We had a wonderful time in Illinois! Aside from seeing Terry’s parents and Gramma, we also got to see Terry’s best friend, Thomas and his wife, Shelley; Terry’s cousin, Misty; and a facebook friend of mine! We also saw several other friends. I have about a hundred photos to sort through, and several I want to share here, but I need to be getting busy with the laundry and preparations for the Lord’s Day tomorrow, so blogging about that will have to wait.

We are so thankful for safety on our trip. Matthew did very well, as did the other children. Matthew is my first baby to take a pacifier, and that helped keep him happy during the nine hour drive. The kids had to entertain themselves by reading, drawing or playing travel games since we didn’t have a portable DVD player  this time. Except for a few moments here and there, the trip was a peaceful one. Praise the Lord for His watch-care. It was a busy and fun trip, but I’m so thankful to be back home. {insert contented sigh here} :]

I was away from my scale on my weigh-in day last week, so my new weigh-in day will be Saturday from now on. I was sad to step on the scale today and see that I’d gained back a pound. 😦 I knew I would probably gain, since we had to be sedentary for so long in the van. Eating out didn’t help, though I did try to make good choices. Oh well, back to work!

I just got a book in the mail that I ordered last week. It’s called Healthy Meals for Less: Great-Tasting Simple Recipes Under $1 a Serving. My husband and I are trying to save as much money as we can. We are attempting to save six months salary as well as begin saving for our retirement. We already have an emergency savings set aside as well as life insurance. While our trust for each day is in the Lord, the Bible illustrates using the ant to show we are to plan ahead. We are also told to avoid the “evil” that may happen.(Prov.22:3). We noticed after going over our budget with a Christian financial planner, that we spend more than we should on groceries and dining out. We want to still enjoy a meal out occasionally, but we need to cut back on this. To help shrink this area, I would like to prepare more homemade dishes and try my hand at making homemade laundry detergent. We’ll do whatever we can to save some moola. 🙂


This autumn, I am planning on doing some very simple sewing  and some cooking with my daughter. To help me with these endeavors, (since I’m no expert in these areas!) I purchased the Homestead Blessings “Art of Cooking” DVD and “Art of Sewing” DVD. They were on sale for over 50% off! I had been watching them for a while and was so happy to get them at a discount. In the spring, my goal is to get the gardening and canning DVDs.


I’ll be posting photos from our trip, our sewing projects and my efforts at saving money in the near future, so I hope you will check back in! I have lots to talk about. 🙂


Have a great weekend!