When it rains.....

.............it pours.

What an interesting past week and a half it’s been. Surely God is doing something and we're just trying to see what He's trying to teach us. Since my last post about some goals for 2009 Murphy (as in Murphy’s law) came for a visit. Dave Ramsey always says that as soon as you get gazelle intense about getting out of debt Murphy will pay you a visit. It only took the second week of 2009 for him to come knocking on our door. Nice. It all started last Fri. Derek was on the way to work when I get a call from him saying his car finally gave out and he was stuck on a median in the tiny town of Parker. It took the local police no time to get there and inform him his car had to be moved....NOW. Because we're becoming more and more frugal we didn’t want to think about hiring a tow truck. He was about 40 mins from the house so the thought of that cost well, we didn’t want to go there. After trying to get a hold of his brother to see if her could *ghetto* tow the car home (That would be hooking it up to the back of his brothers truck with a rope and pulling it that way) we realized he (his brother) wasn’t going to wake up. So I was then on a mission to find a tow truck who would tow Derek’s car all the way home. After calling several places and being told they don’t go that far (we live out in the boonies remember) I finally found one. They quoted me a price that was much less than I anticipated (thank you Lord!) and sent a truck to retrieve Little Pooter (as we've so fondly named Derek’s car, the girls love this name mind you). Derek gave them directions back to our house (fortunately the guy had actually heard of our town and knew where it was) and my mom went to pick him up and take him to work. For some reason without Derek escorting them home I just knew they’d get out here and try and pull something on me. Being a woman and all. So I prepared myself. Sure enough the guy pulls up and sits in his truck on the phone for a few mins. I’m thinking he’s planning his ploy to tell me how far it was and they didn’t expect it to be this far out. He gets out with his first words being something to the affect of "yeah, didn’t know it was gonna be this far out". To which I responded by telling him that the guy I talked to on the phone knew exactly where our town was when he quoted us the price. After going back and forth with the guy he finally said they were going to charge us $50 more than I was quoted but they’d knock $30 off of that. Gee...thanks. But whatever, I wasn’t in the mood to argue anymore. I signed the paper and sent the guy off.
The next day we check our bank account to realize some very unexpected transactions had taken place. I was not very pleased and after talking to the bank and the company who completed the transactions settled in my heart it wasn’t a battle worth fighting. So, we're now out around $700 we hadn’t budgeted for or expected that pay period. I guess now it was time to rely on God :) Since that money was a good chunk of what I had budgeted for gas and groceries and we aren’t willing to go into debt (remember we've begun The Total Money Makeover) I prayed (ok and cried) the whole way home asking God to take care of the situation and at least provide a way to get groceries! In the back of my mind I was excited to see what God was going to do to prove himself faithful. When I got home I opened up an envelope with a gift card to Target!!! Derek had taken a survey through our insurance company before Christmas and earned that gift card. I didn’t realize he had selected what store he had wanted it for yet, much less had them send it yet. I was supposed to take the survey too but hadn’t yet. We had decided we were both going to use our gift cards twds getting a new digi camera (since ours broke at the end of summer). Anyway, all of that to say that opening that gift card was such a blessing at just the right time!!! YAY God!!!! I just knew that was one way He was providing grocery money for that pay period. It wasn’t nearly what I budget for groceries, but hey I knew I could get creative and make the money stretch into decent meals for 2 weeks. I was just excited to see God work so quickly!
So, I prayed before making our menus for the 2 weeks, prayed for wisdom when shopping and went to the grocery store. I walked out of the store only spending $10 more than what I had on the gift card!!! YAY for me!
All of that took place on a Sat. The entire day Derek had been working on his car. He and his dad determined that it was the timing belt that needed to replace. Fortunately Derek is not one to pay someone else to do a job he can do! (In this case we saved probably $500) So, he got the timing belt from AutoZone and spent until dark Sunday night putting it on. They finished, went to crank the car up and.....nothing. That’s right, nothing. How discouraging! So, needless to say I was going to be without a car for the week. That was ok, we were still (ok we ARE still) trying to get back into the routine of school for this semester. So, maybe being stuck at home all week was really a blessing in disguise. Friday was the only day we got out of the house. We took Derek to work and spent the day with my mom. We haven’t spent an entire day with Mimi doing nothing in a really long time, so that was nice.
Saturday we had very full day going to 2 birthday parties and a late Christmas get together. We were gone from 9:30 until about 11 that night. Fortunately my energy kept up otherwise I would have been dead by the end of the day. Sunday we had a wonderful service at church and came straight home. Me and the girls really wanted Cicis but my wonderfully frugal husband said no, we aren’t spending money like that anymore. So we settled with a $5 pizza from Little Caesars. Savings: about $15. I guess those things really do add up. And if we continue making those $20 purchases here and there…we’ll never be completely debt free! After lunch Derek and his dad started working on the car again while Audrey and I took a nap. After working on that for a few hours they gave up and couldn’t figure out the problem. I suggested that maybe we should take it into a shop of professionals who could at least diagnose the problem with the motor rather than continue to waste time (and energy) trying to figure it out themselves. I don’t know what Derek has decided though. We’re still praying about whether we should put anymore money into that car or just save and pay cash for another one. That will be awhile though. After we have the Dr and medical bills paid off for this pregnancy. So, we’re looking at late summer before that will even happen. Being stuck without a car until late summer?!?! Ugh. But…thank you Lord for one working new car!!!!
This is getting super long. I doubt anyone is still reading. But if you are you get to hear the rest of the story  Lucky you.
Sunday after Derek was done working on his car we were down at his parents’ house. Ava had found a coin on the bathroom counter and was happily announcing to everyone what she had found. Somehow in the bouncing around the coin ended up being swallowed. Needless to say…I was no very happy with this child. How many times has she been told the story of the past TWO times she swallowed coins as a baby!?!? Did she seriously do it again!??! We figured it was a nickel and it would just pass. She kept complaining that it hurt but we figured it had just irritated her throat. We came home, and she was spitting up phlegm up until bedtime. She didn’t want to eat so we didn’t make her. We laid her down for bed but she came down one more time to tell us her throat hurt. As Derek was taking her back up to bed she vomited everywhere. I went downstairs and googled signs that a coin was lodged. Vomiting was listed a sign to go to the ER to be x-rayed, that a coin was most likely lodged. I called the on-call nurse at their Pediatricians office and was told if she was vomiting she needed to be taken in. As bad as this sounds we didn’t want to take her to an ER that night. That would be an ER co-pay to the tune of $100 plus whatever fees accumulated from whatever they had to do. We just wanted to go to the regular Pedi the next day and have the x-ray done then. We decided (stupidly) to have her sleep with us and wait until the next day. Derek went to get her and I insisted she take a small drink of water before she lay down. I wanted to see if that would stay down. She took a small drink and as soon as it went down….it came back up. Ugh. Ok Ok that was enough to know we needed to take her in. We decided we weren’t going to the closest ER bc, well if you know what hospital that is you know why we didn’t go there. We decided to take her to Presby Allen, 45 mins away bc we’ve always had great service there. It was also closer to my mom who was going to meet me up there. Derek stayed home, as much as he didn’t want to, bc Audrey is still nursing and waking up at night. We didn’t want to subject anyone else to her screaming fits we knew she would have bc she didn’t get to nurse when she woke. (spoiled breastfed baby, lol) So, off we went to the ER. My mom met us up there. I wanted someone else with me plus I knew they would have to x-ray Ava and since I’m pregnant I wouldn’t be able to go in with her. We got there about midnight and to our surprise there was no wait! Woohoo! We got right in. They x-rayed her and sure enough, something lodge at the bottom of her esophagus. We all guessed it was a quarter. Yes, a large quarter. They said they wouldn’t be able to do the retrieval (endoscopy) there, that we were having to be transferred. I knew what was coming next (remember we had been through this, embarrassingly, 2 previous times when she was a baby!). She would have to be transferred by ambulance. CHA-CHING. I debated the nurse insisting she was fine for us to drive her to the other hospital. They told us the Dr wouldn’t sign off on that bc of the risk of something happening in transit. READ: they couldn’t risk the liability if something happened. The nurse told us that when we got the bill for the ambulance if the insurance didn’t cover the ride to fight it. Bc that hospital couldn’t do the procedure and we had to go to another hospital it wasn’t a voluntary ambulance call. It was transfer between hospitals. So, now we wait for that bill. Last time this happened the ambulance ride was $1,000 for our part. So, we get a nice ride in ambulance to Presby Plano. We get there and fortunately they were ready for her! The Pedi gastro-something or other (lol, yes that’s the Drs official title) was already there and they were prepping for surgery. Oh I might add they started an IV at the first hospital in prep for the ambulance ride and surgery. Ava didn’t even cry. She was such a trooper! I was so proud of her. Anyways, right before surgery, at about 3 am, Ava finally fell asleep. This was in-between vomiting spells. Every time she moved at this point she threw up. So, they took her to surgery asleep. This was a total blessing so she didn’t have to go through that scare. The whole surgery process took 4 mins. They let us go back there while she was waking up. It was indeed a quarter. A very very expensive quarter. We ended up finally getting home at 6:30 am. Elisa never woke up and so she wasn’t able to worry about her sister the whole time, praise the Lord! Ava is totally fine now. Hopefully this made a big enough impression on her that no coins will ever go close to her mouth again!
After doing the math and thinking about it. I can add another $750 (individual deductible), $100 (ER co-pay), 20% of all the procedures done at both ERs and the surgery, plus the ambulance ride. I don’t even want to think about the grand total. Let’s just say Murphy has made one expensive visit over the past week. Now we trust that God will provide the money to pay everything off! Dave wasn’t kidding when he said the minute you decide to get serious with will start to rain. Guess that why you have your emergency fund in place. I’m thinking that emergency fund wont take care of all of these expenses though.

Another great clip

Since Im in the mode thought I would post this :)

Are you a Christian parent? You NEED to watch this.

A look fwd to the new year

I know I know, I havent blogged in a long time. I believe this is the first time in Dec at all. This month has been busy, a good busy I guess. Im so greatful for the blessing of Christmas but with all the hustle and bustle Im always glad for it to pass. (Is that bad to say?) (On a sidenote: Maybe thats an indication we're not fully dumping the commercialism of CHristmas and fully embracing the true meaning. Something to think about I guess) Anyways, Ive had several people comment on how theyve looked at this blog and were sad to see I hadnt been posting. Honestly since the election I just lost the taste for blogging. I dont know if that makes any sense but I have such strong convictions and feelings about many of the issues raised that when the *bad* side one I just had to take a break from blogging for fear of offending many of my "friends". Hmmm....maybe offending over certain issues isnt actually a bad thing. (something else to ponder I guess). Well with that said Ive been thinking about what I should write about when I decided to get back on here again. Ive sat through several teachings at church with thoughts racing through my head thinking man if I could only write all these down in my blog that would be great. I want what I write to let everyone know how we're doing but also to be an encouragment to others. Life can be hardbeing a keeper at home and mommy, and since I love going to other moms blogs and taking at peak at their daily lives I want to pass that on to others as well.
With all that said Im ready for the new year!!! We will be welcoming a new blessing to our family in July. This is exciting bc this baby was totally given to God. Derek and I prayed that the Lord would chose to bless us with another baby in HIS perfect timing. We know that when He gives us the blessing of another child He'll also provide for that child. So while sometimes *we* and others wonder how on earth we can afford another baby we just go on with the assurance that God keeps His promises and His word promises to provide for His children. Of course that means that we need to be good stewards (in all areas) of what He gives us. This is one thing we're working on for 2009. Being better stewards in all areas esp our finances. God has blessed Derek with a wonderful job surrounded by many believers and has blessed us in other ways that has allowed me to stay home and live with the worry of not having enough money to buy groceries or gas (although there were times when gas was close to $4 a gallon!) eventhough he makes less than most people we know. But we know we still spend foolishly and havent fully surrendered the area of finances completely to Him. We have full intentions but we know when we make bad/stupid money decisions we're obviously not trusting God. With all that said....we're so excited for this next blessing and even more excited that s/he was created and will come in Gods perfect timing! No, we're not worried about how we're going to afford another baby. God will provide!! And yes....we are selfishly praying for a boy. Can you blame us???
The new year also brings on new challenges. If you know me well you know my best quality is defiantely not being organized. Thats with things or time or anything that needs organization. I used to be really good at putting on a front. My girls (at the time just Elisa and Ava.) would always be dressed to a T. Perfect clothes with perfect hair and perfectly matching bows. (this dates this time bc Elisa would still actually wear bows!) I looked like I had it all together but pa-leeease dont come knocking at my door bc our house looked like a tornado hit it. And that was pretty much all the time. I will say my kids looked much less put together when we go out now but my house (on a whole) looks a little better then back then. So where do my new challenges come in you ask? Get to the point...I know. With homeschooling and being pregnant and still nursing I am just wiped out! I have such little energy to get the basics done that anything considered a little extra seems unattainable. So anything above and beyond is going out the window.
We're starting with dance. Much to Ava's dissapointment we're giving up dance. This goes along with making better use of our time and being better stewards of our finances. While the studio that they take dance at isnt expensive in comparison to some, its costing us more than we're willing to pay anymore. Besides the monthly tuition the costumes for the recital we're going to cost $80 each!!!!! Thats for each girl. So we'd be spending $160 on costumes they would wear once for their recital and then play dress up in. In other words, those are some expensive dress up clothes. Elisa said she really didnt care about giving up dance (just another way God is working bc Ive been praying about all of this) but Ava didnt like the idea. All her little friends from preschool last year are in her dance class and she cant imagine not seeing them every week. Poor thing...she goes from seeing them 3 days a week last year (preschool and dance) to one day a week in the fall, and now none. She'll adapt....this is life.
Another thing we've already given up that helps in many areas of our life is we've given up our satelite TV. Actually TV in general bc we dont even have an antenna up to get local stations. Its been so nice. We talked about doing it at the end of summer but went ahead and kept the satelite but now we know we're not supposed to have it anymore. Besides the money we were wasting on it every month (Derek and I sat down maybe a couple hours a week to watch it), when we did watch it it was full of filth and such a time waster. When we originally decided to keep it we decided that we would record any shows we wanted to watch and then fast fwd through the commercials. (Prime time commercials can be just as bad as soap operas now!) So while we purposely watching the filth we were still seeing it in the commercials. We said the same for the cartoons the girls were watching. We were going to record them and FF through commercials so as to cut out all the "I wants!". Well we never ended up only watching recorded programming and relized that the TV really is just a waste of time. So instead we're reading more and spending more time as a family (as corny as that might seem). I know I know, seems kinda radical...giving up TV and all. But hey its actually been a total blessing so far! Oh and now that I'm pregnant with #4 and people so rudely ask if we have a TV (theyll ask it for sure with 3 kids and a pregnant belly since they asked it with 2 kids and a prengnat belly) I can respond with a smile and laugh and honestly say no :) (well we own one but we dont watch it)
Well I think Ive rambled long enough now. I dont even feel like going back and proof reading before I post. So, if I dont make sense in areas, please forgive me. Im tired and pregnant and should be in bed :)
Happy New Year!

I have the BEST girls in the world!

Last night was a long night for Derek and me. Audrey screamed pretty much all night so we got little sleep. Mostly me, bc I am usually the one to deal with her since Derek has to get up and go to work in the morning. She finally relaxed enough by around 5 this morning to get into a deep sleep. Elisa and Ava woke up before Derek left for work at 7:15, so early. He told them to play quietly upstairs with the Littlest Pets so Audrey and mommy could get some sleep. My sweet girls were as quiet as can be so I could get some more shut eye until Audrey woke up for good. Around 8:30 I hear 2 sweet little voices come into my room and wake me up whispering "mom, mom we made you breakfast". My 2 sweet girls made me toast with honey and gave me an apple and a cookie (bc I like sweets they said) with a big glass of orange juice. What sweet girls I have. They were both very into serving each other and Audrey and me all day and I pointed out that they were having servants hearts like Jesus.
Audrey has been very whiney and not herself the past week. Last week she was sick but its like she still hasnt been back to normal since then. Shes been screaming and throwing a lot of fits, has been really clingy and hasnt been too into eating. Shes been chewing on her fingers like shes been teething but I hadnt noticed anything obvious popping up. Well tonight when I put her in the bath I stuck my finger in her mouth to see if she was getting her molars in and sure enough all 4 of them are coming. Poor thing! The top 2 have already poked through and the bottom 2 are just bulging. To top that off shes getting the tooth to the left of her bottom middle tooth. So the count for teeth coming in right now....FIVE! Yikes! Lets hope theyre all through before Monday night when we leave for Ohio. Otherwise thats going to be an even loooonnnggger 18 hour drive!

Well....

Well here we are. Although Im not quite sure how a state can be "called" based on 12% of precincts reporting, but apparently they can. If BO, er I mean Barak Obama, does indeed win we have a loooonng 4 years ahead of us. As someone who goes completely against pretty much everything I believe this is a bit scary. Its not just the economy or taxes or anything like that. Its the fact that this man is PRO infanticide, PRO gay marriage, PRO socialism/marxism that scares me. With a democratic majority in every area of govt it seems we could easily lose hope. But maybe just maybe this will make us (that would be conservative Chrstians) even stronger. There wont be room for being luke warm anymore. Its either hot or cold. Take a stand for what you believe in.
Im actually astonished at the "Christians" voting for Obama. How can you vote for a man who votes in FAVOR of leaving helpless babies to die in closets after botched abortions and claim to follow Christ? Even many who claim to be pro choice think that is taking it too far. The Bible gives the life issue loud and clear. Life begins at conception. Not at week 10 not at week 32 but at the moment of conception. To take any life, even life created in incest or rape, is MURDER. Period. I wont back down on that view. Praise God He is forgiving and full of grace and mercy and more than willing to forgive these moms who make the choice to have abortions. But until they seek forgivness theyre guilty of murder. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but thats the truth.

In the past week Obama has decided to drop the middle class income cap down to $120k something, not $220k anymore. That means those that make that $100k that was between $120k and $220k will be considered upper class and guess what.....GET A TAX INCREASE! Are all you rich celebrities still lovin your man Obama? Hes gonna start taking LOTS AND LOTS of your money and spreading the wealth to all those lazy people who love to follow you!!!! I think its time the govt stops supporting lazy people and they start being forced to get up off their rumps and work! How about that for a change? ANd all those small business owners. Hes going to require they provide insurance for their employees. Do you know how expensive that is? Most of those businesses wont be able to make it anymore. Or how about Obama saying if you dont provide health insurance for you child they *the powers that be, the govt* will come in and take your children away from you along with fining you and if you still dont provide insurance youll be thrown in jail. Will we lose our right to bear arms? Or what about our right to homeschool and choose our own childs education? WOW, sounds like a promising future we have ahead of us.

Christmas outfit numero uno

Here is the first (well actually first complete) Christmas outfit I have made. I listed this on etsy so visit http://www.homegrownbows.etsy.com/ if youre interested! I think it turned out well. Pretty much how I envisioned it :) Shes a cute little model, although she didnt want to stand still while I tried to take pictures. Now that shes getting the hang of this walking thing theres no standing still to be heard of!