Musings about a 10 year old daughter...

My girls are growing so fast.  Time is so fleeting with them.  It feels like the longer I live, the faster time flies.

H is 10, and in 5th grade.  That means that next year, she will be in JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL.  This scares the ever lovin' daylights out of me.  Do you remember junior high? Where I grew up it was called "middle school" but it was awful.  It was when people really started paying attention to how much money people had and how they act.

I look back on the 10 years I've been blessed to be this girls momma, and I remember being worried about several milestones - potty training, first day if kindergarten, first sleep over - those pale in comparison to staring down JUNIOR HIGH.  JUNIOR HIGH is 3 years from HIGH SCHOOL!  Do you remember how you were in high school?  I do.  I was miserable most of the time in HS, and couldnt WAIT to get out of there and off to college.  And that is exactly what I did. left for college and never went back.

I was reflecting on this earlier, am I doing the right things with her? Are being successful in teaching her how to be a child of the King? Will she have the foundation she needs to survive the hits that will come in JUNIOR HIGH?

A very wise woman at church and I were talking about how we wished we could freeze time and not let H leave 5th grade.  Then she said to me, Val, what EVER you do, enjoy every moment of this last year in elementary school.  Every moment.  Then, enjoy every moment in Junior High, because the moments she'll be with you are getting shorter and shorter.  This particular woman loves my daughter nearly as much as I do.

Then she tells me how she used to be paranoid about letting her daughter do anything, go across the yard to play at a neighbors, spend the night, ride with other people etc... and a wise momma told her "do you not realize, that even though you love your daughter with all your heart, God loves her more, and do you not TRUST HIM with her protection?"  Wow she said, that changed her perspective of dealing with her daughter growing up... and she passed it on to me and God's dealing with me on this now.  Do I? Do I trust HIM enough to protect my daughter?  I say yes, but in practice I don't.  The King of the Universe has already called my child to Him, and she is a daughter of the King. Who am I to think I am more equipped than he is to take care of her and keep her safe?  This crazy world we live in, makes me very afraid to let her go, but I realize that I will have to let her go, sooner than later.  And if I don't she'll have her wings clipped, and may not find the purpose that God has for her in this great big old world.  Will she make mistakes?  Yes.  Will I have her 100% equipped to deal with situations?  No.  Will God take care of her?  YES! Does that mean I take a hands off approach? NO!

Proverbs 22: 6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 4:9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

Deuteronomy 11:19Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Whoa! Is that heavy or what?Teach them (God's laws) to your children, talking about them when you sit, walk, lie down and get up. That sounds like 100% of the time to me, doesn't it to you? Wow! I know I cant say 100% of the time I am doing what God wants me to do. I'd like to, and my spirit wants to, but we are flesh and we fail. God's mercy covers us and picks us up and dusts us off. But to me, this verse about training up children means we are never done. Thats a lot of responsibility! And God hand picked me to be her Momma...so he will equip me to do what she needs, I just have to give her to Him and follow His directives.  Sounds easy when you type it, but its so HARD! God just asks me to surrender her to Him. He asked Abraham to kill his only son, and Abraham would have done it had God not stopped him at the last minute. I dont think I could do that. so anyway, aside from rambling, the weight of responsibility for my precious children is heavy sometimes...and I have to remember that ALL our burdens we are to give to Christ. He will do a much better job than I could ever do on my own.

Up the staircase

Yeah, so I was at church last night, after our fellowship meal, and I went to go upstairs to sell tshirts for the childrens choir, and to get my kids to their choir classrooms.  About 1/2 up the stair case, I tripped...and fell. I manged somehow to hit both knees and a hip on three different stairs. Can you say ouch?  So I'm moving a tad bit slower today that normal.  ooowwwieeee.

Lessons Learned the Hard Way...

Means I wont forget them!

So I've been couponing since oh, about end of May seriously.

CVS and Kroger are my fave stores, simply because CVS is easy (and ours is really close to my house, and the cashiers are so FRIENDLY! - they already knew me by name because we get our prescriptions there), and Kroger in our area doubles coupons.  I heart CVS and Southern Savers are my fave website that match up the sales to the coupons. For local deals, there is a GREAT resource in Gone Klippin' Krazy. She's great!

I decided I'd brave Walgreens.  I read and read the policy, and the ins and outs, and even after just over 3 months, I STILL have issues there!  Just when I think I have it figured out, I mess it up again.  Then I wait and say "Im done with walgreens" then I will see a freebie or a "money maker" and try again.

So what I have learned that I have trouble keeping straight for some reason....

If you buy something that prints a register reward, you cant use that register reward to buy the same item to do the same deal, the reward won't print. Ok, well I thought I had that one figured out, and then discovered that SOME companies wont let you use a register reward from item y on item x from the same company! ARGH!  LOL

You have to have at least the same number of items as coupons.  And register rewards are coupons and count in that total, but in ad coupons are price reductions and DO NOT count in the tally. Ugh. But cashiers at my walgreens don't know how this works either.  So you have to have "fillers" or cheap items to make your numbers of items = number of coupons.  So I buy lots of laffy taffy. haha

SOME items with a register reward deal wont print the deal if you use a manufacture coupon you are using too. This one I cant figure out.  Sometimes it doesnt, and I cant figure out the pattern, because its rare enough that I cant figure it out.  If someone out there knows, tell me!

Rewards site that actually pay

So in my quest to become frugal, I have signed up for a few rewards websites.

I can say that EBATES actually does pay you $ back if you make your online purchases through them. I have gotten a real check in the mail, for $10.

Swagbucks is a web browser that you earn swagbucks through by searching and doing surveys etc. So far I have turned in my accumulated swagbucks for $15 in Amazon.com giftcards. This one is my favorite so far, because they do neat games and scavenger type hunts to help you earn more swagbucks. You can also print paper coupons that you can use in the store that will add swagbucks to your account.

Savingstar is a site where you load "ecoupons" to your Kroger or CVS card, and when you buy the item in the store, savingstar deposits money into your account. Once you get $5, you can get them to payout, in gift cards or paypal. I got my first $5 there already too! and since these deposit into an account, you can also use a paper coupon in the store. That makes for some good deals!

*disclaimer. The links for swagbucks and ebates are my referral links. If you sign up through me I would be most greatful!

Resurrecting the Blog...

I want to resurrect the family blog, because it was fun, and I would like to add our new stuff.

E is playing soccer these days. H is into science and robotics, honor choir, and choir at church.

Both of them start Girl Scouts this year. So we are busy, but having fun!

Our zoo has changed some. We gave our Cocker spaniel back to her original owner. Then we took a turn at fostering a puppy from the animal shelter. When he got adopted, we took in a bridled pug from a family member, who's named "Precious" but should really be named "Diva".

I've taken up painting in acrylics, to have a cheap, fun hobby that turns out a cute project. E is a natural artist as well, and she LOVES to paint her on canvases with me.

I've also started an endeavor to be frugal. I'd like to blog about how I am wrapping couponing into our zoo life. So stay tuned... I've become NUTS about a good deal. I do not pay for toletries or soap any more, wont pay more than $1 a bottle for laundry detergent, and Ive been getting dish washer detergent for free. I love a good freebie!

I've signed up for samples, and for rewards website. Its so much FUN! Its a great hobby. The kids get into it, hubby is on board, and we have a blast. Stay tuned!

Princess is Eight!

Where has the time gone???

Destin, 2009

The kids got to drive the boat we rode, the Sea Blaster. It was pretty cool, we got to see a pod of dolphins with a baby! at the beach we saw a stingray, a huge school of fish that had some shark following them (we were outta the water!). Punkin was scared of the crabs and that was pretty funny. She thought they were going to bite her toes.