Sweet!

Sometimes the deepest love is seen in the little things. This post really warmed my heart today. I wanted to link to it, not to make you jealous of my friend Natalie's hubby, but to inspire you to likewise do the little things for your spouse to ease their burden and bless them abundantly. I know I often forget to do little things to show love to my spouse and often take his many thoughtful gestures and kindnesses to me for granted! I need to be more proactive, like Steve, about letting my spouse know he is one of my top priorities!

A Couple More Notes on Sam's Club

I forgot to mention in my post on what I bought at Sam's Club that I got a YEAR or more's supply of Oxiclean at an excellent price! For half of what it would cost to buy it on sale in our area. I realize it's not a necessity but nothing works quite like it when you have little children, especially little boys with a fondness for mud! I've tried the generic brands but Oxiclean Versatile works the best. So, I was happy to grab a box of it. Should last a long time and help keep our smelly dishrags fresher and keep our kiddoes' clothing looking better so we can pass it on to some of YOU! My friend who is a cleaning maniac (runs the toys through the dishwasher once a week, etc.) and who has the best-dressed little girls on earth turned me on Oxiclean! She knows what she's talkin' about!

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Something else I forgot to mention is that contact solution is a BAD deal at Sam's! For the brand I use, I discovered it's MORE EXPENSIVE to buy it in bulk there than to buy it at Wal-Mart. This is why it's important to pay attention to price per ounce of things.

Bulk Cooking/Baking Day

I'm excited to be joining the Bulk Cooking Days today and tomorrow with Money Saving Mom, Life as Mom, and about 200 other women. Though we don't have a deep freeze here in our small home (it's in storage right now since it won't fit in here), I do plan to make up some dry mixes and tortillas that will help me save time making meals. Stay tuned for pics of my results!

Sam's Club--What Was Worth It

My mom, daughter and I drove to one of the largest cities in Wyoming this weekend to visit my brother and his wife (who are working for missionaries there until they are allowed to go back to Honduras) and to hit Sam's Club. It was a quick, but fun trip and I got to experience shopping at Sam's for the first time ever. I'm grateful to my brother and Anna for taking us and letting us use their member card.

Whipping out my little calculator, I did price comparisons per ounce on everything I wanted to buy. I had heard that some things are cheaper than stores and other things are NOT so I was careful. I was disappointed to discover that diapers and wipes (two things I needed) weren't an especially great deal since I can often get them on super coupon deals. So, I skipped those. I was also hoping chocolate chips would be a great price with holiday baking coming up, but discovered that the autumn and Christmas sales at our local stores on that item are better.

Here are the things that were an EXCELLENT deal for me:

Kid's socks (Two older kids hardly have any socks that fit anymore and can never find any when we're in a hurry.) $10 for 8 pair of high-quality and adorable socks (Yes, the thrift store is cheaper but they don't have good socks there right now and this is the best deal I've seen on socks in our area)

Men's work socks--$11.50 for 8 pairs

Honey (unrefined)--$1o for 5# is a super deal for our area

Garlic--Got about 15 bulbs for $1

Brown sugar--7# for $4.40

Olive Oil--Came in at half of the local sale price at $15 for 101 ounces

Vinegar--$1.50 a gallon in a 2-gallon pack. This is 50 cents cheaper than Wal-Mart's price per gallon

Salsa--Pace Picante--Came in $1 cheaper than the Wal-Mart by-the-gallon price and we can use up a gallon in 2-3 months! $8.93 per gallon

Chicken Broth (no MSG or artificial ingredients) --$6 for 12 cans (Walgreens often has this on sale for 50 cents but never any in stock when I go so this was a great deal)

Pure Vanilla--$6 for 16 oz. In our area you would pay about $7 for 5 oz. of this stuff.

Smart Balance--I calculated that it was about 60% less to buy it at Sam's then to buy it on the best sale in our town.

Yeast--2# for $4.26 This is a year's supply for us to cover all of our baking needs. In the past I've purchased it for $6 for 1# and that was still an INCREDIBLE deal because otherwise you find yourself paying $1-2 depending on the sales for 3 packets of yeast that will make 3 batches of bread.

Mozzarella Cheese--5# for $10 isn't bad and we make a lot of homemade pizza! This price beats the very best sales on shredded cheese we've seen around.

Genesis Today Acai Juice--called "magical juice" by some for it's assistance in dropping weight, this stuff is $7 a bottle at the nearest Wal-Mart, but a little under $6 at Sam's Club. I bought some for my dad, my friend, and myself upon their requests.

Dill Pickles--$4 for a gallon and once they are gone I will have a nice glass jar to store flour or sugar in.

Things that were CLOSE to a good deal:

Refried beans

Diced Tomatoes

Classico or Ragu Spaghetti Sauce

Honey Bunches of Oats

Parmesan Cheese

Chocolate Chips

Chocolate Truffles and Cocoas for Christmas Gift Baskets

Foil--half the price per foot of the cheap foil I usually buy but who can afford to blow $15 of their grocery money on foil at one time?

Ziplocs--a great deal but I didn't want to spend $14 on Ziplocs even if they would have lasted me a year!

Tablecloths and restaurant style pitchers, salt shakers, cups, etc.

Sour Cream and Cottage Cheese (I wish I had brought a cooler--these were EXCELLENT deals! If you do bulk cooking these would be great buys for making lasagnas to freeze!)

Almost bought these things but realized that by paying attention to deals and utelizing coupons, I can probably find some of these things for the same price or even a little cheaper and then I wouldn't have to store them in our small home, not to mention that I could buy them a little at a time and spend less at Sam's.

If we hadn't of had more shopping around the town to do and a 2.5 hour drive home, I would have loved to buy a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake (Pumkin or Chocolate Truffle) to enjoy with my hubby. My brother ordered his wedding cheesecakes here and they were the yummiest cheesecakes many people had ever tasted. However, I knew one would spoil before I got it home and also knew that I didn't need the 500 calories-per-slice!

*Note: If you do have a membership and easy access to Sam's, they have great photo card deals for Christmas photos.


Because I don't get to the city where Sam's is more than once or twice a year, I'm not sure if it would be worth getting a membership for myself. One of my good friends recently moved there so I may just go with her when I'm there from now on. When I consider the gas money and time it takes, it probably wouldn't save me a bit if I was making that drive only to shop at Sam's.



However, if you're on vacation, have sports events in the area, go to concerts, have friends to visit, or a specialty doctor appointment it would definitely make sense to go there. Our pastor's wife buys a lot of the church supplies there (foam cups, paper towels for bathrooms, etc.) and shops there for food supplies for the annual Family Camp where she plans meals for over 100 people. She also has 4 kids (3 of whom were teens AND athletes) and she goes often simply because in the long run it saves her tons of money with the amount her kids eat. If Sam's was within 45 miles of where I lived I would definitely buy a membership and shop there often! It is very likely that when the kids are older and eating even more we'll get a membership to Sam's and make trips there every few months.

Not-So-Great Prices at Sam's:

Produce
A couple of examples:
3# of grapes for $5 (grocery stores often run sales on these for $1 per pound)
10# of potatoes for $3.89 (Safeway recently sold 10# bags for 99 cents)

Cereals

Crackers and Snack Products (not only loaded with junk and fat, but some things were more expensive per ounce than buying the item at a local store.)

Breaking it Down for Moms #3

Pantry Label Decoder

Organic Junk Food:

Kraft Organic Mac and Cheese

Claims to be USDA organic but the truth is that for an extra 60 cents a box, consumers save 20 calories and 1 gram of fat. They also gain 2 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fiber, 50 mg of sodium and lose 6% of daily iron. The point is, even organic junk food is still junk food. Your body processes organic refined flour and powdered cheese the same way it does conventional, so at the end of the day it's still a high-cal, low-nutrient letdown.

If you must have mac, go for Annie's line of Mac n' Cheese, which cuts the fat by 72% over Kraft Organic

The Vitamin Vacuum:

Kellogg's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pop-Tarts

Claims to be a source of 7 vitamins and minerals. 5 of those 7 vitamins come from the enriched flour that is this product's first ingredient. That's the code word for "refined flour that's had nutrients added to it after it's been stripped of fiber."

The Cereal Conundrum:

Kellogg's Smart Start Cereal

It claims to be "lightly sweetened." Unregulated by the USDA, the word "lightly" gets tossed around like a Frisbee in the food packaging world. Always take it with a grain of salt. Lightly in this cereal means 14 g of sugar from 5 different sources, all of which adds up to a cereal with more added sugars per serving than Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes or Apple Jacks.

What you really want is a cereal with less than 10 g of sugar per serving (ideally less than 5), with at least 3 grams of fiber per serving.

The Fat Fake-Out:

Smucker's Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter

Claims to be 25% less fat than regular PB. It's true that Smucker's has removed some of the fat, but they've replaced it with maltodextrin, a carb used as a cheap filler in many processed foods. You're trading the healthy fat from peanuts for empty carbs, to double the sugar, and only saving 10 calories.

What you really want: The real stuff, no fillers, oils, or added sugars. Just peanuts and salt.

Bogus Bread:

Home Pride Wheat Bread

Claims 1 gram of fat per slice. Claims to be wheat bread.

This bread tries to distract you from the fact that each slice has 3x more sugar than fiber. Whatever wheat went into this bread was stripped of all meaningful nutrients. Tere are more than a dozen ingredients listed, many unpronounceable, chemicals, and additives.

What you really want: Ignore fat when it comes to bread. There's rarely enough in a slice to make a big difference. More important, seek out bread with more fiber per slice than sugar and with as few ingredients as possible.

Taken from pages 99-101 in Eat This, Not That, by David Zinczenko

Breaking it Down for Moms #2

Here are some statements I found in the book that made me chuckle:

Croutons-Think of these oil-soaked, enriched flour cubes as salad bar grenades-they'll blow your healthy salad away!

16 pieces of Sour Patch Kids--You would have to run a mile to burn off a small handful of these!

Starbursts--One Starburst serving per day for a year will add 21.5 pounds of body fat

If you must frost your cake, go with whipped frosting

Salsa--the planet's finest condiment

Ragu wins over Prego in nearly every matchup

Bertolli Alfredo Sauce-The fat and calorie glut comes from the heavy mix of cream, cheese, butter, and soybean oil (Choose Classico Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo instead)

Any bread (including Pita bread) that says "white" on it is bound to do a number on your blood sugar.

Even in the flavored varieties you just can't trust Mission's flour tortillas. They're just massive vehicles for refined carbs.

Sara Lee Deluxe Bagels, plain--This giant wad of bleached flour will send a sugar load into your blood-stream so fast that the button might fly right off your jeans!

Breaking it Down for Moms #1

I've been reviewing my library book, Eat This, Not That, an excellent resource on swapping healthier alternatives for foods that are terribly unhealthy. If these posts have interested you, please get the book! It is WELL worth the cost! I'm going to mention some of the swaps that I see, when flipping through the book, that would be most applicable for moms like me. I'll begin with snack foods:



Don't Buy:

Pop-Secret Popcorn
Jolly Time Blast O Butter
Pop-Secret KettleCorn
Newman's Own Pop's Corn, light butter
Kellog's Special K Bliss
Honey Nut Cheerio Bars
Kudos
NutriGrain Cereal Bars, Raspberry
Oreos
Nilla Wafers
E.L. Fudge Original
Chips Ahoy Big & Soft
Hunts Snack Pack Pudding
Little Debbies' Fudge Brownies
Starbursts
Skittles
Laffy Taffy
Hershy's Chocolate Bar
Snickers
M&Ms Peanuts
Butterfinger
Twix PB
Crunch n Munch Caramel Corn
Famous Amos
Ruffles Cheddar & Sour Cream Chips
Nutter Butter
Famous Amos cookies
Rold Gold Sourdough pretzels
Chex Mix Traditional
Munchies
Combos
Quaker's Quakes Rice Snacks, Cheddar Cheese
Ritz Toasted Chips
Pringles
Natural Cheetos, White cheddar
Wheat Thins, Reduced Fat
Chicken in a Biskit Crackers
Town House Flip Sides
Ritz
Cheez-Its
David Sunflower Kernels




Instead, Buy:

Sun chips, original
Baked Doritos
Baked Tostitos Scoops
Funyuns
Garden harvest Toasted Chips
New York Style Pretzel Flatz
TrueNorth Almond Cripsies
Snyders of hanover Sourdough Pretzels
RoldGold Sticks
Cheez-It Party Mix
Cheerio Snack Mix
Goldfish Crackers, original
Ak-Mak 100% Whole of the wheat
TLC 7-Grain crackers
Triscuit original
All-Bran crackers, multi-grain
Carr's Table Water crackers
Newton's Fruit Crips
Mini Chips Ahoy!
Craisins
David Pumpkin Seeds
Stretch Island Fruit Co. Fruit Leather, Apricot
Orville Redenbacher's Kettle Korn
Orville Redenbacher's Simply Salted
The Original Cracker Jack
Good Health Half Naked with Olive Oil popcorn
Nutri-Grain Fruit and Nut bars
TLC Strawberry Cereal Bars
Quaker Chewy Chocolate Chip granola bars
Fiber One bars
Chips Ahoy Chewy
Ginger Snaps
Oreo Fudgees
Pepperidge Farm Soft Baked Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Kraft Handi-Snacks Pudding (make them your default pudding cup)
Twizzlers Pull n' Peel
Jujubes
LifeSaver Gummies
Red Hots
Jelly Bellies
Reese's PB cups
Hershey's 60 calorie sticks
Lindt 85% cocoa Extra Dark Chocolate
Hershey's Take 5
100 Grand
Raisinets

The Trans-Fattiest Foods in the Supermarket

10. Pillsbury White Chunk Macademia Nut Big Deluxe Classics

9. Pasta Roni Fettuccine Alfredo

8. Jimmy Dean Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Croissant Sandwich

7. Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (when made with margarine)

6. Pillsbury Perfect Portions Buttermilk Biscuits

5. Austin Cheese Crackers with Cheddar Jack Cheese

4. Pillsbury Grands! Flaky Supreme Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls with Icing

3. Celeste Original Pizza for One

2. Pop-Secret Kettle Corn

1. Drake's Cherry Fruit--The transfattiest food in the supermarket! 8 grams!

Taken from Eat This, Not That!

Eat This Not That--Continued

Worst Cereal: Quaker 100% Natural Granola, Oats, Honey & Raisins. (For the same amount of sugar you could have a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles more than twice the size and you'd get more fiber and save 60 calories in fat. It's the calorie equiv of eating 8 chicken wings)

Eat Instead:
Kashi GO LEAN

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Worst Packaged Side: Pasta Roni Fettuccine Alfredo (sodium equiv of 4 medium orders of McD's french fries. Eaten as a meal, expect this to top 1,000 calories, as a side dish, it still has enough calories to be a whole meal!)

Eat Instead: Pasta Roni Nature's Way Olive Oil and Italian Herb

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Worst Baked Good:
Otis Spunkmeyer Banana Nut Muffins

Eat Instead: Vitalicious Apple Berry Muffin

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Worst Frozen Treat: Toll House Ice Cream Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich (If you're going to take in this much fat and calories in one sitting, it better be for dinner! Calorie equiv of two slices of pepperoni pizza at Pizza Hut.)



Eat Instead: Skinny Cow Low Fat Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich

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Worst Individual Snack: Hostess Chocolate Pudding Pie (In additon to the nasty ingredient list that should invoke your gag reflex, this has the saturated fat content of 2 McDonald's Quarter Pounders)

Eat Instead: Chocolately Drizzle Rice Krispies Treat

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Worst Stir Fry: Bertolli Grilled Chicken Alfredo & Fettuccine Complete Skillet Meal for Two (saturated fat content, per serving, equal to 22 strips of bacon)

Eat Instead: Birds Eye Steamfresh Meals for Two Grilled Chicken in Roasted Garlic Sauce


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Worst Frozen Pizza: DiGiorno for One GArlic Bread Crust Supreme Pizza (calorie equiv of 6 slices of Dominos Thin N Crispy Cheese Pizza

Eat Instead: South Beach Diet Deluxe Pizza

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Worst Frozen Entree: Hungry-Man Classic Fried Chicken (calorie equiv of 5 Krispy Kreme Glazed Donuts)

Eat Instead: Banquet Select Chicken Parmesan

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Worst Packaged Food in America: Marie Callender's Creamy Parmesan Chicken Pot Pie
(sodium equiv of 8 small bags of potato chips, fat equiv of 23 strips of bacon, calorie equiv of 7 Taco Bell Fresco Beef Tacos)

Eat Instead: Marie Callender's Oven Baked Chicken

Eat This Not That

I have been greatly enjoying my library book called Eat This, Not That by David Zinczenko. I enjoy reading about nutrition and was very suprised by this book! Many of the foods I buy were reviewed here. It's not only a book that compares the pricey or unhealthy stuff, but also gives a review of veggies, organic foods, meats, dairy, frozen foods, etc.

I highly recommend you get it through inter-library loan or purchase it if possible! It's a handy tool to have around when it comes to losing weight, maintaining weight, or just plain being healthy!

For the sake of brevity, I'm not going to type out all the explanations of each item. But I will list them and you can look at more of the whys in the book. The book lists other nutritional info on the foods, and also on the foods they recommend you eat instead.

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Worst Crunch Snack:
Gardetto's Special Request Roasted Garlic Rye Chips (fat equivalent of 3 strips of bacon per serving) Exceeds the amount of trans fat safe to consume daily by the American heart Association

Eat Instead: Snyder's of Hanover Sourdough Nibblers

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Worst Cookie:
Pillsbury Big Deluxe Classics White Chunk Macadamian Nut

Eat Instead: Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

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Worst Yogurt: Stonyfield Farm Whole Milk Chocolate Underground
Stonyfield is notorious for being a little too generous with the sugar, but the nearly 3 T. in this is bad even by their standards. Not even Ben & Jerry's makes a flavor of ice cream with this much sugar.

Eat Instead: Breyer's Cookies n' Cream YoCrunch Lowfat with Oreo Pieces

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Worst Candy:
Twix (Has the same amount of saturated fat as 11 strips of bacon!!!!!!!!!!)

Eat Instead: 100 Grand

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Worst Ice-Cream: Haagen-Dazs Chocolate Peanut Butter (fat equivalent of a McDonald's Double Cheeseburger)

Eat Instead: Edy's Slow Churned Peanut Butter Cup

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Worst Condiment: Eggo Original Syrup (sugar equivalent of 2 Haagen Dazs ice cream bars. First 3 ingredients after water are various forms of sugar).

Eat Instead: 100% maple syrup or Smucker's Sugar Free Breakfast Syrup

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Worst Drink:
AriZona Kiwi Strawberry
(Only 5% is actually any sort of real-fruit derivative. 95% high fructose corn syrup and water with the sugar equiv of 4 original fudgsicle bars)

Drink Instead:
Tropicana Lime Raspberry Fruit Squeeze

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Worst "Healthy" Pantry Item: Pop-Tarts Whole Grain Brown Sugar Cinnamon
A glut of vegetable oil and 7 types of sugar stuffed inside
Sugar equiv of a snicker's bar in 2 pastries.

Eat Instead: Sun-Maid Rasisin English Muffins with cinnamon

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Worst Frozen "Healthy" Entree: Healthy Choice Complete Selections Sweet & Sour Chicken (sugar equiv of 2 scoops of Breyers Reese's PB ice-cream)

Eat Instead: Kashi Southwest Style Chicken

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Continued tomorrow........

Centerpiece for Fall

GirlTalk recently had a post reminding us of the beauty of centerpieces and encouraging us to vary them to add beauty to our homes. It was a good reminder for me, as I can get so busy just keeping food on the table that I forget to add beauty to my family's life. These little pumpkins and gourds from the pumpkin patch were around 25 cents each and add some fall color to our table. I've also been using bowls of pears and apples (which have been on excellent sales) to add some natural beauty to our kitchen. I hunted at the thrift store and found a glass carafe that is perfect for both serving drinks and holding leaves or flowers.

Cooking/Baking Night!

As I mentioned in my last post, my kiddoes seem to eat non-stop! It can be a MAJOR challenge to keep food in the house, even though I feel like I shop a few times a week. What's a mom to do? Fight the hunger war by bulk cooking and baking! I've been interested in bulk cooking since I read all of my mom's books on the subject when I was a young teen, and have often done it, but have never NEEDED to do it so much as now. We're on a budget, have 3 kids who eat a LOT, and homeschool. Because of these things, I have to get creative about keeping my kids fed while staying frugal and having limited time to get it all done. I decided to spend a few hours on Monday night doing some bulk cooking. So glad I got this huge bowl (that came with a lid) at a yard sale this summer for a quarter. It was the only thing big enough to hold 12 C. of flour as well as many other ingredients when I made a double batch of cinnamon graham squares!
We always seem to be out of bread! I'm looking to buy some double-size loaf pans so I can make two HUGE loaves at a time. I would estimate that our family could go through 4-5 loaves a week.

Tilamook cheese was recently on sale for only $2 a pound! That's the best deal on cheese of any brand in our town! I really stocked up on it! I used the older model food processor a lady at church gave me to shred this 2 # loaf and bag it up to use in meals this week.

The results!

1 bowl and 2 jars of fresh salsa from garden tomatoes given to me by my mom

4 loaves of Money Saving Mom's wheat bread (Been making this recipe for 3 years and love it! Didn't use the bread machine this night because of doing the recipe x4, but I often do use it with this recipe!)

4 pans of Tammy's Whole Wheat Cinnamon Graham Squares for snacks (If they look darker it's because I couldn't resist tweaking the recipe to make them a chocolate version of her recipe! Added some cocoa, a little extra sugar, and some chocolate chips! Yummy!)

2# of dried black beans got cooked up to freeze and use in Black Bean soup this week

2 # of brown rice got cooked up to freeze and use in Plowman's Share.

The bowl of macaroni and cheese and the bowl of veggies were part of our supper. I doubled the batches so that we would have lunch for the following day and also vegetables to add with rice, cheese, and elk roast for Plowman's Share, one of our family's favorite meals.

-------------------------------------------------

I started soaking the beans in the morning and left them all day. My cooking "night" began at 5 pm as I was making supper. I got the bread dough made and put it on the stovetop to rise, began cooking the beans and made a double batch of supper. I took my finish pic at 8:30 pm. Granted, I had to bag up the bread and squares after taking this pic, but during the 3.5 hours of doing this baking night I also dealt with kid's needs, served and ate supper, and cleaned up. So, it really didn't take longer than a few hours, even with bagging it all up and sticking things in the freezer. This was my first bulk-cooking event where I had a dishwasher and it made all the difference in the world! I merely had to run an extra load the morning after and clean-up was a snap!

Since we already had lots of roast elk leftovers (thanks to my super sweet brother Colter who got an elk and gave half of it to us) in the fridge, I used the rice and shredded cheese and veggies to throw together two pans of Plowman's Share the next morning and we took one to a family dinner and used the other pan for a couple of meals this week. Having the shredded cheese on hand sure has been handy for several meals this week.

My brother enjoyed the homemade bread I took to a family dinner so I ended up giving him a loaf. That's one of the joys of bulk cooking, you have things on hand to share! I also had a Ladies Craft Night to attend on Tuesday night so I was able to bring some of the graham squares as my contribution. Getting it all done at once sure made this week a lot easier for me. Though my house looked like a tornado for a while (dirty dishes, kids running around tearing up the place while Daddy watched them as I cooked), it has been much easier to maintain this week as I have less prep time for meals.

Bulk cooking is a tool I plan to continue to use often in my attempt to combat the hunger war here at home!

How Much Do Your Kids Eat?

Sometimes I wonder if other people's kids eat as much as mine do. Mine seem to be eating all the time (3 meals, 2 regularly scheduled snacks). My experiment with shopping every two weeks flopped. I seem to be in the stores more than ever and I'm getting tired of it but the fridge still seems perpetually empty! I realize that moms of teens out there are probably chuckling at me and thinking, "Just wait 10 years and then you'll really feel like your kids are eating you out of house and home!" But, even though my kids are little, they sure do keep me constantly busy buying, preparing, and serving food! I suppose it doesn't help that my hubby has the world's fastest metabolism either and works a very physically strenuous job!

Would you leave a comment and tell me what your kids eat in an average day? Just so I can see if my kids are normal or extra-big-eaters?

In an average day, here's what my kiddoes put away (the 3 of them combined)

Breakfast:

3 Cups of cereal topped with milk

3 C. of milk

10 a.m. Snack:

6 boiled eggs
3 slices of cheese
1 C. raisins
2 C. juice


Lunch:

4 whole PB and J sandwiches
2 Peaches
Water
1/2 C. yogurt


3 p.m. Snack:

Justus loves to eat a whole, large garden tomato for snack in addition to other things! The other kids won't eat tomatoes!

2.5 C. goldfish crackers
1-2 Apples, sliced up
3 C. milk


Supper:

2 baked potatoes
4 oz. chicken
1 c. brocolli
1 C. milk
3 C. juice + 3 C. water mixed together
3 brownies (although they'd eat more if I allowed them to!)

Whaddya think? Can our kids out-eat yours?

A Glimpse of Jesus in Today's World

There are some incredible men in our town who are being Jesus to the kids around them. Two of my dad's good friends formed a ministry that reaches out to boys without dads. It's called Fathers in the Field.

One guy involved in this ministry in our town is a hard-working local businessman and volunteers his time to mentor a young boy each week. The boy he mentors is very poor, doesn't have a dad, and has a difficult life. However, thanks to this businessman, he has a wise "father figure" in his life who regularly takes time to go on adventures with him, a new camoflauge coat to keep him warm this winter, and a Christian education (that's right, his Father in the Field guy pays his tuition so he can go to the Christian school.) This guy doesn't broadcast his good deeds, but I found out about his generosity quietly (it's a small town) and was so touched. With all the bad news out there these days, here is some good news! There are many men in our town involved with this ministry and it is growing into a national ministry. At the website there is even a video of one guy from our town, the main founder, being interviewed on TBN about Fathers in the Field.

Check out this website to find out more about Fathers in the Field. If you are an empty-nester man who wants to make a difference for the Lord and you enjoy the great outdoors, this may be a ministry God is calling you to work with. If you want to get your congregation turned on to this incredible ministry, find out on the site how you can get someone to come to your church and train your men to mentor fatherless boys.

I wasn't asked by anyone to post this, but I feel compelled to do so because it is such a God-glorifying thing that is taking place for hurting kids!

Vacation Pics #1

Since I didn't get around to posting a lot of vacation photos this summer, I thought I would share them now. These are pics from a little camping trip the kids and I did with my mom, brother Colter, and his wife Anna in July.

Facebook Friend

For any of you whom are not yet a friend on facebook, but would like to, e-mail me your info at heyalethia (at) hotmail

Thanks!

Tackling Emotional Debt

Today I'm tackling my emotional debt hardcore after a busy couple of weeks where it got mostly ignored. What is emotional debt? Well, I'm sure there are different ideas of what it is, but when I refer to it, I'm simply talking about the obligations that are hanging over my head that I need to get done, which aren't neccessarily high-pressure things. When you have financial debt, there is a lot of pressure from bill collectors to pay up....or else! My emotional debt doesn't involve a lot of external pressure (except for getting bills paid on time) but rather internal pressure from myself.

What is on my emotional debt list? I'll give you a recent glimpse from my list:

Thank-You Notes (I had 6 people listed)

Packages to mail

Need to send gifts to 4 couples we know who recently got married

Get some paperwork filled out and mailed

Pray for Samaritan Ministries folks from the Sep. booklet (Samaritan Ministries is a health-insurance alternative we belong to)

Prayer for people we promised to pray for

Get a tape of my Bible verse song made for my Aunt Joanie

Invite a new friend to a playdate

Give books back to gal I borrowed them from months ago

Send photos of our kids to my sis-in-law (she makes a calendar each year for the grandparents)

Send Hannah (in prison--see sidebar) a card of encouragement

Make a sick friend a meal

Some months there are more things than others. Sometimes I'm caught up, but not for long! There is always plenty to do!

Why do I have an emotional debt list vs. just putting these items on a daily to-do list? Because for me, having one master list for the month makes it simpler and I can look it over, check off the item when it's done, and get to the others as I am able throughout the month. Lately, I have been so busy following a homeschooling schedule and routine that I don't usually use my home management binder daily to write homemaking to-do lists in. My previous practices of the daily index cards or the daily checklist have helped me to get into good habits so I no longer find a to-do list really necessary unless it is a very big day with lots of extra chores to do, or a party to plan or big shopping trip, etc. We write Church events or medical appointments on our wall calendar. Find out what works for you and use it!

While obligations hanging over our heads can weigh us down, I want to emphasize that many of the things on the list are blessings. It is a blessing to send cards of encouragement to others and pray for Christians who are sick or suffering. If God lays someone on my heart, jotting it down on this list is preferrable to having niggling thoughts in the back of my head ("I should do this..." or "I need to encourage that person..."). It is a blessing to make or purchase gifts for others. It is a blessing to serve and minister to others on behalf of the Lord. However, as moms, with lots on our plates, it can feel overwhelming if we let it all pile up or try to remember it without writing it down. This is where the handy list comes in. If you aren't comfortable calling your list "An Emotional Debt" list you could find another creative name.

1. Make your list. Write down everything that is cluttering up your brain that you need to do outside of home chores and child-rearing.

2. Prayerfully go over it and consider your daily priorities. How can you take care of your emotional debt bit by bit without sacrificing those priorities?

3. Think about how you can tackle it. Could some of your thank-yous be done more quickly through a heartfelt e-mail? Is there a great book on marriage you could order in bulk and give to the 4 couples you know getting married? Can you save time on the meal you are taking someone by buying french bread and ice-cream instead of making bread and brownies?

Financially, you can get out of debt little by little or tackle it all at once, or do some of both. I try to tackle my emotional debt a little each day, but if it builds up because life hasn't allowed me to work on it, then I do a "debt-snowball" and spend a few hours hitting it hard!

4. Tackle the time-sensitive stuff first. Back when I was dealing with all of the paperwork for my husband's broken wrist, there were all kinds of things on my emotional debt lists regarding forms to fill out, phone calls to hospital billing agencies, etc. Obviously, this kind of stuff is more important than sending thank-you notes promptly. Due to the volume of weddings we were invited to this year we post-poned giving gifts to some of the couples and I plan to surprise the happy couples later on with a card and a small, but sweet, gift. Better late than never, right? =)

5. Be proactive about avoiding too many obligations. This point hits home for me! As a firstborn whose parents were very strict and required a ton out of me (and still do) I have to continually remind myself to utelize these phrases, "Let me pray about it," "No." and "I need to discuss it with my husband." Many times, I have to step back and tell myself no concerning things that I would love to do. I love to sew and want to sew a pretty apron for every one of my friends, my internet and blogging buddies, and all the ladies at church going through a rough time. But can I physically do this when I have only 3-4 kid-free hours in a day? No! These unrealistic ideas must be forgotten. I often expect more out of myself than I should . I have mentioned before that as a stay-at-home mom everyone wants a piece of your time, so you have to fight tooth and nail, sometimes fighting yourself hardest of all, to save time for your main priorities, God, husband, and kids. Thinking before you speak and weighing your options carefully and prayerfully will go a long way towards helping you avoid emotional debt that you could have avoided in the first place. Some examples of this: telling church committees that you only wish to serve in one ministry at a time, telling your kids they may not trade toys with a playmate since it's more work for you to keep track of the borrowed toy (and return it), checking your calendar BEFORE saying yes to a playdate or event, choosing a simple generic gift for extended family for Christmas (the same book, photo calendar, tin of chex mix, etc.)

I'd love to hear what some of you ladies out there are doing to tackle and stay on top of your own emotional debt (or obligations)! Please share!

Photo: Flowers from my hubby at the end of a long week (last week).

Pretty Things

Hard to see from the pics, but there are embroidered flowers all over this skirt in a variety of colors.

I tried this skirt on 7 months ago when I was looking for some fun things to update my wardrobe. I hardly ever go in the clothing boutique where it was because it's so pricey but they do have some great clearance items. Even at half off, it was more than I wanted to pay, $32.50, and I had lots of other ideas for how to spend my birthday cash.

When Ali and I had a mother/daughter date this weekend, we decided to pop into the store since they were advertising a one-day-only 85% off sale. I was DELIGHTED to see this lovely skirt still there, the only one left, in MY SIZE (what a rarity!), marked 85% off! Because the $65 skirt was now less than $10, I happily purchased it, as well as another beautiful, black long skirt with black cotton eyelet trim for $5.70 marked down from $38.

Nice gifts from God that I'm thankful for today!

Great Read

I've mentioned before that my new favorite blog is Holy Experience. Every day, her posts seem to hit me right where I need it, encouraging me to keep my focus on the Lord. This post was especially meaningful to me as a mom, talking about all the "unseen" work we do and how we often crave recognition for it, or place too high of an importance on doing the things that can be seen by others.


All of you weary moms facing a disaster-area home on this Monday afternoon should read it.

Breathing Solace

This day will go down in history as one of the worst days of my life turned wonderful. Today I cried like I have never cried before. Wailed would be a more accurate description. My day began with the same old heavy feeling I've felt all week. Though I received much encouragement from friends in the last week, heard verses of encouragement continually, prayed constantly, and "knew" with my head knowledge that it would all work out, God's presence seemed very distant. I kept begging Him to be close, my theme verse being, "The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Psalm 34:18

I just couldn't feel Him. We began the day still basically homeless with the thought that we would soon be living in a camper in my parent's pasture or in someone's basement, our closest friends left for Kansas, and I had to take Jeremiah to the doctor for a nasty red lesion on his leg that looked majorly infected. Alathia was very naughty, hurting her brothers all day long causing the loss of many of her favorite priviledges and getting many consequences. About the time she informed me that Jer had had an accident on their bedroom rug, I noticed for the first time that she had snuck a pink marker into her room the day before and had decorated a 6-foot section of wall, her sheet, and her legs with pink. So that explains why Jer's face was pink yesterday too! I thought he had done it while they were coloring at the table. After getting out our carpet shampooer and cleaning up the wet mess, I did many loads of laundry while trying to keep track of Justus who is always pulling everything off my pantry shelves or digging in the trash. Today was no exception as someone left the bathroom door open again and of course he was splashing in his brother's potty chair. Ick! Next, I tried to clean up the saltine cracker disaster they had made in the kitchen. A while later, I discovered Jeremiah had not taken a nap at all, but had put his swimming trunks on, taking his nap-time diaper off in the process, and had pooped in his swimming trunks. What's worse is that he didn't tell me about it and tried to wipe himself and clean up, which resulted in poo on the bathroom floor, the crib, etc. I put him in the bathtub for his second bath of the day. He's been doing great with potty-training recently but today was definitely an off-day. As I cleaned up poo I absolutely lost it! It's not even PMS week either!



I wailed hysterically, probably scaring my kids into thinking that poopy messes make their Mama crazy! I felt like I had hit rock bottom and could absolutely not handle one more thing. I know there are many folks out there with much worse problems, but with everything going on, I felt completely crushed and weary. I begged God to help me get through the day. I pleaded with everything in me and told Him I couldn't handle it. That it was too much! Anguish.






After cleaning up the mess we drove to the pharmacy to get his prescription for his bump. Everywhere I drove in town reminded me of places we had gone and things we had done with our friends who are now gone, bringing many tears. Back at home I then served the world's most unhealthy supper. Ramen noodles with white hot dog buns with cheese on them (leftovers from the Youth Group's hot dog night). Don't forget saltine crackers too. No kool-aid or twinkies though. After supper Josiah went to pay our rent and talk to the landlord about when we would need to be out.





When he returned, there was peace. Twenty thousand pounds. That's how much lighter I felt when he reported that Paul had decided to wait until April or May to raise the house. He had realized how limited our options were and decided to give us a break. He even offered us first dibs on buying this house when the foundation is done.

Breath.

Rest.

Peace.

Tears of joy.

Thankfulness.

As I headed to the public library to read my new Homeschooling magazine and soak in some quiet and thankfulness this evening, I felt like a soldier returning from a battle. The exhaustion of the day lingered but a joyful shakiness welled up inside. Looking up at the denim-blue night sky I saw one twinkling star. Nightime stars have always seemed like valentines from God to me. I felt Him whisper, "I was here." Even when I couldn't feel Him. Even when He seemed to be silent while we struggled, even while I wept, even while door after door was closed. He knows what He's doing and what He has planned.



Though I may not understand this side of Heaven exactly why hard times are allowed to come, I do know that they build endurance. Sometimes broken-hearted is the best place to be if it makes you pray as you've never prayed before. The Word becomes life to you. You find out who your friends are. You get to see the kindness and generosity of those around you extended in so many ways. You get to be a showcase for God's awesome power before unbelieving friends and relatives. You become more thankful for the basics, and are reminded not to take them for granted. Life becomes much simpler. You are humbled by your desperation and need for God and for others. Your kids learn that God does answer prayer. You can better empathize with those who are truly suffering and have much worse problems than you.




I do wonder if this is part of God's plan to get us into home ownership. Our town has impossible prices (three times higher than homes in my husband's hometown), and because we are cautious and saving slowly due to a low income we may have never started looking at real estate without this trial. But because of viewing lots of fixer-uppers these last two weeks we have gotten a taste for what we are looking for and what we can afford and my hubby is prayerfully considering a project that might bring about a home for us. If it works out, we could work on it while living here until the spring, but if it doesn't, at least we have 6 months to "house-shop" and won't be pushed into buying a junky home we really don't like out of desperation. Was all of this part of God's way of answering my recent prayers for a home of our own? Maybe! Someday we'll know for sure.



The ache of friends gone is still very real, but I know we will stay long-distance friends and that God is our comfort in this loss. He has not left us without friends. This difficult time has made my church family that much more precious to me.



So, we're breathing much easier tonight. Tomorrow will be a day of joy and praising God for the home we have to live in for the next 6 months. Saturday I will unpack boxes and take Ali on a mother-daughter date to spend time with her as her behavior has been showing she is feeling the strain of these last two weeks. Monday we will be back to homeschooling (hurray, we've missed it!) after a very chaotic week and a half off.



For those of you who prayed, offered basements or campers, called with real estate tips, or encouraged me in some small way, thank you. It meant so much to us. It was amazing to me how my brothers sought to help me too in whatever ways they could. Wow!



If there is anyone out there experiencing a trial, big or small, that's got you flat on the floor, would you please let me know so I can pray for you? Also, this sermon really blessed me the other day if you want to listen to it. It's called, "When My Heart is Overwhelmed."

Wordless Wednesday

Standing Stones

Today, I feel the need to erect some "standing stones." Some rememberances of how God has been faithful to encourage my faith in a time when I need it most. If you think of any that I've forgotten or want to share some of your own I would appreciate it.

Many tears and prayers through childhood and God has restored my parents and given them a good marriage.

All the lonely times of hoping for love, feeling unloved, wondering if I would ever meet a special someone, and God answered so amazingly and gave me Josiah.

Not knowing where I should go to college and God opened the doors at just the right time so that I knew where He was leading step by step.

When I was confused about Josiah and I's relationship and frustrated God spoke to me so clearly and loudly as I turned around when I was praying and saw a poster on the wall that had a verse that encouraged me and spoke to the situation. Many times he held me up through the questions and angst I had in our relationship.

God's enveloping love that was with me when I was terribly homesick at college.

God delivered us from trial after trial with old cars in our first couple of years of marriage. Always provided jobs for us.

When Alathia joined the family Josiah got a job that paid $2 more an hour, which was perfect timing. Continued raises as our family grows, allowing me to stay home.

Our minivan--we're driving an answer to prayer.

Justus turning around from breech position at the last moment.

Our current rental--we prayed for windows, sunlight, and a fenced yard and got a place we really love and have been very happy in

When we prayed for neighbors to reach out to with the gospel, God more than delivered! We spent a difficult, wonderful, crazy, exciting, couple of years next door to our friends from Mexico. Be careful what you pray for!

When I was terrified of going to public High School God answered all of my prayers for Christian friends and gave me some of the most incredible, godly teens on earth. Our prayer groups, Bible studies, and outreach events were amazing.

God brought us through the long, arduous home delivery of Alathia and the boys' hospital births with healthy babies and no major complications, huge answers to prayer.

God has always provided when there has been a big financial need. He made a way for us to pay for or pay off all of our children and we have never gone hungry, or without medical care.

God brought in the money somehow for me to go to college for 3 years when I thought it would never happen.

When Josiah broke his wrist and couldn't work much, I didn't know how we were going to survive financially, but God provided, through anonymous gifts, our savings and ability to be frugal, through babysitting jobs for me, through Josiah's ability to work one-armed, etc.

God kept me safe on the treacherous, icy drive to Billings and back with my hurt husband. Many safe trips to and from MN too.

God has kept Josiah safe in many situations at work that could have left me widowed.

God has protected my wayward brother from being seriously hurt or killed in two accidents in the last year.

God touched me with healing for a physical ailment when I was in a lot of pain.

This is just the beginning. But is enough to redirect my heart. Trust. He was faithful. He is faithful. He will be faithful.

Tps for Homeschooling--Part Four--Guarding Your Time

When you stay home, it's amazing how many people think they can monopolize your time. Even if you are NOT homeschooling, but are staying home with your little ones, you have to be so careful which activities you will join, which church ministries you will get involved in, and in how you will spend your days. Homemakers are continually bombarded with requests for childcare, service opportunities at church, errands or favors, etc. Of course no one thinks they are asking too much of you because they're only asking for this "small" thing. But what many don't realize is that 100 people a week ask you for "small" things and you cannot say yes to everything without going crazy! If I said yes to all the children I've been asked to babysit in recent years I'd be watching at least 12 kids in addition to my own in addition to doing about 10 ministries at church and being my Dad's business secretary and my Mom's paid maid!



Something we do to guard our homeschooling time is not answering the phone during our homeschooling hours unless it is a very important call which I know will be brief. We don't plan errands or shopping for that time of the day. We don't schedule playdates either and I am no longer babysitting any friend's children regularly. I treat my homeschooling like a job, because it is a job indeed! If I worked outside of the home, folks wouldn't demand that time from me, so why should I allow people to demand my time because I work in the home, doing the incredible task of shaping little hearts and minds for eternity?



I'm not saying that I don't embrace those God-ordained interruptions and opportunities to bless someone or be a friend to someone in crisis. The mom-at-home is in a unique position today where she has the time to give where most do not. A rich life is lived in the interruptions. But there are far too many non-important things that can interrupt the school day needlessly if we aren't vigilant to guard our time.

The Little Things

Our life is still in chaos but at least I've stopped crying and I feel God turning my mourning into dancing again. There are lots of options to consider: buying this house after the foundation work is done, moving into my parent's small guestroom for a month, renting elsewhere, temporary rental, asking the landlord to wait until Spring to do the foundation, buying a home, etc. We found a little home we like in our price range which we will be placing an offer on today. I don't want to get too excited as it may not go through but it's at least a possibility that gives me some measure of joy and relief. Maybe God knew we would never buy unless he literally gave us a shove towards it!




It's funny when your life is completely turned upside down how it's the little things that nearly kill you. On the day I was frantically packing after we had just got the news everything had to be out of the house Jer wet his pants and it pushed me over the edge. Later that day we found a bill we were sure we had paid, and had even double-checked on and thought we had paid, and it was 3 days late. I had to jump in my car with 3 little kids, drive 30 miles in a hurry to go pay it before they closed. That same day folks asked me for two favors and someone else called to tell me they wanted me to do nursery this Sunday (I'm the nursery coordinater at church). The next night I had set some casserole aside for my mom and she came by when I was gone to get it and accidentally took our supper with hers so I got home with cranky kids, thankful that for once supper was ready and waiting in the fridge only to find it gone. It's the little things that stack up on top of the big things to make you feel like you will surely lose it if you haven't already. I'd be lying if I said I didn't consider throwing the kids in the van and driving as far away from this situation as I could and not coming home until it was fixed!





It's also in the little things where you find comfort. The little notes of encouragement and offers of help. Being able to control the small stuff like making your bed neatly even if the whole rest of the house is in shambles and boxes. Taking a hot bath. Watching America's Funniest Home videos and laughing again. Someone bringing chocolate muffins by or friends sharing garden produce. The SEEDS Courage CD that keeps playing over and over in our car as we run a bazillion errands, looking at housing options, and keeps trumpeting the message that God is with us and not to fear and to take refuge in Him.





This week I have talked with or thought of women who have it much worse than I do. I am continually reminded that I have much to be thankful for, even in a difficult time. I think of Hannah (see link on sidebar) who is in prison for a crime she didn't commit and is away from her 5 precious children until she is acquitted. It's been 2-3 years so far. I think of Sharon, a gal in my Bible study group whose granddaughter whom she raised like a daughter embezzled $65,000 from her this week, totally betraying her trust and breaking their relationship and ruining her grandparent's business. Also, I think of Shiloh's cousin who lost her 2 year-old son in a bad car accident this week. I think of a gal at church who is dealing with a reactive attachment disorder child whom they adopted and has 5 other kids to care for as well. I think of friends who were sexually abused as children, some for years on end. I think of my friend whose child is constantly in the hospital with severe problems that are still undiagnosed and of the gal I spoke with at ballet class whose baby died at 37 weeks along in the pregnancy. One friend has an alcoholic husband. Life doesn't seem so hard anymore. Yes, there is a lot of work to be done, but God's peace is with us at this time.

Update on the House

Lots of prayer needed! The guys were here today and they informed me that due to some issues with the house they will need to tip the house. This means that not only do we have to be out but EVERYTHING WE OWN needs to be moved out as well because the house will tip. Which means 2-3 days to move everything we own to somewhere and we get to be homeless for a month. My parents have one spare bedroom but they are experiencing a lot of water problems right now and don't have drinking water. On top of all of this, our good friends move away to Kansas in a week.

I was totally prepared for the inconvenience of living in a high rise with construction going on underneath me but I wasn't prepared to hear that not only would we be homeless but that we'd have to move everything as well. This is going to be a tough week.

Update:

Our landlord is going to try to find us a place to live during the construction on the house since he had assured us we could live there. He's looking into it today. The odds are slim since it is nearly impossible to get a rental in this town, and especially a temporary rental, unless it's in a meth neighborhood. It took us almost a year to find this rental and even then it was not advertised due to it being my cousin's husband's place. He did say we have some time so a 2 day move isn't going to happen; which is such a relief. But inspite of having time, the thought of moving twice in a month's time is crushing. I'm having to go back and look over my posts on suffering. There's a huge part of me that feels everything that I've worked at for the last 9 months we've lived here is being undone. The flowers I've planted, the yard we fertilized, the walls I decorated so carefully, the organizational things I've done to make our rooms more functional, the routine and schedule we've created, the opportunity to host guests and serve others with our home, the life we've known here.

Gratitude Journals

I used some scraps from my collection of old Christmas cards and a family photo for mine.

Alathia is in a kitten/puppy/bunny stage so these stickers we had in the homeschooling box worked for her notebook!

Jeremiah's Gratitude Journal

I absolutely love reading the blog Holy Experience. I found it through another favorite blog of mine, The Homespun Heart. When I read Holy Experience, my heart feels squeezed, I feel infused with truth and encouragement in my role as a mother.

One of the main things Ann Voskamp posts about at Holy Experience is her experience in starting a Gratitude Journal, which she calls 1,000 Gifts. When she set out to find 1,000 things to be thankful for, she began to fill her days with thankfulness and praise and she has long since passed the one thousand mark! I loved her idea so much I made some simple journals out of some notebooks in our stash that were purchased on a back-to-school sale for 8 cents each.

Every day it is a delight to see what my children draw in their journal. They draw while I read from the Bible for a while. It helps them listen better. My daughter, in typical girl fashion makes everything into families. One day she was thankful for wolves and rainbows (drawing a family of each), one day circles and dots (with a daddy, mommy, and baby circles), one day for princesses and girl baby dolls, cat families, the moon, and a house. Jeremiah, being a typical little boy drew snakes and lizards the first two days and I have to remind him daily that he needs to pick something new besides snakes! So he's moved on to giraffes, hippos, and other animal favorites!

Eventually, I may move Gratitude Journal time to the end of the day as I like the idea of closing the day by thanking God for something memorable and sweet that happened that day and recording it for posterity. But for now, it fits in well with our morning school routine.

I have sooooo much to be thankful for! For strong arms enveloping me in a hug at lunch time, for a sugar plum princess ballerina dress for my daughter's December recital, for a new watch, for a mountain sunset, for a free Happy Meal coupon, for fresh ground pepper on sauteed vegetables, for sweet conversation with friends, for tears shared together with a friend in pain, for the taste of fresh breadsticks, for beautiful September days, for lazy fall picnics, for bike rides to the park, for kissable baby cheeks, for the beauty of music, for clean Carhardt jeans, for frozen blueberries on top of oatmeal waffles, for a washing machine, for clean dishes every morning from the dishwasher, for pumpkin cheesecake and mini marshmallows in a steaming cup of cocoa, for God's never-ending patience with me, for a baby who loves to clean up library books, for friends who understand and save time for a chat, for kids who spontaneously give each other foot massages, for creativity and the ability to create, for authors who pierce my heart with deep truths, for excellent printable coupons, for giggling kids, for lush parks, for new beginnings, for the chance to watch God work in the lives of those around us, for trials that grow us, for the ache that means the friendship was a great one, for lotion that is neither greasy or watery and gets the job done, for that twinkle in Grandpa's eye when he laughs, for a Grammy who invites Ali to share lunch and recess with her at school, for the magnificence of autumn..........

I could go on and on but I'd better stop lest this post get too long! The more I look for evidences of graces in my life, the more I see them.