Old Navy Dresses?? YES PLEASE!!

Well thanks again to Crowdtap I got to go SHOPPING for a new dress. I also got to share the giveaway with one friend, which was hard to decide on but in the end I decided on taking my soon to be sis in law and use it as her Christmas present. She thought this was fun until I took her dress back till Dec 25th lol! When we got to the store we were a bit surprised at the "lack of dresses" I had seen so many different styles online I thought we would find them all in the store. Now granted we were in a smaller store but we found a rack and a half very full of dresses. We SHOULD NOT have worried though. We started picking up dresses and were pleasantly surprised by almost everyone we tried on. And that is saying something with me being 33 weeks pregnant. They even looked pretty good on me! We had a great time and the funny thing is we both tried on like 10 dresses, and ended up walking out with the same one! Thanks again to Old Navy and Crowdtap I can not wait for my next opportunity!  oh and check out my shoes... so wish we had money they were toooooooo cute! ( anyone who would like to go shopping for me for Christmas lol)

Coppertone

A nice end of the summer surprise from my friends at Coppertone- we got a beach bucket and some sunscreen plus a MP3 arm band holder which I plan to give away at MOPS this week. I have learned a lot from Coppertone over the last few months and have had fun sharing all the samples they have given me as well. They have a group that they like to send things to and here is an email address if you would like to try to sign up! maria@coppertonemoms.com

Purex Plus Oxi

Well I was blessed again to get to try a product and then send a coupon out to a few lucky readers.  The product is called Purex Plus Oxi.This was my favorite Purex laundry soap I have gotten to try yet! I was EMPRESSED. Here are a couple of reasons I was so impressed. 1) It is that time of year where it isn't cold or hot which means my kids have socks on their feet but not always shoes. And this also means DiRTY socks from when I don't catch them when they run out of the house. This product did a great job on getting out the dirt on the little socks that I have had to wash these past few weeks. 2) I enjoyed the scent. I am a big scent fan when it comes to my laundry soap and I haven't ever really liked Purex's smell but I really enjoyed this one fresh out of the dryer and even a day or two after when I was putting the clothes away (yes this last week it took a few days to get clothes put away. Tell me an item or items you could have used with this product in the last week or two and you are entered. You may enter on here or on Facebook.

Purex provided me with a sample of Purex plus Oxi so I could review them. However, all of the opinions expressed here are my own.

Lessons learned after a fire

Well I see that it's been almost three months with no update. Wow and with how Non exciting our life has been I can't understand why that has happened. In case you didn't know we moved to Abilene August 7th and on August 8th the house we were moving into had a fire. Since then we have been picking up the pieces and LEARNING a ton in the process.

Lesson 1- everyone always knows better than you do. I am going to start with the one negative that came out of this just because I think it would make my grandma feel better. I don't know how many people told her "well they should have known better than to leave anything on the stove, I sure wouldn't leave anything on the stove" and I am guessing there are MANY more people out there who thought the exact same thing, but not a single one of "them people" were in our shoes when we moved into a small house with a very narrow kitchen also having the only hallway through the house. Stuff had to go on the counters, table, any spare space on the side and that included a stove. However when you are told your electricity is going to take 3-5 days to be turned on you don't really worry about having stuff on the stove! ( was turned on in 3 to 5 hours) There grandma I hope you feel better! I do totally understand this though. I have caught myself doing it, when I hear someone has died in a car accident and wasn't wearing their seatbelt I think well that could never happen to me- it makes us feel better to hope that we would never do anything that would cause us that much problems.

Lesson 2- Wow are people generous. I thought I was generous- I thought I had the gift of giving but if one of the early lessons I learned was I need to step it up and make sure I am more helpful when people have problems. Within hours we had motel rooms for several days, offers of food clothing, someone purchased a storage unit for us for 2 months for the stuff that didn't burn. Money started coming in, I think I had 25 phone calls the morning after the fire from complete strangers (I had posted on the Abilene MOPS page about the fire) offering us meals or a place to wash the clothes that made it. Not only was that a lesson but WOW does facebook make things happen! I already mentioned the MOPS group but we also found free housing for a month from someone who read about our situation on facebook and knew someone who knew someone who had a house. WOW (not only is facebook a tool but of course it has been AWESOME to see how God has worked through other people! NEVER have we forgotten that part.

Lesson 3- Mice are not easy to drown. Third night in our house we lived in for a month we found (well Kjell found of course I stayed away) mouse in our bathtub. We didn't know what to do so Kjell tried to drown one... I think it took him 45 minutes. so when the next one came in he just caught it and took it outside. Mouse traps were purchased after that and we kept seeing evidence of mice, but only caught one more.

Lesson 4- life without tv and internet is not as bad as it may seem. Wow I got so much reading done in the month we were "on the farm" as we liked to call it. I deepend my relationship with my Lord and Savior by just spending about 2 hours in the Word or in other Bible study books. I mean it was amazing. Why am I so tempted to NOT do that every day???? The kids even did well with it although we did break down and get the only kids movie they had at the small library we were close to Gnomeo and Juliet.

Lesson 5- I do not need all the stuff I have. People ask what we lost in the fire, we lost almost all of our kitchen stuff, and our couch and loveseat, plus a tv. Plus EVERYTHING that was in the house and "survived" had to be cleaned. EVERYTHING. Thankfully we had spend the night before the fire in a hotel so we had some things (Kiah's bag of clothes was not in the house everyone elses was) So here it is nearly two months after the fire already and I am still living with about 2/3 of my life possessions. (more on that in the next lesson) I am starting to believe even that is too much! I still have more clothes than my kids (or I need for that matter - now that they are all back) but I feel it's so much easier to let go of things than it was before the fire. Although I had really felt God calling me to purge even before the move. Some things I did not enjoy living without were my beds, and still missing my dressers. One month with everyone on the floor or air mattress- not my cup of tea just was grateful every day I was not any more pregnant than I was!

Lesson 6 you want your stuff to be handled by people with experience- we had a GREAT company come and take our clothes, shoes, blankets, towels and pillows. EXPERTS at what they do... We got our stuff back the day they said it would come and everything was so well arranged and organized. However all of our other stuff- books, toys, dressers, beds, electronics, well EVERYTHING that is not clothing material went to a brand new company- we had the luck of being the ones who were their "first big fire" so yes still waiting on everything. (minus the beds we did get those back PRAISE the LORD!) Now even though I don't want to bring much more stuff into my house it would be nice if the consider my vacuum destroyed because I would like to know if I needed to buy the one I saw on sale the other day at Target but do not want to get stuck with 2 vacuums. This has been the challenge of the month just waiting and waiting and waiting. This also means having to wait on our insurance check so if you come to my house you will be sitting on a twin sized mattress because we have yet to buy any furniture.

Lesson 7 God is Sovereign- this is the most important lesson and one I feel Kjell and I did a great job of believing even from the beginning. God has a plan for every thing every single event that has happened to us since April 10th and ever single event after that date God has had a plan. It just makes me excited to know that. I have no idea why He called us away from Meade, I have no idea why we had to go through a house fire, I have no idea about most of life, but God is in control and we are right where He wants us. How exciting is that?? I just know God has big things for us. And we are finding friends and Kjell is loving his job and the kids are getting adjusted to city life (Justus wants to eat at Sonic EVERY day for lunch)

Thank you to all who prayed for us and for all who gave of your time talents or money during this time in our life. We have been blown away by the generosity that was shown to us. You all have taught us to give much much more than we have! 

update

Hey guys well I just realized I have totally dropped the ball on writing on here! Yeah house no longer for sale, hopefully we are past the appraisal  part and the termite guy comes out on Tuesday and the inspector will probably come out next week as well. So barring anything we have totally missed the house will close on the 6th! So excited to see God move in the area- we are still waiting for a place to live on the other end. Having a harder time finding somewhere to call home but we know we will find something even if it's a very small 860 square foot place for the time being. Yes I did say 860 sq feet and yes I can't think too long on that or I will hyperventilate. lol Actually I am feeling pretty good about it right now. God is carrying me through this and I know He will handle it!

Oh yeah also in case you missed the news baby number four will enter the Nordgren household in December. God has a crazy sense of humor because we were planning to have a March-April baby. I never wanted to have a baby in December, I have always said that. So God gives us this gift and we actually found out about two weeks after we found out about Kjell's contract not being renewed. God must think we are very strong. And I am up for the challenge and seeing what amazing things He has in store for us. Hoping to find a dr who will at least let me attempt a VBAC, that is my prayer that this can happen. I should know more in about a week to ten days.

I also have a giveaway for my faithful readers... all 10 of you.... please leave a comment on here or on my facebook page. Just let me know you want to enter. It is for a coupon for a FREE bottle of Purex! I will have three winners and I know some of you may have won a different prize in the past and not received it.. yah sorry had a lot on my mind I will get you those prizes before I move! I promise!

House for Sale Meade Kansas

Well I am trying to get our house sold so I am hoping I can get this to show up when someone types in houses for sale in Meade. Since we are moving we are having to sell our house again. I am super sad as I have grown to love our house but I guess it is time for someone else to live it in. It is a 2400 square foot home, with three bedrooms on the main floor and two "non coded" (meaning there is not a fire escape window downstairs but one room is right next to the stairs) two living rooms one up and one down. 2 bathrooms, a kitchen that has recently been remodeled and hardwood floors throughout the whole upstairs. It also has a wood fenced in backyard- and a three car detached shed/garage building. Plus another shed and both of these have electricity. We are asking 125,500 for more info or to see the house call 785-640-0357 or 913-594-2804

Parties!

Ya know like I have no stress at all in my life right now I decided I better get the three parties I needed to do before we went to Sweden rather than after. So today we had a group of moms and their children over to celebrate the coming out of the new Madagascar movie- drink Zevia soda and learn about the benifits of Coppertone sunscreen! I will post some pictures on facebook.

What a difference a week makes

Well lets see last week, Kjell knew of three interviews and had no offers. Today we stand at Kjell having two more interviews- completing three in the last week being offered TWO jobs and having to turn down an interview. And then comes the really hard part... Picking a school. I LOVE that Kjell teaches- I love getting involved with the schools he teaches in- doing books for sporting events, even running the clock for football games. We are a family who LOVES sports so getting to back a school for my whole life has been amazing. I started out as a Meade Buffalo- got a plaque in high school for having attended every single varsity game while in HS which included riding with a guys' parents I had never talked to to get to one game. I endured a year of the longest losing streak of Meade football and then watching that come to an end. I can still remember the celebration of that game like it was yesterday. After graduating I attended Seward County Community College and got to watch some of the best girls' basketball players ever. And even had class with a  guy who ended up at Oklahoma State University. I was a part of the women's tennis team there and while I didn't contribute much to the playing- I played number 6 I did top out our GPA and helped us earn a banner that still stands at SCCC for some kind of academic team award.  Then I went to Washburn and attended every football game and basketball game as part of the pep band my first year then as a fan my second year. We had our own little cheering section- some of my friends and these two guys who had to be in their 90s that never missed a game. We always held our breath to make sure they were at each game- we were afraid they might die and we would never know. Then I went work for Inner City Urban Young Life in Kansas City Missouri.  I spent two years working in the "toughest roughest" (according to all the KC news stations) in KCMO. While there I kept books, botched the national anthem in front of about 500 people... awful! and called my dad after the first game and told him to write a freshmen' name down... Travis Releford  I told dad he was going to be big- ( He was a member of the runner up KU Jayhawks this past year. Then we moved to Spring Hill and I became a Bronco- I worked as a para for one year and then I had Kiah but continued to do books for the school district the next year. Then Kjell got the call to Atwood and we became Buffaloes again. I once again found myself doing books and even assistant  coaching jr high volleyball. Then we moved to Meade and Kjell started working in Minneola and I got to books in Meade and Minneola- I love watching sports and seriously for basketball the best seats in the house are behind the scorers' table. So yeah sports are in our blood. I would have to say one of my favorite things about being a teacher's wife is still being able to cheer. Sometimes for the state champs  and sometimes for the team who won no games the whole season. I love being a part of that, and I love being a part of a community drawn together by sports.

Which is probably why I usually cheer for the underdog. I love the NCAA tourny we don't miss a game in our house. It's when Kjell and I met and started dating in 2003 there is just nothing like having everything come down to one single game.. and sometimes one single second- just ask Memphis.. So when we went to a school this last week that in my mind screamed underdog... I didn't want to go there I didn't want my kids to have to go there. So I told Kjell I didn't want to go there. He enjoyed the interview, enjoyed  the school, and was offered the job. But we still had three interviews and one more school who he had already interviewed with.... and one week changed everything. He got offered another job, in a better location, a "better" school, we can do swim team again, if I have any Atwood readers you know why that is important to Kjell and me. But we went back and forth for hours today trying to justify telling our underdog school thank you but no thanks. Finally that is what happened. Kjell called me and I cried but I knew this time it had to be done. He called back about 20 minutes later, I asked how they had taken it they did well but Kjell said he almost cried... lol I am starting to wear off on him. We still are not sure where for sure we are going but we are not going to the underdog town. But even from the hour and a half I spent in their town, I will always have a good feeling towards them... and always watch the bottom of the Friday night news to see how their teams did that night.

Old Navy

 Most people know one of my favorite places to shop is Old Navy I enjoy some of the crazy fabulous sales they have. Like the weekend I just happened to be in Wichita and they had a 5 hour half price coat sale and the next day a 5 hour half priced sweater day. Then I got to host a party with one of my good friends and two of Jordan's friends and we got to try on a ton of clothes. Since then Old Navy is really one of my go to stores for myself. This time I got to get free shorts for me and a friend. I also gave one away to Mary even though she's not a sis-in-law yet she is really going to think I give great gifts I hope she doesn't get too used to all the free clothes! haha. Anyways I was impressed with a pair of Old Navy shorts I had bought two years ago and was super sad I had not bought more than one pair. So when I found out I won this I was excited. I did a lot of looking at the "shorts page" at OldNavy.com and was impressed with how they tried to cater to everyone. There were super short shorts... not for me of course... and then there were mid thigh and then they had my new favorite style the Bermuda shorts. I was so excited to get a pair of those. I think Old Navy has such good sales it is worth waiting for what you want to go on sale because it will. Thanks again Old Navy for letting me try some of your great clothes!

Interviews!

Today Kjell had his first interview in town number 1. While he has his interview the kids and I drove all around town and checked it out. There was not much to see it was a very small town, and from the look of it it looked liked a very poor town. We saw not one house for sell or one house for rent. Also at the park there were some young boys who were making fun of Kiah so I wasn't too impressed. It was in a beautiful part of Kansas with rolling hills in something called TREES all over. lol Kjell thought the interview went well and enjoyed the people he met, the school is pretty small he said you could see from one end of the school to the other when you walk in the front door!

We drove through the town Kjell interviews in tomorrow. We didn't stay long because the kids were asleep so we didn't want to wake them up but we found the school and drove down too blocks. This town looked really nice! The school also looked very nice I am excited to explore it more tomorrow. We have found a few houses for sale in this town but none of them our in our size range. One had an inground pool we figured we could drain it roof it and make it into a bedroom. JK! Please keep praying for us. It has been fun to get some calls and if God wants us in one of these towns it will happen or if He has something else in mind I hope we get that call soon. We leave for Sweden in two weeks from today! I have SOOOO much to do.

Honey Bunches of Oats

So  I am taking a break from talking about the family issues going on, because they are totally out of my control now and I don't want to worry about them. So I decided to finally launch my FUN giveaway. Somehow Purex (who I am insider of which means I get to try a lot of their products before they hit the market and then tell my readers about them) teamed up with Post's Honey Bunches of Oats. So I got a free box of cereal so I could try it and several FREE BOX COUPONS four to give away in fact. My family is the cereal house- I was raised on cereal almost every morning so that is what we do at  our house now. I don't know I never am hungry enough for a hot breakfast or maybe awake enough to make one. We often eat Honey Bunches of Oats and really like it- when we were in Wichita a few weeks back we went into a store where they had free samples of two new flavors that are fruit blends I really enjoyed the peach/raspberry one if you want to know more about Honey Bunches of Oats- here is their facebook page they have a dollar coupon on there right now too!
All you have to do is tell me your favorite cereal either in a comment on here or I know a lot of you can't get comments to work so just let me know your favorite cold cereal and I will draw four winners on Sunday. Good luck!

Post provided a free sample of their Honey Bunches of Oats- Honey Roasted so I could review them, all of the opinions expressed here are my own.

What will this day hold?

This is our happy picture. The wow look at us our life is going exactly how we want it to and we are happy picture. This was taken two days before we found out that Kjell had lost his job. It's a picture I love and hate to look at because we had no idea what was coming. But God did. And once again we get to hold His hand as he takes on a new journey/ or perhaps even the same one .

Well today I am just not quite sure what to do. I have been praying a lot, the kids and I went for a walk to do errands and visited a friend. But today is a big day. Kjell is going to go before the school board and ask for his job back. We have heard nothing from the board but plenty of rumors from everyone else to have NO IDEA what is going to happen tonight. I think I should be more nervous but I am just ready to know. And MOVE on no matter what it the result. Of course I don't want to move I live in the same town as my parents I really like my house and I would still like to meet my goal of one day living in a house that is paid off. I don't want to keep finding a good house and then moving away from it. And I know my kids (even though they are young) enjoy the friends they have made.  Last night I thought I slept pretty good and every time I did wake up a praise song or hymn was on my lips. Crazy how sometimes when you are longing for help your subconscious  can focus on Christ for you. Please pray for Kjell tonight at 8PM and whatever happens may God be glorified through it all. I am excited to see where God takes us. I love my husband and know he has shown so much humility in this, and pride has never once been in issue. Including tonight when he will talk to the board to try to keep me where I want to live. When it's all over he has over 50 applications out. Our life is a journey and I only want to be where we can be used by God the most. And He is the only one who knows where that is.

One month

One month from day (as far as the date on the calendar) Kjell and I will be on our way to Sweden. WOW I can't believe it is that close. Sometimes it feels like a dream still that we or maybe just that I am going. After how Justus acted yesterday when I left him for a few hours I am rethinking my plan of having the kids say bye to us at the airport. It is going to be very tough to leave my kids with other people (even if they are some of the people I trust most in the world with my kids) but two weeks is a long time. Please pray for my kids and also those watching them, because it's not easy raising three little ones. Even if it is only for two weeks! I think Kiah will be fine and she sees this as her own adventure as she will get to spend a whole week with her cousin. Justus will probably be fine too, once we are gone- I hope he just always wants me to know that he loves me, loves me most, loves me mostister and loves me loves me... I know this time won't last long so I hope he still feels that way after I leave him for so long. Karis is the wild card. She could do great or she could be the one everyone is glad to see leave when their turn is over. She is doing really well sleeping in her own bed but that is just it it has to be her own bed. It's not a crib any more and I do think the first night will be tough for her but I think after that she will settle down and enjoy herself.

I am just trying to prepare my heart and mind for this trip when there are so many other things on this heart and mind right now with the whole job situation. There is now a petition going to try to get Kjell reinstated. I don't see the school board changing their minds but I am very happy to see people supporting Kjell. Kjell still has about one million applications in and we still haven't heard from anyone. I am nervous for that call though. Kjell has been offered the teaching jobs at 75% of his job interviews.That's pretty good odds that an interview means a job.  He is a great teacher and many schools would be happy to have him. I am just not sure where we will end up. That is always the fun part!

Craziest Year of our Life?

Well this next school year could be REALLY interesting. Or it could be a big move/change who knows yet. But I don't want people to worry about us. Pray for us sure worry, nah. For one reason I do enough of that already and for another reason there really is no reason to worry. We have life figured out. (if you don't sense a slight sense of sarcasm in there and a bit of laughing than you need to get to know me a bit better) Kjell has about forty applications out, yes 40 we are willing to move anywhere in the state of Kansas that will take us. That has always been our motto with finding a teaching job, and it will not change even though in my mind we are in the perfect location. But then there is that question- what if no school calls. See this could happen, parents in their anger over playing time really did make it nearly impossible (humanly speaking) for Kjell to get rehired- frankly it looks bad to move once after three years at one school and once after two- people begin to wonder what is wrong with the teacher. So if there are 50 applicants for one job he is probably thrown out at the beginning. We know this and we are (most of the time- calm cool and collected. Why? Because we have a plan B.

Kjell and I have talked about doing full time ministry before- in fact when we met Kjell was working part time for Youth for Christ in Topeka and I was working full time for Urban Young Life in Kansas City Missouri. We always wondered why God called us together only to call us out of ministry. But perhaps this is all part of His crazy plan for our lives. We have talked about Kjell teaching at a school for missionary kids overseas for the last year. It had been heavy on my heart and I prayed a lot about it. Then after Kjell lost his job we really started looking into it and realized... hummm that is a LOT of fundraising to do for this. For most places we need to raise at LEAST 3000 a month. So that seemed nearly impossible to do in a few short months. That is why if we get no phone calls, no interviews, nothing we will somehow live on pennies for the next year while trying to find the perfect school/country and raise money for the next big adventure in our life. So while I may lose sleep over the fact that Kjell lost his job because some girls didn't get to play enough in a handful of basketball games.. I know my GOD causes all things to work together for HIS good and HIS purpose. Sure I'm scared. It will be tough going from making 42K a year to well nothing- Kjell has been offered one very part time job that he can not say yes to until we know what is going on that would bring in about 6000 for the year. And I make about 150 a month. So it could be exciting.

I have always been very good with our money. This could be the biggest challenge I have had to face. We just refinanced our mortgage  (SP?) so we only have to pay 200 a month there ( and now it will NEVER get paid off that is something I am having to cope with) but it's doable. And we have Kjell's paycheck and insurance through the month of August so we got time.

WHAT A RIDE!!

Well we are three weeks into this whole Kjell doesn't have a job after this school year issue. It has been hard and easy at times. Hard because I don't really want to uproot again- sell a house again- buy/rent a house again- pack a moving van again- say goodbye to friends again- make new friends again- ya get the point. But then it is excited to see what God has in store for us and all the possibilities that are out there. Kjell has over 40 applications out and he makes a map and we can see where it is he has applied. It has been very hard though to not know why he was let go and yesterday it seems we really got some answers even if the facts are not correct by those who think they are we now know more and that gives me relief. Because I just felt we knew nothing. Don't really have more of an update at this time. I just know Kjell has worked really hard to get about a million apps out it's almost like when you are a kid and you spun a globe and put your finger on it and said ok here is where I am going to live. Only we are doing that with the state of Kansas. Here's to hoping we hear something soon!

Purex is at it again. This time I am going to get two free coupons to give away to my readers. They are running a new campaign about our everyday life. I watched one of the short videos and thought it was rather cheesy but that doesn't stop me from wanting to get a free product so check out the website. http://www.purex.com/ you can also enter daily to win a years supply of Purex products that would be super nice right now!

tough

Pray for me. Yes I know many of you have been praying for Kjell's job and our future and that is great but I need MUCH prayer. See I'm ticked-I don't really want to go into details well because we don't have any/ just speculation. But it hurts that basically one person got to redirect our future. And yes I know "God has everything in control and He let this happen" this is what I keep trying to tell myself but when I turn to my sinful side. I really just want to go talk to someone and let them know how it wasn't just Kjell they hurt but my entire family. My daughter who doesn't want to move because she enjoys the kids she goes to school with, and mommy can't make this better. My parents who have truly enjoyed having our family living in town and the friends we have come to love in just the two years we have been here.

I feel like Peter- when he was on the boat and saw Jesus walking towards him and he just jumps out and starts running on the water... and then he's like whoa there's a wave there... yikes I'm walking on water... I shouldn't be walking on water. And he starts to sink. As long as his eyes were on Jesus he stayed above the water, but it's SOOOO hard not to look at the waves, not to try to take control of the situation ourselves, because that is what we DO. As long as I keep my eyes on the cross and I have made myself visualize this several times when I feel about to lose it. I can stay calm but man those waves are so big and daunting, and anger is so easy to cling to. It's easier than to show weakness. I hate showing weakness. I hate being weak. But I AM! Kjell and I have no control over what happens next. We had no control over what happened last week. And even though I am mad at one person God allowed that person to form their opinion and even if it was a sin God is using that. And I am to TRUST Him and when I don't trust Him. I need to deal with my sin and quit focusing on what someone else did. So yes I need prayer. I need strength because I have so much more going on than just this- like Karis and her new bed things, Justus become completely defiant Kiah getting punched in the face at school, Kjell having strep and me just trying to make it through and hold on and not just lose it..... God must think I am really strong because He never gives us more than we can take. So man... I will keep fighting this earthly battle and remember that life here is so short compared to the eternity I get to spend with my Lord and Savior. That is the important thing for my kids to see me handling these situations in a God honoring way. For my friends to see my faith. And if one would come to have a relationship with Christ... man it would all be worth it.

online journal

Ok well my last post was over a month ago so who knows if I can do a better job of posting on here. But I was told after the events of yesterday that I should keep a journal to see how God works in this situation so I thought instead of hiding that I would share it with my few followers. If you don't know Kjell lost his job yesterday (well his contract is not renewed for next year so it's not like he is no longer working or getting paid we are getting paid through August) However it was a blow the superintendent did not know it was coming and neither did either of the principals. This is so hard to have to go through again because Kjell is a good teacher. Read any of the reviews his principal handed to the board. It comes down to small town politics and probably in this situation jr high girl's basketball coaching. Was he a horrible coach- with a 10-4 record winning the Meade tournament and taking 3rd at the league tournament that is very hard to say was a bad season. I was impressed the year went as well as it did it was to be a rebuilding year and although it wasn't to the caliber of KU's run.... it was a great season.

I do believe I have entered the stages of grief bouncing back and forth between them, yelling in anger, crying and wondering what will happen, and the rare occasion this morning where I felt like I had a guerrilla on my chest and I needed a paper bag to breath. To waking up hoping it was all a bad dream to being at peace and knowing that God is bigger than this school board or any other school board for that matter. And that God knew the day we went to Minneola that it was for a two year period. Sometimes I just wish God would give us a little bit clearer fore-site. The hardest part for me right now is we just bought a van, we own a house and we are going on a missions trip in June.... All good things but I am just scared to know what comes next.

But let me tell you one thing. Kjell is a man who can handle this. He is able to just let things roll off of him and he's not worried about anything. He just keeps saying God has a better place for us, a better school for us. So I will believe him and trust God for what is to come. It's not like we haven't been in this place before. We are looking at jobs in Kansas but are also exploring options of overseas teaching/missions. We were looking into the overseas stuff this past year but were not thinking we would be given the opportunity to explore it in depth this quickly. God is good all the time. All the time God is good. Now if someone could just bring me a small brown paper bag I think everything will be ok. :)

new van= spending freeze??

Ok so when we decided to give up spending for lent we knew we MAY be purchasing a van. We had just found out the tires we had just put on about two years ago were needing replaced and there was a big leak somewhere under our van in the garage every day so we knew it was time to either get something newer or end up putting a lot of money back in our van. WHICH we just did last year (almost 1000 dollars worth) We were tired of spending money on a vehicle that we just didn't feel was going to make that many more miles. So we started looking and in less than a week found a vehicle in our price range (under 20K ) in our milage range (under 60K) and in our brand (aka NOT an american made car, I know I know but to me foreign cars get about 150,000 more miles that was enough for me!) So needless to say last Friday we went to Hutch and traded in our old clunker for a 2007 Honda Odyssey. So far I have loved it! It runs without hiccuping in the middle of trying to accelerate (they told us our transmission was on the way out, wether that was true or just a ploy so our trade in value was almost nothing we will never know) But it's not our problem anymore.

Since the date of our purchase we HAVE NOT SPENT any money on our credit card. We typically use our CC for everything and pay off the balance each month. It is not for us to buy whatever we want but we have found a card that gives us between 1% and 5% back on all purchases so why wouldn't I want to make money by spending it! So how have we survived? Well we went to Pizza hut and used a gift card, we needed a few things from the grocery store and we used a debit card I had gotten from taking a few surveys. That card has been nice but it only has about 16 dollars left on it. We will see how long we can stretch that!

I have still been pondering how not spending money is getting my relationship better with God. I still wonder a bit about that but I guess it has helped me be resourceful and content with what I have. I get more excited when I find a recipe I can make with what I have in my house. (we have yet to settle with beans and rice rice and beans!) I've actually cooked more which is interesting. I do think us giving up spending is going to effect us more in the future. Because we are going to pay off our debts a bit faster by not spending unnessicarily. And then we will be able to give more of our money away once we have paid off our loans.

Just another thing if anyone ever needs any money help I love to help people I see it as a game (an important game) I'd love to help anyone. when you are in debt you are a slave to whoever you owe. I wish there were more free people in this world. I wish I could get ahold of our governments money. Man how hard is it to not spend what you don't have. If they can't be a good example how can they expect their citizens to make wise decisions? ok ok getting off of my soap box!

Problems already!!!??

I should have known! Of course as soon as I say we are going to give up spending money I mean the very hour after I ask Kjell if this is ok and we decided to go for it, I remember I have a party this weekend. I won another house party and I get to spend my Saturday morning with a lot of little kiddos and their parents learning the "potty dance" guess it is supposed to help with potty training. The packets the parents get are pretty sweet. Each kid get a little blow up guitar and a DVD to learn the dance. Plus coupons for a lot of Huggies pull up products. Anyways I forgot I hadn't gotten food, or napkins/plates for this yet. I so would have gone out and bought them before like the DAY before but I didn't. Then I remembered that some friends had given me their formula coupon checks to sell on ebay and I had earmarked 12 dollars in my paypal account to use for one of my parties. I had planned on minimal snacks (we are talking 18mo -2 1/2 year olds I don't want clean up to take five hours) so I think I can handle it. Then we wanted to charge our camera and after searching for literally five hours we still can not find it, and it's like a flat square only in sony camera's batteries. So we decided we would look for one on amazon (yes from surveys I have over 50 dollars in "gift cards" on my amazon account.) Who knew we could get a cheap one for under five dollars.

I am still trying to figure out how these two events have shown much of a growth or more communication with God (although I was praying hard we would find that dumb battery charger) but I know we still have a lot of days left. I have had fun cleaning out the freezer so far with meals. That too though I am wondering how long it will all last. We have enough but we could be pretty bare when we are done. That is fine some of our food probably needs to be eaten as it has been in our house for a LONG time.

Don't forget to comment on my facebook post with the blog or on here with what you gave up for lent- if nothing just put "nothing" as your comment to enter! I will draw three winners tomorrow afternoon!

Lent

Ok first off I am not Catholic- second I have never given anything up for lent, but I do really value the true meaning (from what I have gathered) of what lent means. Giving something up so that there is more time to spend with God. I think it's not supposed to be so much about losing something and thinking about it all the time but giving up something that is pretty important and see how God works through you not doing it for forty days. With that said Kjell and I are giving up something for lent. I had the idea today and I have been praying about it and since I was woken up by fear and worry at 5:15 I have had a lot of time to pray and think about this. We just changed the loan on our house to get it paid off in six years rather than seven (which means we have to pay more per month but we will be knocking a year off of the loan) we need a new van and since Kjell and I are both going to Sweden we need over 4,000 dollars and he sent his support letter out before we knew I was going! So yeah so yeah I'm worrying about the 70K I do not have.

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't like to spend money. I'm not the fun one at the party you are hosting who spends a whopping amount of money. I dread the thought of girl scouts coming to my house. I only shop when there are sales and I still wear most of the clothes my mom bought me in highschool. Most (basically all) of my kids' clothes are handmedowns, or gifts from either my mom who is the queen of store sales or Kjell's mom who is the queen of the garage sales.

With that said I am planning on a 40 spending freeze. We have done spending freezes in our family before. We usually do it January because we just came through Christmas and we don't have any family birthdays until mine in April. But our freeze goes something like this. "oh we can get General Mills cereal for 1.50 a box that is SUCH a good deal." 20 bucks later we just ended our spending freeze but stocked up on some items we always use in our house. Nope this time it is all hard core. The credit cards will cover GAS only. Which there will be need since Kjell drives over 40 miles every day. I will probably end up throwing most of the sale ads away so I am not even tempted. I will give us 25 bucks cash each week because there will be some groceries we will need that won't last that long (yogurt) Some people may wonder how we can do this. I do want to say that we do qualify for WIC so we will be having those groceries to get us through the month (milk, eggs, cheese, cereal beans) without this we would probably need more for groceries. However that being said minus the milk we could probably make it without because of all my stockpiles from good deals. Plus we have about 30 gift cards that would like to be used so if we need to we can use them.

So that is it. We will still be paying all of our normal bills plus tithing it's not like there will be no money leaving our account. We will still be doing the usual things, but there will be NO extra spending. How do I tie this money break in with getting closer to God. 1) I will have to trust Him more and I won't be as focused on stuff. 2) I want to be a good steward of HIS money- and I hate having debt. If we know someone in need I want to be able to help them however I can but we can't since we have a loan. I know most people would disagree with me but I HATE having a house loan even if it's a "good loan" anytime I owe someone else money I can not see that as a good thing even though my mortgage company is the best.

So in honor of this I am going to do a giveaway. I have three coupons for a free bottle of Purex all you have to do is leave a comment on my wall saying what you are giving up for lent. If the answer is nothing reply with the word "nothing" Sound good? hope you guys remember what the meaning of this season is. Can you imagine being back in Jesus's time and getting to spend these next 40 days with him. WOW. Easter is the most important holiday we have because if Jesus never rose from the dead- it was just a good story.

Infant's Advil

I got a new product to try out just in time for Karis getting teeth! It is infant's advil. I have used this product in the past because Kiah used to always get such high fevers and Tylenol never would bring her fevers down but Advil would. Here is a link to check out the product. And if you are interested in buying it just let me know I have ten dollar off coupons to give away. I just want to give them to people who will actually use them. Check out the website here.

Purex UltraPacks

Are you looking for a non messy- so easy your child could do it laundry detergent? Ok so this is my third review on Purex products in the last several weeks. Yes December really was like Christmas with all of the products Purex sent to my house (thanks to them!) I had heard of these a bit on their web page and was super excited to get to try them out. My little ones love to "help" with laundry and usually the detergent is the WORST part, two kids fighting over who gets to put the detergent in usually ends with more out of the machine than in it. So I was excited to try the New Purex Ultra packs. If you have ever used the little liquid packets you put in your dishwasher you know about what they are like. Except they are thinner- the first time I touched one it scared me I was sure I was going to pop it! Now after using them for a couple of weeks I still have not popped one so feel they are a bit thicker than the look. All you have to do is throw one of these in the barrel of your washing machine and done ( bigger loads may need two) I thought they did a great job washing my clothes and I LOVED the ease of just tossing them in ( or the kids tossing them in.) Keep watching my blog because there were be FREE coupons for this product as well. I don't know how many coupons they will send so I will post the giveaway at a later time!

Purex provided a free sample of their UltraPacks laundry detergent so I could write a review. However, all the opinions expressed here are my own.

Purex Crystals!

So Purex has been crazy busy sending me products to try. This last one had a double fun surprise it came with a Jockey terry performance sports bra! The product that I got to try this time is Purex Crystals. I would compare them to downy's unstoppables I didn't think they added as much scent as the Downy ones but I did like them. And my guess is in the store they will be much cheaper. You put the little crystals in your washing machine and they infuse your laundry with scent and long lasting freshness. I like to use this product on my sheets and my towels mostly because it really makes them smell good. They have three scents, lavender blossom, fresh spring waters, and tropical splash (which is the one I got to try) The product is "better" than fabric softener on your wicking fabrics because it doesn't have oil in it so the wicking product will continue to work! Jockey has a deal for my readers too you can get your own sports bra and get a 20% off coupon by following me link. Not only did I get to try this but I get to give these two products to one of my readers. I can't wait to see who wins! Just comment on this blog or on my facebook link and I will let you know on Saturday who the winner is (entries can be entered until Midnight friday night)

jockey and purex provided free samples of their products so I could review them. However all the opinions expressed here are mine