WE’RE DEBT FREE!!!!!

March 12, 2011 by 5 Comments

Nelnet Paid-in-Full

As of about a month ago, our last loan is paid-in-full, and we are completely debt free besides our mortgage! Praise God! It’s been a long road, and we give God ALL the glory for his amazing provision in times of plenty and times of want. We often use the phrase “Jehovah Jireh” around here!

We estimate that we paid off approximately $70,000 in the last three-ish years on a single income. And to celebrate, we are leading a Financial Peace University class at our church, starting this Tuesday.

WOO-HOO!

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Beach Day!

March 5, 2011 by 5 Comments

In an attempt to beat the winter blues, the Rumleys had an official “Beach Day” at home today. It was a perfect way to spend our Saturday.

It was snowing outside, with no sunshine in sight…but our heat was turned WAY up. And we had a kiddie pool of warm water in the basement.

We danced to some Beach Boys on Pandora, we played with beach balls, the kiddos splashed in the water…And then when they were ready to dry off, we used fake money to “buy” popsicles from Gracie in the Snack Shack.

Then we took our popsicles upstairs to the “beach,” and ate them as we sat on our beach towels.



I’m delighting in the joy in our children’s eyes today. Because one of these days, I’m going to wake up, and our boys will be too old to drool their grape popsicles onto their bare chests.

And our girls will be too big to wear ruffles on their bottoms.

I want to soak it all in.

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Frugonomics 101

March 5, 2011 by 5 Comments

Our awesome church has a ministry called “Gleaner’s Guild,” where women teach women practical skills. Thus far, most (or all?) of the classes have been in regards to food preparation…making homemade fruit pie, making and canning homemade salsa, applesauce, etc, etc…But now that the harvest season and Christmas holidays are past, we’ve moved on to some other topics. And I had the honor of teaching a class on couponing!

I’d been approached by some friends at church, asking if I could share my understanding of couponing with them. And I did have one girlfriend over to have a one-on-one session with her. But as more people asked, I thought it would be best to just offer one class to the church, and hopefully be able to explain it to everyone in one fell swoop!

So, this past Tuesday I hosted “Frugonomics 101″ at the church. We had a great turnout! Maybe 20-23 people?

I made up little booklets of information, bought Sunday newspapers for everyone (for the coupon inserts), and made up a little game (which you can play in a moment!). I was a little (or a lot?) nervous about being able to convey all the information well, but I think that it ended up going great!

Here are some pictures from the night…



The game we played was a simple guessing game. I posted a picture of a shopping trip I made, and they had to guess how much money I spent out of pocket on the goods. The person who guessed the closest won a gift basket of goodies I pulled from my stockpile. Would you care to take a stab at how much money I spent on the items below?

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Fun with Shaving Cream

March 5, 2011 by 3 Comments

Admit it. Spelling can be a boring school subject. So, in order to spice it up a little, we spread some shaving cream on the counter, and Grace practiced her words there. Caleb also practiced writing his numbers correctly, as he’s still learning the basics. Ava and Jaden just liked getting their hands messy.

Here are a few pictures of the fun…




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Remembering

February 25, 2011 by 5 Comments


I took Grace (and the other kiddos) to a doctor appointment today, because her ears hurt. Turns out she has an ear infection, poor girl.

As I was driving, I realized the date. February 25. Two years ago today, I was driving to a different doctor appointment. One that changed our lives. It was the one where we found out our Gracie has Type 1 diabetes.

And now, after two years, I’m still going to praise God for His goodness. He Has a plan for my girl, and I’m so thankful to know that “all the days ordained for [her] were written in [His] book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16).

Grace is a stellar diabetic. She tests her blood without complaint. She’s on a {pink} insulin pump, and has to have that site changed about once every three days – so much better than the twelve shots she used to have every three days! She’s still doing well with her A1C, and her 3-month check-ups have continued to go well.

I look forward to the appointments, because pretty much every time we go, she has grown! When she was diagnosed two years ago, I believe she was 32 pounds and 32 inches. In the first year after diagnosis, she gained 10 pounds and 10 inches. And at her appointment earlier this month, she was 55-1/2 pounds and 49-1/2 inches. She, that’s another 13-1/2 pounds and 7-1/2 inches in the past year. She’s definitely going to be tall like her daddy!

We have seen God’s provision in so many ways these past two years – including Children’s Special Health Care Services, really great pharmacy insurance, and GREAT doctors/nurses at Spectrum.

What was a very scary, overwhelming diagnosis two years ago has turned our eyes toward the One who created Grace (and all of us). I just have to praise Him!!!

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