More Unexpected Treasures

Lately, God has been blessing us with many unexpected blessings. It might not seem like much to someone else, but I'm taking these gifts as signs from Him that He's calling me to open up my home and heart to do more hospitality ministry. Even though we live in a modest, cottage-style home, I believe that God wants me to open up my little home to others. Specifically, I was feeling a desire to be one of the hostesses of our little Japanese fellowship group that meets once a month. Earlier this year, I wondered if it could work. After all, we didn't even know whether or not Jay would get another job and if we'd need to move again. The only seating we had in our living room was one loveseat. So, not even our own family could all sit on a piece of furniture at once. I only had one small rice cooker, which recently died. Those seemed like obstacles to me, but I prayed that God would expand our territory so that we could share His love and blessings with others. Well, now I see many answers to that prayer. Jay got a job, which he actually likes better and I got a part-time job, too. We got a couch for $25! And now, I went to a garage sale last weekend and was shocked to find a BRAND-NEW Japanese rice cooker that I got for only $6! That night, when I went to our monthly Japanese fellowship meeting, the hostess had the SAME rice cooker, which she said she paid $200 for! I also bought a brand new coffee maker at the same garage sale for just $20, which normally sells for $60. Throw in a pair of Elmo slippers for Penny and a couple of bible games and I paid a whooping grand total of just $40! So, now I'm planning on hosting the gathering in November. I'm praying that God will bring new Japanese people to our little group and that they will come to know more about God's love. I'll be so happy to share some rice and a cup of coffee or tea with a heap of God's love!

Feeling overwhelmed by the Flood of Blessings

I'm having a bit of survivor's guilt, lately. After all, there are thousands of people not far from me who've just been misplaced from their homes by the flooding in Colorado. Some of them will never be able to return to life as they once knew it, because everything was literally washed away. Others are left to clean up all of the mess that has damaged their homes. And all I had was a few drips in my sunporch, that I could catch with buckets. For some reason, we were spared of all of the destruction. In fact, while most areas around us had 13-18 inches of rain and utter devastation, we had more like 5 inches and a few homes in the area with some water in the basement. Everyone in our own family, all over Colorado, was spared of the worst. So, I'm very thankful, but almost feel guilty that we fared so much better than so many other folks close-by. And the one day that the sun came out last week, was the day that I had been planning to borrow the church's pickup truck to go pick up a "new-to-us" couch. Ever since we moved in, (a year ago from yesterday), I had been wishing and dreaming of having a couch that all three of us could sit on at once in our living room. And about two weeks ago, when I got an e-mail from a fellow homeschooling family that they were moving and would like to pass on their couch to someone for $25, I jumped at the chance. Doesn't it look nice? So, while others were reeling from so much loss, here I had gained a special gift at a very small price. I'll just be thankful. For I know that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. The name of the Lord is blessed. I pray that those who are experiencing loss at this time will not curse the Lord. I pray that they will cry out to the Lord and bless His Holy name to bring glory to Him. And may we all praise Him in our ups and our downs, no matter what. It's hard to believe that we just moved to Arvada a year ago from yesterday. Finally, our home is starting to feel more like our home. The sun porch no longer is filled with boxes. It has become the favorite spot in the house for our kitty, Jenny. Penny even spent her hard-earned money from watering the neighbor's garden this summer, to buy Jenny her very own cat tower/tree. And since we bought the used leather couch for our living room, we moved our love seat to the sunporch, where Jenny loves to curl up and soak in the sun's rays. Notice the bowl in the corner, to catch the water from our recent deluge. With my other hand-me-downs and special bargain finds at thrift stores, our sunporch is becoming a cozy place where hopefully we'll be able to have more friends come and hang out at. I made sure to have lots of games out here next to the love seat with my coffee table I bought for $3.50. I envision this being a place where cousins or friends can hang out and play games. I've already caught Penny out here relaxing and using the laptop to do her homework in a cheery, sunny spot. And, thankfully, it's no longer 100 degrees. It's hard to believe that we went from record-breaking highs, causing schools to close from the heat, to record-setting floods, causing schools to close. But, here in our little home, the Lord has blessed us with peace. We are so thankful for these blessings. Penny was also blessed that a friend in Japan sent her a special care package. It included a cute Japanese character, named "Sirotan" and some potato chips with seaweed. This really brought a smile to Penny's face. Lately, she's been smiling a whole lot more, lately. I think we're all beginning to finally adjust to our new lives and home here in Arvada. It was not easy for us to leave Fort Collins. We really didn't know what God was up to by leading us here. And then we really wondered when Jay's teaching contract was not being renewed. But, now here he is at a school that he likes better, only a fifteen minute drive from our house. And I'm loving my part-job, which is also a ministry at our church. And it works so perfectly along with homeschooling Penny. In fact, when I work on Fridays, I'm at the same place where she has her homeschool enrichment classes. How convenient is that?! We never could have imagined or planned all of this, ourselves. We know it is totally God's leading. Speaking of Penny's homeschooling enrichment classes, she's been back at it for three weeks now. This next week is when we are officially entering the what I consider her junior year. She told me yesterday, "I really like homeschooling, mom." I think she loves the fact that it is so flexible. In fact, whenever she gets sick, no problem! The teacher just changes things in her planner and we work around it. And what fun is it to have a backpack to haul your cat around, rather than heavy books?! Yes, we are very blessed, indeed! So thankful for God's many blessings! Just praying that we'll share those blessings with others!

Fun on Labor Day

We had a great time today. First we went to Tiny Town, which has been around for about 100 years. They have cool miniature buildings and trains up in the mountains. We spent more time than we expected to, there. Even though there were younger kids there, I think Penny enjoyed it. Here are a few photos. Next, we went to Heritage Square, where Jay and I had one of our first dates together. I had also visited it years ago when I was a senior in high school, and had come out to visit Colorado Christian University with my mom and my aunt. They've added a lot since I was last there. There is a fun Victorian village, along with an amusement park. Since Jay knows that I don't like rides, he graciously offered to go on rides that would send my stomach over the edge. Yes, this is one of my biggest phobias, ever since childhood. It's fun to watch Penny and Jay smile about spinning and climbing fast. I opted to do the paddle boat swan with Penny, which was fun, too. And I think the highlight for Penny was finding a toy snake that our cat, Jenny, loves! She enjoyed the ice cream cone, too!

Frugal Finds and next DIY Project

When you're a homeschooling mama, you're always trying to find frugal bargains. Of course, that was my style even before I began homeschooling. I must say that I believe there must some kind of serendipitous act going on when I go into second-hand shops. The reason is that I can just be dreaming and/or praying about what it is that I'm hoping to find at that time, and almost every time I find something that is just perfect for my needs. For example, I read a book that I had discovered on OwlHaven's website. It's called, "Family Feasts for $75 a Week". Now, while I don't have 10 children, like her. The things I have in common is an adopted child, a tight budget, and being a homeschool mama. So, any book that can teach me a few more ways to be frugal is a welcome sight for me. In fact, I'm so frugal, that I usually don't buy the books I see online. I usually just get them from the library, which I did in this case. One of the new things I learned is that your potatoes can go bad faster, if you keep them in the plastic bag they came in. It has something to do with a chemical reaction. So, they'll last longer if you keep them in a basket that allows air inside. So, I headed out to Goodwill, in search of a basket that could hold potatoes and fit on the floor of what I call my "baking pantry". It used to be a broom closet, that the previous owners added shelves to. That was perfect when we moved in, because the regular pantry was smaller than the last one we had. Well, once at the Goodwill, imagine my delight when I found this tall, skinny basket, with handles and a lid. It fits perfectly next to my 20 lb. bag of rice. You may notice that the inside of the pantry is a lovely 70's orange color. I'll just call it retro for now, until I have time to empty my baking pantry to re-paint it. Speaking of DIY projects, the next one I'm tackling is sprucing up our laundry/utility room. It's like a dark, dirty cave, complete with spiders and their webs. I'm not afraid, because I grew up on a farm and had to push my way through webs in the barn, that would make Indiana Jones proud of me. But, I'm finally getting really fed up with the barn-like atmosphere in my laundry room. Doesn't exactly make one eager to do loads of laundry, if you know what I mean. Well, I still have a LONG ways to go, but at least I've started! The first thing I've done, is clear the cobwebs from the corner and primed the wall. Jay bought a wire shelf to put up in that corner, once I've finished painting it. I've decided to be frugal and use my leftover paint from my upstairs project of painting an accent wall in my dining room/hallway. So, the color will be a celery sprig green. But, so far, all I have pictures of is the start with priming the back wall. There will be more to come. But, it may take a while. Hey, folks, I'm not in any big hurry, since I now went back to work part-time and we have the homeschooling back into full motion. Here's my start... Now, back to more frugal finds. The first picture shows a couple of frugal finds, along with a freebie. The free hand-me-down came from my great aunt Sarah, who passed away this year. She was a special aunt, because she was one of my missionary aunts. Whenever she'd come home from Africa, she'd usually stay with us for a while and give me books about missionaries. She's part of the reason whey I knew I wanted to go to Japan as a missionary since I was ten years old. So, the thing I received from Aunt Sarah, was her sewing machine. I'm a little intimidated, since I haven't sewn since my home-ec days (that dates me, since they don't even call it that, anymore). But, my goal is that by sometime next year I'll begin to try some simple things like panel curtains, using the machine. When I first got the sewing machine, I didn't have anything to set it on, besides the dining room table. So, it just sat on the floor, in it's case. So, I'd been hoping to find a little table to set it on. Well, it just so happened that a couple of weeks ago, I went nextdoor to the neighbor's garage sale and found this little table and chair. It's not ideal for sewing, because of the bottom piece that sticks out. But, since I sew so little, I think I can make it work. It fit perfectly in this corner of our sun porch. And the best news was that the chair and the table cost a total of $15! For that price, I'll make it work. But, now my very best find. I've been hoping to eventually get some furniture to place out in our sun porch to make it a fun place for people to hang out in. Well, although I still don't have any wicker furniture that I'm dreaming of, I did find this awesome coffee table at the Goodwill. And, can you believe the price? They were having their "Half-Off" sale. The original price was $14.99. So, that's right, I got this neat coffee table for around $7.50! Now, I'm already envisioning how I'm going to paint it, either a light sage green, white, or avocado green. I'll probably wait until I get furniture to go with it before I decide. The cat has fun lying underneath it while we drag one her toys across the glass! Let me know if you've had any other great frugal finds or fun DIY projects in the works!