PLEASE PRAY

~ Wednesday Prayer List~

Well this week is a week were we need your prayers the most! Karlton's land has not sold and the business debts are not waiting on us any longer. We need a miracle for our land to sale in the next week or we have to go Bankrupt and it will be taken from us. All Karlton's hard work will be lost.

Know anyone who wants to buy 4 acres of land with a 2 stall garage mostly built in the Buford SC area? Send them our way! I'm sure we can give you a great deal!

By selling the land it would pay off a lot of his business debts. Karlton bought this land and was building a garage with and office over top for his company. Now that work has been at a stand still for a long time now everything has gone down the tubes.

Work is NOT picking up and we are behind a month on our paychecks. Karlton has a meeting with a Bankruptcy lawyer in another week or two. The bad news is it is not just the business going Bankrupt. Everything was in his name, so that will take us under with it. We don't have anything to loose other then maybe my Yukan XL, which we desperately need.

Hopelessness, Anxiety, Depression, Panic, are just a few of the things I am feeling right now. I have truly tried to check out the last couple of weeks by keeping myself so busy that I didn't have time to think about it. Well now that school is back in and I only have 2 little girls at home right now ,the house is quiet. Karlton just called me to tell me we have a meeting with the lawyer and I will have to make an asset list of everything that we own (nice huh), it has hit me like a ton of brinks. I have always had great credit and have kept our personal finances really well for what little there is, but at last there is nothing more that I can do.

Please Pray for US, for me especially because I am crumbling! We have been praying as a family, as a couple, the kids pray every time they eat and before bed. I truly don't know why this is happening!? We need a miracle!!!! I believe in miracles, but I must say my faith and hope is waining. I believed the Lord would take care of all this and I was not worrying about it for a long time, but now it is time to be worrying.

Sorry to be a downer!!!! The last time I felt like this was when we were adopting the girls but that was more of a craziness then anything! I know some of you remember or know that feeling all to well.

Please.... if you have any prayer request please leave them here. We will be praying for you too!

Here are a few things to keep praying for:

~ Jodi's friend who is pregnant after a long time of trying. Pray for health and safety for mother and babies.
~Jodi's mom and dad's church.
~ The Azhderian Family lost the referrals of 2 little girls from Africa . Thia is the family that had adopted Josi and before they picked her up in Guatemala she was murdered.

Its Back To School Time......

Jordan and Joel started started school on Monday. Jordan is in the 8th grade this year. That means he will start High School next year!!!!!!! (Ugh!Not looking forward to that!) Joel is in the 3rd grade! Can you believe how big they are getting !?! Joel went out the door at 6:55 for school and Jordan left at 7:40. The pictures are not the greatest ..... oh well. It was too early in the morning for me to try and take a decent picture as you can tell! lol!

Josiah's First Day Of Middle School

Josiah went to his first day of Middle School today. He was pretty excited. Only the 6th graders went today so they could get a good feel of the school, changing classes, and learning to use their locks for their lockers before the 7th and 8th graders come on Monday. Siah was really pumped up about his first day, but....... today was called fun day. I bet when next week rolls around he changes his mind. He is the underdog at the school this year and his big brother (Jordan) is the big dog being in the 8th grade. I am not to thrilled to have two hormonal boys in Middle School!

Last year they were offering a new program for this year for an all gender class. Josiah at the time begged me to sign him up. I wasn't real sure about it because Josiah gets to cocky and feeds on other boys. The girls keep him in check and ........he does a lot better around girls. So when he was excepted into the all boys class this year he is not to happy. He misses all the girls! LOL! If his teachers ever had any trouble with Josiah talking they would put him at an all girls table and he would do great the rest of the year. The only bad to that was I had to hear of a new girlfriend every single week.

Just so you know he already made a new one today. GREAT HUH!!!! ?????

Y'all just pray for me! There are lots of hormone flying in this house and I don't just mean with/about the girls. We are in full fledged attitudes and male testosterone,fights and mouth. I always heard that boys are easier, well they never stepped into the Shrum house of boys. Whew! Glad I am a girl! And I am happy to have two little girls here on my side, I would have been in trouble with out them! Ha!

Wordless Wednesday (No Words Needed)

Cheap Summer Fun and Cheap Toys

On Mondays I have been taking the kids (4 of them ) to the movies about 50 min from where we live. Mondays their movies are only .50 cents if you have more then 3 people. So all 5 of us get in for $2.50. We have been to see Hannah Montana, The 2nd Night of the Museum, and this week we plan to see Imagine That. We bring our drink in and I buy a refillable large popcorn for $6.50. So for $9.00 , 5 of us get to go see a really cute movie and beat the heat. That is less then $2.00 per person. I also make the most out of my drive up there. I consign with a children's clothing store about 5 min. away, so I take a load up every week of things the kids have grown out of. Also, the good school supply places are around it too so we have gotten a lot of great deals on school supplies. This is our last week for the movies because Josiah starts middle school on Friday and the other 3 kids start school the next Monday. It will just be me and Lilee everyday until 2pm. YA! Now I can get caught up on all my painting projects.

We have gotten some really great toy buys at Target over the last few weeks. Most of them were 75% off or more. So I already have a small head start for Christmas. Yes people that time of the year is coming quickly! Here are some of the buys we got.

~ Cranium for adults org. $28.89 - was $7.22 - I paid $2.22
(I had a $5 off coupons so it made it $2.22)

~ I Carly board game org. $11.99 - I paid $2.98

~ Rousers MP3 Electronic Dog Clock Radio 0rg. $19.99 - I paid $ 4.98

~ I Dog MP3 Electronic Dog org. $15.48 - I paid $3.72

~ Geo Tracks org. 16.99 - I paid $4.24

~ Teck Deck Tony Hawk Ramp w/ skateboard org. $19.99 - I paid $4.24

~ Teck Deck Skate Board org. $3.99- I paid $1.24

~ Monopoly Deal Card Game org. $5.99- I got it Free
(I have a $5 off coupons)

Total original cost of toys $117.32

I PAID $ 24.36 (for 8 toys)

= 5 Christmas gifts

Wednesdays Prayer List

First of all I really want to thank everyone for praying for us! We truly can feel it!

We have a praise report..... Our land has been showing really well! I think it has been shown 3 times in the last week, that is really good with this market right now. Everyone who see it loves it!!! But we just need that one person to buy it....

Here are the prayer request for this week:

~ Jodi asks prayer for her friend who has been trying to get pregnant for a while now and is pregnant with twins. Pray for the safety and health of the babies and mother throughout the pregnancy.

~ Jodi also asks prayer for her parents church who is waiting upon an important report for their church.

~ My sister Kristine is having problems again with an infection in her C-section from where she had her baby 8 weeks ago. She may be going back in the hospital again this week.

~ Please remember to pray for Karlton to have plenty of work! He has been working almost everyday, but we are still no where were we need to be.

~ Last but not least we need to get rid of that land/garage in order to pay off a lot or all of Karlton's business debts.

THE ANSWER.... (For The School Shoes)

OK you guys did pretty good.... I was right in the middle of Heather and Rhonda's guess. All those shoes cost me $70.00. Terri I wish I was that good!

Here is what I spent on everyones shoes:

Jordan's Nike's - $29.99

Josiah's Asic's - $ 15.48 (after coupon)

Joel's LA Gear's - $ 19.99

Sara Ava's Hannah Montana's - UNDER $5 , Target had these for $4.48 and these were the ones Sara Ava wanted! This was a total score! I wish the other boys were this easy.....

I saved over 52% on all these shoes. YA!

NOW I JUST HAVE TO FIND ME SOME GOOD RUNNING SHOES FOR MYSELF ON SALE!

School Shoes

People do you know how much it cost to get 4 kids ready for back to school ???! A LOT! Man the list and supplies not to mention all the uniforms, clothes, and shoes never end! This is the first yr. that I have 4 in school, since Sara Ava starts Kindergarten.... Waaaa!

Here was my thought; I thought it would cost me around $100-$125 to buy 4 pair of tennis shoes, ON SALE. I have 2 that are in middle school this year so you know that it is hard to please teenagers and they have to have the best , most expensive!!!!!

I found these shoes at a few different stores on sale. I picked Joel's and Jordan up and brought them home hoping they would fit and like them, but knowing I would be bringing Jordan's back because he is so picky! But he loved them! They passed the teenager test .... Ya!!!

My Goal was to only spend $80. How do you think I did??? How much do you think I spent for all 4 pr. of shoes. Here is a little help to know what the shoes are and the original cost.

1. Jordan's Nike's - org. cost $54.99

2. Josiah's Asics - org. cost $45.99

3. Joel's La Gear's - org. cost $29.99

4. Sara Ava's Hannah Montana's- org. cost $16.99 ( she picked these out by herself.)

ORIGINAL TOTAL COST - $ 147.96 before tax.

NOW HOW MUCH DID I PAY ??????

What You Can Buy With A Quarter!

I was pretty amazed that I only spent 0.25 cents for all these school supplies! Some of these I used coupons but most of these items I just hit the sales at Office Max ,Office Depot, and Staples.

Here is what I paid for each item:
~ 3 Crayons - .01 cent each
~ 2 pencils compasses - .05 cent each
~ 4 pks. of mechanical pencils and 2 pencil boxes - .12 cent.
- I did use 2 coupons for the 4 pks. of pencils.

Have you found and good school deals yet?????

THE ANSWER .... PLUS TODAY'S DEALS

Remember this blurry picture I asked you all to guess how much you thought I spent after all my deals and Coupons???? Well..... Jenny you were the closest with the $7 guess. The ANSWER is ...................... $2.30. YES, that is right people. SEE WHY IT PAYS TO USE YOUR COUPONS!! Now do you all want to start couponing and saving money! I did not add up all the money I saved, wish I had.


Now for today's deals. Josiah and I had to make a run to Wal-mart (on a SAT. UGGGGH!) to return some items that we did not need for school and another item. We received $8.07 back , but then we bought the EXPO dry erase markers and the highlighters.

Here is the total cost after 3 coupons:

~ 2 pks. EXPO dry erase markers $1.50 ea. ($3.00)
- 2 $1 off coupons
~ 2 pks. BIC highlighters 0.49 cents ea. ($0.98)
- $1 /2 coupon

Grand Total:
$1.30 (I guess I had to pay the total tax)
SAVED: $3.00

Here is what we bought at Bi-Lo:
1 gallon of milk
1/2 gallon of choc. milk
1 candy bar
1 bottle of cascade dishwasher detergent agent
4 boxes of totino pizza rolls

Total Cost: $0.58
SAVED: $18.07 that is a 96.5 % savings!

I actually made money today. I took back the left over school supplies that we did not need at $8.07 and then spent $1.88 Wal-mart and Bi-Lo. So, it did pay me to brave Wal-mart on a Sat.!


Next up is school shopping post........ Hope you all enjoy my money saving shopping adventures and I am not boring you to badly! Most importantly I hope I am encouraging you! :)