Gift of Giving

Can i just say, I love to give. I love to give what God has allowed me to have. Now I would like to preface this post by saying that I am not boasting. If I loved cooking this much, I would write about that. I so want to inspire people to give. It doesn't have to be money, it could be time, or skills. I just truly believe that we were made to love on others and if we really look at other countries, we are sitting much better than most of them. I feel like our purpose is not to collect as much debt as we can, rather become debt free so we can serve God whenever & however He needs us to. He might call you to a mission field, but if you are so bogged down by debt, you can't fulfill the ultimate desire God placed in your heart. With that said, here is a part of our journey.

Every year we sit and write out our giving goal, it includes things from tithing to the $20 I give someone that calls. So far, we have given as a percentage of what we make...so exciting at the end of the year to really tally up what we gave. It always amazes me how easy it was to give the money as well. I once heard someone challenge another person to "out give" God. Well, as we sat down this year and started to make out giving list & goals, we decided to somewhat apply that saying to our goal. We both took a night to think about what our goal would look like as well as prepare our hearts for what God had in mind for us this next year. Kev & I met again and our number that we had come up with was off by a small amount so we decided to go with the higher number. This number FAR exceeded anything we had done previously & it would definitely take God to complete.
As I sit here writing this, we have almost completed our goal. Our last big donation was to give a family going on a mission trip with their 5 kids to KYRGYZSTAN for the next several years a car. I got tears in my eyes telling them how the money had just come in and the story about our journey.

You might be saying there is no way I can do anything like that, much less tithe. I challenge you to try. Not go crazy & give on credit card or put yourself into further debt, but set up an account that $5,10, or 20 goes into each month. This way you can give when it comes up. I can't describe the joy that has come into my life as well as the deeper relationship I have with our Heavenly Father. I pray that you step out of your comfort zone and try giving. Truly rely on God & trust He will provide. He has for us as well as several other couples we know. I also pray that if you ever have any questions you feel free to contact me. I would also love to hear a giving story of yours if you have one.

This & That

It seems that it has been quite awhile since my last blog! My how time passes!!

Here are some pics of what we have been up to:

Annabelle has recently learned how to write her name so she writes it everywhere & I love to see it! She has really been coming out of her shell. She has been more outgoing at school and out around town!

We tried to take some family pics, this was the best one. I really was going for a super silly one, but in the end decided to go with one of all the kids.

Annabelle & I drove to Kristy's house to pick them up on our way to visit my Granny. She always wants to see the girls so we try at least once a year to go. I think everyone enjoyed it! I love Granny's face in this picture :) The girls were troopers as the room my Granny is in is about 8' X 5' or so.

Molly turned 1 in November. She is soo big. She has been walking since she was 10 months old. We have been working on her signs. She does really well with milk & more, but almost always refuses to say please. It's amazing how stubborn she is about doing that sign. She has been getting in several teeth as of late so she's a bit fussier than normal, but all in all just a sweet little girl!

The big kids are doing well. Trying to figure out whats next for each of them. Syd is working 2 jobs and is going to go to TCC in the spring. She just moved in with her friend for about a month to see what its like on her own. Drake is doing about the same. I guess no news is good news. He comes over about once a month & gives us an update of what he is up to.