Just a Few More Days

Before the $5 Dinner giveaway will be All Gone

Erin Chase the $5 Dinner Mom has been giving away 10 copies a day of her new Frugal cookbook for nearly 2 weeks now, but the offer is almost up.

Her recipes are simple and a lot on her website cater to allergy friendly folks. I found her website while looking up Chiari, of all things, her boys have it. I am not a fan of cooking and Love the simplicity of her meals, the price breakdowns are great, and I can often get the meals for less than her typical $5 price point just by keeping my pantry stocked with sales.

 

http://www.5dollardinners.com/

Check her out and good Luck.

A happy Lauren

Holidays are very different around our house compared to most homes this time of year.

We do not put up a tree, but try to have some of our own traditions.
Christmas is a very challenging time for my husband and the longer we are married the more I understand of why he is so adamantly opposed to it…We do not do a lot of it for good sound reasons and some of it we are starting to do in bits and pieces but more towards well. I really struggle with explaining it…

Our biggest dilemma happens to be that we celebrate the birth and death of Christ year round, and we give year round, both to Charities and to each other…so we struggle with the more pagan traditions that surround the holidays, BUT…that being said, I grew up celebrating, and I still like the surprises, and certain family members (including some that didn't start giving until they found out that others were around—exchange gifts every year)

So tonight we gave Lauren One gift…Oh my goodness, you would think that child NEVER gets anything EVER, LOL.

She was SO thrilled, she had No idea it was coming, Not a single solitary clue, it was TOO funny, she was just beyond herself…a simple Kitty in my Pocket, And she was quiet for HOURS…If Only it worked that well ALL year.

 

An Angel at Church

S0mehow I guess I wasn't meant to know until now… a couple weeks ago maybe three? I slipped it in my Bible to open at home so I wasn't distracted during service. Well I got home took care of business and I fed Chris We had been having lots of struggles in our marriage, finances, and well just altogether, God had been providing so I didn't think much of it, He always provides and he NEVER fails to come through.

 

Well, somehow, I had gotten a card from my secret sister in there too and I thought I had opened the other card, I didn't realize that it wasn't the same card, I was getting the paper out to fill out for the 2010 Secret Sisters, and saw the card, I figured it had just resealed itself (that happens in my stuff a lot) I open it up, An Emerald Green Thinking of You Card with no signature at all, I open it up, and out falls a $50 bill) Hmmm, Must be heaven sent, God knew we were going to be really tight this week, While we don't celebrate Christmas with all the trimmings like normal people, we do celebrate New Years and do like to give Lauren a gift or two, this year, she is getting a homemade Tutu and a single toy (and hopefully a Cookbook for kids, since she is learning to cook with REAL foods)

 

I do not know who gave the card, but I am grateful, I can't say thank you, but chances are, if they wanted me to know, they would have put their name on it.

I have done that before too…when I had money…Its always nice to bless someone secretly, I hope the gifter is as blessed as I feel right now…I feel kind of silly about it sitting in my bible for almost a full month, but it was a pay week it got here, and I almost wonder if I wouldn't have had the full appreciation then since we had the two checks deposited then…today we are approaching the end of the month where finances are the tightest and the need is the greatest (I get my disability

on the 3^rd) so the last two weeks are always the toughest since all of our bills come out the 15-25^th

I am so glad God provides how he does, even when it's sitting there waiting for us.

 

This week has provided a lot on my mind, a professor of mine from my first time in college passed away this week of Pancreatic Cancer, Penny Mauldin was a very sweet lady who I had for Chemistry back in 1996 at Lee University. Both her and her husband were professors at the school, friends of mine had Dr. Walt Mauldin for Music classes, if I read correctly he is now in a very High role possibly Vice President, I read it at about 2-3 this morning, that is a great loss for the school and the entire community of Cleveland has suffered a great loss losing her, but this gift I received reminded me of a much smaller gift, but just as perfectly timed and Just as secretive.

It was 1995, I was a college student FAR far from home, 12 hours away to be exact, I was 19 years old, I had NO clean clothes, Laundry soap, but no quarters or money to change into quarters for the machines downstairs. I was so stressed. I lived on the third floor of the dorms and would not be going home for another month and really could not afford to hand wash for another month (I walked down for the millionth time, no that's not an exaggeration, to check the mail, I was lonely and I really just wanted to go home…and in my mail box was a letter from my pastors wife…I had grown up in this church, she had known me since the early 80's The note just read that someone wanted to make sure I had enough to meet my needs, it was the first of many gifts I received throughout my stay away from home, I received a laundry allowance when I wrote my thank you back explaining how it was such an answer to prayer, it seems funny now, but I had NEVER heard of George Mueller back then, and now, I read about him and have studied him and his faith and our family has kind of adopted the do not ask, but pray mentality…If God believes we should have it HE will provide…and he Always has.

Move Mountains for Millions

This morning I received this email from the Intracranial Hypertension Research Foundation, I was elated that they won one of the small grants, but more excited that they now have a chance to win one of the larger ones I will Repost my Face Book Plea on January 15th to remind people…but above all, this is one of two conditions making my life a challenge EVERY day. I affect Chris and Lauren because while they do not suffer, they see me suffering. They know my limitations…now I was blessed with the complications, and am one of the people whom weight change doesn't seem to make a difference (not stopping me from trying though but I do it for ME, not for a disease)

We did it! Thanks to your heartfelt words and votes, IHRF was selected as one of the 100 top charities that will each receive a $25,000 grant from Chase and now has a chance to receive a Million Dollar Grant, following Facebook users' voting in Round One of Chase Community Giving. In Round One, more than 1 million Facebook fans signed up for Chase Community Giving program to support over 500,000 organizations. Eligible charities included 501(c)(3) charities with an operating budget of $10 million or less, serving the general public in designated areas. Round One ended at midnight on Dec. 12 and culminated with a surge of voting in the last week Voting for the Million Dollar Grant in Round Two begins January 15, 2010 and will last until 11:59:59 p.m. ET on January 22, 2010. One organization will receive $1 million. Five additional organizations will receive $100,000 each. And the Advisory Board will select additional nominated charities from either round to share in another $1million! We are so excited and hope you are, too. Thank you for your support and please help us continue to spread the word about IH and IHRF. Together, we can move mountains

When Life Becomes Truly Complicated

Today was not as bad as the rest of the week has been…my head has been worse than ever this week, no way around that... and I don't expect a change throughout the winter. I am more concerned for a few friends going through this than about myself with the PTC because this has been my life for so long, I know I will survive, but one, her daughter was recently diagnosed, and while she is in remission, no mom wants to see their child suffer the same thing they have, and the other is really just struggling to keep it together while her family suffers from her health... both of these families truly understand what I go through on a daily basis, while I have never met either of them personally, both are Christians and know that without faith this journey would be truly impossible.

 

Church today was really amazing, in the past I would completely skip the month of December because of the complications the Holidays cause in our family... I am starting to wonder if as Lauren grows that might not be a good idea anyhow.

While service was truly amazing, the message touched neither right where I needed it most, nothing holiday related, I got out to discover stuff that I really do not want nor need to deal with. Lauren and her closest friend are not in agreement about Christmas, because obviously we are not in the majority that does not put up a tree, I do not know if there are others who don't, but we have NEVER put up a tree in her lifetime, or in our marriage.

In our studies this year we were learning where the tree came from, and we studied the Ten Commandments, and well, The two intertwined and it really boiled down and equated to idol worship, needless to say, she is a logical child, and when asked why we do not have a tree, she answered that we do not put up idols in our house. OUCH..., I did not think about it deeply, because we were here last year and no one asked HER why we don't do it... so I didn't think she would be asked this year either. I figured they all knew, most of the parents were aware of the facts that we didn't celebrate, so I basically didn't push it… Lauren does not bring up the topic, she used to ask for a tree and was taught about it because the in-laws keep pushing that our beliefs are wrong... while Boniface claimed the tree as a symbol of Christ, we don't believe that Christ needs a symbol, it replaced a Tree with another tree, and basically, any symbol for Christ is a replacement for him and a stand in instead of worshipping him. I grew up in a church which had a really hard time with people following a man instead of God, many people left the church when the pastor did things that they did not like, because they were following him and he had become their idol. My in-laws spend more time decorating for the holidays and it brings them nothing, there is no joy in their home... If Christ is the reason for the Season, then why, WHY, are people penniless because they overspent?

Why are children busy thinking about what they want? Isn't it supposed to be a season of giving, not of getting?

I am sorry, I may sound very judgmental, but so often, when I see December roll around, I actually regret it, because it brings a lot of sadness to my heart. I Love November, Thanksgiving is my All Time Favorite Holiday, Followed by Independence Day (Which Happens to Be Chris's Birthday) and Memorial Day (our Anniversary many years) and Then Labor Day because it's the start of fall in my mind... religious holidays followed by the church don't serve much meaning because they should be respected and remembered year round.

 

We teach Lauren about Jesus Birth and Death Together. They are a summary of events that all work together and while they happened 30 years apart the lesson of salvation and who he is comes together best when you connect his birth with his death.