Winter?

It has been a crazy "winter" here!  We had snow for Halloween and snow for Thanksgiving and then barely eeked out a few inches just in time for a white Christmas.  Much of December was quite warm.  In fact, towards the beginning of December we took the kids canoeing- yes, canoeing in December!  Actually it was a really wonderful morning canoeing in an amazing place that Joe found where we saw about 7 seven beaver lodges, a couple of sea otters swimming (from a distance) and even found wild cranberries!  We all tasted some of the raw, wild cranberries and they were incredibly tart.  Joe, Lily and I ended up spitting ours out, but not Eli...he kept popping one after the other in his mouth! 

And these pictures were taken just a day or two after our canoeing trip...yes, it was December and the kids were splashing in puddles in the back yard- crazy!  It seemed sort of novel at the time, but now the lack of snow is really getting to me.  Because it has gotten cold and cold without snow is just sad.  We have just the slightest bit of white covering the ground right now, but not really even enough to make a poor little snowman.  That's right, no snowmen, snow forts, skiing, snowshoeing, sledding, or snowmobiling (with Joe's dad's snowmobiles) like we had been looking forward to this winter.  The cold with lack of snow has made for incredible ice skating, but that's it.  Please, please, please let it snow!

Nifty & Thrifty in 2012

The new year is upon us!  And with this new year comes a new budget for our family.  We are in full time ministry and thanks to many individuals, families, and churches who support our ministry financially we make a modest income.  And because so many give to us we are often pretty conscious of how we spend our money.  But truth be told we spent too much money last year (and probably in many of the years before that)!  Now, we don't spend more money than we make and we aren't in debt (other than our mortgage and one car payment)- but we aren't really saving any money.  So basically we are living paycheck to paycheck and we aren't setting ourselves, or our children, up well for the future.  And is has to change.  So Joe took a good, realistic look at our finances and made a new budget for our family.  And most importantly we are having the money we need to be saving (which isn't as much as we would like, but it's a start) taken out of our account automatically every month so that we aren't tempted to spend it!:)  But this means that we have to be SERIOUS about our budget and stick to it- and that's what we've been doing since January 1st. 

Truth be told I'm torn about how I feel about this.  I don't really enjoy having to cut back and I don't like thinking about money so often.  And there have already been sacrifices (not for anything I need- just wants).  But on the other hand it feels good.  If feels good knowing that we are doing the best thing for our family, our future, and to be good stewards of the resources that God has given us.  I also have to admit that I sort of like the challenge!:)

And on that note...I'm wondering if some of you might join with me in this challenge.  Not only do I need to stick to our budget, but I want to do better than that!  I want to save even more money so that we can be freed up to give to others more and to have a little fun with our family along the way!  So, I'm taking action and I'm looking for lots of ways, big and small, to stretch our budget (and maybe help a few others do the same along the way)!  So throughout this year I'm going to be sharing here the things that our family are doing to save money.  And I would LOVE your help with this. 

So, the first area that I am targeting to save money in is LAUNDRY.  Now I know that this isn't something huge, but I really think that lots of small things in lots of areas will add up.  So...if you have any tips or advice for saving money on laundry please post a comment in this post or send me an email (angiedcousins@yahoo.com).  And in a week or two I'll post all of the best tips I've found (and hopefully some of them that we have started to use)!  And on that note it's time to go fold some laundry!:)

Dec.26th

The morning after Christmas...throwing parachute men over the balcany at Nonnie & Grampy's house!:)

Stolen

 

I generally feel like we live in a pretty safe area...except every now and then I am reminded that while we have all been safe physically we can not say the same for some of our things.  You may remember a few years back (the summer before we had Lily) when someone broke into our car and stole my purse, our pillows, and used our Campus Crusade for Christ credit card to buy internet porn.  One of the most bizarre things and yet oh so true.  I think I need to tell the whole story sometime because it got even stranger.  But moving on to more recent crimes...this fall we had something else stolen from our yard...the big red ball pictured here with Eli (about a week before it was taken).  The giant red ball belonged to the ministry technically and Joe used it for an outreach with guys on campus called Bloodball.  That thing was HUGE and pretty awesome.  So one day this fall we blew it up in the backyard for my playgroup (it was the first time we really even let our kids play with it).  It was a blast and we left it in the yard for about a week- because we weren't worried at all that someone would run off with it.  Oh, but we should have been.  Because someone did.  Yep, giant red ball stolen from our yard!!  Try reporting that one to the cops (but we did since it was worth about $400).  I thought for sure someone would find it (because how do you hide something that big?) but alas we have never seen it again.  In my opinion this crime was just LOW.  Seriously, someone was sad enough to steal what appeared to be nothing more than a very cool toy that belonged to my children.  They stole from my CHILDREN!!!  OK, technically they stole from our ministry (maybe that's even worse).  And just when I had forgotten about that....I had another rude awakening this morning.  For Christmas a supporter of our ministry gave us a special personal financial gift and we were saving the money to buy our kids a pass to our local children's museum (which I've really been wanting to do for a bit now).  I also had Christmas money from Joe's parents that I was saving to buy new dishes.  Joe cashed the checks recently and we foolishly left the cash in our van.  We always lock our cars at night, but for some reason that just didn't happen last night.  And this morning as the kids and I were loading into the van to head to the children's museum (to buy the long awaited pass) I discovered that the money was gone.  I was hopeful that Joe moved it.  Not only didn't Joe move it, but he also happened to find an empty bank envelope laying on the driveway outside our van this morning.  Yep, $140 in cash- STOLEN!!!  Say it with me....uggggghhhhh! 

Oh my, was I angry...I wanted to hurt someone.  I was really looking forward to having new dishes.  And I can't even believe that someone essentially stole something from my kids AGAIN!  I promptly drove right to the children's museum and purchased the pass anyway...partially because my kids were so looking forward to it and I just couldn't disappoint them (and we were already loaded in the van, bags packed, and lunches made) and partially because I just refused to let the people who took our money win.  It's going to take some financial juggling, but I think it will be okay.  The dishes on the other hand will have to wait until my birthday (or maybe I'll start buying one a month)!:)

Anyway...I was ANGRY...remember that I wanted to hurt someone.  And then as I watched my kids play at the museum (the actual moment was while they were pretending to garden and harvest vegetables) I began to feel God soften my heart.  And as we drove home God began to gently remind me that I need to CHOOSE joy (this could be my life theme I think).  I need to choose joy...when I'm faced with loss, when my day to day is not going as I planned, when evil seems to prevail....because evil will NEVER prevail in the end....because in light of eternity $140 will mean nothing...nothing.  And right there is the car God enabled me to choose joy instead of bitterness and even gave me the strength to thank Him for the morning and to pray for the very seem people I wanted to harm a few hours earlier.  And that's when it hit me...God is changing me.  I have oh so far to go, but slowly God is changing me...and this has nothing to do with me, but everything to do with Him.

So, while the police can't really do much to help us (we did report it just to be safe) I know that it will be okay, because I have HOPE (and there is no amount of cash that can buy that).

Christmas!

 

Our Christmas was wonderful!  It really did sort of feel like a celebration all month long, but the last three days were especially festive!

 

On Christmas Eve Eve we spent the morning celebrating Christmas with my parents over Skype (though I forgot to take pictures)- it just one of those times when I am so thankful for modern technology!  And the rest of the day we spent really focusing on Christ and throwing Him a special birthday party.

 

This year our birthday present to Jesus was pretty special to us.  We decided to sponsor a little girl named Jenifer in Peru.  We'll share lots more about her soon!  After we picked out Jesus' present Lily and I decorated the kitchen for a special birthday dinner and we ate by the light of candles and twinkling lights!

 

And of course there had to be birthday cake!

 

We started with a dark chocolate cake and talked about how on our own our hearts are dark and sinful.  And then we poured white chocolate over the cake and talked about how the love and forgiveness of Jesus has poured over our lives and has made our hearts clean and whole.

 

And after the party and after Eli was in bed Joe, Lily, and I stayed up and read, "An Angel Story" by Max Lucado...all about the birth of Christ from a heavenly perspective (and Lily made it through the whole book for the first time)!

 

And Christmas Eve was also really fun with many of our favroite traditions... throwing out food for the reindeer, delicious appetizer foods for diner, Christmas Eve service at church (my favoite), discovering Santa's sack when we retruned from church (full of new pajamas)...

 

And then Joe and I got to play Santa (also one of my favorite parts of Christmas)!

 

We cleaned and made everything feel magical and got the special gifts ready...

 

Including this fantastic sensory table that Joe built for the kids...

 

And this amazing teepee that my mom,Joe, and I made for them!

 

And I just LOVE Christmas Eve when everything is out and glowing!

 

And I completed our Christmas tree with our homemade family ornament for the year...to remember our special little girl.

 

And then Christmas morning came and Joe actually had to wake Lily up (apparently our two previous days of celebrating wore her out)!:)

 

But soon their faces lit up when they saw the teepee!

And Strawberry Shortcake Dolls and puzzles from Santa!

And they LOVED the sensory table and played with it for quite a while that morning!

And we finally got around to stockings...

And yes, those are toothbrushes that Lily is hugging with glee (my kids have a real love for brushing their teeth)!:)

And Joe bought each of the kids their own log cabin kit (made in the USA- which we love).

And Lily's big individual gift from us was a CAMERA!  You better believe I was pretty excited when she asked for this earlier in the season.  Oh how fun to have another photographer in the family!

And Eli's big individual gift was this basketball hoop and it was a huge hit with our little sports lover!

And after all of the stockings and gifts were opened and we enjoyed some delicious scones and fruit we cleaned up and got ready and PLAYED! 

And although I don't have any pictures to show it we spent the rest of Christmas down with Joe's family just enjoying some great food and being together and a few fantastic presents and throwing parachute men off of the loft stairs.  It really was a wonderful Christmas.  And I am oh so thankful that the stomach flu waited until just after dessert on Christmas evening to strike me down.  While I was too sick to enjoy the Packer game that evening I felt great for all of the most important parts of Christmas.  Happy Birthday Jesus- we had a wonderful time celebrating your birth!