Christmas Provisions

The 1st best Christmas provision our family got for Christmas was a job for Jeremy.  Jeremy got a job with IBM computer company in the city (Brisbane).  It pays less than his American job but with a good budget we will be ok.   It has been a scary time since we moved to Aus and found out the job that was lined up for Jeremy was given to someone else as the visa took so long.  Fortunately we had savings but we lived very cheaply while we were waiting for employment.  Without savings we would not have made it.  I am very thankful for the wise money lessons we learned from Dave Ramsey who teaches you to live debt free and save an emergency fund.  We first heard Dave Ramsey speak on Focus on the family.  He really urges people to take the verse in the bible seriously which says, The rich rule over the poor, and a borrower is slave to the lender (Prov 22:7)   We have been happily debt free for almost 6 years.  We payed off our car the 1st year we got married and have been debt free ever since.

I honestly never dreamed we would be in a place where we would need the emergency fund.  It was not a fun place to be.  It was a very discouraging time for both of us as Jeremy did not get accepted for jobs and recruiters were not helping him get one either.   I even had to look for work as Jeremy was finding it hard to get a job.  This was so sad for me.  I kept hugging my kids and almost tearing up at the thought of leaving them.  I always dreamed of being a stay at home mother.  It broke my heart to think I might have to work outside the home.  I rang my old Nanny agency and scheduled an interview in the city.  I did not have a peace about it though, so I never went to the interview.  I actually forgot about it as our good friends the Wilbourn's lost most of their belongings and their dog to a house fire, a week before the due date of their 4th child.  They also have 3 kids under 5 as well. I found out about the fire the day of my interview. I spent most of the day crying and praying for them.  We also decided to wait on buying a car till Jeremy got a job.  Well this was Jeremy's lead, and I am proud of him for it.  A car would have dried up our savings really fast.  We were able to walk to most essential places like the shops and the train station and of course church within  15- 20 mins.  Our church, Hope City Church, was incredibly supportive of our lack of wheels.  We got picked up and taken to church, a picnic, to people's houses for lunch or out for a swim at Southbank.  Thanks Hope City Church family!

Lucy outside our new car at our home.  We also have a garage for the 1st time too.

2nd best Christmas provision was the car.  We got a used 96 Toyota Camry.  My brother, who is a mechanic looked at the car and loved it.  He also did some work on it for free for us.  We just paid for parts which were also a discount.  Thanks Uncle Syd!  It is finally good to have a car again.  Now we are able to go to my Mum's for Christmas.  She does not drive, so without the car we and her would be stranded.  Although a lady from church did offer to lend us her car.  Which was so nice.  Yet we still did not want to borrow her car for an hour and a half drive up to Tamborine Mountain.  The car also came in time for the hot weather. Today was around 35 degrees C, and humid.  Which is 95 degrees F...  Yuck.  Too hot to walk to church or anywhere but to your mailbox real quick.  The car may be older but we are incredibly thankful for it.  God is so good and it came in perfect timing.  It is funny how He does that :-)


3rd best Christmas provision was the wi-fi so I can use my lap top again and blog.  Jeremy is on the computer A LOT so my own lap top is a blessing.  One of my closest friend's Trinity inspired me to journal and to blog.  She was so real and open in her blog posts even during hard times like the fire I mentioned above.  She was open with her heart and her pain and was not embarrassed about being vulnerable.    So I finally decided to stop hiding and start a blogging!  It is so refreshing for my soul and very therapeutic.  My Mum has always loved keeping a diary since she and my Dad split up.  She wished she wrote a diary when us kids were young and regrets not doing so as she has forgotten so much.  So it is so freeing to finally blog about our family, the joys and the sorrows, to be completely honest and open and one day my family will look back and enjoy it.  Thanks Jeremy for the wi-fi and Trinity and my Mum for the inspiration to blog and write.  I also love reading my sister in-law Katherine's blog too.

Lucy adding to the blog,  just kidding I needed someone to hold my lap top. The wi-fi even stretches outside

4th best Christmas provision was free 2nd hand toys from a family who used to go to our new church who recently moved to Canada.  Thanks Tim and Gen!  My kids loved the toys and did not even notice they were used.  It was hard at first for me to give the kids 2nd hand toys.  I felt like I was depriving them of a special Christmas.  But they did get a ton of presents from their big family in America and my family were able to give them something a little bigger as they did not have to worry about the price of shipping.  So my kids were very happy.  I hope if they ever have to live on a tight budget in the future they will consider getting used toys for their kids for Christmas too.  I beats going into debt and worrying about money.  We did buy them a pack of cool crayons each that were together a lil over $5.

The kids happy with their crayons

There were many verses that to encouraged me and continue to give Jeremy and I much hope.

*Psalm 55:22 'Cast your burdens on the Lord and He will sustain you, He will never allow the righteous to be shaken'.

*Psalm 73:25,26  'Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.  My flesh and my heart may fail.  But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.'  This verse came form Trinity's blog, it encouraged her and has encouraged me too.   I wrote the verse on a piece of pretty cardboard and stuck it on my fridge.  It has given me so much hope and has reminded me that God is the one who will never fail me and nothing on earth compares to Him.

*Psalm 9:9,10 'The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, A stronghold in times of trouble; And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You' greatly encouraged me too.

His WORD was the ultimate anchor for Jeremy and I and we did draw closer to the Lord as a family during this time of waiting on His provision.  We just had to trust Him and try our best to stay in peace which comes from leaning on Him with our whole heart.  Seeking Him and resting in His presence.  Of course there were times we cried, well mostly me, but I felt His gentle hand guide us even in the times we felt like we might fall apart under the pressure of the wait.  He held us together, accepted our tears, doubts, fears, regrets as we wondered why we moved to Australia in the 1st place.  Yet He is God and He is faithful even when we are not, even when our faith wavers, He does not give up.  We learned to be thankful as He is incredibly good and His ways are higher than our ways.  ALWAYS :-)