Our Life is about to Change!

Well as most of you know we are expecting baby number two - Luke Hamilton - to be called Luke. He is set to arrive in two weeks! I can't believe it. We are having a c-section on the 9th of September, it is hard to believe that the time has already arrived. Life is about to change. For the past 16 months we have been a family of three and have really gotten into a routine of things - all that is about to be turned upside down with an infant! We are so excited about his arrival. Landrum really loves babies so I think she will like him, sometimes she just loves them too much - there is such a thing. When she was around her 12 week old cousin last month we had to really supervise her visitation - she would have catapulted her out of the bouncy seat or swing with her vigerous helping! I know she will be such a sweet big sister, it is just hard to imagine loving another baby as much as I love her. I know that I will, every other mom I know tells me it just happens - your ability to love grows! I am looking forward to that. Here are a few shots of Landrum lately - she is changing so much every day. She is learning new words and using them all the time! She is a non stop talker! She loves to play with her friends, go to church, do ANYTHING with daddy, ride in her wagon, and read books. She is such a joy in our life and makes us laugh all the time. I have really been enjoying sewing for her lately and have had some free time in which to do that - I know that will slow down once Luke arrives, but hopefully when we get back into the swing of things I will get back into it.. for now enjoy!

Landrum enjoying birthday cupcakes at her cousins 1st birthday party!

Landrum and her Mimi at her Mimi's birthday party!

Stewardship

So we have been having a sermon series at church about stewardship which has been great and I have thought some about this idea as of late.. how can I be a good steward of our resources and make them go as far as possible. Well one area that we always seem to go over budget is groceries - isn't that the case for almost everyone though? I just realize that every little trip we make to Kroger/Wal-Mart during the week adds up - you just can't go and spend less than $20 or $30 a pop. So I thought about how I could reduce our budget and stop these mid-week expenditures... I decided I would only shop once a week - buy all that we need and when we run out - we are out, until I go again. I thought that was a good plan but I was still researching ways to do even better. And so... I have joined The Grocery Game. Some of you may have heard about it - but if not, it is a very inexpensive program you can join online that does almost all the work for you (if they did all the work the groceries would just magically appear in my cabinet!). Anyway - each Sunday I go online to the website and download the "list" for my grocery store(s) and all of the sales are already organized. The company knows exactly what is on sale and if it is at it's lowest price, it tells you precisely what coupons to use and when. The idea behind the program is to stockpile items when they are at their lowest price instead of paying premium price for goods. The point of the program is to drastically reduce your grocery budget. Several acquaintances of mine with families of at least 4 have budgets low as $60 a week when using the game! So if you are interested you can read about it at http://www.thegrocerygame.com/. It really does not take that much work and there is a four week free trial! I am excited to be able to save money this way for our family. This past Sunday night I went shopping at my local Kroger, I got $120 worth of groceries for $60!!! Yeah!

Quick Update

I just wanted to update that we got good results from Jared's mom's biopsy. She had the bone marrow biopsy on Thursday and Friday we found out that the leukemia is gone. This is great news and exactly what we prayed for. However, we ask that you continue to pray for her. She is at her lowest point and having very bad days right now. They are continuously fighting fever and cannot get her white count to rise or her platelets. She has received platelets every day for the past week but her body is rejecting them. Please pray that her body will start accepting the platelets and making their own. Please pray for her comfort and strength as she is very weak and feeling awful with many side effects from the chemo this time. Thank you for faithfully praying for our family.