What a Steal!

I am not one for yard sales but I do love a great deal!  This past week the Lord provided overly abundantly for us!    I went into Anchorage to go to the homeschool bookstore.  This is a great little bookstore and it is run by a wonderful lady.  I make several trips there.  I usually go to see if there is anything I need that they have on the shelves USED.  I have turned in several things that we no longer need for her to resell.  She is pretty picky about what to resell so you can always be sure that even if it is used it is a current item and in good condition.  For any item that she can resell she will give us a small percentage of the original price as credit to put toward the purchase of other USED items.  So I had a substantial amount of credit piling up and I occasionally go in and see it there is an item I am in need of in used condition.

The other day when before I ventured in I began praying in the car for a particular item to be there in used condition.  I had checked several trips before and there has never been any used.  Still, I prayed for that item to be there.  I walked into the store and went straight to the science shelves.  Guess what I found???  Exactly what I was looking for and praying for and it was a used copy!!

Apologia’s Marine Biology SET!  This sells for $85 new!  With a little bit of a lower price and  my in-store credit I paid a whopping $1.50 out of pocket!  I told the lady that I ALMOST felt too guilty to leave having only paid $1.50!  Almost being the key word!  So, there you have it, the Lord’s great and abundant provision!  Thank you Lord!

What Next?

You know, I should know by now never to mutter the words, “What’s next?”  When, oh when, will I learn that lesson?  I want to forewarn you that this post may seem like one big, huge complaint but honestly it is not.  In fact, I am finding this rather comical at the moment.

You know they say big surprises come in threes when your hubby deploys.  We have passed that mark a while ago.  Hubby asked me in an email the other night if I was keeping a count.  Well, I really wasn’t, I was just remembering everything that had happened over the past two months that he has been gone.  But, I think I may just keep a count because I am beginning to think it may be a good thing to remember all that God has allowed to be thrown our way and what he has brought us through.

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…

Let me share with you a bit of our surprises.  One of which was an AWESOME surprise, the others, well, not so much.

Here we go…..

This deployment started off with rush.  His date was bumped up.  I posted that story HERE.

Two days after hubby left we found out that we are expecting baby number ten. I blogged about that HERE.  This is the AWESOME surprise!  Now on to the rest…

I also found out that I had actually broken my thumb not only damaged the ligaments.

When hubby’s pre-deployment training was over there was a little bit of a stress in actually getting him to where he needed to be.  There was an uprising in a country he was to fly through and things had to be rerouted.  It took him a week, maybe longer to actually hop around and get to where he needed to be.  That was a little stressful for me. After all, the clock doesn’t start counting down until he gets there.

A few weeks after hubby left we had a bum tire on the jeep.  It had been giving us some problems for a while but it was to the point where I would air it up and by the next morning I was praying to make it to the air pump!  We needed all new tires anyway so that is what we did.  Cha ching…..

Time came around for us to switch the studded tires off the van and when I took it in to have that done they told me my brakes were almost gone.  So I paid for a brake job too.  Cha ching….again.

Now the service light for the jeep is on.  It needs the regularly scheduled maintenance for 50,000 miles.  I am afraid to check and see what that bill is going to look like. Cha ching….again AND again.

An outlet in the kitchen just quit working.  So the under the counter lights are useless and I had to move the microwave.  Easy enough I guess but now I have a hard time finding a place to use my chopping block when making salads and the like.

Then there is the whole situation with the post office.  Misdelivery of package slip and when we went to check on it (we had been tracking the package) they had actually given the package out to someone else!  Apparently, they didn’t check ID and verify that the person they gave it to was who the package was supposed to go to.  Basically, they will do NOTHING and my daughter is out over $100. Postal workers tend to run and hide when I walk in now! Mwahahaha!

Moving on…..

Since we have had several added expenses lately.  Aside from the ones I just told you about, I am trying to pay for camp and plane tickets to get there as well as the $100 a month bill for hubby’s internet service in Afghanistan.  At least, hubby gets separation and hazard pay to help out.  So you know what, it is just the perfect time for my vacuum cleaner to break.  I really have not had to money and honestly I haven’t had the energy to go and buy a new one yet.  After three weeks without vacuuming I decided to borrow the neighbor’s vacuum.  After all, if I hadn’t the loose hair on the floor would have formed into another dog.  And two dogs is enough around here.  I plan on buying a new vacuum this weekend.  cha ching….

Ah, and then yesterday….  My older girls were outside playing frisbee.  Do you see where I am going from here??  Yep, we have a broken window!  It was purely an accident.  After all, when a left hander decides to try and throw right handed and the frisbee hits the deck railing who would think it would bounce and hit and shatter a window?  After, the fear and shock of the sound of shattering glass and a bit of, “How am I going to pay for this?” wore off; all I can do now is laugh.  I emailed hubby and he said his first reaction was to laugh too!  cha cha chingaling….

As I sat last night thinking of writing this post, I decided I would entitle it, “What Next?”  After all, that question has been going through my mind for a while now.  But as I sat down to pay the bills this morning, that question was answered.

I usually just pay our mortgage payment and rarely open the bill, after all, it is a set amount.  But thankfully, today I did open it.  I noticed our mortgage payment went up a pretty decent amount.  Wondering what in the world was going on, I called the bank.  Apparently, our home owner’s insurance went up.  The lady on the phone even suggested that it was a considerable amount and suggested we look for a new insurer!  She asked if we had filed a claim recently.  Well, we had…you can read about the rain in the bedroom HERE. She said that was most likely the reason for the increase.  Of course, we were never notified and no one even alluded to the fact that our insurance would go up if we had filed the claim. cha cha chingaling aling….

So, now I have a higher mortgage payment, just what we needed.  But you know, none of this is a surprise to God and he is providing for us in ways that I could not even imagine.  We are blessed and I have not lost sight of that fact.  But, I don’t think I will be asking the question, “What next?” for a long, long time.  I think I have learned my lesson in that regard.  I have also learned to laugh and take life as it comes and not to get too overly stressed. Well, at least for the moment.

A Murphy Visit; Rain in the Bedroom

If you remember from the last post we are beginning the basement bathroom remodel.  We had those three leaks in the basement that are finally repaired.  All of the supplies for the remodeling job are purchased and the evening before we were to start we hear our son yell, “Dad, it is raining in my bedroom!”  Murphy decided to come back for a visit, I think.  This particular bedroom is already missing a good portion of two walls already from the previous leaks.

Let me say up front, “God has been abundantly providing for us financially lately!”  You will see that if you read the Melting Expenses post below.  We also just received our tax return and paid off a few things as well as buy the supplies for the bathroom remodel.  We know the Lord is good and not only good but abundant in his provision!  God is not surprised by what is happening now.  That being noted…….. here is the run down of the last couple of days.

Almost every towel in the house was used to try and dry the remaining water that was flowing and to sop up the once again drenched carpet.  Thankfully, we have an ugly drop down ceiling in the basement.  Hubby was able to move the ceiling tile and reach up to see if he could determine where the water was coming from.  He found a large ice-cycle in the floor/ceiling between the upstairs and downstairs. (son’s room is in the basement)  He them placed a call to our home insurer.

We soon had a couple of men shoveling the top of our house and breaking up the ice dam believed to have caused the damage.  The water damage mitigatory then came out to access the situation.  The report is this……..

Ice damming caused the water to back up between the wood siding of the house and the outer wall.  This ran along the outside until it reached the basement level and found the dryer vent where the moisture then moved inside the house.  The ice melted in the heat of the house and began pouring down the wall and dripping from the ceiling.  We have the entire outer wall in my son’s room which needs to be gutted, dried out, and replaced.  That makes wall number 3 in his room!  Not only that but it looks like our roof (only 1 1/2 years old) will need to be completely replaced.  It appears that the previous owner used a questionable company to replace the roof.  This company is no longer in business, therefore no warranty.  They used the cheap kind of ice water shield and it looks as if that was not even installed correctly.   We will know more next week when our reputable roofer comes out to take a look.

So we have all of this to take care of now, finish the bathroom remodel, and Oh Yeah, my hubby leaves in 5 weeks!!!!

Murphy, thank you for stopping by, thank you for giving us another opportunity to trust in my Lord, now please go bother someone else! LOL

Melting Expenses

I serve an amazing God! He is sovereign over all, fully of mercy, grace, and justice. He is one who acts providentially. He provides all things often times above what we can ask or imagine.  This past week during our daily devotion time we have been going over question number eleven of the Westminster Shorter Catechism and studying through the book of Esther.

Q. 11. What are God’s works of providence?
A. God’s works of providence are, his most holy, wise,and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.

Westminster Confession – Chapter 5: Of Providence by Westminster Assembly

I. God the great Creator of all things does uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.

God has shown himself once again to be abundant in his graciousness and providence in our lives.
In two days this past week there have been expenses adding up to thousands of dollars that have just melted away. Some may chalk it up to coincidence or good luck and timing but I know what an amazing God I serve. I see his handiwork in how he orchestrates my life and am awed. To God be the glory!  All the while we are studying about his great providence, he provides us with tangible examples in our daily lives.

Let me share with you how God provided for us this past week.

• My older children were going to be attending an event which they told us would be at a cost of $60.  This fee was waived!
• My older girls just joined a figure skating performance competition class.  One daughter received a discount I did not expect and another was able to take her class for free due to the fact that she teaches there.  Another $60 waived.
• My hubby’s pay raise was more than anticipated by an amount of $85.
• My son, who has had a problem tooth for almost nine years, was in need of a root canal.  We have been putting it off because we just could not afford it.  We do have insurance but they did not have a preferred provider who works with our insurance that they would refer us to and with the dental costs being higher here in Alaska our portion was a very large amount.  My husband decided to take him in to the military clinic just to see if his case would be deemed an “emergency” case and could be treated there.  This was just a quick look over kind of appointment on a walk in basis that he was hoping to be able to get him in to be seen.  When he arrived they said they had an appointment that had been canceled and would look him over.  They went ahead and did the root canal then and there.  He has an appointment next week for the crown.  A total cost to us of $0!  This saved us close to $2000!

The Lord knows our earthly needs.  He knows our desires.  He providentially provides both when in his plan!  His plan for us is best.  The creator of our life knows what is truly needed and even provides that which is not needed but desired.  Praise be to God!

More importantly than our earthly needs and desires, He knows our eternal needs!  He provides that for his children!  Praise be to God!  In fact, that is his priority.  I am thankful that even when I miss seeing his hand at work, when it seems that earthly needs are not met, that I can trust in the fact that he has a plan and is working it out.  I can trust that he has eternal benefit at mind first and foremost.  He causes me to be amazed all the more and I pray that his glory is seen when at work in my life!

Me, Like Esau???

Genesis 25:29-34
Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

This passage of scripture is pretty well known to most Christians. Most Christians that I have spoken to concerning this have had the same kind of thinking. I will admit I have felt the same way. That Esau was basically an idiot to have given up so much for so little. Why on earth would he give up his birthright for a single meal! We see the things written in scripture and think that we would have acted in a much better fashion! Even if we know how it feels to be exhausted and starving we would never have given up so much!

I heard a snippet (about 2 sentences) on the radio today (sorry I cannot remember the program). It really made me think. The Lord slapped me between the eyes once again! I am more like Esau than I would ever like to admit!

Esau gave up the blessing of the Lord for instant gratification! He wanted something and he wanted it then and there. He did not want to wait. Ever felt like that? Never, right? Have you ever gone out and used a credit card to purchase something you wanted because you didn’t really have the money? Have you ever justified turning a want into a need? Have you ever failed to trust in the providence of God for your needs or the blessings of God for your wants and tried to provide for them any way you could? Credit cards make it an easy thing to indulge in instant gratification. What happens next though?

Proverbs 22:11
The rich rules over the poor,
and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

My hubby and I have facilitated several Financial Peace University classes in the past. Lately, we have fallen off of the financially disciplined wagon.  In fact, not only have we fallen off, we didn’t even get up and chase after that wagon right away, we stayed and played in the dirt for a while!  Playing in the dirt can be fun but cleaning up the mess rarely is!

Well, I think the Lord has given us the kick in the pants we needed!  No one wants to be told that they are acting like Esau when he sold his birthright!  Time to remember to be content with what we have, time to remember that fruit of self-control, time to stop indulging in instant gratification, and time to get back on that wagon of financial discipline!  It is time to get rid of the instant gratification attitude that we like Esau have displayed!

Budget, What Budget?

Budget, what budget?  That is what I am feeling these days.  Since we have taken a break from school we have a little bit of extra money.  We are not paying for piano, ice skating, and a few other things due to the summer break.  We do have fishing trips and fun stuff planned though and that all takes money too.  We have taken to eating out more than usual also.  Eating out is a treat that I love, no shopping, planning, cooking, or clean-up.  Having a family our size takes a lot out of our budget even if we decide to go to a cheapy old fast food place. (Dave Ramsey would be appaulled) I am starting to feel the need to tighten that money belt a bit.

I am planning on going through our checkbook and looking at the last several months to add up how much money we have wasted on eating out. (Dave Ramsey would be proud) After I pick myself up off the floor from the shock that I know is to come I will share this revelation with the family.  Then we will think of all the things that we could have spent that money on until we are all convinced that eating out really is not that wonderful a thing.  (Dave Ramsey would be proud)  Then we will celebrate with a nice dinner at the Chinese place in town.  (Dave Ramsey would be appaulled once again)  Oops, did I just say that out loud???

I have not been “real” grocery shopping in probably 2 months. These every other day runs to the store are a budget killer too.  I always seem to find something to buy that wasn’t on the list!  I am in desperate need of a trip to the butcher shop and to Costco.  I think this shopping trip will bust the budget as well because I have not kept our stock up.  I just need to do it though to get back on track.  I am planing on making a LARGE purchase at the butcher shop and hopefully it will last almost all year.  Hubby went deep sea fishing and brought home halibut and rockfish.  We are going at the end of the month to go salmon fishing.  Hubs is also planning a caribou hunt and a bear hunt.  I think meat should be covered for the year! Then it will only be keeping stock up in the pantry.  Costco runs will cover that.  Those runs are not too bad as long as I keep on top of it because not everything runs out at the same time.  It is when I let the supply dwindle and have to restock EVERYTHING at once that is gets unbearable.

So my day will consist of menu planning and list writing.  Oh yeah, and adding up the wasted money that we have “eaten” up these past few months.  (Dave Ramsey would be proud once again)  If I am not back to blogging soon then you will know I hit my head when I fainted from the total!

Am I the only one who has a hard time keeping that food budget under control?  Or I should say, just following the food budget!