We live a life of faith-filled adventure! We are a family with eight energetic, loving, crazy, happy, and very noisy children. Ray and I thought our family was complete when we had four children. Now, when people ask us if we will have any more children, we simply answer, "We don't know." We have learned that God sometimes has surprises in store for us, as He did when He brought home our two girls from Ethiopia!
I love to delegate. At one time I did all the work myself. Now I delegate. Believe me, I am still working all the time. If I didn't keep things moving I am sure that they would quit! And with them doing most of the cleaning and laundry I am freed up to do the: Schooling (remember I have seven in fulltime school); running the business end of a company; and doing all the jobs that are necessary to keep a family of ten functioning. Trust me, there is little down time!
In the meantime, the training and delegating has paid off. I have noticed that my little boys value their freetime more than my girls. I frequently wake up on a Saturday morning to the sound of my boys cleaning their rooms. They work hard and are done by 9:30! And they don't just clean their room. They also clean the master bedroom and bathroom. They are a good little team. The girls also work very hard, but they seem to take their time and don't appear to have a great desire to be running free, so somehow their workday ends up being a lot longer than the boys.
One morning I was awoken by a knock at my bedroom door. In walked Cooper ready to do the master bedroom cleaning. Ray had left at the crack of dawn for work and it was only about 8:00 am but the kids were up bright and early with their Saturday chores. They had plans for the day and wanted to get their chores behind them!
I walked through the house and these pictures are the scenes I was greeted with in each room!
Savannah's TV Room Ready to Vacuum
Team Workers
Raine's Bathroom Cleaning Chore
Bedroom Ready For Vacuuming
Boys' Room Spotless With Beds Made
Cooper Cleaning the Bathroom Sink
Briton Scrubbing the Tub
(that honestly, they use more than I do!)
The older boys do their own areas of the house, but really they like to sleep in, so there was no sign of them yet! By lunchtime on Saturday our house is spotless because each person has their own area. Each of these areas is maintained by the same child through the week (minus our bedroom, which of course, I maintain).
Because I am frequently asked about routines and how we manage to do things, I will show you how easy it is to keep your house shipshape with a handful of helpers. First, it has to be routine. Each Saturday our children know it is the day to clean house. Then each day they also have a set routine of chores. So there is no complaining; it is simply what they do.
Dane: Washes kitchen windows; Wipes down marks on walls; Cleans out refrigerator; Tidies pan closet; Vacuums floor; Washes floor in kitchen; Does own laundry.
Cassidy: Organizes and tidies: entry ways, laundry room, and half bath on main floor. He vacuums out shoe cubbies and rooms; Washes down washer and dryer, picture frames on walls; Thoroughly washes the half bath toilet, floor, sink; Washes the floors; Does own laundry.
Austin: Tidies bookshelves in living room and sitting room; dusts and vacuums both rooms; tidies pantry; Does own laundry.
Cooper: Shares vacuuming, dusting, and organizing of his bedroom with Briton; Washes bathroom sink and toilet in master bathroom; Vacuums master bedroom.
Raine: Vacuums, dusts, and tidies her and Savannah's bedroom; Thoroughly cleans her and Savannah's bathroom; Does own laundry.
Savannah: Vacuums stairs and landing; Cleans, organizes, dusts, and vacuums TV room; Does own laundry.
Briton: Shares vacuuming, dusting, and organizing of his bedroom with Cooper; Washes bathroom floor and tub in master bathroom; Dusts and picks up master bedroom.
Each of these children also has evening or day chores that makes the weekend chores so much easier.
Dane: Dinner dishes and kitchen cleanup.
Cassidy: Pick up and wipe down of entry ways, laundry room, and half bath. Makes lunch and lunch clean up.
Austin: Makes breakfast and does breakfast clean up.
Cooper: House pick up on call; Stacks logs and hauls to house; Yard clean-up; Laundry assistant; Keeps bedroom picked up daily.
Raine: Empties dishwasher; Vacuums hardwood; Mops kitchen floor; Laundry Boss; Quick wipe of her bathroom sink and toilet at night.
Savannah: Moves washing loads over; Laundry assistant; Vacuums schoolroom and kitchen; Quick sweep of her bathroom floor at night.
Briton: House pick up on call; Stacks logs and hauls to house; Yard clean-up; Laundry assistant; Keeps bedroom picked up daily.
Overall, each of the children puts in about 60 minutes of help a day. By expecting them to maintain their bedrooms it really makes Saturday cleaning a breeze. Briton and Cooper generally have their room cleaned in 30 minutes. And that is if they are pulling out the dressers and vacuuming behind, or dawdling. And their Saturday jobs should take them about 2 hours. So not a lot of work because many hands make light work. Plus, I *never* have laundry build-up.
Each of these baskets holds one child's laundry. The very bottom basket holds socks, pajamas, towels and rags. It makes for very easy laundry work for a child. They know who they are folding for. And I rarely have more than one basket a day.
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I am very grateful for having been raised in a home that didn't have much because I learned skills from this. My mother didn't 'teach me'; we simply lived with less, so I learned how to make do.
My mum always bought things when they were on sale.
She bought in bulk when there were bulk sales.
We always had a bit of a pantry; we did not live paycheck to paycheck. If things got tough, she had a bit of a cushion.
I learned early to do this. When I had only three children I had a little hall closet. I kept that closet stocked with items that I used frequently. When Save On Foods had a bulk sale I would stock up and have enough. I remember a time when my husband, a housebuilder, was unemployed for a period of time. I was very thankful because I knew that even if there were no money for food, we would eat.
When I moved into our next home we specifically put in a storage room. This room was big enough for our freezer and stock shelves. Now, I had up to six children in this house. So, I bought much more in bulk. I would shop the Super Store and Costco and bring in 50lb bags of flour, and oats, bulk containers of anything else. All my soups, tomatoes, canned corn, beef and chicken broth etc, were bought in bulk. We could live on our reserves for weeks if there were no work.
I have managed to bring our grocery bill down to a very manageable number because of this. I regularly spend about $700 - $800 per month and that includes cleaning supplies, toilet paper, dishwashing powder, laundry soap, toothpaste, soap, shampoo and personal hygiene items. That amount feeds and takes care of 10 people.
My son is now staying at my sister's and she says he eats more than $150 worth of food a month. And I am sure he does! But that is because that is a different lifestyle. They buy their food in smaller portions because they don't have enough people to justify buying in bulk, and because she works there is no time for baking. This all adds up to a higher cost of living.
If I was to multiply $150 by 8 adults (which is what my children and the older people add up to in serving sizes) then I would be spending $1200 on groceries minimum per month. And that does not include the amount (about $100 +) I spend on household items.
So one of my big tips for living in a large family, or even a small family, is to buy in bulk! When Safeway is giving away Airmiles for an item that I know I will use a lot of I buy a ton. Normally you earn 1 Airmile for every $20 you spend. A flight to any place I desire to go to is about 4400 Airmiles. You can imagine how long it would take for me to save up to go anywhere!
Well, I learned the tricks. If you shop Safeway when they are selling an item that you *know* you will use: toothpaste, toilet paper, Hunts Thick and Rich pasta sauce, soap be sure to buy a lot. I got to be well known there. I would come in and buy out the shelves and they would have to give me a raincheck (can buy more at the sale price later when they get more stock) because I always wanted more than they had. I would easily walk out of the store with 500-1000 Airmiles. The bonus was that the item that they were putting on Airmiles was *always* on sale as well. So I got a double bonus: sale item plus Airmiles.
This is a picture of some of my shelves in my storage room right now.
In this same room I have a second refrigerator, plus a second freezer. I *never* buy anything that is not in a flat. A flat of 12 cans of tomato soup will run you about $4.99 *on sale*. Individual cans will run you about $.75 - $1.25 per can, depending on brand! Because I buy on sale I can afford to buy the better brand.
Right now, my husband has a gap in employment. This has not happened in a long, long, long time. The blessing is that he can work on our house. We will not pay him for working on our house, because ultimately this means that we are increasing our mortgage size. I will take the bare minimum I need to make the basic bills.
In the meantime, I need to decrease my bills. So how do I do that?
Well, attitude has a lot to do with this. Instead of being depressed because there is not a flow of cash coming into the house, I actually get a kick out of seeing how my ends are met, and how I can decrease my output. I am also very blessed by having a husband that is supportive and works with me rather than against me!
God always meets our needs! That is a huge part of this.
For instance, when I was chatting with my dear friend, Rusty, about Ray not working and making ends meet (I was not complaining) I mentioned how we were 'eating out of the cupboards'. I was actually having fun seeing what I could make for dinner without doing the typical run to the store for the missing ingredients.
I mentioned what I would be doing for breakfast for the next month: oatmeal, toast and jam. I then mused that I had two jars of jam left. Right away, she said, "If I gave you the fruit do you know how to make jam?"
I said I did, as I had made it once about six years ago. It hadn't turned out great, but it was usable.
She then told me that she had a freezer that had to be moved and it was full of things, including lots of frozen fruit. Would Ray come over with the boys and help her husband move the freezer?
Sure!
And at that time she would give Ray the fruit and sugar.
I smiled to myself because you see, I didn't have the sugar I would need to make the jam. I was trying very hard to not shop unless I really needed to. If you saw my cupboards and freezer there is lots in it, so really I had no excuse to shop, unless it was the odd thing I had run out of, such as jam. But I knew that to make jam I had to have sugar and we were on the last small amount of sugar, because I had just finished putting a ton of cookie dough in the freezer and had used up all my brown sugar. I didn't tell her this part, though. I wasn't looking for handouts!
But God knew this, and He sent the sugar without me asking! Love it!
At this point, she mentioned pectin and jars and rings. I told her I had some pectin, lots of jars, and I knew I had some rings. I was good to go. She would send the jam on Saturday, and I would make it when I had time.
She did tell me that the sugar was hardened and I would need a meat cleaver to break up the lumps. I smiled. I didn't care! It was sugar. I would be making jam and once again our needs had been met.
All it took was a little bit of foot work to break up the sugar! Rusty was thrilled it was so easy.
Some of the frozen fruit I received. The following day Rusty called to tell me that Ray had forgotten another bag of fruit and Bill would bring it over later.
Not only did Rusty give me fruit, jars, and sugar, but she blessed me with 12 boxes of pectin, plus boxes of lids!! When I went to see how much pectin I had, I found I only had one box. And it wasn't until later that I discovered how much money that saved me! About $25!!
I got to work right away and didn't stop until I was done.
At the Beginning of the First Day
After Hours of Standing
The Results
Rusty had given me a tool to take the seeds out of the blackberries, and Cassidy wanted to do this job for me. I was thankful because it was made my arms tired!
This was a great thing and then Cassidy or I had the bright idea to save the seeds and dry them to make blackberry tea. We spread them out on a piece of tinfoil on a baking sheet and lay them out on the woodstove to dry.
Remember how I said I got a great deal of pleasure from seeing how I could make money stretch? Well, when I called Rusty to tell her what I had done she laughed in delight and said, "You really are frugal! I just threw the seeds in the compost!" *smile* I was just impressed that we had discovered something I had no clue about making: tea.
It made a very delicious, strong tea.
Continuing on with my frugality post: The day Rusty and I spoke about me making jam, I looked through the fridge to see if I could make a hearty soup for the next day's lunch time. I saw a couple of older cauliflowers. I buy cauliflower and broccoli with the intent of cutting it up for fresh veggies, but I admit I am terrible about getting this done! They end up sitting there forever. Well, this day I saw the cauliflowers and a half cabbage, and I knew I could make a delicious soup!
I did have a momentary thoughtthat I wished I had some potatoes, cause that is a great way to thicken the soup. I then took the veggies to the kitchen for the next day.
The following day Ray brought home the box from Rusty. In this box of jam making supplies there was also a gallon jug of pancake syrup (I have only a drop left in my bottle and now pancakes could be on my menu!), plus dry beans, and instant potato mix!!!
All I had done was think "I wish I had some potatoes to thicken the soup," and God had met that need! There were 16 packages; enough to make one hearty soup a week for four months! God is good!
So I made a wonderful thick soup. A main meal in our house can run about $15-$20. When I make a thick soup and serve it with bread it fills a tummy with warm nutrition and costs so little. I love it!
Noodles From My Bulk Supply Further Thicken the Soup
Enough about food: another way to save money is the outrageous amount of electricity I am using at home. When the money is flowing freely I am too lazy to use a washing line. That means more time out of my life. I have to walk outside, hang it out, then take it down and then have it folded. With a dryer I can simply have it transferred over and then folded.
It is amazing how attitudes change when you have to pinch pennies. One day I was looking outside and I suddenly saw my deck chairs in a new light: they would make wonderful laundry lines! lol
My little helper were all too willing to hang out the laundry. This actually began because one day my washer decided to not spin. I thought it had broken and I could not afford to buy a new one, so we hung it out to dry. That was about two months ago. The next time I ran it the machine did its job, so we were happy. The continued for a while, and then about a month ago, we began using our 'washing lines' and we were doing fabulously: I wasn't hanging it out or folding it! Worked for me. *laugh*
Then the snow came and it was difficult to hang out to dry, but I was still not willing to use my dryer, when I knew that my old machine was taking about 90 minutes to dry a regular load. I knew this was probably why my electric bill was so high. So we had to come up with another solution:
We have gotten used to laundry hanging on stools and the railings. Some days the kids are 'lucky' enough to get to sit on the floor with their lunch because the stools are taken up. Now, I *could* put them back, but really it is like a picnic and the kids are happy. Come summer we will be putting up a washing line! I look forward to seeing how much money I have cut our hydro bill. Now if I could just figure out a way to cut the breaker to the lights during the day... *laugh*
Update: I have now been drying my laundry this way for the last 6 weeks and I can't wait to see the electric bill! My old machine used to take 90 minutes to dry a load!
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I would like to address something Tammy said in one of my last posts.
"Wow, Justine...it is going to be amazing! I'm envious of ALL that space (my house is only 1315 sq ft.), although there is only the 3 of us, ha ha. Love the pics!"
Tammy, we are truly blessed. I agree, it is going to be amazing!! I am in disbelief that we have the honour of such a fine home!! But it didn't happen overnight, and as I look back now, I wonder if we are heading in a direction that God had planned for us along...
We began with a tiny 5th wheel travel trailer. We built a small addition of a livingroom and a bedroom for our firstborn.
We moved out of that when he was 9 months old into a two bedroom condo. We lived in that two bedroom place til our second son was 8 months old. He slept in a playpen in our walk-in closet til then. Small beginnings. Never be ashamed to start small! *smile*
We then moved into a 3 bedroom house, which was 1100 sq. ft. We renovated the carport and turned it into a preschool centre, which later became my homeschool/playroom for our boys. When we watched the Horse Whisperer, we saw the gorgeous countryside and we left the theatre thinking. Within 36 hours, we had made a firm decision to take our children to the land. We decided to rent a movie that weekend. We fell across Mountain Family Robinson at the movie store, watched it, giggled and laughed at watching a family do the very thing we were seriously considering: selling all, packing a truck, and heading out of the Big City into the Vast Unknown. We were giddy! Seriously.
Within a month of this decision to move, I discovered I was pregnant with number 4. We gave that baby the middle name of "Blue" because "we were heading for the blue skies". And that is where we ended up! 10 months later, we left that house with 8, 6, 2 year old boys, and a newborn baby. We packed a U-Haul trailer (just like in the movie) and headed North. We had spent the last nine months researching properties on the internet; I had done a couple long distance road trips complete with three small children, and wee one nestled inside, and scouted out possible land ideas. We had had a miracle when we approached a bank that was six hours away from where we lived and asked them if they would finance us building a home. They said yes, without even having met us. That was a miracle!
It was like God was preparing our hearts for a bigger home, and better environment for our children, before he blessed us with the next one. He kept preparing our nest before sending more children!
From that little 1100 sq ft home we moved to the country, because we could not afford to live in the city anymore. It was never an option for me to go to work; raising our children was a fulltime privilege that I was not willing to share with anyone else. We also wanted our children to grow up knowing what it felt like to run free and wild, which is why the land of Montana in the Horse Whisperer spoke to my soul. The cost of living was way less and our mortgage dropped by half, and there on a 10 acre parcel of land surrounded by thousands of acres of the Queen's crown land (free range forest) that we paid $33,000 for, we built our first home. It truly was our Little House in the Big Woods!
From the Big City to a Small Town
It was a tiny box of 28 ft x 28 ft. There was a main floor of 800 sq ft:
My Kitchen and Livingroom
The livingroom became a great room when we built on the addition, which became the new livingroom.
We also had a tiny 532 sq ft upstairs with 3 tiny bedrooms:
Master Bedroom
Landing to Three Tiny Rooms
I used every available inch: the landing was built a little bigger to make it a Library. The landing had a 5' foot wide closet that I used as a sewing room. Not an inch was wasted.
And then we had a full unheated basement. This was hard to use in winter, but the kid dressed warmly and romped around this space anyway. We eventually added on 400 sq ft to the main floor. This was the life!
The View From Our Deck
Wood For the Winter
Country Boys Are Born
Freedom to Run
Note the Outhouse, Minus a Door!
We even added on an addition going from our bedroom over the great room loft area. This was to be a small office, but little did we know that months later I would find out our unexpected 6th blessing was on the way. It was remarkable to us to see that we had built our baby a bedroom before we had even known we were expecting him!! This tiny room became his bedroom. It was wee tiny, but we decorated it up with childish prints and he was just off our bedroom, so it was nice. The other five children shared two other bedrooms of 9 x 9 each. Two in one, three in another.
Notice the 3rd Bed on the Floor on the Left
As there was no room for playing we decided to built beds into the closets. These worked wonderfully.
I never thought we would move again. I was determined that my grandchildren would grow up in the country. But God knew different. He planted a seed in my head when my husband was away in Toronto. Thirteen short months later, we had completed our second house build and moved in time for Christmas. This time it was 2800 sq ft. A virtual mansion! lol
Then we added two more unexpected children and our teens increased in number! More body, more testosterone = less room!
We still had no plans to move. But once again, God had other plans. We were inspired to move back to the country. Too many children for a town lot. They needed that freedom to be and explore again. The perfect property came up at a killer price, and it was next door to town. Everything fell into place.
And then God opened our hearts again...
So perhaps he has moved us because he has plans for 'our' children:
God gives security.
He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge. Proverbs 14:26
You know, I was writing my post and this verse crossed my mind as being the perfect one to add to the blog. Why? Because about a month ago, when we had an unexpected adoption situation cross our path, this verse was given to me. So writing this blog post made me think of that verse. I walked across the livingroom to get my Bible. I picked it up, cracked it open, and it fell to the very verse I wanted. My husband saw this happen, which is so cool, because he always hears me tell that this happens to me when it is important. Well, for the first time he saw it happen!!
This verse speaks to me. I sometimes wonder if God has given us this wonderful large house because he has further plans to increase us?
Each time, before God sent more children, He prepared our home for the addition. And then he prepared our hearts for more children, because you see, we were not going to have eight children; we were going to have *four*. Once all was ready - *then* He sent the children, and we could look back and see His hand over it all.
So open your hearts to children if that's what you want, and also to what God might have in store for you, and God will help you prepare the nest. He will make it all work. Trust.
In another post I would like to talk about being able to accept the blessings of children when you think you can't afford it. Or perhaps I should say: When the world tells you that you can't afford it. If I forget to write this post, please someone, email me or comment to remind me. This is one I have a passion for, but I might forget in the busyness of life!
One day I kept Savannah home from a trip that Ray was taking with the kids. He was going to a town near us to do some shopping and take them to their gymnastics. Savannah needed a little extra time with me, so we had a girls' day of our own.
I know she loved the extra attention. It is amazing how important a little bit of one on one can be for a child!
This is a repost of a post I did back in February 2008 on another of our family blogs. For those of you who have read it, please read through to see how the story finished. It is neat to see how it played out.
When Ray and I were newlyweds, we weren't unlike many other young people. We didn't have it totally together when it came to financial decisions. Ray was doing well in his business, and I was still working. So we decided to buy a car. I fell in love with the Daytona Shelby. The one we bought was the Daytona blue. I couldn't find a picture of a blue one to show you. Trust me, this baby had it all: leather, t-roof, heated massaging seats with lumbar support - you get the picture.
My Sports Car (ours was blue)
After we had the car for about 4 years, we had two children. I was managing to squeeze one little guy in his toddler car seat into the back bucket seats, but then along came our newest little guy. The back seat was not set for an infant seat. It was looking clear that we might have to buy a bigger car. I was *not* planning to be one of those people that bought a 'family' car. Why *couldn't* I have a sportscar and kids! It seemed that everyone started with a sportscar and then made the switch to a family car. I did not want to buckle under....
Unfortunately, I soon had no choice. We prayed for a vehicle that we could afford. The sad thing is when our beautiful car was only three months old we had been on a road trip to Winnipeg, when we hit a deer. Man, talk about a shock!! Ray was awful for not wearing his seat belt and just prior to the accident we had stopped to get gas. I had asked Ray to put on his belt and he had done so. I believe Ray was protected that day! I can't imagine how badly he would have been hurt or killed if he had not put on his belt.
Our beautiful car was smashed in the front - undriveable!! We had an adventure though!! *laugh* We were picked up by a wonderful trucker and we drove all the way from Swift Current to Winnipeg (900 km) with this kind man! We listened to my cassette (back in *those* days! *Grin*) of Dolly Parton and Kelly Rogers Christmas songs all the way there. It was a blast. Have you ever sat in the cab of a semi when you expected to be driving a car!!! LOL!! Good thing I love spontaneous situations!! Our poor car was left there in the ditch, until we could arrange to have it towed back home - 1400km!!!
So when it came time to sell our beautiful car it had to be sold for a very reduced price. Of course, ICBC had fixed this beautiful car back to the original state, but it couldn't be sold for a good price.
When we sold it, we prayed for a van. A friend told me about a repo dealer who had a van with a minor fender bender front. It was only 2 years old. We looked at it. It was the same price we sold our car for!!! Our friendly Chrysler mechanic told us that we got the car for basically half price!!! God is good! We were now in the mini van business!! LOL!! And actually, I actually really liked it!! Me, who was never going to sell my sportscar just because I had a family! *smile*
That van became my favourite very quickly. It was a five seater. When I began doing daycare, about 3 years after this, it became apparent that it wasn't going to be big enough to carry daycare kids around in. I checked all the second hand dealers, and seats were going for around the $3000 mark!! I told my hubby I was going to pray for a van seat. I said it would be no more than $500. Very shortly after this, I found an ad in the newspaper from an old lady who had a van, and she did not want the extra seat in the back of her van. She sold it to me, and I had it installed through a RV dealership, all inclusive - under $500!! God is good!!
This van worked wonderfully for our family for another 8 years!! During the course of this time this truck was a "work truck"!!! Do you know what a Dodge Caravan is capable of hauling?? *grin* When we moved to the country, my hubby was not with us. He was still working about 5 hours from us. We had five cords of firewood delivered one fall day. This wood was dumped 200 feet from where it was supposed to be - smack in the middle of the driveway!! I was alone with four children - 8,6, 2, and newborn. So the van got put to use. We took out the van seats in the back and filled the van with firewood. Five cords - imagine 4'x4'x8' - that is *one* cord - I had to move *five* of those!!! Well, my trusty little van was loaded to the gills and then driven to the correct place where my little helpers and I unloaded it.
Living where we did, we didn't have a lot of stores to choose from. I would use the coast trips to stock up. By the time we came home from Costco, Walmart, IKEA, the bulk produce dealers - (visualize 6 - 50lb boxes of peaches) - my van was full!! It was a tight fit, but we got all of our goods and us home.
People were always amazed what I could carry. One day I was driving home from IKEA, and I had two rolled up mattresses, a coffee table, 2 bedside tables, a child's bed, a bathroom sink, two bathroom sink cabinets, (all broken down into packing boxes), plus my regular assortment of food items, Walmart shopping etc, all stashed in the van. I had taken one row of seats out and left a couple kids at home on this trip. As I was driving along I saw this station wagon beside me. As I drove up behind it, I saw a full mattress lying out from the back door up to the front seats. In the front passenger seat was a table. I looked at the *lady* (of course, we are so versatile because we don't have these pickups like guys do and we are not leaving those things behind in the store, just because we don't have a truck - we will make room!!!) driving and I thought, "You go, Sister!!" LOL!!!
When our boys were about 11 and 13 it became apparent that we were going to have to do something. We had a special gift in our unexpected little 6th child!! We would now be so incredibly cramped in this car! Remember, this was a five seater van with an additional bench seat installed. Try to visualize the space in the back row?! *grin* Well, there was about 8" between the rows and the boys had to hop over the middle row to get into the back row! Well, that only lasts so long before they are too big to do that!
That van began having health problems, and while Ray was on the coast, the boys and I prayed and fasted about our van. Ray was being told by the mechanic down there not to drive the van home. It needed major transmission work. This was serious!
When Ray came home, he immediately told me he thought we should buy a new van. He didn't think we should sink any more money into it. This is not a guy who makes impulsive decisions. I knew it was an answer to our prayers. I did my research online and knew exactly what size I needed. It would have to be an Astro van.
We went looking the following day. I had these numbers in my head. It had to be no older than a 2000; no more than $10,000; and no more than 70,000 km.
Now anyone who knows anything about vehicles - as I apparently don't *smile* - knows that those numbers don't match up!
We arrived in the town nearest to ours, and immediately went to a dealership, and saw an Astro that had just arrived on the lot. It was a 2000, 120,000 km and $18,000! Nope! Sorry. I didn't even give the guy a chance to dicker. He called and dropped it to $15,000, but I told him it would have to be $10,000 ON THE ROAD (including taxes) - plus I wanted to have winter tires in that price. I am sure he thought I was dreadfully unreasonable. But I was convicted.
We looked and looked and then we decided to look in the paper for vans. How silly. Right there, all during our long day of looking we had had the paper with us! I had missed the ad before because it said: 1998, 10,000 (thereabouts), 69,400 km. I had bypassed it because all I saw was the year.
We decided to drive out and see this van. It was in a town about 4 hours from us. Well, we quickly saw that God had worked a miracle for us. There was a reason I was so stuck on those unreasonable numbers - because God had a vehicle for us, and He had put those numbers in my head. This van was *technically* a 1998 - BUT it had not been sold until 2000. It had not even left the lot until 2000!!! We bought it, including getting new winter tires (and it came with brand new spring tires!), tax, insurance - for $9,400!!! Every one of my criteria were met.
If you ever have a conviction - listen - it might just be God leading you somewhere!
Here is a picture of our then new van. This one felt huge because it was built for eight, plus had about 18" storage room in the back! Add to that, this van had never left its little town it lived in; it was owned and driven by one lady (a mom); they had every single oil change done and kept all the receipts. It was a beautiful vehicle!!! Add to that, it was my favourite colour - red - and I got it on Valentine's Day. A gift from my hubby! How cool is *that*!
This van has been wonderful!!! It has taken our family on a 10,000 km round trip from BC through many states to Tennesse, and then back across Canada to our home town. It has been to California last year on a road trip with my kiddos and me, and it is about to embark on a Western Canada road trip. We *love* our van.
But.... now our family is expanding. When we began this adoption we made it quite clear that it did not hinge on having a large enough vehicle. We live 10 km from our church and other than that, we rarely drive anywhere as a group. It is usually groups of us at a time. So I knew we could manage going to church in Ray's work truck and my van.
Ray's truck is decrepit. It is nearly 20 years old, looks very beaten up, has 450,000 km, but is also very loyal!! *smile* We have been tossing the idea around of buying my hubby a new work truck. He needs a new one soon.
When we started talking about this new truck for Ray, a possible van for us has also come up. We have talked about buying him a new truck (end of year sales); a second hand one; or just wait til his loyal truck dies. We could save a years worth of interest and save a lot of money towards a new truck if we just wait for a few months or maybe the end of the year.
At the same time, after talking about it alot we think we would really like a vehicle that holds us all.
This kind of began when we were watching Jon and Kate Plus 8. We saw their amazing van and the *headroom*!!! I have a 6'2" son, plus more coming!! This van has a 6' ceiling!! WOW!! But then we looked at the prices. They are about $39,000 minimum! OUCH!
They even have my favourite colour!!!! AAAAWWWWWW!!!
So then we began looking at other brands and they were about $10,000 less. The new ones were so pretty!! I am not keen on this colour. I love the burgundy one, but I couldn't find a picture of one.
The funny thing is I hear people talking about the vans as being "Geek Mobiles". I don't get it. I think what happens is our hearts change, and they are just maybe 'not there' yet. When I was a young mum with two kids, I wanted the 'Jones' life - the simple, fun life. I didn't have a vision for the future. I was having fun 'now'.
I believe God has used these vehicles as part of His tool in expanding our hearts to more children. When I had three kids and my friends had eight and they had to drive a 12 passenger, I thought they were so lucky. I no longer looked at it as the loss of a sports car. I was far beyond that! I now wanted a fourth child (and didn't believe we would ever have one) and saw that great big van as a beautiful vessel that carried that, "So fortunate family, that was blessed with all those children!!" Oh, if only *I* could have so many children that I would need such a vehicle!
People who think that these are ugly beasts are missing the beauty of what they represent. They don't realize that if we are so fortunate to have enough children to fill one of these vehicles that we are blessed beyond measure!!
"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward, Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them." Psalm 127
Whether our children are adopted or born to us, they are a blessing from the Lord!!
I will be proud to be seen in our town with one of these. People will know - here come the ______'s. *smile*
Now we wait. We are praying about it and going to see where God leads. It might be just 'wait'. God will have to provide the funds if we are to do this, that is for sure!!!
Actually, I feel a real 'wait' on Ray's truck and as far as a van for me goes, I feel that we need to hold for even longer. We don't need anything until the girls come home, and so we could go for another year for sure. But now we have begun looking it has been tempting!!
One day our three year old brought us a truck catalogue and he deliberately kept turning the pages until he came to the very attractive burgundy passenger van. Ray and I were at the time sitting talking about pickups. We had a real laugh. Neither of us had shown him this picture. It was surrounded by pictures of pickups. Well, maybe he knows something we don't know! We can only hope!!
So that is the story of how you go from a sports car to a 15 passenger and feel good about it! *grin*
UPDATE:
Ray ended up getting a major deal on a beautiful red, 4x4, crew cab shortbox pickup truck in November of 2008. It was 1 year old and was such a God thing. The story is too long to tell you, but trust me when I say - it was meant to be.
We continued to drive my van and when the girls came home we made do for sixteen months. Finally, in December of 2009, we began talking again about the option of buying a bigger van. Ray told me to go on the internet and see what I could find on Ebay. We did research for about a week and found what we really wanted. Ray settled on a beautiful 15 passenger down in Florida. It was pueblo gold in colour and had 49,000 miles on it, was two years old, and was the only model I wanted: GMC Savanna or a Chev Express (two names - pretty much same vehicle).
The only downfall was the trip and going through customs etc. At the last minute we discovered one other model in Canada that was nearly identical. It is so hard to find a 15 passenger that is not white! The irony is the one we found in Canada was an American import, had 51,000 miles on it, was 2 years old, was pueblo gold, and was a Chev Express! Plus the price was nearly exactly the same. Wow! Confirmation that we were to buy it. Or so we figured.
We headed to the Big City at Christmas and on Christmas Eve we checked out the van and decided to buy it. It was beautiful!! I was a little (lot) scared of driving this van, but it had to be done! We had them detail it and made arrangements to pick it up on Boxing Day.
That night when Ray drove in with it, we all ran out of my sister's house to check out our new wheels. The street lights shone down on it and it looked gorgeous. The funny thing was that way back I had not liked the pueblo gold! I had wanted it to be burgundy - if you read up by the van picture in the post you will see what I said. Now, when we were looking I was *wanting* the pueblo gold. How funny is that. I had totally forgotten about the original post, and my comments on the van. And now, when I was writing about our new van I find what I wrote and how God brought us right back to the very picture of a van - the very model - that I had written and drooled over nearly 2 years ago!!
So without any further ado, here is my new baby. Room for many kids and even friends!
The very funny, (not so at the time) things is that it is *not* pueblo gold. In the streetlight it looked gold. On the paperwork it said gold. When I called the dealership they walked outside and said, 'gold'. But in person it is not gold. No big deal, but I loved the gold. *grin*
I have now conquered my fear of the van and am following all the safety rules for driving a 15 passenger. They are known for not being safe, but if you do your research you will realize there are many factors involved:
1) Do not drive too fast - yes, that means I am driving about 85 km an hour on the freeway. I am okay with that. My children mean more to me than getting somewhere quickly.
2) Keep the tire pressure right.
3) Make sure everyone is securely seatbelted.
4) Take curves carefully and slowly.
5) Have *good* tires. My new van handles better on the snowy roads that my old red van did, but we also paid to have studded good tires put on. They cost about double my old van.
6) Do not overload the van. We will not be using the 15 seats. We will use the three passenger rows, and remove the final four seater row to use the back for groceries etc.
Also, very key to me, why did I insist on buying a GMC Savanna or a Chev Express ONLY?
1) Because they have made more of an effort to make them safe. It is important to have the vehicle, which has the extended wheel base, putting the back wheels closer to the back of the vehicle. This decreases the danger from fishtailing, thus increasing the safety.
This is NOT a GMC Savanna or Chev Express
2) They have padded the ceiling more for safety sake. The problem with 15 passenger vans is that they have simply taken cargo vehicles and turned them into passenger vehicles without taking safety measures to make them more secure.
3) They have added the Stablitrak device, which helps stabilize the vehicle. "It combines anti-lock brake, traction, and stability control systems and helps the driver maintain directional control of the vehicle in most driving conditions." (Chev Express handbook)
These are the things that made me feel comfortable buying this van when there are many reports on the lack of safety in these larger vehicles.
When people comment on our new 'bus', the boys are sure to let them know that it is not a bus, it is a 'limo', and it certainly looks like one. We are very thankful to finally travel as one family!
When I make spaghetti, I make spaghetti! I remember having a friend many years ago who would make spaghetti for each time she had it. I told her how my mother always made it by the batch. My friend figured it took her only a few minutes to make the recipe, so there was no need to do more than one batch at a time.
I am sharing this information with you because I want you to know that *anytime* you can make a batch of anything for the freezer you are saving yourself so much time. Think about it.
When you are going to make a dinner of spaghetti sauce you are going to get out the ingredients - 5 minutes, brown the meat and onions - 10 minutes, open the cans - 5 minutes, compile the ingredients and add the spices - 10 minutes, clean up your mess - 10 minutes. Total: 40 minutes.
When I make a batch up spaghetti and that includes one for that evening, plus three or four for the freezer it takes me: about 60 minutes to do it all. I simply brown more ground beef and open more cans. But I still have to only compile the recipe and clean the kitchen one time.
When my family was smaller I would make the same size batch as I do now, but at that time it stretched further, so I could easily put 8-10 batches of sauce in the freezer!! Do the math - that would save me 10 recipes x 40 minutes= 400 minutes. Instead I would spend 60 minutes.
Now that might not sound that astounding, but imagine if you have other recipes that could be put in the freezer? What about Sloppy Joe sauce? Or Chicken and Sauce recipes? When I had more small children and less older helpers I used to live on my freezer sauces and recipes. Now that I have older children to help with the cooking I can rely on less freezer and more fresh. So if you are a mum who has limited time, but you don't want to do a lot of freezer meals, you could simply do the spaghetti sauce, because that is a really easy to one to put away!
And think what you could do with the time you are not cooking? Relax, go for a walk, read to your children, blog, read a book, work on a craft. All in one hour a day!
Preparing the Sauce
A Full Batch of Sauce
Freezer Batch Spaghetti Sauce
6lb ground beef 2 medium onions, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped 1 red pepper, chopped 3 stalks celery, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced
2 - 10 oz cans mushrooms 2 - 28 oz cans diced tomatoes 2 large pasta sauce cans (Heinz 2.84 litres each) 1 can 680 mls pasta sauce 2-3 cups water (enough to wash out pasta cans) 2 Tbsp oregano 2 Tbsp basil 3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce 1/4 cup sugar
1) Brown ground beef and onions. Pour into a huge cooking pan. (at least 12" tall)
2) In a couple tablespoons of olive oil, lighty saute the green and red peppers, celery, and garlic.
3) Add the green and red peppers, celery, and garlic to the browned ground beef.
4) Add the mushrooms, diced tomatoes, pasta sauce, water, spices, Worcestershire sauce, and sugar. Mix well.
5) Bring to a high heat - do NOT burn - then turn down to very low and let simmer quietly for a few hours. Stir occasionally. Cool and then freeze in family size portions.
My Sports Car (ours was blue)
