Christmas Time

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone! I am so excited that the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ is among us. This is such a joyous and loving time of year, or at least it should be. It’s so unfortunate that many people allow the commercialization of Christmas to totally overshadow the TRUE meaning of Christmas. On yesterday, my husband and I visited our previous church and heard a wonderful message delivered by the First Lady. She spoke on how the celebration of the birth of Jesus, which was meant to free us, is often met with people allowing themselves to get bound by debt. She made a very good point in explaining just how people get so caught up in buying gifts that they can’t afford then later feeling overwhelmed with all of the debt that was accumulated at Christmas time.

Most of us like to bless others with nice gifts or find ourselves on the receiving end of such. However, this is not what Christmas is all about. I actually found myself feeling a bit unsettled when I came to the realization that my Christmas gift list would have to be cut in half of what it has been in previous years. Before having our second child earlier this year, I made a personal sacrifice to stop working for a year to focus on being a stay at home mom. Because of this sacrifice, we have had to exclude most of the “extras” from our budget, including many Christmas gifts that we would’ve normally purchased. After I had a very brief pity party, I thought about what Christmas is REALLY about. Our Father gave his only Son for you and I to experience eternal life, and that is the best gift that anyone could ever give or receive! John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” With that being said, there is no reason for any of us to feel bad about not being able to give the gifts that we would like to give. That is NOT what Christmas is all about.

If you find yourself in a situation where you feel bound by the over commercialization of Christmas, please take a few moments to reflect on John 3:16. Don’t let a celebration of freedom bind you through tricks of the enemy. Your friends and family should be able to accept whatever you are willing to give them for Christmas, even if it's an act of kindness or a simple “I love you” accompanied by a hug.

We are so blessed to have Christmas fall on Sunday this year. This affords us an opportunity to go into the house of the Lord and assemble with the saints on the celebration of Jesus’ birth. Don’t use Christmas as an excuse to stay out of church, when it is the main reason that we should be in church. “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.” (Psalm 122:1). It is my prayer this blog post is well received, it's not meant to be preachy in nature, but I had to share what the Lord put on my heart.

Until our next appointed meeting time. Stay tuned for more words of encouragement and inspiration for M.O.M.’s near and far! Please share this blog with as many people as you know (www.savedmom.com), we have so many lives to touch. Feel free to post a comment and/or subscribe (if you are reading this from your inbox visit the site address referenced above to post a comment). If you would like to submit prayer requests send them to contactsavedmom@gmail.com. Thanks for your continued support!

Mommie Blessings,

Saved M.O.M

Date Night Under $50

As most of you know, I am always in search of a great bargain. I am happy to say that this past Friday hubby and I had an awesome date night for less than 50 bucks! I’m sure you are wandering just how I pulled this one off and I can’t wait to tell you.

Our date started at a local theatre, where we went to see the play Christmas Gift. Several weeks ago I entered to win free tickets for two on my local Macaroni Kid website. This is a site that most major cities have set up for parents to get info about things going on in their communities. You receive a weekly email that contains great parenting information, weekly giveaways and all the local kid-related events happening around town. The link to my local site is www.collegepark.macaronikid.com.

After enjoying the play we went to dinner, compliments of a Restaurant.com certificate. Well, at least that was the plan. I always pride myself with planning everything down to the smallest detail, but that didn’t work this time around. We arrived at the restaurant an hour and a half before closing only to find that they were closing early due to the fact that it was a “slow night” for them. Normally something like this would have totally vexed me, but since I am such a great planner I had a secondary location in line. In the current economic climate that we live in, it actually isn’t uncommon for non-chain restaurants to close early, so be sure to call ahead before going if you’ll be arriving within 2 hours of closing time.

I knew before going out that we didn’t want to spend more that $35 on dinner, but we didn’t want to compromise quality either. I have purchased several certificates at www.restaurant.com, which is the perfect way to dine well on a dime. Although, I didn’t have a certificate for the secondary location, I knew that with a few strategic moves in mind we could still come in on or under budget. Most restaurants offer some type of light fare to get you started for free, if you simply ask. For most restaurants it’s complimentary bread/rolls with butter. However, we were dining at an Asian restaurant so we were able to get complimentary fried noodles with dipping sauce. Another strategy that I have used for quite sometime is ordering two glasses of water (free) and one refillable drink (such as tea or lemonade) that we can share. Next we ordered our main entrée’s and forewent the desert, coming in at $32 including tax and tip (plus we both had left-over’s for the next day)!

We left the restaurant to head home where my sister had agreed to watch the kids for free. To our surprise we found ourselves stuck in roadwork traffic for about 30 minutes, which actually turned out to be a great extension to our date night. It gave us an opportunity to have a nice talk without the distraction of noisy children in the background.

Sure there were a few unexpected “bumps” in the road during our night out, but it actually made for a longer, kid-free evening with the man I love. Can’t get much better than that. I know that it’s not always easy to plan a date night after having children and living on a tight budget, but it is possible. If you seek God first and purpose a great date night in your heart, then add a bit of creativity plus $50, you will be surprised at what can happen.

Until our next appointed meeting time. Stay tuned for more words of encouragement and inspiration for M.O.M.’s near and far! Please share this blog with as many people as you know (www.savedmom.com), we have so many lives to touch. Feel free to post a comment and/or subscribe (if you are reading this from your inbox visit the site address referenced above to post a comment). If you would like to submit prayer requests send them to contactsavedmom@gmail.com. Thanks for your continued support!

Mommie Blessings,

Saved M.O.M

Parenting With Jesus In Mind

A few days ago I had a conversation with my husband regarding my relationship with God. I was really transparent in telling him that since my last pregnancy I noticed that I wasn’t as consistent with my “God time" as I had been in the past. I recognized that this was a problem and took the necessary steps to get back on track with spending more time reading the Bible and communicating with my Heavenly Father.

In the midst of reflecting on that conversation I realized that as I increase my time with God, I should also increase my children’s time being exposed to the things of God. Whether we realize it or not, as Christian parents it is our responsibility to cultivate our children’s walk with the Lord. “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

When it comes to making good choices and decision regarding our health I always tell people that the eating habits that one develops early in life will most likely stay with them into their adulthood. The same goes when it comes to our spiritual well-being also. We all know that we can start and grow our relationship with the Lord at anytime, but if we choose to expose our children to basic spiritual principles early, just imagine how much more their lives will be blessed for it. We don’t have to make this exposure a complicated process. A few things that I do to aid in this process are reading bible stories to the kids, teaching them simple one-line bible verses, praying with them, and telling them to ask God for help when they need it.

Even though I was an adult when I received Christ as my Lord and Savior, I actually did so because of the influence that my parents had on me. My mother and father both gave their lives to the Lord during my teen years and then began talking to me about the importance of salvation. Neither of them were forceful in their approach, but they were consistent in sharing the “Good News” with me. At first I had no desire of receiving salvation and expressed this to them. However, I now thank God that they didn’t give up on me. I also have a greater appreciation for what they did for me now that I have little ones of my own.

We all want the very best for our children, so let’s take the time and necessary steps to expose them to the way of the Lord. For we know that God’s foundation is the best foundation. Until our next appointed meeting time. Stay tuned for more words of encouragement and inspiration for M.O.M.’s near and far! Please share this blog with as many people as you know (www.savedmom.com), we have so many lives to touch. Feel free to post a comment and/or subscribe (if you are reading this from your inbox visit the site address referenced above to post a comment). If you would like to submit prayer requests send them to contactsavedmom@gmail.com. Thanks for your continued support!

Mommie Blessings,

Saved M.O.M