Thursday, July 21, 2011

Don't Mess With TAPO-man!

Don't we too often minimize what a simple 'asking' can do?
Last week, we made a flub with our finance! Of course, we fail once in a while, just like everyone else. However, one thing that we do which most people don't do is we try hard, very very hard to minimize the damage.

Two weeks ago, we opened a new savings account and transferred most of our money from our checking account to this new savings account. Last Thursday was C.J.'s payday and our credit card payment was withdrawn on Wednesday. Even though the credit card payment was scheduled on the same date as payday, due to the time zone difference between US and Korea, it didn't work as we had planned.

So the bank charged us for the overdraft and the credit card company charged us a hefty finance charge. Now, we had two options: too tired and therefore succumb to the giants,or ask for forgiveness and see what happens.

Well, C.J. decided to be the man and fight for it. We thought if we could get at least some of the charges waived, we would be grateful. C.J. politely explained the situation to both the bank and the credit card company, and asked for a favor.........And, to our surprise, both of them waived ALL charges!

I am so proud of C.J. that he has the gut and willingness to "try", instead of giving up without trying...That's the true TAPO-man.


TAPO

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Conduit of Blessing

A few months ago, C.J. got a bonus from his work. As it was an unexpected, surprise income, I thought we were going to tithe, spend little bit to treat ourselves to a nice dinner, and save the rest of the money. However, God obviously had a different plan for that money.

C.J. suggested we support a friend who was leaving for an one-year missions trip, and he also wanted to donate to a few missions organizations including Japan Tsunami relief fund. After giving to those people/organizations, we still had some leftover from the bonus, and I was looking forward to spending and saving the money for US now. Oh well, that was not God's plan, though.

A few days later, we found out that CJ's old friend passed away from an illness, with his wife and newborn twins left behind. C.J. wanted to help out the widow raising the twins, and we decided to donate to their scholarship fund.

By that time, we gave away more than what we got from the bonus! I was about to complain to God: "God, I didn't get to touch even $1 of that bonus money!" That's when God whispered to me, "Hyuna, I gave you the money so that I could bless those people in need." God used us as the conduit of blessing, and we are more than excited to be used for His work.

TAPO

Economy of Hand-me-downs



Can someone guess how much C.J. & I have spent for Elisha's clothes? By the way, Elisha is almost 14 months old now .............................. Well, we spent $15 for her clothes so far!

We were able to do it thanks to people who cheerfully gave away their children's old clothes. They gave us not only clothes, but also socks, shoes, hats, swim suits, bath tub, potty trainer, toys...all kinds of baby stuff. We wash and clean them and they are good to go!

I understand that some people do not like using used stuff for their children, but we don't mind it at all. It not only saves us a lot of money, but also helps us keeping ourselves from spoiling our only child with materialism.

Whenever I see a cute baby dress in a store, I do get tempted to buy it. However, knowing that Elisha has enough, actually, more than enough clothes to wear for the next two years or so, I can easily snuff that desire. So in a way, it puts a restraint on me as well.

Well, if you want to get rid of your kids' stuff, we are more than happy to take them!

TAPO