The Joys In Having Little.

This summer has been great and difficult all at the same time. As you know, my husband dropped his business a few months back and took a 50% paycut out of faith. I have never met a man in all my life who works as hard as my husband. He provides for this family with his entire heart, soul and body. Satan often attacks him by feeding him lies in our financial situation, calling him a financial failure, etc.

But the truth is, Jeremy is the most successful man I have ever met. For I am sure that his heavenly treasures far outweigh many of the worthless american dollars sitting in some "successful" persons bank account today.

I want to post some summer stories to show the power of God. To show that when you follow the Lord with your entire heart, anything can happen, regardless of your checking account.

What if I told you that we are a family of 5 living off an income that rates among the lowest percentage bracket we could be placed in? What if I told you that despite that, we have not gone hungry, have not been late on bills, have plenty of clothing and have still been able to reasonably enjoy our summer as a family? What if I told you that I am still a full time stay-at-home Mom?

And what if I told you that we tithe 10%? Would you believe me?

Although not a day passes in which Jeremy or I struggle with some level of fear, anxiety or worry, God has been faithful. Every. Single. Time....

Even in the dumb things.

Story #1 - A few weeks back I was looking at my children's photo's sitting around the house. As adorable as they were, I fell into the sin of comparison and jealously. I thought about my fellow friends who have these beautiful professional shots of their children with special editing. I thought to myself how nice it would be to afford that someday. Going on with my day, I got online and opened up our wells fargo account to find a meesly $1.25 remaining. After I picked my heart up from the floor, and put it back in place, I moved on in peace, knowing who I belonged too. I said a prayer and the Spirit calmed me.

Two hours later I received a phone call. It was my friend Amy, an amazing professional photograper in which I could only ever dream to afford. She said, "Danielle, what are you doing today? I want to take shots of your kids....." She was there in 30 minutes, and in less than 2 hours had turned over the following photos to me... for free.. as she was preparing to launch a new avenue for her business. These are just a few of hundreds...

God didn't add to our checking account that day. But He did say, "Danielle, I love you and everything about you. What matters to you also matter to me."

Three days later we received an unexpected gift card of $100.00 to our local grocery store, from a man we had never met.

Story #2

- Our family has learned to priortize what matters based on how we spend our money. Meaning, we'll spend money on family fun before materialistic things. Over the years of endless struggles and heartaches, we have become extremely close. We want to be a family who knows how to be content and find joy in the little things. We want to be parents, who despite our checking accounts, still know how to give our children memories. One memory I will never forget is my birthday.

July 9, this year, I turned 31. The only gift I wanted was a family day. A day in which we could have fun together. A day that did not include cooking or laundry. We woke up that morning and headed into Perkins for breakfast. What I did not know was that my children had also gathered in their plastic sacs around 20 different gifts they had wrapped. As we sat and waited for our order to come, I opened up each gift one by one. A tool belt, stickers, coloring pages, strawberry shortcake dolls, and horses. But my favorite gift was from Dyson. It was his very last one. He handed it over and anxiously said, "Here mommy! Here mommy!" His eyes were larger than what they already are, absolutely filled with excitement. I opened it up and saw a beautiful blue bracelet. "Wow buddy! Thank you sooooo much! I love it!!" I read what it said and then showed it to Jeremy, doing everything I could to contain my laughter.....

I love boobies. Keep a breast. He found it on the playground. :) Below is my free dessert.

Following Perkins we spent a day at the pool having good, cheap, summer fun.

Story #3

- Last fall we sold our camper. It was a very hard moment for our family. We love camping with all our hearts and have done it ever since we were kids. I will never forget the new family pulling it away while my kids watched, tears streaming down their face. I looked at Jeremy, who was devastated, and I said, "You are NOT a failure. You are a success in God's eyes."

We sacrificed something very hard at a time we didn't understand it... and as a result, one year later, God supplied us with an even newer camper in an unexpected way. And because of His blessing, we are still able to do what we love most. We went camping in June where Dyson, at the age of 4, waterskied for the first time. Then, that night, he learned how to catch fireflies.

We created a memory that night as a family, as we bottled up those butt burning bugs. And it was a memory that kept on living. Following that night at the late, there was a 2 week span in which the fireflies filled our backyard. Every night Dyson would ask me to raise up his blinds so that he could fall asleep watching them. And he did. Every night. Several of those nights, after his sisters fell asleep, I came into his bedroom and got him. Together we went out in our pajamas and caught fireflies. It was our little secret. Still is.

O.k. quick break in my story time to share a cute pic.

Everytime she wakes up, she lays in her crib for about half an hour. Then when she is done, she stands up and drapes her blankie over the crib, just like this, and then calls for me. :)

Story #4

- Jeremy came home one day incredibly depressed about our financial situation. We had received word that there was a free Go Fish concert in Sioux Falls called, "Mini Van Jam." We didn't want to go. We wanted to sit at home and mope and be depressed about how poor we are and how much life sucks. But because it was free, and because we hadn't yet had a "family night" for the week, we piled in our minivan and headed in.

The doors opened at 4:30. The concert started at 6:00. Of course we couldn't afford for Jeremy to leave work early. So at 6:00 we pulled into the overcrowded event center parking lot, thinking to ourselves, "This just sucks. Nosebleed section, here we come."

We walked in and saw a woman handing out bracelets. Walking up to her, she started putting them on us. Another lady came up and asked, "Do we have to have those to get into the concert?" "No" the woman said, as she continued to put on our bracelets. I looked at her, puzzled and she said, "You guys want VIP seats, don't you?" Still staring at her in shock, Jeremy said, "uh, yeah!"

"I thought so," She said. "Walk right up to the front and enjoy your night!" I grabbed Kasiah like a kid in a candy store and said, "Sweetie guess what?! God gave us front row seats!!"

We were 3 rows from the front and had the most incredible time with our kids. God didn't add to our checking account that day. But 5 days later we unexpectedly received a $100.00 bill.

Story #5

- God has provided in unexpected ways such as photography, a camper, VIP seats at a concert, gift cards, dollar bills, cute namebrand clothing hand-me-downs, etc. But let me make sure that we certainly have learned to not expect handouts. We have learned to watch God provide in other ways. Whether it's me babysitting a kid here, or helping mom in her tumblebus business there, we try to always be open to God's guiding. We have learned to not get caught up in the rut of routine. We have been foruntate to be able to work under our brother in-law who roofs in the summer. So when God gives Jer an opportunity to roof here or there, plans get cancelled.

So with the unexpecting provision directly, we have also learned to work hard in earning it too. Jeremy's parents own an acerage where they have recently decided to embrace it in ways to provide for their kids. And we love it. Homegrown good 'ol fashion vegetables come from dads garden. In todays economy, I say go for it!

Here are my kids helping me wash potatoes while watching PBS kids. Yeah, i'm pretty laid back regarding the carpet. It's one of those perks to not owning a nice fancy home. :)

Very proud of themselves. :)

This past weekend we spent bagging corn at Jeremy's parents. It was such an awesome and fun day! And the kids will never forget it.

Dyson and Kasiah picked corn for our neighbor kids' families. He was so excited about

his bag that he hid it in his closet so no one could take it. I had to smile. This is the joy of having little. Most kids hide their toys. Dyson hid his bag of corn for the neighbor. LOL!

I'm going to wrap up this blog with one last story. I forgot about it, otherwise I'd have a pic posted as well.

It's the "snack shop at the pool" story. When we go to the pool, we never buy from the snack shop. We bring our snacks. But today was a special day. It was grandma day and she had cash! :)

As Grandma took the kids to the window to buy their candy, they were pricing things out. Grandma suggested they buy something small and save the rest of their money. But the kids had a better idea. "How about we buy something small and give mom the rest of our money? Then she'll have some money."

Mom said her eyes welled with tears. Although it broke her heart that we were struggling, it made her smile because of the good it was doing in our kids.

Don't get me wrong, my kids and myself have very very selfish moments every single day. We are so filled with issues and sins needing worked through that I could write forever about our shortcomings. But I simply wanted to post for the world the joy of having little. Especially in today's economy.

Although it breaks my mans heart to watch his family struggle, and although he feels like such a failure for it, I know that deep down inside it is the biggest blessing this family could ever receive.

Jeremy, if you are reading this, I want to thank you for taking that step of faith. For taking that job that gave you a 50% paycut simply because God told you to. I want to thank you for not being a workaholic and being o.k. that we spend our money on family memories instead of the boy toys. You are the best husband and father I could ever imagine. I love you and thank you...

With all. My. Heart.

There is truly joy in having little. I can only imagine the stories those NOT living in America would have to share!