Snippets of thoughts

- An update from the fund raiser I posted about yesterday. As of 8 pm they had raised over $2700!! More than enough to purchase their goal of 100 blankets and exceed their hopes for raising any additional money to apply towards a $2000 commercial washer for a hospital in Sodo, Ethiopia. Needless to say... a few dollars from people here and there, a small sacrifice that even on the tightest budget isn't THAT hard to squeeze in (reality for Americans is we can really usually find ways to juggle things for a few dollars here or there), is going to go a long way to bless others who truly do go without.

Which spurs me to get moving on one of my goals for this year, which is several different ways that the Lord inspired me to reach out to those in need in our own community. I'll have to write a blog more about that in near future as I firm up some more details. Note : if you set goals for this new year - the first month is already well past over!!!

- I have been spending way too much time entering contests once I heard about this blog "event" Although the relaxation from spending a little more time on the computer was much needed after that birthday party for Isaac :-)

AAAannd... you should have seen my excitement last night when I received an e-mail letting me know I won a $25 Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! I was so excited that when 2 of my sisters dropped by they thought I was going to say I was pregnant (um, hello? My newborn is only 4 weeks old. C'mon people, I'm not that fertile.)

- Tara has me thinking about doing something absolutely crazy.... see "no 'pooing" Although I'd have to imagine over a year would be a significant savings.

- I've been really encouraged while reading All The Way Home by Mary Pride. It's a little outdated, referring to current culture icons in 1989 and some other events. I'll have to write a review once finished (OK, I can't take credit for that idea.. it was Danica's), which I almost am. I'm excited to finish as I'm really looking forward to moving on to my next book I just received : The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

- In the next week I'm planning to intensely do some research & menu planning to learn how to cut our grocery bill back. All suggestions welcome. :-)

- And that's the end of things bouncing around in my mind as I have a 6 year old quizzing me on my addition and subtraction (his favorite discovery in school this year), which is REALLY hard to answer while typing :-)