Menu Plan Monday and a few other things

So, last week's menu was just a farce ... due to an unexpected vet visit and a few other expenses, there was no grocery shopping done last week. (Very. Sad.) So I ended up making due with what we had in the cabinets ... always a few interesting meals there. And since it was the end of the month we were out of tons of stuff ... milk, cereal, even my back-up cans of soup! :) But God provided, and we were even blessed with dinner with friends on Friday night. Still drooling about the roast and gravy she made ... I was mopping it up with my roll. Yum. So, that said, this is my tentative menu plan for this week:

Monday: Chicken and wild rice in the crockpot
Tuesday: Lentils and rice taco bake (from the kitchen of Leann)
Wednesday: chicken nuggets and fries for N1 before Awana, leftovers for the adults afterwards
Thursday: chicken ceasar salads
Friday: pizza night ... might go a little wild this week and make a HAWAIIAN pizza, yum!
Saturday: birthday party for the adults so no cooking
Sunday: up in the air

It's just been busy lately. Fall activites have started back ... my baby is a Cubbie at Awanas this year. It's hard to believe that she will be 3 years old next week! And, that I'm going to the Dr. tomorrow for my first OB appointment for our 3rd baby! All I can say is WoW. I'm 8 weeks along now, and this pregnancy has already been so different than both of the girls'. I have been nauseous quite a bit and very tired, but that's it compared to the continual throwing up with the girls. I'm NOT saying that means this is a boy ... I'm just enjoying not spending most of my day in the bathroom this time around. :)

I finished my first book for the Fall in to Reading Challenge this weekend ... The Hiding Place. So wonderful. Just an amazing picture of one normal woman who consistently hid God's Word in her heart and that's what carried her through hiding Jews in her home and Nazi concentration camps. I'm just a few chapters away from finishing Ambassador Families so I want to wrap that up this week. That's a book that has made me think ... but more on that later. I'm really wanting to read a fiction book, but I have only to make it until Sunday so I'm hanging in there. :)

Kickin' it Off!

I'm playing along with Katrina's Fall into Reading Challenge which is from September 21 - December 21. I want to try and focus my reading energy a bit more ... I'm bad about being a rereader of some of my favorite fiction, and I'm trying to push out of that a bit. Not eliminating my fiction entirely, but more new stuff. (And for those that knew I was trying to go fiction-free in September, I have succumbed to one book thus far ... my bad. But, I'm back on the band wagon and none of the fiction books listed below will be read until October). I'm also throwing in some other genres that I rarely touch (bios and autobios). So, without further ado ... the list!

Fiction
1. Summer of the Midnight Sun, Alaskan Quest series, book 1, Traci Peterson
2. Under the Northern Lights, Alaskan Quest series, book 2, Traci Peterson
3. Emma, Jane Austen
4. @Home for the Holidays, Meredith Efken
5. Before I Wake, Dee Henderson

Non-Fiction
1. Ambassador Families: Equipping Your Kids to Engage Popular Culture, Mitali Perkins (my current read)
2. Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
3. Small Beginnings, Barbara Curtis
4. Christ in Christmas: A Family Advent Celebration
5. Me, Obey Him?, Elizabeth Rice Handford

Biography/Autobiography
1. Shadow of the Almighty, Elisabeth Elliot
2. The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom (a re-read from loooooooong ago)

Bible Study
We are doing an inductive study of the book of Exodus this year with the women at church so that's where I'll be focused primarily. However, I do want to review Fresh Brewed Life on my own and maybe do some journalling along with that. :)

Reading with the Girls
I'm going to commit to reading 3 books aloud per day to my girls. My almost-3 year old is JUST now getting to the point where she will sit for a story, so my goal is to work up to her sitting for all three (maybe even longer!), and starting the habit of reading to the baby again. I got out of the habit of reading to N1 because she was soooo busy and one of my fall "preschool" goals for the two of us is to do more read-aloud. No specific books in mind, but I am starting to acquire some of the books that go along with our Before Five in a Row materials such as:

1. Caps for Sale
2. Courderoy
3. The Runaway Bunny

as well as other classics like:

4. Madeline
5. Curious George

As I finish, I'll try and put up a short review and my thoughts on each book. Thanks Katrina for kicking this off! (Click the picture to visit Katrina at Calapidder Days and check out the other participants' reading lists.)

Coming October 1st

Chicken and Wild Rice Recipe

6 chicken breasts (whole or cut up into bite sized pieces) or
1 1/2 pounds of chicken breast tenders
2 packages of Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice prepared according to package directions
1 can cream of chicken soup
8-12 oz. of sour cream
1/2 can chicken broth
1 onion, chopped
1 stick margarine or butter

Saute the onion in the stick of butter until clear. Set aside.
Mix soup, broth and sour cream until smooth. Add onions/butter and mix well.
Layer in at least a 4-quart crockpot as follows:

sauce mixture

rice

more sauce

chicken

sauce
Cook on low for 8-9 hours.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - chicken parmesan, green beans
Tuesday - spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread
Wednesday - chicken ceasar salads
Thursday - BBQ pork chop supper (from Laura @ Org Junkie!)
Friday - pizza night
Saturday - maybe chicken and wild rice in the crockpot depending on the day's plans!
Sunday - lunch at the grandparents

Click the picture at the top for more great menu plans for this week. :-)

Bluebird Blogs Contest

As seen on Bluebird Blog Design:

Autumn is my favorite time of the year, and it's just right around the corner. To celebrate the beginning of the season, I'm having a contest for 2 lucky people to win a totally free, completely customized blog design from Bluebird Blogs.

Information on how to enter:
- Send an email with your name and blog address to bluebirdblogs@gmail.com.
- Entries will be accepted from 7:00pm EST on Thursday 9/14/06 until 11:59pm EST on Friday 9/22/06.

The winner will be announced here on Saturday, September 23rd, 2006. Good luck to everyone!

I've entered my name! :)

The Soveriegnty of God

For who has known the mind of the LORD, or who became His counselor?
Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever, Amen.
Romans11:34-36

Gabriel Paul Godfrey
born to Marty and Susan Godfrey
September 12, 2006
3 lbs., 10 oz and 16 inches long
At home with the Lord

Josiah David
born to Jonathan & Debby
September 13, 2006
3 lbs., 4 oz and 16 1/2 inches long
Born 5 weeks early and breathing on his own

Slow Cooker Thursday

A staple around here ... I always have the ingredients for this on hand during the Fall/Winter.

1 lb. ground beef (I usually use ground turkey)
1 lg. Onion chopped
1 can refried beans
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can chili beef soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
2 cans Rotel tomatoes

Brown ground meat and onion. Add soups, refried beans and tomatoes. Simmer for 1 hour. This is best cooked in a slow cooker as it is easy to scorch. You may adjust the soup to your liking, adding only 1 can of tomatoes if you like it spicy or just 1 can or Rotel tomatoes if you like it mild. You may need to add a little water if it becomes to thick.

This recipe can easily be made vegetarian by substituting veggie meat for the beef, and vegetarian refried beans and chili. Serve with tortilla chips, fritos, sprinkle cheese over it, etc.

Hop on over to Diary of a S@HM for more recipes!

Crazy Days

No other way to describe it right now. There is so much going on that I am having a hard time keeping up with all of it. I was going to make a giant list of the insanity that has comprised this week, but I'm not going to now. (I mean, I still might at some point, so you still may get to look forward to that.) :)

There is a dear, wonderful friend of our family that is dying of gall bladder cancer. One of those stories where they gave her a few months left about a year and a half ago. She's on borrowed time, and it is apparently that it is really near the end. As my sister said yesterday, when we get the email updates on how she's doing, you now kinda close your eyes as you open the email because you don't know if this is the one where she has gone to be with the Lord. I want to share with you some quotes from her emails that she sends (or lately has had to dictate because she can no longer type or write):

She was thinking on the fact that Jesus was a carpenter and right now he is heaven finishing her "room." She says, "it's almost ready for her."

The other day I was sitting in the recliner just as the sun was setting and even with my eyes closed the stream of light that hit my face was so piercingly bright. It made me think of God's glory and how bright heaven will be with just that, no sun is needed Scripture says for the glory of the Lord is light enough. I should say so, if the sun is this bright. Anyways, then I thought about Moses asking to see God's glory and He in His mercy only tucked him in the cleft of the rock and showed him His back. Who can look on God and live? The redeemed when we shall see Him face to face. O that will be glory for me...sing it everyone...

Note, this next might be TMI, but it's a beautiful word picture:

This may sound gross to some of you, but we really are fearfully and wonderfully made. To watch the color of urine is quite fascinating. I always know when I haven't drank enough water, as it goes really dark, and if I drink coffee, watch out. You have no idea what you are doing to your kidneys with that stuff. Other fluids are also indicative of color changes, and it can go from pale, pale, almost clear, to dark sunset amber depending on the time of day, how much activitiy I've been doing and what I've been drinking. There are days when I should have been a scientist or a detective or something. I find the cause and effect part of this whole routine fun and informative. Even Josh noticed the color change. Kind of like having our sins washed whiter than snow. Now there is a color change. :)

And another:

Here's something that encouraged my heart this morning. Remember when Jesus is celebrating the passover supper with His disciples and He tells them that one of them will betray Him? They were also arguing about who would be the greatest in His kingdom. So like us isn't it to be concerned about some silly little thing when we are being told something momentous was coming up. Anyways, that's not the point I'm making, just a sideline. :) So, Luke 22:31 says "Simon, Simon! Indeed Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat." It made me wonder if that is what has happened to me. It's so like Job isn't it, when Satan went before the Lord and boasted that Job served the Lord because of all the blessing He has bestowed on him. (Job 1:9-10) Anyways, has Satan desired to sift me like wheat, to see if I would remain faithful???? What if he has done this to you? in some way or another through a trial of some sort? Hmmmm. Here's the part that blessed me so much. v. 32 says, "But I have prayed for you" Isn't that wonderful. To think that the Lord of all creation, Who is now seated at the right hand of the Father, in the position of power and authority, is praying for me. Wow. And what did He pray for Peter? V. 32 says "that your faith should not fail;" that is one of my biggest fears...that I would not remain faithful right to the end, and bring Him glory, and point others to Him along the way. And perhaps, as the end of the verse says, "strengthen your brethren", that is what I am doing through these emails. This ministry of sharing my life openly with your faithful one, that it is strengthening you my brethren and "sistern". Doesn't that all bless your heart? God's Word is life to my soul and I hate it when I put other stuff before it, because I am the one who looses out. So, yea, just had to share that little bit with you. (Hey Lynn and Linda, hope you didn't mind the repeat :).

And lastly,

One of the hurdles I was facing was that last time I went in for day surgery I came out with cancer, so I think I am gun shy, but after a good cry this morning I was able to recite to Darc one of my favourite hymns from Bible School days, and throughout my life since then.

He Giveth More Grace

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater;
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.
To added affliction He addeth His mercy;
To multiplied tirals, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father's full giving is only begun.

His love has no limit; His grace has no measure;
His pow'r has no boundary known unto me.
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth,and giveth again!

Isn't that wonderful! Oh, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me. And the peace He gave after that...yup, I'm good to go, and I'm soldiering on. So Thank You everyone for praying. Will let you know the results asap. Oh yea, the nurse we had yesterday loves the Lord too so that was a blessing.
Signing off and putting on the Armor, Lee

Puts my crazy days into perspective and shows me once again what my focus needs to be on.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - easy chicken fajita skillet (didn't end up making this last week due to an overabundance of leftovers)
Tuesday - breakfast dinner, eggs & potatoes in tortillas, fruit
Wednesday - boca burgers, fries (for N1), green beans
Thursday - szechuan chicken and rice (a repeat from last week also due to leftovers)
Friday - pizza night
Saturday - either Crockpot or grill

In Memory

Babita Guman was the type who "doesn't back down," said her husband, Deodat Guman. When a fellow shopper at a market once told her to go back to her country, Mrs. Guman, 33, threw the question back at her. "Why don't you go back to your country?" she asked.

A native of Guyana who moved to the United States as a teenager, Mrs. Guman was a smart, aggressive and flag-waving American who also took charge at home in the Bronx, said her husband and father of her two daughters, ages 6 and 7. "Most guys would say they're the men of the house, but my wife did everything," said Mr. Guman, a bus driver for New York City Transit. "She cooked, she cleaned, she paid the bills. I just went to work and came back."

Mrs. Guman was a computer specialist at Fiduciary Trust Company International on the 97th floor of 2 World Trade Center, but she was about to take a test to become a schoolteacher, Mr. Guman said. Two weeks before the attacks, Mr. Guman took his wife and the girls fishing for the first time. Mrs. Guman, of course, caught a fish. It took Mr. Guman a little longer to catch his, but as he noted to his daughters, "I ended up catching the big one."

Profile published in THE NEW YORK TIMES on October 13, 2001.

Babita's spirit will always live through her daughters. This I know because she raised them to be exactly like her. Her husband will never forget the face that he fell in love with some 16 years ago. Her daughters will never forget their mother that loved them with all her heart. Her mother will never forget the intelligent daughter that she raised. Her sisters will never forget her always being there for them. The entire family and friends of Babita will never forget her, for she was a soft, gentle, warm-hearted intellectual who was always willing to help others, and she did this just by her sweet smile.

From CNN Tribute