Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  I'll be away from the computer for the next couple of days!  If you're a "deal" shopper I encourage you to take some time away from the computer as well.  There are plenty of days in the year to get a good deal on things.

Enjoy spending time with your family as we give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and provision!

I'm also thankful to those of you that read this blog and those of you that have hosted or attended one of our coupon classes.  It's been so much fun meeting all of you!

I'll be back with more deals in a few days!

~Heather

PS.  For those of you that will be shopping on Black Friday...get some rest, stay safe, drink plenty of water, bring a snack to munch on and good luck!  :)

Thankful for Forgiveness

Photo Credit



I had a hard time sleeping last night.  I tossed and turned for what felt like hours!  In reality it was about 2 hours and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't go back to sleep.  My back was aching so I blamed the lack of sleep on the pain.  I contemplated getting up and taking a pain pill, but I had an empty stomach and didn't want medicine on it causing further discomfort.  So...I tossed and turned and tossed and turned some more.

Usually when I wake up in the middle of the night the Lord starts bringing prayer requests to my mind and I start praying for specific people that I know are needing His touch.  I did that last night, but after I was done praying I still didn't feel like I was at rest.  I hate to admit it, but I'm so stubborn sometimes.  I'm sure that's no surprise to some of you reading this! ;)  It's one of those sins that God keeps chiseling away at in me bit by bit. 

Eventually, I heard the sound of the chisel again!  He started revealing to me some things (sin) that needed to be dealt with.  I must admit that when this happens I don't always like it.  I mean, who likes to admit their guilt?  But, after the trespasses were revealed, confessed and forgiven I find myself thankful this morning. 

• Thankful that I have a God who, by His grace, has redeemed me from my sin.  

• Thankful that I have a God who loves me enough to say, "Hey, Heather...there's some sin over here in your life.  Let me show it to you so you don't have to carry it anymore.  Give it to me.  I'll take it from here on."

• Thankful for a God that loves me just as I am, but loves me enough to keep growing me and pushing me to be more like Him.  

My sweet 5 year old, Emalee, woke up this morning and came to my bed.  The first words out of her mouth were, "What are you thankful for, Mama?"  I said, "You, Emalee, I'm thankful for you."  Not long after those words left my mouth the Holy Spirit whispered to me...."That's exactly how I feel about you, Heather."   

What a way to start this week of Thanksgiving!

Swimming Upstream in a Downstream World

We have a family motto at our house:  "We're swimming upstream in a downstream world."  Brian and I came to a point in our marriage in the Fall of 2004 where we decided to be deliberate about changing some things.  As I was thinking about our motto this week I started thinking about some personal changes I've made in my life.

One year ago I was given the book, Voices of The True Woman Movement to review.  I read it cover to cover and then wound up going to the True Woman 2010 Conference in Ft. Worth, TX. Chapter 2 is all about the True Woman saying "yes" to God....


"She lives intentionally, not just drifting from one meaningless activity to the next, letting the circumstances of life pull her along.  She's willing to be like a salmon, swimming upstream, living a counter-cultural life in an unholy world for the glory of God....."  


Just those two sentences alone are full of some major food for thought!

I'm an observant person by nature.  I believe that the Lord gave me the gift of discernment and with that gift comes a lot of observing.  One thing that I've observed not only in the cyber world of Blog Land, but also in a lot of classes that I teach is the "meaningless activity" that was touched on above.

I was challenged to evaluate my own "meaningless activity" several weeks ago.  I want to extend that challenge to you.  Are you being intentional about the activities that you do or that you're involved in?  Are they profitable?  Do they please God?  Do they further His kingdom?  Do they display God's glory?

I found many "meaningless activities" that I needed to deal with.  Truth is...I'm still dealing with some of them: 

• Too much time on the Internet
• Not spending enough quality time with my children
• Not speaking enough encouraging words to my husband   
• Slacking on menu planning
• Drinking too much soda 
• and several more....

To take this thought to a spiritual level I wanted to focus on some of the "meaningless activities" that we deal with spiritually.  Chapter 2 goes on to list some of those as things we can say "no" to:

• "No" to bitterness
• "No" to self-centeredness
• "No" to whining
• "No" to complaining
• "No" to pining
• "No" to resisting, resenting, running from the will of God

But it means saying "yes" to a whole lot more:

• "Yes" to forgiving those who have sinned against us
• "Yes" to receiving God's forgiveness for ourselves
• "Yes" to repentance
• "Yes" to serving
• "Yes" to embracing God's choices for our lives
• "Yes" to trusting Him with our circumstances
• "Yes" to finding and fulfilling His purposes

 Swimming upstream in a downstream world is NOT easy.  It takes courage, sacrifice and deliberate determination to get to the goal!  It means saying "no" to some things and "yes" to other things.  It is in saying "yes" to God that we find true meaning and reach our goal in this life!

Philippians 3: 7-14 (NIV)

7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.  12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

~Heather

Series: Becoming Debt Free...Jan.-Oct. 2011 Light at the End of the Tunnel!

After going to Cincinnati for a diagnosis of HES in February, 2010 the bills started trickling in one by one.  Once again we found ourselves with loads of medical bills.  Thankfully, we had some money set back and we were able to pay those bills off! This was the first time in 5 years that we had paid all of our medical bills, on time and on our own!  It felt so good and inspired us to stick to our goal of getting out of debt in the time frame that we were wanting to get it paid off.

We wish that money would pop out of the air, but it doesn't.  The only choice we have is to plug away at the debt.  One by one the debt is getting paid.  It's been encouraging to make the final payments on the various bills that we've had.  Brian is still working extra side jobs when he can and I work really hard at home lowering the amount of money that we pay for things.  One way I do this is by continuing to use coupons combined with sales, stockpiling and menu planning.  I also limit my shopping trips.  I've found that if I'm not at the store, I don't spend money at the store!  We have learned to say no to certain things too.

Some things that we've limited or said "no" to:


Cable T.V.  We don't miss it either


Cell phones:  We have 1 cell phone on my brother-in-laws plan for $10 per month


Clothing budget:  Brian and I have cut back on our clothing budget big time until we get all debt paid.  It's very minimal.  We mainly get the NEEDS instead of the wants.  The kids certainly don't have as many clothes as their friends, but this was something we needed to cut back in order to have margin in our budget.  


Pets (We only have 2 African Dwarf Frogs as pets.  They cost $35 when we got them 18 month ago and I've maybe spent $6 dollars on their care since we got them!  Easy "pets" to have!  FYI...the kids are allergic to pet danger so this works good for us!)


Eating out.  This is a hard one, but one of the biggest money savers!  I try really hard to make a weekly menu plan.  When I take the time to sit down and plan out what to make (according to what I already have in my pantry) I save TONS of money.  We do eat out, but not nearly what we would if I didn't have a plan!


Frivolous Shopping Trips:  I try not to run across town for only one thing.  It costs too much $$$ in gas to do that.  Instead, I plan my trips and do all my errands on the same day...or I at least try to.  For example: when picking Emalee up from preschool I'm close to the bread store and Walgreen's.  Today I went all three places in one trip!  I was home the rest of the day.


Hair cuts:  I cut Brian, David and Emalee's hair.  Jacob's is too hard to cut because of his head shape.  Me?  I don't trust Brian to cut my hair!  :)  At the most, mine is cut 4 times per year.  Luckily, my hair grows very, very slow!

Those are just a few of the ways that we've been able to cut our expenses the past couple of years.  There are many more that I did not mention!  We did have a few monetary gifts that were given to us (because of the medical expenses) so we took that money and put it in the medical fund knowing that there would be more medical bills to come...and there are!  Currently, we're paying 5 more medical bills as with my disease they just never end!

So, where are we at on this "Becoming Debt Free" journey???  As of today we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!  *
Exact numbers will be given the next time I post in this series!

What are some ways that you cut expenses?  Please share on the Face book page or in the comments section below!  I'm sure that your comment can encourage someone else on the financial road to freedom!

My first piece of glazed furniture that I did all by myself!

Last week I took a couple days and managed to paint and glaze a little end table.  I'm fairly pleased with the outcome of the project.  My goal is to paint a large jelly cabinet that I have, but I didn't want to take on a large project quite yet, so I decided to do a trial on the little table.  I love the outcome and plan on doing the cabinet in the future...when I have a warm day outside to work on it!  Oh, and this product confirmed my love for spray paint!  :)

This is the finished product!  Couldn't find glaze at Walmart, but found various types at Lowe's.  

Started with a table we got as newlyweds 17 1/2 years ago.   I almost forgot to take a "before" photo so I snapped this one in the middle of priming it.

Primed with spray Kilz

Completely painted.  Now ready to be antiqued. (Finished piece is the top photo on the blog)

Used Krylon Blue Ocean Breeze

True Moment Tuesdays: Give Thanks

1 Thessalonian 5:16-18
 Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.


As the season of Thanksgiving is upon us I've decided to blog about one thing per day up to Thanksgiving Day that I'm thankful for.  I'll add to this list daily.


Feel free to join me by leaving a comment here on the blog or on the facebook page.




November:


1.  I'm thankful for a new friendship that God has given me!


2.  I'm thankful for God's provision of chicken today!


3.  I'm thankful that I finally caught up on some much-needed sleep last night!


4.  I'm thankful for my husband:  Just last night I shared with him how much I appreciate him for always providing without complaint. He's the hardest working man I know and has great respect from his peers for his integrity in his work. He's humble, honest, meek and loves me beyond measure. I'm sick with a chronic autoimmune disorder that takes a great toll on me mentally and physically at times. He is my rock (next to Jesus!) and my shoulder to cry on, my friend to laugh with and the one person I look forward to sharing the rest of my life with. I love that he loves the Lord, teaches our children Biblical truths and demonstrates the love of Christ through his words and actions. I'm so thankful that the Lord put us together!


5.  I'm thankful for the much needed nap that I got to take today.  I know it sounds a little silly to put that down as a "thankful" thing to have, but it's really true!


6.  I'm thankful for the salvation of a loved one this past week.  Oh, how He loves us!