All Aboard!!

WHEW! We made it! I decided it was time to go "home" to Illinois for a few days. Jake and Anna and I packed up and we headed to Wyanet on the Amtrak! It is a pretty good way to travel, especially now with the prices of gas. The main downfall, though is that it takes off and arrives in Hutchinson in the middle of the night. We had to pack up all the kiddos and get to the train station by 2:20 AM. Only the report I received was that the train was running late, and from our past experiences with the train, we know that it usually continues to lose time. So we took our time and got to the train station a bit before the time they told us it would be there, and the train was already there! The railroad barricades were down and sure enough the train was about to depart! I hopped out of the van and ran around the barricades, around the train and sprinted (in my flip flops and pajama pants) up to the conductor. He had just finished loading everyone and had pulled up the step ladder and was closing the door. I came barreling up to him and with all the breath I could muster, said "I'm (gasp) coming! Can (gasp) you wait (gasp) just a second??" To which he very gruffly replied, "A second is ALL you have!!" I whirled around to where Chuck had just illegally crossed the RR tracks and began to unload our two sleepy and surprised babies! We grabbed all we could and Chuck shoved us on the train, said a very quick farewell and we were on our way. Even though we had a rough (and I'm sure to anyone who happened to catch a glimpse that morning at 2:40, humorous) beginning to our trip, the rest went really well. The kids did a pretty good job on the train and there were no major hold-ups. It was so good to be with my family! I hadn't been "home" since the beginning of June, so it was great to be there. We got to spend a lot of time with My brother and his family. Cade and Jake are getting to be good friends! They had so much fun playing together. They both really enjoy digging on Grandma Bev and Pop's hill with the 'diggers.' We also had some time to visit with Grandma. She hasn't been feeling well at all, so I feel blessed to be able to share some of her precious time. She even ventured out with us one day to a local apple orchard. She enjoyed getting out and looking at the pretty mums and sampling some of the apple treats! It was a beautiful day. The time always flies by too quickly, but the time we had was great! The way home on the train went really well. THANKS for all of your prayers! When we got on the train, we sat in an observation car with big picture windows. Jake was so excited to be on a train! There were some aspiring musicians from Spain and Russia who were glad to serenade us. That really helped the time go by quickly. Jake made a friend named Vera on the train and they both played and sang and drummed right along with the musicians. I was thankful for something to keep us busy. I tried to get a video that captured the atmosphere aboard the train, but this was the best I could do. Enjoy.

Football!!

Football season is well underway with all the ups and downs that go with it. It is so much fun to have a game to look forward to each Saturday. I am sad to say I haven't even snapped one picture of a game. I was so thankful when I saw Jodi's blog. She has taken some beautiful pictures. I'm going to have to link to her great post since my season (of life and football) is a bit different than hers right now. I haven't been able to even think about taking pictures because I'm usually in survival mode at football games, and if I'm lucky I might be able to watch a whole play. :) So.... THANKS Jodi for such a perfect portrayal (in both picture and words) of how the season is going so far.

Grateful Hearts

What a great God we serve! I don't think I will ever understand the depth of His mercy and love that He so graciously pours on us! He chose to save me and as if that weren't enough, He continues to shower me with blessings. Some small, some huge, some in the midst of extreme heartache...He never ceases to bless "beyond our comprehension." Some (probably even many) of those blessings He gives go unnoticed day to day. I am trying to make an effort to recall and rejoice in those blessings. I am also trying to give Him the glory, declare His praises, and give thanks to Him from whom all blessings flow!
When I begin to mentally compile a list of the things I have been blessed with, of course they are too numerous to list. One that is fresh on my heart that I want to share may seem small or insignificant to some. The Bible tells us in Ephesians 5:20 to "always give thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." And am I ever thankful...















...for our NEW dishwasher!!!

I am thankful that I no longer have to wash our mountains of dishes by hand. I am also thankful that I don't have to pre-wash and post-wash each dish that goes in & out. I also like that I don't have to wonder if the top rack will completely disintegrate due to the rust caused by our Sterling water. Yes, I am thankful for all of those things. But the thing that fills my heart with overflowing gratitude is that it was a free gift! Someone was sensitive to the Lord and through His leading sacrificed of themselves to give us a sweet gift - an envelope marked "DISHWASHER" - full of the exact amount we needed to get a very nice, new dishwasher and even have it installed. (The money was so perfect, I think I got 2 pennies back!!) We were humbled by the gift and so thrilled to be able to give God the glory for meeting a need through someone else!

Thank you, Dear Mystery Friend!!! And Thank You, Lord, for meeting our needs exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or imagine!!!

My Favorite Freebies!

Here are a couple of freebies that I thought were worth getting.

*PARENTS magazine 2 year subscription. (No strings attached, but they say hurry - these are limited.)

*FREE music download from Chris Tomlin! Jesus Messiah. Great song with scripture.

These both are completely free - I tried them both. Have a great day!!

Kansas State Fair!!

Chuck's always too busy this time of year to take time for the big fair (or so he says). :) I usually feel obligated to take our children so that they don't miss out on this piece of Kansas culture!! Sooooo, even though it was 56 degrees and rainy, we braved the weather and the crowds and enjoyed a couple hours of fair fun! (I also had to take advantage of free entrance and dollar rides. I must be on a money saving kick...see below post!) They each rode a couple of rides.












But I think they enjoyed looking at the animals just as much as they enjoyed the rides. The petting Zoo is always great fun for them. They don't mind getting animal slobber all over.




















The camel was so funny! We had a good time despite the cold weather. We laughed a lot and hopefully made some great memories!

Coupon Clippers

I've never been much on clipping coupons. I thought of coupons as a ploy by the manufacturers to get me to buy something I wouldn't normally buy by taking a few cents off. I'm usually just as content buying the generic and saving money anyway. I have used a few coupons here and there and saved $1-$2 a trip unless I had a big diaper coupon. I thought that was about as good as it gets until I stumbled upon some professional coupon clippers. The blogging community has opened up a whole new world of money saving opportunities for me. These people know how coupons are done!! They not only save money each month, they make money! And the great thing is they print it all out for dummies (such as myself) to be able to take advantage of the same deals. It is a lot of work, but it's also been a lot of fun. You can save as much or as little as you like, depending on the effort you want to spend.

I actually tried out a couple of their deal ideas last night and I think I did pretty well. I probably would have done a bit better had I not had all four children around supper time after we went to the State Fair. Oh well, I have something to look forward to next time! Anyway, I got three full meals (for our family of 6!) and some snacks all for... I can't ruin the surprise yet. First I'll tell you what it should have cost.


*Before ad matching and coupons: $19.44















*After ad matching and coupons: (drum roll please!) $8.84

*I saved $10.66!! Woohoo!

Not bad for half a week's meals!!


The first blog I came to was from a blog I really enjoy called Biblical Womanhood. The writer of that blog, Crystal also writes one mostly pertaining to managing the finance side of your home. That blog is called Money Saving Mom. (Things have changed just a bit on those two blogs because she just recently found out that she was expecting and is feeling very sick and not as frugal. :)

A few more I stumbled across just recently are Keeping the Kingdom First, Deal Seeking Mom, and Mommies with Cents. These people are all HARD workers and huge savers!

Here's the way I saved so much at Wal-Mart.

And here's some ideas for Walgreen's. I bought the scrubbing bubbles option. I ended up buying 2 Action Scrubber Starter Kits and with sales and coupons spent $2.08 (before tax) and got a coupon for $2 to spend next time at Walgreens. So I basically got 2 scrubber kits for $.08. And they smell really good. :)

I can't wait to get to Target and try this great deal!

I just heard of another option from Brandy's blog called The Grocery Game. You have to pay for a membership there, and although I did sign up for the $1 trial month, I think I found better deals on the blogs above. It's going to be fun to try it out and see where I can save the most money! I would love to hear if you have any tips or successful trips!

Make a Smilebox postcard

I couldn't ask for any better Grandparents for our children than the ones God has blessed them with!! Thank you!

Kool-aid Cleaner?

Does this really work?? I found a crazy way to get rid of lime deposits in your dishwasher. If you're interested, go here and try it out. Please let me know your results!! I can't try it at the moment because our dishwasher quit!! I have a new one sitting in my kitchen...I'll tell that story later. :) Maybe if I would've tried this sooner I wouldn't be having this dishwasher dilemma!