Joy in the Journey: Thankful Thursday: Good Deals and God's Provision

It's no secret I like good deals! It's not easy living off one income around here and save for our adoption. When I was working full time as a nanny, not only did God place a huge desire in my heart to be a mom, but a stay at home mom at that. Bryan felt the same way too, but we knew it would be a huge challenge to afford (especially on his salary). But just like when we decided to trust God with our adoption, we also wanted trust Him with this too. So, at the time the family that I was a nanny for moved away, and we decided to pursue our adoption, we also decided to try and see if we could make living off one income work. I have had to learn to be very thrifty. We weren't big spenders anyway, so this was going to be some task. Well, it didn't take long, and I discovered couponing. I'm sure everyone knows now about couponing because of the TLC show, but 2 years ago, couponing was actually not as known as it is now. I really felt that it was a miracle that I stumbled across a website one night and listened to a online seminar about it. So, once I started couponing, and got good at it, I was actually able to cut our grocery budget by 60% and often times even more! As much as it saved us though, it didn't save quite enough. We had to reevaluate our budget. We cut our cable, we didn't eat out, we didn't buy clothes, and we continue to drive our paid for, 14 year old cars, all to make this dream of mine of being home with our children come true. And let me just say, this has NOT been easy. It's so hard to say no sometimes to friends or family when they want to go out to eat and do something fun. It's hard to have to figure out another outfit to wear to church when you have so few options. It's hard to drive around a beat up car with no air conditioning. But when I think about why I'm doing this, I know I wouldn't trade it for the world. We have been able to pay all our bills, tithe, and even give occasionally. Sometimes it doesn't make sense to us where money comes from, but we know that God has been providing for us. Not only has He provided for me to be at home, but also for our $30,000+ adoption along the way! Even when it looked like there was no way we could do it, God managed to make it work and continues to make it work! So, this Thankful Thursday, I am thankful for good deals, yes, but more importantly I am thankful for the One who provides them!

And just for fun, here are some of the good deals God has provided via craigslist for our soon to come little one. ;)