Free stuff

I might has well let you in on a little secret--I love the word "free".  Getting things for free has been one of the biggest helps to our getting out of debt.  Free food is one of my favorites.  After attending a party or other gathering where there may be leftovers, I have no shame in taking them when they are offered.  It is a two-fold blessing

1) No cooking for mama (me)
2) Less food we need to take from our own sources for meals (which equals money saved)

Of course you can't be prideful if you are going to accept leftovers.  I used to have that problem.  Didn't want people to think that my family's livelihood depended on the "charity" of others.  Today, I don't care what they think.  I'll take your leftover food, hand-me-down clothes, surplus toothpaste (don't ask).  It all goes towards the cause of lowering my families expenses.

I bring up this topic today because we were at a farm co-op that our family is a member of and we met a woman and her daughter who happen to live in our township.  How awesome it was to find out that she and her husband were pastors!  We talked about many things and among them she told us that she gets grapes from her neighbor and this year had such a surplus that many went bad before she could process them.  I spoke right up and told her that I will take her extra grapes anytime :-)  Just to give you another example of this, my husband and I went to a bed and breakfast over the summer and met a couple from Florida who have connections at Disney.  They told us whenever we are ready to come visit Florida let them know and they'll get Disney World tickets for us and our three kids.  Can you believe it?!  It never ceases to amaze me the ways in which God provides--especially when I'm not looking for it.