Thankful

Tonight Isaac, Dave and I were cuddling together before we put Isaac to bed and Isaac said, "Mama, I like coming home." (he had been at his cousin's house all day). Then he said, "The Lord gives us everything we need." We had been talking a lot about that lately. Isaac has a song on one of his CD's and the words are, "I like to think about the goodness of the Lord. He gives us everything we need and so much more." Whenever it comes on, I turn it way up and the two of us sing as loud as we can as we are driving in the car. It is a great lesson for him, and an even better reminder for me. God is Faithful. His provision in my life is more than enough.
Sometimes its hard living on one income. There are so many times I think about the things we could have if I worked full time...a new vehicle, a bigger house, more scrapbooking toys...the list is endless. But, when it comes down to it, we have everything we need, and SO much more. And, learning to live with less has been a great lesson in self-control for me. I am not saying I don't still have those moments of weakness at Hobby Lobby :) but I have changed so much in the past two and a half years I have been a stay at home mom. I look at things so differently than I used to. When I think of all the food I used to waste, or things I would not have needed to buy, I almost get sick inside. One thing God has been teaching me these last couple of years is how to be a good steward of what he has given us, whether that is food, money or things we have bought in the past that we need to put to use before we buy something new. It becomes a challenge, and almost fun, to see how far I can make our money go, or how I might be able to repurpose something. However, it does take discipline to not get sucked into the "why does everyone have it so much better" mindset that can consume you if you let it. Where we live, there are so many very expensive and beautiful homes leading all the way to our block. We drive by them everyday. (We have a beautiful home, for which I am VERY grateful, but is modest in comparison). Its hard to stay focused on our priority of raising our babies and doing the best we can. Hearing that precious reminder from Isaac tonight helped. We have everything we need and SO much more.