Awards, Allergies, Furniture Moving & FPU

Those things really don't go together, but they are what has been happening in our lives lately :)

I first have to share WONDERFUL news about Drew. He was actually picked as the "Student of the Week" at Joy Bells last Wednesday night!!! *CHEER* Each week they pick one boy and one girl to be the "Student of the Week" for their excellent behavior in class...and Drew was picked as the best behaved boy! I almost started crying when I saw his little award certificate and the toy he was able to pick out of the prize closet. We have still had our down times (still struggling in his class during the Sunday morning church service), but his fits do seem to be a little shorter lived when they happen). Thank you Lord for this shinning moment for Drew and to remind us that there is hope :)

We got the results back from Drew's allergy testing and nothing showed up as a major problem. With the test, 0.75 would mean a concern. His highest one was Oak at 0.19. There were also a couple others that showed up: Egg whites: 0.15, Milk: 0.13 & Ragweed: 0.11. The doctor explained that allergy testing really has a hard time of showing the full extent of the problem with food allergies though. So he suggested we take Drew off milk and eggs for 3 weeks and see what happens. He said since it is such a mild showing on the test, he would just take out the main milk items ... ie. milk, cheese & ice cream. This didn't make Drew real happen when I told him what we would be doing, but he has been VERY good about it. He actually says he likes the Silk Soy milk better than the regular milk and he now asks if something has cheese in it before he eats it. *laugh* We had pizza the night we started him on the Soy Milk and he was very concerned that it had cheese on it since he is allergic to cheese. :) We tried to then explain to him that his allergy isn't a very strong one, so it was ok to have it every once-in-awhile. I am sure he is concerned since they discussed food allergies at his school since there were several in his class that had some sort of food allergy...ones that were much more serious than his.

Our time around our house has mainly been spent trying to get all the "junk" moved from the office upstairs to its new location downstairs. Hopefully by this weekend we will have it all moved down there (although probably not organized) so John can work on getting that final closet redone and we can get Drew moved into the old office and Zach settled in Drew's old room. Then it will just be tackling going through everything down in the new office, pitching bunches of it and then organizing what is left. It sounds like John might be adding one more shelving project to his list too...with the idea to install shelves into the little cubby area in the new office. :)

The rest of our free time has been spent working through our homework for the "Financial Peace University" class from Dave Ramsey that we are taking at our church on Wednesday evenings. WOW! I would suggest this class to anyone - but especially new couples! What a great way to get started on the same page in your new married life. This has been a whole new experience for me!! We have talked for years about getting a budget, but have never really sat down and done it during the 9 years we have been married. And I must admit that money (and my spending habbits) has been the main thing of our "discussions" ;) during those 9 years. I LOVE to spend money - especially on other people! It seems like every time I go shopping, find something that is just PERFECT for someone in my life. Which of course, I just HAVE to get for them ;) John on the other hand is a saver (or as I have referred to him, lovingly...and ok probably more often not so lovingly, as a "penny pincher"). It has been his doing that has us not in debt over our heads. And in fact, since we started the class in mid-March, we can now say the only thing we owe on is our home! And...I say with a HUGE gulp...we are even cutting up the credit cards (this is something that is VERY hard for me). After last weeks lesson when Dave pointed out that it is a proven thing that it actually hurts more to spend cash then use a credit card (yes, they have actually hooked people up to sensors and it registers as pain)...and you tend to spend 12-18% MORE when you use a credit card over using cash! And here I had always used the excuse that we pay the credit cards off every month so what's the big deal :) These classes are offered VERY often in most cities around the U.S. (you can find a list of where it is offered in your area on the Dave Ramsey Website).
John and I went back and forth on whether or not to take the class, but I was convenced that it was worth taken after we had a visitor to our church about a month before the class started that saw the advertising around the church about the class coming soon. He went up to our associate pastor after church and wanted to know how many couples were in the young married's class and he then proceeded to write a check out so every couple in that class could go because he said it had changed his life and he thought it was important for every young couple to go through it. This was NOT a member of a church!! So far I haven't regretted taking the class...well maybe I do a little since I am loosing my credit cards and I know have to keep track of my spending ;) But I will be VERY grateful when we are able to fund our boys college expenses :)

Well, it is quickly approaching dinner time and I need to figure out something to make as well as see if I can motivate the boys to pick up the living room (which looks like a huricane came through). I also need to get the humidifier all ready for the night again - poor Zach has a cold AGAIN with a yucky cough so we are trying to keep it from settling in his chest any more than it has. Certainly don't want him getting pneumonia again! I haven't taken many pictures lately (so much for the "Project 365" *grin*), but I did take one last week of our Bradford Pear tree's blooms (and yes, the sky really was that brilliant of a blue). Looks like spring might FINALLY be here!!