Enjoying the summer!

June is almost behind us! Summer has arrived and we are enjoying life! I was realizing the other day that there has been a flower blooming in our yard since the middle of March! What a blessing from the previous home owners!

Baseball games on Monday and Friday nights with practice thrown in on Wednesday. Cub Scouts, swim lessons, gardening, summer school, library reading programs...the days disappear before we know what happened! We just had our family reunion with some cousins for some pre-reunion fun.

My youngest was challenged to read his Bible and took it to heart! It's so amazing to see him wanting to read his Bible! He's made it over half way through Genesis. Pretty impressive for a guy who has only been reading for about 6 months. The library program now is even more encouraging to get prizes for every four hours of reading.

I've taken a break from baking for the farm, but did sell lots of bread at home this week! (I made bread three times.) I'll take some orders for 4th of July though for pies and cinnamon rolls.

We've given of our time at Camp David of the Ozarks as well which has been great fun to bless the kids who have a parent in prison and the numerous volunteers with yummy food. I am thankful for the great new kitchen too! We'll be there again in July for a whole week.

I hope that you are enjoying your summer and being thankful to our God for His Creation!

An extra $200?

We are over a month into permanent employment, yipee! It's been great to finally feel those roots bury in a little deeper. As for the job, the salary wasn't exactly what we were expecting but it's sufficient. Yes, federal gov't benefits are much cheaper than anything else with some unexpected added extras. (Quality has not been proven yet.)

We haven't worked up the budget with the current salary and cost of benefits but we have gone through the exercise with theorecital numbers so I have a good idea of what we can spend on groceries, clothing, entertainment and the like - items that can be varied somewhat. All of these items have some money in them and sufficient money - we are no way in need. The numbers aren't so big though that we can not be in a state of mind to just go blow $100 on a nice dinner and a babysitter just because we want to. The question that has been running around in my head has been, if I had an extra $200/month, where would I put it in the budget?

As I think through this, I am challenged by what seems to be such superficial desires of where the money should go. Do we need to eat out? Do we need to buy more food or more costly food? Do we need dates where we do fancy things? Do we really need that many more clothes?

At this point, I'm happy that we don't have that question to answer and I am learning to be content and learning from this verse.

"I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, [not in great need]  and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through HIM who gives me strength." The Bible, Philippians 4:11-13

Now it's a Twinkie

"Mom will you warm up a hot dog in the microwave so it would be more like a Twinke. It will make it floppier from all the grease!"

Yes, those words did come from one of my children! Yes, I was feeding them hot dogs (well at least one of them) because they were left over from another event where I did NOT buy them.  I inquired as to where he learned about Twinkies...from WALL-E! "They are those things that the cock roaches crawl into." Of course, Twinkies last forever and that's why they could still be found on the planet even when there is no other life! 

Proposed Summer Schedule

Summer

Sun Lunch: (Church Pot luck) Vegetable on sale, starch

Mon: (Softball/T-ball) Tortilla Stack or Quesdillas 

Tue: (Cub Scouts) Tilapia, Lima Beans & Rice

Wed: (Bible Study) Hamburgers, Corn Casserole, Vegetable

Thu: Seasme Shrimp & Pasta

Fri: (Baseball) Pizza

Sat: Stir-fry with tofu or shrimp

Sun Lunch 2: Vegetable on sale, starch

Mon2: Lentil Tacos

Tue2: Shrimp Vera Cruz

Wed2: Brats, Baked Beans, Vegetable

Thu2: Salmon or Salmon Patties & vegetable

Fri2: Black Beans & Rice

Sat2: Indian Dish

The Winter Experiment

We came up with the idea of a two week revolving meal schedule for the winter to try and streamline meal preparation. I like meal preparation, but it seemed I was taking too much time to do it and knew that we could eat cheaper if we thought through it some more.

Now that we are in May, it's time to revise the schedule and put us on a summer schedule which I haven't come up with yet.

Here's the winter schedule:

Week1

Sun Lunch (church pot luck) - on sale vegetable & starch (or what someone had given us which happened an amazing number of times)

Mon Lunch (we were feeding another family): Ham or Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, vegetable

Mon: Tilapia, Lima Beans, rice

Tue: Tortilla Stack & Salad

Wed: Ravioli & Vegetable & garlic bread

Thu: Roasted veggies w/ chicken

Fri: Refried Bean Burritos & veggies

Sat: Cheddar Chowder

Week 2

Sun Lunch2: (see above)

Mon Lunch 2: Refried Bean Burritos & veggies

Mon2: Veggie Pot Pie

Tue2: Ham or Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, vegetable

Thu2: Chickpea & Cauliflower Curry & Naan

Fri2: Pizza & Raw Veggies & pickles

Sat2: Chili (sometime with macaroni)

Alternate menu items:

Stir fry

Spinach Pie

Pancakes

Immagination at work

I looked out my front window to observe this this afternoon...I love seeing minds at work.

Putting up some string on the front porch. Then running a Kinex creation along the string.

A good home school day

These are the words that a home school mom loves to hear:

Five year old doing math, "This is so easy."

A samplings of his math page (now he's on the third one today...just for fun):

70= 40 + ___ 

50 - ___ = 30

100 = 20 x ___

(3 x 10) - 5 = ___

This guy was asked to write a story for his writing assignment today. Instead of writing in normal English, he was given the assignment to write a story using 12 American Indian symbols using his Cub Scout book. 

Here's the story in English words:

One stormy evening a man and a woman and a boy say hungry around a campfire. The heard a live bear. The man was the top man of the village. One morning a man on a horse rode up with beaver brothers.  The woman called a council. Then they heard a big voice, it was the wise man. He told them to make peace with the man on the horse. The end.