At my house today . . .

If you were to come into my house right now, here is what you would find:

. . . a little breeze drifting in the windows once in a while
. . . a bit (OK, maybe a lot) of clutter here and there (although the living room and kitchen look pretty good)
. . . peace and quiet because the little ones are napping
. . . two loaves of freshly baked whole–wheat bread cooling on the counter
. . . lovely music from the Steve Pettit team CD "Weep No More" softly filling the house
. . . a happy mama who is getting a few minutes to blog here! :)

Pantry Challenge Update, Part 2

Well, I shopped again yesterday, and while I didn't do nearly as well as last week, I still felt the results were pretty good. I did have to stock up on diapers, Renu contact lens cleaner, etc., which added up the non-grocery portion of the bill. I also stocked up on 3 lbs. of lunch meat (turkey breast) because it was on sale this week for $2.99/lb. I won't bore you with listing all that I bought, but I ended up spending $41.55 on grocery items and $31.56 on non-groceries, for a total of $73.11. I've decided to start making homemade granola again rather than buying boxed cereal, and I'm hoping to start making all our bread, as well. I'm not sure how much this will save, but I know it would be healthier for us.

Here's what my supper plan looked like in the past week:

Thursday: Burgers, corn on the cob
Friday: Out with Jim for our anniversary!
Saturday: Steak & cheese subs, corn
Sunday: Strawberry french toast bake (lunch), Pizza (supper)--that's our Sun. night tradition
Monday: Mac 'n' Cheese (homemade); sliced cucumbers
Tuesday: Grilled chicken, grilled summer squash, corn
Wednesday: Cobb salad wraps (2 weeks in a row--these are SO good!), corn (we eat a lot of it at this time of year, as you can tell! :))

I've been doing quite well at using up food before it goes bad, which is one of my goals. In fact, my fridge is looking pretty bare, even after grocery shopping, which is kind of nice for a change. We have plenty of food, but a lot of it's in the freezer and the pantry rather than the fridge! And it also means we're doing better at eating up leftovers. We'll see how this week goes! I'm really having fun with this. :)

Prayer Request and an Update

First, an update on Sarah, the 9 year old girl who had brain surgery a few weeks ago: She is home now and doing very well! She actually was able to come home about a week after surgery. At that time she was able to walk again, with a leg brace and a walker. Well, she has amazed the therapists and is progressing faster than they had expected. At church this past Sunday, she was walking on her own, with some assistance from her dad, but without the walker! They expect that she will be able to walk without the leg brace soon, and even run eventually. She is a walking miracle!

Second, I would like to request prayer for a friend of ours who was just diagnosed with a brain tumor. The doctors' prognosis is not good, but we have a Great Physician who can do miracles!! This lady's name is Kim. Please pray for her and her family as they go through this very difficult time.

I hope all of you are having a wonderful week and looking forward to a great weekend ahead!!