Simple

With a few flowers in my yard, half a dozen children, an amazing husband, a Sovereign Lord, and a good book, I live without envy.

Fabulous Finds

The kids and I were so excited to see a Friday yard sale advertised on our way home from grocery shopping. Usually the yard sales are on Saturday, so this was quite an early treat. We were blessed to find a clean and well organized sale. I was able to get quite a few pj outfits for the girls and a few V-tech educational toys. I do not buy toys often, but it is hard for me to pass up well made educational toys that promote passive learning. I bought all that you see for $14.00. Dante and I were adding up retail cost at lunch and figured it all to be about $175.00 worth of merchandise. It shocked me to find that they are charging no less than $14.99 for a pair of little girl's pajamas, so I was pleased to get these pairs for $1 a set. Living on a budget *can* be fun.

Precious People

It's not about breakfast in bed, although the omelet was AMAZING or the fresh flowers picked from the neighbor's yard :O), the ever so fluffy bathrobe, or the unique handmade cards, but it is about these precious people. These people that look like me and the man of my dreams. These precious people whose smiles can turn my day from gloom to sunshine are the reason my heart is happy today. I am truly unworthy to be so blessed with these heavenly gifts. I am humbled this Mother's Day to be in such a position, a position where I have the honor to spend each day with 5 of the most precious people I have ever met.
How I would like to honor my precious people..

Show the gift of love to my children through my actions. Disciple them, shepherd them and teach them the Word of God so they will teach about Him to the next generation. Do not treat them as a burden that gets in my way because they are our true gifts from God that truly make our lives rich. In a spirit of kindness, meekness, patience and joy, spend time with them for this is really what they want--not that toy I fretted over purchasing that will sit in the corner untouched for much of the year. Imprint on their hearts righteousness as I will be helping to save their souls from wicked ways. Teach them not to be drunk on entertainment and pleasure as the world is, but teach them to serve the Lord with their lives---be committed to giving my whole life to lovingly raise them. All these will be gifts that will last a lifetime and be passed onto my grandchildren and great grandchildren whom I might never see.

~June Fuentes, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

One of 6 reasons I LOVE being a mama

Bye Bye bathroom window

There has been this particular odor coming from the bathroom. I know. I know. Whose bathroom doesn't have particular smells? This was a moldy, dry rotty smell that was driving my heighten senses CRAZY. After sweetly asking my hubby to replace the window 1,000 times, he finally caved (the day before Mother's Day, mind you) and replaced his first ever window. He did a beautiful job and it is so refreshing to get that nasty 50 year old rotten window out of the house. We are hoping to work at replacing all of the windows during the next few months. Can you believe Lowe's charges an installation fee of $230 A WINDOW?? That is double the cost of the window. I guess sometimes when living within a budget, we are called to be brave in the area of home improving. We definitely have a lot to learn, but I look forward to the adventure...seriously.

Rainy Days

We have had more rain during the past month than I can remember ever having in the 6 years we have lived in VA. It is always challenging to make it through a day with 5 kiddos that are unable to burn energy outside. We ran across a nice card table that our neighbors were throwing away, so we decided to have fun with that this week and set up a tent in the living room. Nothing like free rainy day entertainment.