Blogging through the bible, Faith, and Upcoming Events!

In this blog...
1.  Jeremiah
2.  Life happenings
3. Upcoming events

Jeremiah
I look at Jeremiah and see a hero.  But I put myself in his shoes and I feel defeat.  Jeremiah spoke directly to God.  He tried to tell the Hebrews they would be taken captive.  He warned against worshipping false idols and trusting in man.  One of my favorite images created in the bible is in this very book.  God tells them to be like a tree planted by water.  I have always worked out.  Running, weights, acrobatics, all types of physical exertion.  Thirst and I can be quite familiar with each other.  There is disarray in my workouts and I feel incomplete when I have thirst.  It must be quenched or there will be no result.  The tree God talks about is full and satisfied with water since it is planted nearby.  It will stay green and lush. Water is needed to sustain life.  I cannot sustain life without God's word and guidance in all things.  When I lose my faith and when my sites fall from him to earthly things, people and advice, I fall short in a multitude of ways.  He warned of all the things that would happen in the future and that they were not held captive by what those before them had done.  They were held accountable for what they did.  It is comforting to hear that.  It is a second chance.  A chance to break the cycle.  You are not responsible for others.  But you are responsible to stand firmly planted and drink up the liquid of life.  It gives me great hope in that these great prophets who were chosen by God reacted in such humility.  Moses believed he was not eloquent enough. Isaiah believed he was of unclean lips.  My favorite is Jonah who ran the other way.  Can't say I would react much different.  One would think that if God chose you, that the people would listen, especially as he spread news of their, quite literally, destruction!  Hmmm...is this a good indication that we should trust His plan even when it isn't going as we simple, sinful, mortals thought it should?


Life Happenings
It has been a great start to our New Year despite some minor setbacks with buying one car and selling another.  We pulled a Dave Ramsey and bought an older car in cash, sold Mike's for a profit and put a huge chunk to my car which will be paid off very soon!  Why do I put our financial stuff out there???  I am hoping to inspire people into changing something!  Changing something will get a different result.  We changed something, then another thing, then another, until, as we look back now, we have changed most of our lives!  I know things will still happen and they will not be planned and they may even be horrible.  I continue to pray that when they happen, I will be able to stand strong in the knowledge that I have done everything I could to make it through and come out the other side in one piece but able to manage if its a few more.  We have some big decisions to make this year that we have to make soon.  We are considering a mission tip to Alaska for about 10 days this summer.  This is without our kid and little to no communication with them.  We do, however, feel led in this direction.  The pros and cons are being weighed, but we both seem to be waiting for an ultimate answer...and we're waiting!  I will keep you posted.

Upcoming events
As multi-purpose mom, it has been my goal to continue striving toward a well rounded/balanced life.  This has gone spectacular in some instances and completely failed in others.  One area I truly wanted to strive in was my writing.  My children's Christmas books have gone out to a few agencies and been rejected for simple reasons.  Biggest problem being they are Christmas books.  I had them published but that publisher will not be working with these kind of books anymore.  I also wrote and completed  novel.  I have since begun tearing down and rebuilding it.  The idea came upon me with the help of a dear and awesome best friend, to begin a short story blog.  I thought it odd at first as I barely have the chance to work on my book these days, but soon, the idea struck me to write short stories ABOUT my book.  A sort of prelude to the book about the characters, their lives, their backgrounds that would be a foundation.  It is title Destiny Walkers.  Come check it out.  Feel free as I put up stories to give feedback by commenting.  I will be posting first, a background to my novel.  I would also like to see others' short stories  Coment with a link to the story. All in all, I have the creative juices flowing...may be dangerous, so look out!


Moments...
-All 4 of us snuggled up in bed in the morning..we need a bigger bed!
-Mackenzie, "Daddy, I hold you!"  And Daddy more than happy to oblige!  Can we say pinkie?
-Madison walking around outside with me preparing our yard for what proved to be an ugly storm.  So old now...such a young lady!
-Madi holding Mackenzie on her lap for a movie.
-Movie night with "corn!"  As Mackenzie refers to popcorn!!

Change can be annoying but when you put a little change together, you get a bigger coin and sometimes you get a dollar!  It is so worth putting bits of change together.

Some Coupon Sites and Tips for the NEW YEAR of Saving!!!!

I found a new coupon printing site.  I really like it and wanted to share it.  I have stopped my Sunday paper...*GASP*...ever since I began shopping at Aldi because I found I got 95% of the things I need there at 1/3 the cost.  saves me an hour or more a week of couponing and polanning my trip.  BUT...I still love CVS-ing and the occassional trip to Publix for things I may not find at Aldi.  So I needed to find a place to print what I need online.  I still can use Whole Coupon Inserts and I cound another one I recently found called My Coupon Hunter.  The last one seems to be better for single coupons.  If you want it fast you are likely to find a printable here.  Sign up for free and look around!!

Just wanted to throw that out there as you begin your new year saving money!!  HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!