Hearts in Service

Today was day #6 of the food challenge.  I'm happy that I made it through the week.  Dan gets paid tomorrow, but I'm going to keep going another day or two until we have time to go grocery shopping.  Dan did an airport run yesterday and got a few dollars so we did pick up milk, half and half, sugar and some lettuce.  Other than those few things, my goal was to make do and we did! Everyone fended for themselves for breakfast & lunch. Dinner was fresh tomato and basil pasta sauce over whole wheat pasta. Homemade Italian Bread and salad. This week was good because the meals were filling and no one felt deprived.  The only thing we were missing was fresh fruit and the veggies were limited because my garden stunk this year! lol  So I'd say it was a success!

Today was a pretty bland day in the food department.  We had granola for breakfast and leftovers for lunch. For dinner, I took some of the leftover pork from last night, cut it into chunks and then made chili with iti.  I actually think it was some of the best chili I ever made. I'm not sure yet what I'll do for tomorrow, but I'll figure it out!

Today is day #4 of my food challenge to use it up, make do and do without until Dan gets paid.  I do see one of the benefits of purchasing meat and other items when they are on sale because we've had pretty good meals because my freezer had stuff in it!  Months ago I had purchased a huge slab of pork loin when it was on sale for $1.99 per lb. and cut it into 5 different pieces.  We used up the last of it tonight. Breakfast - cereal.  I definitely need to step it up here but we are all on such different schedules and I never eat a big breakfast and therefore, dislike making it! However, I'm running out of cereal so I may not have a choice soon. Lunch - leftovers Dinner - was AWESOME! lol Butternut squash soup. Garlic & thyme pork loin Roasted potatoes & carrots. Homemade biscuits. So far, so good.  I'm actually enjoying this!  It certainly helps to post it here because it keeps me going.

Today's food challenge went fairly well.  I have tons of eggs as we get some almost every week from a couple in our church.  So I boiled a dozen of them today for lunch. Breakfast - Homemade granola Lunch - Egg salad on homemade oatmeal bread, carrot sticks and pretzels. Dinner - Italian sausage soup with the rest of the loaf of bread. I had cookie dough in the freezer so I pulled that out this afternoon and made chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I forgot to mention last night's dessert.  I had about 2 cups of black raspberry ice cream in the freezer so I threw some ice cubes, ice cream, milk and a couple of globs of raspberry sauce in the blender and made milk shakes. So far so good!

Can someone be joyful in the midst of difficult circumstances?  Is it possible?   Does joy bubble up out of you? Do you find yourself looking at your glass as half empty or half full? Can you find the positive in almost any circumstance or do you tend to dwell on the negative? When life hands you lemons, how can you make lemonade? The best definition of joy I've ever heard was "joy is the settled knowledge that God is in control of all things". There is no doubt in your mind. You know that the Lord has things under control and it's up to Him to make a way. I like to believe I'm joyful, but if the truth were to be told, more often than not I act like God doesn't exist when it comes to difficult circumstances. I pray and tell the Lord that I'm turning something over to Him, but I keep taking it back and dusting it off and turning it over and over in my mind.   God is not one to pry my fingers off the thing I'm worried about.  He won...

Today was the second day of my self-imposed food challenge.  Breakfast & lunch were unimpressive.  Cereal for breakfast and leftover pizza for lunch. Dinner was delicious.  I had set aside 3 chicken breasts from the family pack I had used for dinner last night to use today. We had a Middle Eastern dinner. Chicken, peppers & onions flavored with Turkish seasoning and wrapped in homemade naan, tabbouleh, a salad of cucumbers, tomatoes & onions with balsamic vinegar and jarred pears from a friend's tree. Yummy!

I started off my first full day of the food challenge pretty well.  I can already see that I'm going to be spending a lot of time in the kitchen trying to be creative.  The other issue is that everyone is home this week!  Dan finished up his summer program and has a week off (no pay, of course) before he starts the fall program at his agency.  So I have to work hard to come up with three meals a day. Breakfast - Cereal or homemade granola. Lunch - Homemade pizza.  Choice of ricotta with roasted garlic, tomatoes & basil or red bell pepper & mushroom. Dinner - Basil chicken in coconut-curry sauce, rice, homemade biscuits, creamed butternut squash.  Dinner was awesome! I'll keep you posted.

You know the start of the Bible verse, "Man does not live on bread alone...?" Well, in this case, we may have to this week! LOL!!!  One of the problems, or maybe it's a blessing, of living without credit cards is when you come to the end of your money, it's really the end!  Between the church and Dan's extra job we have enough to pay our bills (which are a few), purchase gas & eat.   There isn't extra for vacations, clothing, car repairs, a new vacuum (which broke), etc.   If we do anything out of the ordinary, like the recent trip to the aquarium, it cuts into the food budget. One glitch we ran up against is that both boys have their licenses but that raised our car insurance an extra $250 per month which we do not have.  Until they have jobs, they are unable to contribute to this.  Dan gets paid next Friday and after filling up the cars we have absolutely zero, zilch, nada to live on for the next week.  Anyone else notici...

I had one of those moments this morning when I thought that I really didn't want to post this because it's going to make me sound like a total flake!  But then I thought, "It's a woman's prerogative to change her mind!"  Right? Well, I'm not sure about that but I am having a change of mind about something in my life. A few weeks ago I had posted that I was not going to do the market anymore because I felt like I wasn't really engaging at church when I had to scoot out early to go twice a month.  However, the day of the market came and went and I felt down.  I also received an email from a fellow vendor saying that she wished I would reconsider. Dan & I moved to this area ten years ago as church planters.  We immediately got active in the community by tutoring and subbing in the school system, joining various organizations and heading up many outreach activities through our church.  Then we merged our church plant with an established church ...

I almost skipped this today because I'm busy and tired and feel like I'm not functioning well.  But how can you skip counting blessings that come from the hand of God?   Counting my blessings keeps me humble and thankful and joyful.  Counting keeps my perspective focused on where it should be.  Not on the bad, the complaints, the negative. But on the positive.  The hopeful.  The Lord! So today, I'm continuing the counting. This week I'm thankful for blessings #1,141-1150. ♥ Hidden treasures in the woods.   ♥ Hiking with my daughter.     ♥ A son starting college in a week. ♥ Friends through thick & thin. ♥ Stephen passing his road test on the first try. ♥ A much needed day off for my husband. ♥ Simple pleasures. ♥ Seeing a bit of God's creation. ♥ Enjoying the sights, sounds & smells of New York City.   ♥ A beautiful end to a perfect day.

This is how I've kind of felt all summer!  Tired and feeling like I'm not accomplishing much of anything.  I've had a garden that was a flop. I made 30 jars of jam - most of that was with fruit I picked last year 16 jars of pickles - cucumbers did pretty good 3 1/2 quarts of tomato sauce - pitiful I haven't touched any sewing in about 2 weeks because I just haven't been inspired to sew. After I did Emily's room, that was the end of the major projects.  Oh, I have other things that I could do but am having a hard time finding time or energy. Over the past month, I have done the following: ► Driven Emily 2-3 times a week to work on the farm.  I drop her off and then go back for her. ► Driven Nathan to about 10 appointments & interviews - sadly, no job offers.  He's feeling depressed and I don't feel much better about it either. ► Took 1 day and went to the zoo with Dan, Emily & her friends. ► Went for a hike on the Appalachia...

Remember the game we played as children, "Mother, May I?"  Children lined up on one side and had to ask the "mother" on the opposite side of the room if they could take 3 giant steps or 5 baby steps or 1 leap.  The mother than gave them permission or not. I feel like I'm in that game as of the past two months.  Nathan passed his road test on July 2nd and has his driver's license.  Stephen went this morning and passed his as well so they are now both official licensed drivers.  Dan & I did tell them that didn't mean we were just turning the keys over to them.  They had to prove that they were responsible with the car.  After these few pictures, I'm not so sure.  Stephen, put your feet on the floor, hands on the steering wheel and shut off the phone! No reading while driving. No Nathan, you can't drive for your brother while he talks on the phone. No changing positions while driving! Nah, they are very responsible.  ;-)...

Our church hosted a community outreach event this past Saturday called, Summerfest 2012.  It was a good reminder to me of what I love about our church.  We are a small congregation.  If everyone would come at the same time, which they never do, we would be about 65.  The majority of our people are over the age of 45, and yet, we do have a good number of very young children and teens.  Nothing different than most normal small churches. Except for the fact that we embrace our children and teens.  We include them in the service.  They know that they have a role to play in our church.  They aren't pushed to the background or told that they have to stay in the nursery or children's church.  They are welcome.  They often participate as part of our morning service. That does mean that things aren't always as polished as some would like.  There are mistakes.  The service can be a bit noisy.  Children don't always follow our agen...

This was the first year that I ever grew potatoes and after looking at a few books, and talking to people I decided to go ahead and give it a try.  They looked pretty easy and everything went well.  The tubers sprouted and grew into lush looking plants.  Because I grew them in buckets, the woodchuck we have living here left them alone.  I was told that when the tops die off it is time to dig them up. Because I grew them in buckets, all I had to do is dump them out and pull out the potatoes. I had 3 very large 25 gallon buckets.  And wow!  What a bumper crop!  I had to share the picture and let me apologize for the blurriness of it.. Wait for it....... Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I actually burst out laughing when I saw it! Bumper crop?  NOT!    My whole garden started out looking really good but has gone the way of these potatoes. To sum up... 1. Huge beaut...

I haven't had blueberry buckle in quite a few years so I decided to make it the other day.  It was as delicious as I remember.  I decided to share the recipe here. Blueberry Buckle 4 tablespoons butter, softened 2/3 cup sugar 2 eggs 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup 2% milk 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries   TOPPING: 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 4 tablespoons sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 4 tablespoons cold butter In a small bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Fold in blueberries. Spread into an 9-in. x 13-in. pan coated with cooking spray.  For topping, combine the flour, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over batter.  Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until ...

Last year I worked in a Kindergarten class and whenever we passed out glue or pencils or paper and one of the children would start to complain about what they got, the teacher would say, "You get what you get, and you don't get upset!"  The children got to the point where they would singsong that themselves whenever one of their classmates started fussing.  :-) It's been a running joke in our house as well.  When one of the kids start complaining, I'll say, "You get what you get and you don't get upset!"   I've been discussing this with my son as well.  He's had this running dialogue for the past few months, "I don't want to have a disabilities."  "I want to have a normal life"  When I hear him say this, I get a lump in my throat and my heart feels like it's being squeezed too tight in my chest.  When I can get past the anger in his voice and the sullen expression on his face,  I hear the pain in his voice and ...

I'm happy because I got three major projects done this week.  That's always a good feeling! I finished up a baby blanket for a lady at the market.  It turned out cute but I didn't make it as large as the pattern suggested.  It was a full size afghan so I scaled it down. I made a man's shirt for a gift.  The only thing I still have to do is purchase 1/4" buttons for the collar.  I hate when I think I have something at home and I don't! I also made a table runner and I love how this one turned out!  Close-up of the fabric.  I love when I have a productive week. :-)