday of all days.
We'll make it work somehow.. we'll get through it, we always do. I didn't go asking God why this happened, I did get discouraged but I'm not blaming God. I did go find a quiet place, hit my knees and start praying though..It's been a while since I did that. I pray, we all pray, but I was praying in earnest this time. I even apologised for not going to church this morning. I prayed about a lot of things I'm not going to list but I got up and felt better.. more at ease, like a weight had been lifted. I'm not going to worry. God is always in control... He's got this.

Crazy Coupon Lady

We've all seen them.. with their binders and their calculators, they have this money saving thing down to an art! Thanks to the show "Extreme Couponing" more and more people are taking an interest in shopping with coupons. And alas.. even I have succumb to such a thing. I don't have a binder yet, but I do have a coupon for one!

For me its for fun and to save money. At the end of the 2010-2011 school year my husband's hours at work were cut.. no more overtime.. and hardly a normal work week. Our budget was made for his baseline check but we always had more than that. Our budget had always been more of a loose guideline to where our money should go than a real budget. Now... that's it. What's in that budget is what we have.. no more, no less. My sweet husband panicked a little. I told him, we can do this.. the budget makes sure everything gets paid.. we're just going to have to be diligent with what we have. Summer vacations were rethought, birthday parties were canceled and out came the scissors. I started to get excited every Sunday and Wednesday. Sunday for the coupons and Wednesday for the grocery store sale adds. I have *almost* cut our grocery budget in half over the past month. I'm in AWE of the mighty coupon LOL. I watch the coupon show and I used to laugh at the people who had these stock piles of stuff. Now, I am one of those people. I have no need for paper towels or toilet paper ( I have more rolls than I plan to count) Dish soap (I have 12 bottles) shaving cream (4 cans) Laundry detergent (3 BIG bottles) or fabric softener and dryer sheets ( I have enough to last us 3 months) and that's not counting canned goods and cereal. If there is a good sale on something we use and I have a coupon, or 4, I buy it. I go into a store, I have my list and how much those items are and how much my total cost should be at checkout. This is how I shop. That way, before I even leave the house I know how much money I'm going to spend. That has saved us. We still watch it and opt for date night in rather than go out. We've signed the kids up for free bowling all summer.. that as been a BLAST. Through this tough time we have learned more about each other than I think we would have otherwise. It's brought us closer together and I am so thankful for it ^_^ HURRAY FOR COUPONS ^_^

So here we go

I started the "read the Bible in 90 Days" program last week. It's been pretty interesting. My most recent find is.. no matter how much you think your kids whine and complain.. they don't have SQUAT on the Israelites Moses lead out of Egypt! OMG! God did so much for them and all they could do was wail and complain, why did you free us only to bring us into this wilderness to die! I'm tired of eating manna, I'm thirsty! Really?! They are worse than my kids were on a 6 hour road trip to Houston. But when you think about it, we can get that way sometimes. God will get us out of one predicament only for us to forget what he's delivered us from and find something else to whine about. So open your eyes and look around... like really look. You see that TV over there... you see that roof overhead.. that food in your fridge.. Yea God did that. God gave my husband the job he has at the EXACT moment he needed it. He provided a job where I could stay home with our kids. Sometimes we forget he's the great provider that he is.