It's that time again...time to choose a small group or two for the winter/spring semester at our church. Before the list of small groups came out, I was sure of what I was going to take...Strategic Shopping. It's a small group led by a woman with seven children who feeds her whole family on an amazingly slim food budget. I don't have a clue how she does it, but word has it, she can feed her whole family a good meal for $5! Can you imagine...feeding nine people on $5?! It just doesn't seem possible. I mean, this is a cooked, prepared meal at home! $5!!!
She uses Godly principles, coupons, and weekly ads to strategically shop for her family, and she so graciously shares her wisdom with those of us who haven't a clue. Ok, so that's option #1.
My next option was laid out before me when I was searching through the small group book: Love and Respect. It's a small group that helps husbands and wives crack the communication code between each other, the way God intended. It is a small group I really wanted to take last semester, but it just wasn't possible for us at the time. Now it's available again, and I really want to take it.
You may wonder why I don't just do both groups. Well...they both meet on Thursday nights. :( BLAH!
I feel like I need both groups but can't decide which I need more.
The pluses for Strategic Shopping are that I can greatly reduce our food budget, learn money-saving ways to shop, and I can learn from someone who has this stuff down to a science, all while spending time with some of my great friends. The main negative to SS is that it starts at 6:30 (I have to work until 6) and is at least a 30 minute drive, so I would be pushing it to get there even close to on time every week
The benefits to Love and Respect are that Channing and I could do it together; we could learn principles to improve our marriage; it's close by (literally in the neighborhood right behind ours); it starts later; and we could spend time with some of our other great friends who are taking it.
Decisions, decisions, decisions. What's a girl to do? I guess I'll spend some heavy time in prayer and ask God to lead me to the group I need most. He has a much better idea than I do anyway. Whichever one I don't choose, I guess I'll have to do my best to research and educate myself on my own. Goodness knows I need all the help I can get in both areas! I want to budget effectively and save our family money, and I want to have the strongest marriage possible.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
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7 comments:
Not my decision!! None of my business!!! I will only share something valuable that I now try to live my life by!! Do what is easy for your family! Good, better, best? Good - can be a bad choice b/c it prevents you from making time for what's BEST!
Just a little wisdom I thought I would share!
Blessings!
Great advice!!!! As always, thanks for sharing your wisdom!!!!! =D
they both sound GREAT- i know leslie and joanna loved the shopping one. however, i can say that Love and Respect is one of the most influential books in my marriage. I really learned so much, nate and i read it together and it did a lot for us. i guess we read it about 2 years ago and i loved it so much i bought it for 5 couples that we were really close to in georgia and i bounce between that book and dave ramsey as wedding gifts (usually i can't choose between the two so i end up giving both!! :) :)) we didn't do it in a small group but i can only imagine it would have been even better with discussion between other couples. even if you don't do the small group, i would definitely recommend the book.
Isn't it so hard to decide every semester what group to take?! There are so many good ones! I selfishly wish that you would take Strategic shopping so I can see you every week but I heard that Love & Respect is great too! I know that you will love whichever one you decide to go to! Love you and miss you!
Annie, Jon and I have talked about doing the Love and Respect small group because it would be so close to our house and we know it's a great book. I've read most of it but I want us to be a part of a small group together! So, I hope you join it so we can be in another one together! :) Looking forward to hanging out Monday night!!
Rachel, thanks for your input. If I don't end up in the Love and Respect group, I will definitely have to get the book!
Leisha, you're right! It is so hard to decide! I would love to be in SS so I could see you each week too.
Karen, the convenience of L&R is really appealing. It's right by us, plus I hear it's a great group! Ashley and David are going to do it too.
Hmmmmm....decisions, decisions, decisions!
Annie, you may not want my input but I will give it anyways. I had hoped to take the SS small group at some point. It sounds amazing. We are leading a small group on the same night so not this semester. If you don't take it now maybe we can take it again sometime together. We did do L&R last semester. (Sorry Adria if you read this) We did not love it so much. We made some great friends but the actual videos did not help us that much. It could have been that I was pregnant and exhausted almost the entire semester. Lots of people love it though. Good luck deciding. Quick question: when would you recommend doing Growing Kids God's Way? Should we wait until we actually have a child to practice on?
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