Miracles

As I have mentioned in past blogs, my family has been going through a difficult time this past year. I was forced to close my child care which in turn caused financial strain on our household budget and we became extremely behind on our bills. Especially our mortgage and credit card bills. When you are forced with the choice of feeding your children or paying credit cards... well I chose to feed my kids!

Now, we have a mounting pile of debt, creditors calling and a possibility of losing our house. We have actually received an auction sale date for our home that is to take place in just a couple of weeks. So... after much deliberation, discussion and of course prayer, my husband and I decided to file for bankruptcy.  This is not where we saw our lives headed... however we are so far under water that we can no longer see the surface. Although I am now working from home, the piles of debt have grown so high that we just can't get out from under it... it would take years and years.

Here is where the miracle happens...

We went to see a lawyer about filing bankruptcy and decided that yes it was the way to go, especially so that we could immediately stop the auctioning of our home. In order to do this we had to come up with $1800.00 up front to hire the lawyer. Now where in the world would we get that kind of money in a week?

My husband and I started brainstorming ideas of how we could come up with the money quickly...  so we decided to start by having a huge garage sale. We also started listing things online to sell... including our dining room table. We also decided not to pay a couple of bills so that we could glean $1000 from his paycheck.  One of those bills was our truck payment. We were very scared about postponing this bill because we really can't afford to lose the only vehicle that fits all of our children and their car seats.

I went about gathering items from our home, baby items, clothes, even furniture that we were willing to sell in order to make some money at our garage sale. Anyone having a baby could have come to our garage sale for a one stop shop - crib, car seat, high chair, nursing items, tons of baby accessories, plus so much more!!  In the end we made $275 from the garage sale. A man came to pick up the toddler bed I was selling the next day which brought my total to approximately $300. This left me a little sad, I had prayed and hoped that God would have provided more. Oh ye, of little faith!!!

At church the next morning, as I was singing and worshipping with the rest of the congregation, I began crying and I was overwhelmed with the feeling of comfort and felt God's hand resting on my shoulders reminding me that it would all work out. I kept hearing over and over in my mind that God would provide... why was I so worried? I knew God was speaking to me.  When it was time for tithing, I hesitantly reached for my check to place in the offering basket.  I really needed the money that I was placing there, and yet, I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit reminding me again that God has a plan and was providing for us.... no need to worry.

I left church feeling comforted and at peace with our situation.... still without money, but knowing it would show up. After much indecisiveness, hesitation and sadness, I decided to sell our oak dining room table, knowing that it would bring $400-$500 to help pay the lawyer.  I LOVED my dining room table.  It was gorgeous, and when adding the extra leaves it would expand to 9 feet long. It was super wide at 4 feet so it had lots of room for big dinners and lots of family and friends could fit around our table. I had several people contact me and wanted to pay much less than I was asking. If I was going to sell my table I was insisting that I get the right amount.  Finally, a couple emailed me and wanted to see the table and said that they were prepared to purchase and take it with them. I hesitated in my response to them as I really didn't want to sell it!

In the end, I was reminded that sometimes getting what we want comes with sacrifice.  Was I really ready for a miracle in my life? Was I ready to let go of "stuff"? I decided that it was best to let go of our table and responded to the couple's email and set up an appointment for them to check it out. Then I prayed that God would have them willing to pay the $500 I was asking. That amount would give us enough money to pay the lawyer.

Lo and behold the couple fell in love with my table and purchased it, handing me $500 cash without trying to get it for less. WOW! I counted up the money from the garage sale, the table and the money we were able to squeeze out of the budget and it equalled $1804! We needed $1800! Wow, we actually had $4 extra, we had the money to pay the lawyer. We wouldn't be able to make our truck payment which is $234, but I wasn't going to complain... I knew it would work out.

My neighbor, and dear friend, came home and saw our table being loaded up by the couple and so I went to tell her what was going on.  She already knew about the lawyer and money we needed and asked me how much more we needed. I told her that by selling the table we had enough to pay the lawyer. She said, "Well, me and... (several other people) have gathered some money to help you guys. We really wanted to do more, but all I could gather was $230."

I couldn't believe it! That was the EXACT amount we needed to be able to pay our truck payment. EXACT! With the $4 extra from our sales and the $230 from my neighbor, we had enough! If that is not a miracle, a divine intervention, a hand from God, I really don't know any other way to describe it!! Miracles DO happen every day. We must believe that God will provide. Just when you think about giving up, that is when the miracle happens. After the year my family and I have been through, I have realized beyond a shadow of a doubt that every trial that we go through prepares us for something greater. The trials hurt, as they stretch us and grow us. The question remains... Are you willing to wait for the miracle? Or do you give up before God has a chance to  perform one in your life?

(I know its hard to read but the plaque says, "We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty." -Maya Angelou)

If my friend has told me she was giving us one thousand dollars it would not have meant as much as that $230! That dollar amount was God's way of reminding me, "Hey, Erica... I've got this! It is all part of the plan. Stop worrying and spend more time focusing on me so that I can continue healing your family!"

"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  Matthew 6:25-34

God has a plan... we need only to believe in Him and He shall provide.

I hope that our story will help someone to believe just a little bit more and that our story might give another family a little more hope. I believe with all my heart that God has asked us to go through these trials so that we can help someone else. We (my family) know that God is using us to further His good works through us and everything we have gone through is part of His plan. Don't get me wrong, the trials HURT but the FAITH that has resulted is just a small glimpse of the reward on the other side! Oh the sweetness of resting in His GRACE!!

Conquering Paper Clutter in 5 Simple Steps

I used to struggle with paper clutter - mail everywhere, piles of receipts, magazines that I'm going to read someday... sound familiar? Maybe your desk/work space looks like this:

I can't stand paper clutter... and yet, before I created a simple 5 step system to keep my desk organized, I always seemed to struggle staying on top of the piles that accumulated there. Since starting to use these steps daily I have managed to eliminate the paper piles - and it only takes a few minutes each day!

Step One: Go through mail daily.
I have found that when I have accumulated a giant pile of mail, it is mostly "junk mail" that I am going to toss out anyway. As I am walking back to the house from my mail box, I am already sorting through the "junk" and separating things out that are going to be immediately tossed into the trash. I think 7 or 8 out of 10 pieces of mail go right into the "circle file bin" (trash can) or shredder. Even if I can't get to the rest of my mail right away, I only have to sort through the important things when I do. On the days where my kids or hubby get the mail, they know to place it neatly on the desk and I will go through the mail when I get home, etc. To stay on top of it, I go through it daily, even if that means I have to sort it before I go to bed. By using my five steps it only takes me a few minutes and therefore is easy to do daily.

 

Step Two: Only keep ads of places I regularly shop.
I am not a "drive all over town to hit all the sales" kind of person. I just simply don't have time for that. I tend to go to a few specific places and will create my menu and shopping list according to their ads. However, if I do happen to stop by a store that I don't normally visit, I can always grab an ad on my way into the store. Most places keep ads on a rack right in their entry. For the ads I do keep, I have two paper trays (3 shelves total - picture at the end of blog) on my desk and I use the middle tray for ads. As soon as I bring the mail in the house, I put the ads on this tray and then I can look through them when planning my shopping trip. When the next week's ad arrives, I simply swap the old for the new. This keeps my ads current and I never have to search through a bunch of ads - the ones I use are quickly within reach, not outdated and I know right where to look for them!

Step Three: Keep 2 files for coupons - current month and last month.
Are you a pizza, burger, Chinese food, oil change, car wash and steak dinner (plus so much more... ) coupon saver? I love to save a buck and as a result, I love to save up all these coupons just in case we visit one of the places around town. We love to treat the family to a dinner out once in a while and we like to try new places. As a result, I like to keep these kinds of coupons on hand. In the past, when we wanted to go somewhere, I found myself sifting through a huge pile of coupons, trying to find ones that hadn't expired and frustrating myself and the rest of my family for having to wait. (Crabby, grumpy, whiny children replace my usually well behaved children when they are not fed on a timely basis! hee hee) So I came up with my simple two file folder system that has a home in the drawer of my desk. One is for any coupons that I get in the mail THIS MONTH and one is for the PREVIOUS MONTH. When a new month starts, I simply toss out all of the previous month's coupons and that folder is now ready for the current ones.  Now, when we want to use a coupon, I pull one of the file folders out of my drawer and quickly find the coupon I need... and 99% of the time it has not expired. (I've found that most of these types of coupons expire 60 days from when they are sent.) I also keep a separate file for take out menus so that they are also handy to find.

*Just as a side note, I have a similar system for my magazines. I have a cute little magazine holder in my family room so that I can grab a magazine to flip through if I have a few moments to myself (so rare... really... I am a mom of 3, wife, house to clean, meals to cook, 4 pets to care for and I work from home... I rarely have a moment to myself! Please feel for me!) I only keep one month's worth of magazines in my holder at a time. Even if I haven't read last month's magazine, when the new one arrives, I donate or recycle.the old one. (Be sure to cut out or cross off your name and address if you plan to donate.) I figure that if I haven't had the time to read my magazine for an entire month, then I'm not going to have time to read two the next month!! This keeps the most current one handy if I do have a chance to flip through one - instead of grabbin one about Easter activities when it is almost Christmas! (I know this from experience!)

Step Four: Have a designated place for bills.
I have a small spiral type note book with pockets on each page where I keep bills waiting to be paid in one of the pockets and in another pocket I keep anything I am waiting to clear my bank account. Although I pay most of my bills online, I still have a few paper bills that arrive by mail. I would lose them or even forget about them because I am so used to paperless billing. Now, when paying bills, or checking my account, I have everything in one organized spot so I don't have to worry if I remembered everything. The "things waiting to clear my account" pocket, I also use for any receipts that I have accumulated throughout the day. I have also trained my husband to place any receipts he may have into this pocket so that I can file accordingly - even if that just means right into the shredder! As I said before, while I bring my mail in the house, I am already sorting it. And by the time I reach my desk, I already have the bills separated and they go right into my spiral notebook without starting a pile of clutter on my desk. The pocket notebook is also great to organize other paperwork that I need to keep filed and handy.

Step Five: Have a designated space for "read later" items.
As I mentioned previously I have paper trays on my desk, and I use the the bottom tray for any mail, brochures, papers my kids bring home, bulletins, etc that I plan to read or file later. My kids and hubby are trained and know exactly where to put notes or papers they bring home. I place any items here that I can't get to "right now." I try to go through this tray every few days so that it doesn't start to pile up and I deal with each item as needed, whether that means read and toss or read and file.

On most days, the above picture is how I wake up and find my desk. This system has really helped me and I hope that my simple 5 step system can help you tackle paper clutter as well. Working from home, it is imperative that I have an organized space from which to work. I am one of those types that can't concentrate when surrounded by clutter! Since I have started this system, I feel so much more organized and ready for the day when my desk is clean and tidy. I spend less time sorting and trying to conquer the endless paper piles (that can become out of control with just one days worth of mail) and more time being productive. Its as easy as 1,2,3,4,5!

Now if I could only organize the rest of my house like this... yeah, I know, its a process!! One small space at a time!