Life with Bug, Bean and the Boy

A quick and easy pic post today. In the process of revamping the site- let us know what you think of the new design!

The three below were as we put the girls together to capture a pic to make into a thank you card...

Amidst all my complaints, the hard days, the stresses and uncertainty of my job for the past 18 months and a million other worries, it has been made clear to me this week that God's gifts come in many packages.

I'm not shy in sharing that, since Nov of last year, we have not been paid commission at work. That equates to a 30% pay cut (on top of a 5% cut that will be taken out of the first commission check we do receive- ETA as yet TBD) that we have been working with for 7 months. On paper- our income can not cover our expenses, and we have done MAJOR work in paring these down.

We completed our Dave Ramsey course and have eliminated all unnecessary expenses, have drilled down our grocery budget and limited eating out to a very bare minimum. We use a budget every month/week. We haven't planned any vacations that we can't recoup some cost by incorporating a business trip so as to be reimbursed for mileage. We are using the debt snowball to pay down debts. We have only one car, and have done so since Feb of 2008. And still we are below the line as it were.

Yet somehow, each month, God provides. From a tax refund to mileage reimbursements that provide just enough extra to get us through, there have been gifts from God that have seen us through. Each month. Without fail. Just this past week we were able to sell extra equipment and furniture from my company office that is no longer in use. We posted it on Craigslist last Thursday. As of today, every thing is gone- to the tune of about $300 each for myself and my co-worker.

It's scary to make a budget for the next month, not knowing what will cover it this time. But it is also kind of reassuring to know that we have 7 months of precedence to provide more confidence. So God is good to us, and makes sure that we are taken care of. I certainly don't like not being the one in charge, but at this point, there is nothing I can do to change the math, so it is up to Him! That's not to say, if anyone happens to read this and knows of some job openings, please send them my way!!

And finally, what I am reminded of every day are the 3 best gits of all. Money could be gone, jobs lost, everything else falling apart and I would know that I am greatly blessed because of these gifts. Yay God. Yay for me too- my life is really quite awesome.


Amelia loves to wear mommy's pretties, daddy's shoes, and her old hat that is way too small for her gargantuan cranium. "HEAD-move...NOW" (if you get that reference, thank you, if not- it loses much in explanation so please disregard)

We are back after a bit of a mini-vacation- we traveled up two Thursdays ago to visit Shannon's side of the family and enjoy some good times there. We then left around noon on Sunday to drive down to North Carolina and surprise my dad for Father's Day/his birthday- I think he enjoyed his littlest visitors! Unfortunately we forgot the camera, so no pics of all that :( The girls did great on the full 1400 mile odyssey, and we enjoyed getting away form Lexington for a while. Some recent pics are below, just a smattering for now:

Eliza is already getting so big, and is really becoming her own person.


Luckily big sister likes her, and has been great in playing with her. Though lately she has taken to trying to giver her noogies...I think she was moving in for one here when we caught her in the act



While they don't really look a lot alike, their fussy face is about the same...Amelia isn't in a full on fuss here, but you can see the resemblance around the angry eyes and nose