The Abundant Wife

Living Abundantly on Less

Toddler Tuesday: Milk, Food Coloring, & Soap Experiment

March 13th, 2012

Jessica

One of my greatest resources for Toddler Tuesdays is Pinterest. When I spotted this image, and its simple instructions, I knew Naomi and I had to give it a try.

You’ll need:

One Toddler,

Milk, Food Coloring, Dish Soap, and a Cookie Sheet.

Directions:

Pour the milk on to the cookie sheet until it covers the surface.

Drip food coloring on to the milk. (Naomi stuck her fingers in the food coloring as you can see).

Now drip the dish soap onto the milk and food coloring, and watch the magic begin!

Naomi loved watching the colors explode away from the soap, swirling and mixing on their own.

I encouraged her to get her fingers in the milk, which mixed the colors further.

She wanted to try it again, but I didn’t want to use as much milk. So we tried the same experiment in a saucer.

And of course, she wanted to swirl her fingers around in the milk a second time.

Conclusions:

All in all, it was a fun experiment with amazing colors! I can’t wait to try it again, varying the placement of the soap and the food coloring.

What fun things have you tried with your toddler recently?

My Surprise Birthday & Valentine’s Day Gift

March 11th, 2012

Jessica

When I recently wrote about how Brad surprised me for my birthday and Valentine’s Day, some of you asked to see photographs of his work. So here they are!

These are the kitchen cabinets he and Roah rehung and repainted:

They also rehung and repainted the pantry cabinets behind me, but you can’t see them in these photos.

And they rehung and repainted the cabinets on the right side of this photo.

Below are some of the 32 Valentine’s Day cards Brad wrote for me and hid around the house:

And here are a few more:

I still haven’t found all of the Valentine’s Day cards yet! I’ll be very excited when I find the last couple cards.

We still have a lot to do on our rental, but every step forward is a small victory!

Our Financial Goals: Paying Off Debt (March 2012)

March 6th, 2012

Jessica

The tagline of this website is “Living Abundantly on Less” and one of the reasons for that tagline is that we have debt. Currently we owe:

$25,480.68 to Sallie Mae (4.5 Interest Rate)
$9,913.95 to Citimortgage (7.78 Interest Rate)
$107,371.45 to Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (6.25 Interest Rate)

(According to Zestimate, our house in Maryland is only worth $94,000 right now. It looks like we won’t be refinancing anytime soon…)

Grand Total: $142,766.08

Total of All But The Larger Mortgage: $35,394.63

If you do the math, we’ve paid off another $2900 in the last 4 months since my last financial update! Yeah! I am excited that we have been able to continue our debt snowball even through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and two cross-country flights.

Brad and I are following Dave Ramsey’s Debt Snowball, but in the case of our smaller mortgage, we have chosen to list that with our debts. (Dave usually recommends saving your mortgage for last, but we have two mortgages, and our smaller one has the lowest pay-off and the highest interest rate.)

Our goals for our financial future include:

Paying off Citimortgage in the next 2 months.
Paying off Sallie Mae in the next 14 months.
Saving a 3-6 month Emergency Fund.
Financing our Retirement.
Creating College Funds for our kids.
Paying off Wells Fargo.

After moving 2700 miles six months ago, we are pleased to still be making steady progress on our goals. Of course, we know obstacles will come up, and other priorities will take precedence (like attending my sister’s wedding in Maryland, or purchasing a vehicle with more seats?) but we want to keep our eyes on the goal of becoming debt-free!

What are your financial goals, and how are you accomplishing them?

Photo Credit

March 2, 2012: Dear Oliver

March 2nd, 2012

Jessica

Dear Oliver,

In one week you will be fifteen months old. Has it really been that long already? It seems like just days ago you were learning to sit up, watching Naomi zoom around you, and wiggling your “spirit fingers.” Now it’s all I can do to keep you out of everything. You can climb up onto my filing basket and get into the things on my desk. Earlier this week you climbed onto the couch and then the end table, knocking one of my Tiffany lamps to the floor. You stand in the doorway and scream if you’re not permitted to go outside, and you play hide-and-seek in my “new” kitchen cabinets.

It has been so fun to see your preferences and personality develop. Although you adore Naomi, you two are so different. At meal times, you go straight for the fruit, no matter what kind or what form it takes. After that, you go for the vegetables. Your last choices are usually meat or bread. You also love orange juice, and would drink it endlessly if we didn’t limit you. Now that you are bigger, like Naomi you wish to see what I’m cooking at meal-times and hang on my legs crying for a sampling.

You are so sweet and mellow that everyone immediately falls in love with you. With your round baby body and big baby grins, no woman can resist you. You love to play peek-a-boo and you chuckle when tickled. Recently you’ve learned to tickle others, and that makes you laugh too. You love to be held so that you can see what is going on above your head, or just to get in a few more snuggles. Lately you’ve been giving everyone big sloppy kisses, smacking your lips loudly for effect.

You love to run around the house, whether chasing or being chased, and you prefer to be naked. You love words like “outside,” “shoes,” “jacket,” “eat,” “snack,” “kiss,” and “Naomi.” However, your favorite word is “bath!” You can point to your “belly!” and your “head,” and you giggle and squirm when I tickle your “toes” and “feet.” It’s fun to hear your simple pronunciations of “ma-ma, ” “da,” “dee-dee” (kitty), and “doh-doh” (dog-dog). You speak a lot through your gestures, nodding and shaking your head , or leading me to the door or highchair when necessary. You like your routines, and recently you even reminded me when I forgot to brush your teeth!

Oliver, it is so fun watching you grow up from an infant to a toddler. I can’t wait to see what you’ll do next!

Love,

Mommy

Keeping Me Humble: Our Living Room

February 29th, 2012

Jessica

Just in case you were under the impression that I must have it all together (whatever “it” may be), I thought you might enjoy a sneak peak at my living room this morning. It usually looks something like this by the time the kids go down for their nap each day. Bloggers in general may appear to be people whose homes are always clean and organized, parenting perfect children, and married to perfect people. But beyond the computer screen, you will find we are human people with very normal messy imperfect lives. Like you, we’re just figuring it all out as we go, and doing the best we can. So don’t despair. Make yourself at home. All are welcome here.

An Ordinary Fairy Tale

February 27th, 2012

Jessica

Brad & I in Guilin, China 2009

“Sometimes, in the middle of an ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale.”

On February 13, 2012 I stepped out of the airport and into the cool California night. I was excited to see Brad and Naomi again despite my fatigue. We’d been apart for a week while I got acquainted with my new nephew, and Brad had returned to work. I’d been navigating airports and airplanes with Oliver for the last 11 hours, and I knew I’d be asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

Our reunion was pleasant, and we laughed at Naomi and Oliver who greeted one another like long-lost lovers. Their eyes lit up, they chattered endlessly, and they held hands in delight. Brad loaded our bags in the truck, and we drove home talking the whole way about our days and what had happened while the other was away.

When we arrived back at the house, Brad told me to go ahead and take Oliver in the house and he would get our bags. As I stepped through the backdoor, the first thing I noticed was the peculiar smell. I wondered aloud what it was, even as I also began to wonder why the kitchen seemed so…white. Then it dawned on me. My face lit up in a huge smile as I turned to look at Brad as he followed me in the door. He could barely contain his excitement.

He (and a friend) had rehung all of my kitchen cabinets and painted them white. They had been in the garage for the past 5 months undergoing sanding and cleaning, while inside I did my best to keep the kids out the cabinets and my kitchen supplies. In addition to hanging and painting the cabinets, he had also painted the hallway. As I admired his painting (and the pot of roses he’d placed by the bed), I began to notice cartoon Valentines placed in random locations around the house…on the calendar, in a dish, on a light fixture. I asked him what they were, and he informed me that there were 32 Valentines placed around the house for me to find. Each one had a handwritten love note written on the back. Even today I have not found them all, and we’re both thrilled when I discover another hidden Valentine.

As I admired Brad’s work and stood in awe of the love he had poured into his labor, I began to understand 1 Corinthians 13:12 as Paul describes the nature of love, “Then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” Maybe another woman would not feel so loved by these gestures, but I was speechless with gratitude and delight in my lover. The things he had chosen to do for me showed me how well he KNOWS me–my needs, my desires, my preferences, and my heart.

Today I am grateful for a husband who daily shows me that true love means truly knowing me, and loving me despite my flaws. Today I am grateful for a husband who teaches me how to love as Christ loves us.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Ephesians 5:25

The Abundant Blog

February 24th, 2012

Jessica

Dear Readers,

Thank you for your patience with me over the past 6 weeks of sabbatical. For me it has been a welcome time of rest from the Internet. That is not to say that I was doing much resting otherwise! I spent a month visiting the East Coast, and then spent the last two weeks adjusting to life on the West Coast again.

One of the things I have been working on is to Start My Day By Eating A Frog. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it works for me. I had been procrastinating on some pretty important stuff, and I knew it was time to get it done. I felt overwhelmed by the amount of tasks I had to do and decided to assign one “dreadful” task to each day. Well, maybe some were more tedious or time-consuming than dreadful, but I’m sure you know the feeling.

Unfortunately, blogging (and the Internet in general) is one of my favorite ways to procrastinate. And the more I procrastinated, the more anxious I got because I wasn’t getting things done. So I stopped enjoying blogging, because it was one more thing to do on my overbooked schedule of procrastination.

To make a long story short, I have gotten a lot of things done. I’ve been reading The Money Saving Mom’s Budget again, and it has really helped me to review my priorities and goals, and eliminate the clutter in my life. I do enjoy writing, teaching, and art and hope to continue to make space for these things in my life.

As a result of my sabbatical, I will be writing less, but hopefully with greater depth. I feel that I cannot continue posting 6-7 days a week and still be fair to my family. I also hope to bring my family into the blog more, as I write more letters to my children and invite Brad in occasionally for his input.

Thank you for growing and learning with me,

Jessica

Blogging Sabbatical

February 18th, 2012

Jessica

Dear Readers,

As you may, or may not, have noticed…I have not been posting regularly on my blog. In fact, I have written one blog post in the last month. There are many reasons for this absence, but most you can probably guess…because the same things are happening in your life too. I’m just…busy. I don’t think it’s a bad thing at all. In fact, it’s a very good thing. My life is full of two happy toddlers and one wonderful husband. My life is full of friendships, family, church, cooking meals, and keeping our home.

I’ve been struggling over my blog for months now. In some ways, I find it very beneficial to my life. It’s a place to document things I’ve tried, to teach others how to do something, or to make friends with similar interests. It’s motivation to keep writing regularly, and to learn the ins and outs of the blogosphere and other forms of social networking. On the other hand, this blog has been detrimental as well. More and more I find myself writing to fill space and putting off the things that are close to my heart. I dread getting on the computer, and grow frustrated at the time it steals from other areas of my life. Finally, if I am going to put so much time and effort into this blog, then I need to see some financial gain. In the last 11 months of blogging, I have spent more than I have earned.

So I am taking a blogging sabbatical. I’ll still be around, and I’m not closing down the blog just yet. I just need to think seriously about where to go from here. I won’t be attempting to write daily as I was throughout the fall, and instead you might see me once a week, or even less. I need to struggle through how to be more authentic as a blogger, and I need to find some ways to make money instead of just saving it. You may, or may not, like the changes I make, but hopefully I’ll be a better person, and a better blogger for it.

Thank you for reading,

Jessica

This Crazy, Tragic, Sometimes Almost Magic, Awful, Beautiful Life

February 8th, 2012

Jessica

I was listening to the radio this morning, and heard the words to this song by Darryl Worley, “I love this crazy, tragic, sometimes almost magic, awful, beautiful life.” It seemed to describe this last month perfectly. At first I tried to keep up with my blogging, but then I gave up as the days brimmed full and overflowed with life. Sometimes I have to stop writing about my life, and just spend some time living it.

On Sunday evening, January 8, Brad’s “Grandpa Roy” went to be with the Lord. His death came fast on the heels of our miscarriage, and the unexpected death of a new friend in ministry (whose funeral was the day before). The three deaths…an unborn child, a 50-year-old father, and a 93-year-old great-grandfather…led to many sobering conversations around our home about matters both sad and serious. Brad’s grandfather’s memorial service was on January 15, so we were glad that we arrived in Maryland on January 13. It was good to be with Brad’s family during a time of shared grieving for such a well-respected and well-loved man.

On January 16, Brad flew to Florida for his annual youth ministry Winter Training. I stayed with the kids at my parents’ house, and enjoyed Naomi’s & Oliver’s first snow of the year! In the evenings and during nap-times I worked on writing English curriculum for our friends in China.

While I was there, my sister Kristy’s boyfriend Zach proposed! They decided to get married on June 10, which means I have four months to earn the money to pay for yet another cross-country flight for our family. Maybe I should write a series of posts on how I do it? In a flurry of excitement, my mom, sister Karilyn, I, and the kids went shopping for bridesmaids dresses.

On January 24 I flew to Florida to be with Brad for his first international youth ministry conference, held once every 4 years. For us it was like a second honeymoon…our first time without the kids in 2.5 years! The conference included staying in a 5-star hotel, trips to Sea World and Universal Studios, great food, great speakers, and great concerts. One of the best parts of the trip was catching up with friends in youth ministry from all over the world…China, Alaska, Tanzania, England, Minnesota, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, and more.

While we were in Florida, our kids enjoyed hanging out with “Mom-Mom” and “Dad-Dad” in Maryland. They took trips to the library, grocery store, gas station, and town park. They watched my brother Josh play Varsity basketball, and sang along to the “Hokey-Hokey” (Hokey-Pokey) with my sister Karilyn.

When we got back from Florida on January 29, Brad and I began substitute teaching to cover the cost of our flight. Together we subbed 10 days total (though some were half days) and were more than able to cover the cost of our trip. While we taught, both grandmothers took turns watching the kids for us.

On February 3, my sister Kerri and her husband James welcomed their firstborn, James the Fifth, four days after his due date. Kerri taught her high school classes in the morning, and then leisurely made her way over to the hospital for James’ afternoon birth. Brad and I had visited them the night before, and swore it was the spicy chili she served us for dinner that initiated his birth. Either way, he is adorable, and his cousins (especially Naomi) are completely in love with the little guy.

Finally, on February 5, I celebrated my 31st birthday with my family. I was born on the Chinese New Year, and have now celebrated two Super Bowl birthdays, so I’m beginning to think it’s a pretty special day! The day was full of fun activities. Brad and I sang in church, we had a small birthday party, and then I drove Brad & Naomi to Baltimore for their flight back to California. In the evening Oliver and I joined my family for a Super Bowl party at a friend’s house.

At this point, we have done everything we came to do on this trip, and more! I’m still in Maryland with Oliver until Monday, but Brad has returned to work in California with Naomi. I may be able to substitute once more, or visit Kerri once more, but mostly I am looking forward to being home again in California with my family.

Thank you for hanging in with me during my long absence. Now it’s your turn–

What significant events have occurred in your life recently?

Freebie Friday: Party Favors to Potty Favors!

January 20th, 2012

Jessica

On New Years’ Eve, our friends Roah & Michelle invited us to attend a few kid-friendly parties with them. At one family’s home, the hostess handed us these favors on our way out the door.

We were just about to begin potty training Naomi again, so I emptied all the candies out of their original packages, and put them in a large candy jar. Then each time Naomi used the potty, she got one special little candy.

It worked! Not only was Naomi ready to potty train this time, but the “free” candies were the perfect treat for our little girl with the sweet tooth. Yeah!

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