Future Executive

Busily at his desk.

Practicing writing memos?

Or love notes to his wife?

Judging from his attire, it was apparently 'casual Friday'.

Just In Case

It was a Thursday and my brother was visiting. He rarely ever visits. Holidays mostly. But he had some things to bring me on behalf of my grandma, so he was spending part of the morning with us. I put our homeschool lessons on hold, just so that we could visit and enjoy each other's company. My brother, like me, has had a rough year. We both were in need of our faith to be strengthened, I just never thought that the strength God would send was coming via the United States Postal Service.

I'm sure this story began several years ago, although I'm not exactly sure when. A young couple out West purchased a supplemental medical insurance policy. You know, just in case. {I don't think we ever plan on using just in case, do we?} Fast forward to this summer and you will find that their firstborn daughter was born too early. At a little over one pound, she spent many days in the NICU. And that just in case insurance policy came into effect. They actually were paid money for every day that their daughter spent in the hospital.

I had followed their journey through the NICU, encouraging them as I could. I don't actually remember who found who, but we stumbled upon each other, nonetheless. I now realize that it was God, writing our stories so that our chapters would overlap. My anonymous friend had wanted to do something with the extra funds they had accumulated from their daughter's hospital stay, she just didn't know who to give it to, until she read my recent post on my family's financial struggles and God spoke to her. She then asked if she could send me something.

Please God, let that something not be money. I mean, receiving graciously when you are in need is one thing. But money from a perfect stranger?

I steeled myself against the thought that maybe my friend would send me $25 or $50. I felt humbled at the mere thought. And then came that Thursday, I opened the package in front of my brother; a journal was inside. Phew. And then, there it was. A check, paper-clipped to the inside of the journal. As I quickly scanned it, I could see that the amount is was written for included a comma. What?! The actual amount really doesn't matter; suffice it say that it was for considerably more than the $25 I was feeling humbled about. I could not contain my shock and had to read the letter she had written out loud to my brother, the rest of the mail on the floor in the middle of my living room.

I am still shaking my head. 

The part that stands out is when she says that she thinks God gave my portion to her, so that she could deliver it to me and that she and her husband were faithful to do as God prompted them. At the end of the note, my brother pumps his fist in the air and declares, "See! God provides!" I'm not sure any eloquent explanation could say it any better than that.

Although I have said it on many occasions, both to myself and to others, that "It all belongs to and comes from Him", I fail to actually believe it sometimes. And so He chooses to use some amazing circumstances to remind me and hopefully, to remind anyone else who reads this. How intricate His plan is. How extraordinary it feels to be a part of His story. How it really does all come from Him.

How many of next month's bills will be paid because of an insurance policy that was purchased years ago, just in case.

Amazed,

Frozen

Remember the old me? The crafty, sewing, baking me? She's still around here somewhere, it's just that she doesn't come out to play as often as she used to. This, though, is one of those times! Let's talk about all the goodies that I've been putting in the freezer....

Firstly, I'd like to say that sometimes cooking in my kitchen is like being on one of those FoodNetwork challenge shows. You know, the ones where the contestants are given some 'mystery basket' full of items and asked to use them in a dish? What with the gifts of various groceries from family and friends or the donations of someone cleaning out their pantry, sometimes the name of the game is trying to use up what I've got, but I think I've been up for the challenge! Lasagna Spirals was one of those recipes. I loved this idea of individually portioned servings of lasagna and it freezes beautifully!

One of my stand-by recipes is Taco Meat . That recipe is nearly similar to the one I use, except that I make my own taco seasoning packet, and really only try to make it when I can find the ground beef on sale for about 99-cents a pound. Did you know that if you rinse your ground beef, even if it started out as the fattiest cut (let's say 70/30) it will be leaner than even one of the leanest cut you can buy?! I just told my 83-year-old grandma about that little trick the other day. Since I was feeling adventurous, in this last batch I used some store-bought Habanero Salsa. The taco meat is so scorching spicy, I think we'll have to eat about 20% meat, 40% sour cream and 40% cheese in each taco! Better than throwing it away, I 'spose.



Another family favorite is Swiss Chicken. The recipe I've always used has white cooking wine in place of the water/broth & I just usually use whatever condensed soup I have on hand or that someone has given us. I bought a big bag of seasoned stuffing on clearance awhile back & have been using it for this recipe ever since. A bit of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter in place of the real butter helps to lower the calorie content too.


A new recipe that I tried last weekend was these Jalapeno Cheddar Scones. I served them with some easy homemade Chili (destined for the freezer!) and they were super delish. A friend just happened to have some jalapenos on her kitchen counter, so I helped myself to a couple. I froze a few of the scones and passed on a few to a friend with a new baby. These are so yummy and are a great change-up from my usual cornbread-with-chili menu. Next time, I'm making a bigger batch! The blog that this recipe came from is a MUST READ. I have been away for far too long & look forward to drooling on my keyboard catching up with all the yummy recipe goodness. ( I think next week, on our week off of school, we will be diving into some of these Apple Cider Donuts!)

And I've saved the best for last. I have successfully frozen little patties of cookie dough from the recipe The Whole Jar of Peanut Butter Cookies. I *love* being able to whip out a homemade dessert on a moment's notice. We are able to have a tasty treat after supper on many occasions, since the dough is already prepared. I think a nice homemade sweet treat also makes us all feel special, regardless of our severely reduced income and grocery budget. I simply follow the recipe, chill the dough, use a cookie scoop to portion out, dip a fork in sugar to make the classic criss-cross design, then flash freeze and bag up. Bake 'em at 350° F for 13 minutes. Or, you could just eat them straight out the freezer, with your husband,  and the freezer door still wide open, pretending that this-is-perfectly-normal-since-they-do-sell-ice-cream-with-cookie-dough-in-it, all the while saying "Mmmm. Mmmm. Good."

Not that I'm saying I've ever done that.

Nope. Not me.

Hope you enjoyed this peek into my freezer. Got any goodies in yours?

Good Ole Ben

Excerpt from Exploring American History about Benjamin Franklin:

 He kept a little book in which he wrote down his faults. If he wasted half an hour of time or a shilling of money, or said anything that he should not have said, he wrote it down in his book. He carried that book in his pocket all his life, and he studied it, as a boy at school studies a hard lesson.

Can you even imagine? I would hate to keep track of my own faults for a day, let alone for my entire life AND to study them. Ever since we read this as part of our History lesson last Monday, it has rattled around in my mind. What would we learn about ourselves if we committed to this practice, even if only for a day? Even though part of me shudders at the thought, the other part of me has been chalking up mental tally marks every time I err or waste something or say the wrong thing. Quite a lesson, I tell ya.

And what did Good Ole Ben learn from this practice? Our history book says that his lessons were three: Do the right thing; do it at the right time; do it in the right way. And honestly, it seems like pretty sound advice. Now that I've read about the lessons he had learned, I am analyzing the things that I do or that others do that just don't seem to be quite right and have found that they usually fit into one of those three categories. Either I did the completely wrong thing or maybe my husband had good intentions but his timing was off or perhaps my friend was trying to do the right thing but her message got lost because of an inappropriate delivery. It's no wonder Ben went on to help pen the Declaration of Independence.

Amazing what God can use when we are listening. Like a third-grader's history lesson about Benjamin Franklin.

If Every Day Were an Aldi Day

It all started with an envelope in the mail.

Inside were two Aldi gift certificates and a card with simple but powerful words: Your heavenly Father knows. Thank you. You know who you are.

And then there was an email from another friend asking if we would like another Aldi gift certificate. Thank you. You know who you are.

Guess God owns some serious shares of Aldi stock!

During my first Aldi run, the man behind me was using a gift certificate, but only had about $15 worth of merchandise for his $25 certificate.

"Sir, I can't give you any cash back and you still have $10 left on the gift certificate."

"Well, I don't want any cash back."

"But Sir, why don't you just go buy yourself some meat or something?"

"Nah...... Hey! Can I just give the lady behind me the rest of the certificate?"

"Uh...." Calls the manager over. "This guy wants to give that lady the rest of his gift card. Can we do that?......No, Sir. We can't do that."

Everyone stands around looking at each other.

Well, I couldn't help myself, now could I?

Me: Well, how about if you just ring up that lady's groceries along with his and just let this guy go on his merry way with his groceries?

The manager smiles. The cashier smiles. The guy smiles. The lady smiles. I smile.

And then I nearly start crying. I guess because I witnessed a simple act of goodness that almost didn't happen. Then, while I was still joyful about that random kindness, as I was loading my groceries into my van, a hippie man came up to me and wanted to take my cart. Upon seeing my 40 lb bag of softener salt, he kindly said, May I? Then proceed to load it up for me.

If every day were an Aldi day, we'd give out of our abundance to those who are in need. We wouldn't need unemployment because those making extra would give generously to those not having enough. We wouldn't buy more just because we could, but we'd pay for the person behind us just because. If every day were an Aldi day, we'd help one another without thinking about how we might be inconvenienced.  

And we'd do it with a smile.

11 and Counting

appropriately subtitled, "How I spent my anniversary"

Just because we are low in the funds department did NOT mean we had to keep our anniversary celebrating to a minimum! Last Friday was the actual anniversary day, which coincidentally, we were also married on a Friday so it was neat to see the days line up perfectly! I loved being able to say "At exactly this time eleven years ago we were.....". I served Lasagna Spirals for our family lunch and was planning on making some Chinese food for the Hubs and I for dinner, but on the spur of the moment, we decided to take our Chinese on the road and share it with some friends.

Remember the days when you were still dating and you would just up and decide to go here-and-there or drop by a friends' house or just stay up late hangin' out or playing games?? Well, it kinda felt like that. It was great! Both of our families put our wee ones to bed and then the grown-ups played a mean game of Phase 10, while the other chitlins played Uno and watched movies. When we realized that it was already 10 pm, it was time to head out and put our munchkins to bed. Next time, we're doin' a sleepover ya'll!

Saturday saw our kids head off to grandmas to give Mom and Dad some much needed alone time. We used a Red Lobster gift card (with coupon!) to enjoy our selves a quiet lunch. We did some window shopping too: JoAnn's for me and Guitar Center for him, then browsed at Target, picking up a couple of gifts with gift cards as well. We hit the library right before closing time to get ourselves a couple of free movies, which we enjoyed with some late night pizza from the freezer and IBC root beer (my favorite!) that had been stashed away in the fridge. We went to bed early *grin* and slept in late...well, at least I did.

So, we spent hardly any money to celebrate our 11th year of marriage. But really, you can't put a price tag on great conversation and buckets of laughs. There's been lots of ups and downs these last eleven years, especially this last year.

But ya know what else is priceless?

Knowing that there's no one else that I rather be on that roller coaster with.

Praying for YOU

In honor of Pregnancy Loss Awareness Day

I am thinking of and praying for YOU today.  

YOU, who have no living children, yet have the heart of a mother.  

YOU, who while pregnant after a loss, have a heart of fear; loving your child within yet still longing for your child in heaven.  

YOU, who feel you have been robbed of the innocent joy that a pregnancy can bring, knowing all too well that sometimes things don't turn out the way you plan them.

YOU, who are still suffering in your grief after the death of your child.  

YOU, who heard the words, "I'm sorry. We can't find a heartbeat." 

YOU, who had a baby shower, decorated a nursery, picked a name, yet did not bring a baby home from the hospital.


YOU, who don't know how to answer the casual question, "So, how many children do you have?"

YOU, who have part of your family living on earth and part living in heaven.

And while I pray for YOU, I pray for ME at the same time. And I thank Him for YOU, for being my friend and for walking the hard road with me.