Thanks-full.

My D-Hubby and I were going over finances yesterday.

Yeeee-uck.

We live very frugally. Our rent is relatively cheap. We (usually) stick to our budget. We have the cheapest cell phone plan you can get. If we ever eat out, it's off the value menu at the nearest fast food restaurant (save on gas, too, y'know) and it's not that often. We avoid unnecessary debt like the plague.
We live off student loans, babysitting, and 2 early-morning paper routes.

Oh and love; we live off love, too. (Buys a lot of groceries, that stuff...)

So...we added and added again to somehow make the numbers say something different this time around. It was looking very, very bleak...like, my-grocery-shopping-list-is-becoming-my-Christmas-wish-list bleak.....and not-going-to-be-able-to-go-home-for-Christmas bleak..... Going into debt for gas to get to family and back would not be the wisest move ever made. Not to mention Christmas presents. Our presence would have had to do, IF we were even able to come.

All this naturally made a great atmosphere in our house for a little bit.
Stress over finances + cranky baby with a cold = the perfect storm.

We were brainstorming things we could do to make enough to cover the demands from "The Man" for our money while I sat teary-eyed over not being able to visit family for Christmas.
While we were discussing what we could sell, who could work when, and how much we could get for Baby-Rae (kidding!), Darren was inspired to look over student loan stubs again; when we had calculated everything at the beginning of the semester, we had enough to cover our needs. Sure enough, as he looked through everything they said we should get and everything we had gotten, there was a discrepancy. Long story short, he called about it...and we will still be receiving thousands of dollars we hadn't counted on, due to a lost cheque.

I felt really, really grateful right then.
I felt grateful to a Heavenly Father who asks us to put Him first so He can bless us. And how he keeps His end of the deal without fail.
I felt grateful that Renae would get to see both sets of grandparents at Christmas time, one set who hasn't seen her since the summer.
And I felt grateful for moments that teach me not to lose faith, that everything will work out the way that it should if we're doing our part.

Lotsa lotsa thank-You's in order.