It really does. It’s happening in a lot of really tangible ways, which is pretty exciting to see. I was just emailing a friend the other day to tell her that, though we cut our grocery budget almost in half just for the summer because of our downsized income, cool things have happened.

I was given six different mystery shops to a prominent grocery store chain here – each for $15, thereby adding $90 to our grocery budget. This is a significant number. And having it in $15 chunks has really forced me to buy what we actually need at the moment.

The first day I bought one (nice brand) frozen pizza (on sale, plus a coupon), which we ate for dinner that night and spent the rest of it on fruit since we hadn’t had fresh fruit in over a week. On the second trip, I was able to get 4 loaves of bread and 3 gallons of milk – both things we really needed.

Today, I was able to get trash bags, laundry detergent and one bag of frozen chicken. The trash bags and laundry detergent were actual immediate needs too, and things that usually bust the budget because, well, when we need them, I usually go ahead and buy them, even if it means going over budget. I don’t have to right now, because we keep getting these little daily needs met with these shops.

I’ve also received more restaurant shops than I normally get, too, which have contributed towards saving the groceries we do have for other days. I’m scratching my head here a little at the wonder of it, but I’m thankful.

We still don’t have a summer job lined up, but we’re still not worried about it. When God stops providing for us, well, then I’ll start worrying about it. Until then, we trust and are thankful. And we are still ever-mindful of those who don’t have the abundance that we do, and whose needs aren’t seeming to be met. Our hearts ache for them and we try to help as God leads.

In addition to Craig’s post, which I linked to above, he’s also updated our update-for-supporters page which is here.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for caring. Thanks for believing with us.