I've had plenty of days where I run errands and everything goes wrong. But today was the opposite! This morning the boys and I went out to get some things for the upcoming weddings. I don't know why everyone we know has decided to get married at the same time (6 weddings within 6 months, 4 of those between October and December, 3 within 55 days of each other; Heath and/or the boys in all 4 this fall, plus 3 bridal showers). So anyway, we had to get 3 wedding/shower presents today. Fortunately, they were all registered at the same place--Bed, Bath, & Beyond. And I had 3 coupons--two 20% off, and one $10 off a $30 purchase. So I saved a lot! And they even gift wrapped it all for free. Then we went to the mall to get the boys dress shoes for the weddings they're in. I figured it would be a major pain because it's always hard to find shoes that look good AND fit well AND don't cost too much. (Ethan needs wide sizes, which are hard to find sometimes.) So we went to Payless, and the first shoes I laid my eyes on in the kids section were exactly what we needed, and in 13W--Ethan's size! They fit great, and then we easily found matching ones for Jesse. Perfect! Just before I paid I remembered I had 2 coupons that I'd gotten on my last purchase there (one was for doing their phone survey). I didn't think I could use both, but the cashier let me, and then she said "I can do even better!" And she proceeded to give me another coupon they were running for another $5 off. So the shoes would've been $35, but I paid only $21!
I wasn't going to buy lunch at the mall even though it was getting late, because I'm trying to stick carefully to the budget. But I happened to find cash in my wallet (which I rarely have)! So we went to Subway, and had a Buy-One-Get-One foot long coupon. So we got that, and even have a leftover sandwich for tomorrow's lunch. The boys were great the whole time we were out, which is never guaranteed. On the way home Jesse fell asleep, and--miracle of miracles--stayed asleep when I brought him up to his bed! Jesse has been refusing naps for weeks, so this was a true blessing. They both slept for over 2 hours. When they got up they were happy! (Imagine that!)
They played outside for awhile, but we also needed to go to the grocery store before dinner. We stopped at CVS first to use some "Extra Care Bucks". Between coupons and their sales, we got about $42 worth of stuff for $27, and then got $14 back in extra care bucks! (I may go back to use some of that for the great Diet Pepsi sale they're having.) Then we went to Weis. Nothing too spectacular there, but we should have enough points to get 15% off in a couple weeks!
The boys were well-behaved all day. Dinner was easy and tasted good, and now Ethan's at AWANA and I'm using the library's NON-DIAL-UP internet!
I often post about life's frustrations and complain about everything that goes wrong. But this day was just a nice blessing from the Lord. We've been a bit stressed about finances lately, with the adoption and the house situation on top of regular life, and this morning I was praying about that. (You'd think I'd be praying about it all the time, but usually I think of worrying first, and prayer is just an after thought.) Anyway, God answered in a very tangible way and caused all these little things to add up today. It's more than just financial savings. It's a little reminder that God does care, even about the small details in our lives. And He'll take care of us in the big things too.
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