New Blog

This is my new blog (obviously, lol). It'll mostly be about my family and perhaps some frugality issues since I've recently become very inspired after listening to a radio show called Keeping It Centsible over at BlogTalkRadio.

I think I began listening about 3 or 4 weeks ago and I'm so glad I found this show. It is run by 2 women and they each have their own blog. I have their badges/button graphics on the left here on my blog, but I'll also post them below:

Keeping the Kingdom First and The "Cent"sible Sawyer

Aren't those clever names? Anyway, I've been reading through their posts and hoping I can begin to save some money while utilizing some of their tips and advice.

A little about me: I'm a Christian wife and stay-at-home mom to 6 blessings--5 boys and 1 girl, but not in that order--girl is #4. I've always been a big animal lover and I have 10 indoor cats, 6 dogs, and 8 ferrets. All are fixed (spayed/neutered) and have been either adopted from various shelters or were unwanted pets that were given to us. It is a lot of work to care for them, but the unconditional love they give back is amazing. Oh, two other things--I LOVE COFFEE and anything TIE-DYE!

I originally chose the name "allhisblessings6" because God has blessed me richly with many, many things, especially my husband (of 23 years this July!) and our 6 children whom I love dearly (hence the #6 in the name), our good health, our church, our freedom, our American Military, our family, and our friends. Everything we have is all HIS and we want HIM to have ALL the glory! I have, however, changed the name to THRIFTY LIVING MOM since it seems to be more geared toward what I wanted to accomplish with this blog.

My husband had a job he'd been at for almost 10 years. In November, 2007, he took a vacation day off to do some yard work before the snow began to fall. Well, it was that day he accidentally fell and shattered his hip. He had to have emergency surgery and was unable to walk for 3 months. As he gradually began to heal he started to walk again (praise God!) and eventually could walk on his own. After a few months of being on disability, he was released to go back to work in March, 2008, but his employer layed him off.

Here it is one year later, and despite the many, many interviews he's been on, he is still unemployed. Things have been very, very rough for us financially, but I'm not going to lose my faith in God. Unfortunately we are currently in bankruptcy proceedings (began this in July, 2008) but have been given a few extensions whenever we've gone to court since my husband is still unemployed. We go again at the end of this month, and I'm still praying that we will NOT lose our home, or the large van we have that fits all 8 of us. If you believe in prayer, I'd most certainly appreciate your prayers regarding this. I don't know what will happen at our next court date, but I know God does and I just keep resting in that.

Here is one of my favorite bible verses that I cling to:

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV

I also began listening to Dave Ramsey over the past year and really enjoy his radio show as well. I think it would be a true blessing to be "Debt Free", and this is a goal I hope we can accomplish one day.

My one and only hobby is feeding the outdoor birds and wildlife (although I haven't been able to do so for the past few months due to money being so tight, but I miss it horribly). I need to try to sell some things on eBay and find some birdseed on sale somewhere, lol. I’ve been doing this for over 10 years and it is never boring to me. There is just something about watching the birds--it is very relaxing and exciting all at the same time.

Well, I'm not really sure what else I should right for now, but I'm hoping this was a good start. :)