Thanksgiving Surprise...

We were so excited to get the call today informing us that we have our LOA. The LOA is the official letter from China accepting us as adoptive parents of Isabelle. I wish I could share her photo, but our agency is very cautious and asks us not to post any specific information until we've actually traveled to China. So for now you'll just have to take our word for it...she's beautiful!!

Several weeks ago we also received information on Isabelle's health. She is not receiving enough oxygen and needs surgery as soon as possible. Due to her tenous health, our wonderful Congressman's office - Patrick McHenry, and also a contact at the immigration office are trying to expedite our U.S. adoption paperwork. We are amazed at everyone's willingness and enthusiasm to help us!! We truly see God's hand at work.

Please pray with us that our adoption paperwork will continue to find favor in the eyes of the officials and that all involved will be willing to put a top priority on getting it complete.

Also, please pray that God will protect Isabelle's heart and lungs. Our pediatric cardiologist are AMAZING, godly men! They even sent a pulse/oxy machine, directly from their office, to our agency to be delivered to the orphanage in China. They are hoping to get updated oxygen levels in order to plan Isabelle's care upon her arrival in the States.

We are praising God for His gift to us of another daughter and know that He has her firmly in His hand!!

New Blog

If you are interested in learning about simplifying your life, saving money and getting more organized, check out my new blog.

Since deciding to adopt, 3 years ago, I've been on a quest to maximize all of our resources. Adoption is expensive but so worth it!! So, needless to say, when we decided to adopt again this year, my efforts have been redoubled.

I'm hoping to encourage others while challenging myself as I share on my blog the most effective ways I've found to Simplify, Organize and Economize.

I want to be able to spend my most valuable resources...time and money...on the things that matter most...things of eternal value. I'm determined not to invest in temporal riches. However, despite my commitment, I still find that society and the media have a certain pull on both myself and my family.

I'm praying, with the Lord's help, that this blog will keep me focused on the "end game". Please join me as I continue to "run with perseverance the raced marked out for us." Heb. 12:1b

(FYI - You can just click on the blog name, in my post, and it will take you to my other blog. Or you can type www.simplifyathome.blogspot.com in your address bar and you'll get there too!! Thanks for the question Julie.)

Another day on the farm...

Life on a farm is always full of surprises. This morning's surprise...49 escaped laying hens. The girls went out to feed the chickens this morning and discovered the roof had blown off of the portable hen house Phil built. They spent the next 30 minutes chasing hens around the pasture.

But all the work is balanced with moments like the ones pictured below:




Horses are very reticent to stay laying down when a person approaches. It takes a long time to earn their trust and to be able to do what AnnaGrace is doing with her pony. Torie snapped these photos with her cell phone. This is one of the many reasons I LOVE life on a farm!!

Other happenings this month...

Michaela turned 14...how did that happen?? Do you remember when you were young and you hated everyone saying "you've grown so much". It's such a lame thing to say and yet I hear myself saying that to my own children when they have another birthday. Birthdays are a continual reminder to cherish every moment.



Lest you think Michaela always celebrates her birthdays in her robe, the pink robe was a birthday gift from Phil and I. Michaela is taking some on-line classes for homeschool. They are in the morning and one of the perks of being homeschooled...you can go to class in your P.J.'s and robe! She was excited to get not only a robe, but a HUGE mug, from Torie. Now she has visions of morning classes wrapped in her cozy robe while sipping on her hot chocolate!!

Shoe "Angel" & Isabelle Update

Thanks Ashley (read her blog here) for the beautiful Sunday shoes!! Last month, during our financial fast, Ashley (a reader of our blog...and someone I've never met in person), e-mailed me and said she'd love to send our girls some Sunday shoes. I was overwhelmed and blessed by her generosity. God works through His body of believers!! Following is a photo of AnnaGrace and SarahMei all dressed up for church...with their new Sunday shoes.



All of our paperwork is now in China (LID - 9/28/09). We are asking for an expedited process due to Isabelle's tenuous health situation. Please pray that our file will find favor in the officials eyes.

We also found out that not only are the Barbee's adopting again (Read all about it at thebarbeebunch.blogspot.com) but also the Bryant's are adopting again. (Read their blog at lillymakesfive.blogspot.com). Next time the "Chenzhou" sisters get together, we'll have 3 more China sweethearts to add to the mix. Last time we got together there were 6 adults and 14 children (5 adopted from China). Next time we'll have 6 adults and 17 children (8 adopted from China!!)

My father died, unexpectedly, Sunday a.m. He and my mom were married for 53 years and have lived with our family for over ten years. Please pray for all of us as we grieve his loss.


In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the ABBA Fund- earmark your donations for the Walter Horton fund.

We are setting up a Grandpa Horton "zipper" fund to offer perpetual adoption loans for families adopting "heart babies" from China. My father had open-heart surgery in 1996, and he and Sarah Mei often "discussed" their matching zippers from surgery.

We know we serve a good and sovereign God who is holding us all in His hands.

Automate Your Monthly Payments

I thought I'd pass along my favorite simplifying hint for finances...automate your monthly payments. I understand the time/value of money. I know by automating your monthly payments you might lose a few days of earning interest on your own money. But lets' face it...in today's economy, with the extremely low interest rates, simplifying my life is more important than the few pennies a month I lose in interest.

I first read about this idea in David Bach's book, The Automatic Millionaire.


After reading his book, I automated all of our regular monthly payments:

Telephone
Electricity
Mortgage Payment
Auto Insurance Payments
Life Insurance Premiums

The only monthly check I write is our tithe check.

It's great peace of mind to know everything is paid, and it saves me a few hours a month in writing bills, etc.

Just a note...our finanicial fast didn't include our automated payments:)

Chenzhou Sisters Reunion

Sunday we were blessed to be able to travel to Columbia to visit Sarah Mei's Chenzhou sisters. Lanie, Lilly and Sarah Mei shared the first 16 months of their lives, together, in the Chenzhou orphanage. We live within a two hour radius and are so blessed to be able to get the girls together!!

We had a GREAT lunch...thanks Bryants for the BBQ and banana pudding!! And a wonderful time of fellowship.

The exciting news is the Bryants brought home their 6th child (2nd from China), Ellie, last year. The Barbee's are paperchasing for their new daughter, Mia, waiting in China. And we're waiting to bring home Isabelle. Once we get all our girls home, we'll have a combined total of 16 children...7 adopted from China!!

Lanie and Sarah Mei share a hug.


Lanie and Sarah Mei ride the Bryants VERY patient donkey, Bradley!!


Lilly and Sarah Mei take a stroll.

Now for our financial update....
We were blessed with a dozen eggs from the Bryant family on Sunday, so supper last night was egg salad sandwiches, chips and fruit. We did not spend any money on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday...phew, only 22 more days left in our September financial fast.

Saturday Shopping Deals

I made my bargain shopping circuit and visited CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid and Food Lion. With a little preparation last night...matching coupons with sales fliers...I made the trip in just 2 and 1/2 hours and that was with Sarah Mei in tow.

I've been honing my skills, over the last two years, at using coupons and sales match-ups to try to maximize our spending power. If you're like me, I only shopped at Walmart, before, for my toiletry items. Now I do the majority of my shopping at the 3 drug stores (mentioned above) and do much better with their coupon deals. It takes patience, a willingness to stock up on items during sales cycles, and lots of trial and error, but it's well worth the effort. My favorite blog about couponing is written by a young mom with 3 children...very wise for her age...check it out www.moneysavingmom.com

Now for my deals:

I divided my CVS transactions into 2 seperate groupings in order to maximize a $5/$25 coupon and a $5/$30 coupon that I had from CVS. In the 1st transaction I bought the items in the above photo, spent $8.17 from a $25 gift card (that I earned by transfering a prescription)and aftering mailing in a rebate form, I'll get a $10 Swiffel gift card by mail. That's a net profit of $1.83...not bad.



The 2nd transaction at CVS included some 75% off summer items along with a few non-sale items that I just neeeded. I spent $21.16 using the balance of the 1st gift card and a partial 2nd gift card (that I also earned by transfering a prescription.) Net spent out of pocket: $0 and I earned $2.50 in ECB's (ECB's print at the end of your CVS receipt and spend like cash the next time you shop.)


Next I went to Walgreen's and purchased the above items...the toothbrush was free with Walgreen's register rewards and the other items cost a total of $6.36. (The cheese came out to $3/lb. which is a pretty good deal for cheese.)


Next stop...RiteAid. Again I had a $5/$25 coupon that allowed me to buy some items that weren't on a great sale. I bought all the above items and spent $17.21 which...you guessed it...came off a gift card from a prescription transfer. I'll also file for a monthly rebate check (last month I got a check from RiteAid for over $30)from this transaction I'll earn $3.50 towards my monthly check.

My final stop was Food Lion. After the $6.00 spent at Walgreens on cheese & soup, $2.00 Phil spent on a tea this morning at his Men's Bible Study, and do I dare say it...my $4.00 Starbucks (gasp!!)...I had $28.00 left to spend on our weekly groceries to meet our $40/week grocery goal. I spent $25.06 at Food Lion and was pretty happy with the deals that I got there.

Obviously we are using food items that we have in our freezer and pantry to augment our weekly grocery trips. Our biggest challenges are milk (we only buy organic and it's over $5.00/gallon) and fresh produce. Thankfully an Aldi grocery store, just a few miles from our home, is supposed to open sometime in the next week or two. That will be a HUGE help to our grocery budget.

Summary for the Day: Spent $37.06 on groceries!!

Thanks for following along. And if you haven't tried couponing...give it a try!!