Perfect Timing

Not too long ago a lady I was talking to at church asked me if I knew of the missionary family who lived near the border between Slovenia and Croatia. I said no, but immediately wanted to know more because she too was a homeschool mom and a mom to two girls just like myself.

  Naturally I looked her up on Facebook and sent her a message ackwardly explaining who I was and how I found her.  After a day or so I knew that I probably would never hear from her and she probably thought I was crazy! LOL

Well, finally I did hear back from her and was delighted to hear that her girls were very close in age to my daughters ages. We were making plans to meet for coffee but both got busy with life. However, this past week I ran into her just outside the store and we made plans to meet the next day.

Let me just tell you, I am so thankful for these people and the blessing they have been already.  It is really hard for kids to make friends on the mission field if they are not going to school there. My kids have struggled for five years. I am praying that this will be a beautiful new beginning for my girls. Now the only problem is moving Noah's friend Chriśtian from Sisak closer and things would be perfect!

God's timing is always perfect and He always gives us what we need, when we need it.

Wordless Wednesday...three hours north

....

Well, it has been almost three months since we arrived in Croatia and I'm just now able to update you on our family.  I don't know what I was waiting for?! The perfect milestone maybe? Thanksgiving and Christmas have both come and gone and now we are in a brand new year. We have our visa, new to us vehicle that I can actually drive, and finally on Friday we received our crate full of things we collected on furlough. This crate also contained a few Christmas gifts from Nana.

Our first three months in Croatia have been good...God has been so good to us.

Reminiscing ...

Our kids did a great job representing Croatia in our home church's Annual Missions Conference. I hope it is a blessing to your heart. So glad we have a missions minded church who is willing to send light all over the world.

Missions Conference 2013 from Buford Road Baptist Church on Vimeo.

Love our Church

"The Real Presence of Heaven" from Buford Road Baptist Church on Vimeo.

The Prayer

One of my favorite songs sung here in the Croatian language! 

Blessings and Enjoy!

A shopping I will go

I was going through my purse last night to make sure I didn't have any gift cards hiding or Kohl's Cash needing to be spent. As I was going through it, I came across my coupons that I faithfully clipped, but always had a hard time using up. I often wondered why I even clipped them since most expired before I could use them up. I guess it was just something every mom did on Sunday night to save her family money on their grocery bill. In reality, It is a good thing I never got good at it because Croatia does not offer coupons. We simply save money by watching the ads, cooking from scratch, and eating at home.

While in Croatia, I really learned how to cook and use the metric system.  Okay, maybe Google had a greater part in helping as well! :) I must say that I am ready to go back and continue to provide healthy and delicious food for my family.  I'm thankful for Pinterest and all the cool homemade  versions of our favorite restaurant foods.  My mom also gave me her Copycat recipes book that I always devour when I'm at her house. I can't wait to use it!!

Okay, before I go, how do you prefer to make your shopping list? Pen & paper or on your phone?  I've tried making my list in the iPhone and iPad and it doesn't work for me. It doesn't matter what kind of app I use, pen and paper always win. 

My list always starts with:

Milk

Bread

Eggs 

Juice

Butter

Cheese

Yogurt

I can't help it, it must start this way!! Everything else is then categorized by type of food. Call me crazy, it's just the way I roll and one of my silly quirks.

Do tell, how do you save on groceries, make your list, favorite recipe?