Money Issues

I've been reading Kelly's blog about their money makeover. They are doing the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University. I'm not sure if they are doing it online, through a book, watching his TV shows or attending a class but it's inspired me to want to pay attention to our bottom line a little better (well OK I need "a lot better" but we'll start here). Their situation sounds very similar to ours and our spending habits seem similar as well. I have always been one to watch sales, try to find a deal, not go over board on what we 'need' in our home but it's also been a place of weakness in me. At one point we actually had all of our debt paid off (except the house) but little things have crept in here and there and now all of a sudden we are looking at debt some how we need to get rid of. It seems so overwhelming to just say "start chipping away at it" but I know that's the only way to do it. I guess I'll let you know what we come up with and maybe post our progress here. And maybe I'll actually become transparent in our amounts, blessings, and failures.

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9

Now just a cute picture from the other evening just for your viewing pleasure.

by Emma Jayne

Emma has been saying for quite awhile that her dream is to be an author one day. She loves to read and she actually has written a few books for us at the house that I thought were actually kinda cute. She made a whole series of books for us for Christmas called "The Armor of God". It's about a brother and sister named Rachel & Levi and it goes through their mishaps of being kids and how each piece of the Whole Armor of God is used to teach them real life lessons. Things like truth, salvation, the Word, etc. I have actually been really impressed with her desire and creativity. I am also impressed at how much Biblical knowledge she actually is learning, (He is definitely showing grace on our parenting skills).

When we went up to Seattle I was looking through the Vision Forum catalog and noticed that there was a writing contest that went with the cover picture. Make up a story that relates to the picture on the cover of their catalog and you could win $1,000. I thought Emma might enjoy that so she took off writing and about 1/2 an hour later her story was written. Here is the cover that goes with the story.....

And here is her story.......

The Knight and The Princess

by Emma Jayne

Once upon a time there was a Princess named Cassie, a Knight named Michael, and a King named John. One day the King heard that there was a dragon in the Kingdom. He called his bravest men and said, “There is a dragon in the Kingdom you need to defeat it!”

Princess Cassie heard this and said, “I’ll go too.”

“NO, NO, NO”, said King John, but before he could convince her to stay she was out the door.

The King called Michael and said, “My daughter went out with the men, you need to go get her, she’s probably there by now.” Michael agreed.

When Michael got there he saw that the dragon was holding the princess in his hands. Then he had an idea, he would climb the dragon. He stuck his sword through the dragon’s leg, and began to climb up to the top of the dragon’s head. Once he was there he saw a rope, Michael poked the dragon in the chest, got the rope and caught the Princess. They swung back and forth and landed.

When they got home they told the whole story to the king. The king told Michael to kneel down in front of him. Michael knelt down and King John kindly said “I declare you my cleverest and bravest knight in the whole kingdom.” Twenty years later Princess Cassie and the Kingdom’s greatest Knight Sir Michael were married……..

and they lived happily ever after

THE END

I really hope she wins but we have prepared her that there are lots of entries and we'll just have to wait and see. She really does love to write which is why she has her own blog. Sorry, not giving the address here, gotta protect my children ;))

Gingerbread House

Riah & Emma have both asked me about gingerbread houses this year. "Mom it's our tradition, we have to do it". Ummmm.....last year was the only year we have done it, where's the tradition in that? Oh well, it's still fun but that candy can add up. Last year I decided that buying a kit was much cheaper than buying all that candy. So I told the girls that I wasn't sure if we would make a gingerbread house this year because the candy is just so darn expensive (I know I sound like such a mean mom but gotta watch the bottom line ya know). But little did they know that I had planned all along that after Christmas I would go and find one for 1/2 off and I knew I would find it too. Two days after Christmas, Wal-mart had a TON of them 1/2 off and I bet if I go in a few more days they will have them 75% off, maybe I'll have to stock up at that price. So I surprised the kids Monday morning with a gingerbread house. They were so excited! The candy actually did end up on the house too. It was fun and now I guess the new tradition will have to be making the houses after Christmas. Although, if they go on a 75% off clearance sale, I just might have some for before Christmas next year. I'll keep you posted.

I was going to include pictures but it seems they may have been lost....darn digital cameras :(((

Update: Hey guess what, PTL, my pictures were recovered!!!! For your viewing pleasure :))

OK, eating the candy is half the fun, right?

love those little finger ;)

Christmas Eve

We have always tried to find the "perfect" Christmas Eve tradition and last year I think we finally found it. Crab & Shrimp feed. I buy an over abundance of crab and shrimp and we enjoy the best meal of the year.

On the menu this year:
Whole Dungeness
Crab Clam Chowder
Shrimp WonTons
Fried Shrimp
Baked Potatoes
And lots of memories!

This year when we went up to Seattle (I'll write about that later) we had dinner at the Crab Pot which gave us the idea to do this at home. We covered our table with butcher paper, handed out mallets and personal size boards (hand made by DH), threw the food on the table and everyone just had at the crab, hammering away. It was so fun and definitely our new Christmas Eve tradition.



Doesn't that look just delish.....

Emma doesn't care for the crab but Riah seemed to really enjoy it this year. I'm not sure about Sarah though, she just kinda picked at everything. John's mom and brother joined us this year, I think they thought we were completely out of our gourds, LOL.

After we stuffed our guts full of the best seafood we headed out to our new church, Calvary Chapel Lebanon's Christmas Eve service and celebrated our Savior's birth. What a humbling truth, our God, in the flesh, Jesus Christ came here to live amongst wretched sinners so that you and I could be saved from death and destruction. That, my friends, is.......

THE REASON FOR THE SEASON.

Have you put your full faith and trust in Jesus?

For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

Photography

New Photography pricing:

$125 for a session of approx 2 hours with a result of approx 200 pictures. You will have approx 20 pictures edited with full printing rights. You will have your photos back to you within 2 weeks of your shoot. This price is for one family, if you desire to have more families (i.e. extended families) the price will be on a case by case basis. A $50 deposit is required upon booking. The price of $125 does include a USB flash drive so if you have a flash drive you would like to use I will take $15 off the price. In Him!

Blogging vs. Facebook

I just read a blogger post about how they hate Facebook because no one ever blogs anymore. I think this might be my claim here too. I can't archive my facebook profile into a book and I think that's what I miss the most. One of Emma's Christmas presents this year was putting her blog into a book and she completely loved it. I have lost an entire year of our families lives because of Facebook. At this time in our lives (because of our church move) I'm not sure if I want to be done with facebook but I think blogging will take the priority over it.

vs.

Which one is your favorite? Where can I find you most often?

My life line

How do I get through my days??? Well #1 is my Lord and Savior Jesus (you should try Him sometime, He's great) but #2 (and a close 2nd at that) is.......


My flavor of choice is Peppermint Mocha (which I have to stock up on since it's only seasonal) and Special Dark Chocolate syrup. Oh that is so yummy. What is your flavor of choice?


I know I haven't blogged for awhile but I have missed it so much and really desire to try to get back to it. Here is my first attempt. They may be short and sweet but at least it's here.