Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.

And Grace, my fears relieved.

How precious did that Grace appear

The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares

I have already come;

'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far

and Grace will lead me home.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

Meet my dad, Rowan.

This is going to be a hard post for me because all of my emotions are not only at the surface, but bubbling over and dancing.  Yes, bubbling AND dancing.  :O)

I had the amazing opportunity to watch my dad re-commit himself to The Church and start his life over.  Last Saturday, September 25th, my dad was re-baptized.  I can't even begin to describe how wonderful it was to witness that precious moment in his life.  He has made some really, really, REALLY stupid choices in his life.  Choices that have caused a lot of pain, grief, anger, broken hearts, broken homes, and distrust.  

-BUT-

He has also made some VERY good choices too.  It took years for him to realize just how "off" he was, and then years more for him to admit it.  And now he has spent almost a decade trying to make it right.  It was a day long in coming, but SO worth the work, effort, forgiveness, repentance and love all of us have put into it.

I need to share with you that in order for him to be re-baptized, he had to receive approval from the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  That means that the Prophet of our church had to pray for my dad and ask the Lord if he had had a true change of heart, had honestly repented, and most importantly - been forgiven.  That's no small thing.  When we heard that the answer to that prayer was a "Yes", we cried tears of joy.  What a gift!

Watching him come up out of the waters of baptism was incredible.  It's taken some time for it to sink in that all those sins are GONE.  He is no longer accountable for them.  I know, trust me I know, how hard a concept that is for some to grasp, but if you are a member of the church and truly believe in the Plan of Salvation, then there can be no doubt in your mind that he is clean.

There will always be consequences that he will have to live with, but I hope that over time, those who still have pain in their hearts or distrust for him will soften their hearts and see the man my dad is becoming.

I have never seen my dad glow like that before.  I wish I could bottle some of it.  :O)  I'm glad that my children had the opportunity to be there and be a part of this miracle.  I'm grateful to my family and friends for their support over the years and for the faith I have in the redeeming power of the Atonement. 

I know something amazing happened in that baptismal font. I saw it. I felt it. I hope that maybe, just maybe, my testimony can touch you and let you also feel the sweet spirit that overcomes me when I think about it. That is my prayer.

Oh, these girls!!

Thank you to Megan for doing such a GREAT job presenting our coupon Q&A Thursday night, it was a lot of fun and she was absolutely fantastic explaining things.  LOVED IT!  And thanks to everyone who came and shared their questions, stories and personalities.  AND... thanks for eating most of my pumpkin roll so that I won't be able to!  Ha ha

NOW, I have been waiting to post for a while now because I wanted to make sure everyone knew the details of Thursday night's shindig.  So, now that it's over I can get back to some of the crazy fun happenings around our house!

I heard this commotion in Madi's room the other day.  Then I hear Madi yell, "It's ok, Mom!  I got the lid!!"  This is the face that met me at her door...

Thanks, Madi... but uh, maybe next time grab the marker ok?!  :O)

It got really quiet while the girls were watching "'Your Baby Can Read!", I peeked around the corner to find this:

After dinner last week, we turned on a movie to watch as a family.  I was finishing cleaning up the kitchen when I heard the sigh of complete bliss escape my husband's lips.  The moment was too precious to pass up...

A few weeks ago, Michele had the girls dress "Fancy" for pre-school and they had a "'F' is for Fancy" party.  Michele had pretty necklaces for all the girls and crowns {Madi wore hers for the next 2 weeks religiously until it totally fell apart and I had to chuck it while she was sleeping!}, and they dipped their feet in paint and stepped on paper, forever capturing their "Fabulous Feet".  So stinkin' cute!  Anyway, Madi wanted fancy hair, so this was our creation:

And, last but certainly not least - the girls helped me bake some of the world's greatest chocolate chip cookies the other day {ok, maybe not the world's greatest, but pretty dang close!!!}  :O)  Maelee was so dang adorable in her apron, and was SO excited once she realized that all the stuff we were putting in that bowl tasted yummy... yeeeeeah, she suddenly was sneaking fist-fulls of cookie dough into her little mouth!!

This next one was Maelee's reaction to being told "No more cookie dough, Coconut!!"

And THIS next one was when she thought I wasn't looking...

It doesn't get any better than this... that is until we're ready to adopt again!

Details on Coupon Night

We have enough interested to have our coupon Q&A night!  I'm thinking next Thursday, September 16th at 7:00pm.  That way the Daddies won't have to parent for too long before bedtime.  :O)  If that DOESN'T work for any of you, please let me know.  Plan on it taking at least an hour, if not 2 {just to be safe}.  Bring a notebook and pen, your Safeway card {if you would like to sign up for ecoupons that night}, your questions and an open mind.  We will be focusing on Safeway and Walgreens {which I obviously still need some help with!}.  As before promised, I will provide chocolate... and I think a pumpkin roll is also calling my name {and probably yours too!}.

Coupon night, anyone?

Hey girlies!  I've talked with my friend Megan {who got me addicted to couponing} and she's agreed to allow us to pick her brain!  Woot!  So here's the idea:

I will host this crazy gathering, and figure that 6-8 Savvy Savers should be about right {I think that any more than that and we'll have mass chaos instead of actually answering everyone's questions}.  If there are more than 8 who are interested, we can break it up into 2 different nights of Q&A.  The main goals of getting together {in my eyes} are:

1 - Help everyone who comes to better understand the process of using coupons, hopefully to the point that you will be ready to start if you haven't, or ready to really dive in if you've already gotten your feet wet.

2 - Answer any and all questions you have so that you are comfortable with the idea of couponing. 

3 - Get you set up with your e-coupons, and explain couponing websites.

Megan has started a Yahoo! group for couponers in our area, which is an awesome idea!  We can all sign up for it and post success {and trauma} stories, good deals in our local stores, have coupon swaps {like I, for example, do not need any feminine product coupons thanks to my hysterectomy... But I would love to swap them for diaper and wipes coupons, or any other coupons you may not need}, answer each other's questions and offer support for the other members of the group.

This is a great opportunity to change the way you view shopping.  Trust me, couponing will totally re-vamp your life, and it's GREAT!  I'd like to host the par-tay sometime this month {September}, and really anytime of day works for me.  My only request is that you leave your adorable little ones at home.  It will probably take about 2 hours {let's give everyone a chance to REALLY understand everything}, so give me some feedback on a date that works for everyone and a time.  Might be easier to just say a day of the week and a general time of day {like "Monday mornings work great for me!" or "Tuesday afternoons are best, but Friday late morning could work too"... you get the idea}, and by easier I mean easier for me to narrow it down and plan it.  Haha. 

I promise chocolate and valuable information.  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?

I robbed Walgreens...

Not really, but it felt like it.

When it comes to Safeway, I'm totally confident in my couponing.  I know all the ins and outs of their coupon policy {ok, probably not.  But I know enough for my own shopping purposes.}.  Take me to Walgreens... yeeeeah.  I'm kinda lost.  I'm learning, I'm learning, but I bet they wish I would learn faster.  Some things I learned yesterday from my disastrous shopping trip:

Walgreens does NOT let you use more than one coupon per type of item, per transaction {unlike Safeway that allows you 3 per transaction}.  Meaning, you can't buy two bottles of body wash and use a coupon on each bottle.  They will only accept one coupon {gay}.

If there is a buy one get one 1/2 off, you HAVE to actually pay for the first one, you can't use a coupon to get it free, even if you HAVE one that states you can get it for free.  They will just give you the 1/2 off one for free.  That one is probably common sense, but I was bummed.  :O)

If you get a register reward for buying a certain item, you CAN turn around and use it on the same item in your next transaction.  BUT if you do that, the computer won't print out another register reward.  Even if you have multiple items in your transaction and "technically" use the register reward on something else, if that same item is in the second purchase it won't print it again {again, gay}. 

And lastly, if after going home and cooling off about how you got totally ripped off at Walgreens {and deciding that all stores that start with "Wal" must be evil}, you go back and decide to return everything and just get your money back - they won't give you back your coupons.  BUT, if you have Stephanie {for our Walgreens} help you, they will give you back the full retail value of the items you purchased since they can't give you the coupons back.  So for me that meant that I returned some items that I was shocked to realize I had paid $65 for, and got back $92.  Not too bad for a royal screw-up I thought. 

Ok.  What did I learn yesterday?  A:  I need to re-think my Walgreens shopping trips and put a little more planning into them so they don't hate me and ban me from the store.  B:  I love Safeway.  And C:  I don't need to use coupons just because they are going to expire THAT day. 

For kicks and giggles, here are my stats for month one of couponing.  I'm sitting at a total savings of  $455.26, giving me a 45% savings rate, and have spent an average of $122 a week which {sadly enough} is actually already a savings compared to normal {that includes food, household goods, and extras}.  I have about a 3 month supply of cereal and snacks and at least a 6 month supply of deodorant, toothpaste and soap.  I'm learning to avoid impulse buys, and to really ponder my views on shopping.  This has been a great learning experience so far, and I'm really excited to continue and make it a permanent part of my shopping routine.