Menu Plan Monday

Although I don't always get to post my menus, I have been planning my family's weekly menus for about 2 years now. I remember when I was first married and starting my family I never knew what to cook for dinner and had no system in mind. Menu Planning has become such a must for me, I can't believe I ever grocery shopped without my plan. I don't know why it has taken me so long in my marriage to implement this task. However, I am a big supporter of menu planning and would encourage anyone to try it. I love it and it works for me!

Here is what my family is eating this week:

Monday: Grilled Hamburger Steaks with Roasted Onions, Tatar Tots, Pasta Salad

Tuesday: Pizza Stuffed Garlic Rolls, Applesauce

Wednesday: Cheese Manicotti

Thursday: Sweet & Sour Chicken over Ramon Noodles - for the kids (and rice for me)

Friday: Chicken Chili, Corn bread

Saturday: Chicken Fajitas

Sunday: Leftovers

I linked the recipes for these meals, however I use recipes as a guideline and don't always follow the recipe exactly. I add my own variation and do my own thing.

If you want to join in the fun and post your menus or to visit other menus you can visit Laura, The Organized Junkie here.

Until Later,

~Betty~

Back to Blogging

Have you ever had a friend that you love the relationship and enjoy being around, but then life happens. For many reasons time passes and you notice that it has been while since you have talked to your friend or you have been together. I can think of several times this has happened to me.

I start thinking about my friend and realize it has been quite some time since I have talked to her. My desire is to call and she how she is doing and let her know what is going on in my life and find out what is going on in her life, but when I realized that so much time has past I feel a little guilty. Then I start wondering how she will respond since it's been awhile and then I wonder where I should start and what should I say. Well, how I feel about this blog right now.

I have been busy and haven't posted for awhile. I have been wanting to post, but since it's been awhile I have been sure how to start back up. I was hoping that when I came back to blogging I would have great news and to be able to tell you that I found a job, I love it & the people, it's going great, it is just what I wanted, and the pay is more than what I expected. I wanted to be able to share how God provided just the right job, at just the right time, and how God did something really BIG and wonderful in my life that only God can do. .... Well that hasn't happened, but I've been wanting to get back to posting and use my blog to express my feelings and my walk with the Lord. Therefore, I am going to share my difficult moments along with the good things. Right now it seems like I have been having a lot of difficult moments. I don't want this blog to be all negative and just telling about the hard stuff, but that is just where I am right now. If this is to negative for you then you can pray for me and ask the Lord to send me a special blessing that I can share :). In all honesty, even though I am going through a hard time in my life, I have been blessed with special moments along the way. I will just have to remember to share those too.

I'm still looking for a job. I had an interview a couple of weeks ago and thought it went well. I was real excited about the job. I felt like the interviewer described my dream job. When she was describing her ideal candidate I was sure she was describing me. Apparently God has other plans, because I didn't get that job. Therefore, my search continues.

Since the last time I posted school has started back and my baby is now in Kindergarten. So far the school year is going good. Jody, my 5 year old, is excited about school and learning new things. Bethany, my 10 year old 4th grader, is having a tougher year. She is maturing and growing up. I don't recall giving her permission to do that. :) LOL! We had coupons for a free meal at Chick-fil-a so we went there for dinner last night and Bethany was not real interested in the play ground anymore. As Jody enjoyed the tunnels and slides, Bethany chose to stand there to sing and come up with a dance routine. Then last night the school had a movie night and showed High School Musical. We have the DVD, have seen it a million times on TV, but still had to go to see it at school :) LOL! John refused to go see it so we planned to have a girls night out! The girls & I got to the school and Bethany went off in one direction with her friends, Jody went off in the other direction with her friends and I was left there wondering where were my friends? AFTER the movie I met some of my girls friend's mom who I could have enjoyed sitting with during the movie and talked liked everyone else in the room did. Good thing everyone had already seen the movie, because you would not have been able to follow it. The kids talked during the whole movie until the last song when most of the kids all stood and join in to sing the finale with Zac and Gabriela. That was the best! It sure did put a smile on my face and other parents too.

Do you like to go out for breakfast? We do, especially on Saturday mornings. Well because of my challenge of finding a job, that is not a wise choice for us today. Therefore, we have decided to cook our own "family style" brunch. John has made pancakes, I made an egg casserole, Bethany made drinks, and Jody set the table. I tell you that to say that I am now leaving and going to enjoy some family time. I hope you all are enjoying some family time this weekend too. I am going to try to be back more often. During my break I did learn there are people who are reading my blog that do not comment and who I didn't expect to be reading. (Shep, thanks for reading and feel free to comment and let me know you are there :) LOL)

Until Later,
~Betty~

Blog vs. Job Search

Don't know if anyone is still reading this blog or not. Just wanted to let you know that because of my need for a job, I have been using my computer time for intensive job search instead of blogging. I have received the peace from the Lord about my job search that I have been wanting. I am just waiting for the right job to open, but I now have the confidence and assurance that it will happen. I want to thank you all for your prayers. I can feel the difference in my life because of people's prayers. They have made a difference! I hope to return soon with the good news of a job. I do miss you all, but you have to do what you have to do!

Until Later,
~Betty~

Philippians 4:13

I received this in an email and it encouraged me. I aslo thought this described a lot of what I have been going through lately. Therefore I thought I would share this little poem. Let me know your thoughts.


Philippians 4:13 --- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.



The road to success is not straight.


There is a curve called Failure,


a loop called Confusion,


speed bumps called Friends,

red lights called Enemies,


caution lights called Family.


You will have flats called Jobs.


But, if you have a spare called Determination,


an engine called Perseverance,


insurance called Faith,


a driver called Jesus,


you will make it to a place called Success.

Until Later,
~Betty~

Are You Where God Wants You to Be?

My journey continues. I still do not know what God is doing in my life. I saw a church sign that said:


"In life, are you where God wants you to be?"

My response is I sure hope not! I don't know what God is doing in my life or what He is trying to teach me. I know I can not stay where I currently am. Maybe I'm just in His waiting room. As you know, the big thing going on in my life right now is trying to find a job. I have been working temporarily part time at a college book store, well it is no longer temporary. I no longer work there. They are now heading into their slow time and don't need me any more. I'm asking God, now what? I am still waiting for his response. I don't understand why it is taking so long to find a job. Our finances can not handle much more time off. I have been looking back at some of our decisions and wondering if I made the right decisions or not. Maybe I shouldn't try to second guess myself, but I don't know what else to do. As I reflect back on some of the decisions that we have made, at the time we made the decisions I don't think that we acted out of God's will or disobeyed Him. I remember praying that "Lord if this is not what you want for us then don't let the doors open." I think when we made certain decisions we took the information and knowledge we had at the time and did what we thought was best at the time. It's so easy to beat myself up and think I did something so wrong to be struggling like we are. Maybe I shouldn't be blaming myself, but I don't know what else to think or what else to do. I have also been thinking about what I can do differently. I have been praying that God will give me wisdom, knowledge, and new ideas to try. I am still waiting! I am really struggling with my faith right now and praying that God will come through for me. Deep down, I know He will! I'm just waiting for His blessings and asking Him to get me out of this situation that I'm in right now.

I know my posts lately have not been upbeat or encouraging, but I am just expressing where I am right now. I don't plan to stay in this mode, but believe me when I say that I have been praying and trying to see God's hand and His plan in everything that is happening in our lives lately. I just feel down and am using this blog to express my feelings and thoughts. I don't mean to be discouraging or down, but I'm just sharing my journey right now and what I'm currently dealing with. I shared with my best friend, Pat, today that I know this time will pass, but until then I'm struggling and feel like a big storm cloud is following me everywhere I go.

In my quiet time and at church, as an act of my will, not feelings, I have been praising the Lord in spite of my circumstances and how I'm feeling. Pat encouraged me today as an act of my will to not doubt the Lord and trust that He will come through for my family. This is my challenge for the week. I will let you know how it goes and what the Lord does for us.

Until Later,
~Betty~

2 Times to Learn It!

I am learning something about myself. It seems like it takes me 2 times to learn something. For the second time in 6 months our computer crashed and I lost my pictures and my files that I had saved on the computer. The pictures that I lost I will be able to get most of them back from friends and family who have duplicates. The biggest frustration is loosing my files. I had each month of my budget plan and all of John's and my different resumes and cover letters saved on the computer. Do you realize how much time I had invested in those things? I had different resumes and cover letters developed for different types of jobs we have been applying for. Writing and developing these does not come easy to me, therefore to think about starting over does not thrill me at all. The fact that this has happened to me before you would think that I would have known better and would have saved and backed up everything, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I didn't! I am so frustrated with myself. However, I can honestly say that I have learned this time. From this point on, I will save my things to a disk and/or jump drive.

I have missed everyone this week. I have not been able to blog or get on line since Sunday night. So now I will try to catch up with everyone. Also I wanted to thank you all for the wonderful comments from my last post. You all made me cry. Thank you for your prayers. I realized that I have some great blog friends, along with my REAL friends (who most of them I don't think read my blog).

Blogging helps me to relax and I enjoy it, but I now have to go to bed. I work early tomorrow and have a friend from Ohio coming in to visit. I hope everyone has a good day.

Until Later,
~Betty~

Real Life Roller Coaster Continues

My roller coaster life continues. I am trying to find a full time job preferably in the social work field. However, I applied for a job at a child care center close to my home. I talked to the director and she asked me to come in for a formal interview with the assistant director. The interview was short and I felt like I didn't click with the assisant director and that I bombed the interview. Then to my suprise a couple days later (a Friday) the assistant director called me and asked if I was still interested in the position. When I responded yes she wanted me to start on Monday. Because of previous commitments, I told her I couldn't start until the following week. She said OK, we discussed the pay and said she would talk to the owner about the pay rate.

Thinking that meant I got the job, I gave the bookstore (where I was working) my notice and was looking forward to this new job. Can you guess what happened?

For some reason I just had an unsure feeling about this new job, therefore I called to confirm my starting date and time to be there. I was told by the assistant director (the one I didn't click with) that the director was off for the next two weeks and that they world have to call me back and let me know for sure if I got the job or not. My stomach dropped as I was going down that hill. I had already turned in my notice and I didn't have a job to go to and knowing that I NEED to have a job.

I don't understand how in one phone call an employer can ask a person to start a job the next business day and then in the next phone call tell them they may or may not have the job. I also don't understand how an employer could offer you a job and expect you to be available the next business day! I asked these questions to the manager at the bookstore where I'm working and I had a different experience talking to someone who could be totally objective and not someone that knows me and cares about me and wanting the best for me. You know what I mean? I don't mean to say that she's not a caring person - just that she's not emotionally connected or involved with me. I asked for her opinion as a business person and as an employer. She had some of the same thoughts I did. She said it sounded like the director and assistant director had some miscommunication problems. She also advised me that I may want to reconsider if that would be a place I would want to work if I 'm having these kinds of problems before I even start working there. She also asked me if this was really the job I wanted or was I settling? Well, she was right. If I took that job I would be settling and it would just be something until the job I wanted would come along. She also advised me not to job hop, because that will look bad on a resume - which I already knew. Therefore, I have decided that if I do get a call back I am not accepting the job at the daycare center. I did talk to the mangers at the bookstore and they are aware that I am looking for a full time social work job and have agreed to let me work at the bookstore until I find the right job for me. Of course this is only part time so I really do need to find something soon, which is a totally different post all together.

This roller coaster ride of finding the right job and trying to figure out what God is teaching me and wants me to do continues. I still feel like God is not hearing or listening to my prayers and I am going through a dry period in my Christian walk right now. However, I have decided that I am going to Praise the Lord anyways no matter how I feel! I asked a friend of mine this morning to pray for me, because God is not listening to my prayers and maybe He will listen to yours. I am going to ask you in Blog world the same thing. Would you please say a pray for me. I need a special touch from the Lord. I need to hear Him say that He still loves me. I need to hear him say that He has our job and our financial situation under control. I need Him to provide our needs like His word says He will. I need to know that I am walking in the right path He wants me to and if I'm not, I need to know how and where to change. If you wouldn't mind please say a prayer for me. I sure would appreciate it.

Until Later,
~Betty~

Time With John's Family

Having 5 extra overnight guest for a week and 2 others during the day CAN be a WONDERFUL experience! John's family were here visiting from out of state last week. It was good to see everyone and at the end of the week we all were still talking to each other and all in one piece. :) I had to work 3 days of the week, but John was off all week and got to entertain everyone. He did a great job!

We made some memories last week. One night we all were hanging out on our patio while the kids were playing in the yard. We had a total of 4 girls; my daughters, Bethany(9) & Jody(5), and my nieces Kayla (12) and Katie (10). As it started to get dark the kids started playing flash light tag & hide-and-seek. It wasn't long until the adults joined in and we all started playing in the dark. I can not remember the last time I played hide-and-seek. I used to love that game as a kid. I really should put down my guard and play like this more often. We divided into partners and changed partners at each turn/ round and took turns being "it." I'm not sure if the adults or kids had more fun. However, we did create a memory for the girls and the adults. This was a great way to start out our week with the family. Because of other plans and activities this was the only day we were able to do this, but it was such a great time!

The other big thing we did was we went to downtown Atlanta and visited the World of Coke Museum. Our family is a Pepsi fan, but we still agreed to visit :). It was interesting to learn and hear about the history of the coke product and see how it has changed through the years. The highlight of the tour was the taste test of the different types of cokes they serve in different countries. I am not one that is real daring and will try new "weird" foods, but I was open to try the different drinks. The cup was small, so a small taste can't hurt right? I started out tasted a couple apple flavored drinks from Asia and those weren't to bad. So it was all going good. Then came the drink from Italy!!!!! Cheri I thought of you and wondered if you really can get the Beverly drink in Italy? It was the worst thing I have ever tasted. I only took a small sip, but the taste was so intense that it filled my whole mouth. It was awful! After that I decided I would not try anything else and was done with the tour! I heard that they make the Beverly drink out of the peels of grapefruit. All I can say is I will never try that again. According to what I am hearing from others, many people feel the same way I do about the drink. I'm interested to hear from Cheri, who lives in Italy, if they really have this drink there and if you have tried it and your thoughts on the drink! Do tell!

Overall we had a good visit with the family and got to do some fun things. I hope everyone had a good week and I hope to get caught up on every one's blog this week. I also have other things to share about my job and my "real life" roller coaster ride, therefore my next post shouldn't be that far apart. I started a new system to blog and will see how long it last. I have found that I really enjoy writing (with pen & paper instead of just typing) my thoughts, but I really enjoy bloging and sharing my thoughts and feelings. Therefore, I bought a notebook and will write my thoughts, feelings, events, and etc. down then type them on my blog. I'm hoping this will help me to keep track of ideas/memories I want to remember too. We will see how it goes.

Until Later,
~Betty~

New Chapter

I know it has been awhile since I have posted, but there has been a lot going on here and have not much time to get my thoughts together to be understood. This week I have started a new chapter in my life. I am no longer doing child care in my home. I am working at a local college bookstore right now. I have mixed feelings about this and am not sure if it will work out or not. It all happened faster than what I expected, but felt like God was opening the door, therefore I walked through it for now. This job is temporary with a good chance it may lead into something more permanent. I am still looking for another job and would like to work in the Social Work field. I am also struggling with not staying home with my girls, I didn't think that would bother me as much as it is. I know to meet our need financially I have to have something that pays more. Right now I feel like I am on a roller coaster and I can't see the track in front of me to know which way we are going next. I know God is in control, but for someone who likes details it is REALLY hard to trust Him, not impossible just HARD! I know God is working in my life and will get me through this period in our lives, but I sure don't know what he is doing and don't see His plan at all. I feel like I am getting a deaf ear when I pray. I have been a Christian long enough to know not to trust my feelings, but I'm just expressing them here. I am learning to trust the Lord through this and am trying to enjoy my life as I am on this ride. I am praying for God's will and for Him to be glorified.

Now with working outside the home I'm not sure how often I will be posting. We have family coming into town next week so I don't think I will have time to blog. Hopefully I will catch up in a couple of weeks.

Until Later,
~Betty~

SMART Habit Saturday

Last week I decided to rejoin SMART Habit Saturdays. My goal was to start reading to my girls as a family time. Well, we have started this goal. As a family we all went to the library and picked out a book. As a family we are going to be reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. During the day we did spend more time reading, but as a family we only read at night. Therefore, we got off to a good start, but I will still be working on this to form it into a habit.

Other things I am working on this week are:

• walking everyday


• drinking water everyday


• bible reading everyday


• declutter/ organize something once a day


• One load of laundry a day


• keeping my kitchen sink clean

I hope everyone else has a good week. I will report on how these things go next Saturday! Visit Lara here to visit more SMART Habit Saturdays!

Until Later,

~Betty~

Thankful Thursday

It’s Thursday again, which means it’s time to talk about something I am thankful for.

This week I am thankful for my husband. As I posted here John and I were fighting all last week, but we did resolve our issues. This week I was reminded of some good things about my husband.

This week I chose to work on reading to my children as a SMART Habit Saturday goal. You can visit Lara here to learn more about that. At dinner one night I was talking to John about this and explaining to girls my thoughts and plans about this. John knowing my desire took the lead by taking my thought one step further and said after dinner there would be no more television tonight and we were going to the library and spend the rest of the evening reading. As a family we started reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I can not begin to express how much this just thrilled me. John and I disagree on the amount of time we allow the TV to be on in our house, therefore I was so excited when he decided to do this. It made me feel very thankful for him.

Also I was reminded this week that with all the faults and weaknesses that John has that irritated me so much last week, I am glad John is in my life.
I am thankful:

• For who John is and how God uses him
• For when it comes to the big things in life John is a good husband
• He cares about me & our girls
• He loves God
• Someone that I can trust
• Someone that I can talk to
• Someone that I respect
• He knows right from wrong
• He lives a life with convictions

This week our neighbor had a bad situation happen to her and we went over to help out and got in the middle of a mess. I know God had to be guiding us and protecting us, because I did not think about what could be happening or what could have happen to us. We just reacted to a desperate cry for help from a 10 year girl, who was claiming that someone was beating up her mom. We went over and as John broke up the fight, the guy punched John in the mouth and took off running. The police and the paramedics came and took care of things.
I am thankful

• That we were able to help
• That things were not any worse than they were
• Wonderful neighbors that also came to help when it was needed
• The neighborhood that we live in
• For John’s attitude about the whole thing
• Policemen that protect us from violent people
• Wisdom from God that tells us when we can and should help and when we need to let someone else help

Overall this week I am thankful for the life that I live, for my husband, and for my supportive friends.

You can visit Iris at Sting my Heart to see more Thankful Thursdays.

Until Later,
~Betty~

Weekend Reflections

I like to participate in Weekend Reflections hosted by my blogging friend Judi, however I don’t always get my post written and put on my blog. This is something I am working on and trying to record what is going on in our lives.

When I started this post I had every intention to publishing this on time. However, things that I had no control over prevented me from doing that. I want to record and share this story so I decided to still post it as a Weekend Reflection, even with it being late.

I want to start out by sharing about last weekend celebrating my 12th wedding anniversary with my husband. Let me say that we had the best weekend we could have asked for. For months I have been planning on doing something special for our anniversary this year and I wanted to surprise him. I had so much fun keeping the surprise from him and my friends got involved to really get John going and to make him think we were doing something we were not. One friend told him we were heading south to the beach and another friend told him we were heading north. John was so confused he didn’t know what to think.

It started Friday night and I told him our friends Tom & Michelle wanted to take us to this restaurant to “make up for blowing the surprise.” We were heading to downtown Atlanta and when we turn into the parking lot for the Braves vs. Cubs game (which John is a huge Cubs fan) he looked back at me and glared as if I did something wrong. Lol ! I had convinced him earlier that week that we could not get tickets, because I forgot they were in town when I made our weekend plans. Friends have made the comment of how manipulative I can be, but John has forgiven me lol! So for our anniversary John got to watch the cubs win for a change! The first pitch of the inning was a home run for the cubs! The game was so much fun, because we were not just sitting with braves fans, but baseball fans. It was neat to hear the guys take about the strength and weaknesses of both team, not just the positive about their favorite team and the negative about the opposing team. The braves fan that were sitting around us were having fun watching John rooting for the cubs too, knowing that the cubs struggle to win games. It was such a good time and surprising John was the best.

Saturday we went back to Atlanta and went shopping at The Container Store. I have read several blogs talk about this store so when I learned there was one in Atlanta I wanted to check it out and we did. John was even starting to get excited about organization :)! We then went to the hotel and had the whole swimming pool and hot tub to ourselves. I guess most people don’t use the pool in the middle of the afternoon. We ended our evening by going to a comedy club to see Jon Reep. Because of John’s sense of humor and that he likes to laugh, he really enjoyed this. It was our first time to ever go somewhere like that. It was good. I was worried a little bit of what the jokes may be like and if it would stay clean or not. There were some things that I did not approve of, but overall it was good.

Sunday we had a Caravan, a Christian scouting program at our church, celebration for our girls. We enjoyed our girls and then later that night we went to Stone Mountain Park to watch the Laser show.

It was an awesome weekend, I could not have asked for anything better!

This past week Bethany, my 9 year old, went to church camp. She had a great time. I remember as a kid I loved to go to church camp. I’m glad Bethany is enjoying it as much as I did.

The other big thing about the week was that John was off work and we fought all week. It is amazing that we went from having the best weekend ever to having one of the worst weeks of fighting we have ever had. We went from the highest of high to the lowest of the low. The good news is that we were able to work things out and were able to resolves some issues. I have to be honest; I was worried there for awhile. It didn’t look like we were going to resolve some things, but we did! Praise the Lord!

You can visit Judi at Mommy of Two for more weekend reflections.

Until Later,
~Betty~

Thankful for Organizational blogs/ Back to SMART Habit Saturday

I have not always been an organized person. However, for the past few years I have been making it more of a priority. I used to look at my clutter and know that it needs to be put away in a neater and more organized matter, but just didn’t know how to do it. Organization doesn’t come to me naturally, so it has always been a struggle for me. Last year I found some organizational websites which began to help. Then I started blogging and I found Laura the organized junkie and I learned practical ways to become organized and seeing her pictures and reading her posts really taught me how to BECOME organized, not just telling me that I needed to be organized. I learned how containers and boundaries can make a difference in my home and how they can help me to be clutter free and how they help with a sense of peace I can have in my home. Don’t get me wrong, I still have far to go on my organizational journey, but I am so much farther down the path than where I have been. Also just to be clear, I do not judge or think less of anyone else that chooses NOT to have an organized or clutter free home. I respect people’s decision to choose for themselves. The fact is we all have the right to decide for ourselves about our homes. I’m just saying that for me, I wanted things to be different in my home. I was tired of things being a mess, not being able find things, and it always taking hours to clean up to have anyone over for dinner. I find that I enjoy my home and family in a different way. I love the feeling of my home being cleaned and organized.

Also on this journey I found the Flylady who talks about starting out small and setting up routines. She teaches how to become & STAY organized in your everyday life. These principals have helped me to keep my house clean & organized throughout the day, although I don’t follow every single principal of hers.

As I continued to blog I found Lara The Lazy Organizer. She started talking about how smart it is to set goals and form habits. She even started a weekly blog carnival called SMART Habit Saturday, where we choose a new goal or habit to work on each week and post about it on our blog. I started out doing this every week and then I took a break from blogging and stopped posting about my goals and habits. However, these habits have also helped me to have an organized home and have helped me improve other areas in my life. On this journey I am thankful for these ladies that share their experiences, knowledge, and encourage others to better themselves. The knowledge, the habits, and the goals that I formed have made a difference in my life and my home. Therefore, this week I was thinking about things I wanted to change in my life and about my family and thought it would be good to start participating in SMART Habit Saturdays again.




I struggle a lot to get Bethany, my 9 year old, to read books. I know she needs to be reading daily and it is always a battle with her. John and I have been talking about this and discussing ideas of how to get her to read. I was over at Lucy, An Ordinary Mom’s, site and read about her goal of reading to her children and God used that post to convict me to work on that goal with my children. Therefore, I decided that I would make that my goal this week. I am going to go to the Library and check out the Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie, book and I want to have a special time each night before bedtime and read as a family. My thinking is if we try to do this as a family time, Bethany may not fight it as much. Please pray for me I will need it. So this is my goal this week and I will report next week to as how it goes.

Please visit Lara here for more Smart Habit Saturday post.

Until Later,
~Betty~

In my Weekend Reflections I am going to share how my awesome weekend with my husband, celebrating our 12th year wedding anniversary, went from the highest point to the lowest and how we worked it out. Please come back and read my story.

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for God Blessings in my life and how He provides for me when I need him. One issue I really try not to blog about is finances and any situation relating to that, but I really must share this story in order to Praise God and give Him the glory.

Last week I was working on our budget and for various reasons I knew our expenses would be increasing this month and our income would be decreasing, which is not a joyful or fun position to be in. However, I continued to list our expenses for the month and then list our income for the month. In some ways we were coming up short. I rechecked some categories and was going to make it work. I do our budget in a spreadsheet and each bill has a category and I add or subtract money into each category as I need to. One of the categories that we pay is tithe. We believe in giving 10% of our income to our local church that we attend. When we get paid I put 10% of our income into our tithe category and keep track of it that way. Usually what happens on the weeks that we get paid, as I’m sitting in service on Sunday mornings I will write out our check. Sometimes I don’t always remember the exact amount that is in our account, but I’m usually pretty close to the figure.

Well, last week when I was working on our budget I felt like I should figure out the exact amount in our tithe account and write out the check. After figuring out our expenses and income I knew it was going to be really tight and we would be short on some bills and would have to go without some things. I didn’t have any solutions. I prayed about our financial situation as I have been for several months now.

You see, John & I are both looking for a different job that pays better and will be able to take care of our financial obligations and our needs. Therefore we are playing a wait and see game. We are sending out resumes and praying that we get interviews and then jobs, but that is as far as we are in the process. We are waiting for God to lead and open the right doors and trying to trust Him while we are waiting, which can be a challenge.

So back to the budget, I really felt like the Lord was telling me to write out the tithe check first even if that meant other bills may not get paid. To be honest, I struggled and was tempted not to pay our tithe this time. I just couldn’t see how some of our bills were going to get paid and we would make it through the month. As I was struggling with writing out that check I felt the Lord reminding me of the scripture verse

Malachi 3:10 which says:“Bing the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

The other scripture verse that the Lord brought to my mind was Matthew 6:31 – 32 which says, “So do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

And Philippians 4:19 says “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Chris Jesus.”

As hard as it was I did write out that check and told the Lord that I did not see how He was going to provide, but I would trust Him. I gave my plan to Him and told him here is what I’m going to pay and how I’m going to spend our money, if He wanted me to do something different then He would have to provide something different. At that moment I felt more of a peace and trust than I had in a loooooooooong time! When John came home I told him of my conversation with the Lord and what I was going to do and was going to leave it at that. I did not share this specific situation/ concern with anyone other than John. Can you guess what the Lord did?

Later that night I received an unexpected check that more than covered the amount we needed for the rest of bills, and some extra that we were able to go out and celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary. God knew not only what our need was, but what the desire of my heart was too. Because I trusted Him and was obedient, even when it did not make sense to me He blessed me beyond what I could imagine or have asked for. This was bigger and more than what I would have even thought to ask for. God showered His blessing on us and I felt so loved.

I don’t know how God is going to work everything out from this point on, but I know I can trust Him and I know that He will provide and come through for His children. I am so thankful for God’s love, blessings, and guidance in my life. I give Him all the glory. If you have experience similar to this or how God has blessed you at the time you needed it, I would love to hear about it. We should share how God has blessed us and this is my way to share how he is working in my life. I hope God is blessing you too.

Please check out Sing My Heart for more Thankful Thursday posts.


Until Later
~Betty~

Weigh In Update

I am participating in the May Day Challenge, which you can learn more about it here. It is weigh in time again! I have not been weighing myself everyday this week. It has been about every other day and that seems to be working okay. I still only record my weight on Saturdays.

Here are my stats:
Beginning weight: 212.6
Last week weight: 211.6 (which was a gain of 3.8 from the week before)
This week’s weight: 210.0
Loss/ gain: -2.6 :)

Summary of Past Week:
This past week I did not do my structured exercising everyday, but was more active than normal. I did not make my goal of water intake everyday, but did drink more than what I was drinking. I am making baby steps in the right direction; I just have a long way to go. Also this past week was my time of the month so I was always hungry and had a hard time to stop eating.

Plan for this week:
My plan for this week is pretty much the same: to drink more water and less tea. I also need to get back into my exercise plan. I am still setting boundaries for myself and trying to follow through with them.

My boundaries this week are:

• Drink four glasses of water everyday
• Exercising 5 days a week
• No sugar, except in my tea (which is half of what I used to use)
• No Pop (soda) except on Saturday and Sunday and then only one each day
  

My challenge this week will be to follow through.

Please visit Tales from the Scales here to visit more challengers or to become apart of the challenge.

Until Later,
~Betty~

Menu Plan Monday

I really have been learning to be more organized and I love the progress I have made. One thing that I have started awhile ago is planning out my weekly menus. I used to participate in Laura, The Organized Junkie's Menu Plan Monday. Although I have continued making my menus I just have not posted them here for awhile. Since I have been struggling with continuing posting and knowing what to write about, I thought by posting my menus that I keep anyways might help me to get back into the routine of posting on my blog. Therefore, here is my family’s menu this week:

Monday:
Lunch: Chicken Lunchmeat Sandwiches, carrots & peas, and bananas
Snack: Gram Crackers
Dinner: Italian Chicken, cheesy vegetable melody, potatoes

Tuesday:
Lunch: Grilled Cheese, green beans, oranges
Snack: Pizza Rolls
Dinner: Bruschetta Chicken Bake

Wednesday:
Lunch: Fish Sticks, French Fries, Pineapple
Snack: Snack Crackers with Peanut butter
Dinner: Hamburgers, onion rings

Thursday:
Lunch: Chicken Wings, corn, Oranges
Snack: Cereal
Dinner: Fajitas

Friday:
Lunch: Tacos
Snack: Peanut butter bread
Dinner: Omelets, toast, hash browns


To participate or to visit more menus please visit Laura here.

Until Later,

~Betty~

May Day Challenge Weigh In

It is Weigh In time again. I have not done very well this week with my eating and exercising. As much as I don’t want to admit it I had a weight gain of 3.8lbs this week.

Here are my stats:
Beginning weight 212.6
Last week weight: 207.8
This week’s weight: 211.6
Loss/ gain: +3.8 L

Summary of Past Week:
I’m not surprise of my weight gain. I know there were days when I did not make the best food choices this week. I am not going to give up. This is the point where I usually fall off the journey and say forget it for awhile and eat and drink whatever I want and try again later down the road. However, I’m not going to do that this time. I am recommitting to this challenge right now. I’m not going to wait for a few weeks.

Plan of this week:
My plan for this week is to drink more water and less tea. I am struggling with drinking water. I am learning that there is just no easy way to do this; I will just have to do it. I have limited myself to only have Mt. Dew on the weekends, which is such a BIG step for me. I’m going to reflect on why disciplining myself on drinking water is so hard for me. As a mom, I can set boundaries and discipline my children and follow through with my guidelines, but it is so hard to follow through on the guidelines I set for myself. I don’t mean impossible, just hard. This week I am working on self discipline and following through on the boundaries I set for myself. These boundaries are:

• Drinking four glasses of water everyday


• Exercising 5 days a week


• No sugar, except in my tea (which is half of what I used to use)


• No Pop (soda) except on Saturday and Sunday and then only one each day

My challenge this week will be to get back on track and to follow through. To find out more about this challenge or to visit others please check out Tales from the Scales here.

Until Later,
~Betty~

Weigh In

Today is weigh in day. I missed last week and didn’t post. Last week I did gain 1.4lbs, but this week I have a lost of 2.6lbs. This means since the start of the challenge with the losses and the gain I have lost 4.8 lbs.

I have been weighing myself daily and recording it, and I’m beginning to wonder if I will continue to do that. Some days it becomes discouraging to see my weight go up & down so much, but in other ways it helps me to stay on target.

My plan for this week is to exercise 5 days a week and to drink more water. I have been staying on target with my exercise. I really need to work on the water intake. I also plan to eat more salads this week with Balsamic Vinegar Dressing instead of my favorite Creamy Ranch.

We will see how this week goes and I will report next week. So how did you do this week?

Please visit Tales from the Scales here if you want to know more about the Challenge or to read more participants.

Until Later,
~Betty~

Weekend Reflections

This week has gone by so fast. It has been over a week since I posted. I have been wanting to post, it’s just my thoughts didn’t come together. So I thought I would try to catch up on my weekend reflections.

Summer break started this week for my girls. Bethany has already been spending the night at friend’s houses and we have had friends here too. Oh the fun to be a kid on summer break!

My house was clean for about 12 hours!

Friday night we went to my friend Alice’s daughter’s surprise birthday party and it was a lot of fun.

On Saturday I had a chance to sleep in and do nothing in the morning and then in the afternoon we went to the Lake and did some shopping.

On Friday I had some good bonding time with my girls while my day care kids were asleep. All the day care kids left early on Friday. Our family actually got to have an early dinner for a change.

I was able to spend a special moment with my friend Faye, who is like a mom to me. She gave me some mom advice and it spoke to my heart like only she can.

I guess that’s all that has gone on this week (at least all I can think of right now). I know not too exciting this week, but time continues to go on.

I also wanted to say thank you to my blogging friends that stop by to say hi and let me know you are thinking about me and praying for me. It truly blesses my heart. I know I have mentioned before that I am dealing with some issues in my life that isn’t blogable and I could still use your prayers for them. I have not yet got victory in them, but am still praying and trusting the Lord to come through (at least trying to trust and not worrying). I know in my heart He will bring Victory, it’s just the journey getting there is some times hard and painful.

My goal this week is to blog more and share some of my thoughts.

If you would like to visit more weekend reflections please visit Judi here.

Until Later,
~Betty~

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for the gift of LIFE. I am in the middle of facing some hard challenges and I don’t know how things are going to end up, but this week I decided that I was going to enjoy life. I am going to enjoy the good moments in life despite the current hard times & hurt in my life.

Tuesday night was my daughter, Bethany’s, school night at Skate County and we went as a family. I had THE best time. John was taking care of Jody who is still learning to skate, Bethany went around with her school friends, and I was able to skate by myself. It was great exercise and I totally enjoyed it. On the way home that night, while getting the girls ready for bed early so John I could enjoy our “weekly date night” watching House, was when I determined that I really do have many things to be grateful for despite any bad things going on. This didn’t just happen; I had to take action to make it happen.

Along with the hard challenges I am thankful that God gives small blessings:

• Family time toghter.


• My church, Gracepointe, where I am developing good friendships.


• My quiet time I have in the evening to blog, email, & IM my friends.


• The May Day Challenge to loose weight and the new bloggers I am meeting.


• The Christian radio station (104.7 The Fish) that I get to listen to in the mornings and to be blessed by. I love the morning show with Kevin & Taylor.


• The hope that I have to better my life and my family’s life.


• The fact that God doesn’t give up on me and loves me in spite of my weaknesses.
  
  The Bible says that Jesus came to give us life and to give it abundantly and I have decided this week to really enjoy life no matter what! I hope you are having a thankful week.
  
  If you would like to read more thankful posts or to join yourself please visit Iris here.
  
  Until Later,
  ~Betty~