Tag: Couples

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When Life Gives you lemon 🍋

EllyFilhoLeave a comment

There are definitely times when bad things happen so good things can come your way.
I’m a true believer of ” Everything happens for a reason. ” Either it’s a good or bad one.
Last year I was living a life that I would come home every day shower and sleep. To wake up in the morning and do the same thing over and over.

I liked what I was doing. Just not how it was happening. Working over 48 hrs. a week I started getting sick again. And ended up having a lot of doctor’s appointment etc.

as I was getting all these appointments, I was no longer able to put all my effort into my job.
One of the days I had to call out because of being sick. I got asked by my manager to find another job.

I couldn’t agree more with him that I needed something else.

Me and Chris always had this dream of working a Monday – Friday. 9-5pm paid holidays. And able to take time off.

The job I had obviously wasn’t allowing me to do so. And not to remind you it made me sick all over again due to stress and long hour days.

I decided to post my resume online. Hoping and praying for the best.

I decided to give my two weeks at my current job.

I remember feeling sad, annoyed and stressed.
I do have a lot of bills to pay. So, I was very worried I wouldn’t find anything.

I sent out a few applications that day.
To my surprise, I received a phone call that morning (when I had just given my 2 weeks).
It was this amazing lady (very friendly) looking for an office manager. I set the appointment for an interview.

I left that company that day in tears. I couldn’t believe what just happened.

I was so amazed. And happy I could have left there jumping up and down in joy.

I got offered a job as an office manager.
Working Monday – Friday 9-5pm. Getting paid holidays. Time off as I need it. With an amazing family. That knows how to be a boss and actually care for their employees.


True I don’t know them yet. But I have a feeling this is going to be a lifetime relationship.
I thank God daily for this opportunity a dream that came true without me even deserving it.
Ok I might deserve it 😂, but you all know what I mean? I didn’t expect it to work so fast.
I’m sitting at my desk this afternoon and all I can think about is how grateful I am. 🙂

Isaque has started a new job and it’s a great opportunity for him.

Joshua will start a new job Monday.

Gabe is doing great at his job.

Chris also got offered a job and opportunity that made him very happy. Now we have time to work and enjoy our lives.Couldn’t ask for more.

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19 Valentine’s Day date ideas. #love #valentinesday

EllyFilho1 Comment

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Because you love his romantic side. And he loves seeing you smile.
  • After all this time, you are still each other’s favorite person to spend time with.

    So why not use this February 14th as just another reason to spend that time together doing something fun?

    Need some ideas? Here you are!

  • 1. Cook something yummy together

    Find a new recipe you both want to try. Or take a cooking class together. Watching his inner chef come out will be cute. And in the end, you get to enjoy a yummy meal together.

  • 2. Take a dance class

    So your cha-cha might not be the smoothest thing ever. But he thinks it’s cute. Try learning some new dance moves together that you can use at home later on when your favorite song comes on the radio.

  • 3. Visit a farmer’s market

    Pick out some fresh ingredients for salsa, or grab some fresh fruit. Or head to a winter market for squash and jarred goodies.

  • 4. Go on a dinner cruise

    A delicious dinner while surrounded by water and stars – need we say more?

    Or, if this doesn’t fit the budget at the moment, spend the evening planning the details of a future vacation, and then start saving so you can take it.

  • 5. Visit a museum or art gallery

    Pick one that you both think sounds interesting, and see what new things you learn.

  • 6. Go bowling

    Winner gets to pick where you go for dessert.

  • 7. Take a hot air balloon ride

    Unless one of you dislikes heights. You want this to be fun, remember?

  • 8. Re-create your first date

    Take her to the restaurant you first took her to. Talk about when you first met. Reminisce about the little details of that time together.

  • 9. Make s’mores

    And snuggle in a warm blanket under the stars.

  • 10. Go to a play

    Dressing up for a nice evening out can be refreshing and fun for both of you.

  • 11. Visit a new city or town together

    Go exploring and see what cool places you discover. Find an old town to walk around while holding hands, or try a new restaurant you stumble upon.

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  • 12. Make ice cream sundaes

    Go shopping together beforehand to pick out all the toppings. Or grab some root beer and ice cream for root beer floats.

  • 13. Go hiking

    If you go often, go to a new spot you’ve been wanting to try together. Maybe even bring along a picnic.

  • 14. Play tennis

    It’s a date and a great workout all in one.

  • 15. Go swimming

    Find a heated pool or some hot springs or hot tubs and relax.

  • 16. Have a spa night

    Book a couples massage or some facials.

  • 17. Have a perfume/cologne date

    Go out and smell some new fragrances, and then help each other pick one that you both like. You’ll have a cute date and get your Valentine’s Day gifts for each other picked out at the same time.

  • 18. Try a couples yoga class

    Because why not use Valentine’s Day to de-stress, stretch and feel great afterward?

  • 19. Attend a sports game

    A night out with a little cheering while eating good food may be just what you both need.

    Give one of these a try this Valentine’s Day – and then use the others for regular date nights with your spouse, and see how much closer you become.

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Article by  Kelsi Jones
Kelsi graduated with a journalism degree and is passionate about the written word and the power it has to bring more good into the world.
Budget · Challenge · coupons · family · Family Share · frugal · savings

#BudgetWithElly the @DaveRamsey Style

EllyFilhoLeave a comment

Let’s start today with what I did to become frugal and try to be Debt free.
My husband inspired me by listening to ” The Dave Ramsey Show ” and he came home one day and said, can you listen to this guy I think he’s awesome. I decided to listen to Dave Ramsey for the first time and I thought to myself. Can we do this? Can we really be debt free? Is it possible to pay over $10k of credit card bills and actually live like ” No One else, so later in life we can live like no one else? __ Dave Ramsey”
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So, who is this Dave anyways?
Dave Ramsey is a personal money management expert, radio talk show host and TV personality who over the years has helped thousands of people become debt free and change their financial lives.

Before I started to listen to Dave, we had to make a decision, to either listen and apply or don’t do it at all. I started to believe we could and believed in GOD we could do it. AM I there? no! not yet, but we have a lot less to go. 🙂

We started with Dave Ramsey’s baby steps that are

Baby Step 1 – $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
Baby Step 2 – Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
Baby Step 3 – 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings
Baby Step 4 – Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
Baby Step 5 – College funding for children
Baby Step 6 – Pay off home early
Baby Step 7 – Build wealth and give!
we are obviously not anywhere close to where we would like to be, but we will get there.
We had to make some sacrifice, especially at the beginning. It’s not easy because it requires sacrifice. And it’s not a lot of fun. We started less than a year ago.
So, I decided to start looking at all the ways I could save, and I started doing the frugal mom thing (Coupons) I save over $200 a month just on coupons alone. Some people are embarrassed to use them, I’m not simple as that. they are there to help you and you’re not stealing from someone, So why not?

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A lot of people talk about how to change their financial lives but never touch on the fact that if you or your spouse isn’t ready to change, it isn’t going to happen. You have to want to change.
His plan might not be perfect for everyone, but it does point everyone in the right direction.
What is your life’s purpose? When you find it, you’ll find the motivation you need to live according to your financial plan, even when it’s tough. Making these steps require a budget. In order to succeed with these bigger goals, you’ve got to make it work day-by-day. Paying off your debt snowball requires snowflakes. And you and your spouse need to regularly communicate.
Give it a try, visit the Dave Ramsey site and other budgeting sites and get started. Believe me, It’s never too late 🙂

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Family Night

#FamilyTime Saturday Fun ( Hotel Tips )

EllyFilhoLeave a comment

A Cleaner hotel rooms

Get a better night’s sleep during your next hotel stay by quickly wiping down your room.
I’ve worked as a housekeeper at a hotel in Boston for a little while.

I remember very clearly my cleaning routine.
When I visit hotels today, I particularly recall how the cleaning of rooms were done.
Just the way they trained me. After training, I did my own cleaning.  Use to make sure everything got cleaned.

Typically, hotel maids have a checklist of what they’re obligated to tend to. Stripping and replacing the sheets and towels, vacuuming the floor, dusting the table tops, wiping down the sinks, and sanitizing the toilet and tub are part of the routine.

Considering the parts that probably don’t get attention, here is a checklist of what you can do to sanitize your next hotel stay.

You’re not the only guest in the room. Who knows what types of germs, cover the many surfaces in a hotel room.

Before making yourselves at home, take an antibacterial wipe or spray soap and wipe the places touched by thousands of fingers. The doorknobs, TV remote, light switches, phone, refrigerator handles, ice bucket, toilet flusher and faucet handles are probably pretty yucky.

Be careful with drinking from reusable glasses,  Who knows what might be going on there.

What’s the first thing we do when we enter a hotel room?

Usually, we plop down on the bed. But how clean is that bedding, really? The bedspread and blankets are likely dirty When I worked as a housekeeper, I don’t remember the bedspreads ever been washed. The sheets, of course.

Clean sheets are normally a given in a room. But the coverlet or comforter and extra blanket in the closet possibly haven’t seen a washing machine. One solution is to strip them from the bed altogether and sleep in the sheets. Bedbugs have become a major epidemic in many hotels. Rather than setting your bags on the floor, elevate them on a table. Or, store them in the bathroom, where bed bugs normally don’t hang out. ( even though I have found them there. )

Don’t leave your clothes on the floor. This decreases your chances of returning home with uninvited friends. Wear slippers or shoes Have you ever wondered how often the floors are shampooed? I have too. I cringe as my bare feet walk over dirty hotel carpeting. The occasional night away in a hotel or inn is always an adventure. If you don’t worry about a little grime or bacteria, you’re lucky. But if you’re like me and want an easier night’s sleep, take a few precautions.

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Resources Book Club for 1 & own experiences

 

dad · family · fatherhood · kids · mom · motherhood

4 ways to have a Family Saturday

EllyFilhoLeave a comment

We all have busy lives. Finding time today is almost impossible

If you’re like me, you feel like there’s still stuff to do at the end of the day. Tempted to keep your computer and phone on at all times. Fighting distractions in your brain even when with your family.

You need to have priorities. In the end, our family is all that matters, so don’t push your family to the bottom of your to-do list.
If you want a stronger marriage and family, start by investing more time.

https://twitter.com/4Guys_1Girl
Family Date Night

1. Remember that “Date Night” doesn’t have to happen at night

Look for ways to connect during the day.

2. Never walk into your house while you’re on your phone

I make sure to end the call before walking through the door.

3. Have set times where everybody is unplugged

Try to shut down the electronics more often. Talking with each other is always better than texting with somebody else!

https://twitter.com/4Guys_1Girl

4. Prioritize family time AND one-on-one time

Plan activities you can all do as a family, also plan for one-on-one time with each other and with each of your kids individually. That time will be golden for your kids.

https://twitter.com/4Guys_1Girl

Vacation

You haven’t seen this Vacation on BuzzFeed

EllyFilhoLeave a comment

Ours of course… hahaha

My family and I go on vacation every year. We usually travel somewhere like Florida etc. This year we did it a little different, because we started our budget to pay all our debts around December of last year. So, this year Chris didn’t want to travel far or take a long vacation because it would cost an arm and a leg for all 5 of us. He decided to stay local as he says “” Stay Cation “” I’ll admit I wasn’t too happy, only because I’m a stay home mom and I never leave I wanted to travel somewhere and stay for a week… I understood what he wanted to do though. Cutting our story short we couldn’t afford it this year, so we stayed local. As #DavidRamsey says And my husband has been saying this to me all the time I try to do something out of the budget.  His been very focused on what we need to do, and best of all it’s working.  Budget-Quote

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We still had a lot of fun and enjoyed our time together. I noticed you don’t have to go far to enjoy the fun things in life with the people you love the most. Our Vacation The first place we visited was Newport RI We had a blast. We rented motor bikes and scooters to drive around town. Had some delicious food, and the kids had a fun time enjoying the outdoors and the weather. The next day we headed to New York, Cape Cod, and Salem

magiamorenas36 www.filhofamily.wordpress.com

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Devotion · Family Share

“Divine Dependence”

EllyFilhoLeave a comment

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“Divine Dependence”

If your marriage and family feel like a joke or as if they’re bordering on chaos, it’s not anything that God hasn’t seen or isn’t capable of redeeming. So much of Christian teaching today is about us developing “our” gifts, improving “our” talents, reaching “our” potential, yet so much of Jesus’s teaching and modeling is about surrendering to the work of the Holy Spirit. Let’s allow marriage to teach us to trust this Holy Spirit. He’s proven Himself. If we truly want to transform our marriages, we must learn the glory of divine dependence.

God will never call us to do something without giving us everything that is necessary in order for us to finish the task. It may not be all that we think we need, but it will be all that we do need. This is not to say the job will feel easy. But God promises through Isaiah, “He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power” (Isa. 40:29 NASB).

Don’t pass over this thought, because it’s crucial: Isaiah 40:29 assumes that God will call us to various tasks for which we lack enough power on our own.

The “secret,” then, to a truly sacred marriage is actually a person, God’s promised Holy Spirit. Because God is such a relational God (meeting our need for salvation by sending His Son), it shouldn’t surprise us that He meets our need for transformation by also sending Himself in the person of His Holy Spirit.

Since marriage is one of the most profound acts of worship any two believers can ever share, it is impossible to be married in a sacred manner without the Holy Spirit being active in our lives, helping us to understand what it means to love, giving us the power to love, convicting us when we fail to love, renewing our hearts when we grow weary in love, and pouring out hope when we grow discouraged in love.

The Lord gives strength
to those who are weary. Isaiah 40:29 
 But the Holy Spirit will come upon you and give you power. Then you will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the world.” Acts 1:8

* Do you lean on the Holy Spirit to strengthen you and your marriage? What is a specific situation where you lacked ability, but were strengthened by the Holy Spirit?

____The Bible & Breathe Spiritual Passion into Your Marriage.
Devotion · Family Share · love

Loving The Unloving 

EllyFilho3 Comments

Our reward will be great, Jesus said, not when we love people who love us back, but when we love “the ungrateful and the evil” as God does.

If you are married to the godliest, kindest, most giving and thoughtful spouse who ever lived, that will be your reward. There will be no extra credit in the heavenlies for having enjoyed an easier marriage than most. So, you’ll have some very pleasant decades, while someone else may be storing up for eternity.

If, for instance, your spouse takes you for granted, you may never be appreciated on this earth, but the day will come—Jesus promises it!—when you see your heavenly Father-in-Law face-to-face and He says to you, “You loved My son (or daughter) so well, even though I know he never understood how blessed he was to be married to you. Now, let Me show you how I spend all of eternity rewarding those who love in My name. Receive your rewards, enter into your rest!”

You see how believing in that day changes how we define what is a good day in the here and now? We’ll look for opportunities to love, serve, notice, encourage, and appreciate, instead of being obsessed with how well our spouses are loving, serving, noticing, encouraging, and appreciating us. This is encouraging for those of you who are taken for granted. Let’s be honest: some of you married fools. I don’t mean to be flippant, but the Bible says there are fools, right? It seems to me; somebody must marry them. Maybe you picked one. From an earthly perspective, that’s a wasted life. From an eternal perspective, you have the opportunity to set yourself up for a particularly thrilling and fulfilling conversation at the judgment seat of Christ.

For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. (‭Luke‬ ‭6‬:‭32-35‬ KJVA)

For which because we faint not; but though our outward man perishes, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4‬:‭16-18‬ KJVA)

* How do these passages encourage you to love you spouse even when it’s hard? How will this lesson impact the way you live out your daily life with him or her?

Family Share

Different From the Rest 

EllyFilhoLeave a comment

Let me put a saying by nineteenth-century churchman Horace Bushnell in the language of marriage: “No married couple is ever called to be another. God has as many plans for married couples as He has couples; and, therefore, He never requires them to measure their life by any other couple.”

You comprise one-half of a unique couple. No other couple has your gifts, your weaknesses, your history, your dynamics, your children, you’re calling. There is great freedom in accepting our couple identity as it is: we might be strong in this area, weak in that, vulnerable here, impenetrable there, excelling in this, often failing in that, but we are a unique couple called forth by God to fulfill our unique purpose in this world.

God has established your home and your marriage, and that’s the life He wants you to live. Never look to other couples to measure your worth; look to God to fulfill your call. Don’t compare yourself with other couples to measure your happiness; compare your obedience with God’s design on your life to measure your faithfulness.

Become comfortable with your story, your identity as a couple. Relish it. Never compare it. Just be faithful to the unique vision God has given to the unique you (and that’s a plural you). God doesn’t need another couple just like one He already made. He is so much more creative than that. Rather, He wants to release and bless the unique couple that is you. 

Reading. Romans 8:37 Psalms 139:13-16

* What couples do you often compare yourselves against? Do you believe God has you both on a special journey for His purposes? How do you live that out?