Abba 12 who blogs at New Beginnings saw the picture of our two little boys getting into the sugar trouble last week before church and commented, “Where do you find the clothes in their sizes without costing a fortune? What do the girls wear? I would love to see a picture next week of everyone dressed up for church 
”
Thanks to having an additional hour because of the time change, I actually remembered to catch a picture as we headed out the door.
Nicholas, was not happy with the decision.
As you know, we don’t spend a fortune clothing the children. All the clothing that the children are wearing with the exception of Nick’s sweater (I made that) and Amber’s blouse (Salvation Army) were given to us. I must say that I think our large family has an advantage in that when people wonder who to pass clothing on to, they think of us. We routinely give away several, to many large trash bags full of clothes every few months. It is a wonderful blessing.
A friend of mine told me that you can find boy-sized suits at Burlington Coat Factory (an outlet shop) for about $30-$40 which seems very reasonable to me, since you only have to purchase one per size because the boys don’t really have the opportunity to wear them out. (Until recently, not all of our boys have had suits to wear. We’ve just been recently blessed with hand-me-down suits.)
Another way that we keep our clothing costs down and our life simplified is that we limit the amount of clothing that each child has. This season each girl has two church dresses and the two big boys have a suit each. The two little boys have two church outfits and yesterday, Nick wasn’t dressed in either of his.
We dress up for church because we think that there is value in showing honor to God by dressing up when we go to worship Him. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you can’t worship God in jeans and a t-shirt. In the above picture Nick is wearing jeans, tennis shoes, and a casual sweater. I am saying that since our family would dress up to meet the Queen of England or the President of the United States, we feel that we should at least show that same respect to the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
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You have a beautiful family, Kimberly! I only have 5 and we have a hard time getting dressed to go to the store. I can dress my youngest and an hour later, the clothes are missing! Hand me down are great! (So is limiting them). *Ü*
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Raising Olives Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Remember Michelle, this was taken before church.
I also have a lot of help getting the younger ones dressed.
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I could not agree more about dressing for church. I have always believed that God doesn’t care what we where when we worship but it is our attitude that changes when we take the time to dress especially to go to His house.
You kids look lovely…and that sweater, LOVE it! Kim
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Raising Olives Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:40 pm
I am partial to the sweater also.
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I have the same philosphy about church and about clothing.
But we’ve never been given suits for the boys so we dont have them. Just nice Khaki pants and button up shirts. 
What a beautiful family!
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Raising Olives Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Until this last year our boys have always just worn khaki’s and button up shirts with an occasional tie or vest thrown in here or there. We’ve just been particularly blessed with hand-me-down suits recently.
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Very nice picture. We love handy-downs.
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Our girls each have a nice collection of “fancy” dresses for meeting. If they find one at the thrift store for under $4, we buy it. Eventually the littler girls get hand me downs, but sometimes they just don’t make it. As for our little guys, We have found many four-piece outfits on clearance after the Christmas season for less than $10 each. Jonah is now wearing the outfits that used to belong to Laiken.
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I very much agree. This is an area I have felt convicted in this year and am working on doing better. I have found each of my boys nice dress pants at a local thrift store and now we are working on better shirts and dress shoes.
One of the hardest pieces honestly seems not to be what they wear, but getting them to wear it cleanly with combed hair and clean hands and faces (at least at the beginning of the day!)
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Raising Olives Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:42 pm
The key to that is the beginning of the day.
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I think it’s wonderful that you do that, and the kids all look great
I wish more people had the same beliefs as far as dressing up for God. I can’t imagine getting a child to wear a tie though, my husband hates them!
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I whole-heartedly agree about ‘dressing up’ for worship. I was having a hard time finding affordable clothes for my boys that were dressy enough. I finally asked a mom of 4 well-dressed boys where she did her shopping. … Thrift stores! My oldest loves to wear ties, and we have recently added a sports coat for both boys, now that we know where to look!
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We dress up for church for the same reason you do. I also had a friend comment once that so many people nowadays grow up never having had to “dress” for anything. Everything is casual, come as you are, etc. Many young adults get their first “real” job or have to go to a funeral and it’s a huge chore to dress appropriately because they have no practice. If nothing else, my children won’t think it’s a huge imposition to put on a tie or a pair of stockings when they’re in their 20s.
Also, I love, love, LOVE your post about the kids’ clothes! I read it first when you linked at the QF-Digest and we took it to heart at the beginning of warm weather. I really desperately need to do it again now that cool weather has descended. I’m afraid the drawers are a little crowded with some of each type because our fall weather is so wonky in NE Alabama. Thank you so much for sharing your learning!
Abba12- we have zipper ties for our boys and they LOVE them! My oldest was born loving to get dressed up. He would wear a suit to the grocery if he had one and we would let him
The zipper ties are great because they look like a real tie but there’s no tying involved. I wish they made them in man sizes because my husband hates to tie one (he doesn’t mind wearing one though) and he’d love to be able to throw it over his head and zip it up 
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Raising Olives Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:45 pm
I know what you mean, I get cranky when the children have too many clothes, much happier when rooms and drawers are tidy.
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I love reading your blog you encourage me every time. Your family is beautiful! My 3 year old daughter (the youngest of 7) just looked at your family picture and asked me “Mom is that us?” LOL
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Raising Olives Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:49 pm
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Your children are lovely.
I gave you an award on my blog. http://everypreciousjoy.blogspot.com/2009/11/mom-with-mission-blog-award.html
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Raising Olives Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Thank you Jessica!
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You have beautiful children! I love to see pictures of larger families.
We rarely get clothes handed down to us. However this past summer, when my husband and I were discussing how Mater Boy needed clothing badly, a woman emailed us that night and asked if we could use some boys’ clothing! God provides! We ended up getting enough summer and winter clothing for our son for the next two years!
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Raising Olives Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:49 pm
I love to hear how God provides for His people.
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What a beautiful. God Bless hand me downs!!! They are wonderful. Aren’t they??
XoxoGapGirl
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You do have a beautiful family!! Love the clothes and don’t you just LOVE hand me downs.
http://theballardsblog.blogspot.com/
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I love hand me downs.
Your children are sweet.
One thing I do with my children is to have 2 types of clothing: play clothes and dressy ones. The play clothes are worn until they no longer fit, the season changes or they are worn out. The dressy ones (our church clothes) are a limit number of usually 2 sets.
I apply the same concept to my wardrobe. I see no reason to have on a different outfit every Sunday.
And since I stay home there is no need for fancy clothes either. So I usually play around saying I have uniforms. 
Saves on time too, thinking on what am I going to wear?
My husband is the only one that gets NEW store bought clothes because he works outside the home. I am always looking for the best buy for my dollar, though.
I think there are other important things to spend our money on that many different outfits for each one of us.
anyway, my $0.02.
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Raising Olives Reply:
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:54 pm
We purchase nearly all of our clothing used. I’m able to have some very nice outfits for just a few dollars.
I’m also able to find shirts and sweaters for my husband, but we usually purchase pants at the store as needed.
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If there were no hand me downs, my children and I would have nothing to wear! Practically all of our clothing is used (handed down directly, thrift, or yard sale), but I’m very picky as I don’t like the kids to look like their clothes have had several previous owners.
It’s neat though, when some things last a long time, and we see clothes that were handed down to us on someone in another family that we handed down to!
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My son loves to wear ties because his Dad does. Amazing how the example makes life so easy!
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Kimberly @ Raising Olives Reply:
December 23rd, 2009 at 6:24 am
You are absolutely right. Now if only it was easy to always BE a good example!
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