About

About

I am homeschooling mama of two beautiful boys. I am extremely blessed to be able to stay at home and raise them in this way. I use Classical Conversations to help supplement my teaching at home and we absolutely love it. I enjoy running, and have actually become quite passionate about it since being involved in Moms on the Run in 2014. I have actually won first in my age group in a 5k! Not sure if that will ever happen again since my age bracket went up this year, but you never know. I've run Ragnar Great River and will be running Ragnar Northwoods Trail this year. It helps alleviate stress in my life and is a healthy habit to have been formed.

Where I Got the name "Beautifully Poor"

Here is the story behind the name:

This past pay period for my husband, the last week of July 2014, we had a decision to make. We could either tithe 10% of his check to where God wanted us to put it, or keep it. If we tithed we would have $0.75 left in our checking account to survive off of for 2 weeks, if we didn't tithe we would have the $134 for some extra cash, food and gas. We had a full tank of gas and had done minimal shopping already. It isn't like we didn't have food and it isn't like we don't have necessities, do not get me wrong there. This is a teaching in trust in our God. Do we trust him to make our ends meet, so we have enough food and our gas won't run out? Or do we trust in our own selves and disobey what we know to be something God wants us to do. 

My husband and I mulled this for a few days. 

Money. Money is a big thing to America. Money means status. Money means you can do fun things. Money means eating out and traveling. Money is fun. But the Bible states clearly that you cannot serve it. It also is the 1st Commandment of the 10 that "You shall have no other gods before me". Serving money would be making it a god. 

My husband is the one who said it first. "We have to tithe, you know if we don't we will feel guilty and if we really are supposed to trust God, what a test in our faith would this be!" My husband has come a long way!!! WOW! I was shocked and floored. There have been multiple times this same situation has come up and we haven't tithed. We have pocketed the money convincing ourselves that we would double tithe next check, which we usually would, or we just wouldn't discuss it at all and the money would get spent.

This is the very first time we actually did it. We have nothing in the savings except what is to keep the account open, $5. So we have nothing to fall back on except God. Here is our test of faith. Is God as really great as we say he is? Is it just something we say or do we really believe it? Do we really trust Him? 

Well we have found out this week it is much harder said than done. I would be a liar if I said I am all cheery and down with this way of life. To say I haven't worried would be an even bigger lie. But the thing that isn't a lie, is that God has provided. He has given me a happiness I cannot explain. I am not constantly worrying. When I worry I remind myself what this particular part of the journey is about. It is a test of faith. My faith is being grown. 

So 4 days ago when $15 dropped in my account from surveys I do online, that was God. When 2 days ago another $15 dropped in my account from surveys, that was God's timing. Yesterday when I got the email that $20 was being transferred to my bank from my PayPal. That was God's timing. That is $50. $50 we, didn't know would be coming our way. $50 that got us those extra's and some food for our house. It provided food for a cookout with friends. It provided gas money for the rest of next week until payday comes again. God provided for us. Yes, I worked for this money through surveys online and other things I do to make our family extra cash. But God provided me with those extra ways to make money. That money isn't in our budget, they are just that, extras.

I started this blog a few days after this happened and trying to come up with a name for it was very difficult, seeing as there are blogs up the gazoo and every name imaginable out there. I feel that Beautifully Poor fits because in the worlds eyes, we are definitely not rich. In America we are a hard-working middle class family that makes ends meet but probably won't be going to Disney World anytime soon. We have worked hard to where we have come through lots of struggles in life and striving above past poor choices. It is beautiful because of where we came from. We are like the flower that was growing with rocks and weeds, barely surviving only to be plucked out from that rock and replanted on a fertile riverbank. God has blessed us and made our family and lives beautiful.