Same Time Last Year

I almost never read my old posts, maybe I should deleate them. Last year at this time was kind of a dark place, our severance from our old church would run out at Christmas as well as our health care. I had a new born and at that moment we thought we were going to be going to a church...then things feel through. Of course I didn't know that we would be going on more interviews and visits and that we would get the wonderful church we have now. Between Christmas and March we lived off our savings, ministers don't qualify for unemployment, RevDr got a VERY part time job and was doing some pulpit filling but was going on so many interviews to far away churches he had to have some freedom to travel. He couldn't find any employment in the legal world and he would have to wait months to take the bar again and to hear if he would even pass. He did get his Real Estate license during that time and we did get to enjoy having him home alot which was nice due to the new baby. I had a huge stockpile of goods from my couponing in my basement. I couponed mostly because it was fun to see how much stuff I could get for so little,when my shelves we're full I'd donate it to the food bank or homeless shelter and I felt good for being able to give. We trimmed all the "fat" from our budget and lived very simply. However we had lived pretty "simply" before this. We bought few gifts that Christmas but kids 0,2 and 5 enjoy pretty much opening everything and our extended family was generous. Something I remember from that time is eating Turkey, after the Holidays I had got a bunch of frozen,leftover Turkey's for .19 a lb. that combined with my coupon stockpile fed us. In January we went on two interviews in a two week time in far away states,I went along with the newborn too. We ended up being caught in a storm and stuck in the airport for a few days coming home. When we finally got home we had one day to unpack, repack and leave again. We got offers from both churches and ended up taking the one which was much less money but a much healthier church, one we felt God was leading us to. They said RevDr could start right away since they didn't have anyone...the day he left we had 1,000 left of our savings,we had credit cards but I wasn't going to use them. I thought maybe I should sell my wedding ring...I didn't. I stayed back home with the little ones and packed and got the house ready to sell then drove up when everything was finished. Driving 1,200 miles with a 4 month nursing baby, a 2 year old and a 5 year old is a whole story just in it's self. Our new little church has been such a blessing, they get along so well with each other, there are no fights, which may sound silly if you've never been in a disfunctual church. They are able to focus their stregnth in helping OTHERS and because of this they are able to do so much more then even a large church. They love us and we love them. Just a note, a year before this I had read the Dave Ramsey books on financial planning, if not for him we wouldn't have had enough sense to save money, I truly don't know what we would have done if we hadn't followed him and saved 3-6 months of living expenses.