Very Unhappy Customer

I need to vent a little.

I think that some stores reach certain people and their competitors reach others.

Kind of like Walmart vs. Target. Overall, I am a Walmart girl. That doesn't mean I never shop at Target. It just means that I always go to Walmart first. If they don't have what I want or need, then I will check out Target. I mostly go to Target for clearance stuff.

Now that Rick does not work at the church, we no longer have our Sam's membership. So, today, I took my first shopping trip to Costco. (I have been there before with friends, but not on my own to shop.)

Let me just tell you how disappointed I was!! So many people sing the praises of Costco. After today I don't get it. I like Sams WAY BETTER.

Here were my frustrations:

1. Costco does not open until 10:00. I can go to Sams on school mornings right after I drop the kids off at school.

2. Costco is not in a convenient location for me like Sams is.

3. There were several items that I buy at Sams that Costco does not carry.

4. I was overwhelmed by the prices. They are more expensive than Sams. To me, price is the most important element. I have to feed and house 8 people on a very limited budget. Every penny counts. I lost a lot of pennies at Costco today.

5. They don't sell Icees!!!! I don't get one every time I go, but I want the option, people.

Now, I am trying to convince my husband to get a Sams membership for me. I think they should give me one for this commercial I just did for them!

Blessed Beyond Measure

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

These verses pretty much sum it all up.

God had done more than we asked or ever could have imagined.

Three weeks ago, He challenged us with a very difficult decision.

We have prayed, read our Bibles, sought counsel from our community, prayed some more, and we knew what we had to do.

We had to follow even though our actions seemed risky and reckless.

Without that great risk, we would not have seen God's Hand so beautifully and His blessing so abundantly.

Rick has a new job that he will begin Nov. 1!!!!!!

2 weeks. 2 weeks after we stepped out in faith is all it took for God to show Himself in this way in our lives.

He will be working for CCB(Church Community Builders). You can read about them here.

We give God every bit of the glory for this provision for our family.

So many prayers have been answered through this position.

- We don't have to move.

- Our kids don't have to change schools.

- We can still attend and serve at Vanguard Church.

- Rick gets to be a part of an organization of people that he believes in and is excited about.

- We can still lead Beyond Survival.

God has truly blessed us beyond what we could imagine. In this process, He has provided for our family in ways we never could have even dreamed up on our own.

I kind of like that about God. I like it when He shows up in a big way and knocks our socks off.

Thank you so much for your prayers. Please continue to pray for our family as we make this transition.

It comes with many emotions still to walk through. I will blog more later about ALL the things God has done in my heart through this process and the ways that I can now look back over this whole year and see how He was leading us to this point.

We have some time for Rick to be off before he starts. We are looking forward to some good focused family time, simplifying our lives, decluttering our lives, and moving forward in this new adventure.

Simplifying, Saving Money, and Even Being Green

We go through a lot of paper plates around here. I do it out of convenience, but it seems like every time I go to buy them, they are more expensive. It is painful to me to see the kids use them, not even have a stain on them, and then throw them away. So, I decided to try to live without them and see how that goes.

Recently, I was at Walmart and found these plates on clearance. 4 plates of the same color for $1.00. So, I bought a set in each color, blue, pink, green, and orange. It was a $4.00 investment, way cheaper than the mega pack of paper plates that I usually buy at Sams. That gives me 16 plates. I have taught the big kids to use them as their "paper plates" and immediately wash them and set them to dry.
So far, it is working well. It feels good to save that money, and as Lauren put it, "Wow, Mom, are we going green?"

We have a long way to go in the green department. Our family of 8 leaves quite a print on our world, but I guess you gotta start somewhere.

Coelacanth Project

Cody had to do a 3D model of a Coelacanth fish. If you are not sure what that is, you should google it!! Let me just remind you of my lack of artistic abilities. I cried through every project like this I was given, and my mom ended up doing most of the work each time. Thankfully, that is not the case for Cody. He is really good at it and seems to enjoy it.

It is hard to see, but this is the wire frame.

Imagine a picture of the frame covered in newspaper paper mache next(because I forgot to take that picture).

The final product

Really, you have to google this thing so you can see how much this looks like the real thing. It is amazing to me!

This is a science project gone horribly wrong!!

I am anxious to hear from him about how his presentation went.

Zoo Trip

Yesterday, I took Isaiah and Laila to our local zoo. They have only been to the zoo once and that was to the Denver Zoo over a year ago. This was a much more interactive experience for both of them. They really got into seeing the animals. It was so fun to see their enthusiasm.

Here they are in front of an African Hut

I loved being able to show them the kinds of animals that live in Africa. The really cool thing about our zoo is that one of the first exhibits is the giraffes. They sell crackers that you can feed to them. Isaiah and Laila were giggling, jumping around, and squealing so hard as they got up close and personal with the animals. I looked at Bria and said, "Well, I think we can go home now. Their day has been made complete by the first exhibit."

Isaiah got brave enough to pet them and touch their tongues with his fingers.

Chillin' with the giraffes

Here are the kids in the midst of a herd of elephants!!

It really does look kind of real, doesn't it, but don't you worry. It is just a display.

Our favorite part of the day was the gorillas and orangutans. They were so interactive with us. If you ask Laila what the baby gorilla does, she will beat her chest with her fists. It is so cute. We got to see the babies interact with their parents. It was really cool.

They could have watched this for hours.

We had some rain off and on. That was okay. It turned out to be a pretty good zoo day. It can be hit or miss at our zoo because of the way some of the exhibits are set up. Today, we hit the jackpot on seeing lots of cool animals!!

October Challenge

I didn't reach my goal in my Sept. challenge. I did save about $300 in my grocery budget, which feels significant. My freezers and my pantry are less full. So, for Oct., I plan to continue. I want to get that big freezer empty so I can defrost it. I want to make more progress on my grocery budget deficit.

That is just the beginning of what I want to accomplish for Oct.

The word for October is "Simplify". I want to simplify our lives. In light of Rick's job ending as of Oct. 15, we want to use this as an opportunity to evaluate every area of our lives. Honestly, I have been craving this for a while. I feel overwhelmed by the "stuff" of my life. Not just literally things, but the overall clutter of my life(material things, activities, appointments, schedules, messes, etc.). Here is how we plan to do that:

1. Define our values and what our family is going to be about. What do we want to pour ourselves into? What is REALY important to us? Every other area will be affected by the results of this area.

2. Evaluate every area of our budget. Our values will determine how we spend our money. We also want to prepare for less income if his next position pays less or even a time of no income if that happens. I am going to spend money only when necessary this month.

3. Declutter our house. We have too much STUFF. I am tired of being ruled by it. I am tired of being stressed by it. I want to eliminate the excess. Our stuff is causing us more frustration than it is benefiting us. That is a problem.

4. Evaluate our time. We want to live differently. We want to live well. Once we identify our values, we can determine the best use of our time as a family. Rick and I both have realized that our bodies are feeling the effects of our stressful lives. We want to eliminate some of that stress.

I don't expect us to solve all of these issues in one month, but we can't solve any of them if we don't start some time. So, there you have it. We are doing a whole family evaluation! It is exciting to me. I hope we can do just what I said earlier, SIMPLIFY!!!

Cody's Spiritual Bday

Yesterday was Cody's spiritual Birthday. 7 years ago, he asked Jesus into his heart. That is something we want to celebrate in our family. We start with a special meal of the child's choice.

Cody chose pizza

At dinner, we talk about their last year as a follower of Jesus. We ask the child what God has taught them this year. We share how we have seen him grow spiritually. We encourage him towards growth in the next year.

I try to find some type of small gift that can contribute towards his pursuit of God. Some gifts in the past have a been a journal, highlighter and index cards, post-it flags, devotional book, etc. This year, we gave Cody a small marker board of his own that he can use for Scripture memorization, encouragement, and writing messages to himself or us writing messages to him.

Getting his gift

It is our tradition to have ice cream sundaes for spiritual bdays. Our rationalization is that Jesus rose from the grave on Sunday so we eat sundaes to celebrate the relationship with him.

Cody and his sundae topped with milk duds

Cody immediately started using his marker board. He wrote a message to himself for today.

His first message

I have loved seeing Cody mature this year. His faith is becoming something he is actively pursuing on his own. We are so thankful for the youth group and leaders who have really challenged him spiritually. He is discovering the excitement of reading God's Word and having God speak to him. I pray that the experiences that our family is going through will also be a catalyst for growth in him. We always want to lead him towards faith and trust in God in every area of our lives. Our adoption was quite the faith journey for us, and now, we are embarking on a new faith journey together.

We love you, Cody. God really does have big plans for you. Keep seeking Him through your strengths and weaknesses, your victories and struggles.