God and the Envelopes

I don't know how you do finances in your family, but Steve and I work off of the envelope system. Every two weeks we go to the bank with Steve's check and get out a certain amount of cash in SMALL bills (small is important later) and we divide them up among envelopes that say Grocery, Haircuts, Clothing, etc. and we use that cash to live on. The other money goes into the bank for tithing, savings, bills etc.

So...there are times when certain expenses come up that are unexpected and it is in those times that I say," Ok, God, we've got this expense...where is that money going to come from?" It is amazing to watch God work this out.

I had one of those experiences this week.

Ben outgrew all of his jeans (except one pair) overnight. So...usually what I do is pray, God, we need (blank) item of clothing and I don't know where it is going to come from, so I'm gonna give you a week to provide before I use the envelope money. Usually when I pray this prayer someone walks into Steve's office with a bag of hand-me-downs but that didn't happen this time. This time we went to a youth worker meeting at a friend's house and as we were walking out the door, my friend said, "Oh, wait...I've got a pair of jeans that Ben left here a few weeks ago when he spent the night." They just so happened to still fit as well. Yea, God. Thanks!!!! So now I have 2 pair that fit. I waited and prayed a week this same prayer in hopes that another pair or two would show up. Meanwhile Ben wore dirty jeans (please don't judge) and I did a lot of laundry to keep the jeans that fit washed up. So...this weekend, I told Steve I've got to go to the store and buy Ben some new jeans. (My mom says that we only had two pair of jeans when we were little, but she must have been SUPERMOM. I just can't keep two pair clean and boys are messy. ) So...I survived a week on 2 pair of jeans for him and then I was at my wits end and had to go shop for some new.

Steve had just gotten paid, so before I left for the store I had to divide up the money to go into the envelopes so that I didn't spend the grocery money on jeans etc. So, I went to get my purse and get the envelopes and I remembered that I had been working out of two different purses. So, I found both purses and started gathering envelopes to sort money.

When I reached into the second purse to pull out the envelopes, there was a crisp $100.00 bill stuck in between them.

I have no idea when the last time was that I have even held a $100.00 bill (remember we get small bills at the bank.) So, I ran into the house to tell Steve that God had provided once again and happily went to the store to buy my growing boy some jeans.

School Days

Well, we are officially back in school. We are getting our routine down again and we seem to be doing well so far this year. We were very excited to have a day off today though!


Showing off our backpacks.


Ben's first day of 3rd grade.


Drew's first day of kindergarten.


My back to school flowers from Steve.

Summer Vacation

Vacation this year was amazing! We had no intentions of getting to go back to Disney anytime soon, but a family in our church gave us a week in a timeshare in Orlando. So, off to Disney we did go! We took my niece and sister-in-law with us and we absolutely had a blast. We spent a week in Orlando and then visited family for a week after that. It was so nice to get to rest and visit with family. We had a great time. Thank you, Ferrells, for making our vacation possible!

While we were on vacation, our kittens disappeared. I am none too sad about that, but I did help the boys make a LOST KITTEN flyer on the computer. They sweated heartily as they passed them out to the houses in our neighborhood. Still no sign of them, but I must admit, I'm not sad about not sticking my hand in stinky cat food and changing dirty cat water and sweeping the back porch twice a day. Please, no one give us any more. We have gotten over it!

Speaking of sweating, it is incredibly HOT this summer. Unless we are swimming, we are holed up in our house with blinds shut and lights off. UGH. It is too hot to do anything! I'm ready for Fall weather with Summer agenda! Is that possible?

Father's Day 2009

We had a big day on Sunday. Not only was it Father's Day, but it also happened to be the day that Steve got to baptize Ben.

Ben has been asking questions about becoming a Christian for many months, so Steve enrolled him in our church's Now That I'm a Christian class. We had workbook work to do every night for about a month. A week or two into the class he assured us that he knew what he was doing and he was ready to become a Christian. So, on May 1, 2009, a freshly showered Ben sat in his PJs in between Steve and I on the couch and asked Jesus to come into his life. It was an answer to a prayer we have been praying for 8 years. We had several weeks where we were super busy and it wasn't "convenient" for Ben to go down front (petting zoos, meetings, etc) but finally the big Sunday came and Ben went down to talk to Pastor Brent and tell him that he was ready to be baptized. It turned out that Father's Day was the next available Sunday that baptisms were happening and all the grandparents could attend. It was a perfect day. Ben smiled from ear to ear all day. We had ham and all the fixings for a big Sunday lunch and lots of family came to share this special day.

Thank you all for making the trip to Kaufman. It is a day that we will always remember!

Summertime fun!

Whew! We have had a busy and fun summer already and there is still lots more to be had.

The boys have gone to VBS at church and Steve and I helped with Jr. High Superweek at the same time. We hadn't played kickball in years, but our team won with much rejoicing and sore legs the next morning! We had great fun.

Steve and I also traveled to San Antonio so he could get some school board training. Steve was in class all day, and I got to sleep late and shop with my friend Jennifer. We shopped till we dropped at The Quarry and the San Marcos Outlets. We also got to hang out with Cindy Rich and Julie Wages from church. Lots of good food and fun times were had by all. At night we had great San Antonio food. We had fun seeing friends and getting into a Mariachi war with the Rhoades family. Bezner/Murrey Team: 3 Rhoades Team:1.

During the San Antonio trip, the boys were on the second annual Grandparent Trip with Mimi and PawPaw. They went camping in a trailer with a bunch of the cousins. They swam, tubed, rode in the boat, panned for "gold", rode golf carts and cooked over the fire. They were spoiled and dirty when they got home. They had a fabulous time. Thanks, Mimi and PawPaw for the great trip!

This week we have gone swimming at Hootie's house a few times and have picked blueberries in Edom. The boys have spent two nights with friends (thanks James and Murreys for the invites!). I've done a scrapbook from two summers ago, done every stitch of laundry in the house, looked up every blueberry recipe I can find and we have helped at two Jr. High Bible studies.

Things are crazy, but so good. I love the Summer! Thank you, Lord, for all your blessings!



Blueberry Hills Farm in Edom, TX



Swimming at Hootie's!

Only In Kaufman...

do you come home and see this in your neighbor's driveway!

School's Out (Almost!) For Summer!!!!!

Whoohoo!

One more day of kids followed by one more day of Teacher Work Day! I'm so excited. Summer is coming!

We've had a great school year. Ben has made straight A's in second grade and is excited about third.

Drew is PUMPED about being in kindergarten next year. He is now asking every day about being in school. He has several school shirts picked out already.

Steve and I are excited to have one less daycare bill starting in September. Yea!

We are also excited to exchange t-ball & homework for swimming at Hootie's house and outings with the youth.

The boys have VBS and a Grandparent trip with Mimi, Paw Paw and all the cousins next week so things are starting off with a bang.

We are so excited and we can't wait to see what the Summer holds!