* Ben had a dentist appointment (Yay! no cavities... all 6 kids have now had their 6 month checkup and cleaning and all came away with no cavities!)
* Mom and Dad had a double date to dinner at The Starving Rooster with the Van Bibbers
* more shooting with the new shotgun
* We fed the missionaries 3 times
* Mom, Seth and August all went out (at different times) with the Missionaries
* THANKSGIVING! We had one set of Missionaries over along with Camille Gillette. We ate good food, had good conversation and an overall fun time! It was also Elder T's 1 year mark (and as tradition, you burn a shirt at that time). He came prepared to burn one in our fire pit but then the discussion erupted around the dinner table stating that he should have John shoot it with his AK-47 instead! He just couldn't decide and so he decided to do BOTH! He lit it on fire and then John shot it... yes, it was quite the production!
* Black Friday shopping! Mostly online, but mom did venture out for a bit to get in on the action! The best deal scored were the girls' Christmas dresses for $22 each (reg $85). That deal was so good that I picked up another set of dresses (for $17, reg $60) for their Baptism that will be happening in the Spring.
* Our washing machine needs to have its bearings replaced and so I haven't been keeping up on the wash like usual... In fact, we had about 10 loads sitting in the laundry room waiting to be washed! I figured that type of production would be the end of the washing machine and so mom, dad and Nathan loaded up all of the clothes and headed to a laundromat. We had all 10 loads washed AND dried AND folded in under 2 hours! It was awesome!
* Mom and dad went down to Bismarck to the Temple
* We had the Van Bibbers over for even MORE shooting!
Kids Say...
Aubrie to mom while preparing dinner one night...
"I'm going to be both a Paleontologist AND a shooter (gun shooter). That way, when I'm on my break from digging up dinosaur bones, I can just go shooting!"
Spiritually Speaking...
We had not one, BUT TWO financial tender mercies this week (actually both were within a 12 hour period of each other)...
#1) My (mom's) phone accidentally got dropped into water and after letting it soak in dry rice for 3 days - it was obvious that it wasn't going to function properly. So after discussing it, I decided that the $100 deductible to get it replaced would just be part of my Christmas. I was sure surprised when I started the claim process and found out that the deductible was actually $200 for the iPhone 6+! What!? I didn't want to pay that much - especially right before the holidays! So I talked it over with dad and we decided that I'd just use his personal cell phone (while he used his work cell) for the next few months. Not ideal - but better than the alternative of paying $200! That night before I headed to bed, I checked my email and saw a new message from a former photography client of mine. Upon reading it, I saw that he was wanting me to do some photo editing for him and... the final bill would be close to covering the $200 deductible (and the remaining balance was something we could do!)... I immediately felt so blessed and knew that it was indeed a tender mercy from Heaven!
And
#2) Our 2014 Vogt History Blog book is quite large (435+ pages long!) and I have been so worried of the spine breaking ever since we received it that we haven't looked at it much. Well, the kids were looking through it and showing their friends some of the entries and just as I was afraid of - the spine broke! It was a sad day for me. However, I figured this would be a good excuse to get it reprinted into 2 volumes (each spanning 6 months) so that the number of pages would be more manageable and we could actually enjoy them without fear of damage. Well, it just so happened that I then received a coupon for 25% off any order with my printing company and decided that now would be as good a time as any! So last week I submitted my order with the 2 new books and have been eagerly awaiting their arrival. Well, when I mentioned my "good fortune" of the 25% off coupon to dad and how I was able to get both books for $200 he wondered why I hadn't just contacted the company first to see if they had a guarantee on their workmanship. Duh! Why hadn't I thought of that first!? I didn't feel too hopeful (since almost a week had gone by since I had placed my new order) but figured it couldn't hurt so I contacted them and... Refunded all of my money and have since shipped the two new books! I was so happy! The best part is that $200 can now be used to pay the Septic bill (which again, I wasn't thrilled to budget for around the holidays!)
Oh, and
#3) As I was typing above, it hit me that another (financial) tender mercy is that non of us have had to do ANY dental work this year AND I haven't had to take any of the kids to the doctor this entire year! What a savings that is right there!!
The scriptures tell us that when we pay our tithing that the Lord will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it! I know we overlook a lot of the tender mercies and blessing in our daily lives (which is a big reason why I think the "Spiritually Speaking" section of the blog is so important - it helps me to stop and reflect upon the week and to really see the Lords hand in our life!) and the blessing from paying tithing can be in other ways (not just necessarily financial) but here are some definite examples of the windows of heaven being opened upon us!
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