Illuminate the darkness

Today I feel like God has given me a bit of insight.  It isn't a new concept but rather a new way [for me] to look at an old one.
Instead of painting my world with rainbows for sin or pink, blue, or orange, for sickness, disease or injustice, I pray that God will use me to shine light into the darkness of our world. Illuminating the beauty we all posess that is the love of God, for peace, humility, healing, forgiveness,  and joy.  Beauty that can not be denied.

Get ready to save

We have entered a new season of our lives.  One of plenty. .. After so much time striving to make our savings last, we are now in a position where we can think about things a bit differently and start giving and saving at the same time!
We have never taken Dave Ramsey's financial peace University, but have several friends who have and I did take some teenage equivalent course when I was in New Zealand. .. so we are applying our knowledge.  I have set up a bank account for emergencies with a total of 3 months expenses in it.  That is done! Next step paying off the mortgage on our house in Oklahoma.  I'm not sure what our plan of action is on that just yet but that is the next step.
What else are we doing? Well we just sponsored two of the cutest kids on the planet.  They live in Indonesia,  their names are Gita and Ipung.  They are both 5 years old (same age as Caeden) I'm feeling so very blessed to be able to sponsor them!  And even more blessed that my husband was the driving force behind doing it!
I set up a budget for us to live off from. .. One that may change slightly coming up because our rental house is newly signed with a rental management company.  But that shouldn't change things too much. . Just a little.  We are actually going to be earning something from this investment now!  For the last four years we have been blessed to have a friend renting and caring for our home but now its time to start using it as an income home and though we don't like raising the rent on a friend we are happy to know that soon our house will be helping us instead of hindering us from financial peace.
Looking forward to the differences the new plan is going to be making us!

Get ready to save

We have entered a new season of our lives.  One of plenty. .. After so much time striving to make our savings last, we are now in a position where we can think about things a bit differently and start giving and saving at the same time!
We have never taken Dave Ramsey's financial peace University, but have several friends who have and I did take some teenage equivalent course when I was in New Zealand. .. so we are applying our knowledge.  I have set up a bank account for emergencies with a total of 3 months expenses in it.  That is done! Next step paying off the mortgage on our house in Oklahoma.  I'm not sure what our plan of action is on that just yet but that is the next step.
What else are we doing? Well we just sponsored two of the cutest kids on the planet.  They live in Indonesia,  their names are Gita and Ipung.  They are both 5 years old (same age as Caeden) I'm feeling so very blessed to be able to sponsor them!  And even more blessed that my husband was the driving force behind doing it!
I set up a budget for us to live off from. .. One that may change slightly coming up because our rental house is newly signed with a rental management company.  But that shouldn't change things too much. . Just a little.  We are actually going to be earning something from this investment now!  For the last four years we have been blessed to have a friend renting and caring for our home but now its time to start using it as an income home and though we don't like raising the rent on a friend we are happy to know that soon our house will be helping us instead of hindering us from financial peace.
Looking forward to the differences the new plan is going to be making us!

Get ready to save

We have entered a new season of our lives.  One of plenty. .. After so much time striving to make our savings last, we are now in a position where we can think about things a bit differently and start giving and saving at the same time!
We have never taken Dave Ramsey's financial peace University, but have several friends who have and I did take some teenage equivalent course when I was in New Zealand. .. so we are applying our knowledge.  I have set up a bank account for emergencies with a total of 3 months expenses in it.  That is done! Next step paying off the mortgage on our house in Oklahoma.  I'm not sure what our plan of action is on that just yet but that is the next step.
What else are we doing? Well we just sponsored two of the cutest kids on the planet.  They live in Indonesia,  their names are Gita and Ipung.  They are both 5 years old (same age as Caeden) I'm feeling so very blessed to be able to sponsor them!  And even more blessed that my husband was the driving force behind doing it!
I set up a budget for us to live off from. .. One that may change slightly coming up because our rental house is newly signed with a rental management company.  But that shouldn't change things too much. . Just a little.  We are actually going to be earning something from this investment now!  For the last four years we have been blessed to have a friend renting and caring for our home but now its time to start using it as an income home and though we don't like raising the rent on a friend we are happy to know that soon our house will be helping us instead of hindering us from financial peace.
Looking forward to the differences the new plan is going to be making us!

I found people like me!

I stumbled on a website full of full time rv families!  I'm so excited about this!  You should check it out!
Seriously check this out!
I am still exploring the site but hope to write more about it in the future!

Don't feed the fire

I recently built my very first fire without the help or input of anyone.  It turned out great and I jokingly called myself the fire master the rest of the evening. Fires have a lot to teach us.  One such lesson is that you can't keep feeding the fire if you want to put it out.
This morning I woke up groggy and less than than chipper, but in a good mood.  My children however were intent on making the day difficult.  This really makes me wish I had gone to sleep earlier.  First Micah woke up crying.  He wanted to nurse and go back to sleep, but Caeden woke up then too. Caeden doesn't have a mute button, or a slow down button, or a consider others button yet.  I plan to install them soon.
So Caeden hits the ground running "can I have a yogurt?"
I buy yogurts just for Caedens breakfast.  No one else eats them.  It makes mornings go smother if he can get his own breakfast while I tend to Micah.  This morning he couldn't get the silverware drawer open though so he had to wait until Micah was taken care of and this for what ever reason ticked him off.  He stamped around the 5th wheel and loudly complained and demanded that I get him a spoon.  I schooled him for his rude behavior toward me and he waited, the damage was done though because then I hear a sleepy little girl saying "can I wake up now?" She took to saying this around the same time she stopped falling asleep during her nap time.
I get Caeden a spoon, try again to get Micah to go back to sleep,  no dice,  the children are all over the place playing being loud and then fighting.  I demand they get dressed then start to read with Caeden which on a day like today is just asking to create bald spots on my head. 
After struggling through the book we finally finish and Micah is screaming for me.  Caeden is still hungry and Fia has finished her oatmeal I get Caeden a bowl of cereal and go back for a 3rd attempt at getting Micah back to sleep, and it is working until Caeden 'meant to just push Fia a little bit' but obviously pushed too hard cause she is screaming.
This is my morning. .. And it isn't even 9am. How do you not feed this fire? Oh I tell you it is a constant struggle.  Just let the little things slide and find good ways to deal with the big ones that don't involve waking up the baby I just got to sleep...
Next on my agenda grocery shopping.  On a day like today you can call me crazy. .. But we have company coming tomorrow and no more food in the house. I have no choice but to brave the stores with my motley crew and pray that God has mercy on me.

The reward system

Caeden is learning to read,  and Fia is getting a good reminder on potty training.  And we decided to go back to a big reward for each accomplishing their goals.
We took them to Walmart and let them chose a toy. .. our genius kids picked $10 toys with out any prompting!  For your understanding here are the rules.
Caeden must read 3 books to receive his dragon toy.  He can look at the toy all he wants but it can not come out of its package or be played with until he has read all three books. 
Fia must use the toilet and have no accidents for 7 straight days to receive her baby doll stroller. 
I made them each a chart and for each day Fia is accident free, and each book Caeden reads they receive a sticker for their charts.  So far Caeden just earned his first sticker this morning,  and when Sapphira wakes up she will get to put her 3rd sticker on the chart!  I'd say we are off to a very good start.
Caedens reading is actually very good if only his attention was as good as his ability he would be reading at a higher level by now.  He just gets about three quarters of the way through a book or story and starts wiggling and can no longer concentrate on what he is supposed to be doing.  It's been hard because of that to assure him that he can read and that he is doing well.  If he never finishes the book he thinks he has failed all together and doesn't want to try anymore.
Fia on the other hand, no one knows what is gong on there. She was fully potty trained and suddenly became terrified of public toilets again and went so far as not wanting to use our toilet either.  But now with that baby doll stroller sitting on the shelf she has been accident free for 3 days no problem at all.  I've decided to just continue to remind her often to use the toilet once this week is done,  I think it will help her at least at home.
So there it is.  I don't know if this is bribery, I'm going to say it isn't. When you go to work you don't just do it because your boss said to, you get a financial reward for your effort. .. so my kids are getting rewarded for their hard work.  Hopefully this proves to Caeden that he has the ability, and to Fia that she doesn't need to be afraid of the toilet. We shall see.