So, we don't have cable, but i hear everyone talking about this show that follows "extreme couponers". I'll admit it- i'm totally jealous. I want to be that person. When i see the ladies (and men) at the grocery stores with their binders and folders and they have a coupon for virtually everything, I look at them and see them with a big red cape on, standing in that famous superhero pose. I want to be like that! I mean who doesn't? To buy $400 worth of groceries for $3.25 is freaking amazing to me! (okay that might be exaggerating)
I decided to look into this extreme couponing thing, and it looks fairly easy. I mean I have a college degree, i've raised 4 kids, run childrens ministries- how hard can couponing be right? WRONG! There is alot to it!
I've started with registering to a couple different websites that offer printable coupons. Here are a couple that I liked:
http://www.couponmom.com/
http://www.couponnetwork.com/
Next, I made my grocery list according to my menu- yes i do a 2 week menu. I shop for groceries every pay day which equals out to roughly every 2 weeks- I've found over the past few years, that if i shop with a menu in hand it cuts out on the temptation of just throwing stuff in the cart according to what my tummy is grumbling for! Seriously, this works- and besides that, you don't have to worry about what to make for meals- you know ahead of time, and if you're anything like me, you are totally annoyed at the same question every day "mom what's for dinnnnnnnner?" I have a menu posted on a dry erase board in my kitchen and I haven't been bugged by this question in a very very long time :0) Anyhow, back to the topic at hand- coupons...so now that i have my grocery list, I went through the websites and local paper ads and clip and print coupons on the things that I will be buying. Can I just say that i've never been more excited to grocery shop! I can't wait to try this out! I'm sure I will get better at this with time, and if you follow my blog, i will most definitely report back to you with my savings!
Extreme couponer? hmm maybe not- yet!
Love- Angy
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Let's be honest...
My girlfriend Michelle stopped by the house this morning after walking all the kids to the bus stop... we were chit chatting in the dining room with Summer (my 13 year old) and the subject of snakes came up. Summer went on and on about how she spent the night at her friends house last week and that friend had a snake that escaped while she was there- she said she was completely terrified and it totally freaked her out that a snake was on the loose. Then Summer shared a story that had me crying from laughing so hard. She told Michelle that when she was a toddler, myself and her Uncle Josh took her to the zoo in Minot and we lied to her and told her there was a spider monkey in an aquarium, we lifted her up to see it and at that very same moment a snake struck the glass in that aquarium, not a monkey at all. I vividly remember said incident- and truthfully, it made me laugh just as hard all these years later, as it did the day it happened. And yes, I purposefully told her there was a spider monkey in that aquarium knowing it was a snake. And yes, I knew that she hated snakes, and yes I was hoping for some sort of reaction that would nearly make me pee my pants from the hilarity.
Does this make me a bad person?
Be honest- have you never done something at the expense of your kids just to get a good laugh?
I know those sick people exist- i've seen the videos on youtube! (and i have laughed til my belly hurt!)
these are some of my favorites:
My point is, we've all done it- in some form or fashion... whether its jumping out from around a corner and yelling boo, or waking your children up with a chainsaw- I think its just one of the many privileges and blessings that come from being a parent...
Now go and plan out your next prank- I know you're thinking of one :)
Does this make me a bad person?
Be honest- have you never done something at the expense of your kids just to get a good laugh?
I know those sick people exist- i've seen the videos on youtube! (and i have laughed til my belly hurt!)
these are some of my favorites:
My point is, we've all done it- in some form or fashion... whether its jumping out from around a corner and yelling boo, or waking your children up with a chainsaw- I think its just one of the many privileges and blessings that come from being a parent...
Now go and plan out your next prank- I know you're thinking of one :)
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Calling...
Deut. 15:10-11 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
Prov. 19:17 Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.
James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Isaiah 58:6-14 "This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, God will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.' A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places "If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places - firm muscles, strong bones. You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. "If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don't use my holy day for personal advantage, If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God's holy day as a celebration, If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money, running here and there - Then you'll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I'll make you ride high and soar above it all. I'll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob." Yes! God says so!
I've been feeling a stirring. God is doing a work in me and I can't ignore it. There is a pretty little phrase that is being flippantly thrown around in the Church today: Be the hands and feet of Jesus. I agree, wholeheartedly, but what does that really mean? I don't think many people know, or care. It's just become a catch phrase- Christianese- the Sunday school answer.
But think about it- "Be the hands and feet of Jesus." Not the mouth, not the heart, not the mind- although those things are important too- but the HANDS and FEET, that is calling us to DO something, to physically do "something".
To me, its not just a pretty saying. Its a challenge- a command. Jesus didn't just sit on the temple steps and just tell everyone the good news. He didn't just hear about the needs of the people and offer up a prayer to the Father. He didn't just "feel" broken hearted for the lost, dying, hungry & poor- it didn't just "move" Him to tears...
Jesus was a doer. He walked through the dusty roads, crowds in tow, teaching & preaching. When He learned of desperate needs, He sought those people out and changed their lives. He went to the places that no one else would, He spoke to the people that everyone else had forgotten, He LOVED the ones who were the most unlovable.
If Jesus Christ is the perfect example of what our Father in Heaven asks of us, and desires from us in our life on earth, then the phrase "be the hands and feet of Jesus" should become much more than just a phrase. It seems to me that it should be a call to action. If you consider yourself a Christian, a follower of Christ, then your heart should be wrecked by the needs of the people all around you. Poverty, and homelessness and the hungry, and those who don't know of Jesus- those things should be absolutely devastating to you- it should bring you to your knees, it should cause you to cry out to the Creator of the universe on their behalf. It should overflow your heart with compassion, and grace. It should burden your spirit and cause you to be a doer too.
The King of Kings, the Lamb of God, the Great I am... He passionately loves each and every one of us. He has generously given each of us giftings and talents to be used to grow His kingdom. We may not all be great at doing the same things, but we can't ignore, that as children of God, we have an undeniable calling that is the same- we are one body, one Church, one heart- and God has called us to be His hands and feet.
He is stirring me... go to a quiet place, and humbly bring yourself before the throne of God- i think you'll find that He is stirring you too...
Grace & Blessings,
Angy
Calling...
Deut. 15:10-11 You shall give to him freely, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
Prov. 19:17 Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.
James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Isaiah 58:6-14 "This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, God will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.' A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places "If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places - firm muscles, strong bones. You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. "If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don't use my holy day for personal advantage, If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God's holy day as a celebration, If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money, running here and there - Then you'll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I'll make you ride high and soar above it all. I'll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob." Yes! God says so!
I've been feeling a stirring. God is doing a work in me and I can't ignore it. There is a pretty little phrase that is being flippantly thrown around in the Church today: Be the hands and feet of Jesus. I agree, wholeheartedly, but what does that really mean? I don't think many people know, or care. It's just become a catch phrase- Christianese- the Sunday school answer.
But think about it- "Be the hands and feet of Jesus." Not the mouth, not the heart, not the mind- although those things are important too- but the HANDS and FEET, that is calling us to DO something, to physically do "something".
To me, its not just a pretty saying. Its a challenge- a command. Jesus didn't just sit on the temple steps and just tell everyone the good news. He didn't just hear about the needs of the people and offer up a prayer to the Father. He didn't just "feel" broken hearted for the lost, dying, hungry & poor- it didn't just "move" Him to tears...
Jesus was a doer. He walked through the dusty roads, crowds in tow, teaching & preaching. When He learned of desperate needs, He sought those people out and changed their lives. He went to the places that no one else would, He spoke to the people that everyone else had forgotten, He LOVED the ones who were the most unlovable.
If Jesus Christ is the perfect example of what our Father in Heaven asks of us, and desires from us in our life on earth, then the phrase
Prov. 19:17 Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.
James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
Isaiah 58:6-14 "This is the kind of fast day I'm after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I'm interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, God will answer. You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am.' A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places "If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins, If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places - firm muscles, strong bones. You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. "If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don't use my holy day for personal advantage, If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God's holy day as a celebration, If you honor it by refusing 'business as usual,' making money, running here and there - Then you'll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I'll make you ride high and soar above it all. I'll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob." Yes! God says so!
I've been feeling a stirring. God is doing a work in me and I can't ignore it. There is a pretty little phrase that is being flippantly thrown around in the Church today: Be the hands and feet of Jesus. I agree, wholeheartedly, but what does that really mean? I don't think many people know, or care. It's just become a catch phrase- Christianese- the Sunday school answer.
But think about it- "Be the hands and feet of Jesus." Not the mouth, not the heart, not the mind- although those things are important too- but the HANDS and FEET, that is calling us to DO something, to physically do "something".
To me, its not just a pretty saying. Its a challenge- a command. Jesus didn't just sit on the temple steps and just tell everyone the good news. He didn't just hear about the needs of the people and offer up a prayer to the Father. He didn't just "feel" broken hearted for the lost, dying, hungry & poor- it didn't just "move" Him to tears...
Jesus was a doer. He walked through the dusty roads, crowds in tow, teaching & preaching. When He learned of desperate needs, He sought those people out and changed their lives. He went to the places that no one else would, He spoke to the people that everyone else had forgotten, He LOVED the ones who were the most unlovable.
If Jesus Christ is the perfect example of what our Father in Heaven asks of us, and desires from us in our life on earth, then the phrase
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