Resoluting in Disneyland! :)

The inside of the book that I made. You can see that Corban added his own autograph too.
The autograph book that I made for the kids.

Yeah, you are reading that right. We went to Disneyland and worked VERY hard at not buying anything new! As a matter of fact, we worked hard at spending little to no money! Here is what we did :)

First of all, we jumped on the opportunity that Disneyland offered: Give a Day, Get a Day. I think its over now... but basically they gave 1 million people the opportunity to volunteer for an approved day of service and in return they gave a free ticket to the park! Jeremy and I and our two oldest children were blessed to help friends with a fundraiser for the domestic adoption. We made greeting cards for two hours and got tickets! (Just a note: we would have helped them regardless. The fact that Disney supported them was such a blessing!).

We were able to get ALL SIX of us into the park FREE. Do you know how much money that saved? Almost $300. Amazing. Liz had never been to Disneyland (Hannah either) so it was especially neat to take them!

We paid for gas with a Visa Rebate I had received for $90. Money already spent that we used to fuel our vehicle. I made lunch and dinner for the road. We stayed with a dear friend in Costa Mesa so our housing was FREE (along with a breakfast the next morning!). We slept and then headed to the park on Mother's Day. We paid $14 for parking. Then as we entered the park we were each given a number of buttons... Celebration buttons (for mother's day), Volunt-ear buttons (for earning our tickets) and my other two got First Visit buttons for being newbies. Then, they gave mothers a carnation for Mother's Day! There were all of our free souveniers (not to mention the plethora of pictures we took!)

We bought ONE meal in the park... which totaled about $50 (ridiculous, I know :) but used our saved up yard sale money from a couple months back. Then we bought sandwiches as we drove home that night.

Sounds easy, maybe. But really... I have had a tradition my WHOLE LIFE LONG of buying a stuffed animal (big or small) with every visit to Disneyland. I DIDN'T! And Im okay with that. I grew up in San Diego so you can imagine how many of these "traditions" I've collected over the years. The kids were content with their autograph books that I had made them, filled with signatures to pair with the photos we took. Our great friend Allison made all of the kids tie-dyed disney shirts (See above photo :). (the books cost $5 to make as opposed to the $10-15 for the ones at the park).

It was such a fun day and so inexpensive! I felt really good about our decision to stick to the "buy nothing new" plan. I think, in the end, we didn't have to use any of our month's income on the trip because we used my rebate card and our yardsale money... with some to spare! Its possible!

Because I told them I would: Why Not to use Avis Car Rental

A while back, some of you remember my troubles with AVIS. Here's the review in case you forgot (or never saw it :)

Before taking my trip from Cali to Orlando, I CALLED Avis to ask about renting a car. I needed to get from our cruise ship to the airport. I verified my trip with them to which I was told there was a free shuttle from Avis (at the airport) to my to my ship and back again.

Once we got off of the ship we were taken to the rental location in Port Canaveral. Here I was told that my car was reserved at the Orlando Airport (duh) and I'd need to pick it up there (with the free shuttle, right?). They told me that they'd change my reservation for me (which I had verified BEFORE my trip) but that they were out of cars and couldn't even provide cars for the people who HAD reservations. Really? There were a number of events in Orlando and they weren't prepared so people just weren't getting their reserved cars. I have 4 children... including a 2 year old and a less than one year old. So my family of 6 was stranded in Port Canaveral. They said they'd get us a shuttle to the airport which I was grateful for (since I'd been assured before my trip that there would be one, and it would be free). We all got on the shuttle when it arrived and only THEN were told that it would be $50/person PLUS a mandatory $30 tip. They even charged us for our 2 year old... so we had to pay $180 cash to get to our car (which again, I had verified would be there before I left for this trip).

When I returned home I contacted AVIS, explained the situation, and asked for some compensation, if not for an entire refund. After 2 1/2 months of faxing my receipts and getting past disconnected numbers, I was told they would only give me $75 in gift certificates. Seriously? I NEVER EVER EVER will use Avis again. They were rude, REALLY expensive, and wouldn't hold to their own mistakes of mis-verifying my information. I don't want gift certificates to use a rental Ill never use again... maybe Ill try to sell 'em. :( but certainly don't want to pass this problem company on to someone else.

I'm telling you this because in one of my letters to the supervisors of Avis, I explained that I would be using my various modes of social media to let people know how they handled the situation. They made their decision KNOWING that I'd be telling people about it. Unfortunately, as I'm reading the reviews now (so I can also leave one), I'm realizing many people find their service under par.

Of course make your own decision! But I wanted to share my story. Sometimes they come up as the less expensive option on expedia or orbitz... but really, they ended up WAY more expensive than any of the other options I could have used. Hertz made the same mistake on the way in and only charged me a $25 change in location fee. No big deal. They at least fixed it and gave me a car. Also, Hertz cars go through the tolls and Hertz pays them. NOT Avis! Guess what showed up on my credit card? TOLLS! I sincerely urge you to pay a couple dollars more to NOT use Avis.

That said, be on the look out for my next post: Hannah's Birthday Party, and LAPTOP LOVE!

Next birthday... comin up!

Its true. My daughter is turning one. Fortunately, it seems I've picked a theme that a lot of people can help with! We are having a Luau barbecue to celebrate her year of life. I have had so many people lend and give us leis, grass skirts, table cloths, lanterns... its been amazing. I've even found leis at a thrift store! It is slowly coming together and I'm so excited to see what the end result will be. I even found a grass skirt FOR my one year old! Oh, watch out for those pictures! Goodness.

Anyway, here we are in month four and still sticking to our resolution really well. Its amazing to see how little we need. In fact, we recently purged our house and had a yard sale. We made just over $100 on things we really would have PAID people to take away! The yard sale went something like this:

Customer: "how much for this _______?)
Us: "$5"
Customer: "Oh" and starts to walk away and look around
Us: "But how much will you take it for?"
Customer: "$1"
Us: "Excellent! Its yours!!!!!!!!"

We couldn't be talked down too low. The rest was donated to a local thrift store that I found on accident. The employer was out of tax deductible receipts and I didn't care- I just wanted to get rid of the left over stuff. That's the thrift store where I found two leis. He let me have them for free.

All that said... it seems our hearts are changing with this resolution in some interesting ways. Not only do we not want MORE but we are finding we don't even really want or need all that WE have. We are living on our own excess in so many ways. Its been so freeing to clear a bunch out. I feel round two coming on! Here's what we got rid of (in general): 3 dressers, 2 end tables, diaper changing table, baby video monitor, a bike, 1-2 bookshelves, bar stool, lots of clothes, broken skateboard (gave that away to someone who wanted to buy it!), lots of kitchen stuff... one woman even asked if we had any towels for sale. So we pulled out ALL of our rags and let her pick what she wanted! It was fun to run in our house and try to find things that people were looking for. A lot of it was just gave away too... so its amazing we made any money at all. One family was looking for baby dishes... so I ran in and pulled out my pantry for her to look through.

I pray that if there is anything hindering your freedom in this life, that you would be reminded that this is a HOTEL on our way to our permanent home. Your life is so short in the light of eternity. LET IT GO! :) This continues to be a lesson to myself... honestly, even as I look at my cluttered desk top right now. MOVE IT ON! :)

Blessings to you each as you endeavor to free up your lives however God leads you and to live on the plenty that we have!

One birthday party down....

As I mentioned in my last post, my most recent challenge with our resolution was a birthday party. The birthday party was a success... but we still had to complete my son's gift... his room remodel.

As you can see, it was a total success! My son had a number of gift cards that were unused... so we used them to get the paint from Walmart, the top blanket of his bed to match the room... and some storage bins. We figured that gift-card money was already money spent and we might as well use it. Other than that, EVERYTHING was used. My husband painted the city scape on the wall. Some dear friends painted pictures to accent the walls. And we are waiting on one painting that we will get to add shortly. It was so neat to see it all come together. My son LOVES his room (as I'm sure you can imagine).

I also got a bunch of hangers free from a fellow-Mops Momma :) THANKS Bergann!

Having four kids means... I have three more birthday parties (plus my husbands) to plan with this same sort of creativity. My daughter is turning ONE at the end of April and we decided on a Luau theme... which has been super easy to find things for so far! Im very excited about this one. Plus, I dont have to have a gift for her because she's one and won't remember anyway!

On a slightly separate note, I was putting together the kids' Easter baskets today. It struck me how much I was enjoying putting my creativity to use. Normally I would have gone out and bought a couple baskets at Target or Walmart. Today I scoured my house for old but still nice gift bags. I found one that was Tinkerbell themed... perfect for my 9 year old daughter. I found a solid red one that I added superman stickers to for my oldest son. I had one bucket that I'd won from MOPS for my 2 year old son. And a blue gift bag with a boa accent (which I'd purchased at a thrift store) for my almost-one-year old. I filled plastic eggs (thank you, Salvation Army) with candies and filled their little Easter bags. Ill post a pic of these soon too. Anyway, I found myself enjoying creating these things for my children and putting to good use things I already owned. It will be a fun day, regardless!.

Birthday Parties

Wow, its almost been a month! Clearly, living on used things hasn't been an over sized challenge worth writing about... until yesterday.

I knew that when the birthdays of my children approached, I would have a harder time with this resolution. Up until now, we have had the delight and challenge of providing GIFTS for the individuals who have invited us to THEIR parties. That was minor compared to planning a whole birthday party of things used... not to mention the gifts for my OWN child.

That said, I am thrilled to say that the birthday party AND our resolution remained a compatible success of which I'm excited to share the journey.The day was approaching quickly. I had posted a number of "wanted" and "looking for" ads in various internet locations in the hopes of finding things to use for our son's room remodel. That is our gift to him- a newly painted and decorated bedroom to the theme of his heart's content. My daughter had hers done last march for her birthday. Fortunately, that means no other material gifts (and, as we found with my daughter, ends up being more expensive than if we just bought toys and wrapped them!). These two older children are my foster children who shall be adopted ANY DAY NOW (Lord willing) and so we are especially thrilled to do whatever we can to make this place THEIR place.

That said, I was getting no response. All of a sudden it began to come together! I found a nearly new set of twin bedsheets, superman themed, on craigslist.com for $5! This was from a VERY nice and clean home and couldn't have been a better deal. I wouldn't have found that in a thrift store for that price! In addition, a number of guests to his birthday party presented him with things to accent his room... hand painted superman art, etc. BEAUTIFUL! Finally, I went into Salvation Army one day just to see what they had. I found still-new-in-wrapper streamers (one that actually said "happy birthday" and the other RED). PERFECT! I also found a big bag of plastic Easter eggs... which is nice because I love to use these for Easter but had taken all of mine to Haiti last year when I taught our students how to make egg shakers. I also found a blue valance and red fabric to make a curtain. All of that (plus some other little gems for myself) for only $7. I'll be going back too... tons of Easter baskets, GRASS for baskets, etc. Ya know, they got used once and ended up at the thrift store! Perfect, Ill use them once more and send them back! LOL :)

Needless to say, it was such a blessing to see friends, family, and thrift stores unite to make an amazing airplane-themed birthday party happen from scratch. We made paper airplanes (from the free LEGAL sized paper I'd received) and had races. I made airplane favors out of lifesavers, gum, and rubber bands... and hung airline themed signs all over the house. I HOME-MADE the ice cream cake (that was a first and lots of fun). Our next challenge will be completing his room by his ACTUAL bday.. this weekend. Debating on paint... may use some of what we have in storage or buy some of the "mistake" paints from Lowes or Home Depot.

One final blessing to mention... my church, The Bridge is doing a series on Heroes. The designed backdrop of the series is a very large painting, (designed by Chris Pitts) of a cityscape. The amazing part is days before I found this out, my son told me how he wanted his room painted... with a city scape. I thought Id ask about getting the template from the church so I could use it for his room... better yet, they offered to give me one of the paintings at the end of the series! What a "coincidence" (if I believe in coincidence) that would line these two events up at the same time and bless my son! Not to mention that I'm currently writing a book on humanity's search for a superhero... More to come after his room is complete! Enjoy the pictures!

Simplify

Today I had an appointment with our amazing chiropractor. Have I mentioned them yet???? Dr Curry. There are four of them... today I saw Dr. Matt. During our time together (he worked on myself, Hannah, AND Corban) he mentioned how they are trying to live more simply... buying less things. He had no idea about our resolution.

Here we are, Feb 16, 2010.... and so far so good! Jeremy will have a post coming up on his Bahamas/snorkel experience. :)

We survived Valentine's day with hand made valentine cards, homemade cookies, and left over valentines from previous years (unused). The kids didn't lack anything in the way of traditions :) And Jeremy and I were forced to be a little creative... but in a way no less rich than previous years. Our real challenge will be with our oldest son's birthday party in a month. Hopefully we can pull the whole thing together under this resolution. I think we can!

Dr. Matt noted how much they were able to get used with the recent birth of their new daughter. They've had two sons... so they had nothing feminine on hand. But so many people have had things to give that they have had very little NEED.

I LOVE COMMUNITY! :)

KLove Cruise and Bahamas :)

Well, we did it! We were gone for 8 days to Orlando, Fl and a cruise through the Bahamas. Again I was faced with how easy it is to want to buy something JUST BECAUSE. This was especially hard because i LOVE music and was on a MUSIC cruise with some of my favorite artists in the world. I also really enjoy supporting them....

At the mention of supporting others, our family has discussed this alteration to our goal. We have decided that we can purchase items "new" if they are hand-made and support the livelihood of someone... something not mass produced. We ran this idea by our children on the trip. We try very hard to not ever feel entitled to luxury. We aren't entitled. No one is. Not really. As we toured by the impoverished homes of Bahamians and hear of their "need" to do and deal drugs to survive, peering into their shacks of homes... we found ourselves praying for these people. As we listened to the stories of the many staff on-board the ship... our hearts were broken with compassion. Jeremy was even able to share the gospel with his room attendant the Good News of Jesus. The man had NEVER HEARD the gospel presented before! And he was right under our noses.

My oldest daughter found a hand-woven purse that she liked. It had a Tinkerbell woven into it. As she checked it out and asked the price, I questioned the woman about her "job." She said that it takes 2-3 days to make a purse, depending on its size and design. The purse was only $10 (considering the amount of work it takes to make, i'd say that was a deal!). My daughter decided to purchase the purse and told the woman, "I am buying this from you for two reasons: 1. I like it :) 2. I know you worked really hard on it and I want to support you in your livelihood." The woman began to cry. So did my heart. THEY GET IT!!!

However, here is my confession. My husband's, really. I stayed on board with the kids so they could nap (after a long tour of Nassau) and told him to go play. He left the ship and asked around about getting to a beach. After a bit of an ordeal, he made it to a beach... with no snorkeling gear. The snorkel tours wouldn't take him as a solo person and there was nothing to rent, only buy. So he bought a snorkel. I wasn't thrilled when he told me he'd broken our family goal. But I realized quickly that messing up, changing things, and dissecting our family direction is all part of the experience. I hope that whoever he bought it from needed the money! And now we know to work out some possible scenarios in the future to be prepared for situations like his. He had spent A LOT of time trying to get out there... that he finally figured to make it worth it, he'd just buy the thing and be on with it. Alright! Onward we march!