Thrifty living

Our family is seeking to save money in our daily living expenses. We are working on sticking to a tighter budget. Partly we want to save money for our adoption (in the immediate future), but also we've been convicted that we should live more simply and be able to give more to those in need on a regular basis. We are so rich in this country and depend on many things that are luxaries in other places. We recently were reading that a family in a poor country (I forget where) lives in a shack that is 8 ft. by 8 ft....smaller than our smallest bedroom! My husband has been challenging us for some time to give things away...we just had a big yardsale which motivated us to give up, to make money for Lacie's adoption. Friends from our homeschool group gave items for us to sell too which was a blessing. Boy though was it consuming to have to go through so much stuff! We were thankful for the opportunity--to raise money and let local people know what we are doing. Honestly, there seemed to be alot of disinterested people, and it can be disheartening, but we have to remind ourselves that God will move who He wants to care for His orphans and He can provide any way He chooses. He is good! We did raise $200 and will try selling a few things on ebay. Much of the remainder we gave toa local christian mission as at least for now, my husband says, no more yardsales! :)

If YOU have any good money saving ideas, please share them by leaving a comment!


OUr friend has a GREAT blog dedicated to sharing thrifty living ideas:

http://www.thethriftyhousewifeblog.blogspot.com/

We're enjoying trying natural and cheap recipes for laumdry detergent, diaper rash, and dishwashing soap, and she shares a lot of great ideas. Check it out and share with your friends.

We have decided to wait on our braclet and angel fundraiser...

We have decided to wait on our fundraiser because we want you to support the Malone family...they have only 7 weeks to raise $20,000! Please see their beautiful braclets fundraiser at: www.themalonefamily.us. That would be very helpful to them. They are saving Ruslana (RR) from an institution..the orphanage is keeping her for them until they get there. Help their family in whatever way you can! Please grab their button too--the more the word is spread around, the more the help!

Thankyou,
Haylee



Grab This Button

Lacie...

We received good news! Lacie is available (according to the SDA). So, now we can go on with our homestudy :) Yeah!!! There was a little boy we had seen while we were over there in the Ukraine. We found out he was already adopted--we were sad for ourselves, but happy for him. His name was Ivan. (We thought his name was Taras).

Here are a few pictures: :)



Lacie and me (Haylee).



Naomi with Lacie. Lacie is smiling her pretty smile! :)



Sweet Lacie! I can't wait to go over there and grab her!

Have a nice day, and thankyou to everyone who has spread the word or donated to our adoption. We thank God for all the people who have blessed us!

Love,
Haylee