Meal plan

I have no idea where this weekend went but am 2 days late posting my meal plan.  And am not sure it is totally complete but will get me through this week.

Tuesday
B: french toast, milk
L: each kid got to pick their lunch today for the first day of school so that included salami sandwiches, macncheese, chicken nuggets, plus carrot sticks, fruit
D: chicken and noodles, corn

Wednesday
B: eggs and toast, juice
L: turkey sandwiches, carrot sticks, fruit
D: leftover chicken and noodles, salad

Thursday:
B: pancakes, smoothie
L: not sure
D: chicken and broccoli over brown rice

Friday:
B: at sitters
L: not sure:-(
D: leftovers maybe

Saturday:
B: oatmeal or cold cereal
L: BBQ with family
D: maybe something light like cheese/crackers, popcorn, veggies

Lunch is what I really need to work on to be creative.  My goal is to have a system where breakfast and lunches are the same for that day of the week so for example every tuesday have eggs and toast, wednesday pancakes....that kind of thing.  That way it's set and hopefully makes things easier. 
The first day of school has gone well so far, my preschooler did great on her first day which is a huge relief.  She was my first kid not to cry on their first day of preschool and that made it so much easier on this momma.  But I found when I picked her up that I missed her.  Glad we have this afternoon to spend together!

Giveaway from Heavenly Homemakers

I love the Heavenly Homemakers site.  I have been following her sometime in the hopes of being inspired as I switch over to making healthier foods for my family.  She is having a giveaway for a Nutrimill to grind flour.  I have really been considering getting one of these and entered myself.  But if you are interested in entering as well, here is the link:
 http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/nutrimill-giveaway-from-paulas-bread/comment-page-3#comment-107927

September Goal

This summer, I have not really made any big goals except to just get through the summer intact.  As I have been thinking about what I wanted to do with the kids going back to school, I knew I wanted a couple of things.  To make my life easier with the craziness that comes with school, homework, soccer, etc.  And to try to get back to feeding my family better.

So my September goal is to......meal plan.  Yes, I know this has been my goal before.   When I have done this before though, I always just did it for dinner.  But breakfast and lunchtime are just as difficult for me.
I really want to send my kids off to school with a nutritious meal, ready to face the day.  And with 2 kids needing school lunches, one of whom is super picky, I am going to need to be very creative and very organized.

The meal planning is important because my other goal is to start feeding my family healthier more whole foods.  I have made a few changes over the last year but I really want to jump in big.  And in order to do that, I need to be organized.  This summer, having a CSA has really reminded me of how good fresh whole foods are.  So much better than prepackaged foods.  Plus, we have already been limited in what kinds of packaged foods we can have due to my son's peanut allergy. Now I want to incorporate even more homemade foods, using more nutritious ingredients.

That being said, I have no idea what we are having for the next few ideas, leftovers tonight, big salad tomorrow night maybe, BBQ with friends saturday night and eating out sunday night (kids are at Nana's!)  I don't have breakfasts' and lunches figured out.  See why I need this so badly?!

My hope is to have a routine with breakfasts and lunches to make it a lot easier.  Say eggs and cereal on tuesdays, pancakes on wednesdays, homemade zucchini or banana bread and smoothie on thursdays.... that will stay consistent week to week and make my life much easier.  Over the next couple of days, I am going to sit down with my kids and makes lists of things they want to have and set up a schedule.

If I have anything amazing recipe to post, I will be sure and share it with you.  If you have any great suggestions, let me know.  I am sure I can use all the help I can get!

Feeling convicted

     My mom became a Christian in her 30's.  She was (and still is) an avid reader and an early riser.  I remember waking up in the mornings and finding her drinking her coffee and reading the Bible.  She was always able to quote scripture to encourage people and it wasn't because she had memorized it in Sunday School.  She knew it because she read the Word regularly.

     This is something I really struggle with.  I go through spells where I am diligent reading scripture and then spells where I go weeks or even months without opening my Bible other than for church.  I am totally ashamed writing that.

     I want to be the kind of mom where my kids see me reading the Bible, where I can encourage them with God's words and not my own, where I can be an example for them to follow.  I also know that I am usually in a better place mentally and definitely in a better place spiritually when I am regularly reading my Bible.
This is something God has put on my heart recently.  I need to get back into the Word.  I know that if I obey Him in this, my life will feel less stressful, I will handle things better, yell at my kids less, be kinder to my husband....I know this.  But I have been struggling with just getting started.   I thought about making this my September goal but realized I need to make this a life changing goal, not just something I do for a month.
    
     As I was praying about this last week, I realized that the only thing I have been faithful in over the last few years is praying.  And the reason I have been faithful in it is that I have accountability with my prayer partner (if you don't have a prayer partner, I greatly encourage you to get one.  It is an amazing thing knowing someone is praying for you on a regular basis and keeps you praying regularly as well).

     What better way to get back into the Word than to have some accountability.  So I emailed my prayer partner and asked if she wanted to venture into this with me.  Today she agreed and I cannot tell you how excited I am for this.  We are going to set a simple weekly goal and then email each other at the end of the week and say what we felt we learned from the portion of scripture we read. 

     What I love about this is that it's a weekly goal.  I wish I was faithful to read every day but right now it is hard on some days to fit it in.  Getting up early is not always an option when I already get up at 5 for work. So a weekly goal will work well for me.  I will keep you posted on how it's going.    

August

Today is August 15th.  August....August.   Yes, I am repeating that to myself because I can hardly believe this month is half over.  Half over.  School starts in 3 weeks (I think, I am actually avoiding looking at the calender and figuring it out exactly b/c I can hardly believe it).
So I am halfway through the month and have no real goals.  At this point, I am just hoping to survive the month, enjoy the last moments of summer, and get the kids ready for school. 
Maybe in September I will have something better for you.
As for July, I think it was to get as much fresh fruit as possible. We didn't get any blackberries.  Still hoping to get some of those but we picked lots of raspberries and blueberries.  We will be getting about 50 pounds of peaches next week to deal with and I would still love to get a bunch of green beans.  
This summer has just been too crazy.  I like to tell myself it will be a little less chaotic once school starts but then I start thinking about soccer practice and homework and carting kids to and from school and really, who am I kidding? So let's just enjoy a little bit more of summer while we can!

Loss

I sit at my dining room table in the very crazy hours of the morning looking at a picture of my friend Gloria.  Those who know me well, know she was my best girlfriend.  And she died.  And it was awful.  Almost 9 years later, I still miss her all the time.  I dream about her.  I think about what it would have been like to be 80 years old with her sitting on a porch, talking about our lives.
Loss.
My father leaving us.
My pastor's son dying of leukemia when I was little.
My grandfather dying of a heart attack when I was a teenager.
A boy from my school committing suicide when he went away to college.
My other grandfather and an uncle dying within weeks of each other.  One expected, one not.
Gloria. 
I haven't had a personal loss in a few years.  However, in the last few weeks, a friend lost a sister to cancer,  another friend lost a grandmother, another friend received papers of divorce, some people from church lost their house in a fire.
My heart breaks for all of them.  As Christians, we often try to find the positive.  They are in a better place, they are no longer suffering, don't store your treasures on earth, God can turn anything into His good. 
These are all extremely true. You cannot deny any of them.
But what I am reminded of is this verse "Jesus wept."
He wept.  Why?  He knew where Lazarus was going.  He knew all of those positive things.  He knew the joys of heaven yet He wept for life lost on earth.  So why did He weep? 
Was it for Himself?  Was it because He didn't get there in time? Was it for Mary? For Martha?
Why?  Why did He weep when He knew so much more?
Here is what I have decided in the midst of all this.  And I haven't studied it or read up on what scholars might think.  I am absolutely not knowledgable about what the root of the word was, etc, you get the point.  But what I have come to believe is that yes He knew.  He knew what you and I would need.  He knew it was okay to grieve.  To be sad.  To mourn.  Jesus showed us every emotion.  So we would know it is okay.  It is normal.  It is essential.  We need to mourn so that we can accept it.  So that we can continue living.  Continue being the people He called us to be.
But what if you aren't the person experiencing the loss directly?  What if it is a friend who is suffering?  What if they are far away and you can't go to them? Can't hold them and cry with them and take them to coffee and let them talk or not talk?  Just to be there for them?  It's such a helpless feeling. 
The only thing I can do is pray.  Or should I say the best thing I can do is pray. And listen to God.  Listen to His nudgings when He tells me in the wee hours of the morning to write words that have been swimming in my head for a couple of weeks.  And not doing it eloquently at all.
But I have learned to listen.  To know that someone needs to hear the words God is having me write.  That someone I know and love is struggling right this very moment. In the middle of the night.  When things always seem  worse because we are alone in our thoughts.  When there is nothing to distract us from our hurts.
But I want you to know that you are not so alone in your thoughts.  That God does hear you. 
As I have been struggling to write, the beginning lyrics to Chris Tomlin's song "I Lift My Hands" comes to mind..."Be still, there is a healer"
He knows your loss.  He knows your ache.  He knows the storm that rages in your heart.  He knows. 
And as a mother who just took her son to the doctor today who was bleeding outwardly.  I get it.  All I wanted to do was take my son's pain away.  To put it on myself.  To hold him in my arms and let him know he was safe.  God put that feeling in me as a parent.  And I am only human. Bound by human limitations.  But God is not bound at all.  How much more did He want to hold my son? How much more did He want to comfort him?  To take his pain away?  How much more does He love my son than I do? It is hard to fathom.  Because my heart aches with love for him.  But God loves him more.
So, if you have had loss and an emotional storm is raging inside of you, know that God is there.  Every second.  He hears your heart.  Day and night.  He hears you.
   

July

How is it possible that it is July 7th already?  This summer has been so flaky weather wise that it hasn't even felt like summer and now it's July.
I am going to keep my July goal to something that already keeps me pretty busy this month every year but I always strive to do more.  And that is gathering and preserving as much fresh produce as I can.  By preserving I am limited to freezing b/c I don't know how to can, but that is a goal for another time.
So far we have gather strawberries, some peas, and spinach.  Hoping to do more peas, green beans, all sorts of berries, peaches, cabbage. 
We did this last year and we try to keep track of how much we did so that we know whether we need to do more of less for the next year. 
So that's my goal for the month.  Do yo have any goals this month?