My $10 Steal

Not too long ago, I went on my weekly laundry adventure in the next town north of us. It is about a 45 minute drive, but hey the clothes need to be washed, right? Anyway, I went ahead and stopped inside Wal-Mart to see what they had on sale.

Keep in mind that I never really buy clothes, unless they are on sale (really on sale). Can't afford them, but I still have to buy them, none-the-less.

Anyway, I knew that my boys needed some jeans and school pants. I went browsing in the boys section and I noticed that there was a $1 rack. Thinking that there were probably a bunch of shirts, I decided to take a look. To my surprise, there were about 9 pairs of pants (jeans and school) on sale. I bought all 9 pairs and spent about $10. You can't beat that. We were blessed

Santa Claus is Coming To Town!

Last year my church blessed us with new bikes and other little gifts. I am so grateful for that. This year I know that I won't be able to afford much, but I know that we are blessed and the Lord will make sure that my kids have a Christmas.

I actually was going to sign up for the a Christmas gift program, but it was too late and I didn't have all that I needed to have to become eligible. We needed proof of residence and other things that I would need to aquire before they deemed my kids eligible for toys. That was fine, because I know the Lord supplies.

I recently lost a client, who is also a member of our church. They cut her pay back and she couldn't afford the luxury of a maid. She came to me at church and told me that if it was okay, she wanted to help us out with Christmas. I didn't know what to say. I was speechless. All I could say is "I would love that". Amazing how the Lord provides.

Yesterday, when I talked to another client, she wanted the kids' sizes because they do a Christmas gift program at their church. Again, we are blessed. The Lord knows that I can't afford Christmas, but He will always send someone else to be Santa.

The pic is of my kids at our soon-to-be new church.

Looks like Santa Clause is coming to our church this year! Praise the Lord.

Teaching My Kids to Give

Amazing how kids catch on so easily. They are quick to help and bless others. My kids are the prime example. I have always taught my kids how to be giving. I feel that this is a good quality that should be instilled from a young age.

I have always taught my kids that the Lord blesses a happy giver. He will bless us if we give from our hearts and that is exactly what He did for us today, in more ways than one.

Last night I feel that the Lord inspired me to participate in "Give Christmas Away". This is a Christmas mission to Africa. We are to gather items in shoe boxes for children in Africa. This is to reach out to them with the love of Christ. Many of them have never heard of the name of Jesus and what an awesome way to show them, by taking them a Christmas gift. I made a call to see if a friend has any shoe boxes. She didn't, so I was kinda bummed, seeing that today is the last day.

Instead of that, I decided to go ahead and pick up some canned goods on my way home from doing laundry, last night. We got back to the church and we all sorted them out. I explained to the kids that although we are poor, there are others out there that have it worse than us. They really didn't need that explanation, because they just love to give, but I wanted them to know that there really are a lot of people worse off than us.

We sorted them all out and I even took the tuna out of the cabinet. I did this purposely to show my daughter something. As I knew she would, she said "Momma, tuna is my favorite. Why are we giving that away"?

I just smiled and said, "Sometimes we have to make sacrifices and even if it is giving the best of what we have". She agreed and I told her that the Lord will bless her for giving her favorite canned food away.

This morning I was on my way to my cleaning job. While I was there, I received a phone call from the lady that I clean for. She also happens to be the counselor at the school. She asked me if I needed any canned foods. I just giggled and explained that my kids brought some up there today. I ended up telling her my entire situation and also how I was teaching my kids to always give, no matter what.

To make a long story short, she brought me this huge box of food with all sorts of things that the kids love. Things like Ravioli and Jello. I almost cried but my smile wouldn't allow me to.

I can now show my kids that the Lord will bless their giving. Especially when they give the best that they have.