OK, OK, I'll do it...

Many of you know that I love coupons. I like, LOVE love them! I have been asked over and over and over to share some of my coupon "secrets". So, I'm finally giving in and doing it. Here is the most brief list of coupon tips that I can give - a good starting point for you newbies...

1. Change your perception of coupons. I know that a lot of you think of coupons as being something for "cheap people", "broke people", or "people with too much time on their hands". You need to start thinking of coupons as what they really are -- FREE MONEY!! If I were to hand you $50 to help pay for your groceries, you'd use it, right??? Of course you would! So why not use coupons?!

2. Couponing doesn't take as much time as you may think. When you first start, you will have to invest some time to get organized. However, once you have you're set and a few shopping trips into things, you get a routine. Believe me when I say that once you get used to using your coupons you will find yourself lost without them!

3. Get organized. This may mean one thing for me and another thing for you. You have to do what works best for yourself. I keep my coupon in a humongous binder filled with baseball card sleves. Each pocket is labeled with a category, and the corresponding coupons go in that slot. My pages are organized in the order that you would find things in your average grocery store.

4. Get your coupons. Coupons come from many places these days - the Sunday paper, the free weekly community papers, the internet, store sale ads. When you are clipping your coupons, remember to keep an open mind. Don't only cut out the coupons for the items that you regularly buy. I choose which coupons to clip by considering this -- Would I purchase this item if I could get it for free or really cheap? This helps me get a lot of deals that I might miss out on if I only clipped coupons for items that I regularly purchase. And heck, you can always donate items to the GLCC food pantry!!!

5. Know your store sales. You get the most bang for your buck when you combine coupons with store sales. Weekly grocery store sale ads come out in the Wednesday paper. Combining great store sales with coupons is how I saved $87 off of a $130 grocery bill this week and paid just over $42!!! Here's a picture of my receipt (I love leaving them on the counter for my husband to see how much of a good steward of our money I am trying to be).....

OK, now let the questions flood in. Who knows, if you ask enough I may even cave in again and do a couponing class :)

Stains

As a mom of two young kids, I am the queen of laundry. My toddler is a magnet for dirt, food, and markers. There are so many stains that end up on her adorable outfits. Sometimes soaking, pre-treating, or stain-sticks promising to get the stain “the first time-or your money back!” make little or no difference and the item is ruined. Usually, these clothes are tossed in the trash or shoved to the bottom of the drawer for playing in the mud.

At the same time, we are magnets to sin and suffer from these stains in our lives. As Romans 3:23 says, we have all sinned and fall short of God’s glory. We try to clean up our own lives and get rid of or hide our dirty laundry so God can’t see. But Christ, the Lamb without stain, died for us and by His blood we are made clean. God tells us in His Word, “I will cleanse them from all their iniquity…and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against me” (Jeremiah 33:8). Praise the Lord I don’t have to worry about being tossed out or stuck in a drawer somewhere!

Even more than just having our sins excused is the beautiful picture God gives us in Isaiah 1:18, “…Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.” God has taken all of our stains away and cleansed with His righteousness for His glory so that we can be used by Him to reach others. What a mighty stain-stick!

May Day

May Day

Poet Robert Browning wrote:

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith "A whole I planned",
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid....

I love the freshness of the arrival of Spring after the cold darkness of winter. The first showing of spring bulbs that push through the left over snow. Then the bright fresh colors of the promise of the Earth awaking from a long winter's nap.

In Spring I can almost feel the first color of blossoms appear on the trees and then the whole world breaks forth in colors of white, pale pink, darker pink, shades of yellow and green and purple.

How was I to know when I first started dating my husband to be that the first token May Basket was to become a lifelong tradition? Each year on the first day of May there is a reminder of a remembrance of a love that has lasted many, many years.

Song of Solomon 2:16 My lover is mine and I am his.

My first May Day basket arrived on my door knob while we were dating. The basket it's self was not much to look at. Just some folded paper with fresh blossoms picked from his yard. The treasure was mine to discover as I left my house that morning.

This tradition has been going on for so many years that I really do not remember the reason for the first one. I just know that on the first day of May I will once again be greeted with fresh flowers from our yard with an I Love You note attached. In all of our years together he has only missed two May Days and that was when he was on military duty out of the country. I have found that in a marriage it is not only good but fun to have a little way that only the two of you may understand that expresses your love for each other.

So I suggest that you have some secret fun. Something that only the two of you will understand. A special song, a coded message etc. We still use a coded message that we inscribe on cards or letters to each other. Our children are still trying to figure out what the letters mean. This does indeed bring a smile to our faces.

What is your special message that says I LOVE YOU? That says I am thinking of you. You are my own true love.

Again this year on the first day of May I will look forward to the small affirmation of love. The flowers from our yard that will be on the table in the kitchen waiting for me to discover.

Grow old along with me!
the best is yet to be.

I wish you a May Basket.

"And God is faithful..."

May is the craziest month of my year. In fact, one glance at my calendar could bring Goliath to his knees! For stress, it ranks higher than September; higher even than the Christmas season! Birthdays, anniversary, end-of-year celebrations, sporting practices, games and rescheduled games, field trips, band and choral concerts, graduations, piano recitals, doctor appointments, appreciation banquets, and more, press into every available cranny of the day!

New things are entering the ring as we speak: my husband’s away for 2 weeks, the car engine light is on, my sister’s 26 year marriage is dissolving, my mother-in-law’s health is rapidly declining, and good friends are hurting and betrayed. My tranquility storehouse is on its last reserves! Are you feeling the heat with me? And May hasn’t even arrived yet!

As I lay in bed last night, the house finally quiet and still, I gave the whole schedule/performance thing over to God. The Holy Sprit groaned on my behalf (Rom 8:26) - I was too distraught to formulate a coherent request! Immediately, God brought 1 Corinthians 10:13 to mind: “And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted (tested) beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted (tested), he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

Ahhhh, the sweetness of that promise! It washed over me, and filled me with His serenity. God is faithful. He would NOT allow my peace and energy drain out! He knows my limits (but does He think too highly of me, perhaps?). When my storehouse is empty, His will take over. More than anything, I can know that it’s HIS hand on the thermostat, and He will NOT let me go down in flames!

So, as we dash past one other in the upcoming weeks, remind me of God’s character and promise, if you would please. Maybe we can tell each other. “God is faithful”!

Getting to the Point

Since I like words and language, it can sometimes be hard for me to keep it short and sweet; I have a tendency to be a little... wordy. But, as they say, “Brevity is the soul of wit,” and sometimes writing 6 words can be more of a challenge than writing 500 words. I recently read a book dedicated to the art of being concise. (By the way, if you’re into drinking games [with milk or water, of course], start paying attention to how many times I’ll reference a book in my blog posts.) The book was a collection of six-word memoirs. They asked people, both “famous and obscure,” to write their memoir using only six words.

Some were funny and clever, though still meaningful: “Underachieving... but willing to compensate halfheartedly,” or “Macular degeneration. Didn’t see that one coming.”

Some were sad: “I still make coffee for two,” and “My baby’s name was Sydney Jane.”

Some were startlingly honest: “Thank God the suicide attempt failed.”

Some even dealt with religion: “Living for Jesus because Earth sucks,” and “Not a good Christian, but trying.”

Some were just odd: “Aspiring lady pirate, disillusioned, sells boat.”

Mothers tended to be a theme: “Afraid of becoming like my mother,” “Became my mother. Please shoot me,” and “I’m my mother and I’m fine.”

I really identified with a few of them: “Can’t read all the time. Bummer.” “Right brain working left brain job.” “Realized childhood dreams don’t pay bills.”

I really liked the title of the book: “Not quite what I was planning.”


As I said, I’m wordy, which is why I’m just now getting to the point – sometimes whittling life down to the bare bones can really simplify things. The words that would fill in the gaps to further explain those six-word memoirs would be important and interesting, but they can also clutter things up and distract from the main point. Some of the memoirs in the book were so poignant because they were so short.

In addition to words, I like answers and I like to know things, so I can sometimes get very wrapped up in the theology of Christianity, wanting to know the tough answers – Why do bad things happen to good people? Why does God allow suffering? Who did Adam & Eve’s children marry? And it goes on and on. What if I just simplified it? What if I narrowed it down a bit? What if I stopped questioning and just followed this six-word rule: “God said it. I believe it.”

At the risk of being struck by lightning, here are a couple six-word memoirs I came up with that could come from Jesus: “Died on the cross. Rose again.” Or maybe, “I did it all for you.”

One from God: “Loved my son. Loved you more.”


I’ve always liked this quick sum-up of the Bible; it’s more than 6 words, but it’s still pretty darn short considering what they had to work with:

God made
Adam bit
Noah arked
Abraham split
Jacob fooled
Joseph ruled
Bush talked
Pharaoh plagued
Sea divided
Tablets guided
Promise landed
Judges led
Saul freaked
David peeked
Kingdom divided
Prophets warned
People exiled
Hope rose
Jesus born
God walked
Anger crucified
Love rose
Spirit flamed
Word spread
God remained

There’s certainly a time and place for learning all we can about God, the Bible, Christianity... for digging into the meaning of Revelation, or discussing whether you believe in predestination or free will, but there’s also something to be said for just keeping it simple every now and then to help us focus on the main point.

So this wasn’t a short post, but I did warn you that I was wordy. By the way, I did try to write my own abbreviated memoir. Here’s what I eventually ended up with: “Wasted time on six little words.”

Old Dog...New Tricks

We're learning all sorts of new things here at Grace-Lifeline and how to manage the blog is one of them. We've added a new feature and if it works (praying it does!) you will be able to follow us by email. So...look to the top right, add your email address in the box, follow the simple instructions and you can be notified each day if there is a post. New email, new post. No email, no post. Easy.

We're working hard, so you don't have to:) I stole that from Scrubbing Bubbles.

Bloom Where You're Planted

Vicki Kolbe

Lauren Giller, Vicki Kolbe, Delores Washington

Happy Monday, ladies of Grace-Life!

Each week, we've been trying to shine the spotlight on someone who is joyfully serving where God has led them. This week, we get to meet Vicki Kolbe who led the choral performers in yesterday's rendition of In Christ Alone. What a blessing that was for us, at Easter, to hear the lovely sounds of a choir...something we have been missing for a while now. If you see Vicki around GLCC, get to know her and tell her how thankful we are that she saw a need and answered the call.