Trunk-or-Treat 2008

As I mentioned earlier, tonight was the annual Trunk-or-Treat put on by Port City Community Church. Here are some pics from the evening (in no particular order because I can't figure out how the heck to do it on blogger!!). Enjoy :)

Aren't my boys the cutest?

(Thanks to my friend Amber for letting us borrow her son's monkey costume!)

Rebecca & Cindy decorated one of the "trunks". Rebecca's Mazda was transformed into a beautiful fishy! Aren't they gorgeous?

Edwin had a blast!

My friend Brittany was there with her man Brad and their super sweet daughter Ella. What an adorable pumpkin!! This was actually Brittany's costume when she was little :)

Edwin and Ella are so cute together!

We just thought this guy was soooo cool. Can you say Pirates of the Carribbean??

Rebecca and her lovely daughter Maggie

Look closely at his eyes...can you tell this was taken moments before we left? The paci was in, the blanket was being snuggled...Edwin fell asleep halfway to mom & dad's house. He wore himself out!

Ok, this was the funniest costume idea in my opinion. "Sarah Palin" had two dog leashes...one held "Bark Obama" and the other held "John McCanine". Awesome!!

Another clever trunk (and its designers)

I wish you could see this better, but they even had the Bat Mobile! I can't remember which number for sure, but I know they took either 2nd or 3rd in the contest.

I'm telling you...people go all out for this event!

Ed enjoyed the trunks so much that he decided we need to decorate one next year. Should be interesting! I hope everybody had a great Halloween.

(P.S. I have no idea why our internet is still working. The cable and phone have both been cut off. Oh well...I'm not complaining! I just don't want to see it on our bill! haha)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

We're going to Trunk-or-Treat tonight with the whole fam. Hopefully I'll have some great pictures to post here in a couple of days. My little monkey is going to be so cute!!!

Strange

This is weird. I called ATMC today and dropped our house phone, our internet, and our fancy cable...we now get 13 channels (only about 5 of them are "real" channels).

I knew this day was coming. In fact, I've felt for a couple of months that this is something I needed to do....sort of 'unplug' from the television and spend my time doing other things. Ed & I both agreed that this was the best decision for our family. We're working on getting out of debt, and by cancelling all of this, we'll be throwing an extra $100 a month on our debt snowball. That's $1200 a year!!

I'm almost embarassed to admit how dependent I've become on tv...I'd venture to say probably to the point of being sinful. I have been making the television my idol and the Bible clearly states we are to have no other gods besides God.

So like I've said before, my blog posts will slow down a bit. I can still post from work (on my lunch hour of course) so that's not a big deal. If anyone reading this is also friends with me on Facebook, most likely I won't be on there very much at all. It's blocked from work (with very good reason), so I'll have to settle for checking stuff at mom & dad's house...which is actually where I am now.

Anyway, after the initial shock wore off, and I got some great tips from a fabulous friend (you know who you are!), I am looking forward to this change in my life. I'm looking forward to spending more quality time with my husband and my son, I'm looking forward to reading more, I'm looking forward to having more intentional quiet time with God.

I'll let you know how it goes :)

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Exodus 20: 1-4

1 And God spoke all these words:
2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Camera Happy

I didn't realize how much I missed having my camera...or how much I take it for granted...until I left it with Katie for about a week. Suddenly I have the urge to take pictures of anything and everything! Lucky for you, right?


I took this one this morning...just before we left the house...he still has bed-head! (and yes, I still give my child a bottle in the morning. I love our snuggle time!)


He did NOT want to get up this morning!



Self portraits are so much fun, don't you think? (although I must say, my head looks HUGE in this picture!)

Grandma Jeanie sent a package to "Dewey" yesterday, and I couldn't resist putting him in the pj's she sent. He wasn't being as cooperative with pics as he was the other night, but you get the idea.

He's Gotta Work For It!

Since our son eats more than the average 6 year old, we've decided that he needs to earn his keep. So we've put him to work doing some light housekeeping.

Check out this video of him using the vaccuum (he gets soooo mad when we turn it off!! It's quite amusing actually).

Thoughts?

Please click HERE to read a very interesting article. It may make some of you angry, it may make some of you roll your eyes... What I do hope though is that it makes everyone who reads it think.

I know how I'm voting.

Here's the link again. Any thoughts?

Stylin'

I just had to share these adorable pictures with you. I found some cute new pj's for Edwin today...and he actually cooperated for the camera!!

Angels

Today was the first time we picked up food from Angel Food Ministries. I talked about it in a previous post, but basically, we got all of this food pictured for only $30!!!! I'm not sure if you can see everything...but there's spaghetti, meatballs, sauce, frozen veggies, steaks, pork chops, hot dogs, chicken, tortillas, eggs, milk, Hawaiian punch, cookies... That's a TON of food! I think they have their November menu posted, so go check it out. Only $30 for a whole box of food that can last quite awhile.

I finally got around to posting some more pictures of Edwin. Sorry it's been so long. This afternoon when Ed got home from work (and Edwin got up from his nap) we were hanging out in the living room. Edwin kept trying to climb on top of his toy "bin", so to solve that, I dumped all the toys out so he'd have nothing to stand on. Anyway, he discovered (not for the first time) how much he loves to just play in the empty tub. That kid cracks me up!

The other night at Mom's bday celebration, Katie took some adorable pictures of Edwin. You can check them out on her blog. We also went to Hugh McRae park last night for our official photo shoot with her. However, my son decided that he wanted to go IN THE POND. Thankfully I kept him from diving head-first in the water, but let's just say his toddler temper flared big time. He threw an absolute fit because I wouldn't let him run free...but silly me...I didn't want my child to drown. Anyway, I think she eventually got some more pics of him, so as soon as she sends them to me, I'll post them here. We also went to the pumpkin patch, but it wasn't so successful. Everyone was hungry, a little tired, and on the verge of a meltdown. We'll just have to see how those pics turn out.

Ok, so the more I type, the more I realize this is pretty boring. Sorry 'bout that. I haven't quite felt myself the last couple of days...just really tired. I'm looking forward to church tomorrow morning, and a hopefully relaxing afternoon with Edwin.

Oh yeah, I forgot. This morning was the JDRF walk!! The weather was less than stellar, but thanks to Pappy, we (mom, Janet, and I) stayed dry and stylish in our bright yellow rain gear. I exceeded my fundraising goal, so thank you again to all who donated!!!

I Can't Resist!

This picture was sent to me in a forward...if you don't laugh, you have absolutely NO SENSE OF HUMOR!!! Enjoy. (P.S. Please see the post from yesterday about JDRF)

Getting Closer...

This Saturday, October 25th is the JDRF Walk (Juvenile Diabetes). I know I posted about this once before (see here), but since this is my blog…I’m posting about it again!

Thank you SO MUCH to those of you who have donated $$ to help me reach my goal of at least $100. I’m getting close, but I still need a few more people to help!

I’m asking you to consider donating $5.00. That’s it. Just five bucks. If you’ve been reading this blog lately, you know that I’ve been talking a lot about saving money and I hope you’ve been using some of my tips! That’s why I’m only asking for $5.00. Hopefully this wouldn’t break your budget (although there have been times when I swear it would have messed mine up!!) and it always feels good doing something nice for others.

Remember, I’m not collecting money for me…it’s going to help children who are affected by this disease. So please, go to my donation page (HERE) to use a debit card or you can contact me if you’d rather do a check. (I definitely don’t advocate using a credit card. No more debt!!!)

Anyway, like I said before, thank you to those of you who have already contributed either electronically or otherwise. I truly appreciate it!

My Baby!

Every day at Edwin’s daycare, they fill out a little report with what he’s done…what he ate…how long his nap was, etc.

It’s usually pretty standard – in fact, you can tell most of the time they photocopy the activities and just customize the food/nap portion for each kid.

Well yesterday, they added a note about Edwin. I just now had a chance to read it…and it was so sweet I had to share.

“Edwin is a very smart kid, he’s always smiling! He’s talking a lot more and he’s just a joy to our classroom.”

I think our decision to switch daycares was a wise one. If I can’t be the one taking care of him all day, I’m so thrilled that he’s having a good time.

How to Be Rich

Yesterday, I stumbled across a sermon series that Andy Stanley did last year. It's called How to Be Rich. I've only listened to the first part (there are four), but it completely blew me away.

He talks about a survey that was done…asking people what they thought it takes to be rich. If you ask someone who makes $20,000 a year what it means to be rich, they might say you have to earn $50,000 a year. Well ask someone who makes $50,000 if they are rich and the answer is usually no. That person might say if they made $75,000 a year, they’d be rich. Again, ask someone who makes $75,000 if they are rich and you’ll probably hear no. On average, if you ask most Americans what they think it means to be rich, they’ll say you need to make $120,000 per year. Once again, ask the person who makes $120,000…are you rich? Generally they say no.

On and on this goes. Even the person who makes a million dollars might not think they are rich! So what’s his point? His point is that “rich” is a moving target. There’s no line that you cross one day and suddenly say I’M RICH!! I can finally stop worrying about money!! That doesn’t happen. So instead of trying to figure out how to GET rich, let’s try to figure out how to BE rich. All the books and gurus and tape sets tell you is how to get more money, how to get rich. They don’t tell you how to behave once you are rich.

Let me just pause here and say I realize I’m not doing this message justice. But it was so powerful when I listened to it that I couldn’t help but share. Just this one time, take a chance…click on the link…listen to the message. It’s only about 45 minutes-it’s free! Listen.

Okay, moving on. Did you know that if you make over $30,000 per year you are in the top 4% of earners in the world???!! FOUR PERCENT.

If you can go to your closet and stare at a rack of clothes trying to decide what to wear….

If you can go to your cupboards or your refrigerator and make an actual decision about what to eat…

If you have to plan what to do with your leftover money…

If you have a house for your car…(yes, this is called a garage)…

I’m sure you see where this is going. Andy Stanley had everyone repeat this phrase. “I have more than I need. I’m rich.” Then he took it a step further for the Christians. “God has blessed me with more than I need. I’m rich.”

Try it for yourself. Actually say the words out loud. Yes our country is going through an economic “crisis”. But we are rich beyond measure. You don’t have to feel guilty about it either. God has placed you where you are, God has given you opportunities, talents, etc. God has blessed me with more than I need. I am rich. Now my goal is to learn how to be rich the way God wants me to be.

The Sunday Soup

You might be thinking...what's with the title? Well, I read (okay, stalk) quite a few blogs. One of them does a "Sunday Sound-Out" and another does "Miscellaneous Monday". They're just posts to dump a whole lot of information. So here's my version. The Sunday Soup.

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Ed has to take Edwin to the doctor tomorrow. According to the nurse-line, we've done everything we can do at home. His diaper rash (from the antibiotics to help cure the double ear infection) has morphed into something completely immune to balmex. Perhaps a yeast infection? By the way, I had NO idea little boys could get yeast infections. Anyway, we've tried everything. We haven't used wipes (they can leave a film of bacteria on the hiney), we've washed him with mild soap, changed his diapers as frequently as possible, soaked him in a tub of warm water and baking soda...and the list goes on. Nothing is budging the super red presence on his little butt. I feel so bad for him. So please pray that the docs can figure out how the heck to fix it!!
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On Friday, I gave a presentation at work based on the info we've learned at Financial Peace University. Oh my gosh, what a RUSH!!! I don't mind getting up in front of groups to give a presentation...at the beginning of the year, I presented info about Time Management to about 5 groups at work. No biggie. But this one....oh man. I guess it's because I've become so passionate about getting out of debt...I had a blast! And I received a TON of great feedback from everyone. In fact, it might become something even bigger at work...we'll see. I even brought a visual aid from my grocery game "winnings". The night before, Ed, Edwin & I went to Lowe's foods for triple coupon sales. My original total was $83.20, but we only paid $13.98!!! So I packed up all the food, brought it to the presentation, and made the point that you CAN save a lot of money just by clipping coupons. Very effective.
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I feel bad about this next one... I meant to write about it sooner, but just kept putting off the whole blogging thing. It's called Angel Food Ministries. It's a non-profit organization dedicated to helping families stretch their grocery dollars. You can go to their website to get all the details, but here's the main idea. They take orders several weeks in advance, and are able to get fantastic prices from vendors. You order a standard box of food for $30 which has enough food to feed a family of four for a week!! And this is top-quality food! We learned about it at Financial Peace University...one of the couples told everyone about it. They said the food was fantastic and they couldn't believe how easy the process was. There's no financial qualification, and you're not taking from others who need the service. In fact, their hope is that you'll save so much on your own grocery bill, that eventually you can buy boxes of food for other families in need. Trust me, check out their website! Ed & I ordered the standard box this month (there are add-on boxes, but we're just trying it out first)...I'll let you know how it turns out. Delivery date is October 25th.
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Here's another website you might want to check out. It's called StuckOnWords. I just think it's such a cute idea!! It's vinyl lettering that you can have customized for your walls, your car, gifts, etc. Check out the photo gallery. They have super cute ideas for nurseries, for bathrooms...really for any room in your house. I'd love to do this in our dining room. Currently, we have a giant pic of Edwin hanging up...but we need something else. Anyway, thought I'd pass this one along.
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Have I mentioned Financial Peace University?? Haha! Well, in case you haven't noticed, we are LOVING IT!! This past week, the lesson was all about "Credit Sharks in Suits"...how to handle credit collectors and other related topics. Wow. Listening to the stories of people's experiences with collectors was intense. I've had plenty of my own run-ins with these folks and it is not fun. It's embarassing, it's depressing, it's all kinds of awful things. But we don't have to worry about that anymore. We're current on everything, and actually making quite a bit of progress towards getting rid of all debt for good!!!!!
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One thing I found most interesting in this week's lesson was about the FICO score. Everybody thinks it's your "credit" score, but I think Dave Ramsey has it right. It's your "I love debt score." It's totally based on how much debt you carry, how long you've carried it, etc. In fact, since he (Dave Ramsey) has no debt and hasn't for a looooong time, he no longer has a FICO score. That's my goal!!!
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Halloween is coming!!!! And this means Trunk-or-Treat is coming too. Every year, Port City Community Church has a trunk-or-treat down at Veterans Park (near Ashley High School). Last year was the first time I went...and oh my gosh. I could not believe how much work went into the whole production. It was HUGE! There were giant inflatables for the kids to play on, and the trunks. Um...insane? Yes, that's a good word. I swear, they looked like movie sets!!! I'm looking forward to going again this year. And I'm especially excited because all the fam is coming along for the fun! Edwin is going to be....Wait. Maybe I should make people guess. What do you think Edwin will be this year? (For those of you who know...keep your traps shut. haha)
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Facebook. I've actually enjoyed "running into" old friends on Facebook. But tonight, I got requests from two people that I either don't know, or don't remember. Even after looking at their pictures, I have NO IDEA who the heck they are. Is it rude to decline the friend request?
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Drumroll please........................
Here's my biggest announcement in The Sunday Soup. WE'RE GETTING RID OF CABLE, PHONE, AND INTERNET!!!! Yes people, you read that correctly. In an effort to put an extra $100 towards our debt snowball every month, Ed and I have agreed to ditch the technology. Well, almost ditch it. We're keeping the $12 cable. But other than that....zip, zero, nada. WOO HOO!!!! There are several reasons I'm so excited, but I don't need to go into all of that. But let this be a lesson to all of you out there. Okay, not a lesson. But let it be a giant sign to all of you that we are SERIOUS about getting out of debt!!!!!! This also means that the blogs will slow down. If I want to blog, I'll either have to go somewhere with free wi-fi, or fit it in on my lunchbreak. Either way, there's a good reason for me to go M-I-A. Once we get out of debt, we can have all the luxury items back...but for now, we're going old-school. (sort of)
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Okay, I think that's enough for this Sunday. Have a great week! I'll try my hardest to not be lazy with my blog this week. I'll at least try to keep you updated on Edwin's butt. (Okay that sounded weird)

Time Marches On

Last night, I had a super long blog post rolling around in my head. I was going to write about our crazy weekend, about Edwin being sick, about all the little things that piled up making me feel like a giant ball of stress. But I was too tired to write.

This morning, I realized that it doesn't matter. Time keeps moving. We made it through the weekend. Edwin still isn't 100% healthy, but it's ok. We're getting through. I was reminded many many times over just a couple of days how I can't rely on my own strength. I NEED GOD. For those of you who are walking with God, do you notice that we go through seasons of explosive growth, and seasons of just getting by? Just a few weeks ago, I'd say I was in the former category. I was in the Word daily, I was journaling, I was focused on Jesus. But lately, I've felt myself slip. It's easier to turn off the light early and go to sleep rather than spend time reading my bible. It's easier to just pray in the car rather than have intentional quiet time (there's nothing wrong with praying in the car...but that can't be the only time I spend with God). I realize that doing or not doing these things doesn't make me a better or worse person. But I have noticed how I react to the world is a lot different when I forget why I'm here.

Wow...this isn't how I intended this post to go at all. But I guess it needed to get out...Anyway, Edwin is on the road to recovery from a double ear infection, my husband's back is causing him a lot of pain, and I think I'm going to go read my bible. I hope everyone has a great night. I'll be praying for you and if you think of us, please pray for our family as well.

Love,
Diana