I typically don't post about our Faith. I don't know why because it is a big part of our life. It has changed everything about our family in many ways though still leaving us who we are - chasing Jesus I suppose. It is my main goal this year to reach further for Him and to find Him, to know Him and establish the relationship I'm suppose to have with Him. But, this isn't about me, totally. :-)
We've been attending a church for a while now that we are very happy with and our children seem to love. When I started looking for a church, my main focus was to find somewhere the kids would learn about the bible, the way and the truth. With Kendra not being able to attend North Hills this year, I was afraid she would lose a lot of learning that I wanted her to get. As I am somewhat new in my faith, I wasn't sure I could teach her what I wanted her to know. I'm learning (not that I didn't know) that it is by our walk with Him that our children learn. I have a hard time with that and I know (and so does He) that there are times in my life when I am not happy with my actions or words...but the one thing I have learned: I follow Him. I get back up, ask for forgiveness, then help, and say sorry if I need to. Boy, has it been hard. I guess that just comes with being human.
Well, we tested out the tithing thing. I may have mentioned this in another post but if you want to be ok...tithe. It really does make a difference. So in that, Kendra had earned some money the other day at a friends house. I don't get to see what happens in her class at church and since she moved up...I'm really at a loss of what they do. However, I do know that they pass around the offering can. I've never thought about giving her money and I'm not sure why. She doesn't earn an allowance yet. We've talked about it but not done it. So, the other morning I asked her if she wanted to give her whole $1 to the offering? She thought for a fraction of a second and said, "Yes." I don't think I did justice in explaining why but she got it none the less. When we got home from church that afternoon she was so happy to tell me that she was the only one who had an offering that day. I was so happy for her though not because she was the only one who had an offering but that I gained some knowledge with that $1. I think she is ready to grow up a little more. She loves her faith. I want to be able to insteal into her that God loves her no matter what. I don't want her to be 30 something before she starts going to bible studies and learning that she is the bride and is totally loved whether anyone human loves her or not. She loves signing Christian songs from the radio. Kevin and she sang two or three the other night at bedtime and she bobs her head and just gets into it. It's wonderful to see.
You wonder if they are learning. You wonder if they are picking up the good things, the things you know they should get. You wonder if they will....well, just lead and pray they follow.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Coming into Oneself
It's interesting as the kids grow older how their vocabulary changes and they new and exciting phrases such as: "Nah, nah, nah, boo, boo. Come get me!" Of course, it doesn't quite sound like that when Brady says it but it is sooooo funny. He started saying that about a week or two ago. I supposed his sister taught him that because I don't think he has been around other kids that would use that phrase. He stands there with his little hands on his hips, bent over slightly ready to run at the move of our feet. It is so cute.
Another cute choice of words, though he is not saying what we thought, is when he says "back hoe." Like the big machine tractors...yeah, those things. My mom got him a puzzle, a very large puzzle at that, with tractors of all sorts on it. Yesterday morning as he was putting it together he kept saying, "Ba ho." Like it's a big ba ho. :-) Well, it really sounded like he was saying butt hole. Mom and I just looked at one another and in that split second realized what he was talking about and laughed and laughed. Leave it to Brady to bring on the grins and giggles. He is definitely starting to talk more and we are able to understand a little bit more. So different than Kendra. It's taken some getting used to but it has also been quite amusing.
Another cute choice of words, though he is not saying what we thought, is when he says "back hoe." Like the big machine tractors...yeah, those things. My mom got him a puzzle, a very large puzzle at that, with tractors of all sorts on it. Yesterday morning as he was putting it together he kept saying, "Ba ho." Like it's a big ba ho. :-) Well, it really sounded like he was saying butt hole. Mom and I just looked at one another and in that split second realized what he was talking about and laughed and laughed. Leave it to Brady to bring on the grins and giggles. He is definitely starting to talk more and we are able to understand a little bit more. So different than Kendra. It's taken some getting used to but it has also been quite amusing.
Monday, January 10, 2011
When the Heat Goes Out
You might be wondering why the heat went out. So were we for two days. After dinner one night last week, as I was clearing the table, I felt cold out coming from the vent on the ceiling. I thought I had felt colder through the day in the house. I had actually turned the heat up at one point to 70, which we never keep it that high but I was just cold. I finished cleaning the dishes and then told Kevin about the heat. Upon duscussing it, I looked at the thermostat which at that point said 67. Considering I had put it on 70 earlier, I knew that it was not working. Great! I knew snow would soon be coming and we didn't really need to be spending any money (unless absolutely neccessary - heat would be neccessary).
After talking about it for a minute Kevin didn't seem that worried. He asked me to change the system over to the E-heat setting. We kept it on that for two days as we had been so busy and didn't think to check it out. Kendra and I were quickly on our way to church when Kevin pulled in from work. We spoke quickly about what we could in the 5 minutes it took me to get in the car and then it out of the garage. At the moment I was about to drive away, Kevin came in the garage from the back yard giggling. I had to ask why...
When the heat goes out, blame it on Brady! I say that with excitement because 1) we didn't need to pay someone to come out and see what was wrong and 2) Brady had actually flipped the switch OFF on the heat pump unit. :-) We didn't even know there was a switch on the unit. See what your kids can teach you. LOL
I say now that there is probably nothing inside OR outside the house that Brady has not gotten into. True, true...but then I'm sure he will figure out more soon enough - too soon for us.
Just a side note funny: We were standing in the kitchen talking about it the other night and Kendra looked at Brady and said, "Yeah Brady, you could have killed us!" We got a good laugh and then told her we just would have gotten pretty cold. Kids say the darndest things. :-)
Lesson: Check the switches on all major applicances and units should you find them to suddenly not be working.
After talking about it for a minute Kevin didn't seem that worried. He asked me to change the system over to the E-heat setting. We kept it on that for two days as we had been so busy and didn't think to check it out. Kendra and I were quickly on our way to church when Kevin pulled in from work. We spoke quickly about what we could in the 5 minutes it took me to get in the car and then it out of the garage. At the moment I was about to drive away, Kevin came in the garage from the back yard giggling. I had to ask why...
When the heat goes out, blame it on Brady! I say that with excitement because 1) we didn't need to pay someone to come out and see what was wrong and 2) Brady had actually flipped the switch OFF on the heat pump unit. :-) We didn't even know there was a switch on the unit. See what your kids can teach you. LOL
I say now that there is probably nothing inside OR outside the house that Brady has not gotten into. True, true...but then I'm sure he will figure out more soon enough - too soon for us.
Just a side note funny: We were standing in the kitchen talking about it the other night and Kendra looked at Brady and said, "Yeah Brady, you could have killed us!" We got a good laugh and then told her we just would have gotten pretty cold. Kids say the darndest things. :-)
Lesson: Check the switches on all major applicances and units should you find them to suddenly not be working.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Our Ways to Save Money on 1 Income
I've read the books. I have many of them (bought on Amazon) and you can take tips from all of them. I don't think I have found one single place to find ALL the savings. But putting all the resources to work for you helps a lot. So, here is snipit of what I learned in the last year (in no particular order) with so much more to acquire, I'm sure.
1) Books are pretty inexpensive on Amazon or your local used book store
2) Juice is expensive. Fill cups 3/4 with water 1/4 juice. The younger you start, they will never know!
3) Buy meat in bulk at grocery when it goes on sale. There are cycles in stores (if you don't know this). Watch for the sales and shop different stores. For example, Food Lion puts meat 50% off about every 4-6 weeks.
4) Plan menus around "sale" items and then shop.
5) Do the envelope thing. Put money in envelopes for the area in which you want to save and ONLY use that money.
6) Don't take your kids shopping with you!
7) Do take a shopping list (use southernsavers.com)
8) Don't eat out more than twice a month
9) Use coupons with the sale ads
10) Learn to say NO to yourself and kids for the items that you really don't need.
11) Get rid of cable. You need to spend more time as a family anyway, right? :-)
12) Plan "free" outtings...park, friends homes, play dates, walk the mall (if you can resist shopping)
13) For gifts, make things from things you have at home. You'd be surprised what you can do.
14) Make extra money selling your stuff you don't use or need anymore (Ebay, half.com, Amazon, Craigslist)
15) Consign
16) Tithe: You'd be amazed...we tried NOT and we found the answer pretty quickly
1) Books are pretty inexpensive on Amazon or your local used book store
2) Juice is expensive. Fill cups 3/4 with water 1/4 juice. The younger you start, they will never know!
3) Buy meat in bulk at grocery when it goes on sale. There are cycles in stores (if you don't know this). Watch for the sales and shop different stores. For example, Food Lion puts meat 50% off about every 4-6 weeks.
4) Plan menus around "sale" items and then shop.
5) Do the envelope thing. Put money in envelopes for the area in which you want to save and ONLY use that money.
6) Don't take your kids shopping with you!
7) Do take a shopping list (use southernsavers.com)
8) Don't eat out more than twice a month
9) Use coupons with the sale ads
10) Learn to say NO to yourself and kids for the items that you really don't need.
11) Get rid of cable. You need to spend more time as a family anyway, right? :-)
12) Plan "free" outtings...park, friends homes, play dates, walk the mall (if you can resist shopping)
13) For gifts, make things from things you have at home. You'd be surprised what you can do.
14) Make extra money selling your stuff you don't use or need anymore (Ebay, half.com, Amazon, Craigslist)
15) Consign
16) Tithe: You'd be amazed...we tried NOT and we found the answer pretty quickly
Hard Ball + Eye = Crying
Boys will be boys. I thought Brady would be the one who first got a black eye (from some kid he'd been bullying!) , but I was wrong. His beautiful, little brother got the un-pleasure of trying the look out first...thanks to his brother Brady. All I will say is Brady has a tendancy to throw things and Carson has a tendancy to be in the way. Poor Carcar. Mommy ran downstairs (crying too!), got out the booboo bear (which is used quite often in our home) and placed it over the sad little eye. Yeah, try to get a 11 month old to keep a cold patch on their eye for more than 10 seconds. I gave him everything in the house to hold - didn't work. I was able to leave it on, and off, for about 15 minutes. Good enough - it would have to be. He's healing up slowly and we have pictures to keep for those little life moments of guilt when they get older. :-)
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