Frugal Friday Tip.

For this week's Frugal Friday tip, I thought about one thing that really stretched some pennies (and dollars!) for me last year. Now it might sound like a contradiction at first when I tell you that you pay $25.00 up front, but it really is worth it!

I've been buying the Entertainment Book for the past two years, but it is completely worth the money. First of all, I buy the book through MyPoints.com, so that gives me 750 points right away for buying the book through them (and remember, those points add up to free gift cards!). Then, because I bought the book when I did, I got a $25.00 gift certificate - for free! So it was a good bargain:o). Plus the book is chock full of coupons, discounts, and savings. Let me give you an example:

In mid-December, I took the senior girls from my school to a nearby Christmas event. On the way home, we wanted to stop for dinner so I pulled out the Entertainment Book and got out two coupons for Subway: Buy One 6-inch sub, Get One 6-inch sub free. Since I had two coupons like that (and four girls with me!) it worked out perfectly for the girls to get a cheaper (!) dinner.

Another way this book is a bargain is for my parents. They rent a car a few times a year when they go on extended trips. This book has all sorts of Car Rental discounts in place, so that they usually save at least $20.00 when they're renting a car. More savings!

The one thing you have to check out is where in your area the coupon might be valid. I have had only one problem with a place not accepting a coupon, but other than that, it's been great!

For more frugal hints and tips, go to Biblical Womanhood:o).

Theodore Roosevelt's Take.

The year is 1907, one hundred years ago......

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907:

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Bountiful Blessings #6

This morning in services, my Pastor preached an excellent message with the main theme talking about how the children of Israel celebrated in the wilderness. Now at first glance, that might sound odd. Celebrating??? In the wilderness??? But that's exactly what they did and they were thankful.

I'm been wanting to do a "bountiful blessings" post for a while, but after hearing this morning's message, I knew today was the day! To get a recap of what Bountiful Blessings is, go here for the explanation. Now this only works if you participate... so let's bring out the blessings and celebrate all that the Lord has done for us. As usual, I'll start:o).

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Several weeks ago, the Lord laid upon my heart to help one of the teens with getting to winter camp next week. For days I wrestled as to which one I would help, but the Lord kept bringing to mind one person in particular. Finally this past week I was talking with the teen, and casually asked about camp. "I want to, but I don't have all the money." After asking how much was needed, the teen replied, $_ _.00. So I told the teen I would cover it and left it at that.

A few days later, someone handed me a check unexpectedly. Not only did it cover the amount needed for camp for the teen, it was triple the amount! Now you tell me God doesn't delight in blessing His children and I'll reply you don't know my God!!!! He is so good! That very night I got the check I read these verses:

Psalm 77:8-9a ~ "Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious?"

God's mercy isn't clean gone, His promises haven't failed, and He hasn't forgotten to be gracious! How thankful I am that He hasn't!

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Ok, so now it's your turn! Leave a comment below sharing what the Lord has been doing lately. It can range from getting an extra hour of sleep to a spiritual insight from the Bible. I can't wait to read what God's been up to in your lives!

Some Ways I've Saved.

Crystal hosts Frugal Fridays and today it seems that most of the ladies are posting on 5 ways they saved $100.00 last year. I haven't participated in a while, but figured I would give it a go again:o). Here are some routine ways I try to be frugal and resourceful:

#1 ~ I can tell you exactly how many pieces of clothing I bought brand-new this past year: 6 items. 3 shirts (in Thailand!) and 3 skirts. One of my skirts actually ripped while I was gone (go here if you need a reminder as to what happened!) but the other two have been serving me just fine. So I don't buy brand-new, and the ripped skirt is a big reason why!

#2 ~ I do, however, browse through second-hand shops and walk away with bargains from the Lord! For instance, when I was in Indiana a couple of weeks ago, my brother and sister-in-law planned to take me into Chicago for a day of sight-seeing. I was inclined to go until my sis-in-law mentioned that ALL the Goodwills were having a 50% off sale on everything! So guess which trip was replaced by Goodwill hunting?!?:o). It was well worth it to bring home with me several name-brand long-sleeved shirts (just what the Lord knew I needed) for $2.00 a piece!

#3 ~ I joined MyPoints in October of 2006 and have earned $75.00 in free gift cards! One gift card I received was to Bath & Body Works, so I waited until their 75% off sale after Christmas before I bought some things I didn't need at the moment, but knew would be used down the road. Plus everything I picked out was covered by the gift card, so I walked away from B&BW with stuff for free... and everyone likes free:o).

#4 ~ It pays to witness! No seriously, remember the guy who paid for my toll on the Turnpike? That's not why I give out my testimony tract, but it is one of the side benefits:o).

#5 ~ As mentioned by several of the ladies, I too pack my lunch for work. I think I'm "treating" myself occasionally when I go out and buy lunch, but that little bit always adds up. So I would rather spend $7.00 on picking up stuff for lunch and be satisfied all week long!

To read some more tips, go to Biblical Womanhood:o).

Another Debut.

I've been blogging for under two years, but I've read blogs for many years before that and have been greatly encouraged and challenged by so many ladies across this country and even around the world! So I would like to begin introducing you to the blogs that I "faithfully" read (as in, sometime during a week's cycle!).

The very first blog I ever started reading was YLCF ~ a place where young ladies gathered to learn and grow together. In many regards I felt a "kindred spirit" with the main authors because we were around the same age and had similar interests. Both of the girls are now married, but I still check back to read the updates.

As with any blog (and I'll mention this at the start) you just have to take the good in and spit the bad out. I don't agree 100% with everything I read, but the Lord has used these girls and their writings to encourage me over the years. So click on over if you have time.... you just might become a faithful reader:o).

Rushed and Crazy.

It all started innocently enough late Thursday night with a phone call from my brother:

Phil: "Hey girl."

Me: "Hey! How are you?"

Phil: "Pretty good. I was just calling to see if we're still on for tomorrow."

Me: (frantically wracking my brain as to what tomorrow is while sprouting out gibberish) "Oh... um... yeah... uh... sure... um... that's not an issue... um, what's tomorrow?"

Phil: "Ann said you offered to watch Ethan in the morning... (slowly trailing off)"

Me: "OH! Yeah! I remember now!" (Making mental note to self not to make commitments to baby-sit without writing it on the calendar. That mental note was promptly followed by another mental note to first GET a 2008 calendar!)

So Friday morning I woke up and headed over to my brother's house, expecting to do a 2-hour babysitting stint. But after I got to his house at 10 AM, Ann said:

"Ok. I'm going to lunch in Reading (one hour away) and I should be back around 4. Call me if you need anything."

Something got lost in translation from my brother to me to Ann. What was supposed to be a couple hours of babysitting turned into an all-day thing, but I was glad for Ann's sake that she had an opportunity to get out and have some adult conversation because she needed it:o).

Since I missed that day of work, I just planned to go in on Saturday, but I didn't plan on getting home from a party after midnight (but it was fun...:D) so the next morning was a late start for me. I finally made it into the office after lunchtime and got ready to do some work. But the printers decided otherwise. They just refused to work for me! Finally I turned to the ye olde typewriter and typed out 30 labels to mail out the Bible Studies. Except I didn't have a lot of stamps left, so I couldn't finish that project. I then went to do a couple of hours' worth of collating and then finally went home -

- where another job awaited me! The bathroom needed a good cleaning so I began to spritz and spray and sweep. My dad had mentioned to me earlier that day that the dust just seemed to come from no where, so I was paying special attention to any dust bunnies floating around and soon found some tenaciously clinging to the back of the toilet. I grabbed a brush and started to gently (!) brush the dust away when the toilet began to spew water from the tank onto the floor. I stared at it for 20 seconds before realizing all my "oh no. Oh no!"-ing was NOT going to make it stop. So after calling my brother and hearing terms like "lubricate" and "blah, blah, blah":o), it finally stopped gushing out. I had to laugh at the irony of it all, and after put a "Don't use" sign on the toilet, I went to bed.

Sunday morning my mom came into my room and said, "Do you want to get ready for church?" It's been years since I've needed a wake-up call, so I was surprised I slept through my alarm but then figured it must've been because I changed the alarm tone on my cell phone. So after casually "waking up", I glanced at my clock and saw that the time was 9:31 AM. I couldn't believe I slept through Sunday School! AND that my mom asked me so casually about going to church:o).

So with that as my rushed, hurried, crazy weekend, I walked into church and just felt as if one thing after another had happened in the preceding days that were very frustrating. But the first song of the morning was "Are You Washed In The Blood?"

Have you been to Jesus For the clensing pow're?

Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you fully trusting In His grace this hour?

Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Chorus: Are you washed in the blood,

In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?

Are your garments spotless, Are they white as snow?

Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

After singing that song I thought, it doesn't matter how crazy life gets. I'm still washed in the blood of the Lamb and that's the important thing. I can get all bummed out because of life's little problems or I can just rejoice that I'm saved and on my way to Heaven, which is what I intend to do.:o)

But I think next time I'll get me a calendar before the new year starts:o).

Not Called, Or Not Listening?

Jendi has a post entitled, "Waiting to be called". I was challenged by it, so perhaps someone else will be too. Here's the link.

''Not called!' did you say? Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world."

- William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army -

A Thought Or Two.

"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honour, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"

- David Livingstone -

"I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light."

- John Keith Falconer -

Would...

... anonymous step forward please???? YOU are the winner of my little snowflake candle holder contest!!! I'm fairly confident you are a student of mine since you called me, "Miss Hammond":o), so let me know who you are so I can pass them along to you!

Thank you to everyone else who participated... if anonymous doesn't respond within a couple of days (hint, hint!) then I will pick someone else to find a home for the holders. Enjoy!

Home Again, Home Again.

Judging by my site meter, I think I better post something:o). I flew home on New Year's Day, just in time to visit with my parents and unload my two huge suitcases before tumbling into bed. Each night in Indiana we didn't go to bed until 12:30 or 1:00, so I was just continuing the pattern by not going to bed until closer to 1 AM... unfortunately the alarm buzzing at 6:30 AM reminded me that this could NOT become a habit:o).

I do have to share three blessings from the beginning of the trip...

• I was getting off the Turnpike in Phila. and handed to the toll booth collector my money and my testimony tract. He surprised me when he said he already read it (a sign I go up and down the Turnpike waayyyy too often!) and said it was a blessing to him since he's a Christian too! Then he offered to pay my toll for me... what an unexpected surprise!
• My sister sent out a lot of gifts with me for my brother and his family, and so I wasn't too surprised when the guy at the airport told me my bag was overweight. I wasn't, however, prepared to pay $25.00 and I didn't have room to shuffle anything around when the guy suddenly said, "You know, it's Christmas. We'll just let it go." Thank you Father!
• On my flight from Detroit to Chicago, there were only about 20 people on board. I was in the way back of the plane (close to those loud thingamajings:o)) on the flight from Phila. to Detroit, so I figured I would just move up a few rows once the plane was in the air. As we were preparing to leave, the flight attendant came back and said to myself and two others, "You're going to have to move to first class." Well, since I had to, I moved up to the nice comfy chairs:o). Isn't God good?!?!

I love the way Trevor is watching Tyler play his cup-stacking game...

He's a kangaroo... can't ya tell?!?:o)

We stopped at Taste of Thailand (a restaurant) on Saturday and I was soon transported back to the streets of Bangkok... yum, yum!

I've never met anyone (outside of my church) who reads my blog, so I was a little surprised when Rebecca came up to me to say she reads my blog... so being the blogger that I am, I knew I had to take a picture and post it:o).

My sister-in-law Kim and my niece Tiana...

Jack and Kim... a very dearly loved family!