Random Thoughts....

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It appears baby Harper is doing better and may not have to go on the heart/lung bypass at all! Prayers at Work!!

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First - please pray for a little girl named Harper who was born yesterday but is in very critical condition shortly after birth and flown to Tulsa, OK to go through a heart/lung bypass due to a serious case of pneumonia. Found this sweet lady's blog, Kelly, through a couple of the other blogs I follow (Bring the Rain and BooMama).

Read Kelly's blog for updates on Harper. Praying for Harper!!

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It's been a busy week here at the Cox house. I just haven't had much time to blog and really, haven't had much time to look at my computer at all!! I'm not a fan of ultrabusy weeks, but I suppose they are just that way right now.

So, what have we been up to this week ??? Well, in addition to the normal - soccer practices, games, working concessions at soccer games, flute lessons, scout meetings, work ......

Beth Moore - The Inheritance Bible Study
Personally, I added an activity to our schedule for the next 9 weeks!! I have wanted for a very long time to go to one Beth Moore's real live studies just to experience it. Her studies bring me closer to Jesus in many ways. Centers my focus, wonderful praise music, incredible topics, expands my understanding. Her bible study is at Houston First Baptist and on Tuesday nights. Pre-John, there was really no way I could have attended her live studies with Stephen having Scouts on the same night and my chaffeur duties there. I was lucky if I could make the one at our church consistently! With John's wonderful assistance, I can go now!! He's agreed to ensure Stephen gets to Scouts and has what he needs. Thank you so much my love!! John knows how much I need some of this personal bible time so he's been so wonderful about ensuring I get to do it. I know God placed this man in my life for a reason... I get to experience it each and every day!

Back to Beth Moore - if you don't know her through her bible studies and you want to really dig deep in your understanding of the Bible, she's definitely a study you should try. She has many different studies out there and has an amazing ability to convey God's words in a manner in which you can grasp with a passion and humour that is extremely engaging!! She's a real, live person with such a passion for Jesus and is not perfert! Nope... she readily tells you she is not.. nor are we, yet in Christ we are forgiven and are Heiresses! If you don't know about her studies, check her out at http://www.lproof.org/ and she and her daughters maintain a great blog HERE. There is currently a scripture memory project happening for 2009 with about 3000 people taking part in memorizing two scriptures a month!


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Alone time for Mama!!

Kids are with their dad this weekend.....
John is at the ranch this weekend.....
Mama is happy at home alone this weekend... :-)

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Saving Money .....

I'm on a mission to reduce our spending around here. We spend WAY to much on stupid stuff. Frustrating!! EVERYTHING (even my scrapbooking/book expenditures) is on the review list for right now!! It's not that I'm going to cut them all, just want to control them all.

The first thing will be to reduce how much we spend on cable/internet/phone expenses. Trust me... it's way too much. Cutting that in half!!

The second thing is to find ways to not spend so many of my $$$ at the grocery store!! Does not translate into necessarily less items. Going back to my coupon tracking/using methods where I once came out of a store with $150 in items for only about $30. Yep... that's what I want. It takes time and patience, but gee... it's worth it.

The third thing relates to the first - planning our meals. We have fallen into the busy family trap - quick dinners when you're running fast and furiously after working a long day and then having a short timeframe to get a kid to an activity or game. While it's not reasonable to remove it entirely (like saying I'm going cold turkey on no coffee!!), it is reasonable to reduce the frequency! Ensuring we have items in the house easy to prepare and ready to go is an important piece to this. If you have to spend 45 minutes preparing dinner, it won't work.

The fourth thing - go back to the Dave Ramsey envelope method. If you don't know Dave Ramsey's principles - go HERE and take notes!! The most valuable time you can spend on yourself. If you're in Houston, he'll be here January 24 live. Employing the envelopes for our extraneous items (i.e. dining out, books, etc.) will help me limit them.

There's more... but I think those are the most important! We are truly blessed financially but saving money is more important now more than ever.

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Tis all for right now my friends!!! Have a great weekend!
MA