Attack!

Do you believe in spiritual warfare?  I think it is one of those things that I know exists, but when people start talking about angels and demons fighting, I just kinda tune it out.  I feel like, "yeah, yeah, spiritual warfare mumbo jumbo....."

God gave me this scripture:

Isaiah 45: 2-3

I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.  I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

I can not tell you how GREAT this verse is!  Purely AWESOME!  We are waiting on so many things right now and trying to make some hard decision, and I just knew, God was telling me - "I got this. I'm not going to move the mountain, I'm gonna LEVEL that thing!!!  And I'm going to do it, just because I want you to know WHO I AM and that I have YOU by name!"  WOW!  I was feeling pretty incredible.

So, let me tell you about the last 11 days.  I've been in my last two weeks of work, so getting things settled and finished up was stressful - or so I thought.  Here is the summary:

4/10 - Ben throws up at school - I had to go get him
4/11 - Dillan starts throwing up at 4am - both are home from school
4/12 - Dillan home from school again - I come home from work at 2:30 because I start to feel sick and my throat is on FIRE (start antibiotic for strep throat)
4/13 - Ben throws up again all over the kitchen - by the end of the day, James is feeling sick - I am feeling very weak and still sick
4/14 - James is still sick and begins throwing up, I am feeling mostly better
4/15 - James is still not feeling good, Rob wakes up and does not feel good.  He calls in sick and stays home with James.  I have to leave work at 11 because I almost throw up 3 times.  Rob and I get much sicker as the day progresses - our joints hurt so bad...(I am unable to take antibiotic) and my mom has to care for the boys in the evening because we are too sick. I prayed to God, please, heal us!  this is crazy!  We can't be sick again tomorrow!
4/16 - Dillan is throwing up again.  He and I stay home . By the end of the evening, Ben has this strange rash.  I do some research and talk to some moms and think it is 5th disease.  Great.
4/17 - Rob decides to take Ben to the doctor, just in case, STREP THROAT!  Rob and I split this day and I come home at lunch so he can go to work.
4/18 - All kids go to school for the first time in a week.  James and I run some errands while Dillan is at soccer practice.  He tells me his throat hurts. As I am tucking him in, he continues to complain that his throat hurts more.
4/19 - (My LAST day of work) I take James to the doctor - STREP THROAT!

WHAT IS THIS????  SERIOUSLY!?  SERIOUSLY!!!! 

As if all that was not bad enough, my strep throat caused my skin condition to blow up (I do not know a better word to describe this)!  It causes extreme itching and little red spots to appear all over my body.  The last time this happened, I called the Dermatologist and told the receptionist, "You must get me in TODAY or I am going to rip my face off." 

So needless to say, I am feeling a little worn out.  If I ever doubted spiritual warfare, then I don't now!  Yes, our family has passed germs around to each other many times, but we have NEVER ALL gotten it - and then been sick TWICE!  Talk about frustrating!  The odd thing about this, my mother who is still living with us, didn't get ANY of it.  She is ALWAYS sick - yet she stayed healthy as a horse through all of this.  Little crazy, right????  OMG!

What to hear some GOOD news though???????

WE GOT OUR DAUGHTER'S PASSPORT!  AND IT IS RIGHT! 

Now, all we need is that visa from the Embassy and she can come home!

Please say a little prayer for healing....

<3
Christy

What is wrong with these balls!?!?!?!?

My last day of full-time employment is April 19th.  I admit it, I am scared.  Scared to death actually.  I have no idea what is going to happen, but what I can tell you is that when I started to doubt that I was suppose to "come home", God made it painfully obvious that it was his plan.  So, we are stepping out in faith that he will provide.  I am doing all I know to do.  We are analyzing the budget and trying to find ways to cut costs.  We are pairing down the cable to the bare minimum that will not cause us to cancel our contract and pay the early termination fee.  We have saved my last couple of paychecks.  And we have been working on cutting lots of other things - especially the food budget - or as I call it, the "Walmart budget".  I mean, who buys just food there?  Someone always needs something that is NOT food related and it always gets bought.  Know what I mean?  Yeah, you do!

So, there has been lots of hubbub over make it yourself cleaners, laundry soap, glass cleaner, and these stupid BALLS!!!!  These balls have become the bane of my existence the last couple of weeks.  There are directions all over the Internet for these balls, but for some reason, mine are not working.  Take a look:

WHAT IS WRONG HERE?  I'm getting mad now.  You may be wondering, um, what is that ball exactly?  This is suppose to be a "felted wool dryer ball".  Only, mine aren't felting.  No idea why.  I followed the directions.  I actually washed them multiple times and they STILL will not felt.  Then, when I tried to felt them one more time they unwound in the wash.  What's up with that?  UGH!  I went to JoAnn's Fabrics because I was able to "convince" Rob to let me try one more time, so i was looking for wool roving (no, I have no idea what this is, but i was looking for it.)  Couldn't find it, so I am contemplating what to do next with these things.

Next, thanks to my friend Laura, I made my own All Purpose Cleaner:

You know what?  I like it!  Alot!  Here is the recipe:

All Purpose Cleaner

2 Tablespoons Vinegar

1 teaspoon of Borax

a few drops of mild dish soap

10 drops of essential oil (optional)

 

In a 16 spray bottle put vinegar, borax and hot water. Swish around until borax has dissolved. Add the drops of dish detergent and fill the rest of the bottle with water. Add the essential oil - any you want - lavender, orange, lemon!

 

 

Then, there was a thread on saving money in one of the adoption boards about making laundry cleaner.  I had made the liquid one before and was not very excited to do it again, but the cost effectiveness is unbelievable.  Then, someone posted a powder form and I knew that was the one:

 

 

This is pretty awesome!  I was SO SURPRISED how well this worked.  The whole thing cost about 16 dollars to make - including the tub you see.  It is going to last about 4 - 6 months!  Can you imagine?  6 months!  That's alot of savings!  Here is the recipe, in case you would like to try it, but be careful, it makes ALOT!

Laundry Detergent

1 box of Borax

1 box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

3 bars of Fels-Naptha

1 small tub of Oxi-Clean

1 large bottle of Downy Unstoppables (for the fresh smell)

 

Dump all ingredients into large container.  Grate the Fels-Naptha with a cheese grater, the smallest grater, into the tub.  Mix well.  Use 1/8 cup per load.  I found that a coffee scoop is exactly 1/8th cup!

 

So, needles to say, I am pretty excited about these cost savings.  If you can help me figure out what is wrong with my dryer balls, please let me know, I'm dying to fix them!

 

I'm sure some of you were hoping on an adoption update - I am too!  Will update with more exciting stuff later this week or early next week - not adoption related!

 

<3,

Christy