The Dinner Dilemma Finale

We are going on three full weeks of meal planning and mega organization overhaul. I LOVE it. The prep for all of these new systems is definitely time consuming. But, it is oh so very worth it. Seriously. I started with my problem, in The Dinner Dilemma Part 1. Then I came up with the following possible solution (for which I have Jeana to thank) in The Dinner Dilemma Part 2. It is proving to really help me A LOT. You have the option of reusing what you come up with: 4 beef meals, 4 chicken meals, 4 easy vegetarian meal, 4 pasta meals, and 4 breakfast for dinner meals- you can stick with a staple (especially if you are just getting used to planning meals) or you can switch them up every 4 weeks. From there I showed you how I picked my meals for 2 weeks, and under each day, I listed what I needed for the grocery store to make the items, in The Dinner Dilemma Part 3. I made my grocery list and didn't have to go to the grocery store 5 million times in 2 weeks....just once. It was truly bliss. I loved it. I shared with you how it was going in The Dinner Dilemma Part 4. For me, the most important part was picking easy meals. Meals that I didn't have to buy a ton of weird ingredients for, meals that I pretty much didn't even need a recipe for. Im finishing off this post with my finale 2 weeks menu plan below.

Week 3

Mon-
Chili

Tues-
Cinnamon Rolls and Eggs
Cinnamon Rolls

Weds-
Tacos
Sour Cream

Thursday-
Pasta and Alfredo Sauce and Apple Sauce
Apple Sauce

Friday-
Melt In Your Mouth Chicken
Parm CheeseMayo

Week 4

Mon-
Corn Potato Soup
Corn

Tues-
Pancakes
GF Pancake mix

Weds-
Meatloaf and Potatoes
2lbs ground beef

Thursday-
Pizza
Mozz cheese

Friday-
Lasagna
GF Noodles
Mozz cheese

It has proved several things to me. The first is, wandering around the grocery store and trying to plan meals in my head, or make sure that we have enough stuff to last us 2 weeks is a big fat waste of money. I have decreased my grocery spending by over $200 a month!!! Its kind of amazing! Also, the big thing for me is that I have a plan. I don't go into Hell Hour or Killer Hour or whatever you want to call it blindly. I know what Im going to make for dinner and that stress is not on my shoulders. Now, Im still cranky and the kids are still super emotional and cranky, so obviously we all still have to exercise mass amounts a little self control. Its a process. I get irritable very quickly, and Im trying to get a handle on that. Listening to my tone of voice, hearing how I speak to my kids, being present, being quick to apologize....its all apart of growing.

Im working on a few other totally awesome systems that are all apart of my organizational overhaul including fabulous chore charts, budget system and family schedule. I will be sure to post about them as they come into play.

For now...God is still just chipping away at all of the parts of me that I wish would just disappear...He is so good and so faithful....and He has given us EVERYTHING we need to change peoples lives all for His glory. THAT is phenomenal news....because it is not at all us and totally ALL HIM!!!

Bringing Heaven to Earth

When I was a wee lass, I took a life changing trek around the world.  I was 17.  I was alone.  I was terrified.  I sobbed for a majority of the flight.  I was so afraid.  I didn't want to go, actually.  I wanted to stay in high school, keep my blinders on, be a girl who kept on living in a bubble of western life.  God made me go.  You see, He echoed the words "Uganda" in my life, through people, through media...a place that I had never heard of before, it was know the only thing that I could think of.  I lived and breathed Uganda.  God placed a desire, a passion, a love, for ministering to children.  I never thought it was a gift.  I just knew that it was a passion that God only drilled deeply into me.

My first trek lead to another, much longer, month on end trip, which then led to another trip to Uganda and then to Rwanda and Sudan.  Life was never the same for that girl...over a span of 5 years, I had been to Africa 3 times...and my world was fully and completely rocked.  Some of the things that I saw and went through there cannot even be understood by others.  I have journal after journal full of struggles, pain, bliss, healing, love, restoration and so much more.  Uganda felt more like home to me than any place I have ever lived.  It will forever be the most treasured place to me.  Those memories find me in the most random moments...a thunder storm, the certain smell of something burning, the humidity, little moments with my own children...and those moments keep the longing to someday return alive.

Fast forward almost 10 years.  I'm a mom.  I have spent the better part of motherhood being ashamed that I was "just a mom."  I felt embarrassed every time someone asked me, "What do you do?"  Being a mom doesn't require a degree...lets be honest, it actually requires nothing.  So I spent year after year hating my job...longing for the day that I could actually do something worth while....something I could be proud of.  Now, if you have half a brain, you probably think, "Um you're a psycho not thinking clearly."  I wasn't.

One of the biggest, most amazing lessons that God has been revealing to me is what I am about to share.
 
And friends, I'm SO happy to be learning and loving this lesson.  For it is the most amazing lesson of all time.

Satan didn't want me to feel the passion that God gave me for children.  He wanted me to believe his daily lies...which kept me from being the woman God wanted me to be.  Paralyzed, hating the job that God had set before me, I just wallowed.  God didn't get the best version of me....my husband and children got some of the worst versions of me.  Hearing and believing those lies....that I had no vision, no skills, no worth, they were effective falsehoods that cut me off at the knees.

There is a great ending to this story...as is usually the case with God.  God has been slowly but surely teaching me to filter the lies, to take every thought captive, to peel away the blinders....and my memory has been foggy, but friends, it is as clear as can be now.  God reminded me that He placed a love for children on my heart.  He is as passionate about me as He wants me to be for His most beloved young ones.  That fire has been reignited...and it is burning so bright.  He has given me the best job(s) in the world.  I get to raise my children to know Truth.  To be passionate, generous, accepting...to Glorify the Lord with all that they do.  I get to teach them how to be responsible, hard working, compassionate and loving.  Me.  I get that incredible honor.  God hand picked these incredible children just for me, to lead, teach, direct and love.  Its is an amazing gift.  And it has become the most important role to me.  Everything else is second to being a wife and mom....and me putting my family first is NOT missing out.  In fact, anything but putting them fully first (second only to God) is when I would be missing out.

You see...you don't have to be a pastor, or a talented musician, or a fearless evangelist.  What do you do?  What do you like to do?  Do you like to cook?  Start finding people who need a little extra care and make them a meal.  Do you like children?  Go spend a weekend or two a month in your church's childrens ministry and bless parents who get to find healing in God's word because of you and your willingness to use what is in your hands.  Do you like to meet new people?  Volunteer at a homeless shelter, or minster to the hurting in another way.  These things are little....but they are earth shaking to the lives you will be touching.

When I found my amazing church, I was a broken, hurting, sad mom.  I hated myself.  I didn't want to live any more.  It was terribly dark.  I had given up on finding any freedom.  My awesome husband and lovely sister all but physically forced me to go to this awesome church, Pittsburgh East.  I went.  I didn't hate it.  I mean, after all, I got a break from my kids.  I went back....and you know what kept me coming....I got to leave my kids in the hands of loving, smiling people....and listen to the most healing messages I've ever heard.  That broken mommy, is now whole.  All because a few people gave their time, an hour or two a month to care for my kids....so that I could find the freedom that Jesus Christ wanted to give me.  So while it might have seemed to those caring for my kids like they were just wiping noses and calming a crying little one...it is far beyond the truth.  It is because of them that I was able to find the loving, immeasurable compassionate healing that my great God had for me.

Use your talents...use what is in your hands.  God gave you those hands, as little as they might be, to fulfill what He has placed in your heart.  Don't count yourself out.  Serve Him.  Reach your out hands....and bring Heaven to Earth.

The Response Is Always...

Sometimes in our lives, I think we sit here thinking, "Boy, I am really something.  I deserve a lot.  I have every right to be offended when people do inconsiderate things.  I have the right to live my life believing everything my emotions choose to tell me.  I will live my life doing what feels best for me."  I am the first one to admit that I live this way fight this off daily.  But lets be honest here....what a huge delusional disappointment.

Now, I believe that I have a purpose in this world.  It is to serve a God who gave everything for me, a God who looks at me, sees that even though I am SO flawed, His love is enough to cover it all.  He reaches out to me at every moment wanting to pour into me His love so that I can know beyond the shadow of a doubt that there is NOTHING in this world that can separate me from that Love, knowing full well that if I allow myself to even experience that kind of Love for a moment, my whole life cannot be lived the same...because that Love will fill me in a way that every hole in me will be filled and I will, in turn, overflow at every moment with this unexplainable, immeasurable, never ending, cant-be-earned Love.  That is my purpose...to experience this Love and pour it out onto everyone around me.

What does that look like?  Well, in my marriage it looks like- no matter how irritating, inconsiderate, and rude my husband might be, my response is always...Love.  No matter how many times I get my pretty little feelings hurt, my response is always...Love.  No matter how many times I don't feel listened to, loved, respected, heard, my response is still...Love.  Can you imagine what this would look like?  Can you imagine, if my response was always this kind of Love, how transformational this would be?  Can you imagine the testament to Love that this would be to our children, our friends, our family?  In a world that tells us we have to right to feel however we want, that we can believe every lie our emotions tell us to believe, that we are entitled to all of that, this reprogramming is not easy.  In fact, its often a moment by moment battle.  But the looming question of "Can you imagine what that kind of Love in your marriage would look like?" it keeps me fighting like my life depends on it (because actually, its does) to be filled and fill others with the most incredible, all consuming, undeserved Love.

I think my marriage is the hardest place to apply this.  It is the area tested the most, for me.  Second is my relationships with my children.  I know that there are times when Im THE WORST example of this kind of Love.  THE WORST!!!  When I have shut off the valve that allows Gods love to freely flow into me, everyone around me suffers.  I am learning how to quickly forgive, reconcile  and change...beating myself up, withholding mercy, it only escalates the damaging cycle.  Im learning that truly accepting the Love of Jesus on a daily basis looks like me loving freely, unconditionally, remembering that I do not have the right to be constantly offended and entitled...and when I fall short, (just like when others do) that open door of mercy never closes.  And every time I think of closing it on myself or others, I'm turning the valve that keeps that Love of God from overflowing out of me.

I used to think it was so hard to forgive myself for being, um, a human.  But Im realizing how much more effective it is for me to quickly forgive myself and others....because anything else is just robbery....stealing away every bit of Joy, Love and Blessing that God wants to pour into me endlessly.

Oh how he loves us...open up, receive it, and once you do, you will KNOW, there is no other way in the world to respond to His love, other than living your whole life pouring that very Love into the lives of others....because there is no other response.

The Dinner Dilemma (Part 4)

It took me 5 minutes to make last Mondays meal...and I did it at 10am!!

3-4 frozen organic chicken breasts
1 bottle of Wildtree Slow Cooker Sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Leave it in the crockpot for about 6 hours, stirring/forking it occasionally until it all falls apart and then serve on buns.

Im IN LOVE with my new system of meal making.  I love that I really picked meals that were easy, with few ingredients, that taste yummy.  Its the best possible way for me to stick with it.  I want to add in a few other recipes but I think sticking to this basic idea is really going to help me stay strong.  I might be dreaming, and I will have to sit down and crunch exact numbers, but I definitely feel like we have saved money and I KNOW we have saved a lot of time.

Now, that "hell hour" that I was speaking of, well, the kids still act the same....but I have a calmness about me.  Because I have plan of attack.  I don't feel like I too am flailing about.  I know that dinner will be made in less than a half of an hour....and I can totally deal with that.

I am currently coming with with a chore/responsibility plan for our home....which I can't wait to get into place.  Do you use something like this?  If so, tell me about it.  Is there anything you love/hate about it?

And, lastly, God has been dealing so heavily with my heart.  I love it and also, its not easy.  :)  I can't wait to bring it all together and share.

Shiloh Selah Love

Shiloh is the best little thing on earth.  We had a rough start, but we really are falling more and more in love with each other each day...it took 3 years, but Im fully seeing the promise that God made to me when I found out she was a girl unfolding before me at lightening speed.  I was so scared to have a little girl.  I just don't feel like "girl mom" material.  God promised me that the baby in my womb was perfectly hand picked for me....and that baby was going to teach me more than I could ever imagined.  I was so scared to be her mom.  But here I am, and Shiloh is a great teacher.  She is the best little buddy to hang out with.  She does everything with me.  She talks to me while I do my chores.  She helps me with everything!!  She is a rockstar at house hold chores. She can vacuum, put dishes away, clean and organize like no ones business...and can almost do laundry from start to finish.  She is also the electricity patrol....the other ady she got sent to time out and almost had a panic attack because she didn't turn her light off and electricity was just sitting there wasting away for 3 whole minutes.  Its kind of hysterical.  She is such a neat freak...like, to a fault...cough, me, cough.  She is SO funny.  The things that come out of her mouth crack me up.  She loves talking in what we like to call a Kardashian accent.  "Haaayyyy, Mommmmay....I Laaaveee  Yaaaaaou...ohhh kaaaaayyyy."  It is SO funny. The other day she said, "Mommy, Im so big now....I don't lick things anymore!!!  Just you, and me...and no more licking anything else.  That means I'm big."  Ahh, I remember the day when I stopped licking things...oh wait...no, no I don't.  She has the most wild fashion preferences...I love it.  Everyday I look forward to seeing the color and pattern explosion that she puts on.  She loves making "set up's"...which is basically taking tons of tiny things (cars, princesses, little people) and setting them up in a doll house or on the floor  Everything has a place (in her head) and they are always very strategically and thoughtfully arranged.  She loves to dance.  She loves cheese and yo-grit (yogurt).  She wants to be touched all of the time- hand held, face touched, legs touching when we are sitting.  She will let you stare into her eyes and smile lovingly at her for ages.  Its precious (and a little awkward haha).  She misses her California Gramma every day and talks about playing Barbies with her to almost everyone we see.  She loves doing crafts and wrapping fake presents for people.  The list goes on of all her funny little quirks and passions.  I just love getting to know her...and I love falling deeper in love with her every day.

*Photo Credit to amiebradyphotography.com

The Dinner Dilemma (Part 3)

The way we work our budget, every two weeks, we fill our envelopes once I have my grocery cash in hand,  Im off to the store.  So I picked out 10 meals for the next two weeks.  Once I figured out what we are having on which day, I listed the things that I didn't already have in stock at home that we still need go out and shop for.  I made sure that I am making the easiest stuff (And stuff that could be eaten in the car if necessary) on nights that my biggy boy has Karate.  Here is what I came up with:

Week 1

Mon-
BBQ Chicken and Sweet Potato Fries
http://forkinit.blogspot.com/2010/09/crockpot-barbecue-chicken.html

Tues-
Waffles
Eggs

Weds-
Fajitas
Hot Sauce
Tomatoes

Thurs-
Spaghetti And Garlic Toast
Noodles
Butter

Fri-
Burgers and Roasted Potatoes
Lettuce
Tomatoes

Week 2

Mon-
Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/10/slow-cooker-cashew-chicken.html
GInger
Cashews

Tues-
Eggs, Hash Browns and Toast
Eggs

Weds-
Artichoke and Red Pepper Pasta
Noodles

Thursday-
Pizza and Apple Sauce
http://makefoodnotwar.blogspot.com/2008/11/pizza.html
(sub coconut flour)
Apple Sauce

Friday-
Free day!!! sooo...

Sat-
Sloppy Joes, Fries and (box) Mac and Cheese (for the kids)
Fries
Box Mac and Cheese

Im going to make my grocery list according to the things that I still need to buy and Im going to do everything that I can to stick to it. I have a marker board that I may write it all out on or I might find something a little more crafty and cute (Any ideas???) so that each week, it is staring me in the face and if I deviate, hubby and the kids will know!!

I used to do meal planning once upon a time...but I was never great at it. I really tried to start simple but I would LOVE to hear what you do, how you make it work, your process, and how you stick to it. Excited for the week of yummy dinners!!!

The Dinner Dilemma (Part 2)

Weekends are SO busy for me.  Hubby works the first half of the day, then Biggy Boy has drum lessons and then I race off to work for a few ours.  Sunday, we  basically spend the whole day from morning to night, with a little break in between, at church.  It is an awesome thing to be apart of.  We love it, but weekends are busy.

I wanted to make sure I at least did a little bit of prep for this whole dinner dilemma that I am in.  I made a VERY simple list of weeknight meals.  I want to make sure that I start off simple while I am still getting the hang of this.  I wont be doing anything fancy at all just yet.  Remember, the purpose of this is to ease some of the stress that causes "Killer Hour" to be, well, a killer.  I have five categories   Chicken, Beef, Vegetarian  Breakfast For Dinner, and Pasta.  I just listed 4 meals under each category and put where I can find the recipe next to it.  I still have a LOT to do but I don't want to be at a complete loss when I start my shopping on Monday.  So here is what I have so far. 

Chicken Meals
Fried Chicken
BBQ Chicken- Pinterest
Chicken- Friend
Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken - 6 sisters (pinterest)

Beef Meals
Hamburgers
Sloppy Joes
Tacos
Meatloaf

Pasta
Spaghetti
Artichoke/red pepper pasta
Mac and Cheese- Friend
Lasagna

Easy Vegitarian
Fajitas
Pizza
Chili
Soup- Corn Potato

Breakfast For Dinner
Pancakes
Waffles
Eggs, Turkey Bacon
Eggs, Hash Browns, Toast


What I plan to do is create some sort of calendar so that each weeknight is filled up with meals and then make my grocery lists from there. I will keep you updates on my process. Feel free to share what you do for meals and any tips....cause, boy, could I use them!