Snow, Snow, Snow

Big beautiful snow! I love it when we get a big dumping of snow! I am one of those crazy people who loves the snow! Along with it being beautiful and FUN, I find it to be such a great reminder of what the Lord has done for me!

Psalm 51:7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

With this in mind as we come to celebrate the first coming of our Savior looking forward to his return, here are some photos of our white, white snow! Enjoy!

The deck railing–two feet of snow…..

Tree covered in snow, look at the tree trunk to see how deep it is.

Children on a pile, notice the newspaper mailbox.

Inside the beginnings of our fort.

My Best Friend

My best friend is having a birthday! Isn’t he a handsome guy? He is the best guy you could EVER meet. There are so many adjectives that I could use to describe him but let me just say…… He is a godly man, my best friend, and I am so glad that I married him!!!!! Happy Birthday my love!!

The Latest Remodel

Many months ago we started on a remodel of our office area.  We took quite a bit of time on the office and it has been slow getting the photos on here but I have finally decided to do just that.  We were going to add built in book shelves but we decided the money could be better spent else where for now.  We opted to just put book shelves in the room.  It was a difference of about $1700 so I think it was a good choice!!!  That is a lot of money to save.  Maybe someday in the future we will add built ins after all of the other projects have been tackled!

Here are the BEFORE photos:

Entering the Office

Breaking into the alcove/closet area

ugly light

Nasty floor & walls

Now for the AFTER photos:

Entering the Office

bookshelves

Alcove/closet--a bit messy--eventually we will have a desk under the lights

New wood floor

Pretty Light

Sooooo, what do you think?  Improved??????

Family Devotions

I found a great article on family devotions. I want to share a snippet with you in order to entice you to read the entire article. It is well worth your time! You might want to leave a comment over there but please head back here when your finished reading the article and let me know your thoughts!

Teach These Words Diligently

A father may be committed to Christ himself and see that his wife and children are fully committed and therefore think a regular family devotion time is unnecessary. Some fathers see these instructions in Deuteronomy 6:6-7:

“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”

…and rightly conclude that this is a lifestyle and therefore setting aside a family devotion time is unnecessary. I agree that if someone is teaching each child throughout the day, it may be unnecessary to come together for a dedicated time of formal teaching. But surely such a family would relish the opportunity to come together and sing praise to God, to lift their voice to Him in prayer, and to joyfully list for all family members the wonderful things the Lord had done that day. Such a family would delight in a dedicated time of reading scripture and prayer, making daily family devotion a necessity driven by their shared joy.

If your family is like most I know, you can only fulfill the command to “diligently teach” if you diligently dedicate time each day for a regular family devotion. The key is diligence – family devotion cannot be a simple convenience or of a low priority that is easily displaced by other trivial activities.

Finish the article over on Every Good Path.

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!

The Joys of Home Ownership

We just recently purchased our first home.  It is a bit of a fixer upper unless you like living in 70’s style.  We have made a lot of improvements and still have a lot to go.  It can be fun, tiring, frustrating, and rewarding.  We are trying to make our improvements debt free and so far have been able to do so.  This past week while going over receipts to see how much we have put into the house we noticed something.  Lowe’s had not given us our military discount on anything except one receipt.  After a phone call to the manager we took in all of the receipts.  After much discussion and employees trying to get out of actually doing to the hefty job we recieved our discount.  It was really only a partial one but we got such a good deal on the carpeting that we let it go.  So with the credited money my hubby moved on to another project.  He has been putting in more wood flooring.  Our hallway looks a thousand times better than when it had the nasty old, dirty, and worn green carpet.  He had to level part of the floor and had a funny corner to try and cut out.  This job had challenges of its own.  More challenges were not need yesterday!  More challenges were what we dealt with and are still trying to fix.  The back door handle and lock are broken.  The door we always use is now out of working order.  This is not that big of a job to fix; it is just an annoyance mostly.  Then at 10:30 at night, after one of our daughters took her shower, the water would not quit running in the tub.  While fiddling with the faucet in the tub, it busted and shot water all over the bathroom and washed pieces down the unclogged, open drain.  This would have actually been pretty funny if we had not been so tired!  So this morning we are without water.  Replacing the faucets should not be a very big job either.  My husband went to bed last night exhausted, with a killer headache, and a bit annoyed.  This would have been nothing if he had not been working on the flooring and trying to get it done.  In fact, the whole situation does seem funny this morning now that we are rested!

This is just like anything in life.  When we know the challenges and have a plan of attack and life is going mostly according to plan or at least nothing we didn’t already anticipate; we tend to do well.  It is when the unexpected arrives and one unexpected thing on top of another that we tend to struggle.  Even the little unexpected things can throw us off.  These are the times that I am so thankful for a Savior who is sovereign!  I may not have expected these things to pop up in my life but knowing that they were ordained by my Father in heaven brings me some comfort.  Whether it is shooting water all over my bathroom or the loss of a loved one; knowing I have a God who cares and works all things together for my good gives me strength and comfort.  I may not enjoy the trials, I may not feel strong or even comforted, I may even feel abandoned. The thing is, if I truly know my Savior I can rest in Him, his wisdom, his love, his promises, his faithfulness, and in all of the character that is my God.  Remember things often look different when you come out on the other side of the trial.

Do you have that assurance?  You should if you know the living Lord!  Praise be to the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!