Business Time

Just kidding Amy...:) just have that stuck in my head.
Still not much new today. The weather is perfect, so if I'm not at work Parker and I have been outside gardening and biking. Well, or inside napping. Yesterday I guess I spent most of it inside because I had a lot of budget to catch up on. But, hooray for us, we got our budget for June wrapped up on July 1. Usually it's more like a week in to the next month and that's just confusing. But this month it is done. And wonder of wonder, we have money left! God has really blessed our budgeting efforts and although we aren't rich by any stretch of the imagination, we have enough and a little left over. We are able to meet our needs, have a little fun, and give when the opportunity arises. A lot of that comes from Mike's burning the candle at both ends and being willing to do this, as he puts it, "so that some day we won't have to." My fear is that by that time we won't have a family relationship to enjoy. Beyond that, though, I'm grateful for how he provides for us. I mean this month we bought a car, and so while our "business" didn't make money, we also had had it saved up, so nothing took a shock. I"m also really grateful that we've had wise guidance to get us set in the right path. Our financial adviser got us set up and thinking of future needs so that we started right away to put a little bit towards things like cars and appliances. This way, we didn't waste that extra income when we had it and when the time came that we needed those things, the money was there! I can't forget the fact though that God just plain takes care of us. Between the two of us, we work four paying jobs, but none of them bring in the big bucks. We recently got an up in Mike's pay though from someone offering extra "missionary support" so that gives us a little extra breathing room and is a huge blessing. Now I'm working on curbing my spending. I used to be good at it, but out here there's not much to do for entertainment beyond shopping or eating out. I always wondered why I saw people doing that so much...If I stay home I am pretty effective at not spending money, but then I also tend to get bored and depressed or sometimes I shop online. In reality I would probably spend less money if I had the time and venue to go to a coffee shop because then it would be just one coffee and hours of entertainment. :) Oh, and another blessing is that our cost of living is very low. All in all, it adds up to doing pretty good. For the first time in my life I don't have to worry about money and having spent 21 years with it hanging over my head, that is a relief. On the flip side though, I'm grateful for those years of worry because I got to see God do some cool things. That makes the place we are now even neater though because as we are faithful in discipline it seems we just keep getting to see him bless us and provide. I hope this doesn't come across as bragging, because if anything it's humbling to be in such a place. I'm just grateful, that's what I am.