A picture my brother sent me from Germany...

OK, so I know this doesn't represent what I am doing this summer since it's a picture my brother took in Germany, but I so love it and had to share.

1000 Gifts: June 2011 Edition #171-185

I was listening to a John Piper sermon entitled "Sustained by All His Grace" and this quote really stood out to me.  "The function of gratitude is to worship the Lord for yesterday's grace and in that worship to have our faith in tomorrow's grace strengthened."  And that is so why I catalog my gifts.  I find my faith strengthened as I read through my gifts.  I know that His mercies are new every morning.  And cataloging these gifts opens my eyes to Him and His work all around me.

171.  God's grace
172.  Adorable little baby clothes and toys from my students
173.  Softy, fuzzy blankets
174.  Pale yellow colors
175.  Peanut butter cups
176.  The crunch of green, green celery as I slice it up for salad
177.  Sermons online to listen to as I rest and as I work
178.  Strength to get work done around the apartment
179.  Encouraging Christian women
180.  Coupons and blogs to help me save us money
181.  Family stopping in to visit
182.  My husband making me dinner when I'm too sick to cook
183.  FlyLady to help keep me from becoming too overwhelmed
184.  Chocolate milk
185.  A full to do list

Reading the Bible in 90 days

 I have taken up a new challenge.  I'm going to read through the entire Bible in 90 days.  I have been praying about getting involved in a Bible study this summer, but all of the classes that I'm interested in here in my town don't start up again until the fall.  Then I read about the 90 Day Challenge on a blog I like to frequent and I knew this was the challenge for me.  Be praying for me, dear readers.  This is a huge commitment and I'm going to need a lot of prayers to keep me going.  But I'm so excited!  Anyone want to join me in this challenge?

Here's the link to the blog and the official sign-up post. 

My bucket and Febreeze

I was so sick today.   There is no air conditioning in my classroom and so my vomiting returned in earnest.  My bucket and Febreeze were my constant companions as I taught today.

My desk at the end of a 13 hour work day...feels so good to get a lot accomplished!

Breakfast at Ciaran's parents' home

Ciaran's dad, uncle, aunt and guests from India (and me, preggy belly and all). 

We're packed and ready to head off to visit family and friends for the weekend!

Thermometer for our House Down Payment Fund!

As we have progressed through Dave Ramsey's baby steps, we found creating wall thermometers to be really motivating.  Our first one was for our debt and we colored it in with red marker.  Then once we started working on our fully funded emergency fund, we switched to green (because we were finally paying ourselves instead of paying debtors).  For part one of our house down payment goal, we're doing green again.  It was so fun creating this today and then hanging it up in our little laundry area.

Couponing

Another day of no school because of storm damage and my pregnancy sickness is now confined to only being severe in the morning hours...so I actually started to catch up on my couponing today.  So much fun!

June 2011: Monthly Financial Check-up

I have been meaning to post some updates on our financial journey for quite a few months now and have yet to find the time to do it.  Crystal over at Money Saving Mom gave me the motivation to finally do so.  At the beginning of this year, Ciaran and I came up with quite a few financial goals and we're still determined to meet them...even though we're now expecting our first child in November and I am transitioning from full-time employment outside of the home to SAHM status (i.e. no paycheck coming in any longer).  We so want to honor the Lord with the finances He has blessed us with. Here's our 2011 progress so far.

2011 Financial Goals

1.  Pay for Ciaran's first grad. class with cash 

2.  Finish Babystep 3 (6 months fully funded emergency fund)

3.  Meet with an investing ELP

4.  Begin contributing to a Roth IRA or an IRA

5.  Pay for Ciaran's second and third grad. class with cash

6.  Save for Ciaran's fourth grad. class (tuition due in December)

7.  Save for Ciaran's fifth and sixth grad. class (tuition due in April 2012) 89% done

8.  Save $5,000 toward house down payment fund 5% done

9.  Pay for all birthing expenses in cash