Rights of passage

My daughter with her new Georgia friend.

All the graduates from this year's 2016 graduating class for our new homeschool group here in Georgia.

As the flags are being brought in.

I alluded to this happening in my last post.  Since our homeschool group holds the graduation ceremony earlier than our school year is finished, we have graduation before all the school work is completed.  Yes, we are still doing school, until it is finished.  Then they will attend youth camp (instead of staffing Encampment for Civil Air Patrol), at their own request (more about that later).

My daughter has decided to attend a local technical school in January.  We moved too late to get the in state tuition, by 1.5 weeks, so she's going to wait.  In the mean time, she's going to look for work, take entrance exams and save money for a car and school.  The last she mentioned, she'd like to get a certificate (or 2) in Cosmetology and Child Development, and possibly her Associate Degree.  From that point she isn't sure where she'll go or what she'll do.  Maybe she'll get a job cutting hair and going on with her education.  I don't know.

We'll see where God leads her in her future.

What an exciting time for her!

God Bless,

Almost a Month and Lots Happening

As I showed in my previous post, we had concrete floors.  Now, we are pretty close to having them done, minus the threshold pieces.  It looks so much nicer than bare concrete!

The living room floor after flooring installed.  It's lovely!  

From the other side of the room.

Photo Bombed by Biscuit

Getting Gus acclimated to the pool...or just having fun putting him on the inner tube.  LOL

Biscuit's turn! 

A graduation celebration dinner at church.

Visiting with Grandparents and one special uncle.

"And these alligators are found in the Flint River?  I guess we shouldn't swim in there!"

Beautiful daughter with her sewing machine.

The living room window that needs a treatment of some sort.  I'm not sure what, but since this window is so huge, it will probably be something simple.  We have new pillows that I found at the local W*lmart on a 2 for $12 deal, so I couldn't resist adding more color to the room.

I just love my drive home!  This area is so beautiful!  (Sorry for the bug splat on the windshield!!)

The view out my front door.  This is such a quiet neighborhood, it is almost like living in the country!

The morning this picture was taken, I was on my way to get my blood work done and to talk with my Dr about the Trim Healthy Mama Plan (THM) life changes I've been making, as well my right knee.  I found out that my right knee is "bone-on-bone" and it gets worse when I ride/drive for long periods of time.  The verdict?  Less riding/driving, less walking, more THM cooking, and more swimming.  With my blood test results back, I know that I can rest assured that THM is working!  I've lost 35 pounds, my Triglycerides decreased by half, my A1C is 6.1 and my fasting is 105.  I've not seen those wonderful numbers in YEARS!  You betcha I'm sticking with it! 

Strong young men hard at work, replacing worn out steps and putting in new concrete.

One side of my office is going to be a sitting area and I think I have a pretty good start with these wonderful pieces I found at a yard sale and an online facebook flea market group.  The wing back chair is a reclining chair.  The side table is an antique from the 60's or 70's, the lamp I just loved, so I bought it for a good price....and.

...the magnolia swag that I thought was so pretty.

In the next couple of weeks, I'll finally be able to get some curtains up on the dining room window, my oldest son's window, the office, and hopefully our bedroom.  With everything being so busy, I'll be able to sit down long enough to get my sewing machine out to work on some stuff.  I also plan to keep my eyes peeled for more furniture for the sitting area.  I love decorating "on the cheap."  

Have a Great Day!

God Bless,

We Said We Wouldn't, Until

When we moved in to our Georgia house, we decided we would lay flooring in our bedroom and in to my office, continuing on throughout the rest of the house once our Pennsylvania house sold.  That has meant we've been walking around on sealed concrete floors since September 2015.

Just to give you some context, this is the floors we've had in the pictures below:

The "Old Man" laying on his new well deserved bed, sitting on the bare concrete floor.

My office floor will soon be throughout the rest of the house, just to give context.

Refreshing your memory...our bedroom floor is the same.  I love it!

Remember what I wrote about our Christmas tree?  It's a lovely reminder of this time in our lives, when we watched God's hand move in and through our lives, just with a simple look at the unfinished floor.

The Living Room Floor--Before

I absolutely love this floor and all of the pictures we have.  Originally I was embarrassed by our floor and just didn't want to have anyone over, but I need to get over it and embrace the hospitality of it all.  So, I set up a cleaning schedule and it keeps clean.  We don't mop it unless something spills.  We don't really concern ourselves with much more than that.  And I wait for God to provide for floor.  I love to see how God works!

In a lovely and wonderful sweep, our tax return supplied those wonderful funds that we needed to not only pay off a couple bills, but had some extra to take care of flooring and a front end alignment for our vehicles.  God is good!  He provides!  

We said we wouldn't redo the floor until the Pennsylvania house sold, but God said, "That's ok, I'm going to bless you anyway."  

So, when Home Depot brings us our flooring, we'll get started.  The underlayment is already here, so it's just a matter of waiting for the rain to stop so we can start laying flooring.  My husband and 3 young folks are going to be very busy getting the flooring done once it arrives, so I'll be in the kitchen making sure everyone is well fed.

How has God blessed you today? 

God Bless,

Friday Activity of Choice

Nothing especially exciting going on here tonight.  I've edged the entry way and hall way.  I'm thinking of continuing and getting some white paint out to do the edges.

I'd love to snap my fingers and have it done, but with edges, I'm a wee bit picky.  LOL

No, I'm not Wonder Woman!

I was reminded a few minutes ago, that I needed to not only grant others grace, but to grant myself grace.

You see, two of my three young folks are off to a training weekend with Civil Air Patrol.  Their chores were done yesterday before we left, but inevitably with dogs, you have fur--especially in the early Spring.  Wait a minute!  What am I saying?  There's hair A.L.L  T.H.E. T.I.M.E!!!!   Needless to say, vacuuming up the hair in the corners and where dust bunnies decide to gather is an essential job to do daily.  The mopping/swiffer wet jet is done two or more times a week with an off white tile floor.  I was planning to swiffer wet jet after vacuuming, but my lower back and hips started to ache.  Do I continue or do I take something for the pain, go sit down and have my coffee and rest my back for a bit until the pain goes away? 

I decided a blog post about granting oneself grace would be good.  I started re-reading a blog post by my friend, Lisa, and realized that she covered it well too, but from her perspective as a homeschooling mom who has returned to school.  Whatever your circumstance, whenever you push yourself too far without granting yourself permission to sit down for 15 minutes, you are setting yourself up for pain, resentment, and you miss out on possible precious moments with loved ones or with the Lord.

I like to take the FLYlady approach to getting things done around my house:  You can do anything as fast as you can, in 15 minutes.  In that 15 minute time frame you may not be able to complete the mountain of dishes in your sink and on your counters, or completely tackle the ever increasing "Mount Washmore" in your laundry room, but you'll be able to take baby steps.  Disclaimer:  If you look at the FLYlady website and read about her system, you'll notice that she promotes getting dressed to the shoes with your hair and face done every morning.  As I type this, it is 6:19AM.  I've been up since 5:00AM and I'm sitting here in my pajamas with my hair done...or rather tossed up in a barrette and side pony tail.  I thought I'd get some blogging done while I have my morning coffee and devotions, then get my painting clothes on--minus the shoes, and get my entry way and hall way edges painted before the kids get up at 7AM.  LOL  I like the quiet.  There isn't any grumpy people to deal with.  LOL

This is my work today.  I have never used this dark of a tan before, but I liked the rich coffee & creamer look to it.  This is only the first coat, so of course it will need more than this.  It is coming along, though!  My plan is to paint all the trim white.  It was a mauve color, so we're changing it up a bit.  The flooring will go in last and it will be the same type that we used in our bedroom.  I just didn't want to put the flooring in first, then slop paint on it.  LOL  The first door to the right is where my office/sewing area is.  It will be painted next, Lord willing.  I've not firmly decided what color to do in there yet.  I'd love to do a nice soothing blue, but I'm thinking it might not be a good idea.  I might get super creative and do a base color and a stripe across the room with an artistic touch.  This is what the kids and I had done in the boys' Pennsylvania bedroom:

The stripe was so much fun and creative!  And, if you notice, I tried duplicating it in the valances with the stripe on the bottom.  We tried bringing in some desert sand colors, then balance or offset with the blue marbleized fabric for the main valance color.  I've been watching Fixer Upper and it seems that muted grays and whites are often used in that show, so everyone is emulating JoJo's designs, or at least trying to.  I'm not one to go with current trends, but I use my home as my color palate.  I try to find timeless pieces that are beautiful to me and colors that I love to decorate with.  If I can't find those timeless pieces, I make do with something functional--like the side table in the picture above--it doesn't go with the bunk bed, but it's functional.  LOL  I frequent yard sales, facebook flea market groups, estate sales, and I try to go to auctions to find things that will work for a specific area.

There are so many different things I'd like to do to my GA house, but I have time constraints and I need to save for the other things I'd like to do--like a new front door to let in more light.  I've also been drawing out raised garden bed plans and other ideas for the front yard are swirling around my head too.  We'll see what happens with it all.

Almost two weeks ago, when I wrote the introduction to this blog post, my dining room and living room were being painted.  I have finished and I promise that I will update with finished pictures, but I wanted to get one with everything in place--including the new ceiling fan and scriptures I've found for the wall. I promise I will take pictures and post them!

No, I'm not Wonder Woman and I've never claimed to be.  I am a woman who is saved by grace from the Lord Jesus Christ.  I am also a woman who needs to grant grace to myself more often than I do.  I need to love myself enough to push myself enough to get the needful done, but rest when I need to, to just be, pray, read, recharge, so I can get up refreshed and ready to tackle the next 15 minutes.

God Bless,

Plans Are Meant to be Broken

It has been a few weeks since updating my blog posts.  My husband has a new job here in GA and I'm trying (and failing) to get in to a good routine.  It seems that every time I think something is "just right", it turns out to not be so.  Every day is another challenge.

My plans have been to get up with my husband, ensuring he has a good breakfast and a cup of coffee to start his day. That plan was thwarted by nature.  My husband didn't want nature to call when he was doing his job, so I needed to rethink things.  I have, with the suggestion of my husband, procured granola bars and mixed nuts along with W*lmart brand energy packs instead.  I was making Trim Healthy Mama muffins in a mug for him daily from the cookbook, but it interfered with his needs, so it was scrubbed for his breakfasts.  Now he doesn't have breakfast, but has granola bars throughout the day, stopping off for an occasional burger at a fast food place when needed.  I know, not the ideal, but only he knows his routine and days, so it works for him.  The eternal conundrum in our home, however, is keeping the young folks from devouring what was meant for Daddy's lunch bag.  For the first time I've had to put a note on the box telling them they cannot have it.  But, they CAN have the Trim Healthy Mama muffins in a mug!  So, I think it's a good trade-off!  :0)  (Yes, I've been doing the Trim Healthy Mama plan since October 2015, but I'll have to leave that for another day.)  Dinners are still "on plan" though, which is good.

Here we are a month after my husband started his job and I still do not feel as if I have everything down pat.  I have a schedule, with many predictable-every-week-they-come-at-the-same-time-regardless, but it's just the other things that show up that are not predictable that throw me off.  We've had appointments for my oldest son to have entrance exams for a local technical school, other non-predictable appointments showing up, as well as activities that just adding those things make me feel so very exhausted.  This past weekend, while an absolute blessing for my two younger kids, started with homeschool group where I taught a class on edible essential oils, then went to make sure my kids ate, Sam's Club, then drop one off at one house, and another at someone else's house, get gas on my way home, then the 45+ minute drive home.  By the time I got home I was spent!  Exhaustion doesn't quite encompass it.  My body said that I should have gone home after homeschool group because my body was prepared for that, but not the extra running.  LOL

{Needless to say, I'm beginning to think that it is a good time to start keeping an eye out for property closer to all of our activities, but that remains to be seen.}

I hope to have things quiet down soon.  Tomorrow I hope to do some cleaning while my oldest son has (more) testing taken care of.  I feel like I've failed daily to get the basics done.  Oh! Let's not forget the flea infestation, the extra vet visits, the extra monetary expense and the heart wrenching that I feel when my doggies are going after yet another flea.  Yes, the vet in PA forewarned me about the fleas down here.  Ugh! We've NEVER had issues with fleas!  Whew!

So, here I am, exhausted, on the brink of being comatose with sleep, with mountains of clean blankets, rugs and furniture completely covered with Borax for more than 24 hours, a back yard that has been covered in Diatomaceous Earth, dogs and kitty have been through flea baths, and everything.  It is done and I am thankful!  But, the work continues tomorrow!  We'll be spraying for other not so savory bugs.  The traps and bait are purchased and I'm ready!

For everything, I am thankful.  I am spiritually challenged by so much pain and suffering by so many people lately.  I am thankful for the opportunity to pray for the folks who have come to me in a variety of ways to approach God's throne on their behalf.  I don't believe I've ever felt so burdened for people I've never met. (See previous post)  What a privilege to pray for all these folks!  The Lord is working on me so greatly, molding me, pruning the unnecessary, giving me gut wrenching--heart wrenching situations where I'm needed in a variety of very important people's life (not just my family, but a beautiful little boy with special needs).  I'm thankful for this! I've been challenged to ask God to show me where He needs me to join His work.  He's been a wonderful gentleman and shown me in some blatant ways.  He's also shown me ways to share our story and our faith.  What a blessing!

While I feel so very overwhelmed at times, feeling like a failure, God is faithful to redeem my time, placing me right where He needs me to be, to show His loved ones His unfathomable, always faithful love to those who need it the most.  I feel honored, and embarrassed at the same time. Honored and humbled that he would choose me. Embarrassed that my own selfish attitude has gotten in the way of His work. Lord, forgive me!

How many times are we letting those opportunities slide by when God places them right in our laps?  (You don't have to answer.)

God Bless,

Unexpected Blessings and a Course

"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. As I have loved you, you should also love one another. By this all shall know that you are My disciples, if you have love toward one another." 

(John 13:34-35)

Many times we've come across people who have asked us, "What brought you to southern Georgia?"  Our response has usually been that the Lord has brought us here.  We share our story with many many folks, but honestly, we didn't know what God had in store for us here where He has placed us.  The reason for putting us right here has been fuzzy for a few months.  We only know a couple of our neighbors, we attend church and other activities in Albany, so the question still was a bit perplexing, "Why did you bring us to this house, here in this little town so far from where we have appointments and activities?"  So we prayed.

"If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall 

give you another Comforter, so that He may be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth, 

whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him nor know Him. 

But you know Him, for He dwells with you and shall be in you. I will not leave 

you orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world does not see 

Me any more. But you see Me. Because I live, you shall live also. At that day

 you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who 

has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves 

Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him." 

(John 14:15-21)

We decided to just live our lives, just open to God's guidance and direction.  We were not sure what work God still had for us, so we just waited.

The past couple of weeks at Sherwood Baptist Church, the topic has been "Next Level Praying" where the pastors preached about the importance of not only praying and how to pray, but why.  I have always prayed for a variety of people, prayer lists, family members, leaders, and whoever else would come to my mind, but this was different.  This was not only encompassing those people and things I'd already prayed for, but taking them to a whole new level of prayer.

Through all of the teaching on prayer, one of the things that has weighed heavier and heavier on my own heart and mind is not only the need for prayer, and not just surface prayer--but broken hearted prayer knealing at the throne of grace with a love unmatched by anything we've ever experienced type of prayer.  I've experienced this type of prayer many times for the loved ones I hold dear, but the Lord has been teaching me that I need to be broken hearted and pray like this for my neighbors too.

"Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 

and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great 

commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 

On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." 

(Matthew 22:37-40)

While many folks here where we live, I'm sure, are praying for our little town, I'm sure this little town could handle just one (if not 4 more--to include our family) people praying with a broken heart for the people here in our town.  

That sounds so very simple, doesn't it?  God brought us here to pray for this little town.  Not just any prayer, but a special type of praying that will I'm sure, add ministry of some sort to it eventually.  

How am I going about this?  I'm glad you asked!  

On Valentine's Day Sherwood launched a prayer initiative for it's members and all those who wish to participate.  As I sat there listening, that still small voice told me that this is one small reason we were here.  We need to pray for our neighbors by name, by address for their families, for their troubles, challenges and ailments, and for their salvation.  The website pray4everyhome.com is where I can keep track of who I pray for and where they live.  Yes, it is a bit stalker-ish, but the information is available from the last census, so it is public record and not illegal.  Besides, I have a hard time remembering names 5 minutes after being introduced to someone, so this is perfect!  God knows their names.  I don't need to remember them.  I just need to pray for them!  

"You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your 

enemy." But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do 

good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and

 persecute you, so that you may become sons of your Father in Heaven. 

For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the

 just and on the unjust." 

(Matthew 5:43-45)

There are unexpected blessing through all of this experience.  I have personally experienced a greater burden for my neighbors and their eternal home.  I cannot explain it better than that.  I've also experienced greater peace, greater purpose, greater vision for my days.  I have less to do with schooling now that I have one graduated and one more graduating this May.  She is more independent and I have only to check her work every so often and be available if she has a question.  My youngest I finish up with him in about 15-20 minutes, discuss things with him, correct his papers, and move on.  With all this free time on my hands, instead of going back to school, I've been praying about which direction to go with my time.  I get a gentle push for other areas where I can volunteer too, so I'm praying about that.  I'm praying and using Proverbs 31 and Titus 2 as my guide.  I'm just trying to push myself aside to be open to the guiding of the Holy Spirit.

How are you loving your neighbors?

God Bless,

Chicken Bone Broth

A couple days ago I made "Fotato" Soup out of my Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook.  It was the 2nd time I made it and based on the popularity of it the first time (they licked the skillet clean!), I doubled the batch.  I wanted to ensure that my husband had something yummy and soothing in his stomach when he got home from work (more on that another day).  I found that I didn't have any chicken broth, so I sent my kids to get some at the local store.  I was glad for them to go so I could get the cauliflower chopped up and ready to go while they were gone.

When I saw the broth sitting on my counter, I thought to myself, "I've made this before!  I can do this!  Why should I use this store bought junk instead of knowing what is going in to my food?!"  So, I took out the only bit of meat I had in the house with bones in it--a 6 pound whole chicken--to defrost.  We had it for dinner last night and whatever was left--carcass and all--went back in to the roaster to get all yummy and delicious with lots of garlic, Himalayan Pink Salt, thyme, sage, and some pepper...and of course lots of water filled to an inch within the brim of the 18 quart roaster.  I turned it on to 225­­°F and from 5:00PM to around noon today the carcass and leftover meat simmered and made some lovely golden bone broth for my family.  

When I do broth, I have 2 different ways that I can do it.  This time, since there was so much of it, I chose to do both.  I had a limited amount of freezer containers and didn't want to go to the store to buy more.  I had 4 quart containers and 3 pint containers, which meant labeling with contents and their date of being frozen.  This way everyone knows that these will need to be used within 6 months of the date on the container.  I let them sit on the counter until they are cool and then line them along the inside of my freezer door where they fit perfectly.

With the other amount of broth, I had to get the pressure canner out along with unearthing the canning lids and rings (quite the challenge when things were not exactly put away because a place for them had not been established yet.  Oops!)  So, finding the lids and rings, we got everything moving, sterilized, and in to the pressure canner with only a couple inches in the bottom.  

They spent 3 hours in the pressure canner at 10 pounds of pressure to ensure there is no food poisoning to occur.  We will label these with their contents once they cool by tomorrow morning as well as their date, like the ones with the freezer container.  I make sure to leave them on the counter over night to cool so that they seal.  If they don't seal, I can pop them right in to the refrigerator without skipping a beat and saving the lovely contents for the next meal.  

I've made broth with chicken breasts before.  I usually simmer the chicken for 2-3 hours, then freeze.  Very few times have I pressure canned it, but this time I did.  

My plans for further collecting bones to make in to broth are to go to the local butcher and see if they will sell me bones with very little meat on them for my bone broth.  I'm going to try to process this once every couple of weeks to make sure we always have bone broth, chicken, ham, beef, and whatever else I can find.  If/when I get the bones from the butcher I'm going to freeze the bones, so I can put them in to my roaster, fill it with water and let it cook for a couple days.  I'm going to get more organized so I can make sure the broth is done in the canner by a certain time so we don't have to worry about missing church.  Yes, I messed up.  But, we were able to reclaim the time by having some card playing time while the younger 2 finished their school work.  

Now on to garden planning!  Oh!  And I'm getting an idea of what to do for my canning pantry!  

What do you do for food preservation?

God Bless,

Bitten by "the" Bug

This is one of those bugs that shows up in the most unexpected ways.  This morning we stayed home from church because I caught a virus/bug from the Dr's office when I took my youngest son in for his eczema.  The thing started by the next morning with the water works in the form of a runny nose, then proceeded from there giving me what I figured were hot flashes...well...because I've been thrown in to that time of my life due to my surgery last year.  No biggie.  I started the roller coaster ride of feeling good, then needing to sleep, then feeling well enough to make dinner, then mid way through fixing dinner, feeling like I was hitting a wall again and needed to sit down and rest.  Whoa!  This was a FAST acting virus!  My husband started coming down with it on Friday evening and as of Saturday, started with chills.  Considering one of our pastors has a brand new baby, among others in our congregation, we decided it was best to keep this bug home until it worked through our family.

But, that bug is nothing new.  Everyone catches those "bugs."  The type of bug I'm talking about is that of a bent and twisted creative bug.  A little history about me, for those of you who do not know:  I could be sitting somewhere, like this morning, looking at something and thinking, "I need to make something to go with that!"  This morning it was this bag that spurred on my inspiration:

I love the colors, the durability, the style and size of this bag.  I just need it taller to accommodate my tall needles.

So, I decided this morning that after I finish this project:

...and tying off the ends from that one and this one:

I'll begin my newest bag.  It will likely have much of the same colors in it as the one I'm replacing, but be a little bit different.  :0)  I'm going to knit this one instead of crochet.  

This bag was 100% crocheted, including the straps.  I really like the straps, so I may do those in crochet again because they're sturdy and they didn't curl like my knitted purse did. When the handles curl and you put them on your shoulder, they roll off your shoulder.  When I put this bag on my shoulder, the straps don't roll and it stays on my shoulder.  

Disclaimer:  I don't use a pattern for my bags, so each one is vastly different from the next.  I'll be sure to post pictures of my progress.  Perhaps I'll line this one too, just like my purse. 

I'm not looking for another purse, just another bag that I can fit my knitting in to and my Bible for Sundays that won't roll off my shoulder.  LOL  It makes carrying this purse a little awkward and cumbersome.  I thought of crocheting a shoulder pad for this purse around the strap so it would move up and down, but stay on my shoulder.  I don't know how well that would work.  I may still try that and re-felt it, but for now, I'm going to begin thinking of the newest creation while I finish up the last 2 table runners.  :)  

Editing to add that I started casting on!  This is what 100 stitches freshly cast on looks like~

So far I think I'll make a rectangle and start with 10 rows of garter stitch.  I'll see then how it looks with the size and how big I need it.

"Through wisdom is a house builded[sic]; And by understanding it is established; 

And by knowledge are the chambers filled With all precious 

and pleasant riches." 

(Proverbs 24:3-4) ASV

How are you creatively filling your home with precious and pleasant treasures?

God Bless,

A New Job for Mr. G

Monday, February 1st, began unlike any other Monday here in southern Georgia since our move here the end of August.  My Mr. G secured a job that is unlike anything he's ever done "for pay."

Prefacing for a bit, my hubby has a sweatshirt that says, "Mr. Fixit" on it from years ago, probably 20 years would be my best guess.  He's always been tinkering, always making something do on the tractors so we didn't ever have to get a new one, always fixing things himself no matter what the issue--unless he knew it was beyond his realm of ability to do it--whether time constraints or realizing he had limitations to what he could do.  There have been times when he had to rely on plumbers and other fix it guys to come in and take care of those kinds of things, but all in all, he's pretty  much done it all on his own--with a little help from a couple Jr. Mr. Fixits in training.  ;)

In years past, he has worked in the human resources dept of the belly of a navy ship, in a ship yard too, in a paint store, for a power company as a lineman, in a pool store installing pools, pool filters, working in the store itself, and in corrections.  Now, with his experience as a "Mr. Fixit", the Lord has seen fit to tailor make a job just for my Mr. G.  He is now installing and changing filters in a variety of commercial settings.  He has his own company truck, ipad, phone and so forth which is something he is getting use to.

Back to Monday--it started bright and early for me.  I wanted to be sure he had a proper lunch and breakfast because neither of us knew what to expect, so I got up before he did and made sure it was all ready to go.  We could have breakfast and prayer together before he left for his day of work.  What a blessing that time was for both of us in the morning before he left for work!  We were able to talk just a wee bit, pray together about our days' concerns, have coffee and enjoy some peace before our days began.

My days have gone like this--after Mr. G leaves, write scripture verse of the day, read Bible and pray, get kids moving on chores, breakfast, laundry (whoever has laundry that day) and school moving.  After they're off and running on their school work, I exercise, work on my daily chores, and getting other things done.   Then we break for lunch, laugh and be silly together, work on anything Daddy needs them to do, then it is either back to school work, free time, working on some project in the house or exercising for them.  If it is their day to make dinner, they usually start by 3PM.

This week has been a week of growth for all of us.  It seems to have been very busy with lots of things to do every day.  Inevitably, I've come down with a cold.  I'm treating with lots of Thieves and RC oils and diffusing Raven and Lavender too.  It started on Wednesday with a runny nose.  Then it went from there.  I haven't been coughing, oddly enough, but I do feel the thickening in my throat.  I've been putting alternately Thieves and RC on my throat and it is helping.  I put Thieves on my feet last night too when in nights previous I'd put Purification.  We'll see how long this one lasts.  I'm hoping it won't last long, though.  My days have had an added nap in for a bit--even just 20 minutes--with sickness, just to help me feel better.  I'm hoping Mr. G doesn't get it.  Whew!

Why a new job for Mr. G if he's retired from the state of PA?  Isn't his retirement enough to live on?  Yes, it is, but our ultimate goal is to be debt free.  Right now our house in PA hasn't sold (please add that to your prayer list), we have a very small mortgage here in GA that we'd like to pay off in 5 years vs the 10 year loan we have with the bank.  Plus we have some student loans to continue to pay on.  So, as you can see, we're working on decreasing the debt with this move, but need the job for paying 2 mortgages, utilities and upkeep on 2 properties 900 miles apart.  Eventually the house in PA will sell and we can hit the student loans and house payment "double time" and get them paid off quickly.  We're hoping to "owe no man anything but love." in 5 years.  With God's grace and His blessing, we will accomplish the goal of living debt free.

We hope to be able to bless others, help our children get established in their own homes when those times come and in whichever direction they feel God leading them in their lives.  We also hope to be able to go see family more often.  The fact that we haven't done that really bothers me, so with lots of prayer and work at being more frugal, by the grace of God, we'll be debt free, hopefully in 5 years.

If anyone has any questions about how we're doing this, please take a look at The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey.  We've implemented many of the principals in this plan.  I would encourage you to take a look and let me know what you think!

God Bless,