Springboard American - making money while doing fun surveys

I talked about how mostly our Christmas was free this year. Yes, you saw that right free. I try to do surveys and such throughout the year and get gift cards and such to buy gifts. I love Springboard America because they actually pay out money. This is one site that I actually enjoy most of the surveys as well. So if you are interested please comment with your email address and I will be happy to send you a invite. Please be sure to use a junk email address for all your freebie and survey site stuff. It is a great way to help your money stretch. :)

In Case You Think I Have It All Together

My morning has consisted of trying to get the kids to do their chores. We gave out new chores last night and even had the talk of no playing games until chores/school is done. So, usually when new chores are given out the kids do great for a few weeks but this time didn't even make it a day!!!!
  It is lunch time and so far my no yelling policy is out the door. I've had to tell them several times what to do. The baby won't sleep, the 2 yr old has been screaming about EVERYTHING! The 16 yr old is in a grouchy mood. While trying to do some reading with the struggling reader in the house it was like everyone lost their mind. See where I'm going with this. I do NOT nor have ever had it all together. But ya know what I'm doing the best I can and God loves me. Hey, that's what really matters, right.
   So while I'm writing this blog post everyone is hopefully finishing up their chores. Two yr old is eating lunch so he's FINALLY quite. Quite the word my struggling reader was having trouble with this morning. Mmmm, funny huh. Not so much to me right now. But I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt one day I will miss this. All of it! So, I'll sit here in pure exhaustion and rock this little baby because I know one day there will also be a last baby.
   No mother has it all together. Even though we like to portray we do but that's the beauty of forgiveness. I told my 4 yr old sorry for yelling at him. His response? "I love you, mama". Yes, as mommies we will mess up but our kids will forgive us. :)

  This actually makes me think about how God must feel with His children always throwing tantrums and getting into trouble. Wow, how He must feel!! Dear mamas , I understand how hard it is. But it IS worth it for His glory and honor. Totally worth it!!

Great places for great fashion

I know if you're a mom like me shopping is hard to come by. You can still look fashionable while ordering online. There are many sites online to look at. I love Pinterest for this because you can find sites that put outfits together for you. Poshmark that I blogged about last is a good one as well. :) We've gotten tons of cute stuff from there. Schoola is one that has great clothes for your kids. And don't forget to check out Amazon. We tend to forget Amazon for clothes but don't count them out as well as Kohls. I personally think I get better deals shopping online. Please reply and add the sites you like to shop fashionable, affordable clothes on.

Schoola!!! Get $20 free worth of clothes and money for a school of your choice!

Here is the link to get started.
https://www.schoola.com/?ref=sm-3X6mjkLC2
I have gotten all my free stuff so far and it was good condition stuff. :) Hey, free clothes and money to help schools.

Beech Nut baby food

 I usually make my own baby food for my kiddos but this season has found me very busy and just not much time for it. We still try to when we can from fresh fruits and veggies and Maddie is 7 months and while still nursing a lot loves her food. LOL.
    We are pleased with Beech Nut baby food. They had made great strides to move to more natural organic baby food and I am very pleased with that. I was not compensated for this review, lol, just feel health is very important and love to let other parents know the companies that really satisfy my family and our needs.
   Please share the products you love for your little ones and are pleased with the strides they've made to make it more organic!
   

Learning How To Take Care of Your Family

I've always said to others I talk about Young Living with that we need to know how to take care of ourselves and our family. But it has hit me like a brick wall the past several weeks!
      My daughter started with severe pain in her abdomin almost 4 weeks ago. A couple days later she started throwing up and since then she's done nothing but throw up. She's 16 and fairly healthy for the most part. After a couple days throwing up and being in pain we took her to the doctor. I was doing all the things I knew to do. He suspected maybe appendix like we did. He scheduled a Ultrasound to see.
   As most of you know I'm a mom to 11. I can't just up and run here and there. So
found someone to sit with the kids and off we went first thing that morning to get ultrasound. When we arrived we were asked if she was told to drink so many ounces of water. Um no, we were told she shouldn't eat or drink after midnight. So they gave her some water to drink while we waited. We finally got called back and the ultrasound tech asked us what was going on. We told her and she said she was not going to be able to see what needed to be seen on ultrasound and my daughter needed a CT. UGH! So , got in touch with doctors office and they ordered a CT even though they said you could see what needed to be seen on a ultrasound.( Mind you folks we are self pay, we have a Christian share health insurance). So then they said she needed to drink this drink and come back in like a hour. Okayyyyy.... so , I run home nurse the baby and go back. CT is done. Nothing shows up on CT. So the doctors office chalked it up to a bad virus. Which I knew it wasn't. I KNOW what to do for a virus.
     So another several days goes by and still throwing up. No better. We go BACK to the doctor and she is referred to a GI doctor. Said it is her gall bladder. So when we see this doctor he sends her for a Ultrasound. So, we already have done CT, blood work, and urine. Now, we are going back for what was originally ordered. She goes for her ultrasound. NO stones show up. So, the doctor seems stumped. He schedules more test and gives us our options which are mostly surgery. So we pray and pray some more.
   Decided to go to the doctor I go to for my thyroid issues. She seemed to think gall bladder probably too but checked for h pylori. Gave her meds and supplements to stop throwing up and to support the gall bladder. I had to call several times to get any help because she is still throwing up. They were suppose to call her in a different med last night for the throwing up and when we called to see if CVS had it... NOPE. So, surely it would be done today when I went to get groceries this morning.. Went by there, they didn't have a order. So..... talked to the doctors office again and went BACK to town. This medicine was $150!
    During all this the only thing she has really kept down totally is NingXia Red. It is a juice type thing from Young Living that has tons of nutrients, vitamins, and such. I honestly believe that is the ONLY reason she is not in the hospital. I have used several supplements and oils. I say all this to say I am super thankful for the research and knowledge I already had because we have been so lost as to what to do. Please learn ways to take care of your family naturally. I want to say so much more but I also want to not judge anyone we have had contact with during this whole journey started. Just please pray for our daughter to be healed and pray for wisdom for us and the doctors.
    I realize we live in a sinful world. We are going to get sick no matter what we do sometimes but knowing how to take care of someone you love is so very important!! After going through all of this I'm thankful I have my Lord and Savior to fall back on and I know He has big plans for my daughter. I'm thankful he left things here that we can take care of our families with!! To see your daughter throw everything up is horrible so when we realized she was keeping NingXia Red down I was so happy. God bless you all. We truly appreciate everyone who is praying.

How Did We Get So Selfish

  I have been thinking about this for a couple of days now. How as a society did we get so selfish? Like, when did it start? Reading history with my children it was not always that way. People looked out for each other, valued life, and saw marriage as sacred. It is very sad that all that has vanished.

  I am on a Christian moms page on facebook and someone asked the other day if it was better for a couple to stay married and miserable or separated and happy. First, that is just a sad question to begin with. Do you really think many years ago, the time before women's rights and all this political correctness people thought this way. And then even sadder were some of the answers. All we have to do is look to the bible for that answer. After all isn't it God's infallible Word! The Bible gives clear answers to this question. When we say our vows it is meant for a lifetime. But the bible gives specifics of the only reason for separation/divorce and that is abuse or cheating( and in the instance of cheating I think in some cases it can be reconciled).

  If a woman OR man for that matter is not happy in their marriage the first thing they should do is hit their knees in prayer. God did not design marriage for our happiness although that is a beautiful side effect. God designed marriage for His glory. No person on this earth can make us totally happy. ONLY God can feel that void. Hit your knees and then get in the Word. And then in our society we are always taught it is the other persons fault. To blame someone else for our problems. It is not our issue but many times if we start examining ourselves we will see not so pleasant things. So next I think I would work on myself and try to put your spouse first in your life. Many times this day and time people have too much going on with work and various things outside the home. It was NEVER meant to be this way. Your home comes first! If we start to put others first we will be surprised the change IN US.
 
  I am sure many women do not even know how to keep a house any longer or be a good wife and mother because there are no longer Titus 2 women teaching the younger women. There are no mentors and that is so sad but we can regain control of this. We can win the battle if we as Christian women work together. Share our passions and help each other instead of thinking we do not have the time. Yes, there are ALOT of things I would love to do outside my home in my community but at this time my kids need me. They are still little and we have homeschooling and everything else that is included in that but I can do the best I can. Even just this blog has reached people that I never dreamed it would make a impact on. So, pray and seek God's guidance on how to reach out to other moms and wives. Life is not all about us or our desires. My first and most important desire is to serve Christ and serve Him well. God bless you all in the journey. Times are hard but with Him nothing is impossible.