Another prayer request.

Yesterday was my first day out of the house. I am feeling much better! Thank you for your prayers. I desperately had to go to the laundromat. Our dryer broke in the middle of our sicknesses. Off I went to get the clothes dried. I noticed that my van felt like it was going to stall. I got to the laundromat, threw our clothes in the dryer and drove across the street to a little restaurant and met my dad for lunch. After we got done eating, I went out and started up the van. It stalled repeatedly and then started to sound like a hammer was hitting it. It completely died. My dad took us home (after picking up our laundry) and I called the tow company and had it towed to the garage. I got a call from the mechanic last night who has to look at it closely but his first prognosis is that it is the motor. I have heard fixing the motor is a $2000-$3000 job. I don't think the van is worth that much!
We are praying that it is not the motor. Please join me in that request. We are also praying that it is not a large bill. The Lord always provides, we know this but at the moment, we have only about $100 in our savings account. If it is the motor, I know the Lord will supply all of our needs and it is always better than what we could have planned. I am thankful that the van died when I was with my dad. I did not have our cell phone and he was able to quickly get us back home. I see God's provision and hand on the situation right from the beginning. We could have been stranded at the restaurant with laundry at the laundromat, not sure who to call because everyone of my family members was working. Please pray for our van situation and praise God for his watchful care of us everyday. Ask that the Lord would give us wisdom should it be the motor, on what to do?

Keep praying.

My diagnosis from the doctor is walking pneumonia, bronchitis, ear infection, swollen glands and a high fever. I am feeling very bad. It is early Monday morning and my head is pounding. Pray for strength and healing for the week. I really need it! Thanks.

Prayer please!

This will be a short post. I am asking that you keep our family in prayer. Everyone of us has been quite ill for the past 3 weeks. It hasn't been all at the same time but I had remained fairly healthy until Wednesday. I am sicker than I have been in a very long time. It is 4 :45am and I have gotten very little sleep . I feel awful. The rest of my family seems to be getting better. They have been a tremendous help but when mom is sick, nothing runs as smoothly. Today will be my 4th day of not feeling well. I am supposed to go on a date with Emma this morning to swimming lessons and to make a bird house at Loews Home store. She is so looking forward to it. At this point, I am going to try to go but I feel so awful that something drastic needs to change in the next 4 hours when swimming lessons start. Please pray for me and that the rest of the family continues to get better. I greatly appreciate it.

Assembling with believers

We are on our third week of sickness at our house. We have all been ill and most of us at the same time with stomach bugs, croupe, viral infections, coughs etc.............you name it. I have been unable to be at church much for the past few weeks. I realize that it is best for us to stay away but after awhile I start to miss my other brothers and sisters in the Lord. It is a wonderful thing to be in the house of the Lord with like minded believers. I think of chrisitans who don't see the need to be in church. I get discouraged when I am away for to long. I know God is still here in my home, I still can read his word and pray but there is a reason why God tells us not to forsake the assembling together of the body.
For many years, I had a hard time with this verse. I saw many families put church so high on the list that their families needs were last. They were there Sunday morning, night and Wednesday night and Thursday Bible study, Friday church supper, etc.............. No matter what was going on in their family, sickness, exhaustion, family needs. I saw friends grow hard to the things of the Lord. Today, some of my friends who I was the closest to as a child and teenager have completely given up their walk with the Lord and live some of the most ungodly lives. I don't think that being at church causes this but I do think that parents have to be wise in their involvement. It's a wonderful thing to serve the Lord. I often see needs and want to fill them all but at this phase in life, I am a wife and mom first. The service to the Lord that I am fulfilling is my family. At the moment, it is a sick family. I am glad that I am able to minister to them with hugs, stories, chicken soup and just being together.
I miss church. I can't wait to be healthy so that we can be there as a family again. I understand why God tells us to be there. It is encouraging to the soul, edifying to the saints. I am looking forward to going back again AFTER my family is better!

Saving money

I am sorry that I haven't blogged in so long. I have been quite busy lately with sick kids, friends from out of state visiting and life. So to Kathy and Emily and a few others who have mentioned that they are tired of seeing my dinner recipe post............here's a new one!

I know I mentioned that I like Hillbilly housewife. I was on the sight tonight and she has a section called lunch box basics. I had to really think about what she broke down for spending money on lunches. My husband eats at school for $3 a day. I have often thought that this is cheap enough. Lunch for $15 a week. Not bad. However, when I saw it broken down that the average lunch made from home (which is healthier than lunch out) only costs about $1 per day, I realized that we could have a decent savings account at the end of the school year. $2 a day times 180 school days is a $360 savings. If he worked through the summer, it would be a total of $480. WOW!

This brought me to another thought, I wonder how many things you could cut corners with on a daily or weekly basis that would not hurt the comforts of life to much but over a period of time could make a significant difference? I am sure there are a few for us. This brings me to another thought. Crown ministries has a service called Mvelopes. It actually budgets your money for you using the old fashioned envelope system. The neat thing is that it is all on the computer. I have really found it helpful. They run a 30 day trial for free. Check it out! It's a neat idea.
This isn't the most exciting post but I thought I'd share a few ideas on how to save and cut corners without to much thought. Maybe we could all afford a nice family vacation by packing lunches!