the party

I spent 2 hours late afternoon yesterday

sweeping sawdust and insulation debris

out in the house,

so dinner got started late, 

which meant we ate late,

and would have no need of birthday cake for dessert.

Also, 

I didn't want to be rushed,

so we pushed our birthday celebration 

off 'til today.

After I made the cake

(low carb Italian cream cake)

I found my master money paper 

(genius idea, if I do say so myself.

only took me, what? 4 5 years to figure out ;-)

and made 8 copies,

one for each person,

and one for the finder of the pickle

(Lily)

then cut the money apart,
and secured each person's 'cash' with a clip.
All money earned was paid in a single 'bill'
in the appropriate amount
(for example - Lexi got an $18 bill,
because she earned $10 wrapping presents
and $8 doing extra cleaning jobs)

We played a few games
(Farting Pig and Bananagrams)
then read from Matthew 25

and started shopping.

The kids had all earned extra giving money,

and some dipped into their savings.

I was kinda bummed 

that I didn't have anywhere to pull a few extra dollars from, though.

As usual, we went back and forth between catalogs

and hunted for the best price on the item we wanted to give.

This year there was some doubling of animal gifts

(thank-you special donors for Heifer!)

and some 'your dollar multiplies x times' 

through World Vision,

which this thrifty family especially likes.

All together,

we spent $511

and gave Jesus

$108 for books and school supplies

Honey bees for 4 families

Ten flocks of chickens

 (each flock is anywhere from 10-50 chickens,

depending on location)

Mosquito nets for an entire family

$150 for emergency food

$888 worth of warm clothing

Food for a refugee child for 1 week

2 flocks of ducks

1 Rabbit
(here's hoping some other family gave a rabbit too... ;-)

15 fruit trees

Seeds for a family

2 soccer balls

and

$50 cash to be used where it's most urgently needed.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

We love You.