And literally, they are very random.
1. I hope you had a wonderful Reformation Day yesterday. I felt blessed as I sat down to read my bible, easily accessible for me to read and study in my own language. It's easy to forget that many Saints have died defending the blessings we take for granted, such as this.
If you are a Protestant Christian (that is, in vague terms, not Catholic) than you may have also celebrated Reformation Day - a day us Christians take to remember the the Protestant Reformation and separation from the Roman Catholic Church.
While this giant movement is far too complex for me to address in one post on my silly 'ol blog there is great wonder to be found in the 'five solae' that reformers, including Martin Luther, celebrated and defended:
Sola Scriptura, "Scripture Alone": The truth that scripture alone is the word of God, inspired and infallible. We hold to the truth that this is the only true source of information for the basis of our faith.
Sola deo Gloria, "Glory to God Alone": The truth that all glory is to be due to God alone, since He alone is responsible for our calling us unto salvation and giving us new life in Jesus Christ.
Sola Christus, "Christ Alone": The truth that Christ is the only mediator between God and man and that the atoning work of Christ's death and resurrection is our only hope of salvation.
Sola Fide, "Faith Alone": The truth that celebrates by faith alone we are saved. Not through works or merit, but through belief in Christ.
Sola Gratia, "Grace Alone": The truth that salvation comes by God's grace (unmerited favor). My salvation has been earned completely and fully by Christ and given to me, as a gift (not a reward) by God the Father.
I could celebrate these great truths all day! What joy can be found in them!
In my dream blog world, I had a beautiful post typed up about Reformation Day and all the detailed goodness it celebrated in the Protestant Church...but as you may have noticed, it never made it to the 'ol world wide web.
It was just one of those days.
Regardless, Reformation Day was still a wonderful day to remember and pray for the Saints that have fought and defended our faith, as well as the Biblical truths that have been revealed to us through such struggle.
Booya, Mr. Luther.
2. And speaking of faith, have you ever wondered what the Lord is working in your life?
And questioned the current circumstances you're facing?
I really wonder what the Lord is teaching me here.
Have you ever wanted to say:
Enough Lord! That's all I can take! I don't want to learn this lesson any more!
...me neither...
I joke, I joke. In all honesty, I'm having one of those moments as I type this.
Turns out (as those who follow me on Facebook already know), there was a mix-up in the amount of Federal Tax being taken out of our paycheck. Which means that (oops!) our paychecks are actually supposed to be for $130 less than we've been getting them for.
So even though yesterday was payday, well...I wasn't exactly beaming when the check was deposited. In fact, I was downright angry.
The Lord has taught me more about finance management and budgeting and spending and frugal living in the past four months than I'd hoped to learn in a lifetime. And just when I thought we'd widdled everything in our life down to it's breaking point...
...I still have to find something else to cut. Or some other way to creatively bring in more.
...Mind you, this news came the day after Stuart's student loan repayment booklets arrived in the mailbox. Gag.
I am very much trying to not feeling anxious about this news. As a bible study recently reminded me, "Anxiousness comes from calculating the future without God". I have taken it to the Lord in prayer half-a-dozen times already today, in hopes that it will ease my achy heart. I know, believe, and trust that God is sovereign - He is in all things for good. I can trust, though I may not understand at this very moment how, this $130 less per month is for His glory. In some way.
To me, the worst part isn't even the money. It's the fact that Stuart works so hard and faithfully in his work. He loves it. He loves the students. He loves the school. And to have to break the news to him about our budget just kills me. I desperately want him to feel like what he's doing is enough. And I desperately want to feel like I'm managing things responsibly here at home with our finances.
Has anyone else out there experienced these moments?
Lawdy, help me.
3. In spite of the paycheck-fiasco, I was still able to slightly celebrate payday by making an all important trip to Sam's Club for the month. I've been busy stocking the freezer for when baby arrives (attempting, rather) and needed to replenish some of my supplies. Because I've had a few readers ask about what items we find to be of good value from Sam's Club, I'll share today's purchases:
- Walnuts, 2 pounds, $11.74
- Almonds, 3 pounds, $10.98
- Whole-bean Coffee, 2.5 pounds, $14.98
- Kerrygold Grass-fed Butter, 2.5 pounds, $13.00
- Cheddar Cheese, 4 pounds, $12
- Bananas, 9 pounds, $4.40
- White vinegar, 2 gallons (for cleaning, laundry, and hair rinse), $3.98
- Organic green tea, 160 bags (for Kombucha making), $7.98
- Sweet onions, 10 pounds, $5.98
- Pork sausage, 2 pounds, $4.48
You're welcome for all that detailed, seemingly-unimportant information.
I also stopped by our egg-supplier and picked up four dozen pastured eggs for $10. Just in case you were wondering.
With this large (by our standards) shopping trip to Sam's and our CSA basket of local fruit and veggies being delivered each Monday, we should be set for the month on food (except for the weekly run to a local market for a gallon of raw milk ($5.99/gallon) and one more trip to our egg supplier).
If there's any leftover grocery money, I'm hoping to stock up on some more grass-fed ground beef from our local supplier. But we shall see.
I could talk about seemingly-unimportant-detailed-food information all day with you, if you'd like.
I'll stop now.
4. As you may have noticed, Georgia was a dalmation for Halloween:
Thank you, Kate, for letting us borrow the costume! Her BFFs Lydia and Gwen were a Princess and an owl. Sweet little munckins, anyway.
Kate and Matt were nice enough to invite us over for chili, biscuits, and trick-or-treating. I was very thankful for this because had she not had it together, we probably wouldn't have done anything. And G looked way too cute as a dalmation to miss.
5. Next week I will be writing a "Ask Me Any Question You Have For Me" post. So if you've been needing a follow up on something I've written on previously, or if you just have a completely random question for me, now's the time to ask it!
6. I'm pretty positive this is the most random post I have written to date.
7. I think I'll stop now. There's no telling where this could end up if I keep going.
There is, after all, still so much to share!
Like how my fermenting lemons are doing.
And how the baby's renovated dresser turned out.
And my experiences with dry brushing.
All in time, Shaye, all in time.
Have a great day, my friends!
I know how you feel with the whole budget/tax fiasco. Dang Dave is right, Murphy does want to camp-out in our homes and will do so! Keep trusting in the Lord--HE WILL PROVIDE! I am borrowing your quote from your Bible study...anxiousness is calculating the future without God....that's a burly nugget of truth right there! Blessings to you!
ReplyDeleteI know exactly how you feel. Due to a large claim not being taken care of by his boss, my husband's commission check this month may be non existent. The fear that has gripped me has been draining and I am so dissappointed in my abilities to manage things better around the house. I LOVE the quote from your Bible study so much I am writing it down to remind me that God is indeed in control and He knows exactly what to do! Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteBTW-Georgia was the cutest dalmation!
Happy Reformation Day! I just started reading your blog a few days ago after a friend shared a recipe. It's so wonderful to see how you share your faith on your blog. You summed up the blessings of the Reformation so well. God's blessings!
ReplyDeleteLast winter was so so financially tight, we didnt even really have a grocery budget. So we planted, grew and preserved like crazy this summer, in hopes that this winter wouldnt be the same (my husbands work is just so slow this time of year.) Its already shaping up to be tight again, and fall is just really starting. While Im grateful for all that we did to prepare, I still get anxious about it. Thank you for the reminder to include God in my future, and leave it to him.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea how they work, but does this blog provide any income? For advertising or what have you? If so, I will continue the many hits I give it, I love this blog, your insight and perspective, and recipes so much! Thanks for all you do, and including us in your struggles. We are in this together, just states apart.
yes, lemons!
ReplyDeleteyes, dresser!
yes, dry brushing!
Also, from a whole foods perspective, what do you do differently while preg nutritionally, than when you are not? Do you add in a prenatal? Do you take a multi otherwise? Or do you just use the nutritious food you eat to fill in the vitamin gaps? I imagine you are still taking cod liver oil? Have you made any of the recipes from making babies? Do you have any other pregnancy sypmtoms, like say spider veins, swollen legs, and how do you deal with them? Do you have a birth plan ie goals for pain meds, interventions, etc, or are you just going with the flow? Are you going to have a doula? Is your family going to come visit when baby arrives to help with Georgia? Lots of questions!!!
Love everything about this post. Budgets are so tough :( Praying for y'all!
ReplyDeleteAnd sounds like you're doing an amazing job stocking your freezer for baby 2's arrival. That was the best thing I did before Christopher Robin was born.
Thanks for sharing your life with us. I really appreciate your honesty, and it makes the day-to-day of the stay at home mom smile. Sister, we've all been there. And it is never easy with 2 very young children and a check that doesn't quite cut it. Now I am pregnant with our eighth and we are a bit more financially secure, but there are still those moments of head-scratching stress. We have found that it is always good to pay the bills together. I don't know what it is about it, but when we have to figure out how things are going to stretch that far, we always come away with this companionship of each other, appreciating each other, knowing that it doesn't matter how broke we are.
ReplyDeleteTwo things I want to share with you about my life: 1. with all my babies, I have not had to come up with dinner for the first week of their life. Between my church family, neighbors, and friends, there was at least one meal a day that showed up on my doorstep. It was bliss. For my third, it was 3 weeks! 2. We are dairy farmers. Even though we are not "certified" to sell raw milk, if people show up and ask if they can buy milk from us, we tell them yes, and quote them the current milk price. Right now we are getting about $2 a gallon from the place the milk truck takes the milk to. So our thought is that if someone shows up and wants to buy milk with a container, we will fill it for them. Then we don't have to wait 2-4 weeks to get paid the same price. Ask around. You may have to settle for a farmer who farms "naturally" with grazing, but not necessarily organic. There are a lot of practices done on organic farms, that are approved, that we don't even use, because we don't agree with them and feel there is a better way to treat the problem naturally (yay charcoal!). Ask around. At the bulk foods store. Or take a drive. Thinking of you all- and bless you!
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/
ReplyDeleteDang ole Dave has helped lots of people including me, and I'm so glad you've been at this budget work for a while. You've got a jump on the situation. More recently, I've gotten some help from the blog above. Maybe you'd like it, maybe not. MMM is a bit of a planet hugger, but not in an overly pushy way. But, he's got some good posts and he's good at explaining things. If you're interested, check out some of his earlier posts.
By the time I catch up to current, this'll be ancient history. Prayers for you.
brenda from ar