Hey friends, I just wanted to give you an update since it has been a week. The Jones family is doing great. We are enjoying the Christmas season immensely. It is so fun to hear the kid’s questions and to focus our conversations with them so much on Jesus. I know you should always do that and we do, but Christmas provides such a purposeful opportunity. And for me personally, I am working on my book again and that is why I haven’t been blogging. Honestly it is a little hard going. It is so much more fun to write …
Thoughts From Beneath the Tree
I was sitting beneath my beautiful Christmas tree last night, looking at all of the pictures of my kids and little ornaments that represent all kinds of holidays, years, milestones in our lives. And all of a sudden I was struck by the abundance of Christmas and how it flies in the face of the current trend of “frugality”. Everywhere I look and read people are scaling back, cutting back, and trying to figure out how to give less. And though I absolutely applaud being purposeful with your money, there is something so empty in this approach to Christmas. They …
Thanksgiving prayer
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! My dear brother and his wife and kids are in town for the holiday, and so I am out for the week. But I pray that you and your families have a wonderful time together and may the Lord remind you in this season of how much you have to be thankful for. “The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.” ~H.U. Westermayer “The unthankful heart… discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, …
The Thumbtack Theory
My Dad has this saying, “Stupidity is continually doing the same thing and expecting different results.” We all have our moments of stupidity. I had another moment today as I attempted once again to hang my son’s wall decorations back on his wall. Somewhere in my life I became convinced that the best way to hang anything is with thumbtacks…. I know I should get the hammer and put a nail in the wall. It’s just easier to use tacks. And more forgiving if you accidently hang the picture 2 inches too low. However, tacks definitely have their down side …
Suprises: Courtesy of India and Beyond
Have you ever been going through your bank statement and realized you forgot to enter a deposit or a debit? It doesn’t happen too often these days with automated downloads into your financial software… that is unless your financial software hates you. Yes, I know it’s a computer program that just does what it told, or at least that is what my mind tells me, but my heart knows the truth. “Quicken” hates me. I have upgraded, I have reinstalled, I have checked and double checked my account information, I have spent hours on the phone with their “support” team …
Still Alive :)
Have I fallen off the planet? No, just very full days and evenings lately. I’m still here, and still budgeting (of course), I just have needed a little time to focus on other things. Matt and I have really been working to get our graphic design business off of the ground. We have called it jones house creative. Matt is still working part time for Liberated Living Ministries but we are actively trying to build our graphic design business. I think it has felt a little like trying to juggle two infants as I have struggled with giving my “free” …
Down Sizing Part 2 – A Little Pruning
What would you do if all of a sudden your income was cut by more than half? This happened last week to a man named Henry who was completely blindsided by his company’s decision to start layoffs and downsize. He was called into a meeting and given the option to quit or to be demoted. The demotion meant that his salary would be decreased from around $140,000 to $50,000!! He has given so many years to the company and all of a sudden he’s back at the beginning. He chose to take the demotion and stay with the company, but …
Down Sizing Your Life
The other day I had a conversation with a lady who is facing the decision of whether to leave her job and stay home with her children and whether her family can afford to live on just her husband’s salary. It is a very difficult decision to reduce your standard of living and learn to live on less, yet many people are facing this reality and for many it is not by their choice. There are so many companies that are cutting back and laying off people right now. But whether by choice or by necessity, the struggle to reduce …
A Significant Time
It is a very significant time in America. I know tonight that whatever blog I write will be obsolete tomorrow. Tomorrow we will have voted for a new president and all of this nation and the world waits in anticipation tonight. So, as I wait with the world, I honestly feel no desire to blog on the kingdoms of men, but rather to blog on the Kingdom of God. We live in this world, but we are not of this world. We vote, we raise our voices, we fight for what is good… but in the end, we belong to …
Christmas in November
We almost, almost watched a Christmas movie this weekend. Matt started to turn it on for the kids. “NOOOOOOO”, I pleaded. “Christmas is still 55 days away. I can’t do it.” Now, I love Christmas so much and I am usually the first one diving in. Our tree is up the day after Thanksgiving (Nov. 25th for my SA friends) and I just love the whole season. However, the season has come a month early this year. The stores are so desperately hoping that the Christmas season is going to save them that they just decided to go ahead and …