I felt bad after my last few posts about not sending out Christmas cards so...

Handmade vs. Store-bought

Piggy-backing on my Christmas post yesterday...I LOVE handmade gifts!  Knowing that someone took the time to think of me, what I would like and appreciate, spending the money and time purchasing supplies, and the care that went into the gift is so much more fulfilling than any store-bought gift, but then again who doesn't like a giftcard or cash ;)  Funds are always really tight around Christmas for us, it's not that we don't want to spend money on gifts for people, it's usually that we don't have the funds and we HAVE to be creative (which I love anyway :).  I usually start thinking in September about what gifts for what people and try to plan accordingly.  This year our kiddos got ONE big (use that term loosley) gift from us (we don't do Santa) and a stocking (coloring books, crayons, stickers, etc.).  They receive so much for Christmas that they were becoming very "un-grateful", simply not ok with us.  We also decided that although I love getting Christmas cards, we were only going to send them to close family and church staff, nothing against anyone who didn't receive a card, it just wasn't in the budget this year.  We also had to cut back on brother/sister and grandparent gifts for our own family, the funds just weren't there.  But the gifts that we did give were all "handmade" and VERY thought out (I had most of them since the beginning of November) even though some didn't appreciate them as I would have hoped and it REALLY hurt my feelings, it really is the thought that counts, well at least to me it does ;)  So if ever you receive a handmade gift from me/us, it's not at all because I/we didn't want to buy you a nice gift, but simply because we were having to be creative and spent way more time on your gift than purchasing it in a store!  AND we won't be offended if you aren't crafty and decided to purchase a gift (not saying that we deserve gifts either)!

Christmas is over

I LOVE Christmas, everything about Christmas, but this year not as much.  I didn't feel as "Happy" to put out all the decorations and decorate our home in anticipation.  It wasn't until Christmas was over did I really realize why...Christmas to the "world" is ALL about the presents and I was reminded of that so vividly this year.  We have tried for the past 8 years (since having Emma) to instill Christ-centered Holiday, but everything and everyone screams "gimme, gimme, gimme".  As our kiddos have gotten older it is becoming even harder to keep them focused.  Yes, there is the magic of the season and they are just kiddos, BUT it is our job as parents to raise them in a Christ-honoring way, why is that so wrong to so many people especially Christians???  We had so many people say "Your church is having church ON Christmas day???"  OF COURSE!  Aren't we as Christians celebrating Christ's birth?  I was so confused and bewildered that people would have such a negative annotation, like we should stay at home and spend time with family instead of the ONE and ONLY SAVIOR, the one who gave his life for us, just so we wouldn't interrupt lunch or the schedule???  I am a HUGE family girl and love spending time with my family, but there was the rest of the day...Do not confuse what I'm saying with legalism...yes I do believe as Christians we have certain things we should stay away from or abstain from and the bible is VERY clear on those things, but not because we are following rules, but because we are trying to be more like Christ!  I used this example the other night at Bible Study with our girls...we were discussing in Luke, a parable about a woman who was a hunch-back for 18 years and the Jewish people didn't want Jesus to heal her because it was the Sabbath, I am a rule follower, but in SOME cases (when you are being led by the Holy Spirit) it is ok to break the rules.  I used that in saying it's not ok to miss church because you had to do schoolwork or had to study for a test when you wasted the afternoon on facebook, texting or watching a tv show!  When you put God first in your life everything else will fall into place, this is not a reason to be lazy either.  One of our girls attends a Christian school, she was so consumed with her schoolwork last year and came occasionally to Sunday morning church and rarely on a Sunday night or Wednesday night.  But this year she was really convicted about putting God first in everything including her studies and hasn't missed a Sunday or Wednesday since the beginning of the school year AND her grades are the best they have ever been!  What an encouragement she was to the students as well as us leaders.  I tell you all this to challenge you in "choosing" to out God first in EVERYTHING you do and to do it because you want to, not because it's a rule.  

Always apologizing...

It seems I'm always apologizing for not blogging like I should, I would love to update you all on what's going on in our daily lives, keeping family & friends up to date with the latest pictures and stories, but right now it just isn't going to happen!  I'm busier now than I have ever been and our kiddos are still in elementary school.  After the Holidays were over, our house was a mess (which I despise), I felt like life was upside down and had no idea what day it was, Jody made me realize my most important role right now is to be a Mommy!  When we decided I would stay at home this became my everyday "job" and I NEED to do this "job" as well as I could before my kiddos are gone.  So many people look "down" on stay-at-home Mommies like we have no life ambition, absolutely NOT the case..what I've realized is a lot of those Mommies long to be at home and they actually feel guilty for not being there, so they put others down.  I am NOT saying by any means working Mommies are bad, everyone has their own situation and are free to choose.  We chose for me not to "work" or go to a 9-5 kinda job so that I could SEE our kiddos grow up and help SHAPE who they will one day become!  Working at the YMCA, so many parents would drop off their kiddos at 7:30am and pick them up at 6pm...for us we traded expensive cars, vacations, clothes and eating out for quality time with our kiddos.

I don't really believe in New Years Resolutions, it seems like most are unachievable, but I am trying to be more honest and more conscious of those around me and the impact that I have on them and in turn how that looks to my own children.  So, as I always say, I'll try to get back to blogging, but don't hold your breath ;)

Deals & Steals

Plum District, LivingSocial, Juice in the City, Groupon...all of these sites have saved us SO much money in the past few months!  These sites have a "deal" or "steal" running all the time for all sorts of things, food, products, services...We've gotten a lot of food deals/steals as well as discounts on almost everything you can think of!  May of these places (I've experienced) don't do coupons or discounts EVER, so to get a voucher is absolutely fantastic!

We only go out to eat once a week, and this has helped us stretch our budget even farther!  A few weeks ago we were able to buy 2 vouchers at $5 each, for $20 (each) worth of food at a local restaurant we eat at almost every Sunday after church!!!  It ended up being 75% off and cost us $15 with tip for our entire family of 6 to eat a delicious meal!  There was a 2 limit per family for this deal, otherwise I would have bought more, and it was a dine-in only, perfect because we always dine in anyway :)

For some of these sites, if you get 3 friends to buy the deal, you get the deal for FREE, or invite friends you can get incentives, what an even better deal!!!  Oh and I almost forgot, most of these sites also have apps for your phone, so all you have to do is log-in and show the barcode from the app and they scan the voucher/discount right from your phone, no papers to print & get lost :)  So what are you waiting for???

***WINNER***

And the winner of the GIVEAWAY is......

Lauren Faison

*Freshly picked by drawing names out of a hat this morning from Emma :)

Lauren wins this set of my reusable bag & wrap!!!

  Don't forget you can order these bags/wraps off my site HERE and use the coupon "Sarah" to receive 10% off your total :)  But remember this coupon is only valid until September 23rd!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Cookies in 3D

**Don't forget, TODAY is the last day to enter to win a set of my reusable bags :)  Check out my Etsy site HERE and leave a comment on my blog which one is your favorite, I'll announce the winner tomorrow!!!**

Yippee

Ok, so I am going to do a plug for my bags, if you aren't interested I'd still like you to keep reading in case you can think of someone who might :)  Oh and there might be a giveaway...

Since school started this year I knew we were going to be going through plastic baggies like crazy (3 in school), they are annoying to me and I always feel like I'm wasting money (even though I get them for pretty cheap by couponing ;) AND they are horrible on the environment!  Anyway, I saw them online and wanted to try them out like yesterday, of course no one sold them around my area, they were in online stores, but super pricey + shipping wasn't really an option!  So, I sat down and tried to make them on my own and they came out fantastic!  The girls started taking them the first week of school & I started getting inquiries about them, so I put them up on Etsy :)  A lady saw them on a friends page and she featured them on her blog (a crafty, do it yourself, save money, sorta blog) that gets about 700 hits a day :)  and I did a giveaway for more interest!  She also figured out the price comparison, if you use 1 plastic baggie (we actually were using about 3 each day per person) for each day of school (180) the bag will pay for itself during the school year :)

The benefits of these bags are they can be used for EVERYTHING!!!  When Jack wants a snack, we use a bag, when we go out to do errands, we use a bag, when we go to the playground, we use a bag, school lunches, we use a bag & a wrap, he often eats his cereal out of the bag too :) He loves that he can go in the drawer and pick out which bag to use!  They are perfect for almost any snack (except liquids), apples, oranges, crackers, Anna even took pickles last week!!!  We really are getting a ton of use out of them & they hold up great!  The outside fabric is cotton and the inside is rip stop nylon (completely food safe and water-resistent), which means the bags are completely machine washable (cold water) and can be dried in the dryer as well (tumble dry low heat) or can be wiped out with a damp paper towel & air dried, simple!  I do have to say the quality is pretty great too, I am a perfectionist (as many of you know;), so I take great care in making sure seams are straight, velcro is straight, lines lines up, basically what I would expect if I was purchasing them from someone!

My favorite and the girls is the sandwich wrap, it folds up & wraps around your sandwich to keep your bread fresh & secure and when you unfold it, it becomes a placemat to keep food off germy surfaces!  Lizzy likes it so much she has asked to use it at home now instead of a plate, silly girl!  The wrap is also top stitched for added durability as well as a more finished look!  It too is machine washable & able to be dried in the dryer!

These bags & wraps are perfect for school lunches, parent lunches, grandparents, teachers, anyone can benefit, and who wouldn't love a fun print?!?!?  So.....Jody convinced me to do another giveaway on my blog, yippee!!!  So, if you'd like to be entered to win a lunch set (1 sandwich wrap & 1 snack bag), visit my Etsy site HERE, and leave a comment on my blog stating what your favorite item is and why you like it ;)  I'll choose a winner on Wednesday (you have until midnight to enter) and I'll announce the winner Thursday morning, so check back to see if you won!!!  If you'd like to purchase anything off my site, use the code "Sarah" to get 10% off, but it's only valid through Friday September 23rd :)    

Pax Update

Wanted to give a quick update on Paxton!  His mom Christi said yesterday...
"Overwhelmed with love and prayers from our wonderful family, friends, and UNC team. Praising God that Paxton came off the ventilator last night and was moved out of the PICU today and onto the children's 5th floor which is much more comfortable for all of us. We are still believing for an unthinkable 
miracle. His power is made perfect in our weakness"
Your prayers are working on this sweet little boy!  Please continue to pray for Paxton & his family as they figure out where to go from here!

Paxton

Urgent prayer need for our friends, The Seneri Family...their 3 year old son Paxton has been battling cancer since December 2010.  It's obviously been a roller coaster with so many ups and downs, last night they admitted him to the hospital for fluid in his brain & a fever.  He had a rough night with 15-20 seizures and is now on a ventilator, and MRI is scheduled for later this afternoon.  Please join us in prayer for this sweet little boy and his family!!!

5 year old news...

Lizzy went for her 5 year checkup today!!!  She weighed 36lbs 8oz (28%) and was 40.5in tall (15%).  She got 4 shots too, but was a happy camper because she got to pick out a pink wand from the treasure box :)  They also did her kindergarten screening while she was there and she passed the hearing and vision tests!  We're almost all set for kindergarten!!!  Only 11 months away ;)

Terrific Tuesday

It seems as though I've been out of sorts lately, just adjusting to having only one home during the day has been weird, crazy and by no means easier!  Getting up early again :(, homework folders x 3 this year, packing lunches, picking out clothes every night before bedtime, Room Mom for Anna's class...AND these have been keeping me super busy lately (amongst my regular Mommy & Wife duties...

I've enjoyed sewing since I learned in Home Economics in 7th grade and I love being creative!  My kiddos absolutely LOVE these bags & wraps, showing off a little bit of their personality by choosing their fabric :)  Lizzy's favorite is the sandwich wrap, it doubles as a placemat once you unwrap the sandwich, perfect for preschool!  She asks to use it at home now instead of a plate, yesterday she asked me to make her matching napkins too, silly girl!  It has also become Anna's favorite for the same reason, icky cafeteria germs!  

I've had a lot of orders this past week, which has kept me down in the basement, where my sewing area is setup, every spare minute I have.  The best part is that everything I need is ready to go and I can leave it all out :)  And if I have a half an hour I can cut fabric or sew on velcro, lables, a seam here or there, I can do so!  

So I'm adjusting just in time for the craziness of the Holidays to hit in just a few short months...

Sweet Lizzy

How could I forget to post about our newest 5 year old?!?!?!

September 2nd Lizzy turned the big FIVE years old!  She had asked me a few months ago to make her a birthday outfit (she has confidence in me!)...she was very specific.  She wanted a long skirt, I thought it was too long, but it's what the "birthday girl" wanted!  She wanted a shirt to match with the number "5" on it so everyone would know she was 5, and she wanted her hair up in a "ball" like a princess!  Here she is the day before her birthday in her "birthday outfit"...she doesn't have school on Fridays so we wore it a day early to celebrate at school), she made it clear to everyone that it wasn't her birthday that day that it was "tomorrow, September 2nd"!  We decided not to have a birthday party this year because she was able to have one last year and Anna was not (this year is Anna's turn).  But I was able to bring cupcakes & balloons to her preschool so we could celebrate there and she was beyond excited!!!
 
My parents came in for the weekend, brought gifts from family back in NC, we took her out to dinner, (her choice was Chili's), she had a great day being 5!

This is what Jody & I got for her, her very own 4ft x 4ft cardboard castle!  She's been talking for weeks now about Jody building her a castle & Papa building her a tree house in the backyard (neither is going to happen), so the next best thing is a cardboard castle!  She was able to decorate it with stickers, crayons, markers, etc. and it's perfect size for her.  It's made out of sturdy recycled cardboard and is still going (not destroyed) as of today :)

I can't believe she is already FIVE years old!!!  Looking forward to seeing what the years have for our sweet baby girl!!!

I know, I know

Ok, first of all Wow!  I did not realize it has been so long since I've blogged!  I've had several requests lately to "keep up with the blog", we're missing what's happening with The Livingstons!  So here's a quick over view....

Our summer officially came to an end on August 15th when Emma & Anna started school!  Emma is in 3rd grade and Anna is in Kindergarten!!!  They are loving school!  This year we were able to put Lizzy in preschool at church.  It works out so well, she rides with Jody to work in the mornings, and he takes a late lunch, picks her up and heads home to eat with Jack & I.  She only goes to school Monday-Thursday which is perfect because Jody has Fridays off too :)  Lizzy is absolutely LOVING preschool, she missed the cutoff for Kindergarten by 1 day, according to all her testing she is really ready for Kindergarten.  We could have pushed the issue and started her this year, but she and Anna would have been in the same grade and Jody & I decided it was best to leave her where she technically belongs, cutoffs are for a reason :)  Jack is potty-trained!!!  Can I get a woot-woot?  I had decided we would start "potty training" when Lizzy went off to preschool, but the Thursday before she started he decided he wanted to wear underwears...he really had few accidents during the day and was definitely NOT waking up at night so I put pull-ups on him at night and at naptime.  But he's been "underwears" only (all the time) for about a week now & he's done great!  He still has a problem with code browns, he must be scared of the potty because he goes in the bathroom a million times before he code browns :/  Jody has slowed down a tad at the church, we now have a middle school guy and he has taken a little bit of the load off Jody!  He's also been busy fixing things around the house, like our garage door, camper, Suburban (both), etc.  He is becoming quite the handyman :)  And I've been making bags!!!  Reusable Snack & Sandwich Bags as well as Sandwich Wraps.  I saw them on Etsy and decided I could make them, sat down one day and whipped some up (not as fast as they sound).  I made a set for each of the girls and people started seeing them and wanting to buy them!  So now I've added them to my Etsy site HERE :)  I've also still been couponing and keeping busy with Pampered Chef!  I'll try to get some more updated pictures on here of the kiddos and maybe change the layout a little bit...Jack has become really clingy since all the girls are at school and I find myself being pulled around like a freight train, impersonating "Emily" or "Percy", making trains out of laundry baskets, coloring pictures, all right next to my buddy who doesn't let me out of his site!  We're doing well, staying busy and ready for Fall!!!  Things are going really well at church, we're finishing up our Lesser Things campaign (paying off building debt, new canopies, basic church maintenance), 4 months early I might add :)  And we're going to gear up for our Greater Things Campaign starting soon to build!!!  Don't lose hope, this Mama is working on getting back to some of my old routines and making new ones now that I have only ONE at home with me!  Thanks for not exiling us, namely me for not updating, yikes!  So here are some recent pictures of the kiddos...

El Salvador

Since I won't have my phone and internet is sometimes sketchy in El Salvador, I'm putting a link to our student site, just click on "news & updates".  Jody is hoping to update every day what we are doing in El Salvador, maybe a picture or two, but I wouldn't count on it :(  There is a time change, I believe either 2 or 3 hours, and the posts will be late at night, so you may have to read them the next day!  If I'm able I will update as I can!  Thank you again for continuing to pray for our team and we look forward to sharing when we get back!!!

Today is the day

Today I'm asking for you to prepare our teams HEARTS...pray that we will be open to the Holy Spirits leading, we will be obedient to God in whatever He asks of us, we will be open to sharing our faith with others, open to new things and experiences.  That being sad to leave our loved ones for a week would be replaced with comfort and excitement in being able to go and serve!  For a few of our students this will be the first time overseas, for a few this will be the first overseas trip without a parent with them or just leaving very difficult situations at home.  Pray that we wouldn't be preoccupied with the things at home, but focused on the task at hand!  Prepare our HEARTS for the week!

1 day

Today I'm asking for CONTINUATION...as I said this is a youth mission trip.  I'm asking for a CONTINUATION of God's leading in each of our lives.  As in any trip we will come back on a high, I pray that our team will continue to stay in God's word, studying God's word, staying in church, sharing God's love with others and being an example to those around us, keep that flame going!

2 days

Today I'm asking for SAFE TRAVELS...as I said earlier this week we'll be on a plane for about 4 hours, mostly over water (yikes), traveling by bus or taxi while in El Salvador, walking around sharing with the people of El Salvador and doing daily things.  Please pray for SAFE TRAVELS for our team before and during our trip!

3 days

Today I'm asking for PEOPLE...please pray for all the PEOPLE we will come in contact with on our journey, whether it be in the airport, on a taxi, people we meet on the street in El Salvador, children we visit, people we are able to minister to, or even people we can share our trip with when we get back!  We are called to be examples, please pray that all these different things we will experience, we will be able to show God through every aspect!  As one of my new favorite songs says "put your love glasses on"-see people through God's eyes, be compassionate and soften the hearts of the PEOPLE so we can share God's love with them!  

4 days

Today I'm asking for GOOD HEALTH...a few weeks ago at camp Jack got a cold, then I got it, then Emma (and about 2/3 of our youth group) .  It was a nasty cold that finally went away for me 13 days after it started!  Most of our students ended up at the doctor with either an upper respiratory infection or sinus infection, I decided to tuff it out and let my body fight it on it's own...so I'm asking for you to pray for GOOD HEALTH for our entire team.  Keep us free of sickness before we leave and also while we are away in a foreign country!  Please pray for our tummies, that we would not end up with any icky stomach viruses or any other tummy problems ;) because we are not used to the food in El Salvador!  I'm taking lots of vitamins to hopefully get my immune system ready to kick butt on some germs :)