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.
Half-Pint House 
Sure thing! I’ve got linked up info on it here.
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Isn’t God good? I am blessed by your testimony of His provision.
I am intrigued by your mystery shopping jobs. Could you give me a link to a place where I might get more information?
thanks and may God continue to reveal His goodness to you and your family.
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I need to do mystery shopping again. (email me if you have a good company you go thru…the one I used prior wasn’t very good). I used to do it, but it was always for LAME stuff and ended up being at the worst times, say a busy restuarant for breakfast at 9 am on a Saturday morning, and I had to order the eggs special (and I don’t care for eggs)…
see what I mean? So I gave it up. But grocery mystery shopping…I could SO dig that.
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Megan,
You were the winner in our little random drawing! I know you mentioned the clutter booklet would just become more clutter in your home, so if you don’t want it, I’ll just send you the notecards. Assuming that you can see my e-mail address (since I just typed it in above), please e-mail me your address, and I will get your prize in the mail in a few days.
Thanks for commenting, and for reading my blog,
carrie
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Thanks for sharing how God is providing! We would all do well to re-count our blessings from His hand. Ramen noodles, cool plates for the girls, mystery shops….God’s got your budget figured out. 🙂
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That’s awesome, Megan. Loved reading this.
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Hi, there
I just came upon your blog last week. Our phone rang one evening and it was our long-lost friend, Tom. He was calling to tell us about his upcoming wedding. He later shared his new blog with us, which has your blog on his blogroll. Anyway, after enjoying your blog, I continued to enjoy some of the other blogs via your blogroll. I am a “newbie” so thank you for sharing your life on your blog. I was really touched by It Keeps Happening. God is truly amazing and knows just what we need.
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