Amazed....

I have always been a HUGE believer in the power of prayer. Sometimes it takes little (or HUGE) reminders though of how powerful and utterly AMAZING our God is....

A few months ago, my mom shared with me the story of Heidi. She's a wife and mother... of 5 kids! They range in age from late teens down to 2 years old. A very BUSY mom!

She was diagnosed with cancer and given 6 months to live. Devastating.

People started to pray... to pray for a miracle. Sometimes seems silly... but God can do some pretty amazing things.

Last week she had a dream. It was the day before her next doctor's appt. She dreamt of a man... dressed in a white doctor's jacket, khaki pants, a blue with with large swirls and small crosses on it. He said, "You're fine". Interesting considering all the treatments and tests she had been given and was going through.

The following day she went to her appt. Guess who walks in... the doctor... wearing a white doctor's coat, khaki pants, and a blue tie with large swirls and small crosses on it. Guess what he said.... "You're fine - the cancer is gone." As in no sign of the cancer... anywhere.

This gives me goosebumps - I had tears in my eyes. God is amazing. I know there are SO many who don't believe out there in this world... but this just confirms it to me. God is still working - he is amazing - he IS.

Yup... I'm pretty amazed today.....

FRIEND MAKIN' MONDAY!!!!

Amber over at "AE FILIKINS" has declared our topic to be.... FALL SHOWS for this week. Just in time too as they are FINALLY starting. Don't know about everyone else, but tv this summer has been PURE MISERY! So here is my list... so far.... :)....

I LOVE watching the Biggest Loser. I find it to be inspiring and motivating. Holy smokes... if these people can workout like crazy people, so can I. I think Jillian Michael's is brilliant (Bob too... ). It starts up again tomorrow night... so y'all will know what I'm doing from 8-10pm :). Eating ice cream and cookies while watching the Biggest Loser....

LOST isn't back until next year (AHHHHH!) but I already can't wait. It's the last season and they have a TON of questions to answer for all of us Losties. I'm going to be crushed when it's finally DONE. It's been a fascinating show...

Another show I thought of after adding my pics (it's SUCH a Monday!) is Lie to Me. It was new last year... and REALLY good. It's a show that both husband and I can watch together and enjoy (which is really rare these days...). I often wonder if the things they say show a person to be lying are for real... if they are, it's even MORE interesting. You should totally check it out.

That's my line- up for now. Nothing too major, I'm trying to watch less tv. Of course that all changes when it gets dark at 3 in the afternoon and the high temp for the day is 0. :)

What are YOUR favorite shows to watch this fall? Join us here....

We remember.....

What are your plans.......

So what are your BIG plans for this weekend? Anything exciting to send summer off with a BANG??

I have quite the list of things to get done...

1. Crown molding in our master bedroom - it's been painted and ready for molding (or is it moudling??) for quite some time... as in months. It will be WONDERFUL to finally finish the master bedroom project. I might even spring for curtains... WOOHOO!

2. FInish staining the deck. I'm about half way done... so not too much more. It's crazy time consuming though... rail piece by rail piece. Next time we're getting iron rails :)....

3. Paint great room (Kelli, stop laughing...). This has been an ongoing project for over a year... more like a year and a half. We have a HUGE high wall and I can't reach the whole thing with our ladders. So, half of it is painted, the other half is still the original contractor color. Pathetic. We need to either rent a HUGE ladder or find someone who has one we can borrow. Not to thrilled with having to climb so high (I don't like to wobble) but it REALLY needs to be done soon! It's starting to annoy me.

4. Serious purge of stuff and taking it to Goodwill. I have 2 bags already in the car (yes, they've been there for almost 2 months... oops!) and a couple more about ready to go.

I'm sure there are other things that need to be done (clean carpet, paint master bath, change out huge crap mirror in master...) but we'll see. Not sure if we'll have time :). Thankfully the CHUD starts preschool next week (WOO HOO - all 3 kids in school!!!) so I'll have a couple hour on Tuesday and Thursday's to do my "projects".

Do you have any BIG things to tackle??

Speaking of tackle - GO BUCKEYES!!! First game this Saturday against NAVY.... SO FUN!! :)

Free cheesecake anyone????

How totally scrumptious does this cheesecake look? It's from Cheesecake Factory and it's called Stephanie's Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake - and a slice can be yours... FOR FREE!!!!

Cheesecake Factory is doing a nationwide stamp out hunger sort of thing. You bring in 2 cans of soup - you get a free slice of cheesecake. You have to be within the first 500 to donate... and it's only coming to select cities.

Want more info...? Go here.....

YUM!! THANKS MONEY SAVING MOM for this heads up....! WHAT??? You haven't visited Money Saving Mom's website... she's incredible.... you HAVE to check it out!! I'll make it easy... click on the dollar signs.... $$$$$.

Cheers!! :)

A Confession....

I have been very convicted lately about budgeting our monthly everything :). The confession part - I have NO CLUE HOW TO! Seriously - I've tried to keep track of spending... but I forget to about 4 days in. I've gone through all of our monthly bills, divided them by 12... and now I have a lovely set of averages. I "know" how much I want to spend on different things (groceries, back to school stuff, gifts) but I rarely stick to my set amount.

So today, I decided to try something new with the grocery portion. I bought a gift card. Sounds dumb, eh? But - this could work! I figured that it's September 1, I could buy a gift card for the WHOLE month of grocery shopping. Used cash... not credit for those wondering :). When the gift card is at $0.... I'm done getting groceries for the month. We'll have to live off what we have (I can hear the kids panicking already....). Our basement holds the "Schwadmart" - my stash of extra stuff, so we wouldn't be starving. We might not have bread... but we'll have 10 packages of Betty Crocker cookie mix!

I'm determined to cut back spending (this is VERY hard for me... I LOVE a good bargain!) on "stuff"... so we can save more for our future (college, retirement...).

On a side note - I've started canning... and LOVE it! Seriously... it's SO easy. EVERYONE should try it! We're going to pick apples this weekend (YEAH!!! I'm SO EXCITED) so we'll have some yummy applesauce soon :). Just thought I'd share...

Anywho - what do YOU do to make sure you're not overspending? Any tips for a budget incapable person??