Free Books

Books. They are my downfall. I love to read. I love books. So far we have packed 10 boxes. All books. There is probably at least another 10 on our shelves still that I should have packed this weekend but that is another story.

The reason for this blog is another thing that I am thankful for and how God has provided for us is through amazon.com's free books on Kindle. We are slowly trying to go towards kindle books that we currently read on our ipod/ iphone. We have been able to replace a few of our books (especially classics) because they are available for free on Kindle. There are a few classics that we've kept because I really do like reading actual books better than reading on that little screen but it is amazing how many books you can carry around with you that take no space at all.

One great thing about amazon is that they offer books temporarily for free. I was able to get some great books for free because they were free temporarily like Margin, Calm My Anxious Heart, Coffee Shop Conversations, Sheet Music and many others. (None of these books are free right now but have been in the past and may be again in the future. I occasionally check the free best sellers list to see what is free now.)

What prompted this is that right now Organized Simplicity is available for free temporarily. I follow Tsh's Simple Mom blog and I have borrowed this book from the library but was not able to keep it long because other library patrons had requested it. I have been wanting this book but have not wanted to add another book about simplifying (seems ironic to buy a book about getting rid of stuff). So thankful to be able to get it for free on Kindle!

Thanks God for free books that take up no space. You are so good to me!

Moving to Lowville (Lord willing)

When I posted about Glenn's "free" medical care I noticed that the last post I posted was announcing that we were moving to Montour Falls and that God had provided housing and a scholarship. Well, that is no longer true as I blogged about on over on Maas Update. Instead we are, Lord willing, moving to Lowville. The hospital there is willing to cover housing and the scholarship as well at the last moment for which we are very grateful. We aren't exactly sure what housing or anything is going to look like there but we are excited to see what God has in store. We went to check out the area last week and were given some helpful information. Looking forward to seeing what God is going to do!

"Free" Medical Care

Glenn has been pretty sick. He's been battling a cold for a while and his cough and sore throat just kept getting worse. Yesterday as I took him to school he was thinking out loud and said "Oh, but I don't have my co-pay." He had a bit of free time scheduled today (I think today may have been part study day for him) and I told him maybe he could get an appointment with his doctor for sometime today. Instead he left clinic early yesterday and went to student health. He was diagnosed with strep throat and given a prescription for penicillin which was charged to student health. Yes, we pay for student health through Glenn's school bill but, since we didn't have to pay for the visit or the medicine, it felt like Glenn got free medical care. He hasn't really been sick too much before this but we realized we might should have taken advantage of this service since we've been paying for it. Here's to hoping that none of the rest of us get strep!

Thanks God that we didn't have to pay out of our pocket for Glenn's sick visit or his medicine. You always provide for us!

Montour Falls Wants Us

We went out to dinner at Phoebe's on Thursday night (free yummy food - yay!) while a friend watched our kids and we learned more about the RMED program and found out.... Montour Falls wants us for RMED. They want us enough to provide housing (We were told: "It may be a tent but it will fit as many Maases as there are going." to which Glenn responded "There are only 6 of us." Which elicited laughter from the other 4 students and one student's wife at the table.) AND a scholarship! After visiting there a few weeks ago we were told that the hospital was making budget cuts or something like that and, most likely, if we went there we would not be getting housing or the scholarship. We prayed about it and decided that the time and experience there would be beneficial and that, if we were not going to get financial help to go there from the hospital, we would trust God to provide some other way for us. He has proved Himself faithful to us over and over in our lives and we know that He has never left us without a place to sleep or food to eat so we were trusting Him to do it again. We know that it is a gift from Him that we are getting the housing and scholarship and are very grateful! So, Lord willing, we will be moving to Montour Falls at the end of March/ beginning of April!

Refund Check

Today I was surprised by a gift from God that we got in the mail. We got a refund check from Excellus BlueCross/ Blue Shield for $103.49 for Glenn's health insurance. "The refund is a result of medical cost inflation that was lower than we expected for calendar year 2010.... Since actual costs were lower than anticipated, we are returning a portion of your premium to you."

Thanks God!

Fresh Veggies

This week we have had one of the kids' friends come over for a couple of days while her mom went back to teaching at LeMoyne. They live in our neighborhood but have a garden at one of her husband's co-workers' home. She brought me a bag of little cherry tomatoes earlier in the week and today her husband went to the garden and she brought me 3 bags of produce: an ear of corn, a bunch of basil (that smells wonderful!), some carrots, potatoes and big and small tomatoes. Yum! I am looking forward to eating all of this yumminess.

Last week when we went to Waterloo we also got a bag of summer squash, zucchini and cucumbers from Aunt Amy and a bunch of tomatoes and some peppers from Grandma and Grandpa's garden but I didn't take a picture. We have enjoyed them though in spaghetti, lasagna, and chili as well as just eating them fresh. Yum! I love this time of the year!!

Thanks God for fresh veggies that are so yummy!

Free Lunch

While we were going to swim lessons back in July I was talking to a lady who brings her daycare kids to swim lessons and she told me about the free lunch program at the school just around the corner from our house. I had seen signs for it but had never looked into it. She told me that she always takes her daycare kids and that they feed anyone under 18 with no income restrictions and that I should check it out so we did. We took a walk to the school around the corner for lunch for the almost two weeks after swim lessons and before we left on our train trip. I am not sure if it is a New York program or what but it was a blessing. The kids thought that eating a school lunch was fun. They were pretty healthy as well.

Thanks God for free lunches :)