Questions? You all have questions?lol

Kathy had some questions that I thought I'd answer in a post. Thank you Kathy for asking!


>Lisa - your decorating work is coming together beautifully! It looks great (and seems to be moving smoothly and speedily).

It is going quite smoothly!


>Did you tape before you painted? The edges look good and I was curious.

Yes, we cleaned all edges, then taped all trim work. We've also been painting the baseboards, so it's looking pretty nice.

>Can you tell I've got decorating on the brain as well? Ha!

LOL! Yes, I noticed! It must be that time of year. :)

>Why did you pick this time of the year to do some big projects? I'm so curious!

Ok. Here's the long winded reply. It's all about the Lord and His timing.

Last year, God put on my heart that we needed to be out of debt. Who would have known that last year was going to be so economically hard?! I've been trying to follow God's lead in my life and at first, my plan was to keep some of our debt from the previous year and do some decorating in a small scale in our home. Well, I felt the Lord telling me otherwise. We were going through a seminar on being finacially free and we decided to commit to staying debt free for the whole year. That meant STARTING off that way. We used every bit of savings, tax refund, and Eric's bonus from work to make that happen. That left us with only our paycheck each payday in order to stay afloat. Yikes! We never realized that we never lived within our means before.

We trusted in God for all our needs. If something broke, we went without it. If the kids needed curricula, we went without or God would provide the funds, or the item in question. It was soooo hard. Even to the very end when we approached Christmas. The gas prices were so bad. The grocery bill was a monster that ate whatever was leftover from my dh's pay. We would save something and just as fast, something would come up and eat it. Many times we were tempted to break out our credit cards or maybe not tithe that week. It was SO hard. I don't think I can say that enough.LOL It was *SO* H A R D!!!

At the end of the year, we just barely made it. We were broke, but we made it.lol This year, for the first time in our whole married lives, we were debt free!!! The tax refund, bonus, and any savings that we might be able to save, are OURS. We owe no one, except our mortgage. What a blessing God has given us!

For our first purchase, my MIL gave me $400 for Christmas and I asked her if I could use it for repainting the house. She said absolutely yes! It was our dream to put in new floors because the carpet is the original builder's grade carpet from 6 years ago and it isn't holding up to the frequent carpet scrubbing any more. At first, we thought we'd buy it next year but when we went to Home Depot to buy the paint, I prayed that if we were to buy tile, that we'd find something under a $1 a square foot. We walked over to the tile area and one tile just spoke to both of us. We looked at each other and then looked at the price. It was 99 cents a sf! We paid CASH for it all. What a feeling of joy. To know that when this project is over, we'll have no debt associated with it.

As to why we decided to do it now, well, Allison's job is seasonal. If we wanted her help, we have to do it now. I guess God knew that this was the time and He made it happen. Again, I feel so blessed by this trial!

We will have more than enough left over from this project to fund our emergency fund, although we've learned that with or without one, God will provide even if we haven't a dime to rub together between us.LOL


>Are you getting rid of all sorts of clutter and organizing up a storm?

This project came up so fast that I haven't had time to do any decluttering but as I put things back in each room, it is my sincere hope to go through things and only put back what I need. For now, my home is a complete mess! It's already driving me crazy.lol

So there's your answers! I hope that this testimony is a blessing to those who read it.

Blessings,

My Daily Ramblings...

This was a hard week, no getting around it.LOL Isaac had his surgery on Tuesday morning, it went well. He's such a great little boy, except for right now as he tries to type with his toes while I'm blogging.LOL While he was gone, I played with Evie. It's a little hard to play board games when Isaac is here because he always thinks all the people should be his and then he'll decide that the spinner should be his also and after a while, well, the whole game should be his.LOL So Evie and I had a nice time playing Candyland, Shoots and Ladders, and a Diego game. It was really nice to be able to focus on helping her understand good sportsmanship and to be a good sport when I, I mean, you lose.LOL Even Jon got in on a game or two and enjoyed the time. I think we're going to make this a tradition while Isaac has his surgery. It took our minds off of worry and made it into a good bonding time.

As my kids get older, God has been gently showing me that I need to be firm in my faith and not afraid to share my faith with others. I am blessed that God is so loving and forgiving towards me and I am learning so much. I remember when I first began opening my bible. I used to get so....frustrated!!! What in the world does it all mean? How in the world is this supposed to apply to my life? Why can't this make sense?!?!?LOL Some kind friends would tell me to read what other people said on the different books in the bible and then some would say no, study with the inductive method, and then some would say just read it over and over until it made sense.LOL

What I've come to understand during this journey, is that there is no easy way. It is hard work to understand the writings of God. You must have a desire--a need, to begin to make headway. You must first TRUST in God and He will make His words have meaning to you. Whew, that's hard for me. I've never been good on trust.lol Now I know that there isn't a wrong way to read the bible, God will bless your efforts and someday when you are reading, you'll be surprised that you understand and that it really will apply to your life. Just use what works, pray, pray, and pray some more and God will bless your efforts. I hope this encourages anyone who is frustrated with the bible to keep it up. It's hard work but it's so worth it.

Blessings,

Lisa

Praises from this week:

My little Isaac is finally able to eat and drink again without pain. He's had a cracker, some grapes, and a yogurt this morning and that's the most he's eaten in a week. The poor guy's lost so much weight that his pants don't stay on any longer.

Isaac didn't throw up this morning! It was the first time in a week.lol

My dh was able to take two days off from work to help me on the hardest days. He's been working really hard since the move and for him to be able to take that time off was a real blessing.

My dh and I were able to spend A LOT of quality time together, nearly round the clock, for a whole week.lol

I was able to keep up with the laundry and most of the cleaning for the week. This was a biggy for me. Normally, I would have left it all for after we got better and it would have taken me a week or more to get us all back to normal, but this time, I made sure that I worked on it a little each day. What a blessing to be able to jump right back into our daily things without a huge clean up needed. The cleaning part was harder. There were many times when I almost threw in the towel. I mopped the kitchen floor a total of 6 times this week. 5 of those on the same day. LOL

I was able to fix a healthy dinner each day except for two days. That's just amazing to me.lol I used to be the "take out queen" whenever illness struck but this time I stuck to my guns and dished out good food. I even managed smoothies a couple times this week. As a side note, one of those take out nights was planned. We usually get something on Saturdays because it's too hard to plan dinner when the kids spend the day with my parents. Sometimes they come home fed and sometimes not, so we order when they get home for whomever's hungry.lol Also, it's nice to have a day off.

As you can see, I have a lot to be thankful for! This illness was awful but a lot of good came out of it. I would never wish for this to happen to anyone but to be able to face this with grace and patience was awesome!lol I never lost it or got upset about the lack of sleep or got so overwhelmed that I wanted to run away.lol I don't think that I've ever taken sleep for granted in a very long while but it was a good reminder to be thankful when I actually get it.lol I also looked at my chores differently than I would have in the past. I actually saw the NEED and instead of seeing it as drudgery I was actually happy to get them done to bless those who needed it. I had to wash Isaac's blankets a million times and the joy I saw on his face was a true blessing to me. He NEEDED those blankets and I met his needs. What a week!lol

Blessings,

Lisa