Almost Back To School

We are almost back to school and I must say that I am feeling unprepared.  We haven't yet ordered our core curriculum and I am freaking out a bit.  But hey, do what you can, right?  I'm trying to tackle some areas I feel that my daughter is lacking in from last year so my brain is all over the place trying to come up with creative and fun ways for her to master these areas.  I am thinking of spending a good amount of time on Plot and Sequence in stories.  We used My Father's World curriculum last year and I don't think she quite grasped what she was supposed to be doing with the bible story reviews.  So I will tackle that a little more with her.  I'm also going to throw in some month by month studies.  Holidays, seasons, etc. for each month.  For a little fun mostly and hopefully a little Social Studies since we didn't really do that last year except for what was given in her MFW curriculum.  But that was mostly Bible History so I think we could use more social studies this year.  I am waiting patiently to buy MFW for second grade.  We just got our Math U See curriculum in the mail so I plan on jumping into that after I finish off our first grade math from last year.  We used Saxon last year and I just didn't feel it was what we needed this year, so we switched to Math U See.  We will see how that goes.  I've got a ton of resources that I've found for the various add-ons and maybe I will do a separate post for those another day. Happy Home Schooling!!!  God Bless.

Worship

I stumbled across a really awesome Christian singer this morning as I was listening to Pandora.  Her name is Kari Jobe. The Lord knew I needed to find her music because she has the most amazing worship songs I have heard in such a long time.  Her voice is so beautiful. And the lyrics to her songs touch my heart in such an amazing way.  I'm kicking myself for not knowing about her sooner.  My favorite song so far is a song she did with the desperation band called "Yahweh".  Love it!  Such an amazing worship song.

I can't help but cry out to God when I listen to this song. It's so comforting to know that God will NEVER leave us.  No matter what our situation.  All we have to do is look up and cry out to Him.  That's it.  God is so good.  I hope you enjoy the song.

Goings on

On top of looking for a house AND getting ready to pack AND dealing with all of my daily mommy/wifey tasks, I have taken on the potty training my 2 year old.  Am I crazy?  If not, then I certainly will be by the end of all this.  Sheesh.  This is certainly going to either advance my gray hairs or drive me up a tree.  Probably both.  I am trying really hard to just lean on the Lord.  I know I am failing because I feel like I'm sinking under the weight of all of the stuff that needs to get done.  My to do list keeps getting longer and I'm looking around for someone, anyone, to talk to and I can't find anyone other than my husband.  And I love him dearly but he works all day and kind of contributes to my to do list.  I keep thinking about my family who no longer talks to me for reasons I'm really not sure of.  I think of my adopted family and they have a lot of their own issues going on right now.  I just don't feel like I have anyone.  "Friends" aren't around either.

I am the type of person who will text or call a person just because to tell them I'm thinking of them and hoping they are doing ok.  I guess that isn't the norm at all because no one ever does that for me.  I think I may get a text every now and then from a friend at church.  But she's pregnant and dealing with her own issues as well.  I don't know.  I guess my expectations for people are just too high.  I'm getting used to being alone.  After the who thing with my family I was forced to really just be alone.  I didn't really care that my friends didn't contact me much when I had my family to talk to but now I have no one to talk to.  I mean, I could strike up a conversation if I really wanted to with someone but I feel like I'm always the one striking up the conversations these days.  Everyone is just so busy and I guess I'm not making it onto their radar.

I'm tired.  Really tired.  We have been looking for a house now for about two weeks and this process is going to drive me crazy.  We find one we like only to find out that someone swooped in and put an offer on it without seeing it, or even better, it's not a legitimate listing and we've wasted our time.  The places we can afford are literally in really bad neighborhoods, which also depresses me.  I am a stay at home mom, so we need somewhat of a safe neighborhood because people will eventually notice we are home all day with the kids.  I am literally so frustrated.  I can't even look at houses online anymore without crying.  Our only other option is to move out of state.  And with my husband not being able to find a job out of state, we are taking a risk even looking out of state.  This whole process is so ridiculously frustrating.  In the mean time, we have given our 30 day notice to our landlord and have no where to go.

I don't want to read my Bible, I don't want to pray.  I just want to crawl into a hole and disappear.  I don't know how to feel. I don't know how to act.  I don't know what to do.  I see the list of things to do getting longer and I just can't move into action to complete anything. I literally am paralyzed.  All the while my children are feeling the stress of all of this.  And our money is running out faster and faster every two weeks.  I look at what needs to be done and what can be done and so many things are just getting left undone.  Oil changes on the cars.....undone.  And I just see in my head my car stranded on the side of the road broken down because we couldn't afford to get a service and oil change.  It's the thoughts like this that drive me insane.  Another one lately has been the realization that I am going to have to pack up our entire house by myself.  My husband isn't a clean person this doesn't register in his head as something that needs to get started now.  And then I realized right after that thought that my house has never been 100% clean.  We are going on 2 years living here and our family pictures have been sitting in the same place collecting dust.  Never hung, never even considered.  I would love to do it myself but haven't had the chance.  I've asked for help and it has never been done.  So now, they get packed back up and moved to another house.  Next time I'm not even going to unpack them.  I'm just going to leave them in the box.

And then there's the whole homeschooling thing.  I have come to the decision that I will register my daughter by myself.  I could join a PSP, but we can't afford that either.  Registering her myself is basically free.  But with that comes the stress of having all the right documentation.  I'm not even sure what I need.  All I do know is that I have to have something on a specific color of paper and I don't even know where to get it!  And all of this needs to be done by October.  So I'm prioritizing in my head when things need to get done and in what order and it's driving me crazy.  And with school comes curriculum.  We couldn't afford to buy it at our home school conference.  So I found some lady only and mailed her a check for some math curriculum that we really wanted, hoping this lady isn't a scam artist trying to steal my money.

I am so ready for this year to be over.  It just seems like month after month there is something else.  Day after day there is something else.  I've got a daily to do list in my head and a weekly one and a monthly one. Nothing is being checked off because most of the stuff we can't afford to do.  It is so frustrating.  And my husband doesn't get it. I don't even know how to explain it in a way he would understand.  He just tells me to stop worrying.  If I stopped thinking about all of the stuff that needs to get done then who would take care of it?  I don't see any magical helpers swooping in to take care of that mountain of laundry sitting on my floor.  Or the dishes, or to clean my toilets or take out my trash.  No one is coming to my rescue.  I have to do it or it won't get done.

I need prayer.  And a miracle.

Chore Chart

My oldest is 6 as of July 1st and I feel like I need to have some sort of expectations for her around the house.  My husband says I need to give her more responsibilities but I haven't been able to do that in a way that is most helpful to me.  I am a bit OCD when it comes to cleaning and I don't want to have to run around behind her picking up the things she missed.  I would rather do it myself and get it right the first time.  I know that sounds harsh but that's the OCD in me.  LOL.  So anyway, I found a cute and easy chore chart over here at this super helpful website that can easily be edited to suit my family needs and I can change it as she gets older.  And this way, I will know what exactly she is doing and teach her how to do it and then I won't have to worry so much about it anymore.  And she will feel good that she is "helping Mommy around the house". I'm deciding if we should offer an allowance for the different tasks....I think we will.  I had originally tried to give her a number of tickets per day and give her an allowance based off of the number of tickets she had left at the end of the day.  This quickly fizzled because I had to actively give her the tickets every single day.  With the chart I can post it somewhere and as she finishes a task she can mark it off.  Then, at the end of the week we can take a look at what she has completed and give her an allowance (or tickets. Still deciding) then. This is the first one we are trying so I might not like it in a few weeks but I have to start somewhere right?

  

Click the link below if you're interested in downloading this adorable chore chart.

(image from suttongrace.blogspot.com)

Download here

Tip: on the left side of the screen under google docs there are two tabs: FILE and VIEW.  Click on the file and then select "download original".  It will then download to your computer and should open in reader automatically if you have adobe reader already installed on your computer. Then you can edit it to have whatever chores you like.  Have fun! 

Couponing 101

Ok, so I'm browsing some of my favorite coupon sites today noticing all of the cool deals out there and I though maybe I should share a little bit of how I save for my family.

I love couponing.  I love it most because I get what I need for a fraction of the retail price.  And this goes for everything.  While you may not find a coupon for everything you need, couponing has given me a great "savings" mindset.  I've learned to wait for a rock bottom price.  I've also learned that patience is key.  There is a lot of waiting with couponing.  You may not get the best deal if you use your coupon right away.  I usually wait for a really great sale and then I pounce with coupons in hand.  I've been so blessed to learn so many amazing tricks of the trade and consider myself an intermediate couponer.  I know how to get some great deals.

With that being said, I wanted to share some of my favorite coupon blogs.  I wouldn't be a couponer if I didn't have these amazing women hunting down the deals and posting them on their wonderful blogs for me to follow.

First up.  Hip2Save.com.  This is my ultimate favorite website because Collin, the blog owner goes so far out of her way to really get you a wide range of deals.  And she has the most easy to use coupon database in my opinion.  I love her blog.

Second fave of mine is southerncalisaver.com.  I am a southern cali girl and it helps so much to have another southern cali resident keeping me up on the best deals.  Josie does such an amazing job of giving me the best grocery store deals and drugstore deals.  Her site is simple to follow and easy to navigate around.  I love that.  I need things simple.

And last but certainly not least: totallytarget.com for all things Target (one of my fave stores of all time).

I like to keep things as easy as possible so I do my best to not follow a whole lot of blogs. If you are new to couponing I would suggest visiting Hip2Save.com or southerncalisaver.com and watch some of the videos they have on their site for newbies.  I still go back and watch videos to help me really understand how to shop at some of these stores.

A few things that really helped me dive into couponing was to first have a list of price points to follow.  Hip2Save and SouthernCaliSaver both of lists for you to print of price points for almost everything you could buy.  Knowing what a good price is will definitely make you feel more confident when making purchases.  Also, knowing store coupon policies is a big one.  You will feel so much more confident when using your coupons if you know what a particular stores rules are.  There's nothing worse than spending the time filling your cart only to be told at the checkout lane that your coupon can't be used for an item.  Ouch!  Been there, done that.  Now I carry my coupon policies with me at all times.  And one last bit of advice is to not freak out.  Don't let a coupon's expiration date make you think you HAVE to use it.  I used to think that way until I figured out that coupons show up in cycles.  Usually when a coupon expires the same one will be in the paper again soon. Stay calm and Coupon!

Happy couponing!

30 Day Mom Challenge

So I'm starting this 30 day Mom Challenge.  I've been praying for the Lord to help me be a better mother and I feel like this 30 day challenge will really challenge me and allow me to consciously try harder.  Not that the Bible itself couldn't challenge me but I'm a bit of a list-a-holic.  LOL.  So this is right up my alley. And the items on the list are spiritually derived so I feel as though I can do this and still find the Lord in it as well. 

My prayer is that others might see this and take the challenge themselves.  Being a mother is not an easy job but we have to remember that we are training up our children to give back to the Lord.  They are gifts to us.  We wouldn't take a gift from someone we love and drag it through the mud or throw it around without any care.  We take care of the blessings we are given and we need to take better care of our children.  

We have to make decisions every day to care for our children in such a way that they want to learn about the Lord.  We have to walk the walk and not just talk a big talk to our kids.  Children have a great way of telling the real from the fake and I know for myself that I would never want my kids to not want to get closer with the Lord because I can't walk my walk out in from of them without being a hypocrite.

I am going to take one of the 30 challenges each day and as the days continue I will add a challenge to the previous day's challenge.  So at day 30 I will be doing all 30 challenges on the last day.  That is my sincere hope. I might find myself doing fewer in a day or taking maybe 5 or 10 on any given day but the goal is to keep all of the challenges in mind and consciously doing them.  Prayer will help. It doesn't have that on the list but I would definitely add praying with your child to the list.

Busy Busy Busy

Well since my last post I am on the journey of planning yet another birthday party.  This time for my soon to be 6 year old daughter.  She is at that age where she can ask for what she wants for a party.  But I am so blessed with her because she is NOT high maintenance at all! She would be so happy if everything was completely home made and low key.  Her party of choice?  A Princess bowling party.  I know I know, what on earth do the two have to do with each other?  I have no clue but I want to make my baby girl happy. Ever since her 3rd birthday she has been obsessed with bowling for every birthday.  She was tickled pink when we took her there on her 3rd birthday and its really the only time we go bowling.  It's become some what of a tradition for her now.  Along with a mani/pedi.  Her first of those was last year for her big 5th birthday.  She looks forward to this once a year tradition now.

On another note, I have also started another blog over here for my church group.  It's such a blessing to be able to provide something so simple.  I prayed for a way to serve in our new church and the Lord flung open the doors to make that happen.  I'm more grateful that the Lord is hearing my prayers. =)  Anyway, go on over and check it out if you like.  We are going through a study on Charles Stanley's 30 Life Principles and it is amazing so far.  There are plenty of resources on the blog if you want to follow along.  You will be blessed.

There are just so many things going on right now and coming up.  We registered for our annual homeschool convention.  We LOVE going to the convention every year and hearing wonderful speakers.  This year will be special because Voddie Baucham and Ray Comfort are the key note speakers. Click on their names to check out their website.  And here's a link for more info on the conference. That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

Blessings,

Jeneva

Countdown to birthday party

We are a whole lot closer to the birthday party and I'm getting so excited.  We have about a week to go and I'm finishing up all of the major purchases like the bouncer and the balloons and tables and chairs.  I have a short to do list left.  Mostly with the food parts of the party.  You can't buy fruit too far in advance. LOL.  I'm so happy and I have a cool vision in my head of the goody table.  A lot of other things have been going on around here too.  I finished up a really cute crochet project.  I will post pics in a sec.  We've been trying to spend more family time together when the hubby is home.  The weather is staying quite nice and we are really enjoying it.  I will definitely have to get out to the hot tub soon. I will be posting our plans for the summer soon. My hope is to have my oldest in some sort of sport and to go on at least one field trip per month with the hubby and the kids.  

We will be homeschooling through the summer it looks like but my big girl LOVES school so she doesn't mind. 

CHEA is coming!!!!  I'm so super excited.  It is the most amazing home school conference.  This year will be even better because Voddie Baucham and Ray Comfort will be there this year!!  I'm so stinking excited. I have so much to talk about but I will do a separate post for CHEA with links so you guys can see why I'm so excited. 

Some pics to come soon. 

Only 2 weeks of planning left

We are exactly two weeks away from my son's 1st birthday party and I'm still planning.  Getting things done little by little as the finances allow.  God is so good.  I know a first birthday party isn't a need but the Lord is providing a way every step of the way for me to do this for my little man.  I am a stay at home mom, so we aren't rolling in money.  I'm grateful that the Lord is allowing me to use my savings techniques to get me through this birthday party planning.  My goal is to not buy a single thing unless I have a coupon and I must say I am sticking to that.  I got a free birthday banner made and only had to pay shipping which was around $12.  And if you've had a banner made somewhere else, you know they can be pricey.  I priced a banner at OfficeMax out of curiosity and they wanted $12 per square foot!!!  My banner would have cost me over $60 if I got it made there so I am praising God right now for that.  I have been getting little odds and ends at Michael's and if you are into saving you know Michael's has great printable coupons on their website.  It's been driving me nuts getting things in little bits and pieces but I don't really have a choice, I have to save money.  I'm getting everything done and sticking to a budget.  Praise God.  Anyway, I was looking on pinterest today to review my ideas for my little man's bday party and I found another printable sesame street invitation I wanted to share with you all in case you're thinking of doing a sesame street party as well.  Here it is:

I already took out the wording so all you have to do is right click the image and save it to your computer.  Once on your computer right click and edit it to say exactly what you want. The green banner area is great for your child's name. You can either print it at home or take it to your favorite printing place and get it printed.  Either way this invitation is soooo cute.  I wish I would have found it sooner.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Blessings!

Still planning

Yesterday was a super busy day filled with deal hunting and cupcake test runs. But still super fun. I headed over to Albertsons with coupons in hand to hopefully pick up some goodies for the birthday party. I think I was pretty successful. Here's what I bought.

2 liter sunkist soda .99
Bought 4
Used 4 .55/1 coupons
.44 cents each

2 liter Pepsi Next soda .99
Bought 4
Used 4 .55/1 coupons
.44 cents each

20 pack frito lay chips $5.49 wyb 6 participating items
Bought 3 
Used 3 $1/1 coupons
$4.49 each

Duncan Hines cake mix .99 cents wyb 6 participating items
Bought 3
.99 cents each

Starbuck's refreshers drinks .99cents each
Bought 6
Used 6 $1/1 coupons
FREE

40 count capri sun big pack $8.49
Used $1.50/1 in ad coupon
$6.99 for 40 (10 count is usually $1.97 to $2.99)

So I think I did pretty well on snagging some goodies. I was especially pleased with the 2 liter sodas. That's an amazing price for 2 liters especially name brand soda. I'm going to be heading back for more cake mix because I will be doing cake pops as well as cupcakes. And probably other cake related goodies. Can't wait for the party.

Planning a 1st Birthday

I am in the midst of planning a first birthday party for my sweet little man.  I am going with an Elmo/Sesame Street theme.  I think I'm going to pull my hair out before this is over.  I realized that I absolutely hate planning birthday parties.  I mean I enjoy them, I just don't like planning my own. I would love to ask for some help but I don't like burdening people so I always take everything on myself which leads to a lot of stress for me.  But hey, it doesn't have to be perfect.  It just has to be a few hours of fun, right?  We will see.  I will post pics after the party but until then, here are some pics I've used to get me started with the theme.  Feel free to snag them for yourself.  Just right click the pic and save it to your computer.  Then you can edit it to say whatever you'd like it to say.  Wish me luck with the party!

I love this image!  I'm using it on plain yellow paper sack bags to jazz them up for goody bags.

This is my invitation.  I edited all of the existing word out on paint!  AH.  That was awful.  So here is a nice clean image to insert your text on.

A fun elmo face. 

I printed a thank you message on this little square that I'm going to throw inside the goody bags. 

Again, if you wish to use any of the images feel free.  Just right click and save it to your computer.  After that find the image on your computer (I save my to the desktop so it's easy to find) and right click it again.  Then click "edit" and there you go!

End of the month coupon clean up!

Well, it's the 30th. That means cleaning out my coupon binder. I must say this is the least exciting part of couponing but the more organized you are the more money you will save. So go look through you coupons and get rid of the expired ones. Don't fret over unused coupons either because I can guarantee you will see the exact same coupons or better ones come through the paper or online. First of the month means most coupons reset online. So get ready to fire up that printer. I know I'm excited. Happy couponing!

Current project

So I am super excited to have crochet projects to give away. This blankie is for a dear friend who is having a baby girl. It matches a cute little dress I already finished. I am so loving this yarn. I had been eyeing it for a month but the price wasn't quite right until a couple of weeks ago. I was so excited. I have a baby hat in mind as well after I finish the blanket. I will post the finished project when everything is done.

Moving forward

I never knew it would be so difficult to admit when it's time to let a friendship/relationship go.  When you get to the point where the relationship is hurting you more than helping you.  I desire to be a follower of Christ and that relationship seemed to always drag me back into the mud.  I know I can't stay there.  I know that being involved with that person/people will only put me back in a place I'm trying so hard to get away from.  I just want to be a follower of Christ.  I hate that I can't take everyone with me on this journey.  It sucks.  It really sucks.  I want so much to just get through to them.  But after all these years I think I'm ready to admit I can't.  It's not to say I won't ever interact with them again.  I mean, I kind of have to in a way.  I'm just saying that I won't put myself in a position to be brought down again.

I don't like the way I am when these people are around.  I don't like what they deliberately try to bring out of me.  It's so sad.  I can never be the person I'm striving to be.  I will always be that person with the past.  You know?  My past will never allow me to be a better person in their eyes.  It just saddens me to see how these people continue to act.  I mean, as followers of Christ we are supposed to turn the other cheek, right?  But I know the Lord doesn't want us to be used and abused either, right?  I'm so drained by it all.  I just feel like all of me has been sucked right out of my ears or something.

Aren't the people who love you supposed to show that?  Why then do these people take any chance to hit below the belt?  I don't understand.  I really am so confused.  I guess the fact they are family doesn't change much.  I guess when you feel threatened you lash out even if it is family.  I feel wounded.  Like I have a deep cut in my stomach.  It hurts so much.  But I'm not surprised either.  I think that's what makes it worse too.  I'm not surprised by these turn of events from these people.  And I bet I could even predict the "I'm sorry".  (Usually two days after the incident.) Although this time I think it will be another "Well you did...." fill in the blank. I'm over it.  I'm almost 30 years old and my family still treats me like a door mat. I have children of my own and I don't want them to grow up with all this drama and nonsense in their lives. I think it's time for me to love them from afar and mean it.  It just hurts.  To know that people just don't change sometimes.

I pray that I won't be so stubborn that I will refuse to change what the Lord is asking me to change.  Because God will change you.  Whether we do it willingly or not.  If He has to force us into submission, He will change us.  I want to do so willingly.  I don't want to be hard headed or stubborn to the point of my own demise.

Forgiveness

So I will be the first to admit, forgiveness is hard.  Especially when you feel so strongly as though you didn't do anything wrong.  But "look deeper" is what I hear the Lord telling me. Did I really do nothing wrong? My intentions may have been to help the situation but was I really helping the situation by getting involved in the first place?  Even thought the other person may have shoved me into the situation by talking about me behind my back?  The only reason I even found out is because I was told by someone else.  So I know now that I should have just let it roll off my back.  The Lord said we would face all kinds of various trials and we shouldn't be surprised by it.  So to get emotional and try to get my word in is only sinning.  I read a great article today by John Piper. “Forgive Us Our Debts as We Forgive Our Debtors” The Lord really convicted me.  I know that I need to be the peacemaker.  I know that without one shadow of a doubt.  It's so hard.  Life period is so hard.  I want nothing more than to represent the Lord the way he deserves to be represented. I pray that the Lord will help me with my unforgiveness towards the person in question.  I pray that I can get over the fact that I feel right and didn't do anything wrong. I pray that the Lord with help me to keep my mouth shut.  It hurts to be wronged.  Especially by people who claim to really love you.  But in the end we cannot change people.  Only the Lord can.  I can't make people be fair to me or treat me right.  The Lord is the only person who can cause people to be loving, kind and honest.  I can't do that.  I can only be a witness for Christ.  I can only reflect Christ so much that the people I am around with wonder what's up and seek God for an answer.  I need to continue to die to myself every single day, hour, minute and second.  And I need to do this with such a grateful heart because God DIED for me.  He straight up died for me!!!  This person who can't even forgive others without complaining!  Jesus didn't complain.  He didn't cry and whine and stomp His feet. He took death on for me.  But not just for me, for every single human being if we just get over ourselves and believe in Him.  I have such a long way to go but I pray that the Lord will never give up on me.