Money brings random thoughts

Soon there will only be one person working in our home + an additional (cute little) mouth to feed. No we haven't hit rock bottom, nor anywhere close in comparison to those who really do need help. We've NEVER taken advantage of government assistance. It's easy to think, "Let's just sign up for this, so we can get this for FREEEE!", but we have reminded ourselves that there are others who must need it more than us, even though we struggle too. And struggling isn't bad either. (We ARE grateful for the help we do receive) You can still indulge once in a while, if you play your cards right and plan out finances. We do, we treat ourselves. You're not human if you don't. We also go to garage sales, shop on the clearance rack, use coupons, research deals......you don't HAVE to be "rich" to have nice things.

I know come October, I will miss working. I've loved working since my first job in high school. Even with James working, I still felt more secure with me also contributing to the money pot. And if you're capable of working, work! (If not, don't sweat it) Thankfully, Heavenly Father has blessed us with family nearby whose schedules have worked perfectly in times when our work schedules conflict. I love being a Mom too, and to me, a part of my love is financially providing for my babies.

Sometimes I look at someone's high income earning job and KNOW I am just as capable. Sometimes as I'm dying in the heat of our Ford Taurus (ac has been broken), I look over and yearn for a glossy new car. Sometimes I want to walk into Sephora and splurge like I was single and carefree. Sometimes I wish I had my own house to call my own, to decorate, to clean, to restock supplies, to cook new yummy meals, to escape to. The list could go on.

Welcome to the humble road.
But how beautiful it still can be with what we'll learn and grow from at this part in our lives. Just remember: 1) What matters most? 2) All things come according to Heavenly Father's time :)

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President Gordon B. Hinckley on motherhood:
“Most of you are mothers, and very many of you are grandmothers and even great-grandmothers. You have walked the sometimes painful, sometimes joyous path of parenthood. You have walked hand in hand with God in the great process of bringing children into the world that they might experience this estate along the road of immortality and eternal life. It has not been easy rearing a family. Most of you have had to sacrifice and skimp and labor night and day. As I think of you and your circumstances, I think of the words of Anne Campbell, who wrote as she looked upon her children:

You are the trip I did not take;

You are the pearls I cannot buy;

You are my blue Italian lake;

You are my piece of foreign sky.

(“To My Child,” quoted in Charles L. Wallis, ed., The Treasure Chest [1965], 54)

You [mothers] are the real builders of the nation wherever you live, for you have created homes of strength and peace and security. These become the very sinew of any nation.”
       - Gordon B. Hinckley, “Women of the Church,” Ensign, Nov 1996, 67