First Of Many?

Yesterday I walked into something that I didn't quite know how to handle.  

We were packing up to come to VA because we're leading worship at a 3-day Collegiate Conference.  I walked in the kitchen to get a few essentials and as soon as I entered the room Areyna spun around and shut the pantry door.  You could see the guilt ALL OVER HER FACE!!  Both of her hands were clasped shut behind her back and she was speechless.

I knew EXACTLY what she had in those sweaty little hands.  See, earlier that morning she had inquired about the little plastic container on the bottom shelf in the pantry that held a package of M&M's.  She knew where they were, she knew they were easily accessible and, after asking for some, she KNEW she wasn't allowed to have any...until she ate a good lunch of course=)

So, without saying anything, I walked out of the room to go find Josh and tell him what had happened while trying not to laugh.  Areyna timidly followed me to go talk to her daddy while she awaited her doom.  I really didn't know how to handle this since she has never really tried to be so sneaky.  So I bent down and said, "Oh Areyna, did you get some M&M's for me and daddy?"  To which she sheepishly replied with a smile and a bit of relief on her face, "No, I got 1 for me and 1 for Zeke."  She held out her hands to show us 1 M&M in each with green and brown food coloring melted all over her fingers.

How sweet, at least she was thinking of others too!

We just explained to her that she needs to ask us before she goes and gets things out the pantry next time (especially if it's something she knows she isn't supposed to have).

Josh just looked at me with a grin and said, "God is just getting you back!"  

Come on, I was never "sneaky" when I was growing up...right mom???

Cam Wooten - Update

You may remember me mentioning our friends Cam and Lyn Wooten HERE.  They are friends of our from college and seminary.  He was diagnosed with leukemia and they just had their first baby a month or 2 ago, in the midst of all his chemo.  

I know that the power of prayer is GREAT, but I don't ever think I've ever personally experienced a greatness like this before.  Every day I pray for Cam on my own, but we have made it a family affair.  After our Family Devotions every night we have been lifting up certain friends and family regularly.  Areyna is good to keep us on track.  She ALWAYS reminds us to pray for Cam and our friends, Wade and Ferris's twin baby girls Adleigh and Liana who were born 3 months early.  

Anyway, yesterday I got Lyn's update on Cam.  Read these exerpts from her e-mail:

"When we went for the results of Cameron's biopsy we found out that he is completely cancer FREE even to the molecular level, which is as far as they look!!  So praise God that He has blessed us with a healthy man again.  The other good news is that they have found a perfect 10/10 match for Cameron and they are in the process of finalizing all of the details with his donor in order to begin the stem cell transplant.  We are continuing with the transplant because this will ensure that Cameron's leukemia does not come back, now that he is free of it.  So again we praise God for his faithfulness in providing us with a match for Cameron that will hopefully save his life and ensure a healthy life for 70 more years to come. ...Now to the unfortunate news.  As we were in the offices in Chapel Hill at UNC they were doing Cameron's blood and checking his vitals and they discovered that he was running a 104 degree temperature.  The doctor was convinced that he had an infection going on and wanted to admit him immediately and start him on antibiotics in order to stay the infection off."  

Pray for Cam as he fights this infection.  Pray for Lyn to be a strong wife and mother.  Pray that Myla will be an extraordinarily good baby for them during this stressful time.  Just pray...

We've been teaching Areyna that God hears our prayers and ALWAYS answers them.  Ya'll, He hears our prayers!  We may not always like his answer but He is God and "God is Good, His love endures forever."

Favorite Words

Usually my "Words Of Wisdom" posts come from my 3-year old daughter, but Zeke is getting quite a vocabulary and starting to put cute sentences together. 

Let me just tell you a few of his Favorite words lately.  Next to each word is the parental interpretation=)

"Peebee Butoh" - Peanut Butter

"Fapuccido" - Frappuccino

"DBS!!" - CVS

"Dapos" - Samples

"Peedahtees" - Pilates

"Det Das" - Get Gas

"Ebow" - Elbow (that's wrestling with daddy)

"Uh-oh Neenee" - Uh-oh Rainy (usually when he can't find Areyna)

*Can you tell who has the greatest influence in his life right now?=)

Bloggy Giveaway Carnival

We are making room in our little house for the dozens of BIG boxes that will be full of our new CD that will be here in the fall.  I am participating in the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival for the fall.  

I will be giving away our first CD, The End To Which I Strive, and a Josh & Tasha Via sticker for FREE!!  Click HERE to see what other fun things you can enter to win from the host site!

Here's what you need to do:

1-Post A Comment Below

2-This giveaway is open to US citizens only, sorry=(

3-Leave some way for me to get in contact with you in the event that you win

4-I will be picking a winner on Saturday, August 2nd and contact the winner

That's it...

Great Series

So, I have been challenged by 2 different blog series that I've been reading this week.

One, by my ever-loving husband about boundaries.  You can read the first 2 posts HERE and HERE.

The other, by one of my best friends, Jenn about finding the blessings in parenting while trying not to get burned-out.  You can go HERE, HERE and HERE to get caught up.

GREAT posts, guys!  Keep checking out their blogs throughout the week.  I promise God will teach you something...

It Never Fails

There is definitely one thing that I DID NOT inherit from my mom and her side of the family. 

If you know my mom, or even my sister for that matter, you know that THEY KNOW HOW TO COOK a meal!!!  They have a gift in the kitchen that somehow skipped over me.  Now, it's not so much the main course that I'm talking about.  Hopefully Josh can attest to the yummy dishes I can whip up.  I'm talking about the little word, "SIDES".

I plan a menu, and have it all written down in a nice and neat format...and then something happens.  I think I just get so excited that I have accomplished the BIG task that I forget that there are other things to be made.  

I am so basic and simplistic to a fault sometimes.  When I have too many things going on in the kitchen at one time I get that feeling like I do when I'm on AIM or something, and like 20 people are trying to talk to me at one time and I just can't keep up.  AHHH!

I digress.  Anyway...

Like tonight, I made some chicken enchiladas and went to put them on the table but completely forgot the mexican rice I was going to make.  That would be an extra 20 min.  Or we sit down to the chicken entre I've prepared and Josh will ask "babe, were you going to use that bread for anything?", to which I reply "OH YEAH, I had this awesome recipe I was going to put together to go on top of it!!!  And we were supposed to have a salad too!!!"  Or the baked potatoes I forgot last night to go with our steak (at least I remembered the corn on the cob this time).  It's pretty much a joke now that I always forget "the sides".  I'm sure glad my man likes me just the way I am=)

Who's Laughing Now?

Ever since I got on this frugal kick and started playing the CVS game and The Grocery Game I've been continuing to run across other ways to save.

Josh used to laugh when he saw me on my little computer.  But who's laughing now?!

Almost everyday I have a "surprise" waiting for me in my mailbox!  It's so fun.  The kids even love it.  I mean, I love mail anyway, but come on, we travel for a living and what better thing to get FREE every day in my mailbox than travel sized samples of...you name it!  I haven't had to spend a penny on deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo, lotion, etc. in months.  Kelly got me thinking when she wrote her last post so I scrounged around to find the samples that we haven't already used (like the Starbuck's and Seattle's Best coffee and the Outback Steakhouse gift certificate) just to give you a taste of what you could get too.  I wanted to let ya'll know because somebody should tell you=)

No, I don't get tons of junk e-mail or snail mail I just get FREE stuff that is very useful that I don't have to go out and pay for later!

All these links are on my sidebar.  I just go to Freebies 4 Mom, MoneySavingMom and TheCentsibleSawyer every few days and scroll down to find the stuff that I'd love to sample.  Most of them are from Wal-Mart no strings attached and it only takes a second.

Here are just SOME of the things we've gotten so far:  Magazines, Birthday Cards, 2 way radios, Vitamin C (among other kinds of vitamins and medicine), different types of tea bags, pull ups, LOTS of feminine hygiene products, tons of coupons, lotion, shampoo, body wash, deodorant, gardening seeds, cereal, cereal bar, just to name a few.  So go get you some samples!

Potential Problem

Josh has a gift of making up fun songs to a familiar tune.  This little trick makes even the most mundane tasks, like brushing teeth, cleaning up toys and yes, even going potty, seem fun to our kids.  

Well, our kid's favorite song of the summer is Happy Day by Tim Hughes.  And Josh made up a mighty nice little chorus for Areyna a couple days ago.

"Oh, happy day, happy day, you flushed my poop away."

Joy and I laughed like crazy the first time we heard Areyna walking around singing it. 

After I got Rainy ready for church and we sat down to eat breakfast (yes, we got to have breakfast at our own kitchen table this Sunday morning.  We didn't have to use one of THESE=), she started singing this little tune.  Once again, not a big deal, until she starts singing that around church somewhere or even worse, while we are up leading it one Sunday and Josh forgets the REAL words=)

Mari Winsor's New Demonstrator

To say that I LOVE Winsor Pilates is an understatement.  Now, I know that it doesn't really help in the cardio area but it kicks my butt in just about every other area.  

This week I had the hall closet open for some reason and Areyna and Zeke pulled out my pilates mat and opened it up.  They ran in to ask me to turn on pilates and I was like "uh, alright".  

As soon as I turned it on Areyna went to work=)  Check out her form!

More Awake

Why is it that I can be so unmotivated and tired and not feeling very well one minute...

Then I go and put my contacts in AND...

I am motivated and, even if I'm not feeling 100% well I still feel better than when I'd been walking around all morning with my glasses on.

I don't feel like I'm completely AWAKE or ready for the day until I've put my contacts in.  I know, it's a mental thing=)

The Bug Killer Is Back

Zeke finally woke up around 11 yesterday morning and ate 3 bowls of cereal (he doesn't even eat that much cereal on a good day).  Thanks everybody for your advice and prayer.  Anyway, he has still had a slight fever off and on but is acting like our little Zeke again, running around singing, playing air guitar and catching bugs.

Zeke LOVES bugs, especially rolly pollys which he calls "polly polly pollys".  It has been overcast and cool (well, coolER) so I took the kids outside to play before roomtime this morning.  Areyna and I had to rescue a flying ant from drowning in our water table and then she spent the remainder of the time helping it find its mommy and daddy and telling it which direction its home was in.  Zeke on the other hand just wanted to hold him and carry him around or take him for rides on his tricycle.  The only problem with this is that he doesn't realize his own strength while playing with bugs and eventually Rainy has to come up and tell me, "Oh no, mommy, Zeke broke another bug".  So, I closely monitored the situation so Rainy's ant wouldn't "break" between my 2-year olds chubby little fingers=)

Mosquito Bites?

Zeke has been absolutely pitiful the past day and a half.  I think he's got some kind of virus.  The first time I took his temp. yesterday it was over 99 and last night the last time I took it, it had gone up to 103.8.  I took his temperature under his arm so I don't know if that matters at all.  He woke up several times last night, hysterical.  It was pretty scary, he wasn't responding to us talking to him and he was acting really scared.  He must be pretty exhausted because it is 10:45 and he is still sleeping.  We know he really doesn't feel good because he wouldn't eat a single bite of his popsicle and he would just lick his cookie.  I think we watched more TV yesterday than we have watched altogether since the kids were born!!  I mean, what else can you do.  He just wants me to hold him as he lays limp in my arms.  Poor guy=(

Do ya'll think this could be from his mosquito bites?  We think he might even be allergic to them.  Have ya'll ever heard of anything like this being from mosquitos?  Just a thought...

Redneck Momma - Edited Version

So, this is how we start most nights.









And this is how most of them end up. What can I say, they love the "naked baby" feeling. I really don't blame them, do you=)

Harris Teeter Triple Coupons

This is definitely blog worthy!

Harris Teeter is tripling coupons this week on Thursday through Saturday.

You can check out the links HERE, HERE and HERE to get lists of things you can get for FREE or under $.10.  Check it out and see how you can save=)

You Know It's Time When...

You know it's time to mow your yard when the grass starts to swallow your children and you can no longer see their heads above the long blades of grass, you see scary looking spiders (which you would normally only see in a jungle) jumping from blade to blade and when the grass begins growing inside your kid's toys=)

Plastic Bugs and Hairclips

Today has been such a relaxing day. It has been WAY TOO HOT to play outside today so we've been trying to be creative inside. Even the kid's pool felt more like bath water after only sitting in the heat for a few minutes. So, Rainy got out the memory game and we found ALL 1,267 matches. Shew! The rest of the day has been spent playing with plastic bugs and hairclips. I'm not exaggerating. The kids have literally spent hours playing with these guys. Quite a combination for sure. What do you do on HOT days when you can't even seem to cool off inside? Any ideas of things to do INSIDE that could get rid of any excess energy that the kids might have?

Challenge Update - Week 4

Read HERE, HERE and HERE if you are lost or behind.

So, I have failed the task at hand.  I went to the store today and I got $60.39 worth of groceries.  I only had $9 to spend for the rest of the month, which means that I went roughly $51 over.  Not too bad, considering this crazy month, and way better than if I wouldn't have done the challenge=)  I spend around $60 a week in groceries which would have been around $300 for the month, but instead I spent about $176 this whole month!  Not too shabby for a 5 week month=)

Reasons why I went so far over:

1-I wanted to keep my stockpile going.  I truly think I could have pulled off the challenge but then I would have absolutely NOTHING left in my pantry and would have paid more next month working up my stockpile again=(  This would NOT have been smart. 

2-I got groceries for the remainder of the month so $60 is pretty good for 2 weeks worth of groceries!

3-I did start the challenge AFTER I had already gotten the first week of groceries, which just happened to be one of my most expensive weeks.

4-I got a TON of meat for $15 today which I didn't expect.  It was all clearance meat so I got a bag of chicken breasts, 3 pork chops and 3 packages of other meat for stir fry and/or stew that was marked WAY down.  Now I should be set for meat for several weeks.

I had fun trying to meet this challenge and it really did save us a lot of money this month.  I also met some good bloggin' friends while keeping up with the challenge.

The 19th Of July

Apparently this is a day to celebrate...at least in our neighborhood.  Someone must have gotten a good deal of fireworks this weekend because they put on quite a show that we could see AND HEAR from our backyard.  My kids loved the fireworks on the 4th, but could have done without all the noise.  So, when the show started up around 9pm last night I was just waiting for my kid's reaction.  After a good 20 minutes or so I heard a scared whimper coming from their room.  I walked in and Areyna, looking a little scared herself, said that Zeke was scared of the fireworks.  I asked if he wanted to sleep with Rainy and he didn't have to think about his answer.  He curled up really close to Rainy and she kept him safe all night.  It was SOOO cute.  They slept all night like that.  This morning when I got them up for church Areyna told me that Zeke wasn't scared anymore because God was with him=)

Well, round 1 was at Weddington Church this morning and I'm off for round 2 at Ridge Church!

Lost

Okay, so I have temporarily lost my mind, among way too many other things!  I CANNOT seem to keep up with anything.  No, we're not pregnant, so there is absolutely NO EXCUSE for me!  Like my other post said, I am a clean freak and keep pretty good tabs on my stuff and the places they belong...but not this week though.

Here are just a few things I have spent absurd amounts of time looking for:

1-The small screw driver set that sits on the shelf in the bathroom next to the kids room.  It is so close to their room because their door happens to randomly lock and if they shut the door they get locked in, and YES they locked themselves in their room the other day and I couldn't find it ANYWHERE!!!  I ran around like a mad women trying to find it until I happened to come across it in the kids play room on the floor.  That's a really SAFE place for it to be=)  Don't worry I got them out safely.

2-My Basil thermometer.  Still can't find this one...

3-The kids eraser to their chalkboard.  I know, not a huge necessity, but I swear, I looked EVERYWHERE, several times, and could not find it.  I think that's why it bothered me so much.  Well, during cleanup time we found it.  It was wedged between the wheels under Zeke's spiderman car.  Sure, exactly where it should be.

4-A check.  I'm not even gonna tell you where I finally found this one.

These are just a few things that I have been losing my mind over looking for.  Am I alone in this?  Is this just a phase?  I sure hope so, HA!

Not The Average Prayer

Most of the time when I pray for my children it is for future decisions they will be making down the road.  For example, Josh and I continually pray for their salvation and for their future mate.  We pray that our Areyna Joy will bring Peace and Joy like her name means and that Zeke will be a strong leader and hold strong to His faith!  

But, while I was having my quiet time this morning I realized that NOW is the time that I should start praying my children through their sinful desires and struggles that they are going through today.  No matter how "little" they seem.  I guess I just never thought about praying about Areyna's bossy and selfish tendencies.  I never thought too much about lifting up Zeke's bad temper.  I don't want to wait until those pre-teen or teenage years when the "tough" times come.  My kids need my prayers now, more than ever, because they still have yet to KNOW our Heavenly Father and the power of prayer, so it is my job to pray them through these struggles they are going through today.  

So, today I prayed a different prayer for my children.  

"God, please help Areyna to somehow see that she needs to give to Zeke instead of take away.  Give her a sensitivity to Zeke and his creative ideas for playing.  Help her to obey her mommy and daddy so that it will go well with her.  Thank you for her tender spirit.  Thank you for her sensitivity to emotions."

"Lord, thank you for Zeke's strong will.  I pray that you will funnel that in a positive way.  Help me not to quench his spirit but guide it.  Give him patience with the tasks he tries to do and help him realize that I am here to help him if he can't get something the first time."

What a blessing my children are.  I hope I never forget to pray for the little things that they are going through.

With Me

Aunt Joy is very brave today.  I had to finish up my stuff in the studio so she took my kids to work with her.  I think she was pretty excited about it=)

Anyway, Josh and I were gone by the time the kids woke up this morning but Joy told me the cutest thing.

Areyna to Joy...

"I heard noises last night when it was dark in my room and I was scared, but I didn't cry and I didn't call for you because God was with me."

Challenge Update - Week 3

You can go HERE and HERE to see how I've been doing thusfar or just to find out what the heck this post is about=)

I always forget to mention that I go to CVS every week, but I hardly ever get edible groceries or have to pay much OOP.  So far nothing has counted there.

I have to start this off by rationalizing a little bit.  While I am trying to stick to this challenge, I refuse to let my family starve.  I have been trying to cook the same kinds of meals I would cook otherwise.  PLUS, we have had company every weekend plus a few more days this month, not to mention the cookout and birthday party.  Okay, I feel better getting that off my chest=)  That is another thing, I don't want to deny friends, family or our "Open House" policy just to meet the challenge.

All that being said, I went out to the grocery store and spent a whopping $20.01 for the week. 

I SAVED $20.28 today (I keep forgetting to post my savings which are almost always the same as the total spent!)

Yeah, I'm still in the game.  Cutting it close.  I have roughly $8 left for the month!  But even if I don't make it I'm sure saving much needed money around here.  What were we thinking a book, a new CD, a mission trip?!  What a summer.  God is so good!

What Have I Become!

If you know me at all you know that a full sink is a pet peeve of mine.  At least a full sink in my house.  I also despise piles.  That's just me in my house though.

Well, take a look at what we walked home to after a full week in the studio.  And it's MY doing, HA!  I am just now getting caught up with my domestic up-keeping=)  I did manage to get a meal going in the crock pot everyday.  That was definitely a lifesaver!

The kids got home on Thursday night. We missed them so much and I knew I had a very important hair appointment that took priority over any other household duties of mine=)

Ashlyn Hunter - Her Fight, God's Grace

This is the story of our sound engineer's daughter, Ashlyn Hunter, as she fought leukemia last year.  Grab a box of kleenex and Praise The Name Of Jesus!  She's been cancer free since October!

H.T. Bagger

Josh and I stopped by Harris Teeter on the way home from the studio because the kids are on their way home, yay, and we needed a few "kid" essentials.  Josh's parents took them to VA for the week so I could get some good studio time in.  

Anyway, I got up to the checkout and I saw the strangest thing.  The manager was standing at the next lane with a stop watch in hand looking at a very nervous teenage boy.  They were just staring at each other.  Then, the manager yelled, "go", and the boy started frantically, but gently, bagging the groceries.  Apparently there is some kind of national competition with Harris Teeter stores.  The manager came over and started telling me about it.  If they win in the region they go to other states and then to the finals in Nevada.  The winners get tons of money and prizes.  It was so fun to see.  The boy that I watched was the first to get it in under a min.  Way to go buddy!

Day 3 & Gregory E. Lang

We are in day 3 here at Jake Hunter's studio.  It is going SO WELL.  I have never enjoyed my time in the studio so much.  I felt freedom to worship while I was recording my parts yesterday.  Right now I am listening to Josh patch in his guitar parts.  The second band will be here to pick up the rest of the songs on Friday.  I am soooo excited for the CD to come out.  It is the REAL THING!

Anyway, on to other news.  Several months ago I was approached by Gregory E. Lang, a New York Times Best Selling Author and Photographer.  He asked if I'd be willing to submit an article for his upcoming book, Mom's Little Angel, and a picture for his photography blog.  I felt so honored.  So, of course I had to submit a picture and he posted it today along with a link to my blog.  How cool is that!  I did submit a short story, we'll see what happens with that=)

Guess What We're Up To?

We are in the studio again.  That's right, the next 2 weeks we will be in the studio recording our second CD.  We're so excited.  Today was our first day and it went GREAT.  The foundation of the first 4 songs are done and we'll be at it again early tomorrow morning.  

Bugs and Choo-choo Trains

Zeke turned 2 today!! 

We had a birthday weekend with fireworks on Friday (I'll post about that later), small group cookout Saturday and B-day party on Sunday. Not quite the birthday week that our pastor and his family have, but pretty close=)

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We have been traveling so much that we have had to cancel small group for SEVERAL weeks in a row.  And being the 4th of July weekend and all ,AND because we were going through small group withdrawals, we held a cookout at our house for everyone on Saturday.  Wow, one thing I am not is a "Party Diva".  A little exhausting for my introverted self, but so much fun=)  We had cars lined up all the way down the culdesac.

Then today, Zeke's actual birthday, we all came home after church and took naps.  Then we woke up and had breakfast for dinner.  Zeke had a triple-decker pancake birthday cake with a Thomas The Train theme.  Some of his favorite presents were his Thomas The Train cars, a bug-catcher and a cool big boy sleeping bag.  What a GREAT day!!

Grocery Challenge UPDATE

This week I went to the store and racked up!  If you don't know what I'm doing you can click HERE to read about my $25 grocery challenge.

This week I spent $33.75

That leaves me $28.11 for the rest of the month.

I'm gonna be cutting it close!=)

*I must say that we have had company ALL weekend, a birthday party and a small group cookout on this budget too.  That's gotta count for something, huh?

Thou Shalt Not Misplace My Things

I am nearing the end of "Feminine Appeal" by Caroline Mahaney, an excellent book by the way.  If you want to read more about the things I've learned from the book go HERE.  Today I read about judging others.  I know, I know...we should love the sinner, not the sin.  But seriously, I have seen something here that I never really thought of as sin before.

Does this sound familiar to you?

"One of the posts connecting the backyard fence is down.  Those neighborhood kids must have done it.  I hate it when they jump over our fence!"  

"I can't find my sunscreen.  Why can't Zeke stay out of the cabinet!"

"Josh, would you please put the adaptor to the camera AWAY after you use it?"

I'm terrible at this.  Everything is always someone else's fault.  I mean, I am organization queen and I never misplace ANYthing!  Yeah right.  

Here's what REALLY happened.

Josh said, "No baby, the post probably just got warped by the sun so it fell out of one of the slots.  Here, let's go fix it."

10 min. after searching for the sunscreen I finally find it saying "Oh yeah, I forgot I stuck it in this bag before we left."

After frantically looking for the camera adaptor to post a much needed picture to my blog I look down and it's actually already connected to my computer.

I think the worst thing about it is that many times I forget, or don't even realize that I need to ask forgiveness for wrongly judging everyone else and thinking of myself as blameless!

I've got a lot to work on=)

Freebies On Craigs List/Bad Idea

Okay, I guess I set myself up for this but I still could NOT believe this.  I had good intentions though=)

I totally cannot believe all the FREE stuff I have been getting by playing the CVS game.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about you can read THIS LINK to learn more!  There is no way we'd be able to use all the stuff that we get so I wanted to start giving some of it away.  I mean, who on earth needs 11 toothpastes or 4 deoderants=)  I called our church but there is nowhere to store it for their helping hands ministry so I decided to put some gift bags together and post it under the FREE stuff on Craig's List.

Not even 1 hour after posting the add I had an inbox full on inquiries.  Here are just a couple of them...

"hi, I really need those items!!! where can I pick them up? pls email me back!!! thanks"

I thought, cool I'll let her come get them.  That was BEFORE she e-mailed me back and said,

"can I pls get 20.00 too? I don't have much gas but I really need it my monthly is on...."

Uh, I pretty much told her that I wasn't giving away $, just a bag of things I thought could help somebody out.  To which she replied, "thanks but, no thanks".

Nice!

Then, a few other messages wanted me to ship it to them.  Hmmm...

Here's one more.  Sketchy at BEST...

"I do not need them but just wanted to stop by and say 'good job'.  It is important to care about others."  Yikes.

I think I'll find another venue to share by "blessings"=)

Challenge

I'm always up for a good challenge and I just read about one right up my alley HERE.  Rebekah, from The Coupon Bin, has challenged us to a $25/person grocery budget for the month of July and I'm definitely up for the challenge.  I just learned about it so I'm a little behind now but here is where I stand so far.  

We have 3 adults and 2 children in our household this month, since Josh's sister is living with us this summer.  This equals $125 of edible food for the whole month of July.

I had already gotten my groceries for the week before hearing about this challenge and I spent $63.14 worth of edible stuff.  OUCH!  I better be a smart shopper=)

That means I only have $61.86 for the rest of the month.  Can I do it? At least I'm willing to try.

Are you up for the challenge?  Leave a comment if you're up for the challenge and I'll add you to the links=)  I'll be keeping you posted with my track record throughout the month.

Just One More Reason

This is just one more reason why our decision to allow Areyna to go to preschool next year will be so beneficial.  You can read about the other reasons HERE.  Zeke can't even leave her side long enough for her to go to the bathroom=)  Neither of them mind this dependency on each other and I love it!  I just know it will be good for ALL of us=)

It Never Happened

It's been a week now since we got back from our Hungary trip and "IT" still hasn't happened.  The dreaded "transition time".  You know, after you've been gone or the schedule is different and you start getting back into the regular swing of things.  My kids are the worst!  So I was completely expecting melt-down city when Josh and I got back to my parents house.  But it NEVER happened.  Wow!  My parents did exactly what we do.  They continued to make them say please and thank you, they continued to have room time everyday and the days went on as usual, just in a different house and with a few added fun activities like parks, zoos, etc.  It helped that Josh and I were there for a couple of days before and after the big transitions, so it went more smoothly.  Another reason is because my mom can tolerate their whining just about as much as I can, which is NOT AT ALL=)  This was a special time for all of us.  Josh and I had a GREAT time in Hungary without the kids and my parents got to spend some good, quality, alone time with Rainy and Zeke for the first time since we live so far away from each other.  My parents support us 100% of the time in more ways than one, but this was such a practical way to help us continue to "DO" and "GO" as the Lord leads.  Thanks mom and dad!!