Car Repairs, Again?

I guess it’s rather obvious that we have some work going on “under the hood” of the website. We’re hoping to add a few more features to make the website more informative and interactive. It’s going to take a little while to tweak it all, so please excuse our construction mess for the time being.

I postponed our sew-along. It should be up before the end of the weekend. Paul is going to be adding to the page for it to all be in one place faster than I thought so we’re going to wait….this should allow you to read the instructions from beginning to end.

This has been a rather long week already.

I’ve mentioned before, in the Lambert home, things seem to fall apart all at once. Last week it was the toilet and the hot water heater. This week, a bathroom faucet fell apart in Jacob’s hand, our bathroom plumbing seems to be leaking under the sink somewhere and yesterday, the most dreaded of all, the car, again.

We have for quite some time been trying to live out of debt. This is not easy. It keeps us living in a way that no one else we know does. We have not had a new or even a newer used car. We only have one car. We live in a very small home …especially with the size of our family. We’ve not been on a vacation, that we have paid for, since Jacob was 1 year old. We try to save money anyway we can, meaning we hang our laundry, we hand down clothes and we try to waste nothing.

So here is the whine….our car does not have a working radio….I guess this would be horrible to some but we’re used to it, and we have not had a car that had air conditioning since very early on in our marriage. In the Alabama summer heat…there are days when it still does feel almost unbearable. I’m willing to live with those…I have lived with those for a very long time….but would it be too much to ask to be able to go just a couple of months without a $500 car repair (or more)? *Sigh* I think if we had been willing to go into debt to do it, we would have made a car payment with what we are paying in repair work. As it stands right now, that would not even be an option. It is very depressing.

We hope to get good news regarding our car a little later today, but $400-$500 just seems to be the magic number.

I’ll stop whining for now. I guess that will bring us to our prayer requests:

Prayer Requests

Our car and our finances.

My husband who worked until late in the night to have a good day at work and find the energy he needs to get through the day.

Tanya’s family had a computer problem that seems to have erased all of their baby pictures for the last couple of years.

The events taking place over in the Middle East.

Today, I’m Thankful For

A good visit with the oral surgeon yesterday. My wisdom teeth are still scheduled to be removed next Friday but as it turns out, they will only be removing two and he assures me that I will remember nothing. What more could anyone ask for?!

My new watermelons growing on the vine. We have at least 4!! My mouth is already watering.

The website upgrades my dear hubby is making.

I finished another dress and a little doll that I’ve been working on.

The housework that I’ve finished this morning. (I still have lots more to do!)

Tracy’s Task

Today, I’m continuing to work on the dresses that I had started. I would like to finish Jessica and Courtney’s (and maybe mine!).

What I’m Learning

In an effort to save money and to make my GAIN (I love this stuff) clean more effectively, I modified my detergent. I added 1 part of baking soda to every 1 part of GAIN. This will make my detergent much less expensive than it originally cost and it removes and cleans far better without sacrificing any of that great GAIN smell!!

Today’s Scripture Meditation

I need this today:

Phil 4:12
“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”
(NIV)

That brings me to this…

Just a question….what would happen if every Christian helped other Christians pay off their debts including their mortgages and cars? What if Christians really invested in other lives by helping them receive the education or the resources that they needed to start their own business or get a better position to allow them to be able in turn help someone else?

Think about where you are right now. How much better would you be for this kind of assistance? Do you think that the Lord would bless the gifter? Would it improve your life to the point that you would want to help someone else do the same thing? What kind of witness would this be to outsiders watching these blessings unfold?

Learning to be content,