Made Me Glad!

The first time I hear "Made Me Glad" was about 4 months after Darrell died.  Once we got to the first chorus I spent the rest on the song weeping.  That was my heart's cry at the time.  I had spent so much time praying those words.  I was so overwhelmed to hear them in such a beautiful song. "You are my shield, my strength, my portion, deliverer, my shelter, strong tower, my very present help in time of need." I kinda felt sorry for the worship pastor, because he saw me crying so hard and thought it was too much for me, so he ended the song earlier than he had planned.  :-)

Several months later, right before Stephen and I married, and before I moved from Oklahoma to Texas, I was at what was to become my new church home visiting and we sang that song.  I had come so far in my healing and grieving that it became a beautiful praise song and again I wept.  But this time for JOY!!  God had answered my prayers.  He had been all of those things and more to me and my kids.

So every time I sing that song I am reminded of God's faithfulness to His children and how He continues to be my shield and strength, my portion and deliverer, my shelter, strong tower and my very present help!

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for never changing.  Thank you that we can look back at the good times and the bad times and know that you saw us through them.  And thank you that we can use that to look at the present and the future to know that you will always be with us!

He has made me Glad!

Psalm 73:25  Whom have I in heaven but you? 
               And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 
                       ²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail, 
               but God is the strength of my heart 
               and my portion forever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=ytE8um04l24

Happy Mother's Day

According to Matthew, it's not just Mother's Day.  It's Happy Mother 's Day!!  And he'll get on to you if you don't say it the right way!

We have had a wonderful day.  The kids didn't like my idea for lunch (Leftovers.  I wasn't going to cook!) So they planned a wonderful picnic and Stephen took them shopping last night for all the picnic supplies we didn't have on hand.  We let the kids play at the park for a while and decided that this is something we should do more often on Sundays.  It was SO relaxing!!

I'm so grateful for All of my moms!  God has blessed me with wonderful examples!  Peggy (Stephen's mom) is such a calm, steady, easy-going person.  Edeana (Darrell's mom) has shown such perseverance through many trials.  Charlene (my step-mom) is so wonderful to take such great care of Dad and to love all of us kids as her own.  Betty (Mom).  She had all of those qualities.  I would definitely say she was a Proverbs 31 woman.

(There's supposed to be a lovely picture of me and my mom inserted here, but my computer is not cooperating!  Check facebook for the pic!)

I will never forget my first Mother's Day without her.  I was 21.  She died on April 21st, so Mother's Day came pretty fast.  We had just left our church in San Diego so that Darrell could continue his education at Criswell in Dallas.  We hadn't moved yet and were without a church home.  We went to Shadow Mountain Community Church with Darrell's parents in El Cajon, CA for Mother's Day.  I remember getting a pretty book about mothers.  And I remember it was a Mother's Day message.  But the thing I remember most is that I quietly cried the entire service.  From the moment I sat down till the moment we left.  I didn't sob or bawl.  I just had tears constantly streaming down my face.  (Kinda like now.....)

I remember having a couple of really wonderful friends who helped me a lot during that time (and after Darrell died, too).  Jenny.  MY Jenny.  (Not Me!!  My friend!)  She exhibited such kindness and strength that I could depend on.  Those are traits that she's passing on to her precious children.  Juanita.  She was already a mother when Mom died and seemed to know that sometimes, you just need someone to be there.  You don't need them to say anything.  Just being with you is enough.  She's got a couple of boys that are in high school now and appear to be loving and caring young men and an enthusiastic young lady.  Well grounded in their faith.

So.  All of that to say....Happy Mother's Day.  To ALL of my Moms and to my friends who are moms and raising their children according to God's word.  You are an encouragement to me and I love you all!!!

Taco Corn Fritters

Yummy!!  These were so easy to make and since I doubled the recipe we have plenty in the freezer for another lunch and probably a few to snack on.  Some of us ate them with a little salsa and some had them plain.  I served fruit with them and it was a very filling lunch.  We'll definitely make these again!  I got the   recipe from Laura over at Heavenly Homemakers.  I love her site!

And tonight was Family Game Night.  We played Disney's Scene It.  (I won!  Yea!!)  And I fixed a "snack-y" kind of dinner.  Finger foods.  We had French Bread pizza, homemade tortilla chips with salsa and brownie bites.  I had planned a couple of other things, but ran out of time and really...we didn't need anything else.   Check out our brownie bites.  They were easy, fun and the kids enjoyed them!

Mmmmm!!!  You know the best thing about  brownie bites??  Every single one is like a corner piece!

Planning, Planning and Schedules

Ah!!  It's so nice to be pain free!  Well, at least back to my usual.  :-)  My arm is SO much better!  It still feels kinda funny every once in a while, but it never really hurts anymore.  I don't know how much I'll be posting now that I'm back at the computer more, but I'll try to be at least regular and frequent with my posts.

My planning for Easter was not the best.  Of course the kids don't have to have new clothes, but there sure are a lot of good sales around Easter!   However, I should have made those purchases sometime other than the Friday and Saturday before Easter.

So with that fresh on my brain, I was thinking through what's on the calendar for the next few months and realized that I need to start planning now what my family will eat while Katie and I are gone with Voice Of Praise this summer.  Saturday to Saturday!!  That's a lot of meals to have ready ahead of time!  I need to have snacks ready, too.  So, I made myself a note to start planning those meals and I can start cooking some of those things and putting them in my freezer.

And I am so ready to start thinking about next school year's schedule!  We'll be starting in July this year, so I'll be doing a lot of prep in June.  We've stuck with the same basic schedule for about 6 years now and it's definitely time for a change.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how it all works out.

Life is so much easier when I plan and schedule.  One of the biggest pluses of planning and scheduling???  I can stay caught up on laundry!!

Snack Rut

We are in a snack rut!!  The kids like toast with peanut butter, graham crackers, Annie's cheddar bunnies,  pretzels, hummus and crackers.  But I just feel like it's not really doing it job of getting them from lunch to dinner.  We have lunch at noon and often dinner isn't until 6:30.  That's  a long time for ME to go, let alone growing/active kids!  I've been trying to have more fruit around and that's been helpful.  But I'd still like some other ideas.

So.  What's your favorite, go-to, fill 'em-up snack??

Salsa Chicken

With my arm needing lots of rest right now, dinners have been a little different.  We've eat out a couple of times (one time was date night, so the kids fixed mini pizzas) and last night was a very simple salad.  Well, tonight I needed to fix something other than what was on the menu.  So we had Salsa Chicken!  And it was  a hit!

I knew I had some chicken in the fridge that needed to be used and I knew there were some black beans that were meant for Monday's dinner, but didn't get used since went we out.  So I quickly looked at what all I had on hand.

I simply put a little salsa and cheese on top of the chicken and baked it.  While that was baking I fixed some black beans and corn.  I wanted it to have a little more flavor so I diced up half of red bell pepper and a couple of cloves of garlic.  I would definitely use the whole pepper next time and a ton more garlic.  We love garlic!  A little salt and pepper to taste.  Stephen thought it was especially nice on top of the salad.  The salad was left over from last night.

Super simple dinner.  Easy on my arm, especially with a couple of helpers!

My Mom

It was such a little thing.  I meant to take a picture, but forgot.  Back many years ago, Mary Kay sold a line of nail color and other manicure items.  My mom had a little pink nail brush.  Being the only girl, after she died, I got all of those things.  Well, that little brush broke this past week.  Made me kinda sad.  No tears, just "Oh!  That was Mom's."  


Later in the day, Katie was talking to Sarabeth and, for just a moment, I heard my mom's voice.  It was really amazing how in that one brief moment she sounded like Mom.  

I thank God for all of the wonderful memories I have of Mom.  She was wonderful

Sometimes You Just Have To Go Out To Eat

For years I've had massive knots in my neck and shoulders and it finally got bad enough for me to do something about it.  I've been going to the chiropractor and also I'm having a deep tissue massage once a week.  Things are going really well and I can turn my head further than I've been able to in a while.  We've also discovered that I have a lot of issues with my right rotator cuff.

Enter the super windy day.

Everything was going really well on Sunday and then we started to leave church.  I pushed on the door with my right arm and paused for just a moment to think "Maybe you should use your Left arm. Naaaa.....it'll be okay."  Well, it wasn't.  With the wind pushing on the door and my not-so-good arm, it was just too much.  I strained the deltoid muscle and a tendon.  By the time I got home it was hurting pretty bad.  I iced it and took a bath with epsom salts.  It only got worse.  By the time I went to bed, I couldn't move my arm from my side.

Seriously.  And it seems so silly.  I pulled a muscle opening a door!  Good grief!  But truly, I was in a world of pain!

My chiropractor worked a lot on my arm today and it's definitely better.  I still can't reach across in front.  But it's better.

Monday night is Katie's night to cook.  Sometimes she fixes something by herself and sometimes I help her learn a new skill.  We had planned on learning something new tonight.  However, she was up all night with an upset stomach.

So between her being exhausted and my bum arm, we went out for dinner tonight.  It was just one of those nights.  We rarely go out during the week.  But I'm so thankful we did tonight!  And the restaurant had extra cheesecake that they needed to get rid of and asked us if we would like to have some.  YUM!!

Now I'm back home icing my arm again.  And watching the Rangers!

Next Week

It's been a crazy couple of days!!  Most of which is a too private to share on a blog.  (How's that for piquing your interest??)  Let's just say that God is Good.  ALL the time!!  Even when we think all is lost, when we turn to God.....Wow!  He's Always there!  He will Always carry us through our trials when we ask Him!

Even in all of the craziness, I've been thinking about several different blog posts.  So this week be looking for one about my mom, one about scheduling, one about curriculum choices and (everyone's favorite!) housework.  I know you are just sitting on the edge of your seat in anticipation!!

I know.

I can't wait either!

15 Minute Meals

Wednesdays are usually kinda crazy around here.  Between teaching the kids, going to church to get music ready for rehearsal and Sunday, last minute practicing, and getting everyone to church by 6....well, it doesn't leave much time for cooking dinner.

We do have a meal at church, but right now we eat at home so that Stephen can eat dinner with us.  He usually works from home onWednesdays and, since dinner is so early, he has to finish work after dinner before he heads up to church.  So I'm always on the look-out for super easy, super quick meals.

Tonight, I fixed one of our favorites!  Beef and bean burritos.  Remember those beans I cooked earlier this week?  Well, I used some of them tonight.  So I cooked my meat, added the taco seasoning and the beans and let that hang out and simmer while I got everything else ready.  I shredded a little cheese, got the salsa and chips out, heated up the tortillas and put the pineapple on the table.  (I cut that up earlier today while I was giving Sarabeth spelling words.)  By the time I had everything else on the table, the meat and beans were all nice and yummy!

Quick dinner = quick clean up!!  That's also much needed on Wednesdays!

And we we have plenty of meat and beans left for nachos on Sunday night.  If I had more tortillas (or was inclined to make my own .....I've found a great recipe!) I would probably make some burritos to put in the freezer.  But not this week.

So what is your favorite 15 Minute Meal?

Random Thoughts

This was kind of a random sort of day, so here's my random thoughts!

Artisan bread - Take 2.  I'll need a Take 3 because I heard, "Mommy.  The bread sure is squishy!!"  Matthew had placed a lovely handprint in my beautifully rising bread!  Not a total loss like the other day, but, well, it wasn't as fluffy as it should have been.

Cooking day canceled - Tuesday is usually cooking day, but we had a couple of appointments this morning and I just said "Forget it!"  I just wasn't worth trying to get that done in and around school today.

Playing Go fish with Matthew - After lunch, while we were talking before taking care of our dishes, Matthew decided that he wanted to show us a card trick.  "Pick a card, any card, Mommy!"  Okay.  Again.  And again.  And again.  Until we all had 7 cards.  "Let's play Go Fish!!"  So we had an impromptu game of Go Fish.  Fun times!

MY SONLIGHT CATALOG CAME TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yes.  I sang.  Yes.  I threatened to lock myself in my room and not fix dinner.  Yes.  I've already looked at every page.  Yes.  I'm obsessed.

Tangled - Our new favorite movie was released today on DVD, so while Stephen was out having lunch with a friend from work, he very kindly stopped by the store and picked up a copy for us.  And the kids got to stay up late (on a School Night!!) to watch this wonderful movie about a girl with long hair and a frying pan.

Oh.  Talk about weird, random things!  I started running today!!  What??  Yeah.  I completed day 1 of Couch to 5K.  SO bizarre!  I'll keep you posted on that one.

And finally randomness for the day......Matthew is wearing two sets of jammies to bed.

Ham

Okay, so here's the deal.  I'm not really all that creative.  So you're gonna get titles like "Ham".  How original is that??  It just kinda stinks.  But that's the title.  So there it is.

I've had a lot of people ask me about how we homeschool and about cooking, so this is what most of my posts will be about.  If we have anything as exciting as the Beans, Rice and Tap Water I'll blog about that too.

So here we go.  Oh.  And I'm really a pretty private person, so putting this out there for everyone to see is kinda different for me.  So we'll see how this goes.  Anyway....

I bought a huge ham this week and decided to use it for three or four meals.  Tonight I just sliced several slices for Katie to heat up on the griddle to go with the rest of our meal.  And a big THANKS to our youth minister for pointing me in the direction of these fabulous potatoes.  Oh wow!

While Katie was finishing dinner, I diced up the rest of the ham.  I'll use half for a chef salad on Thursday and the other half for a Ham and Scalloped potato recipe next week.  The leftovers from tonight will be made into yummy grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for tomorrow's lunch.

That's how I do a lot of our cooking.  I'll cook once and get several meals off of it.  Or in this case.  Just buy one large item and get it prepared for several meals all at once.  I try to put something in the freezer several times a week.

Now I'm off to put some black beans in the crock pot to cook over night.  Yep.  More beans!  Half of these will be for burritos and half will be made into a black bean/corn relish kinda thing for next week.

Thanks for reading!  Let me know if there's anything in particular that you want me to blog about in regards to homeschooling or cooking.  Or anything else!



Professional photographer I am not!!

MmmMmmMmm!!

Yes.  I did learn to be more thankful this week.  For my food and the variety of it.  And for special treats.

I was supposed to have gone to a music conference today, but felt I needed some time with my family.  Yes.  I know.  We homeschool and therefore spent outrageous amounts of time together.  But that's different.  We needed time to do yard work as a family.  We needed time to take the kids to the park and go clothes shopping.  We needed time at the grocery store getting more yummy food for this week.  We needed time to watch a movie together.  And I needed to see the kids so thoroughly enjoying their food today!!

We've sure had some great discussions this week.  No one ever complained, but we did share our thoughts with each other.  And one thought was that we need to do this again.

No.  Really.  We do.

Well, maybe not the beans and rice.  But we need to have a week where we focus on giving to others.  So we decided that every six months or so we will have a week were we eat out of the pantry and freezer.  I'll probably buy a few fresh ingredients at the store.  But we'll definitely have a reduced grocery bill so that we can give the rest.  Or use it to go buy food to take to CCA (Christian Community Action).

The kids are excited about taking our offering to church in the morning.

Thanks so much for joining us on this Journey this week.  It's definitely an experience I won't ever forgot!

Oh.  And the Grilled Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Panini was absolutely THE best thing I have eaten in a long time!!

Day 5 - Crazy Day

Well, here we are.  The last day!  Wow!!  I think my gang did great with eating the beans and rice this week, but more importantly we've all gained a greater awareness about the issue of world hunger.  And we've really had some sweet times praying together.

It's been really neat to see what countries the kids choose to pray for.  Tonight we prayed for Thailand.  Sarabeth had learned a lot about Thailand through GA's (Girls in Action) and shared some of that with us this morning, so that we could better know how to pray for them.

Of course this morning was cinnamon rice and Rice Krispies.  Sarabeth is going to miss have cinnamon rice every morning.  It's one of her favorite foods and she asks for it frequently.  I don't make it for her often enough, though.

For lunch I made rice and then we polished off what beans were left in the fridge.  

Early afternoon I got a pot of beans going with a hambone that I've had in the freezer since Thanksgiving.  We were going to have 15 bean soup tonight.  (Talk about variety!)  And I recently found a great recipe for a very easy Artisan Bread.  I thought that sounded great for tomorrow night's Grilled Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Panini.  So I got started on that.

I got an email regarding a house showing tomorrow.  Great!  I just made a few changes to tomorrow's schedule, checked tomorrow's menu and made a mental list of a few things that needed to be tidied up.  Then I got a phone call.  A call saying that the agent we had been trying to work a deal with wanted to show the house in 25 minutes!  Matthew was down for a nap, I had flour all over the counter, the kids' sheets were in the dryer.  Well...we somehow managed to get out of the house in 20 minutes!  It was super crazy!!

We headed to Sprout's to do some grocery shopping and came home at the end of the hour.  They had requested an hour for the showing.  I pulled around in front of the house right behind two cars that were pulling up to our house.  Hmmm....maybe they are just now showing up.  I'll drive around the block.  Oh goodness!  They are just now showing up!  So we ended up going to the church parking lot for a few minutes and took that opportunity to pray regarding the house situation.  Then we drove back.  They were still there.  We drove over one street and parked where we could see them leave.  They were there for 45 minutes!

Now, don't get me wrong! I'm glad that they spent so much time looking at the house and talking about it, but it was much later than I had expected!  I had hungry kids!  I had groceries that needed to put in the fridge!  I had beans on the stove and bread rising on the counter!!!

Well, finally they left and we went home.  The bread had spread all over the counter (it's not a loaf pan kind of bread) and the beans had sort of disappeared.  It was like they dissolved!  So.....Chipotle to the rescue for dinner!  We went there for beans and rice, saw some friends, had a good time.

We're very ready for "normal" food tomorrow!

Oh....one more thing about this crazy day.  Stephen had to unexpectedly go into the office just before lunch.  On his way, the guy in front of him swerved.  Well.  Stephen couldn't swerve in time to miss the chair sitting on the freeway.  So he has some bumper damage and is missing a light on his car.  :-(  We're all very glad that he is okay, but kinda sad for the car.  At least it can be fixed.

Crazy days happen and I'm so glad the Lord sees us through them!!

Day 4 - Self Control

I'm so ready for dinner tonight.  It was very hard getting a snack for Matthew earlier.  He wanted a nice, juicy orange!  Oh!!  It smelled SO good!  I thought, "Just one bite.  It's not that big a deal.  I've been following the diet faithfully.  The money in our Texas-shaped offering box is growing...."  And then it hit me.  It's not about me.  How many time have we heard that?  But how many times do we need the reminder?  Yet....maybe it is about me.  At least a little.  This time.

Certainly I've learned more about the hungry people of the world.  I've learned to be more thankful.  I've learned that we probably should eat more beans and rice in order to lower our grocery bill.  I've learned that I have more self-control than I ever thought.  *Gasp*  Did I just say that I have self-control?  While talking about food?  Wow!

I admit it.  I've struggled.  And not just with food.  There are other areas of my life where self-control is an issue.  And isn't it really more about being God-controlled?  Oh.  Yeah.  It really isn't about me.  It ALL about God!!

Thank you, Lord, for reminding me today that self-control is a fruit of the spirit.

Breakfast was cinnamon rice/Rice Krispies.
Lunch  was leftovers.  All we've had a little bit leftover from a couple of meals.  I just fixed the rice to go with it.
Dinner - rice and pinto beans.

We'll be praying for the people of Libya tonight and reading Psalm 146:5-7.  Matthew will give a penny for every ounce of water he drank today.

Tomorrow is the last day.  And yes.  We are making plans for what we are going to eat on Saturday.  I'm thinking that Chick-Fil-A is going to be involved!






***Just to clarify about being God-Controlled.  I do fully believe that God has given us free will and that I choose to follow.  He doesn't control my every action.  He's not like that.  But when I turned my life over to God, I let Him become the Leader.  Not me.  

Day 3 - Prayer and Chocolate

I don't even know how to begin to pray for the people who live on less than $2.00 a day.  Which is about half of the earth's population.  I'm so overwhelmed by the fact that there are children that live near me, not just those on the other side of the world, but very close by, that the only meal they get is what they eat at school.  Lord, help me to know how to help them.

Today we focused on Matthew 25:34-40 which talks about "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for me." (HCSB)  And we prayed for Haiti.  Matthew put in two quarters for the two grocery stores we went to last week.

For breakfast some of us had cinnamon rice and some had Rice Krispies (without milk).  For lunch, I let the kids vote.  They wanted Red Beans and Rice.  And dinner.  We had that at church.  Beans and rice for the grown-ups and hot dogs for the kids.  And even though Sarabeth and Jonathan had hot dogs, they happily ate some beans and rice with us.

  

Now.  About chocolate.  See, on Wednesday nights....well, we eat dinner about an hour and a half earlier than most other nights.  And I'm usually a little snacky after playing for choir rehearsal.  So after we get the kids in bed, I usually have a glass of chocolate milk, or maybe a small bowl of chocolately ice cream.  Sometimes I'll have some trail mix (with M&M's).  See a pattern??  I usually have a little chocolate on Wednesday nights.  And I'm really having a hard time with that tonight, so I think I'll just hurry up and go to bed!

Day 2 - Thankful

http://www.fbclewisville.org/beans-rice-tap-water

Well, our morning started with cinnamon rice again.  I really wasn't terribly creative with breakfast.

Lunch was supposed to be leftovers.  But we've actually eaten everything I have cooked, so I fixed more Mexican Beans and Rice.

Dinner was a very yummy "splurge"!  I added a couple of small cans of tomato sauce, 1/2 cup of salsa and a small amount of corn to our black beans and rice.  Very yummy.  Really made me miss meat!  I know it wasn't just beans and rice, but I do have kiddos that were pretty hungry!  They've been great about participating with us!!

Now, about not being creative.  I was really struck today by the thought that we talk about "breakfast foods", "lunch foods" and "dinner foods".  I was reading today about how so many in Haiti get one meal a day.  ONE.  And it's beans and rice.  It's not breakfast, lunch or dinner.  It's food.  It's their ONE meal.

I was already thinking about how thankful I am for the variety of food that we have so readily available to us.  Thankful for a clean kitchen and dishes.  For clean water.  Even when we were at our poorest, I ate three meals a day.  Maybe not what I wanted, but it was food.  But thinking about Haiti.  Thinking about people being thankful for one meal a day regardless of what it's called or what time of day it is just really helped to put some things into perspective.  I don't feel like I've ever been a terribly greedy or selfish person.  But it's very humbling.

Tonight we prayed for the people of India.  We've actually collected money for the Rice Bag Project with Mission India a few years ago and learned a lot about the people of India at that time. http://www.missionindia.org/  We read Isaiah 58:7 and for Matthew, counted up how many cooking appliances we have.  He got to put four pennies for each one in his offering box.

We are looking forward to eating rice and beans with our church family tomorrow night!

Day 1 - Lessons Learned

Well, we learned a lot today.  We learned that I need to cook more rice.  We learned that only eating beans and rice makes for an easy cleanup.  And we learned that only eating beans and rice produces very little trash.  I think we should do this more often....with a little meat thrown in!

For breakfast we had cinnamon rice.  Everyone added a little butter and cinnamon and sugar.  We tried to use as little as possible.  Oh.  And I wasn't very creative with breakfasts.  So we'll be having cinnamon rice every morning.  No Waffle Wednesday!  That will definitely be a sacrifice!

After we got home from the chiropractor, the kids were begging for some rice crispies.  It was kinda funny.  So I let them have a snack.  Plain rice crisipies.

Lunch was a little better.  We had Mexican Beans and Rice.  (Thanks for the idea, Debbie!)  Pinto beans with rice and salsa.  Yummy!  That may become a regular addition to our lunch menu.  Although we are really big on black beans, so we'll probably use those in the future.

Matthew's on a growth spurt, so he pretty much snacked all afternoon.  (We're letting him have other foods because of his age.)

Dinner was delicious!  Katie fixed Red Beans and Rice for us.  Can't believe I've never fixed that before.  We'll definitely have it again.

We ended our dinner by praying for the people of Japan.  Not only have so many become homeless since the earthquake and tsunami, but their food supply has been compromised.  Matthew also put a dime for every egg we have in the refrigerator into his bank.  He'll take that to church on Sunday.

All in all, a very yummy day!

Beans, Rice and Tap Water

I love beans.  I love rice.  I drink a lot of water.  This week, that's all my family is eating.  

Our church is having a world hunger emphasis this week and they are encouraging us to have only beans, rice and tap water.  We'll be donating the money that we saved on our groceries.  And we'll be praying for different countries. 

So much of the world lives on less than $2 a day.  Wow!  Aren't we blessed?  It's really lead to some great conversations with the kids as we've been planning for this week.  (They actually wanted to do 7 days instead of 5!!)  They helped plan the menu and are excited about it.  I'm looking forward to some great moments this week as we focus on certain passages from the Bible and pray together.

I was just sharing with my brother and sister-in-law the other day about a time shortly after Darrell and I were married.  We had to get a few items from the church's food pantry.  Like some mushrooms in a jar....that were a bazillion years old.  (We didn't eat them!)  Since then, I've been very careful about the foods I donate.  I really try to make sure that they are things people can use and will eat.  And it made me realize that you never know who, in your own community, may be going without a meal tonight.  

Having helped in a soup kitchen a couple of times, it reinforced that thought in my mind.  You see so many different kinds of people come through the line.  People that look like they have lived on the streets for years and people that look like they are business executives on their way to a meeting.  You just don't always know their story.  And you don't need to.  But you do need to pray for them and do what you can to help them. 

I'm so very blessed to have never missed a meal because of not having money for groceries.  We came pretty close a few times.  I'm so very blessed to have a family that is excited about this week.  I'll try to share with you every day what we've had to eat.  I will be adding a few ingredients.  But I'm really trying to keep things pretty simple.

Maybe you can't join us in eating beans and rice this week, but surely there is something that you can do.  Donate some food to a local food pantry.  Cut out sodas or coffee this week and give your savings to a local, state or worldwide charity.  

Now, I think I'll have one last glass of chocolate milk before I go to bed!