Prayer

I pray for contentment.
There are so many people in the world, and even our town that don't have much at all. And sometimes I get frustrated that I don't have the funds to fix the roof, build a patio and deck, and re-side the house. Well, those things aren't the things that make a person happy. Have a happy and hopeful attitude and having family is what counts. And in that respect I'm such a lucky lady!
So I pray that I stop wanting more and start being content for what I do have. Even if that means living with a leaky roof and an ugly house. I have my family, I'm happy, I get to spent time with my kids and not have someone else raising them. And I have a man that is home every evening. I'm thankful for all those things!
Amen.

Leavenworth, WA

We had a great weekend relaxing in Leavenworth, WA. We played on the Wenachee river, went mini golfing, went snow showing, visited some wineries, spent time downtown in the Bavarian Village, and soaked in the hot tub.

Here are some pictures from our trip.
For some reason I think that when I'm on vacation I don't have to stick to my good eating habits, and I also get my kids a few extra goodies for the vacation. I guess it's not to bad. But my, that fudge factory was sure yummy!! My body wasn't in too much pain, but my belly isn't happy with me.
Back at it this week!! Green Smoothies are the best!!

What a view!

The weather was beautiful but a bit chilly while we were there.

Last snow shoeing for the season.

Speeding and it's consequences

I'm so lucky to have a wonderful partner that obeys the laws/rules, all the time. And when it comes to speeding while I drive, well......... I'm getting better at it, especially as of the last year. But I still drive about 4 miles over the speed limit most of the time. It's "safe" right? It's a well known fact that a police won't pull you over if your only going 4 miles an hour over. Right????

What message does that give our children? What message does that portray about our character? Hmmm. You might say, "it's only a little bit over."

Well, it's still breaking the law. Is it ok to break some laws, and not others?

Do we want our kids to listen and be obedient to us the first time we tell them to do something, or not until we tell them the 2nd, third, or fourth time? How many "warnings" do you give your child when they don't listen?

Do you want your child to be obedient only when mom or dad (the police) are actively watching?

My eyes have been opened, and I've seen the errors of my ways, as insignificant as some may see it! I wonder what will be revealed to me next? Good thing I never stop learning.

I'm going to do my best to obey ALL laws the government has made for us, and set an example for my children and people around me. And I expect my children to learn to obey all of the rules, including the house rules, whether I'm watching or not.

It's the little everyday choices we make that develop our character. And talking to your children about why we make those choices is equally important.

From an article I was reading

A conversation between two Amish young ladies, who had lived in the "regular world" beforehand. They were having a discussiong while doing an all day chore of laundry, about balencing it out in life.

"You can be English and not have a TV, but we would still need electricity for the washer if we didn't want to do all this by hand."

"And the plumbing, " added Liddy, "don't forget, the machine needs water." I had forgotten; it had been awhile since I'd used a washer. Wringing water from long aprons, we reasoned that you would need an outside job to pay for that. Maybe we could work part-time to make just enough to keep the washer and dryer going. But then, in order to get to work every day, we would need a car- that notorious consumer of oil, insurance, and repairs.

Taking sun-dried trousers off the line and into the house, we came to the conclusion that when all was said and done, a full-time outside job was needed in order to avoid doing laundry by hand."



I find it interesting that you really do need at least one full time job in the family, just to live these days. That is, have a house, running water, electricity, car insurance, gas to drive to work and the grocery store. So........if we didn't need all those things, then we would be able to live simply and not have to be a slave to a job that takes us away from our family, just so we can have a nicer house, car, etc, and then the cycle continues. Sigh.

I think the goal should be to live as simply as possible so you don't end up having to be a slave to your our things. Growing more food at home, shopping once a month instead of twice a week, fixing clothes, passing down used clothes, using less stuff, using only what you NEED to, and not more (and that means, food, clothes, power, etc.)
But then there's the fine line of what type of lifestyle you want to have or portray. Most people don't want to live in a yurt that doesn't have power or elctricity to it. Because that means, work! And there's the line. If the Amish girls choose to not do their own laundry by hand, and instead choose to get a job to pay for plumbing and power, they are still having to work to do their laundry, it's just in a different form. And that different form of work is what defines what type of lifestyle we want to have.

Sound simple, doesn't it. But we all know it's not!!

Enjoy working with your hands!

The kids' new hobby

We did a sewing project so work on sewing skills, math, and arts. Well, now the kids want to sew every day. I wish I could sew every day too, but we have a lot of other things to do. They designed it themselves, made the patterns, and sewed it up. They made journal covers for themselves.
I'm so glad they enjoyed it. Although for me it was a look ahead as to how they will do when they learn to drive! Enjoy the pics!

Family budgeting

I'm so lucky that have a wonderful "soon to be" husband that's very good with details and money budgeting.

September 2009 I switched jobs to only work part time, and in doing so I dropped my income about $1000 per month, that's a big drop. Well, I don't think my spending reflected my drop in income as well is it should have. I'm not even a big spender, but all those little things add up quickly. I have to often remind myself of the lifestyle I lived when I was a single mom, working three jobs and still not bringing in a lot of money, we always had free fun and my mortgage was always paid. If I did it then, I can certainly adopt some of those things again. Sometimes having a decent job spoils you.

So starting in Jan 2010 we've been planing our budgeting together as a family of four and looking into the future when we'll be married, I'll be home with more kids, and we'll be living on one income. So in order for that to become a reality, we've started tracking and budgeting our money to get us to that place.

Of course we're paying for our wedding and honeymoon on our own, so that's a big ticket item/items that we want to get paid for.

Last week my wonderful sweetie showed me the spreadsheet from January with details on my spending for the family (not including wedding items), and I felt a pain of uggggg, not guilt, just uggg. Wow, I didn't realize how much I was spending on things that I really didn't need. And let me remind you that he only showed me the misc items, not the budgeted amounts for food, housing, and other fixed bills. As we're doing fine in that regards.

So, I'm happy to say that we went over the final spreadsheet for Feb this evening, and I cut my expenses in half. Yeah!!!!! And it wasn't that hard. I think the month of March should even be less.

You don't need money to have fun, and even when you have the money to do so, the funnest things are still usually the free ones.

God's words

I've really been diving into the Bible the past few days and realizing that there are many things that are written in the New Testament that many Chirstian families and the churches do not teach or follow. And there is controversy out there, even within the "commentary" in my study Bible about the reasons for the Apostles to write to the different churches in the New Testament time and for them to be included in the Bible. It seems that some people think those were written for only those Churches and that if your "church" was not dealing with the same issues that that particular church was dealing with, then it does not pertain to you.

Well, what is written in the Bible is for all, today, yesterday, and tomorrow. We need to believe and obey ALL of what God says, and not pick or choose what to obey. Of course He says we are free from the Law, but there are many, many things that God has very clear instructions for that He makes very clear in the NT books.

My eyes have been opened to things I didn't understand before, I guess I wasn't ready. I've been doing a lot of praying, writing in my prayer journal, and asking questions to other followers. We'll see where this road leads. I know for sure it will lead me closer and closer to God! I need to depend on Him for everything, and have more faith for all areas of my life.

It's easy when you have the means to buy and do things that you want or need, but then you are not trusting God to do much in your life When you 'have it all' and 'can take care of it on your own', what's there left for God to do?

That's all for my thoughts today, at least that's all I'm going to write. :)