Abundant Blessings

This week started out with Scott and I realizing, Sunday night, that his final paycheck would not be compensation for a full 2 weeks of work as we had thought, but it would be pay for 6 days. We were counting on an entire pay period to cover our household bills for the month. We quickly realized that wasn’t going to happen. We talked about closing out a small 401K that Scott had, and decided that was what we were going to do. We weren’t thrilled about closing that account, but we were thankful that the money was there. We had been tempted on a few occasions to close that account and take our family on vacation, but always decided not to, and thought it was best left there in case of an “emergency”. I am so thankful for that wisdom.

After all of the appropriate steps had been taken to close the account, we both breathed a deep breath of relief. We knew as long as we were careful, we could make that money last until the end of October.

Later that same day, I asked Scott to take a short break from submitting resumes and filling out applications to sit and talk. As we were talking the phone rang. It was someone calling to ask Scott if he would work as a sub-contractor for a little while. He agreed to doing the work, and was told he needed to start at 8. This time the sigh of relief was even deeper. It wasn’t a job, it doesn’t offer benefits, and it is short term, but it is income!!! We immediately thanked God for providing the opportunity.

Tuesday morning Scott was off to work. The girls woke up and the older 2 were both complaining of tummy aches. I instantly became nervous, I prayed right away that if they were sick it would be quick, and that it would be viral. The day Scott was laid off, he was informed that our health insurance was immediately terminated as well. I knew if it was viral, there was nothing a doctor could do anyhow. I told the girls to stay in their jammies and sent them both back to bed with books to read.

It had been so chilly that I decided to go to the basement and get the warmer clothes out for the little girls. I discovered a tote of clothes that I had forgotten all about. I brought it up to the living room and emptied the contents on the couch and let Corryn play in the empty bin. As I sorted thru the clothes I was so thankful to discover that it was full of clothes that both of the girls could wear. Although there is 17 months between them, they can both wear the same size clothing! I put the clothes that they could wear during the cooler months in pile and discovered a lot of the clothes in the bin were meant for the summer. We would make do, I could always go to the consignment store and get some more items. There were only 4 pairs of pants, but hey…we had FOUR PAIRS OF PANTS THEY COULD WEAR! I was excited!

The next morning, the girls woke up and Mikayla complained of a tummy ache again, and Katelyn looked a little tired. I asked them to jump into my bed, and I put a movie on for them. Corryn slept in that morning, so it made it easy to relax. When Corryn woke up we made our way upstairs for breakfast. I noticed Katelyn’s energy was back and her color looked a lot better. I asked Mikayla how she was feeling, and she groaned. Her color was good, she ate a good breakfast, I think the 11 year-old-itus was at work. I asked her to get dressed and to meet me in the school room. The nice thing about homeschooling is when delays or hiccups happen, you can adjust your schedule accordingly. I am not sure Mikayla finds this feature quite as wonderful as I do!

Corryn cried ALL DAY. I believe she may have been experiencing the stomach bug. I can tell you something about being a homeschooling mother with little ones, it isn’t easy. I found it easy that day to throw myself a pitty party. I worried about everything, every negative thought that could pass thru my mind, did. I assigned Mikayla a lot of self lead work, and did whatever I could to keep Corryn from crying.

Nap time came, and Corryn napped for 3.5 hours! I used this time to look at Craigs list and just have some quiet time. As I looked thru I came across a swing set. It was a simple set, a couple of swings and a slide. I quickly called the phone number attached to the post and the man said it was still available and that I was welcome to it! We had been looking all summer for a swing set for the girls, and we had discussed waiting until the end of summer when we thought the sets may go on sale. Well, clearly we were in no position to purchase one now. I couldn’t wait for Scott to get home so I could tell him about it! What a blessing!!! I also couldn’t wait for Scott to get home to give me some relief, this was a tough day. Later in the week we went to pick up the swing set with help from my uncle. I am so blessed with wonderful people in my life that will drop everything and help us with things like that. Scott set up the set while the girls napped, and Katelyn was so surprised, she said she couldn’t believe it!!!

Thursday morning a friend had come by to sit with the girls for a bit so I could go to a meeting. I am so thankful for such wonderful friends. I apologized to my friend for leaving dishes in the sink, I normally do all the cleaning at night when the girls go the bed. However, this week I have been falling to sleep not long after they do! The fact that I could sleep was such a blessing!

I came home from the meeting and my friend was smiling and telling me how good my girls were! I was so proud of them for being so good! Not only had my friend cared for my children, but she and Mikayla had emptied and refilled the dishwasher! This caused me to be embarrassed but extremely thankful at the same time. After my friend went on her way I also discovered that she had cleaned the crockpot, this brought me to tears.

I think it was the weather that day that caused all of our moods to be off. Mikayla dragged her feet with school, Katelyn was whiney and needy and when Corryn wasn’t using her sister as chew toy, she was crying…all day….AGAIN.

I stopped Mikayla from doing her school work and asked her to get shoes on. I wasn’t sure what we going to do, but we certainly were not going to be trapped in the house crying all day. The girls got shoes on and we packed into the car. I put a movie on, and started to drive. I had a couple of checks from a book show earlier in the week, so I decided we’d go to the bank and deposit them. I drove to the bank that was further away with a drive thru teller, on our way back home I decided to stop at Dunkin’ Donuts for a “treat”. I ordered a small pumpkin coffe, and got the girls each a treat. The smiles were from ear to ear. I felt guilty for spending the $3.17 on something that we didn’t NEED. However, seeing those smiles made me realize I had nothing to feel guilty about. We needed this. I thanked God for allowing my children to be so happy with such simple little things.

Just as we finished school on Friday and I laid the little girls down for naps, the phone rang. It was Scott. He said he was in a ceiling but he needed to tell me something. He said the principal from the private school we had sent Mikayla to had called and asked him what he was supposed to do with this large check for Mikayla. He said someone had paid for Mikayla to go back to school this year! I was in shock. Complete shock. He asked me to call the school and handle it as he was in ceiling after all.

I went to Mikayla and asked her if she wanted to go back to school. She had a look on her face like she wasn’t sure what to say, I am sure she knew we couldn’t afford it. I explained that God had provided the money for her to go back to school, but I committed to homeschooling her this year, and if she wanted to, we would continue. She got all teary eyed and the biggest smile came across her face, she definitely wanted to go back to school! I explained to her how thankful we needed to be to God, and that we needed to pray that God would bless the person who contributed this money.

I called and spoke to the principal myself and arranged for Mikayla to go to school Monday for placement testing and start school on Tuesday! I am so glad I saved her uniforms and that I had ordered a few things a size bigger! We have a few things she can wear this year, but will need a few more things to get her by. I went to the mailbox to get the mail, and there was a card containing a check from my step mother. She always sends some money for back to school clothes for the grandkids. This could not have come at a better time! I was in tears, big alligator tears.

I was completely overwhelmed. God is so good!

Saturday morning Scott got up with the girls and made them pancakes! He does that most Saturday mornings, and the girls LOVE it! He was soon off to help a friend with a big project he was working on. The girls and I decided to have a lazy day. We stayed in our jammies and lounged. The girls watched Tangled and I watched them. I thought about how blessed I am with such wonderful little ladies. I thought about how blessed I am with such a wonderful husband, wonderful friends and wonderful family.

Later that night, we were on our way home from having dinner at a dear friends house and I decided to log into Facebook. A friend of mine had posted about getting rid of clothes, and asked if anyone wanted them! I asked her about things in a size 2T. She said she had winter items in that size! Praise God! I am pretty sure we will not have to get thru the cooler months with 4 pairs of pants between 2 little girls!

There are many other examples of God’s goodness I could share from this week, many other ways He has provided for our family, however this is getting really long, and I will be surprised if I still have your attention!

I have never been in a position where we HAD to rely on Gods faithfulness before. I can tell you that my faith has grown by leaps and bounds over the past couple of weeks. I feel ashamed for ever doubting God. I only hope that my faithfulness to God will never waiver, that thru the storms, and thru the sunshine, I will give HIM the glory. I am so glad to serve such an AWESOME god!