Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Thought for the Day

"It is impossible for the character of Christ to grow in the mind of a person whose mind is filled with the sewage of the world."

Source: unknown

Monday, June 14, 2010

Frugal Friday: Freebies!

Freebies!

  • I know that at least ONE of my blog readers (Hi, Bridget!) does not care for John MacArthur, but if anyone is interested, you can get a free copy of John MacArthur's book The Quest for Character at this link. Be sure to click on "Request Offer" rather than the book title, so that you'll be able to take advantage of the free offer.
  • Each month, christianaudio.com gives away an audio download for free. Check back each month!
  • Did you know that Amazon.com has TONS of used books for sale for $0.01? That's right, a penny! The catch? Shipping. The shipping charge is $3.99, so you'll be paying $4.00 per book. Not bad at all compared to how much the same book would cost new. You can search at Pretty Penny Books, which lists 189,000 one-cent used books available at Amazon... or search directly on the Amazon website. Interested in an easy way to earn some free Amazon gift cards to spend on those one-cent books? Tune in next Friday for my review on Swagbucks, a website/search engine that has earned me $25.00 in Amazon gift cards over the course of the past three months. If you're already interested in joining Swagbucks (free!), and don't want to wait for my review next week, please be sure to join via my referral link so that I can get credit. :)

Friday, June 11, 2010

Frugal Friday: A Moment of Silence

Let's all observe a moment of silence on behalf of my dearly departed paycheck! Today I received my final one. Rest in peace, paycheck. You have served me well... but now it's time for me to serve others well.


Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Happy at Home

It's been eighteen days since my last day working outside the home. I'd like to say that we have settled in to our "new normal", but we have yet to experience what that might be!

So far, I have spent more time driving extended family members around than staying at home. There has been one surgery, numerous errands, an extra person staying with us for a few days, and some scary mental illness episodes resulting in three separate trips to the emergency room, as well as pharmacies and mental health clinics.

Not too fun... and yet I am beyond thankful that I have been able to be there for my beloved nephew as he struggles with psychotic episodes. It's certainly not the way I had hoped to spend my first weeks off of work... but as I sit in the emergency room night after night I continue to be overcome with thankfulness. I'm thankful to be able to sit up with him all night, without having to worry about having to work the next day, or worry about having to take time off the next day in order to sleep. I'm thankful to be available to drive over to him at a moment's notice when he needs my reassurance that what he thinks is happening is really not happening. I'm thankful to be able to drive him to his appointments during the day, rather than having to be at work.

I'm titling this post "Happy at Home". I haven't been home much... and it's not a happy time... and yet, I am happy. Happy to be right where God wants me to be. I never wanted to see my 19-year old nephew walk this road... but I am beyond grateful that God has allowed me to be available to walk that road alongside him.