Thursday, February 10, 2011

My Little Puzzler

Desmond takes after me in his love for puzzles.  Yesterday we had fun putting together every jigsaw puzzle he has.  We have long since left the wooden peg puzzles in favor of jigsaw puzzles.  A few months ago I did a 1000-piece puzzle and while I was sorting Desmond put together the first three pieces on his own.  He can do 48 piece puzzles all by himself now, so I’m thinking of getting even bigger ones for him. 

It was Desmond’s idea to not wear clothes so that’s why he’s only in a diaper and socks.  And yes, he’s back in diapers.  Our last potty training session lasted eight weeks, but he was still having lots of major accidents, and I can only remember about four times where he told us he needed to go potty.  My hospital stay totally derailed everything so it is back to diapers for now.

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Monday, February 07, 2011

Financial (or should I say “Faith”) Testing

The second half of last year was expensive with a house purchase, unexpected hospital bills, a new roof, and a major vehicle repair. Well, the trend is continuing into 2011. We’ve been trimming down our budget for the last few months wherever we can, but it seems every little bit we save gets eaten up and then some by some unavoidable bill. We got zinged with another big hospital bill (have to put it on a payment plan this time), a car that failed emissions (there goes another couple hundred) and then decided to break down completely yesterday (actually make that closer to a thousand). Ack! At least I already had an appointment for the emissions work so we knew right where to have it towed.

The sermon yesterday talked about difficulties driving us to dependence on God rather than ourselves. I feel like waving my arms and saying, “Um, God, do you see what we’ve already had to pay for? Do you see what we have left? Do you see my pregnant belly ticking down to even more expenses?” His reply to me is, “Do you see what I’ve already provided? Do you trust me to keep my promise and continue to provide?” Yes, thank you for the Christian mechanic, the clearance baby clothes, Davin's mom giving us AAA, and for the previous house owners finally paying off their water bill. Of course God knows exactly what we’re facing and He’s asking us to trust Him. It’s all His money anyway and if this is how He wants to spend it, then okay. We’re just trying to make the best decisions we can with what we’ve been given. Here’s hoping for a nice tax return and that we can qualify for the kids to be on Washington’s Apple Health for Kids health insurance program.