My Abundant Life: Our Year, A Thankyou and Merry Christmas

I'd just like to say a big thankyou to my blog and facebook readers. I really appreciate you taking the time to read my posts. I've made some wonderful new friends and we've created a fantastic community of like minded poeple who want to live the abundant life on a budget. Your comments are greatly appreciated and have bought many smiles to myself and my family. My life is overflowing with joy.

It's been a BIG, BIG year and completely unexpected in so many ways. We started off in February with Darren leaving his job to be available for his ministry work. This was and continues to be a huge leap of faith for us as we wait on God for "his " work. .

We set out on our new lifestyle by cutting our spending to a minimum, planting more fruit trees, expanding our vegetable growing, cutting out all unneccesary spending, making do with what we have and cooking and baking everything we can from scratch. With all of this came pure joy and contentment. Most importantly, God provided for ALL our NEEDS.

Then we had a camera crew come calling on us. Our family's story went to air on A Current Affair on 23rd of June. We knew we had a story to tell, but never in our wildest dreams could we have known it would touch so many people's lives. The response was so overwhelming with A Current Affair announcing the next night that I'd joined the team. I almost fell off the couch.

About two weeks later I launched my blog and facebook pages so that people could find me and learn more about our simple but abundant life. I'd never blogged before and didn't really know how facebook worked. A whole new world was opened up to me. I also learnt how to use our digital camera and to take reasonable photos.

The next week 3AW the talk back radio station in Melbourne asked for an interview. Darren and I made our way to the station to be interviewed by Denis Walter who had followed our story. The interview went well and people started finding my blog.

A Current Affair has given me the opportunity to help others with their budgets, inspire mums and dads to cook and bake from scratch. and to find cheaper ways to do things. I've learnt to travel by myself, to pack lightly and to work with a camera crew. I'll be forever grateful for the opportunities they have given me.

A funny result of the tv stories is that now I have to dress better when I'm out and about. No longer can I duck into the shops for milk when I've just finished cleaning a client's home. Complete strangers now stop me to talk about the latest tv story. It's an odd feeling to be recognised but I'm glad the stories have people talking about the simple life.

I've made new friends with fellow bloggers like Annabel from The Bluebirds are Nesting , Tania from Outback Tania , Joolz from Simply Joolz , Brandy from The Prudent Homemaker , and Tanya from Flood Proof Mum . Most importantly I'd like to thank my special friend Cath Armstrong from the Cheapskates Club who has a blog called Debt Free Cashed Up And Laughing . She believed in me and told my family's story to a reporter from A Current Affair and the rest is history. All of these bloggers have been a source of encouragement and inspiration to myself and my family. Thankyou so much.

As this year draws to a close and a new one begins, I pray that you have a glorious Christmas filled with love, laughter, good food and peace as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. The greatest gift ever given and the reason for the season.

Here are some photos from this year.

Wendy xoxo