Hello friends, and welcome.

This week has been a whirlwind of activity. We took our children to Dollywood on Sunday to experience their Summer Celebration. We had a grand time, and it was even worth getting back home at 1 am. That’s saying a lot, because I am not a night owl! We have season passes to the park and we thought it would be fun to go once more before school started back.

I have been planning out our new home school year, and am almost there. There are still a few things I need to purchase before we start. I probably will do (most of) that today.

I’ve kept a closer eye on our finances lately. I’ve spaced out discretionary spending when I can, and have really thought good and hard about a purchase before I make it.

I let some of my good money habits slide after we paid off our mortgage, and I’ve realized that I need to get myself back on track. Good money management is super important whether we have a mortgage or not.

We’ve been more mindful of points and rewards we’ve accumulated and try our best to use them. For example, we are members of the Ace Rewards program and we purchase our goat feed at a local Ace Hardware. We realized one of our rewards was about to expire, so we made a quick stop there on our date night. I’m so glad we did! They doubled our reward and we were able to get a month’s supply of goat feed for $9.00.

$9.00!

I believe the Lord hears our prayers and He will definitely help us out when we make an effort to change for the better. He knows what we need and His mercies are new every morning.

I’ve been praying a lot about our finances lately and have also been taking steps to increase my faith. There really is never a need to worry about our money if we have faith that God will take care of us. It’s helpful to remember that our lot in life is for our good, and that comparing ourselves to others usually causes discontentment and harm. This isn’t to say that we shouldn’t try to improve ourselves and our family’s financial situation. Not in the least! But I think it’s good to remember that wherever we are right now is where God wants us to be at the moment. There is no better place since He usually teaches us important lessons through difficulty.

Anyhow, I plan to purchase Teaching Textbook curriculum for my kiddos within the next few days, and then after my husband’s next paycheck I will buy a Finance curriculum for my daughter and some preschool things for Moses. Then that should be it as far as our curriculum goes!

I would like to encourage you to take heart and be encouraged wherever you are. If you trust in God everything is going to be alright.

Thank you so much for stopping by today, friends.

Blessings, Nicole

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