Here's a preview....and any helpful tips????

So as some may know - you can't post a pic of your precious one until it is finalized..... understandable. So here is a preview of our sweet girl! Amazingly cute right? Oh yeah......let's just say the whole 2 pics we have of her have been stared at for unbelievable amounts of time!!!

So if you read my blog a little while back we posted about things we do to cut our costs- hey large family- one income- we have to be cheap :)
Under the post in Sept- of Adoption, surgery, how we afford this..... I would put a handy link here, but I am not computer savvy- sorry.

A few more tips:

1) We cut our own hair, except me- and I only cut my hair once every 2 years- and donate it to locks of Love. A great organization that makes wigs for children that have treatments that leave them without hair.

2) Scary, but true....when I was younger I was never allowed to wear make up. Literally when it came time for show choir events or plays - my friends had to help me. I really didn't like the feel of it on my face to be honest....so just never had the habit of wearing any make up- saves on that department! Hey, the only guy I have to impress loves me just the crazy way I am- THANKS SWEETIE!!!

3) BUY in BULK- oh yeah. We love our Sam's Club. I have heard you all mention on your blogs about Costco, but we don't have one in our area- or at least not in Lake Charles. So we buy at Sam's or anywhere else that we can get items by the 20lbs. or more :)

4) We do not leave our home (unless it is just to go 5 miles down the road) without a small cooler of drinks- water in containers, a few snacks, etc. That way we are not tempted to get a drink at a gas station, at the grocery store, or anywhere else. Saves tons of money!!! Plus we avoid eating out by eating snacks until we can make it home- most times. Great money saving tip :)

So we would love to hear what other tips you all have! Really, we want to save as much as possible. Not just for our adoption now, but for future. For life changes we are trying to make. You see our hearts are being opened by a devotional book- called "Hope Lives" A Journey of Restoration by Amber Van Schooneveld.

Here are some interesting things we have learned on our journey of doing this devotional together........
The Gross National Income per Capita 2003:
Switzerland $39,880
United States $37,610
Japan $34,510
United Kingdom $28,350
Mexico $6,230
Egypt $1,390
India $530
Bangladesh $400 (where our compassion child is :)
Kenya $390
Ethiopia $90 ( a place of course dear to my heart!)

Anyone see the point in listing this- Oh yeah.....we have really been convicted and with all of our penny pinching ways.....we feel that we are still SOOOOO spoiled, and what if we can open our hearts to what Christ really wants us to do? To be able to help others adopt, to be able to give so freely - and NOT be held back. To give until we really FEEL IT.

"Our mobile society encourages competition and economic aggression rather than contentment. Someone who isn't climbing the social ladder is regarded as a fool and a failure. We're taught to climb to the top of the heap. What we're not taught is that the heap is a garbage heap." Peter Kreeft, Back to Virtue

I am not anywhere near perfect Lord. Help me to live my life soley for You. To really know what it means to be BLESSED. To really rely on You more. To care about others more than myself. To really want to GIVE OURSELVES to HELPING. Engaging all that we are and have to that others may simply live. Lord Help Us to See What You Have Really Given US!!!!