Earth Day!

Just wanted to give a quick update today. We got up early and surprisingly fresh and ready for the day! Must have been the relief of warmer weather returning today and through the weekend! Whatever the reason I will take it!!! We headed out the door for a walk which thrilled the dog to no end! With the added benefit of homeschooling on Earth Day we decided to clean up our neighborhood park and the storm gutters. We picked up two trash bags worth and another few armloads full! We were thrilled to do this and feel good about how it looked for a while, but admittedly there were a few new pieces of trash spotted on the long walk home and we we tired enough that we had to let them dance in the wind once again. Sigh!!

Keeping our earth clean is a big job! I hope everyone is out there trying to do their part! :)

Happy Earth Day!!
Sarah

Illness in the family---the computer has a virus!

I haven't disappeared! I was basking in the fun of the UBP and then it happened....
my computer went to blue screen and that was it! We have someone at my husband's office trying to fix it, but when he asked for the restore disk we went blank. We searched our normal computer drawer for those things and it isn't there. I think this is a set up! Either we are meant to have a break from online activity or a Dell bandit has entered our house!

Either way, as I check on things from the library (WOW I type faster than anyone in here! :) ) I realize that not only is this heightening my awareness of just how often I actually do "NEED" to check something out online. But NOW I just happen to be in style as there is a unplug event happening!

Talk about timing!!! I have to admit what the others who are participating are saying runs very true for me as well.
I find I have more time for things at home and I am getting more projects done. Let's still pray that I find my OS restore disk so we don't have to spend good money on buying another one!!

Stay tuned!! I will be back hopefully very soon!!
Sarah

Do You Ever Wonder Why?

Proverbs 3:5-6:
5.Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6.In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

I was thinking today, do you ever wonder why God brings the things he does into your life? His infinite wisdom joined me with my husband after a cry out to him in the night almost 9 years ago! It took time, but in his timing it was all perfect. In his timing he nudged me to read a book that turned me from a determined full time (sad) working mother with kids in daycare wondering why I got the leftovers of them every night...to being a stay at home mom that homeschools! (The book was So..You're Thinking About Homeschooling by Lisa Welchel) Isn't God good? Isn't it amazing when you look at the details in life and see his hand guiding things with perfection and timing that is impeccable?!

Homeschooling is getting better finally. I am settled in being at home. Now I am in another stage of my life. Now I enter into the world of blogging on the tip of my fingers gliding in carefully and excitedly into this new world of creativity, sharing, tips, friendships and helpfulness that is hard to find even in the same neighborhood sometimes. Today I wondered why God stirred it in my heart recently to get back into blogging even though I created my account 3 years ago!

I have been learning a lot through my devotions and consistent search for God in my daily life. He shows me how he is there for the little and the big things. He isn't surprised by the things I do and has the grace to love me through each stumble, fall and worn path I attempt to step foot on again. Now in my searching for why recently it hit me...WHY am I here for such a time as this? A part of me would love to live in simpler times (although I DO love my internet access!) but times where kids in the neighborhood are not so scheduled that you have to schedule FREE time during the week to play! Times where you don't know the interior of your car better than the interior of your house! Times where you KNOW how to sit and play cards or board games without trying to remember what it was like when you were a kid. Maybe no one else is like that but I have spent most of my life working and my brain isn't good at turning off and hitting snooze or in this case "Relax". I have fun, I love to laugh and be around people but my trained instinct is to work when I see the availability to do so! Have you ever seen someone stack their dirty dishes at a restaurant to make it easier on the server? That was probably me, you should have waved and said Hi! :)

So here is the question, if I long for such old fashioned relaxed times, why did God see fit to put me here in this time? It actually brought me to tears to think about God's reasoning. He put me into the internet world to encourage, help, nurture and be a beam of light in the online world. He knows what he is doing and little by little I see the people he puts me into contact with to support, befriend, love and learn from. His wisdom astounds me! I see prayers answered through simple things, like remembering when I first moved from Kansas City to Wisconsin and longed for friends. Now I have friends in town, through my super friendly wonderful church that he specifically recommended and my online friends! As you go through each day, whether you know it or not, you can touch people's lives. So with that thought, what do they see? Happiness? Peace? Joy? Love? Fear? Negativity? Anxiousness?
I believe that God has done a huge work in me as I have learned to look up when I have questions instead of searching for my phone for someone to call...I call on him.

This is where I came up with prayerful driven life, because I have finally learned to quit steering and give God the wheel. I find that I have more peace in my life, I am learning to relax and not work every minute of the day. I feel his presence much easier when my mind isn't speeding through life 90 miles an hour.
Where do you turn in your time of need? Why do you think out of any other time God put you here now?
Share with us in a comment, what do you think?

Ultimate Blog Party 2009

The Ultimate Blog Party 2009 has started!
Welcome to my blog! My name is Sarah and I live in Wisconsin. I am super-amazingly-happily married with a blended family of 5 boys and my baby Kira (lab-dalmatian mix-she is a dog in case that wasn't clear). :)

I am fairly new to blogging as you will see from my archive list, but I have already made some wonderful friends and I am falling more and more in love with my blog time!
You will find through my blog that I am a Christian homeschooler, coupon-queen, edging my way into home decor, baking, recipe testing, doing things myself (gasp!), shopper, friend and all around fun girl (at least I think so!). I hope to make plenty of new friends through this party!

Some of my favorite blogs to read and friends I have made are here: nester, Maisy Report, project create a home, we are that family, money saving mom, little momma and company, katies nesting spot, bless our nest, shell in your pocket and BlueCastle. I could list numerous others, to see some of my other friends check out my followed blogs.

I hope to offer fun tidbits of sale, ideas, family updates, creativity and encouragement with my blog. I hope you will follow and become a part of a Prayerful Driven Life with me. I plan to have giveaways in the future as well! :)
As part of the excitement of this party are the prizes, here are the items I would love to win:
58 – Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer
Provided by: Moms Who Think
42 — 5 kajeet phones with $5 of airtime
Provided by: kajeet (my boys would SO appreciate this win!!)
11 — Aromatherapy book and a sampler of therapeutic essential oils.Provided by: Jennifer at Oils For Wellness

1 — $100 gift certificate to either Pedal Cars and Retro or A Rocking Horse To Love
89 - $100 Gift Card to HomeGoods, #89 - Donated by HG Openhouse
Provided by: 5 Minutes for Mom
21 — $50 gift certificate to Target Stores
Provided by: Agoosa - Funny Name, Sound Advice
22 — $50 gift certificate to Target Stores
Provided by: Beginner Baby Blog
26 — $30 gift certificate to Target
Provided by: Little Miss Hannah - Our Fight Against Gaucher’s Disease

I would also like to win # 27, ,43, 44, 55, 69, 91, 102, 106, 118.
Thanks for stopping by!
Enjoy the Party!!!

Life & Style Makeover Giveaway

This is HUGE! There is a fabulous makeover happening right now at project create a home. They are giving away A Life & Style Makeover...The winner will be able to choose three areas in their life that they need help on...And the Project Girls will magically help guide them to a new place and a new vision for their life...
I would love to win this makeover for so many reasons. I would love to truly have someone help me with design in my house, especially my rec room, it is a thrown together "wreck" alright! I don't have a color scheme and I struggle with vision most of the time for big picture outcomes. I never had much of the girlie touch, I am catching up in my 30's for a lot of lost time!

When I think about what they are offering, "a new vision for their life". What a statement! I have often thought that my past amazes me that I did so many various things in such a short time. The past 8 years I went from being a single (divorced) working mom of 1 to a working wife and mom to 5 boys, then to staying at home and homeschooling two of my children. Then other things changed, I actually starting to care about home decor, eating healthy, caring for the environment, making things at home and other things that were foreign to me just 5 short years ago!

My husband and I are dedicating this year to focusing on our debts and paying them off (you can read about the progress at our other blog here) and finally trying to live a life of freedom that will no longer be based on our paycheck to paycheck lifestyle! I would say that my lifestyle has changed drastically in the past few years! The vision is my next step! I have felt God's direction in many areas such as real estate deals, creating a "Safe House" for teen girls to come and stay, being tutored with schoolwork, learning how to cook and eat right and not have outside pressures telling them it is a waste of time! I would be so thankful to have the mentoring of other women to help me create, invest and picture the vision for my future and help me through some of these pillars up and coming in my life. What an amazing adventure!

Sunday Party - SURPRISE!

My husband's birthday is this coming Sunday but on a whim I decided to throw him a surprise party! I am amazed to say he was surprised and never suspected a thing! I was gone half the day on Saturday doing birthday errands and using gift cards at fabulous places as I posted. But then Sunday I drove separately to church telling him I was running late and didn't want him to be late in helping with sound for the worship team. I was 20 minutes LATE for church, but I was able to pick up his cookie cakes from Target that I phone ordered, along with the remaining food items I needed. The poor thing, he told me as soon as I sat down (at church) that he was worried I was in a car accident and was about to leave and retrace the drive from church to our house. He has said that numerous times since church yesterday. (What a precious man!)


We had some fabulous church family members come to the party filling our house with 17 extra people to enjoy the day with and play! We had bikes, the motorbike, Frisbees, our dog and just about every other toy you can think of strewn across our lawn with happy men and children playing all afternoon! (The women all stayed inside and talked happily with the kids outside entertained for the afternoon!)
It was a blessed event and the best part was seeing just how blessed and happy my husband felt through the whole thing!

He is 46 this year and it is hard for me to believe that it has been almost 7 years since we have been together. I am so thankful for this amazing man God joined me with for life...some days that doesn't seem like a long enough time to experience each day with him! :)
Happy Birthday Baby!