Meal Plans for busy families that will save you money, too

http://www.e-mealz.com/amember/go.php?r=57947&i=l0


This site offers meal plans, recipes, and grocery shopping lists for families and for couples...plans include point system, low fat, low carb, vegitarian, and plans for several different grocery stores - based on the stores weekly sale ads. Its a great resource and you should check it out!

Summertime

Summer, for my family, means that our kids (all four of them) sleep a little later in the morning and take a bit more time to get around. Appointments and activities are later in the day, but are more fun that the typical hum-drum of being in school with picnics and visits to the park, an occasional movie, and trips to local museums. Baseball, swimming, going to the lake and spending late nights out front with the neighbors are routine. Video games occupy us on rainy days and we make trips to the library. The kids are having fun and Mom is a bit more stressed out at times, but its summer and that's the way its supposed to be, right?


As it nears the first day of school, I cant help but wonder if this summer has been the best it could be? Have we spent enough time just enjoying the company of our family, friends and loved ones? I think there are times when I have been so focused on all the things I have to do before an activity or on all the things I'm neglecting while we're doing something else to really allow myself to have a good time with my children. I've spent several days wasting away time on facebook and twitter, and that means I've not given my all to my kids. We've eaten out more than we should,which means we're not eating as healthy and we're spending way too much money. I think that Summertime has become a time for me to be lazy, as a mom, and thats not good.

I've also been lazy in my relationship with Christ. My family and I have skipped church way too many weekends and I've ignored my prayer life and my personal time with the Lord. I know I turn to Him when I need something, but I haven't spent near enough time praising Him for the blessings of Summer. I also haven't used this time to teach my children about these blessings from above. They love to be outside playing in the sun, with their friends, and expending their energy - each of those things is an amazing blessing from the Lord and it is my job to remind them of that.


I think that I will challenge myself to use the last few weeks of summertime to remember and focus on whats most important - my relationships! My relationship with my Lord, my husband, and each of my kids. I will unplug theTV, log out of facebook and step away from twitter each day to spend time with them, meaningful time, and will put the Lord back onto my priority list. Will you? Are there relationships that deserve more of you? Think about it.

Is the story good enough to tell?

It can be incredibly frustrating to reach a point in your life when you look back on your life and wonder about the point of it all. In my 31 years of life, I've experienced emotional, physical and sexual abuse. I've seen my parents torn apart by domestic violence, alcoholism and adultery. I've been ripped away from my family and spent six years in foster care. I have been married for a decade and have given birth to four children. I've experienced the devastating loss of a baby in my womb. I've questioned the leadership of my husband and we've experienced financial struggles beyond what we ever imagined. We've contemplated divorce and tried to imagine what that would do for our children, in the end, reaffirming our committment to each other. Coming out of these struggles hasn't always been easy, but I know there has to be a point to it. What is the purpose?


How can all of this be used for God's glory? What I have learned from it and how can I possibly put it all into words worth reading? A story like mine must have some value, or else, what was the point. I truly believe that God knows all the events of our life and he knows how we will respond. Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) says "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Doesn't this mean that all of my struggles and valleys in life were planned and never intended to harm me? I choose to believe that this is the case, so how can these experiences be used to prosper me and to glorify God.