Incredible Saturday!

Whew, what a busy and wonderful Saturday this turned out to be! Brianna was up bright and early at 6:30am after a loooong night of sleeping. Stephen was already out hunting at that point, so once I figured out that Brianna didn't want to go back to bed, I started getting ready to go to yard sales, run errands, and then go to a wedding shower.

I checked my email before I left, and much to my surprise, Stephen had already shot a buck! He had only been in the woods for about 21 minutes (give or take a minute) and he said it was close enough for him to spit on it. He shot it instead, fortunately. This was his first buck so he is very proud! You wouldn't think it would take someone years to shoot a buck, what with all of them running in front of cars and such, but his dad didn't shoot a buck until he was late 30's and Stephen's been hunting 13 years with no luck. He's gotten plenty of does in the past but not a buck. (Although he has gotten buck from other species of deer on hunting trips, but that's a whole other story. Confused yet?) Anyway, this is a 10-point which is HUGE so we should get a ton of meat. Start looking for several venison recipes to come! He scored it (measured it) and looked it up online. It scored at 150 points which was only 10 points away from making it into the record books. Here are some pictures - I tried to pick some that weren't so bloody. You're welcome.



Anyway, Bri and I met Stephen on the road to admire the deer, and then we went on our merry way. The first two yard sales we went to weren't anything crazy special but Brianna did pretty good. She got a new toy, as you can see, which I think she will really enjoy. She has started banging things a lot. She also got a new pair of jeans, corduroys, and an outfit for $1 each. Yes, they are 3T and 4T but $1 each is too good a price to pass up! Plus these are so cute!

Next we headed off to Harris Teeter to get some Dole pineapple (free) and bananas for Brianna. They were just $0.69 a pound and I got just at a pound. I will halve them and freeze them for after we run out of baby food bananas. We have to use baby food in jars for certain things because a friend at church gave them to us - which we are so thankful for! - but I definitely love making her food myself.

The next yard sale was a bust - way overpriced. On my way to my last yard sale, I got stuck in the Turkey Trot! Those darn trotters were trotting everywhere!!! I desperately made U-turns, sudden turns, right turns, all trying to get to Hwy 211 with no luck. Streets were blocked off, cars were being detoured... all I wanted to do was get to that yard sale! I had to go because it was a church sale, see, so it would be worth it. I finally called mom and dad trying to find some back roads. After talking to dad and making several turns down small roads I was able to detour around the race and get to the yard sale. Whew!!

And guess what? It was worth it! See, I knew it would be! Remember last week when I found that mortar and pestle and I was so excited? Well I got a new one today. This one was more expensive - $5 - but keep in mind how expensive they normally are. The difference between this one and last week's is this one was hand carved in Bolivia and is truly beautiful. The man who purchased it in Bolivia actually happens to be a friend of ours, and he uses them all the time in cooking. It is not only gorgeous but I love using it with fresh herbs!


They were half-pricing stuff but I just didn't see anything that jumped out at me, so I headed off to Rite Aid to purchase some Kotex for Fed By Faith under mom's name (only one rebate per household so I had to "use" mom) and go to Lowe's to get some rice (free), sugar (free) and a gift card for the wedding shower today. I also got some sweet potatoes for $0.29 a pound. I froze some the other night for Brianna and will do this with these as well. Much cheaper than buying by the jar!!


When I got to mom and dad's, the more we talked the more I wanted to go back to the church sale to look through the kids clothes again. After dilly-dallying, mom, Brianna and I took off up there. We left dad at the house because he was having a free yard sale of his own. We drove up to the yard sale and were immediately disappointed. It looked like they were packing up stuff. I told mom I would just run up and ask them if they were done. It turned out they were selling stuff for $2 a box - fill up the box with as much as you can. I ran back to get mom and Bri. Mom babysat while I stuffed clothes, pots, candles, you name it into a box. I didn't see anything I really needed but figured a lot of that would go to Fed By Faith. As we walked away, mom mentioned to them how great it would be to have that stuff because of our ministry at church. At that, the people looked at each other, murmured to one another, and then... offered to let us have everything that was left. And that's why you can't walk through my kitchen right now.

What a huge blessing!!

On the same note, Brooke emailed me last week after I wrote that I had scavenged boxes from the recycling center. She mass emailed her coworkers and now people throughout that law firm are saving up what will literally be hundreds or thousands of boxes for Fed By Faith!! Oh my gosh. That is AMAZING. Brooke definitely did not have to step up like that - it is incredibly generous of her. She even had someone volunteer assistance! We can use those boxes either for storage or to carry the items to people. I just shake my head in amazement every time I think of this. What a huge blessing.

Please continue to pray for Tracey and Mark and their family. Tracey is such a trooper, she is clipping coupons for me in the waiting room of the hospital. Now that's a good friend! Haha!

I just can't get over how incredibly blessed my life is. Days like today seem to happen to me more than I deserve them to. I don't even have the words to describe my joy!