Monday, October 31, 2011

Menu Plan and Grocery Shopping Week of Oct 30th

I have been horrible about menu planning and actually cooking the past few weeks. This week I am determined to get back on track. Here is our menu plan and the grocery shopping the kids and I did yesterday.

Dinner menu:
Sunday: Tacos
Monday: Chicken pot pie
Tuesday: Zuppa Toscana Soup and french bread
Wednesday: At sons soccer party
Thursday: Spaghetti, french bread and salad
Friday: Hamburgers and french fries
Saturday: Subway after church

Groceries purchased:
2-2 liters of soda $1.58
3 boxs ceral $8.97
hot sauce $1.49
Shredded cheese $2.50
Hot pocket $2.50
Taco shells $1.99
spanish rice 1.59
2 boxes eggos $2.98
fajita seasoning .89
chicken broth 2.99
milk 2.59
tortilla shells 3.89
seasoned ground turkey 1.99
ground beef 7.33
kale 2.49
bananas 1.92
apples 1.89

Total: $50.61
We had alot of leftovers from last week and the weekend that will be incorporated for lunches as well as parts of the meals planned for the week. I will also end up picking up a couple more gallons of milk later in the week.

Struggling to find Balance

The past 6 weeks have proven to be some of the busiest and most challenging weeks I have ever faced. With an heavy class load and 4 very active children I have barely found time to breath, and I have been getting by on very little sleep and large amounts of caffeine. However, I found that I was slowly drowning on the to do lists and places to be. I found myself in tears more often than I have in the past few years. I wasn't quite sure what to do, how to fix it or make it better. For the first time in a very long time, I felt out of control, unable to keep up and actually started forgetting things that needed to be done.

I feel very strongly that going back to school is Gods plan for my future. I feel in my heart and soul that this is the right path not only for me but for my family at this time. However, I had lost sight of the fact that I needed to put my worries, stress and fears in Gods hands and let Him guide me down this path. I had let go of the sight that God will provide!!

Last weekend our Pastor gave a sermon titled Beautiful Day (the link is a recorded video of the sermon). The sermon was about Sabbath, taking a day of rest. During that entire sermon I felt as if he was talking directly to me, it was such a smack up side the head. I have been so go, go, go, do, do, do that I haven't taken any time to rest. I had THOUGHT about it, but then felt I couldn't because I would fall further behind. Our pastor challenged us to implement a Sabbath at least thru Thanksgiving. Even during the sermon I kept thinking to myself, how will I do this? How will I find the time and not fall further behind? He shared the scripture in Mark 6:31 which says: "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.". I realized, how could I NOT do this. It is what God wants for us, what he has instructed us to do in the bible. Even God did this as we were shown in Exodus 20:11, "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy". If God felt it important enough to take a day of rest, why would we ignore that in our lives?

So I accepted this challenge to implement a day of Sabbath. We attend church on Saturday night. That next day, we went to my parents house for the afternoon to celebrate my moms birthday. Nothing fancy, no prepared meal just sandwiches so that we could all rest and visit. There was no fuss over cooking a big meal or the clean up. The kids took their pumpkins with them and spent time carving pumpkins with their cousins. For those few hours, everyone was relaxing, resting and feeding our minds and hearts with fellowship. I discovered that by taking that day away from the hustle and bustle of our schedule things were OK! I put my trust in God that He would provide. This weekend, we did the same thing. Sundays seem to be the best day for our family to set aside but your Sabbath can be any day of the week. Yesterday we went and had family pictures done (our appointment had been scheduled months ago). We had a fun time with the pictures and then came home and spent a relaxing/lazy day at home. It was perfect. No running around, no to do list just time with each other and REST.

I encourage you, if you have time, listen to the sermon that I linked to. Then find a day each week to be your Sabbath if you don't already. We all need time to rest our mind, body and spirit!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Quick Catch Up

I had originally hoped (as usual) to keep up with this blog, posting regularly. BUT, I have not found a way to fit it in with our new insane schedule. So here is a little "recap" of the past few weeks.

School is going very well for the kids. My oldest daughter has found that high school is much more overwhelming than middle school. With sports, band and school work she has been on the go much more than she has been used to. That said, she is adjusting and handling it very well (most of the time). My oldest son is attending high school classes and Running Start classes at the college. He is having to prioritize, manage his time and really focus on staying on top of things. He has been doing very well with this so far!
The younger 2 kiddos are really enjoying school this year. They both have great teachers and a fun group of classmates.

My classes have been much more intense that I had originally anticipated. The Condensed A&P class is extremely fast paced and alot to learn in a short amount of time. I have been functioning on very little sleep for the past few weeks. My day time hours are packed with school/homework/studying and then evenings are packed full of kids activities, more homework and studying. I thank God daily that coffee was created!!

I have been doing very well with taking my lunch with me daily and not purchasing lunches. While we haven't had "fancy" dinners, we have been cooking dinner at home and not eating out. My menu's have been simple, with one to two crockpot meals per week. I am excited we are getting into "soup" season, as soup and sandwiches are a quick and easy dinner for those busy nights!