I have been meaning to type this for over a month, but haven't had time.  Even though it is old news here, I feel like God wanted me to share it....so here it goes!

First, some background here.  For about a year we have been receiving government help in the form of food stamps.  Okay, they don't do stamps anymore, just a credit card like thing.  Anyways, we felt bad about it at first, but after talking to some others at church, we felt that it was okay.  It has been a blessing and a real help to our budget this year.  Especially while my husband was layed off.  With 7 kids, they gave us an amazing amount of money, more than we had ever spent on food before.   

Recently, my dh has been reading about George Mueller to the kids.  It had been affecting both of us deeply.  I would be in the laundry room listening and crying!

So, now on with the story.....

We were sitting at our ex-Amish friends' house (just my dh and I, no kids :) ) for prayer.  After praying a while , my husband announced that God had been talking to him for a while about something and that he was going to share it even though he hadn't talked with me about it yet (yikes!).  He then proceeded to say that he felt that we were suppose to get off our government help.  I wanted to yell "no way" or "that's how we eat! "...a response similar to one George Mueller's wife had made at one time.  But I found myself saying that I had felt the same thing.  Now this was while we were still unemployed...so it was a little scary to say this!   So we kept praying.  The next day I told God that if this is just our good idea, we didn't want to do it, but if it was from Him, I wanted a sign. 

Sign #1....right after I said that, I was driving for about a half hour.  EVERY song on the radio station was about TRUSTING God.  On the way home they were not.  hmmm...could be coincidence.   So I asked again.

Sign #2... church the next morning, pastor had us open our Bible and read the passage about God caring for even the sparrow......then he looked right at me and said "Oh yea of little faith!'  Yikes.  He had no idea what we had been praying about.  The only person in church who knew looked at me and mouthed "that was for you!"  

By this time I was crying and I felt that I knew what God wanted us to do.  We even feel like we need to get off the government healthcare, too....but one step at a time, right?  So we took our pastor and wife out to dinner.  I asked him when he prepared his sermon.  He said " Monday, but God told me to change it this morning!"  I then proceeded to tell him our side of the story...as his mouth hit the table!  He shared some good reasons for not getting of the government help....but then said, "but by all means, if God is telling you to do something, do it!"

So that was it.  So we thought.  God must of thought we were a little dense and needed one more sign.

Sign #3...we got home from dinner to a message on our answering machine from an uncle I hardly ever talk to.  It seems that a cow of his had tried jumping a fence and broke her leg.  If we came up that afternoon and butchered it, we could have all the meat for free!   I got off the phone, looked at my husband and started laughing hysterically.  God had provided before we even needed it.  We had a freezer full of venison...now we had beef too! 

So here we are.  I called the social worker and told her we were done.  She laughed and told me that she doesn't get too many calls these days saying "don't give us your money".  So we are on a new adventure.  Trusting.  Waiting.  Wondering what God has in store.  But excited.  Because we can now say He did it, not the government.  

Disclaimer:  I am not saying that no one should be on government assistance.  I would not put anyone down for doing so.  Again, it was a blessing to us in the past. But right now, we feel that God is trying to teach us to trust Him.  IT is something that we can't have in our life right now. 

Carylee

I haven't written much for a while.  We have been on a new adventure for awhile..  My husband is a little over half-way through a 40-day lay off.  It came as a surprise....but God has been so good.  Thankfully we had money saved aside to buy a bigger house....and we hadn't bought it yet....  Also, our church body have really been a blessing.  They gave money and food to three families in our church that had been laid off.  It was a Great Christmas present.    This time-off has been a blessing in many ways.  My children are probably going to have a hard time when dad goes back to work!  It has been great to hand him a math lesson...or see the house cleaner because he helped!

His dad gave the kids all money for Christmas.  The children voted and decided to put their money together so we could go to an indoor waterpark.  We are scheduled to go on Sunday!  They are soo excited.  We only have one little hiccup in the plan... The next part is not for the squeamish....we visited some ex-Amish friends of ours on Sunday.  The kids all went sledding and we had a great time.  Then on Thursday....we noticed that our 4 year old had nits in her hair!   ugh.....the dreaded word....LICE.   We had what I considered a bad case of lice exactly 2 years ago after this same child played with the same family at a church potluck. We had NEVER had it before even when I did daycare!   We have no proof that it was from them....but considering we haven't been anywhere else, everything has been canceled around here due to the extreme cold....it seems pretty suspicious!   Thankfully, we seem to have caught it VERY Quickly.  We haven't found any bugs....just nits on her, and no one else.  It made us panick, however, as we can't cancel our trip now without losing all our Christmas money!  So we have done extreme laundry and everything else we could....and saw nothing today.  So if we still see nothing tomorrow we are going on Sunday.   Of course we have to keep checking everyone everyday for another week, mostly because I am paranoid!   Sigh.  We just can't have an uneventful time at our house! 

So....what would you do?  We love this family.  The are excommunicated Amish who are born-again believers.  They have 11, soon to be 12 children. They are a lot of fun to be with. BUT.....I just can't bear to hang out with them knowing that we could get lice from them again!  How can a person politely ask someone if they have lice b4 they visit?  Or am I forever doomed to only visit them when we can be outside in the summer...and constantly tell their children not to pick up my little kids?   Ugh, again. 

Well.....we are praying that we caught everything soon enough....and that we can still have our fun and NOT lose over $200....something we just can't afford to do with my dh layed off.....and my children would be heart broken over.

Carylee

Why is it so hard to wait on God?  We have been waiting for a year and a half.  We had our eye on a house in the country, but the price was too high.   So we waited.  Then we heard it was being foreclosed on, so we waited some more.   Then we finally had a date.....Sept. 30!   So we had EVERYONE praying.   We saved and waited.   I was sooooo relieved that the week had finally come.   I think it is because I am a woman....I don't like uncertainty.  I like to know what is going on.   So waiting drives me crazy.   We have spent the last month with our house up for sale, thinking "what if it doesn't sell in time", or "what if it sells and then we don't get the house!".   Keeping the house clean for showing it is near impossible with 9 messies living here!  

Then, the night before the BIG DAY, we find out that the owner of the house declared bankruptcy.  This means the sale was canceled.   We showed up at the courthouse anyways this morning just in case.  Also, another larger house with a larger yard than our present house, but still in our town was being auctioned.  So we thought just maybe if it went cheap enough we would go for it.....at least it would be a step up.  Well, the opening bid was $125,000.   No one bid.   In our town that is NOT a sheriff's auction price.  Evidentally, however, most of the auctions right now are that high since banks have let people borrow too much against their houses.  So the banks have to list them high to try to recoup their losses.  Well....now it belongs to the bank. 

So we left the auction with no answers in my mind, just questions.   Did God close a door?   Or, did he just give us more time to sell our house and save more money?   Will the house in the country still come up for sale, and are we willing to wait 6 months or a year for it?   Or should we look elsewhere?  

I know that God is not surprised.  He has everything under control.  It just seems so hard to wait for it.  Even my children Truly believed that we were getting this house.   So I am praying for wisdom, and the willingness to wait if necessary.  I must admit that  I'm REALLY getting tired of sharing my room with the almost 2 year old.  There is no other room for her to move to until we move or my oldest moves out (2 yrs still....and I'm not trying to rush that :)  .....sigh.   And yet, I know that we have it so much better than others around the world.  And with all the negative news about the economy, we are blessed to have a home!

Carylee

P.S.  Don't forget to check out our fun Draw and Write Through History books.  They make great Christmas gifts!   drawandwrite.com

Okay, nothing like 3 entries at once!   I am trying to come up with some new recipes that are cheap to make....and don't involve beans.  Green beans are okay....but not the other kind.  The kids just won't eat them.  I was looking at my recipes and it seems like all our favorite ones cost about $10-12 a dinner to make.  Now that is for 9 of us.....but I would still like to get that down in order to fit in our budget.  Also, we try not to u se a lot of sugar.  And one of us is allergic to oatmeal, and I really shouldn't be having corn....but that one seems to be really hard to avoid (I love popcorn, corn on the cob, etc). 

Any ideas out there?    We love Chinese.....but that seems expensive most of the time.  Except for Chow mein, but I already have that one.  We like mexican and Italian too.  Oh yeah... but we already have things like tacos, lasagna, and spaghetti on the menu.

Please post any recipes that your family loves that are cheap to make.

Thanks.

Carylee

Well we went to see the house again this evening.  It is really nice.  We tried to decide who would fit in what bedroom....argued a little over what room would be the official living room (Can you believe it is that big?  There are two living room possibilities on the main floor and a huge family room upstairs. )   Then we came home, ate supper and went to our "moonlighting" job.  We clean a store for a Mennonite friend once a week.  While cleaning my husband commented how much he loved the garage (3 car)....and then said, " but that payment really scares me".  He just doesn't say much....so I knew that meant a lot.  In the end we both admited we didn't have a peace....even though we like the house a lot!  So....at this point we are going to wait.  See how much we can put away over the spring, maybe summer.  And then we will know what we are dealing with financially.  Who knows, maybe God will save the house for us....or maybe He will find us a better one in the country!

We have 9 people in our family.  I don't like to complain....I know many people have smaller homes....but our house is starting to feel really cramped.  My 13 yr old shares a room with the 3 year old.  This does not go over well when the 13 year old has friends over and locks the 3 year old out.  There is no playroom, so the 3 year old hardly gets to get her toys out.  They are all in totes in the closet (our bedrooms are all small....10*10 or smaller...except ours.   We share our bedroom with our 8 month old.....that is going to get old soon too!  So....we are praying for a larger house....which means we are really praying for a larger budget! 

We have seen a house in the country only 5 miles or less from where we live now (in town).  It has over 3000 square foot on the main level, and a completely usable basement and 7 acres.   It is perfect for our family.....except they want over $200,000 for it!   Our present house only cost us $34,000....and we are tight financially now!   We also looked at a huge house in town last night that costs about half of the house in the country.  It is in better shape, but has hardly any yard at all.  Our kids liked it, but it is still too much for us.  God really has to work a miracle here.   No house for less $ will be any bigger than what we have.  Plus we really feel God wants us near our church so we don't want to move far away. 

We are praying for wisdom.  We need finances....but we also need to decide which we really want.....a home in the country with room to roam for the kids (especially the adventurous boys in the family), or a nicer big home in town....convenient to church, etc....but without the fun  (and expenses) of gardens and outdoor animals.  

I finally have something to blog about!   I have been wondering for a long time what part of my life would be of interest to others and I think I might have found it.  I recently posted on another site a question for help.  I have been having the "grocery bill" blues lately.  I have 6, soon to be 7 children.  We have $380  a month to use for all our groceries, cleaning, health products, diapers, and paper products.  Basically for anything that we buy at the grocery store or Walmart.  Even with the help of WIC, careful menu planning, and making almost everything from scratch, we still run out of grocery money before we run out of days each month.  I have been feeling like a failure....until I posted that help question, anyways.   Evidentally, a lot of others feel the same way, and spend a lot more than we do.   I got a  lot of people asking ME, how we do what we do!   Now that still didn't answer my dilemma, but it was a little encouraging.  Someone did reccomend a website that seems really good though.  You might want to check out hillbillyhousewife.com if you want to stretch your grocery dollars like I do.

So, here I am.   We have found that shopping at places like Save-a-lot or Aldi's often saves us more money than cutting coupons for brand names.   We live in a small town in WI.   We have to drive 45 minutes to get to Walmart, Aldis, and Sam's Club, 90 minutes to a Cub Foods.  We have a small yard and we travel with my husband's job April through July.  That is peak garden season.  I can't seem to travel and accomplish a decent garden.  So I can very little.   Just applesauce and maybe some salsa when I can get left over tomatoes from a friend's garden. 

So, what do we do?  We eat a lot of venison (not for the flavor, but for the cost!).  I have learned how to disguise it pretty good.  We eat a lot of chicken in stuff.....and I don't mean chicken breasts.  They are a huge treat for us.  My family clears a whole bag of the boneless ones in one meal....so I save that for something really special.  We eat homemade soup and bread at least once a week.....and I am thinking of increasing that to 2 or more times.   We never buy store bought pizza, or other packaged meals.  We don't eat beans (I would like to but 4 of my 6 children would have to be EXTREMELY hungry to eat them).

Again, I am open to hearing from other with better ideas.  At this point...until my book becomes a best seller , I need to stay in this budget.....and soon I will have another one in diapers (Oh, yeah....I can't seem to keep up with the cloth diaper thing either....not an option here!)  Otherwise, I am happy to share any of my "secrets" with others.  

God bless.  More next time.