This happened while I was actually on the computer....otherwise, this too would be sucked into the story vortex never to be revealed to friends and family.

Abby was in the other room telling Mike all about the Apostle Paul (actually, she was preaching a sermon - it had 3 points and everything). She was talking about Paul's Damascus Road experience....although, she couldn't quite remember the name of the road.

"What was that road again? Gymnastics?"

What do Seals & Crofts know anyway...I don't know what Summer Breeze they were sitting in, but it's not the one in our town. I'm here to tell you....SUMMER is here. And I've been told by more than a few people that this ain't nuthin' baby. Today was the first day that I started to wonder if I will survive my first summer in Tennessee. I could be wrong, but I'm sure I saw it reach 98 degrees....maybe my mind was playing tricks on me. I'm praying that God would extend weather favor to me by removing any possibility of the temperature in our zipcode rising above 74 degrees. Ok, ok....it's not that bad....I'm just a heat whimp, what can I say. And, actually today there was a nice summer breeze - and, it did make me feel fine. But, there was not jasmine to speak of.

Ok, enough already with the S&C references...let's get down to some updating.

BIBLE THUMPER
As you probably read in our last update, Abby made a big decision recently. To celebrate her citizenship in the Kingdom, Mike and I got her a "big girl" bible. It's the NIrV Adventure Bible and it's quite nice! It's got great study tools and fun things to do to reinforce what the Word says. Abby is reading pretty good and is able to actually read from her bible. We made a deal with her that if she reads a verse on her own, she can mark it with a highlighter. The great part about this is that she reads it over and over again and essentially memorizes it in the process! Not sure what it is about a highlighter....who knew that highlighting some words would be such a motivation. Anyway, so far she has 3 verses highlighted I think. 2 of them (from Proverbs) teach us about telling the truth and heeding a warning. Mamma like.

More news on the Abby front...we got news in the mail yesterday that the school she tested for at the end of the month has invited her to attend their Kindergarten program. Although we were quite impressed with the public school across the street, we are very excited for Abby to be part of this school. I can't believe my baby is going to go to school. I can't imagine her not being with me for that many hours a day.

COUPON QUEEN
We are so thankful for the cost of living here...and although we are suffering from food and gas price increases just like the rest of the country, we are actually able to (for the first time in many years) live within our means. I'm sure many of you have heard me say that it was only by the grace of God that we lived each month....on paper, things did not work. Once the mortgage was paid, there wasn't much left over to rub together. However, we always got by and had things we needed (and sometimes wanted). I'll never figure out how that worked, but I'm here to say that it didn't have anything to do with me or Mike. To be honest, we never really had a budget (oh, we had a theoretical one that I would always refer to when I needed to sound like I was a good steward with our money) and alot of times we spent money on things that we never really should have. But, that's all water under the bridge.....because.....drumroll please......this frivolous feather merchant is now a coupon commando!

I said we were living within our means now, but I didn't say it was necessarily comfy! Since we have sat down and budgeted our money and done a 30 day diary, we now see that it's important for us to be frugal wherever we can. Especially if we want to buy a house soon. So unless money starts growing on trees, it's up to me (Office Manager of Club Amaro) to start making things happen (or not happen as the case may be). I have started following a number of blogs (incidentally, all published by Moms....funny, huh?) that give incredible information about how to maximize coupons and get stuff for next to nothing. It's actually a whole underground society that scares me and excites me all at the same time. Yes it's true - I'm all about coupons now...and slowly but surely my goal is to pay nothing or close to it for many things that my family needs....and if my family doesn't need it, I can bless somebody else with it. I am starting to get the hang of it a little bit....my most recent victory was buying 2 bottles of Head and Shoulders shampoo and making $1.49. Yes - I actually made money and got 2 bottles of shampoo that normally cost $5.49 each. If you want to see what got me started down this road, check out this article.