Large Family Budget Blessings

This past month I was blessed in so many ways. This past summer I had gone to a garage sale a found loads (and I mean loads) of homeschooling Abeka books on sale for only a quarter! I am talking about teacher guides that in the catalog go for over $35 dollars were in pristine condition for only 25 cents. The lady was so friendly explaining that she was involved in a co-op and just did not want to spend all her time posting them on Ebay.

She wanted my phone number to call me later because she had more at home. She did end up calling me last month and gave me a huge box load of FREE Abeka books. I ended up with nearly 30 readers for the children (regular priced at $10 each!, tons of teacher guides and unused workbooks and many more items I needed or could resell myself. The savings estimated easily over a thousand dollars worth.

This year I have already tackled buying most of all my fall and winter shopping for my eight blessings. I walked into my local thrift store a few days ago and found they were having a back to school sale with all clothing for 48 cents! I quickly stocked up on winter coats, snowsuits, windbreakers, fall coats, mittens, hats, boots, church clothes, play clothes, church shoes, costumes and everything else you can think of.

I like to buy extra coats--one for them to play in at home and one for going out, that can get pretty costly if I was trying to do that at a regular store---but you can't beat that for forty-eight cents! I also found the most beautiful church dresses for the girls---the kind you can only find for about $40 at Sears or JC Penny and in brand new condition! I could not believe my eyes.

 The Lord has greatly blessed us this year-- He also had a friend call out of the blue to give me a huge bag of Hannah Anderson dresses that were almost new---these dresses go for at least $30-$40 dollars each. There must have been 25 dresses in there with other odds and ends.


"When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet." Proverbs 31:21

I also like to keep a wardrobe log of who has what so when I encounter great sales I can buy accordingly since I am in charge of keeping ten family members wardrobe's up-to-date, in good repair and laundered, which many times can be a full-time job in itself! The change of seasons are always a busy time for me making sure I get most of their clothing purchased and checked off this list. I especially like buying most of it at one time----it frees me up to pursue other important endeavors the rest of the year, like spending my extra time with family and drinking hot cocoa.

My most recent blessing occurred this past Sunday as we visited my father-in-law and enjoyed his new hardwood floors. I noticed a pretty cabinet with glass and shelving in the corner of their kitchen and complimented his wife on it. She quickly told me they did not have the room for it and was thinking about selling it at a garage sale. Then she asked me if I'd like it to have it. Have it? Of course, I'd love it! She then told me there were two and we could pick them up whenever we'd like! Now didn't I just ask the Lord for some new bookcases? These were perfect.


The Lord is so good, blessings like this happen quite frequently around here. He always provides and knows just what we need and even knows our 'wants'. Don't think He doesn't hear your prayers, He knows exactly what our needs are and our heart's desires. No thing is too small to bring before Him, not even a pair of mittens.