Thanksgiving Meals

I know many of you saw that I collected items to provide meals for local families in our area.

I don't want to seem like I'm "flaunting" what we did here and I won't get into TOO much detail about it all so some stuff can remain private, but I DO want to flaunt those who helped and how many people we all helped feed.

Here's a quick recap: We gave to a total of 8 families.

Here are the stats:

Family #1 - 1 adult & 3 kids -6, 7, 8

Family #2 - 2 adults & 2 kids - 11, 9

Family #3 - 2 adults & 3 kids - 12, 9, 4

Family #4 - 2 adults & 3 kids - 4, 6, 2

Family #5 - 2 adults & 2 kids

Family # 6 - 3 adults & 4 kids, 11 & 3 teenage boys (one son was a vegetarian)

Family # 7 - 2 adults & 3 kids Family #8 - 2 adults & 4 kids, 11, 11, 6, 1 & a baby on the way

Total: 40 PEOPLE!!!

All the families ranged from needs like just not making ends meet to as bad as was laid off and then had a heart attack. I think possily one family wasn't as honest as they could have been about their situation -- I think she was "double dipping" from us and a Food bank, but in the end we still followed thru. Mostly because Hubby said we'd give her the meal even though I wasn't ok with it.

While I wasn't present at giving all the meals I know they were over the moon excited abnd blown away about how MUCH we gave them. I think they were expecting just a turkey.

Here is what one of the families said:

Marcie & James & all, I dont know where to begin. This blessing is overwhelming to us and was/is so very needed. Thank you for helping our children believe in miracles. Thank you for shining hope into our lives. We appreciate this so much.

Here is what was donated that I didn't have to provide a CENT for! When I said I was going to do this, God just BLEW our minds with how many people lined up to help. james and I didn't have to provide hardly anything in the end.

Even complete strangers offered to help.

Here's the stats on what was given and put into their meals:

*Reusable bags to put the items in! HECK YA!!

*Rolls including 6 bags donated from the Pioneer bakery in Town Puyallup

*Turkey''s including a To-furkey for a veggie Teen!

*Roasting pans

*Foil

*Pumpkin Puree for pies

*Whipped Cream

*Pie Crusts

*Evaporated Milk

*loads of stuffing

*Cranberry Sauce

*Canned Veggies

*chicken noodle & tomato soups

*black beans

*Canned Sweet Potatoes

*Gravy

*Sparkling Juice

*Spices for Pies

*hot chocolate

*Pototoes

*Cash that was used to buy additional turkey's

And I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out because THAT was how much was donated!!

So wow. Thanks for all my FB friends who helped me do this!! Without you guys I couldn't have done this and I mean it. Here's to next year where we'll blow these stats OUT of the water. This has been our biggest year yet and sadly it has been the year where more people were in need. God Bless you ALL this Thanksgiving! Who knows what we could do for Christmas....hmmm......

Oh Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen...

Oh its coming --- its rapidly approaching us and I'm ready! 39 days and counting as of today.
BUT wait!
Lets not think about those Black Friday deals or the Holiday deals. Let's think about the Great Commission and what it means to us.

Christmastime shouldn't be a time to stress ourselves out. IT should be a time to GIVE GIVE GIVE. Last year we celebrated Christmas by only giving gifts that were either Used or gifts that gave back like items from the World Vision Gift Catalog. Honestly being able to give my brother 5 chickens in his name and sponsoring a child to name a few is a great gift that I can pretty much guarantee won't be duplicated and if it is it'll be worth it!

This year for us won't easy ad when I got my WV Catalog I was sad because we probably won't be able to give as much as I gave last year. However what we are doing is giving time and help in as many areas that we can.
Last year we donated 3 Thanksgiving meals to local families we picked randomly online and we are doing it again this year too. I didn't want to do it this year because I had no idea HOW we could do it let alone afford it, but God is so good when you commit to doing something for others He makes a way. This year we are doing 7 families and are feeding a lot more people in those families! Loads of kids this year. And amazingly God has provided for us by inspiring people to help provide food and funds to make this possible. I'm beyond humbled by what God can do in such a short amount of time. It all has come together very nicely and considering this is just complete strangers offering help it just goes to show that God can move anyone to help. I have received emails from people saying they are inspired to do more and if that is all I had gotten out of this effort it would be enough.

When I think about how hard things are for many right now to reach out and help others in need it makes me realize I still have so much to be thankful for. We might not have 2 incomes anymore but that didn't stop us from giving and it didn't stop others from giving either. I think we forget that people actually like to help and want to help, but don't know how to start it.
I'm here to say just start it yourself. Don't wait for some committee to begin or some organization to help, just start it on your own. I have people who are helping me by donating food and I'm so far from any sort of organization!
It makes me want to do more and be more seeing how people are reaching out to us and we're just a family of 3 who wants to feed those around us.

But for me I want to live by Matt 6:3, "But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." We honestly don't want people to know we are doing this (I know you are thinking then why did you say you were doing this on your Blog??) and very few people know we are organizing meals or going further then just the meals. We consider ourselves the ones in the background that suddenly its provided. Whatever "it" is we want to be able to find ways to provide for it.

Its like one gal said in her letter to me when I told her I was going to donate a meal to their family. She said, "They have no idea right now that we are receiving thanksgiving dinner from you. I want to show them again that having faith even when things seem impossible, is always the best way to go."

I think that says it really well. That its so great to have Faith even when things seem impossible. Wouldn't you like to be one of those people who isn't looking for the glory in providing for someone, but offering them hope and then being the Hope they were looking for? Oh its so so good and I thank God that we are helping provide for people who are short of Hope right now. And its always nice to remind people that there are good giving people out there.

Blessings...

Sorry I've been so MIA lately.
I'm working on a little side project that is very time consuming and leaving me little time to write anything meaningful.

I will post soon about what I'm working on!

Is Using Coupons Really Green??

So as some of you may remember Hubby has been out of work since June and I've really started to dabble in the fine Art of Couponing. I didn't realize how much many mom's and people just lust after the allure of Couponing.

Part of the whole coupon thing has been good and sometimes I can see why its such a waste and is NOT very green. Here are some of my reasons why....

1. Coupons are printed on paper. You can't escape the fact that they are either printed in Newspapers, given away somewhere or printed off from online sources -- paper in some form or fashion has be involved to get the savings.

2. If you do print @ home, you use a lot of printer ink. Now hopefully you recycle your ink cartridge or refill it somewhere, but printing these coupon suckers uses a lot of ink. Because I have a color printer it naturally prints colored ink all over some of my coupons which in turn makes me use more ink then I want to even THINK I'm using. And no, I haven't figured out how to print only in black and white when I print from online sources.

3. If I don't use the coupon or it expires before I use it, I wasted what I printed from offline. I don't even want to think about how much I've wasted in this area. Yes, I'll admit at times I printed off coupons in "hopes" I'll use it, but then it doesn't happen

4. Coupons are generally for items wrapped in WAY too much packaging or are for items that are just plain NOT good for you. There never seems to be a shortage of coupons for junk foods like Pop Tarts or Corn Syrup laden cereals. I wish that more "natural" or Organic food producers would be more generous with their coupons!! But because major manufactures out there fill the market with foods we can't seem to get enough of which makes their prices lower, it pushes the little natural food coupons out of the running and they can't offer such savings. Don't even get me started on items wrapped in too much packaging. That's a given RIGHT there. I can't let myself fall into that trap!!

5. Coupons make us spend more money then we originally intend to. Now I'm not one of those consumers that buys something just because I have a coupon, for me the coupon has to be worth it and none of this "buy 2 save $0.50" junk. I want my coupons to be at least $1 or more off the item. Doubling a coupon is great if I could figure out a store that does that around here.

So while I do think using a coupon can be effective for many people, please consider what you are buying first before you either print off a coupon or buy that Sunday paper just for the coupons.

Here are some great things about coupons or ideas on what to do with them!

*Coupons can be used to get things for free! Follow coupon blogs or sites to find the best deals. There are truly people out there that scour ads and then tell you where you can find the best deals, including Free items.

*Coupons that you don't use while at the store just set them next to the item for someone else who might truly use it. Consider it as "Paying it forward" for that next person and bless them with something you might otherwise throw out.

*They are recyclable! ;)

*Coupons are a great way to teach kids to save money. Noah is really into finding great deals and he's started to grow accustomed to seeing us use coupons at many things.

*There are coupons out there not just for grocery items. Consider searching for coupons for local activities and events. We usually find coupons for things like the Zoo all the time. Its worth it!

*Coupons can save you money! I don't deny that one and I'm getting really into seeking out coupons while using the grocery ads at the same time. That way I can find a coupon for the items I need and no more unnecessary printing or spending.

Happy Couponing!!

Homeopathic Meds for Kids

I score an entire box of Homeopathic Medicines for FREE from the Boiron Co. How Cool is THAT?? ( I had a picture of my gift box, but I can't find it!!)

I thought when I signed up for them it would only be sample sized packs, but I got 3 full size products from their Winter line! While I'd love to say I'm excited to use them that would be wishing my son sick!

However, if and when my son does get sick you can bet your buttons I'll be using this stuff!

We received Chestal Honey Cough Syrup, Coldcalm Pellets and Oscillococcinum. All products are Homeopathic and for kids! All of these are also available in products for adults as well.

I'm pretty sold on a lot of Homeopathic options and while I understand and do believe there is room for conventional medicines, I think as a society we rush to medication to meet and relieve our pains too quickly. Often times we don't even know what is in our medicines and not only do we ingest them we also give them to our children. After all who hasn't heard of some scary recall on medication for children?! that's madness.

I recommend trying some Homeopathic options when you get your next cold and especially since Flu season and the Swine Flu seems to be all everyone can talk about these days! I'm so sick of hearing about Swine Flu that I want to puke.

I'll let you know how it goes if we do try these items out on Noah in the future. And Thanks to the Boiron Co for blessing us with such an awesome gift!!

PS. You can score a $1 coupon for any of the items I listed above HERE.

WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price -- teaser trailer

For more information about why I struggle with shopping @ Wal*Mart check this Documentary out.

Confession Time

I realize I haven't blogged in awhile, but I've been avoiding what I preach against.

Here I know and understand why buying @ Wal*Mart isn't the way to go and I have found myself shopping there in the past month or so. The first time I went back was to get some groceries and I just felt like I betrayed by precious Top Foods, Fred Meyer and local veggie market. It wasn't a good feeling.

But you see, hubby hasn't had work since end of June and well , its catching up with us. We are very lucky to have unemployment, but going with months and months of a few extra hundred dollars a week is rapidly depleting my bank account.

And sadly because Wal*Mart is so huge they can offer cheaper prices on some items. I do find that because I have changed our diet so much there is less I can buy now. I used to purchase a LOT of single serve type stuff and prepackaged items, but not much if at all anymore.

I'm finding this to be a vicious cycle that I can't seem to get out of.

With Wal*Mart I found myself giving into buying MORE just because it was cheaper and leaning back into some of my poor eating habits. Just shopping there made me start to imagine buying things like another Game System for Noah or a better TV....I haven't entertained ideas like that in a VERY long time and it disgusted me.

Please know, If you shop there, I'm not judging you-- please don't think I am -- I'm just trying to explain some of the struggles I'm dealing with when it comes to shopping there.

So while I haven't bought much aside from groceries for myself I did buy a pant & shirt outfit for Noah for only $2 one time and since it doesn't fit it'll be going to the Giving Tree this December along with about 6 toys I found for less then $3.

So what do you think about that? Do you think its ok to shop at places like Wal*Mart or the like so you can bless people?

Since places like the giving tree, Salvation Army, Toys for Tots or Food banks even don't allow used gifts to be donated we are stuck in wanting to give but struggle with shopping at places that offer affordable items.

That's where I'm at right now. Its not a good struggle. What do you think?

personally I love to give and want to bless regardless of where it comes from, but in the back of my mind I think about that girl on Wal*Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices and I feel pretty small....What do you recommend oh Blog readers?

Pic from HERE