Fruit Of The Spirit

With four kids constantly needing my attention, as well as my husband and frequently forgotten dog, I find it rather challenging at times to maintain composure.

I find that the more I practice these fruits of the spirit, the happier I am, and the happier everyone else is as well.

For a constant reminder of how my attitude should be I have the following verse in my kitchen and read it several times a day:

Galatians 5:22-23

The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Connor's new pants (I made them!)

I am so excited! I sewed my first pair of pants! Connor has a problem fitting his pants because he's got cloth diaper bulk and it's hard to pull up and pull down his other pants (it wouldn't be a problem if he were wearing disposables).

Anyway, I am just so thrilled that I completed such a sewing project. Of course, I had a few bumps, I was so excited about sewing that I wasn't careful when I kept being interrupted and wasn't paying attention to the knee pads I sewed on - so the 2nd knee I put on I forgot to sew the 2nd circle around and sewed the pant legs together, so I had to rip the stitches out TWICE! First because I wasn't paying attention, and 2nd because I sewed them back up without sewing around the circle!!!

If you're interested in making a pair for yourself or your kiddo, here's a link where I got my inspiration:

http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/2009/08/repurposing-boys-lounge-pants.html

Pictures

It seems like I'm taking fewer pictures these days, these are of the few that I've taken since Halloween. Twins will be 6 months on December 18th!!!

A Homemade Christmas (Crafty Blogs To See!!!!)

It's been a while since my last post, and I've been rather busy! I've been preparing for the Christmas Holiday trying to use my craftyness this year. I have decided to make all gifts either in the kitchen or with my sewing machine! So you are all put on notice! LOL.

I have recieved a lot of inspiration from the following websites that I highly recommend checking out:

http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/ - you will miss out if you don't check it out!!!!

and

http://www.skiptomylou.org/ - another absolute must!!!!

and

http://makeitfromscratch.blogspot.com/ - more great ideas!!!!!

I will eventually post pictures of my craftyness, but not till the season is over - since they're all gifts to be given, I don't want you to see them here yet!

Financial Bondage and Purposing To Be Debt Free

OK, so here's my second post on Jim Sammon's Financial Freedom Seminar we've been watching and reading. I'm going to try to keep it short because I'm so excited to be sharing some new resources I found in the Internet and want to get to updating my budget sheet right afterwards.

After several sessions, we have learned that the first thing we need to do is give it all to God - letting him be in control, after all, we are only stewards of God's gifts to us, including finances. We needed to tithe properly. I never did understand how to tithe until after this study. It doesn't mean picking an arbitrary amount and writing it on a check every week to put into the collection plate - it means giving exactly 10% of your 'first fruits' - before taxes, insurance, etc. are taken out. Plus, it means to tithe ANY amount of money that comes to you - yes, that means 10% of your bonus too, if you get one.

So that was our first 'correction' we made - tithing correctly - giving God our 'first fruits.'

Also, learning more from scripture about how we are stewards of God's money and that we need to be using it more wisely, in all ways, meaning that we examine each purchase we make, not to mention - using CASH and not going into DEBT for any purchase for any reason.

Purposing to be DEBT FREE is our next step - and I found a wonderful online source of a 'Snowball' spreadsheet - showing how to pay down your debts starting with the debt with the lowest balance so you can see (and celebrate) debts being paid off. It's really amazing, really. After you input all your debts it shows (among other things) how the 'snow ball' works, when your debt will be paid off, and an amortization schedule like the one you get when you sign up for that mortgage.

Just to clarify - a 'DEBT' is considered any bill that is unpaid - including: any and all loans (personal or bank), medical bills, utilities, the local hardware store charge account, etc.

Speaking of mortgages, this spreadsheet can probably help you figure out how to payoff your mortgage quicker as well (when paying more than what your regular monthly payment is required).

The new website I found tonight: http://www.christianpf.com/
The article that has the link for the spreadsheet: http://www.christianpf.com/snowball-your-way-out-of-debt/