It's been a while since I blogged about the Sunday church message. But something Pastor Mike Routt said made me think that I need to do it today. If not for any other reason than to share some of my testimony.
As you can probably guess by the title, today's message was about "hope" and more specifically the hope that we receive through salvation and a personal relationship with our savor Jesus Christ. I have hope. I have more faith in my God than my President. I have more faith in what my God can do for me than what Wall Street can do for my mutual fund. I have so much faith that I wait on my God to help me through the dark times. As the song says, "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord". I have hope because I know who my God is. And that He is greater than my circumstances.
Let's put it this way, this month Jeff and I don't have enough money to pay our mortgage. They approved us for unemployment benefits through the military but not through Jeff's last job. This has caused something to go screwy in their system and our phone doesn't want to stay charged for the two hours it takes to get through to someone (no joke, you call them and they say that the wait time is 2 hours if you can even get through). Refiling unemployment, has gotten us nowhere. Now if I didn't have hope, I would be really freaking out about not being able to pay our mortgage. We even have creditors calling about bills that we just can't pay right now. Pre-Salvation Kristi would be freaking out. Freaking out about my credit score, freaking out about the mortgage payment, etc. But me, right now, in this place, I'm not freaking out. Most normal people would be right? Well I know that my God is bigger than my circumstances. I know that he is bigger than the amount in my bank account. I know that my God will take care of me. He has been so far. Hope breeds faith. If I didn't have hope I couldn't have the faith and the knowledge that I will be delivered from the mess we currently find ourselves in.
Now take Jeff on the other hand. My husband who says he is a non-believer. He doesn't have hope. He has a sour attitude about the whole thing. He's having a hard time finding a job and it's even a bigger blow to his ego to not be able to provide for his family. He stresses and struggles everyday and finds his solace in playing World of Warcraft which doesn't really help but allows him to take his mind off of his situation for a couple of hours. He doesn't have the hope, faith or peace about our situation as I do and believe me it's hard not to let his attitude rub off on me. But I truly have peace about it. I told Pastor Mike Farnham a couple of weeks ago, that it is very liberating to be able to give our problems to God and let Him worry about it for us. It took a long time for me to learn how to do that. And there are some days that are better than others. There are some days where the doubts creep in, I'm human it happens. But those days are fewer and fewer now.
In our situation, hope and faith are extremely important. I pray and I wait on the Lord. I know that He will deliver and take care of me and my family. That knowledge has led me through some very dark times. It has helped me through 2 deployments, dealing with post-partum depression, and unemployment. If I didn't have hope, I don't know where I would be.
Do you have hope?
If you are interested in reading the scripture passage that we talked about in church today, please look to Mark 5: 24-35 the story of the woman who bled for 12 years. It was through her hope and faith that she was healed.
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The Change Has Come
Today marks the start of a new period for the United States. Our first African-American president has been sworn into office. Not only is President Obama, our first African-American president but he is ushering in a new hope for America.
Jeff says not to shoot my hopes too high but I say, I'm going to shoot them high. Our new hope comes to us during a time of economical crisis and a seemingly endless war. He makes lofty promises. But he seems to be trying to make good on those promises.
I hope, as I'm sure that many of my fellow Americans are hoping, that President Obama brings us the needed change and turn around that this country so desperately needs. And I know that its not going to happen overnight. It took much more than 8 years to get our country to where it is today but I am putting my faith in President Obama to deliver us from our current crisis. God puts people in positions of power for reasons that we cannot understand. I am going to put my faith in my God that He has placed the right man in this position. A man who will work hard to deliver us from the current mess we find ourselves in.
So in honor of this historic day in our countries history I am making Obama's Chili. But I have altered the recipe somewhat to tailor it to what I had available in the house and what I happen to like in my chili.
So here is my version of Obama's Chili
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 medium onion diced
1 medium bell pepper chopped
2 stalks of celery diced
5 cloves of garlic minced
3/4lb of ground beef
1 Tbsp Chili Powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp basil
1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Lawrys Seasoned Salt
1 14.5oz can Hunts Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Garlic
1 14.5oz can crushed tomatoes
3 Tbsp of Red Wine Vinegar
Heat the olive oil in your stock pot on medium heat. Throw in the vegetable and cook until slightly browned
Add the ground beef and break up as you are cooking it (I use my Pampered Chef Mix 'n Chop for this. I heart my Pampered Chef Mix 'n Chop)
When the ground beef is just starting to brown add your spices
Let the mixture cook for about 2-3 minutes and add your tomatoes and vinegar.
Let cook on low heat for at least an hour to develop the flavor.
We are having this over baked potatoes but rice would be just as nice.
Oh and side note. Please please please don't forget to add the Red Wine Vinegar. I forgot to add it and I nearly kicked myself. The Red Wine Vinegar totally makes the dish. President Obama totally knows what he's doing when it comes to making a pot of chili!
Jeff says not to shoot my hopes too high but I say, I'm going to shoot them high. Our new hope comes to us during a time of economical crisis and a seemingly endless war. He makes lofty promises. But he seems to be trying to make good on those promises.
I hope, as I'm sure that many of my fellow Americans are hoping, that President Obama brings us the needed change and turn around that this country so desperately needs. And I know that its not going to happen overnight. It took much more than 8 years to get our country to where it is today but I am putting my faith in President Obama to deliver us from our current crisis. God puts people in positions of power for reasons that we cannot understand. I am going to put my faith in my God that He has placed the right man in this position. A man who will work hard to deliver us from the current mess we find ourselves in.
So in honor of this historic day in our countries history I am making Obama's Chili. But I have altered the recipe somewhat to tailor it to what I had available in the house and what I happen to like in my chili.
So here is my version of Obama's Chili
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 medium onion diced
1 medium bell pepper chopped
2 stalks of celery diced
5 cloves of garlic minced
3/4lb of ground beef
1 Tbsp Chili Powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp basil
1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp Lawrys Seasoned Salt
1 14.5oz can Hunts Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Garlic
1 14.5oz can crushed tomatoes
3 Tbsp of Red Wine Vinegar
Heat the olive oil in your stock pot on medium heat. Throw in the vegetable and cook until slightly browned
Add the ground beef and break up as you are cooking it (I use my Pampered Chef Mix 'n Chop for this. I heart my Pampered Chef Mix 'n Chop)
When the ground beef is just starting to brown add your spices
Let the mixture cook for about 2-3 minutes and add your tomatoes and vinegar.
Let cook on low heat for at least an hour to develop the flavor.
We are having this over baked potatoes but rice would be just as nice.
Oh and side note. Please please please don't forget to add the Red Wine Vinegar. I forgot to add it and I nearly kicked myself. The Red Wine Vinegar totally makes the dish. President Obama totally knows what he's doing when it comes to making a pot of chili!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
What Does it Cost to Eat in America?
Okay so I have some extra time on my hands today. I decided not to go to church this morning after one look at the unploughed roads here in Fountain. Jeff actually drove to Safeway earlier because he was in desperate need of nicotine. Crazy person. He said that the roads are really bad and told me to stay home. I wasn't going to argue. Anyways I digress...
Yesterday, I ran across this website after watching an Internet broadcast of Fox and Friends. Its called One Dollar Diet Project. These two teachers decided to try an experiment. They wanted to see if the could eat for $1.00 a day per person for an entire month. Sounds crazy right. They blogged about their experiences. He lost weight (15lbs), they both were cranky, tired and irritable but they did it for an entire month. Why? Because people all over the world live on $1.00 of food a day. They were talking about how much food they wasted on a daily basis and wanted to see if they could live off of one dollar a day. So they tried it for a whole month and they were thankful when that month ended. So that got me thinking. How much do I spend in a month just on groceries.
Well, as I said before, my budget is $60.00 a week. Sometimes I spend a little more sometimes I spend a little less but it usually evens out to $60.00 a week. If you break that down per person, you come out with $15.00 per person, per week which is about $2.14 per day. Not too bad right? Granted two of the people in the house are tiny but they still eat A LOT. Just for breakfast today, Kylie ate 1 egg, a biscuit, a glass of homemade chocolate milk (milk, 1/2 tbsp baking cocoa and 1 1/2 tbsp powdered sugar) and about a half a can of fruit salad. Kaitlynn also had an egg, fruit salad and a biscuit. So they maybe tiny but they are not little eaters.
For $2.14 a day, we have plenty of fruits and veggies. Granted the veggies are mostly the frozen variety and the fruit mostly the canned. We have snacks, hot breakfasts, desserts. We have meat which is mostly cheaper cuts but its still meat. We eat really well for $2.14 a day per person. Most of that money is funneled into dinner. Breakfasts and lunches cost a lot less. We are not malnourished and no one here is losing any weight (yet, check back with me when the national body challenge starts next month).
A typical day for us looks something like this...
Breakfast
Either oatmeal in some form (baked or cooked with flax and cranberries, if its cooked instead of baked I usually throw some canned pumpkin in there) or eggs (we like green eggs: spinach, eggs and garlic pulsed in a food processor and then scrambled in the pan) and toast both served with some kind of fruit.
Lunch
Its a smattering of different things but always includes some kind of fruit: either apples, oranges or something from the can; and a veggie: carrot sticks, frozen peas and carrots or corn. The main dish varies from sandwiches (PB & J for Kylie, Sunbutter and Jelly for Kaitlynn who is allergic to peanuts), to chicken nuggets, leftovers from dinner the night before, soup (if I serve soup, I don't usually include a veggie side)
Dinner
Also a variety of things. I get bored easily with food so I try to vary the kinds of foods I make. I posted about the soup I made the other night. On Kylie's birthday (this past Thursday), I made spaghetti. We had this with warm pears (29oz canned pears in their syrup throw into a 425 degree oven with a little cinnamon sprinkled on top) and my quick greens recipe (I used frozen green beans this time. Green beans cooked in chicken broth with garlic, 2 pieces of chopped fried bacon, garlic powder, onion powder, and garlic pepper. YUM!) The price of this dinner?
Spaghetti
Sauce: $1.00 (purchased on sale)
Noodles: $.88 (purchased in bulk at Sam's Club)
1/2 lb ground beef: $1.50
1/2 chopped onion: $.02 (a 3 lb bag bought on sale for $1.00 6 onions in the bag)
1 tsp minced garlic: $.02 (1 jar of minced garlic bought for $1.00, 48 tsp in a jar)
Pears
29oz can of pears: $1.00 (purchased on sale last week)
Cinnamon: ? (I really couldn't tell you how much cinnamon I used so I can't really determine a price but I just sprinkled a little on top and the jar of cinnamon cost me about $1.25 at Walmart)
Green Beans
16oz frozen Green Beans: $1.00 (purchased on sale)
1 tsp minced garlic: $.02
1 can chicken broth: $.39
2 pieces of bacon: $0.16 (purchased on sale for $1.77, 21 pieces in a packages)
Spices: again, I don't know the quantities I used so I can't tell you exactly how much they cost.
Total price for dinner approximately: $5.99 or $1.50 per person, a lot less if you include that we had a lot of leftovers. It probably ended up factoring to more like $.75 a person just because we had 1/2 of everything leftover after we were done eating. We had enough food leftover for the girls to have it again for dinner on Friday and for Jeff to take the majority of it to work with him for lunch the next day.
So okay, typical long winded Kristi. My point is that $1.00 a day in our economic climate is extreme. Most people around the world live on $1.00 a day because they grow or gather their own foods, raise their own animals for meat or hunt for it. So meat costs them nothing to very little and the same goes for vegetables and fruits. It takes time and not much money but you are subject to low food supplies during times of extreme weather. I think in a truer $1.00 a day experiment, they should have grown some of their own foods. They would have been able to eat well while maintaining their budget. It would be interesting if they did this again but planned on starting a garden in spring. I wonder what their food intake would look like then.
Yesterday, I ran across this website after watching an Internet broadcast of Fox and Friends. Its called One Dollar Diet Project. These two teachers decided to try an experiment. They wanted to see if the could eat for $1.00 a day per person for an entire month. Sounds crazy right. They blogged about their experiences. He lost weight (15lbs), they both were cranky, tired and irritable but they did it for an entire month. Why? Because people all over the world live on $1.00 of food a day. They were talking about how much food they wasted on a daily basis and wanted to see if they could live off of one dollar a day. So they tried it for a whole month and they were thankful when that month ended. So that got me thinking. How much do I spend in a month just on groceries.
Well, as I said before, my budget is $60.00 a week. Sometimes I spend a little more sometimes I spend a little less but it usually evens out to $60.00 a week. If you break that down per person, you come out with $15.00 per person, per week which is about $2.14 per day. Not too bad right? Granted two of the people in the house are tiny but they still eat A LOT. Just for breakfast today, Kylie ate 1 egg, a biscuit, a glass of homemade chocolate milk (milk, 1/2 tbsp baking cocoa and 1 1/2 tbsp powdered sugar) and about a half a can of fruit salad. Kaitlynn also had an egg, fruit salad and a biscuit. So they maybe tiny but they are not little eaters.
For $2.14 a day, we have plenty of fruits and veggies. Granted the veggies are mostly the frozen variety and the fruit mostly the canned. We have snacks, hot breakfasts, desserts. We have meat which is mostly cheaper cuts but its still meat. We eat really well for $2.14 a day per person. Most of that money is funneled into dinner. Breakfasts and lunches cost a lot less. We are not malnourished and no one here is losing any weight (yet, check back with me when the national body challenge starts next month).
A typical day for us looks something like this...
Breakfast
Either oatmeal in some form (baked or cooked with flax and cranberries, if its cooked instead of baked I usually throw some canned pumpkin in there) or eggs (we like green eggs: spinach, eggs and garlic pulsed in a food processor and then scrambled in the pan) and toast both served with some kind of fruit.
Lunch
Its a smattering of different things but always includes some kind of fruit: either apples, oranges or something from the can; and a veggie: carrot sticks, frozen peas and carrots or corn. The main dish varies from sandwiches (PB & J for Kylie, Sunbutter and Jelly for Kaitlynn who is allergic to peanuts), to chicken nuggets, leftovers from dinner the night before, soup (if I serve soup, I don't usually include a veggie side)
Dinner
Also a variety of things. I get bored easily with food so I try to vary the kinds of foods I make. I posted about the soup I made the other night. On Kylie's birthday (this past Thursday), I made spaghetti. We had this with warm pears (29oz canned pears in their syrup throw into a 425 degree oven with a little cinnamon sprinkled on top) and my quick greens recipe (I used frozen green beans this time. Green beans cooked in chicken broth with garlic, 2 pieces of chopped fried bacon, garlic powder, onion powder, and garlic pepper. YUM!) The price of this dinner?
Spaghetti
Sauce: $1.00 (purchased on sale)
Noodles: $.88 (purchased in bulk at Sam's Club)
1/2 lb ground beef: $1.50
1/2 chopped onion: $.02 (a 3 lb bag bought on sale for $1.00 6 onions in the bag)
1 tsp minced garlic: $.02 (1 jar of minced garlic bought for $1.00, 48 tsp in a jar)
Pears
29oz can of pears: $1.00 (purchased on sale last week)
Cinnamon: ? (I really couldn't tell you how much cinnamon I used so I can't really determine a price but I just sprinkled a little on top and the jar of cinnamon cost me about $1.25 at Walmart)
Green Beans
16oz frozen Green Beans: $1.00 (purchased on sale)
1 tsp minced garlic: $.02
1 can chicken broth: $.39
2 pieces of bacon: $0.16 (purchased on sale for $1.77, 21 pieces in a packages)
Spices: again, I don't know the quantities I used so I can't tell you exactly how much they cost.
Total price for dinner approximately: $5.99 or $1.50 per person, a lot less if you include that we had a lot of leftovers. It probably ended up factoring to more like $.75 a person just because we had 1/2 of everything leftover after we were done eating. We had enough food leftover for the girls to have it again for dinner on Friday and for Jeff to take the majority of it to work with him for lunch the next day.
So okay, typical long winded Kristi. My point is that $1.00 a day in our economic climate is extreme. Most people around the world live on $1.00 a day because they grow or gather their own foods, raise their own animals for meat or hunt for it. So meat costs them nothing to very little and the same goes for vegetables and fruits. It takes time and not much money but you are subject to low food supplies during times of extreme weather. I think in a truer $1.00 a day experiment, they should have grown some of their own foods. They would have been able to eat well while maintaining their budget. It would be interesting if they did this again but planned on starting a garden in spring. I wonder what their food intake would look like then.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
What Could Giving Look Like?
'He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever'"
2 Corinthians 9: 6-9 (NIV)
I have been thinking a lot about the topic of giving lately. Christmas time is called the season of giving because it is at this time of year that God gave us his son. What bigger gift could anyone receive than the gift of salvation but, what does giving look like today, right now in this economic climate?
The Salvation Army is reporting that they aren't receiving as many donations this year. People everywhere are looking for help because of job loss and other financial hardships. But this is the time no matter what our financial circumstances that we really need to be out there helping those in need.
I am not financially secure by any means. Jeff comes home the other day and tells me that his temp job is about to end. My hours at work have been cut drastically. This past month I have made half of what I normally make. But I give. I give what I can, when I can. It may not be much, but it's something. And this got me thinking, if everyone gave "just a little something", what would that look like?
If everyone in the state of Colorado (over the age of 18) gave a dollar to the Salvation Army, they would collect $3,592,037 during the holiday season. Can you believe that? If everyone in this country over the age of 18 gave a dollar to the Salvation Army, they would collect $225,084,715!!! Really what is a dollar? What do you waste a dollar on? I personally am guilty of wasting a dollar on Sausage Biscuit and Egg sandwiches at Burger King, coffee at 7-11, and buying things that clutter my home at the dollar store.
With the need so great this year, if everyone just in Colorado Springs (over the age of 18), donated a dollar to Care and Share Food Bank it would total $292,889. How many hungry people would that feed?
I don't presume to know anyone's situation. But the fact is that even if you and everyone around you gave just a small amount, it adds up. If 6 people got together and each gave $5.00, that would total $30.00 which is what a Christmas food basket costs from either Angel Food Ministries or Share Colorado. Those 6 people, with their limited funds could provide a nice dinner for a family in need.
The economic situation has me reconsidering what I spend my money on. Yes, money is tight here as it is for many people but you shouldn't be reconsidering your giving. Maybe you can't give as much as you did last year but I'm sure that even if you can't contribute financially, you can certainly give that sweater in your closet that hasn't fit in 2 years or those canned goods that you bought 6 months ago that you still haven't eaten. There is always something that you can do even if you can't give monetarily. Give your time. There are so many people who are alone this time of year, especially Seniors that just maybe want a friend. Give what you can give to others but most importantly do so cheerfully. Give from your heart and not because you feel obligated to. But I can tell you something, once you start giving its going to make you feel so good that you aren't going to want to stop.
**I found all the population statistics on www.census.gov
Friday, November 28, 2008
Black Friday Reflections
Okay so do you see a theme happening here? I'm reflecting today
Okay so before I start this, lets get a couple of things out of the way...
Yes, I am a bargain shopping fiend and I start planning my Black Friday shopping on the Monday of that week (that's when the Walmart sales ad comes out)
Yes, I am the crazy lady who is at Walmart at 430am stocking my cart before the sale technically starts.
Yes, I am a type A personality and I made an extensive excel spreadsheet with stores, prices, who it's from and who the presents are for. See my example below. Yes, I am THAT crazy.
Yes, I am the person who stands in the long line outside of Target waiting for them to open.
Yep, that's me. Okay I feel so much better now that I got that off my chest. Now, I can truly start reflecting on my shopping frenzy today.
I love Black Friday. Black Friday is not a day for browsing and people in the stores that are browsing during the sales just get on my nerves. But that's me. Black Friday shopping is truly a sport and not to be undertaken if you aren't serious about finding the bargains and ready to stand in long lines. I stood in line for an hour and a half today at Toys R Us. Crazy? Yep. But it's Black Friday and I was prepared to stand in line.
But, today was the craziest Black Friday I have ever seen. Walmart this morning was true insanity. I have never seen that many people there that early. I usually get there at 430 in the morning. Yep, the only day of the year that I can get up that early. The last 5 Black Fridays, when I got there at 430 in the morning there really weren't too many people there. I can usually park fairly close to the door. Today, the parking lot was packed! I had to park pretty far away from the door. It was insane. As I drove to Walmart, there were just a few cars on the road. Typical for early morning. There weren't too many lights on other than street lights but when I pulled into the parking lot at Walmart, it was aglow with headlights. When I walked into the store, there were already people in line waiting to check out. I was in total shock.
One lady I spoke with attributed the mass of people to more people living in the Fountain area. To be honest, there aren't that many more people living in Fountain this year than there were last year. But, I think that its a testament to the hard hit economy. People who wouldn't normally dream of being out that early on Black Friday packed the stores. I can't tell you how many times I heard people say today that this was their first Black Friday experience and they couldn't believe how crowded it was. There were displays in Walmart that were totally decimated because of the throngs of people who descended upon them. The $4.00 PJ section was completely torn apart.
To be honest, the sales weren't that different than what they offered last year. But yet people were there in droves this morning. Before the sun was up, some folks (like myself) had already been shopping for hours. People are trying to make their dollar stretch much further this year. Websites about budget minded shopping and dinners, money saving tips, etc are extremely popular this year as people try to weather this financial storm. Most are trying to change their mindsets about spending and become more budget conscious. But this is the time of year when credit card balances start to rise.
As, I had a lot of time to think today while I stood in line for one and half hours at Toys R Us. My mind drifted a lot (because I hadn't had my coffee yet) about how people were paying for all their bargain treasures. People who were buying 3 HDTVs, 4 Digital photo frames and 5 iPods were definitely not paying cash for their items. But were they charging up their credit cards to pay for all the luxuries? I didn't see anyone pay for their items today with cash. Not that there weren't those that did (I did! I did!) but I didn't see any. In Toys R Us, I saw a lot of people that kept adding to their shopping carts as the line for the registers snaked through the store. Were people really just spending without care today? I don't know. Just cause I'm anal retentive about my shopping list doesn't mean everyone else is. What I do know is that I came in well under my budget for Christmas presents and I got a lot of stuff.
I save all year long so that I have money to spend for Christmas. Something I started doing when Kylie was a baby. Her birthday is December 11th and it's hard to get doubly hit at the end of the year. So I save. Cash allows me to have a limited budget. If I felt free to just spend and spend on a credit card, my house would be more overrun with stuff than it is right now. On top of the money I saved. My Dad and Gramma also sent money for the girls. So I divided everything equally between everyone and I am happy to say that both Kylie and Kaitlynn will have some really nice things to open on Christmas morning. Today I probably spent a total of $400. That is presents for Kylie's birthday and Christmas presents for Kylie, Kaitlynn and Jeff and stocking stuffers for those 3 as well. So not too shabby I think. I even wrapped Jeff's presents already. I had to. He will try to find them if I didn't. I figured the best way to keep them a surprise until Christmas was to wrap them.
Normally, I will spend everything I have saved for the holidays but this year I was savvy and really controlled myself. I had to remind myself that my kids don't need every new thing. I tried to stick to things that I know they will love and play with. Last year I just got them things to get them things. So they would have something to open. I didn't want to do that this year. I know that they will be happy with everything I got them and I'm not just wondering if they will like it or not.
I think that in a way, the financial crunch is a good thing. Yes, it sucks to have to scale back a lot but in a way, I think our culture was too "me minded". We were too stuck into thinking that we need the latest coolest thing. We don't. I think the economic upheaval is helping people to realize that they need to think about what they truly need and not just what they want. But, I also think that no matter what, Christmas for some will always be a spending spree no matter what the economy looks like.
Okay so please forgive me if I rambled. I know that I did. I'm tired. I have been up since 4 after all and I was up practically all night. Kaitlynn had a rough night last night. Shes a kid, it happens. But why it had to happen on Black Friday? I'll never know I'm sure. Crazy lady is going to bed now. ;)
Okay so before I start this, lets get a couple of things out of the way...
Yes, I am a bargain shopping fiend and I start planning my Black Friday shopping on the Monday of that week (that's when the Walmart sales ad comes out)
Yes, I am the crazy lady who is at Walmart at 430am stocking my cart before the sale technically starts.
Yes, I am a type A personality and I made an extensive excel spreadsheet with stores, prices, who it's from and who the presents are for. See my example below. Yes, I am THAT crazy.
Yes, I am the person who stands in the long line outside of Target waiting for them to open.
Yep, that's me. Okay I feel so much better now that I got that off my chest. Now, I can truly start reflecting on my shopping frenzy today.
I love Black Friday. Black Friday is not a day for browsing and people in the stores that are browsing during the sales just get on my nerves. But that's me. Black Friday shopping is truly a sport and not to be undertaken if you aren't serious about finding the bargains and ready to stand in long lines. I stood in line for an hour and a half today at Toys R Us. Crazy? Yep. But it's Black Friday and I was prepared to stand in line.
But, today was the craziest Black Friday I have ever seen. Walmart this morning was true insanity. I have never seen that many people there that early. I usually get there at 430 in the morning. Yep, the only day of the year that I can get up that early. The last 5 Black Fridays, when I got there at 430 in the morning there really weren't too many people there. I can usually park fairly close to the door. Today, the parking lot was packed! I had to park pretty far away from the door. It was insane. As I drove to Walmart, there were just a few cars on the road. Typical for early morning. There weren't too many lights on other than street lights but when I pulled into the parking lot at Walmart, it was aglow with headlights. When I walked into the store, there were already people in line waiting to check out. I was in total shock.
One lady I spoke with attributed the mass of people to more people living in the Fountain area. To be honest, there aren't that many more people living in Fountain this year than there were last year. But, I think that its a testament to the hard hit economy. People who wouldn't normally dream of being out that early on Black Friday packed the stores. I can't tell you how many times I heard people say today that this was their first Black Friday experience and they couldn't believe how crowded it was. There were displays in Walmart that were totally decimated because of the throngs of people who descended upon them. The $4.00 PJ section was completely torn apart.
To be honest, the sales weren't that different than what they offered last year. But yet people were there in droves this morning. Before the sun was up, some folks (like myself) had already been shopping for hours. People are trying to make their dollar stretch much further this year. Websites about budget minded shopping and dinners, money saving tips, etc are extremely popular this year as people try to weather this financial storm. Most are trying to change their mindsets about spending and become more budget conscious. But this is the time of year when credit card balances start to rise.
As, I had a lot of time to think today while I stood in line for one and half hours at Toys R Us. My mind drifted a lot (because I hadn't had my coffee yet) about how people were paying for all their bargain treasures. People who were buying 3 HDTVs, 4 Digital photo frames and 5 iPods were definitely not paying cash for their items. But were they charging up their credit cards to pay for all the luxuries? I didn't see anyone pay for their items today with cash. Not that there weren't those that did (I did! I did!) but I didn't see any. In Toys R Us, I saw a lot of people that kept adding to their shopping carts as the line for the registers snaked through the store. Were people really just spending without care today? I don't know. Just cause I'm anal retentive about my shopping list doesn't mean everyone else is. What I do know is that I came in well under my budget for Christmas presents and I got a lot of stuff.
I save all year long so that I have money to spend for Christmas. Something I started doing when Kylie was a baby. Her birthday is December 11th and it's hard to get doubly hit at the end of the year. So I save. Cash allows me to have a limited budget. If I felt free to just spend and spend on a credit card, my house would be more overrun with stuff than it is right now. On top of the money I saved. My Dad and Gramma also sent money for the girls. So I divided everything equally between everyone and I am happy to say that both Kylie and Kaitlynn will have some really nice things to open on Christmas morning. Today I probably spent a total of $400. That is presents for Kylie's birthday and Christmas presents for Kylie, Kaitlynn and Jeff and stocking stuffers for those 3 as well. So not too shabby I think. I even wrapped Jeff's presents already. I had to. He will try to find them if I didn't. I figured the best way to keep them a surprise until Christmas was to wrap them.
Normally, I will spend everything I have saved for the holidays but this year I was savvy and really controlled myself. I had to remind myself that my kids don't need every new thing. I tried to stick to things that I know they will love and play with. Last year I just got them things to get them things. So they would have something to open. I didn't want to do that this year. I know that they will be happy with everything I got them and I'm not just wondering if they will like it or not.
I think that in a way, the financial crunch is a good thing. Yes, it sucks to have to scale back a lot but in a way, I think our culture was too "me minded". We were too stuck into thinking that we need the latest coolest thing. We don't. I think the economic upheaval is helping people to realize that they need to think about what they truly need and not just what they want. But, I also think that no matter what, Christmas for some will always be a spending spree no matter what the economy looks like.
Okay so please forgive me if I rambled. I know that I did. I'm tired. I have been up since 4 after all and I was up practically all night. Kaitlynn had a rough night last night. Shes a kid, it happens. But why it had to happen on Black Friday? I'll never know I'm sure. Crazy lady is going to bed now. ;)
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Saving Money.
So today in church, Dr Mike continued his finance series.
It got me really thinking about where we can scale back in our finances.
Right now with things being so tight, I don't think there is a way that we can scale back any more than we already have. But what have I done to scale back? Well its not much different than what we had been doing before.
"Buy used and save the difference"
I just love a bargain and when my girls are in need of something or I am in need of something, I have no problem getting something used. Goodwill is my favorite store for this kind of stuff. But lately, I have been finding the quality of the things I find, not as good as it was just a couple of months ago. I did recently buy myself a pair of shoes at Goodwill though. I told myself I would never buy a pair of used shoes. Feet just gross me out! But, you know what? The shoes I bought were only $1.99 and they were comfy and in great condition. You can't beat that right?
Craigslist and rummage sales are my other passion. My dad recently sent a check for the girls for Christmas and I found a screaming deal on a "Rose Petal Cottage". If you know what this thing is, you know that its EXPENSIVE! Well I got a slammin' deal on this thing. It looks brand new and the lady I bought it from threw in the stove, nursery set and extra play food, a baby doll and a baby blanket all for $75!!! Awesome right? If you priced this thing out new, you couldn't purchase just the cottage for that. The cottage itself is $90.00 plus the nursery set is $40... you get the idea. I saved a boat load on it! I love to save money!
Coupons, Coupons, Coupons. Sales, Sales, Sales.
I had gotten out of couponing for a while because you usually only find coupons for brand name items. I find it cheaper most of the time to just buy the store brand. However, when you combine a coupon with a sale, you get a very happy Kristi.
I love to shop the sales. I try not to pay full price for anything and with a strict weekly grocery budget of $60, I really have to make my money stretch as far as possible. I will go through the weekly sale fliers and make my list and calculate exactly how much I think it's going to cost me. I will also spend time on my calculator at the store to make sure that I am staying within my budget.
So how do I manage to only spend $60.00 a week? Well not only do I utilize the sales but I pay attention to what is on sale. I find that one week there will be a screaming deal on meat and I'll stock up for as much as my $60.00 can handle. Then the next week, maybe there will be screaming deals on produce and canned goods. Again, I will stock up.
I cook almost everyday now. When I don't cook we are usually getting the sale "meal" that week. Safeway usually will have a $5.00 special on Fridays. I'll pick up the $5.00 main dish and combine that with what I have in my pantry and fridge. To me that $5.00 is worth a cooking break for me. Even if I manage to "cook big" (aka a lot of food) my hungry husband will usually polish off whatever I make. There are normally no leftovers so leftover nights are just not options for us.
I have also learned to get really creative with dinner. Some of our favorite budget dinners are Tater Tot Casserole, Chili Topped Baked Potatoes, Chicken Adobo, Baked Pork Chops, Korean BBQ Chicken and Filipino Menudo. YUM! Easy budget friendly and delicious.
Driving Less
So even though gas prices are plummeting as fast as the stock market, we are still in the mindset of not traveling too much. We are paying half as much now as we were when gas prices were high but, there are other areas of our finances that the extra money could go to. So we still don't driving around all over the place, we just go where we need to and try to plan on doing errands along the way. Plus, when two working people share one car, its really easy not to go "gallivanting" all over the place as my Gramma would say.
Plus there are so many other ways we are scaling back.
We go to the beauty school to get haircuts. The other day Jeff, Kylie and I all got haircuts and shampoos for $25.00. You cant beat that. Most places just to do my hair it would cost $25.00.
Making my own cleaning products and scaling back on the rest. I love making my own cleaning products. I can't stand the artificial smell so making my own cleaner for literally pennies is great! I have been using that Arm and Hammer Essentials recently but that's because I got a FULL SIZED sample at Walmart last month. I love it but once it's gone back to making my own cleaners I go. I also just came across a recipe for laundry detergent that I am itching to try once the laundry detergent that I currently have runs out.
Cloth Diapers! I love my cloth diapers. I just washed a load today. Unlike some of my friends, my main motivation behind cloth diapering was not to save the environment. I mean that's a huge bonus, but I like not having to buy diapers every month. I like not having to budget for that. Its great! Plus even though I bought pretty much all of my diapers new, its still going to save me hundreds of dollars over the long haul. I am completely stocked with diapers until Kaitlynn is potty trained. Plus the colors are so pretty. I love my FuzziBunz!
Yes, we still have luxuries like cable but, we don't ever go out. We don't go out to see movies, we don't buy DVDs anymore. I feel like we but back everywhere else, that we deserve to have a little luxury in our lives like cable. That's what I think, and I'm sticking to it.
What I do find is that its really easy for me to stay on track with budget, but not so much for Jeff. He admitted to me the other day that he doesn't really pay attention to how much hes spending and that's a huge no no when it comes to trying to stay on budget. I'm the type of person where I'm adding up in my head how much I spent and how much is left in my budget. Jeff is very free with his money and that's why he ends up putting us in the red. He says hes going to work on that. I pray that he does.
It got me really thinking about where we can scale back in our finances.
Right now with things being so tight, I don't think there is a way that we can scale back any more than we already have. But what have I done to scale back? Well its not much different than what we had been doing before.
"Buy used and save the difference"
I just love a bargain and when my girls are in need of something or I am in need of something, I have no problem getting something used. Goodwill is my favorite store for this kind of stuff. But lately, I have been finding the quality of the things I find, not as good as it was just a couple of months ago. I did recently buy myself a pair of shoes at Goodwill though. I told myself I would never buy a pair of used shoes. Feet just gross me out! But, you know what? The shoes I bought were only $1.99 and they were comfy and in great condition. You can't beat that right?
Craigslist and rummage sales are my other passion. My dad recently sent a check for the girls for Christmas and I found a screaming deal on a "Rose Petal Cottage". If you know what this thing is, you know that its EXPENSIVE! Well I got a slammin' deal on this thing. It looks brand new and the lady I bought it from threw in the stove, nursery set and extra play food, a baby doll and a baby blanket all for $75!!! Awesome right? If you priced this thing out new, you couldn't purchase just the cottage for that. The cottage itself is $90.00 plus the nursery set is $40... you get the idea. I saved a boat load on it! I love to save money!
Coupons, Coupons, Coupons. Sales, Sales, Sales.
I had gotten out of couponing for a while because you usually only find coupons for brand name items. I find it cheaper most of the time to just buy the store brand. However, when you combine a coupon with a sale, you get a very happy Kristi.
I love to shop the sales. I try not to pay full price for anything and with a strict weekly grocery budget of $60, I really have to make my money stretch as far as possible. I will go through the weekly sale fliers and make my list and calculate exactly how much I think it's going to cost me. I will also spend time on my calculator at the store to make sure that I am staying within my budget.
So how do I manage to only spend $60.00 a week? Well not only do I utilize the sales but I pay attention to what is on sale. I find that one week there will be a screaming deal on meat and I'll stock up for as much as my $60.00 can handle. Then the next week, maybe there will be screaming deals on produce and canned goods. Again, I will stock up.
I cook almost everyday now. When I don't cook we are usually getting the sale "meal" that week. Safeway usually will have a $5.00 special on Fridays. I'll pick up the $5.00 main dish and combine that with what I have in my pantry and fridge. To me that $5.00 is worth a cooking break for me. Even if I manage to "cook big" (aka a lot of food) my hungry husband will usually polish off whatever I make. There are normally no leftovers so leftover nights are just not options for us.
I have also learned to get really creative with dinner. Some of our favorite budget dinners are Tater Tot Casserole, Chili Topped Baked Potatoes, Chicken Adobo, Baked Pork Chops, Korean BBQ Chicken and Filipino Menudo. YUM! Easy budget friendly and delicious.
Driving Less
So even though gas prices are plummeting as fast as the stock market, we are still in the mindset of not traveling too much. We are paying half as much now as we were when gas prices were high but, there are other areas of our finances that the extra money could go to. So we still don't driving around all over the place, we just go where we need to and try to plan on doing errands along the way. Plus, when two working people share one car, its really easy not to go "gallivanting" all over the place as my Gramma would say.
Plus there are so many other ways we are scaling back.
We go to the beauty school to get haircuts. The other day Jeff, Kylie and I all got haircuts and shampoos for $25.00. You cant beat that. Most places just to do my hair it would cost $25.00.
Making my own cleaning products and scaling back on the rest. I love making my own cleaning products. I can't stand the artificial smell so making my own cleaner for literally pennies is great! I have been using that Arm and Hammer Essentials recently but that's because I got a FULL SIZED sample at Walmart last month. I love it but once it's gone back to making my own cleaners I go. I also just came across a recipe for laundry detergent that I am itching to try once the laundry detergent that I currently have runs out.
Cloth Diapers! I love my cloth diapers. I just washed a load today. Unlike some of my friends, my main motivation behind cloth diapering was not to save the environment. I mean that's a huge bonus, but I like not having to buy diapers every month. I like not having to budget for that. Its great! Plus even though I bought pretty much all of my diapers new, its still going to save me hundreds of dollars over the long haul. I am completely stocked with diapers until Kaitlynn is potty trained. Plus the colors are so pretty. I love my FuzziBunz!
Yes, we still have luxuries like cable but, we don't ever go out. We don't go out to see movies, we don't buy DVDs anymore. I feel like we but back everywhere else, that we deserve to have a little luxury in our lives like cable. That's what I think, and I'm sticking to it.
What I do find is that its really easy for me to stay on track with budget, but not so much for Jeff. He admitted to me the other day that he doesn't really pay attention to how much hes spending and that's a huge no no when it comes to trying to stay on budget. I'm the type of person where I'm adding up in my head how much I spent and how much is left in my budget. Jeff is very free with his money and that's why he ends up putting us in the red. He says hes going to work on that. I pray that he does.
Friday, November 14, 2008
I Need a Job Job Job
So we have been having a lot of financial stress lately. Ever since Jeff has left the Army, things are REALLY tight right now. And now, my hours at work have been scaled back.
I know that the economy sucks but we are already living so tight, I just don't know what to do.
I know what I should be doing is trusting God with my situation. Things aren't looking pretty right now and it's so hard to trust when things are at their dimmest. I just need to find a way to start generating more income. I have hesitated to do this until now because I am already so exhausted. I feel like everything falls on my shoulders when it comes to the home. I feel that if I don't do it, its not going to get done. Jeff does help sometimes with doing dishes but the bulk of the work is left to me. Couple that with parenting responsibilities, financial responsibilities (because I take care of all that too), and work, it just ends up being A LOT.
But right now are finances are pretty much in the red. All I can think of is resentment toward my husband right now. I keep thinking that had he filed his VA claim before he got out of the military, we wouldn't be in this situation right now. He STILL hasn't filed his VA claim.
Financial stress is especially hard this time of year. I love to give during this time of year. Whether it be food baskets or Operation Christmas Child or adopting a local family through my moms group. I love to be able to be a blessing, and it hurts me that I cant be as big a blessing this year as I would like to. I'm afraid that all I will probably be able to do this year is bake some pies for my church's Thanksgiving Feast. I am debating about doing operation Christmas child this year. I'll have to dip into my ever dwindling Christmas Fund for it. We have had to use some of the money I've saved up for Christmas to buy silly things like groceries.
Its like I said before, I'm a control freak. I want to be able to control my financial flow. They keep promising Jeff overtime at work and it never pans out. I pray everyday for God to open a door for us. Whatever that door may be. He knows my needs better than I do.
I have to trust in God. I know that. Maybe this is something that the Lord is trying to teach me. I can remember one day that I specifically told God that I would totally put Jeff's over time into His hands. And I meant it. I felt so good about it. I completely gave it over to God and later that day, Jeff calls me from work to tell me that they are going to give him overtime the next day. If that doesn't say something, I don't know what does. But it's really hard for me to completely give it over to God. I give it over to Him and then I'm okay and at peace with it and then something else comes up. I just feel that every time I feel great and get a leg up, something comes to try to smack me down. And most times, I let it. Most times I stand back like a helpless victim and let it throw me to the ground and stomp on me.
I know that I need to let it go. I keep telling myself that. I'm working on it but it is SO. DARN. HARD.
I know that the economy sucks but we are already living so tight, I just don't know what to do.
I know what I should be doing is trusting God with my situation. Things aren't looking pretty right now and it's so hard to trust when things are at their dimmest. I just need to find a way to start generating more income. I have hesitated to do this until now because I am already so exhausted. I feel like everything falls on my shoulders when it comes to the home. I feel that if I don't do it, its not going to get done. Jeff does help sometimes with doing dishes but the bulk of the work is left to me. Couple that with parenting responsibilities, financial responsibilities (because I take care of all that too), and work, it just ends up being A LOT.
But right now are finances are pretty much in the red. All I can think of is resentment toward my husband right now. I keep thinking that had he filed his VA claim before he got out of the military, we wouldn't be in this situation right now. He STILL hasn't filed his VA claim.
Financial stress is especially hard this time of year. I love to give during this time of year. Whether it be food baskets or Operation Christmas Child or adopting a local family through my moms group. I love to be able to be a blessing, and it hurts me that I cant be as big a blessing this year as I would like to. I'm afraid that all I will probably be able to do this year is bake some pies for my church's Thanksgiving Feast. I am debating about doing operation Christmas child this year. I'll have to dip into my ever dwindling Christmas Fund for it. We have had to use some of the money I've saved up for Christmas to buy silly things like groceries.
Its like I said before, I'm a control freak. I want to be able to control my financial flow. They keep promising Jeff overtime at work and it never pans out. I pray everyday for God to open a door for us. Whatever that door may be. He knows my needs better than I do.
I have to trust in God. I know that. Maybe this is something that the Lord is trying to teach me. I can remember one day that I specifically told God that I would totally put Jeff's over time into His hands. And I meant it. I felt so good about it. I completely gave it over to God and later that day, Jeff calls me from work to tell me that they are going to give him overtime the next day. If that doesn't say something, I don't know what does. But it's really hard for me to completely give it over to God. I give it over to Him and then I'm okay and at peace with it and then something else comes up. I just feel that every time I feel great and get a leg up, something comes to try to smack me down. And most times, I let it. Most times I stand back like a helpless victim and let it throw me to the ground and stomp on me.
I know that I need to let it go. I keep telling myself that. I'm working on it but it is SO. DARN. HARD.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
How funny
Okay so earlier this morning, I was talking about how I worry about the finances. Wouldn't you know it but in today's sermon Dr. Mike talked about what the bible says about your finances. It's his new message series.
How appropriate right!
Well so what does the bible say?
Our verse today was Matthew 6: 25-34
I'm not going to spell it out for you, you can read it if you want. But the scripture is about how God created us and we shouldn't worry about what we are going to eat and what we are going to put on. God takes care of all His creations from the birds in the air to the flowers in the field so He will take care of us too. He will provide for all of our needs (not to be confused with all of our wants) we just have to trust in Him.
Powerful. I can think of many examples when God has taken care of people that have trusted in Him. Where when these people trusted in Him, He not only took care of their needs but their wants as well. There is John and Kate Gosselin, The Duggar Family, many of the families on the show Kids by the Dozen, The Blodel family (you probably don't know them, they are friends of mine) etc. It's all about faith and most of all attitude.
Check this out from Pioneer Woman (www.thepioneerwoman.com). I LOVE her! Her husband and girls just went down to the Dominican Republic with Compassion International. Just listen to what her husband had to say about two different families there:
"The first in-home visit was almost too much to take. The futility of the family’s situation was overwhelming. The mother was worried about her kids, wanted them to do well in school, stay away from drugs, find some way to a better life, but she had almost zero hope. While her daughter is in Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Program and receives help with education, health care and extra nutrition, you could tell from listening to the mother that she was scared and discouraged. Her mother had worked on a batey, and she’d grown up in extreme poverty. Now she sees her children growing up the same way, and her son is starting to get into trouble.
This visit discouraged him. He saw how miserable they were. They had no hope and walking into a situation like that, wouldn't it discourage you too? Aren't peoples attitudes contagious?
But check out what he had to say about the second family...
"...as I expected, there wasn’t a bit of difference in the living conditions between the two households—both were two-parent families living in the crudest of homes. But there was one noticeable difference: the presence of faith.
Faith. It’s a hard subject for me to talk about. I’d almost hoped that I could just come on this trip and skirt around the issue, focusing mostly on all the good surface work that’s being done here. But I need to step outside of my comfort zone for a minute. Bear with me.
What I found within minutes of entering the second home was that the mother of this family was filled with joy and was thankful for what little they had…and the feeling of hope in the home was palpable. As it turned out, not only is the family actively involved in the local church, this mother had actually been a sponsored child with Compassion during her childhood. (Ben M. from Michigan, you did a great thing when you decided to sponsor this woman when she was a child.)"
Their situations weren't different. Their living conditions weren't different. The only thing that was different was the faith that the second family had.
During these hard economic times, I want to be the second family. They have much less than I do, but they have 10x the faith. They have 10x the joy in their circumstances. I have so much material wise compared to this family, but they have more than I do. They have true faith and joy. Faith and joy despite their circumstances. This is something I aspire to be.
I have resolved to live with less. I am going to start downsizing in the coming weeks. I don't need all the "things" that I have. Heck I have a punch bowl, brand new in the box. I haven't opened it since I bought it over 2 years ago. Why did I buy it? Cause it was cheap and I thought it would be a good idea to have a punchbowl "just in case". Hmmm.... I have a lot of things like this. Do I need it? NO. Can I live without it? YES. Can someone else be blessed by a brand new punchbowl? Of course.
We have too much in this country, compared to those who live in places like the Dominican Republic. Is our reaction to the downturn in the economy because we like to have stuff and are too worried about not having stuff? I know my reaction had a lot to do with that. Just read my last post.
But I'm going to live this week with the faith that God will take care of me. In the midst of my horrible, horrendous week last week, God blessed me with winning something on the radio. That one small thing, uplifted my whole day. God is good! No matter what happens in life, how bad it can get, just remember that God is good. Mostly speaking to myself here. I'm going to write that down and put it on my mirror with my other inspirational thoughts.
Okay I'm off my soap box now.
If you want to read the entire advetures of Marlboro Man and their girls, please visit www.pioneerwoman.com and click on "confessions". It's incredibly inspirational. Just so you know!
How appropriate right!
Well so what does the bible say?
Our verse today was Matthew 6: 25-34
I'm not going to spell it out for you, you can read it if you want. But the scripture is about how God created us and we shouldn't worry about what we are going to eat and what we are going to put on. God takes care of all His creations from the birds in the air to the flowers in the field so He will take care of us too. He will provide for all of our needs (not to be confused with all of our wants) we just have to trust in Him.
Powerful. I can think of many examples when God has taken care of people that have trusted in Him. Where when these people trusted in Him, He not only took care of their needs but their wants as well. There is John and Kate Gosselin, The Duggar Family, many of the families on the show Kids by the Dozen, The Blodel family (you probably don't know them, they are friends of mine) etc. It's all about faith and most of all attitude.
Check this out from Pioneer Woman (www.thepioneerwoman.com). I LOVE her! Her husband and girls just went down to the Dominican Republic with Compassion International. Just listen to what her husband had to say about two different families there:
"The first in-home visit was almost too much to take. The futility of the family’s situation was overwhelming. The mother was worried about her kids, wanted them to do well in school, stay away from drugs, find some way to a better life, but she had almost zero hope. While her daughter is in Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Program and receives help with education, health care and extra nutrition, you could tell from listening to the mother that she was scared and discouraged. Her mother had worked on a batey, and she’d grown up in extreme poverty. Now she sees her children growing up the same way, and her son is starting to get into trouble.
This visit discouraged him. He saw how miserable they were. They had no hope and walking into a situation like that, wouldn't it discourage you too? Aren't peoples attitudes contagious?
But check out what he had to say about the second family...
"...as I expected, there wasn’t a bit of difference in the living conditions between the two households—both were two-parent families living in the crudest of homes. But there was one noticeable difference: the presence of faith.
Faith. It’s a hard subject for me to talk about. I’d almost hoped that I could just come on this trip and skirt around the issue, focusing mostly on all the good surface work that’s being done here. But I need to step outside of my comfort zone for a minute. Bear with me.
What I found within minutes of entering the second home was that the mother of this family was filled with joy and was thankful for what little they had…and the feeling of hope in the home was palpable. As it turned out, not only is the family actively involved in the local church, this mother had actually been a sponsored child with Compassion during her childhood. (Ben M. from Michigan, you did a great thing when you decided to sponsor this woman when she was a child.)"
Their situations weren't different. Their living conditions weren't different. The only thing that was different was the faith that the second family had.
During these hard economic times, I want to be the second family. They have much less than I do, but they have 10x the faith. They have 10x the joy in their circumstances. I have so much material wise compared to this family, but they have more than I do. They have true faith and joy. Faith and joy despite their circumstances. This is something I aspire to be.
I have resolved to live with less. I am going to start downsizing in the coming weeks. I don't need all the "things" that I have. Heck I have a punch bowl, brand new in the box. I haven't opened it since I bought it over 2 years ago. Why did I buy it? Cause it was cheap and I thought it would be a good idea to have a punchbowl "just in case". Hmmm.... I have a lot of things like this. Do I need it? NO. Can I live without it? YES. Can someone else be blessed by a brand new punchbowl? Of course.
We have too much in this country, compared to those who live in places like the Dominican Republic. Is our reaction to the downturn in the economy because we like to have stuff and are too worried about not having stuff? I know my reaction had a lot to do with that. Just read my last post.
But I'm going to live this week with the faith that God will take care of me. In the midst of my horrible, horrendous week last week, God blessed me with winning something on the radio. That one small thing, uplifted my whole day. God is good! No matter what happens in life, how bad it can get, just remember that God is good. Mostly speaking to myself here. I'm going to write that down and put it on my mirror with my other inspirational thoughts.
Okay I'm off my soap box now.
If you want to read the entire advetures of Marlboro Man and their girls, please visit www.pioneerwoman.com and click on "confessions". It's incredibly inspirational. Just so you know!
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