I can’t believe I haven’t written in awhile.  We’ve had alot going on!

We celebrated our 9 year anniversary on Thursday night!  We stayed in (we’re already going out tonight-more on that in a minute).  It was so special!  J went to the store and bought and cooked our dinner, and he planned it so just after we put the kids down everything was ready and we were able to sit down and eat a quite dinner together.  Quite dinners are few and far between lately, so it was such a special treat, and very very yummy.  We got to reminsce a little; boy alot has happened in 9 years!  We are just so blessed!  Thanks for making our anniversary so special J-I love you!

We got to go to a Christmas party Friday night with alot of the people who serve so faithfully every week at C3!  What a dynamic group of people.  We brought the kids with us, so we pretty much had to rotate duty ‘manning’ the stairs since that was Bradys main form of entertainment for the night.  We stopped and looked at some Christmas lights on the way home.  This is a big time fun for the kids, although Brady wanted to know ‘where Baby Jesus at?’  I guess since a house in our neighborhood has a nativity he thinks every house should!  (I agree…!)

Tonight is WHEEL OF FORTUNE!  I’m so excited!  I don’t know what to expect!  We’re getting there before the doors open with high hopes of getting very good seats!  I’ve heard the wheel they spin is only like 4-5 feet in diameter, and it looks HUGE on the t.v. show.  Yea-so fun! 

We dropped off our 3rd set of boxes to our adopted family today.  I made a lasagne and took it with us.  We have been praying specifically that God would direct us in the ways we can be the most helpful.  I handed it to the mom, and she explained to me it was ‘perfect’!???  They don’t get their new food stamps until tomorrow, and she said minutes earlier she was thinking about how and what she was going to feed her family that night.  God is so awesome!    She was crying…I was so caught off guard. 

I guess I’ll end with that-this is a very long entry.  Thanks for partnering with us to pray for these families!  God is working…keep praying; you never know what can happen!

I’ll post about Wheel of Fortune tomorrow!

So…we got our adopted family assignment.  C3 is doing a special Christmas project to reach out to some families in our community.  You can read more about it here.  Anyway-I was so bummed when I tried calling, and their phone had been disconnected and I couldn’t make contact with them.  We drove to their house tonight, all 4 of us, and just walked up.  God knew this was a little out of my comfort zone, and the mom and dad were sitting in their garage when we got there, just as if they were waiting for us to come!

There are 3 kids in this family; 10, 11, and 15.  There house is on the market, and mom asked us to pray that they would sell it soon, and be able to find a new place to live.  We’re getting the kids involved and asking Kelsea to remember to pray for them each day as well.  They were so thankful for the food and supply boxes we had to give them tonight.  It was such a good feeling being able to hand them things that I know they need. AND-the questions came pouring out about our church, and about this project.  God already has opened the door for us to minister and witness to this family, all we have to do is walk through it! 

If you are not already praying for this ministry (I know you C3′ers are, and have been), please add this to your prayer list, we really are in a place to make a difference on so many levels, for so many different people!   Also-if you have ideas for what 10, 11, and 15 year olds are into…pass those along as well; I’ll be doing my Christmas gift shopping in the next week or so, and I’m at a loss for anyone over age 4! 

So…we get to adopt a family for Thanksgiving/Christmas this year. (what did you think I meant by that title? NO mom, we’re not getting another baby right now!    )

Our church is pairing up C3 families, with families in our surrounding area that have children to support and some needs that we can help meet!  I am so excited by the time we left the meeting where everything was explained to us, the wheels were already turning in my head.  They need food.  There are families with kids that have a hard time putting food on the table.  I mean…I know its true, and I know I can help, but figuring out the details, and making it happen is always the difficult part.  I’m so thankful for our church, I just can’t say it enough!  What a difference we can make not just in one household, but 100 different families in our area, are going to feel Christ’s love in what I know is a very depressing time of year for struggling households!

Feed the children is partnering with our church for this effort, and they will be providing food for us to give out, but I’m busy brainstorming creative ways we can ‘beef up’ the goods.

One idea is to go to Publix and get the BOGO *buy one get one-I guess I shouldn’t assume everyone knows that*, deals, and put the ‘get one’ part of the deal into the pile.  CVS has deals everyweek where you buy such n such item for $-.– and they give you the full amount back in an extra buck, which is a store credit like a gift card.  FREE…All these items also going into the pile.  These both only require a sacrifice of time and effort, not even a financial one.

We also get to provide a Christmas gift for the children who are in our family as well.  I wish I knew gender and ages already, its killing me, I will go to bed dreaming about what we can give them once we meet them I’m sure.  Kelsea will definately be included in this part of the process…I’m sure I know what her idea will be…and we’ll be searching for some great deal on a bike!    She’s such a giver-her heart is such a joy and a blessing to us!  (Not sure her mama knows a creative way to make a bike happen…although I do know there is a Goodwill that gets brand new toys from Target when Target discontinues them, and you can buy them way cheaper than the regular price…hmmm-…)

Well, we feel super fortunate that we get to participate, and I’ll at least post the ages of the kids in ‘our family’ so you can join us in praying for them.  There isn’t a bigger impact we could have than an eternal one!  Pray that we can be examples of Christs love to whatever family we get, as well as the other C3′ers who are going to be participating with families too!

Ok~so I feel the need to state 2 things before I get down to the nitty-gritty of my day today.  I’m letting you in-so don’t judge…

1)  I feel a responsibility being the ‘main purchaser’ (yes that is a job title) for our household to do my best to spread our money as far as I can.  (I check the internet for deals-I might be coerced to share my 2 favorite websites, but then again…maybe not!!!  haha)

2)  I DO have a problem walking away from a good deal.  A BIG problem!  (I need a group for this-I assure you)  So far at CVS drugstore this year I have saved $943.61 (it keeps a tally at the bottom of your receipt), and spent less than $60.  That is a story for another time though…

Anyway…onto this morning.  Target did a toy markdown today.  They had toys (good toys-not dollar spot ones) for anywhere from 30-75% off original price.  I racked up!!!  Birthdays for my kids, and cousins, and friends kids are done from now till Jan., and lets just say we started Christmas in July!  I was so excited.  The low point was probably realizing that I had peer-pressured Amanda to sacrifice her morning workout to join in on the hunt!  Good deals are so fun!  A $20 toy at 75% off = $5.   I even got some small items for operation Christmas Child boxes in December.  Anyway, you can probably sense my excitement…I know, I have issues…I guess there are worse ones I could have!  Mind you…the thrill of the hunt was only increased by the fact that I had BOTH of the kids with me, and they were clueless!  (I’m no novice, I brought m&m’s AND ringpops, and got the mack daddy shopping cart with the extension seats for the kids attached to the front.  We were quite a sight…  Brady was a chocolate, sticky, blue mess by the time we left, but the kids were happy and I was happy.)

What a day!  (Actually that was all done by 11:30-I should say what a morning!)

***Speaking of operation Christmas Child…school supplies are super cheap right now -there are $.01 deals if you watch the ads, so if you plan ahead, you could probably do 2 or 3 Christmas boxes to send to kids overseas, for the price you would normally spend on 1.  Crayons, markers, spiral notebooks, erasers, etc, are things all kids love!  Plus 75% off sales help too!