Meatless Mondays

I only go grocery shopping every other week on Monday or Tuesday. Since I randomly started my meatless Mondays without really thinking about what food I had on hand, I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel to make a nice meatless meal. Looking in my fridge we find lots of cheese, salsa, sour cream, milk, almond milk, bacon, turkey pepperoni, romaine lettuce and two eggs - it is looking pretty bare in there...it always does every Monday morning (we have plenty of food in our house just nothing that doesn't require a little preparation on my part).

I was going to make a black bean burrito recipe a friend sent me but I used my black beans in a soup I had to change up because of a dead crock pot (don't get me started on how sad I am that my crock pot has died a random, tragic death) and I didn't have three of the other ingredients the recipe called for. So, last night I was stuck with a dilemma, or so I thought, do I suck it up and go out and buy supplies for today's meatless Monday or do I figure something out with what I have in my pantry? Since I am cheap, and hate going out Sunday nights after the kids are in bed, I chose the latter.

What did I find that I could make? I am going to make bean burritos made with a can of refried black beans, mexican rice, cheese, and canned tomatoes. I am sure these will be super filling! No special recipe, just cooking the rice up and mixing in some salsa and then putting all the ingredients into tortillas and baking for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Should be yummy, should be easy:-)

When one member hurts, we all hurt.

"If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." 1 Corinthians 12:26

Two and a half years ago I witnessed the marriage of a high school friend and the love of her life. They promised to love each other in sickness and in health until death parted them. Now, her husband is fighting a battle with cancer and I am sure she is fighting with all of her being to be strong for him. But it looks like cancer is going to win this battle.

The thing is, when you hear him speak, you hear a man who is sad that he will be leaving his wife sooner than he ever planned. You also hear a man of great faith in his Savior. Why? Because no matter what happens God has won. God has won the bigger battle. He has won the most important battle. God sent His Son to overcome sin and He reigns victoriously! And he realizes that even at the end of the day if there is no miracle cure that God is still good. But that doesn't stop the ache of knowing he will be leaving his wife a widow at age 25...

So, I am hurting with her as she prepares for what lies ahead. I am hurting with him as he will most likely be leaving his beautiful wife he adores too soon. As the body of Christ, we hurt when one part is hurting. I weep with her. I weep for him. I weep because they are weeping. And I rejoice with them knowing that God has a plan for him and has a plan for his life. And that God has prepared a place for him...

My heart is heavy for my friend. Please pray for her and her husband and their families. Pray for peace and pray for a miraculous healing if that is God's will because God is bigger than all of this.

Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul

Dear refuge of my weary soul,

On Thee, when sorrows rise

On Thee, when waves of trouble roll,

My fainting hope relies

To Thee I tell each rising grief,

For Thou alone canst heal

Thy Word can bring a sweet relief,

For every pain I feel

But oh! When gloomy doubts prevail,

I fear to call Thee mine

The springs of comfort seem to fail,

And all my hopes decline

Yet gracious God, where shall I flee?

Thou art my only trust

And still my soul would cleave to Thee

Though prostrate in the dust

Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face,

And shall I seek in vain?

And can the ear of sovereign grace,

Be deaf when I complain?

No still the ear of sovereign grace,

Attends the mourner’s prayer

Oh may I ever find access,

To breathe my sorrows there

Thy mercy seat is open still,

Here let my soul retreat

With humble hope attend Thy will,

And wait beneath Thy feet,

Thy mercy seat is open still,

Here let my soul retreat

With humble hope attend Thy will,

And wait beneath Thy feet

Maybe if...

...I bake our garbage men brownies they won't run over our trash lid again.

Meatless Mondays

I am not much of a meat person. I like it but I don't feel I need it to make a filling meal. And meat is expensive and takes up a good chunk of my grocery budget. So, Garrett and I have decided to go meatless on Mondays. Nothing crazy. I am excited to see the benefits it will have on my grocery budget.

I will admit that I was a little nervous about suggesting this to Garrett because he is a meat man. It didn't take any convincing at all!

So, if you are looking for a way to shave a dollar or two off your grocery budget or just want to stretch your dollar even more, try going meatless one day!

Here is what we had for our first Meatless Monday:

Broccoli Cheese Soup and homemade bread

Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe

3 medium sized carrots

1 bundle of broccoli cut into florets

1/4 onion

4 TBSP divided

3 cups of chicken stock

2 cups of milk

1/4 cup flour

1 garlic clove chopped

2 cups cheddar cheese

In a large sauce pan, melt 2 TBSP of butter and then saute carrots (chopped into small bits), onion, and garlic. Add chicken stock and broccoli florets and bring to a boil. In another large pan, melt the rest of the butter and whisk in flour. Then add milk and stir to combine. Let it thicken for about 2 minutes and add cheese. Then dump everything from the first pot into the pot with the cheese and stir to combine and serve! Voila! A yummy, meatless dinner!

Soooo big!

Almost 6 months ago I was holding this sweet, small little boy...

Buff

This is a picture of Garrett and I. As you can tell we are buff, but we want more. We want more buffness. Lots more buffness. So we have enlisted the help of Tony Horton and the power of P90 (pre-cursor to P90X). Just wait until you see how buff we are AFTER:-)

'member that time?

'member that time I was cleaning out our apartment before we moved in and my hands were disgusting. And 'member how I had no hand soap or soap of any kind so I used toilet bowl cleaner to wash them? Yep, I am classy!

If you want to do a 'member that time? Monday go to http://teamvanvoorst.blogspot.com/

P.S. I posted Christmas pictures but they showed up below my last post, so check them out!

The HoJo

Now, I have stayed in some pretty awesome hotels in my life. I guess they were motels but I don't like to get caught up in the details. Just like on our honeymoon in Florida when we couldn't find our hotel because the little detail that it was a Ramada Inn and not just a Ramada Suites seemed to escape my new husband and we were literally driving up and down this one street going into EVERY SINGLE Ramada there was. Needless to say, it was a night that I will never forget!

This past summer Garrett and I, plus a couple of awesome friends, got to experience some luxurious stays:-) The first was a Days Inn. Now Days Inn's aren't that bad and this one was decent. But the last night of our stay we walked into our lovely room just before midnight to find a gaping hole in the wall. And when I say gaping hole, I mean I could have jumped out of our window (we were on the second floor). The maintenance people were apparently replacing all air conditioning units and they never brought us a new one or even our old one back. I am guessing they thought we wouldn't even notice that it was missing. It wasn't as humorous at the time but when I look back it was pretty darn funny:-) (A shout out to our friends who stayed with us in the lovely room - "G-night erbody!")

But I think the hotel, I mean motel, stay that was the most memorable was our little stay in July. We were driving to the beautiful state of Colorado but were going to take a break in the middle of nowhere and sleep the night. We wanted something cheap and that had a continental breakfast - so we got a room at the Howard Johnson. Now, I have stayed at motels like Budget Inn, The Hub (yes, that was the name), The Motel, but this was by far the best-worst motel ever! We later found out that it was nicknamed the HoJo - lesson of the day: if you ever hear that a hotel has a nickname that has Ho at the beginning beware. The beds were lumpy, you were not sure if you should take your shoes off, taking a shower made you wonder if you were getting dirtier and sleeping under the covers meant taking a risk. But it served its purpose and some of us slept a few hours. Even though I will probably never stay at a HoJo again, it was definitely a hilarious stay and a trip that I will never forget!!!!

One thing I have learned in my life is that sometimes cheap things are cheap. But friendship and people are what make things memorable. I wouldn't trade the memories for anything and the price was just right!

A little late but still just as great!

Here are just a few pictures from our Christmas in Ohio and even these don't do our Christmas justice! We spent more time enjoying the holiday than actually taking pictures. It's okay though because the memories are abundant!

Garrett's favorite childhood toy - Egg Bird!

Can you guess why the picture above makes me laugh?

We spent 10 days in Ohio and it felt like the shortest trip ever! We love and miss our family more than I think they even realize!

Let today always be remembered as...

The day Eden pooped in the potty! Yep, you read that right. Eden sat on our toilet and pooped!!! There were lots of praises being sung and even a chocolate chip for her accomplishment! I am not sure if this will be a regular thing yet but she is definitely getting interested in using the potty and I am all for using less diapers (or in my case, washing fewer).

This brings me to how our family saves money. We use cloth diapers instead of disposable 90% of the time. The kinds of cloth diapers that are my favorites so far are Kawaii, Flips, and fleece covers (we only use these in the summer). I would say my whole stash of cloth diapers cost me around $200. I also have cloth diaper wipes and surprisingly our pediatrician was the one to recommend using them! I make my own wipe solution (water, a couple drops of baby soap, and small finger tip of coconut oil) and just spray it on their bums. I joked around with Garrett that I love cloth wipes so much that I thought about making cloth toilet paper - lets just say he did not find it funny (I, of course, did).

Washing cloth diapers is pretty simple. I have a reusable diaper pail liner (my pail is just a garbage can with a lid) that I collect all the diapers in. Every other day I empty everything into the washer, including the pail liner. I do a 15 minute oxy clean soak and then do a heavy wash with two rinse and spin cycles. It really is effortless in my opinion. Once a month I try and strip my diapers of soap residue so they won't have absorbency problems (I do everything the same before but instead of washing with Tide, I put in two drops of original Dawn and do an extra two rinse and spins).

Cloth diapering is not something for everyone. And I will admit that I don't enjoy washing diapers (it's not gross to me, it is just a little bit of work) but the money saving, plus the bum saving they have brought to our family are both a big plus!

And don't worry if you come to visit, we will forever have regular toilet paper in our bathroom!

The Well-Behaved Child

Eden is a strong-willed child by nature (we are honestly not sure where she got it) and if she wants to do something, by-golly she will do it! She is also a sweet little girl who is sensitive and girly as all get-out. My job as a mom is to make a disciple of her (and Coop) and lead her in obedience. I have really struggled with how to implement good discipline (root word of discipline is disciple) with her because she is strong-willed and I seem like the nice flaky mom to her but with the help of my wonderful husband (and TONS of prayer) and tips from other parents and a good book that I am currently reading ("The Well-Behaved Child by John Rosemond), I think I am getting off on a good foot.

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:11

"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6

Thank you Garry for being a leader and reminding me that our ultimate goal isn't to have a child who is good at the grocery store but who has a heart for Christ.