Hearts in Service

I went grocery shopping the other day and it was the first time that I went with a list in my hand in quite a while.  I've gotten into the habit of running to the store here or there, whenever we are low on something.  As I walked in with my list in hand and stuck to what was on it, I realized how easy it is to get off track. We have lived on one income and a shoestring budget for almost 30 years and yet, unless you stay diligent, you can slip up!  So I'm back to plugging up those small leaks.  I also realized it's been quite a few weeks since I've done a frugal Friday.  Here are some ways I've saved the past few days: $ Used my list to shop.  It keeps me from impulse buying! $ Made homemade mayonnaise.  I went to get mayonnaise out from the fridge the other day and realized we were out.  I googled homemade mayonnaise and found a very simple recipe.  It took me less than five minutes to make and tasted much better.  I ended up crossing mayonnaise off m

Emily and I returned last night from our ten day missions trip to work with Adventure Learning Centre & Camp in the Bahamas.  As we worked throughout the week, I had some time to reflect.  I wanted to share a few things I was reminded of this past week. It's Not About Me My primary job while I was there was to cook for the groups of Americans that were there to serve on the island.  I would get up at 5:15 and make breakfast and then the groups would take off for the day to serve and I had a lot of down time until they returned later in the afternoon.  I would then prepare dinner for them. One day as I had just finished up breakfast, a cake for dinner, and then was folding some laundry, I had to laugh.  It felt like I was still home.  The thought went through my head that I could have saved my money because I was doing the same things I do at home. But then I remembered that one of my goals was to give Emily a taste of missions.  She worked with the childr

Emily and I are leaving the house at 5 a.m. tomorrow and headed off to Adventure Learning Center in the Bahamas.  We will be there for ten days, serving the people of the Bahamas and sharing the love of Christ.  Whenever I tell people we are going to the Bahamas, I get a smile and a comment, "Suffering for Jesus on the beach?"  However, contrary to popular opinion, we will be working that entire time and only one day spent at the beach. Emily will be working with the children in their summer camp program which runs from 8:30-4:30 each day.  I will be cooking for the various groups that are there serving during that time.  It's a different sort of an adventure, but one that we have been anticipating for a while. As I was thinking about this trip, there are a few things that I would like to see occur. 1.  For Emily to see a broader view of the world outside of her little corner of New York state.  This is the first time she will have ever traveled outside the U

I love fruit!  Often I will combine different fruits and make a big fruit salad.  I will eat some of that for all three meals.  It's refreshing and low calorie.  Fruit is good for you! Which is why I love the verses in Galatians that talks about the fruit of the Spirit.  It's good for you, as well as those around us when we exemplify them. Galatians 5:22-23 (HCSB) ~ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,   gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Unfortunately, the place I seem to struggle with this the most is with my own family.  It's easy to show fruit to those outside my four walls, but I often seem to forget to dish out a serving of fruit at home.  I'm working on showing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control to my husband and children.  The thing about living by the fruit of the Spirit is that the more the fruit flows out of me

Overwhelming circumstances.  Financial disaster.  Illness.  Children who make bad decisions.  A broken relationship.  Lack of employment.  And a host of other problems. We look at these things, get knots in our stomach and wring our hands.  How in the world will it ever work out?  How can we possibly see the light at the end of the tunnel when we are surrounded by darkness?  Where is the hope? Yet, God reminds us of who He really is in these verses. Jeremiah 32:26-27 (NIV) ~ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:  “I am the Lord , the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? I need a reminder from time to time and I'm sure you do too.  The Lord of all the universe can do all things, even change our impossibility into a possibility.  We just have to trust.  We need to walk in His ways.  We need to cling to Him.  We need to step out in faith. When my children were little they sometimes would say, "I can't do it."  "It's too hard.

As we barrel through our days, we often forget to stop and take a look around us.  There is beauty everywhere we go but it often gets missed because we are so busy. On this Sabbath day make sure you... Slow down. Take a deep breath. Look around. Drink in the beauty. Live in the moment. Intentionally look for beauty. Hug a family member. Thank God.

All of my life I've struggled with the following feelings: I'm a misfit.  I don't belong.  I'm different.  I'm not part of the popular crowd.  I'm not good enough. For the most part I've overcome those feelings, but from time to time they rise up inside of me again. I felt that way when I went to college and then on to seminary and many of the students were from families with a long heritage in our denomination.  There seemed to be this club where if you had the right name, you were accepted.  I came from a single parent home, was unknown and to be honest, felt "not good enough." I went on to work for an inner city ministry and those feelings dissipated.  For much of our church ministry they have been silent.   This past week they rose again.  As we spent the week at our district's family camp they were so loud that I could barely think.  As I saw people who have grown up going to this camp get together, the thoughts and fe

I haven't done a Frugal Friday post in a while, and thought I was due.  One of the things I've learned is to appreciate the small things in my life.  Dan & I live simply.  We have a small house.  We can't afford fancy vacations.  We don't have a lot of toys.  But we enjoy our lives. We've learned out to have fun on a shoestring budget.  We've celebrated big events simply ,but with joy.  We've made due with what we have.  And it sets the tone to truly appreciate the small things.  Some frugalness this past week: $ For our anniversary, I packed a picnic dinner and we headed to the lake.  We found a quiet spot off the beaten path.  I brought a folding table, camping chairs, tablecloth, china and stemware and cloth napkins.  We had salad, fresh mozzarella with tomato and basil, shrimp, sour dough bread, olives, and apricots.  I picked up two pastries at a local bakery and we had sparkling water with fresh lemon.  It was perfect!  The bes