Living With Less To Live On Less

Josh and I have been on this "aww, just give-it-away" kick lately.  I always love when Josh gets sucked into these things with me=)  Doesn't it feel so good to get rid of stuff that you don't use or need anymore?  Doesn't it feel so good to give someone something that they NEED when you no longer do?  It's one of my favorite things=)

Just like everybody else the economy has had an effect on us.  Don't get me wrong, we are doing fine.  We aren't exactly rollin' in the dough but God is good and faithful to provide for every need!  The failing economy has more been a reminder of the frailty of this world and what it has to offer.  We have been more determined to be content with what God has given us and realize how blessed we are and to give, get rid and live simply.

We are already on a tight budget but instead of thinking, "I can't go to _________" and "I can't buy ____________"  I am learning that "I don't need to go to _____________" and "I don't need to buy____________".  I already have so much!  I have stopped going LOTS of places.  I stay at home a lot.  I have more time to spend with my kids, my husband, and with my blog of course=)  It allows us to use the money more wisely on things that we need and that matter.

I love trying to make our home a safe place and a place we can really call home but I am slowly learning how to do it without having to go to the store to buy something for it.  We've been selling some of our furniture on Craigslist - our little house was too crowded, besides that, we are about to have another little one to add to the bunch.  We've been purging our old books and clothes - we don't need them.  

We've really been inspired by Francis Chan.  He is a pastor in Simi Valley, California who has decided to live a life of example, humility, and generosity.  His family of 6 lives in a 1000 sq. ft. house and lives on as little as possible so they have more to give to the church and to missions.  He's written an incredible book that I am beginning to read called Crazy Love.  You can read Josh's review of the book HERE.

Wow, I want to live like that.  I say I don't care about worldly possessions but do I really live like that?  Bottom line, I just want to be willing to live the life God has called me to live and fall more in love with Him.  For me, that means getting rid of excess things in my life that are distracting to me and changing my mindset to see that I don't have to have tons of money to give, but to find other ways to give like God has commanded us to do.

What is it for you?

30-34

I just filled out an on-line survey for CVS to get some extra ECB's.  10 ECB's ya'll!!!  This is beside the point though=)

Anyway, in the survey I had to give my age.  I know I just turned 30 but I just now realized that I am now in a new age bracket=(

I am no longer in the 18-29 age bracket or the 25-29 age bracket...

I had to bubble the age, 30-34!

From The Master's Inn To Chesterfield

Josh and I are at The Master's Inn campground here in Altavista, VA.  It is a really cool campground and ministry.  The weekend is going well.  The first night is always hard with a new group of kids that you haven't been able to connect with yet and with a long drive up here wearing you/them out.  It was a sweet spirit anyway though.  I'm excited to see where God will lead today=)

The cabin we stayed in was a REAL log/wood cabin, hand built from the ground up.  It has a quite a story behind it.  

The Inside Of Our Room

I must say that I was a little nervous when I laid my head on my pillow last night and looked up at cracked boards and padding.  Good thing Josh wasn't feeling like a kid and wanting to sleep up on the top bunk above me=)

We were Roomies Last Night=)

What I Looked Up At From My Bed

Tonight after the worship set Josh and I are packing up to go lead worship for a church in Chesterfield, VA (near Richmond) so it's gonna be a LONG night.  Please pray that we'll get there safely and that we'll feel rested for the service tomorrow.

Leaving Again - The Lady Who Lights The Candles

Josh and I left this morning for another weekend-long winter conference.  We are stoked about the opportunity and are anxious to see God work among these students.

On the way home from Camp Bethel 2 weekends ago I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the stuff I had to get done to catch up on at home.  Remember, I am still in the stage of pregnancy where I can't seem to get enough energy to get a shower before climbing back in bed at night=)  I was in desperate need of getting groceries, I had TONS of laundry to do, I absolutely could not forget another doctor's appointment, cleaning that had been put on the back burner, a newsletter to get out, accounting work in the office, the list seemed to go on and on.

The feelings began to overtake me as we got closer to the house.  I looked over at Josh and proposed a brainstorming idea.  "What if there was something we could do right before we left that would help me look forward to walking in the front door when we get home and RELAX."  (My family is laughing now because they know I don't know how to relax=))

Here was Josh's solution, being the husband he is and knowing I was in need of a laugh,  "Well, all we need to do is find a lady who will go in our house and tidy it up and light some candles all over."  I couldn't help but laugh.  Now it is an on-going joke.  Remember how I said earlier that I was in desperate need of getting groceries?  Well, that was 2 weeks ago and the only thing I picked up at the store to tide us over was bread and milk, ha!  I was in the process of telling Josh that we were going to have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to eat when we got back on Monday when he looked at me and said, "Maybe the lady who is coming over to light the candles can stock our pantry too?!"

Any takers?=)

Thumbsuckers

Before I actually had kids I always said, "My kids will never be thumb suckers.  You can always take a pacifier away but you can't take a thumb away."  Little did I know that I really have no say in the matter!

When Areyna was about 3 months old I very clearly remember sitting on the couch with Josh watching TV.  All of a sudden I heard a noise.  I ran upstairs to Rainy's bed and found her half-asleep with her thumb in her mouth sucking away.  WHAT?!  This can't happen.  She WILL take her pacifier!!!  After several attempts of gently taking her thumb out of her mouth and  replacing it with her paci, just to have her spit it out and stick her thumb back in, I gave up, hoping it was just a one-time thing.  Nope, she was officially a thumb sucker.

Just about the same story could be said of Zeke too.  Neither of them were too terribly bad though, since they would only suck their thumbs if they were tired or sleeping.  

Now, as for thumbsuckers, I think it is so stinkin' cute to see a little toddler cuddling up sucking their thumb and there are plenty of benefits to having a thumbsucker; such as never losing it like you would a pacifier.  

That being said, it is another thing to see a 4-year old walking around sucking their thumb all day.  Areyna will be 4 in another month and it is time to be done with the thumb!

So, Josh and I devised a plan.  We figured it would be easier to do it with both the kids since they do everything together!  I called around to get this stuff called "THUM".  It's this nasty stuff you put on their fingernails.  Well, we went all out and painted their whole thumb.  It didn't take long for them to suck the stuff off and get back to sucking so we moved on to idea #2.

Check out the short video of the socks and duct tape HERE!  It is hilarious!!!  Not only did it not work, it took several hours for the kids to fall asleep!  Ahh, it was awful.  Plus, Zeke cried off and on for the first hour and a half.  It seemed like torture to him because he couldn't feel his bubby=(  

After several nights of trying to figure out different ways of taping the socks on we gave up on this idea too.  After 2-3 hours the socks would be pulled off somehow and thrown on the floor anyway...

We were running out of ideas.  We had heard of one other trick that might work.  Tobasco-type hot sauce.  This has actually worked the best.  Zeke cried out at about 2:30am because his tongue was on fire.  That's a good sign, only because we know he still had the stuff on his thumb and he hadn't been sucking his thumb up to that point.  When we went in the room Rainy wasn't sucking either!  

So, we have a 2-step process to nip this in the bud, or at least to guarantee a shorter span of thumbsucking...

Step 1:  THUM stuff all over their thumbs. We got it at Target for about $3.

Step 2:  Tobasco sauce, Texas Pete or any other spicy HOT sauce on the tips of the thumbs (it Areyna's cracked thumbs). I get it for free with coupons all the time at Harris Teeter. I always go in to kiss the kids one more time before I go to bed and I have yet to see their thumbs in their mouths at that time.  The battle is not over, but we are making some progress.  Areyna really wants to be done sucking her thumb but a 4-year habit is hard to break!  

How about you, do you have a thumbsucker?  What did you do, or what are you doing, if anything at all, to stop the habit?

*Disclamer-we are not trying to punish our children by not allowing them to suck their thumbs.  Areyna has terrible excema and her thumb has been cracked and bleeding a lot, this winter especially, from the dry air that we needed to do something.  Not to mention the oral benefits from quitting.

These Are A Few Of His Favorite Things

Zeke's personality has really blossomed lately with his growing vocabulary.  He definitely has some favorites.  Here are a few phrases we hear a lot around here lately=)

1- "Can I Hear Oh Pase Him again, daddy?"

  Translation:  "Can I hear Oh Praise Him again, daddy?"

2- "I want to blush!!"  

Translation:  "I want to flush!!"

3- "I need my tootahr."

Translation:  "I need my guitar."

4- "I'm code!!!"

Translation:  "I'm cold!!!"

5- "Maido is nuths"

Translation:  "Mater is nuts!"  (from the movie, Cars)

6-  "I want to watch Monto Eek."

Translation:  "I want to watch Monsters Ink"

7- "One day I had b00ggies and I ate them and I didn't like them."

No translation needed=)

8- "I want to wear my g-lubs mommy"

  Translation:  "I want to wear my gloves mommy."

There is never a dull moment around here with our 2 kids.  I can't imagine what it's going to be like with 3!

Almost 13-week Belly

Some of you have been asking so here ya go.  I'll try to keep up with my pregnancy with some belly pictures.  Just for the record, I feel MUCH bigger than this pictures looks because I don't see that pizza craving that I got last night.  I'll try to remember this angle for the future=)

Cirque De Sole - The Via Version

The kids were absolutely WIRED this past week.  We were even spending almost entire days outside and they were still not out of energy by the end of the day!  Josh and I spent the majority of our evenings laughing our heads off at the ridiculous stunts Rainy and Zeke would pull off.  Well, one night Rainy got Josh to do the "airplane" and Zeke just couldn't help but get involved too, naked and all=)  (He goes absolutely NUTS when we let him run around naked!)  So this is what I was looking at.  Quite an eye sore=)  I think I'll submit these to see if we could get some additional income working for Cirque De Sole. 

SOP - Part 3

Creative Mom-Of-The-Year Award

This SOP is just a lack of creative juices...

I should have gotten one of these yesterday.  At Areyna's school, Friday's are special days.  They are supposed to wear the color of the week and they are supposed to bring something for show and tell that starts with the letter of the week.

Well, this morning I racked my brain trying to think of something, anything that started with the letter "O".  All I came up with was an orange.  Now that's original, ha!  (We are fresh out of Oscar The Grouch paraphernalia in our house!)  As for the color of the week, I couldn't find anything warm enough with the color blue so her ponytail holder would just have to do.  Those teachers are gonna think I'm such an idiot!=)

At least I remembered to get her to school on time this week!