Today Trevor got his first paycheck for his new job and we became, once again, a two income family. Praise the Lord for His provision!
I remember sitting on the couch with Trevor in late February, after his last day of work at Towne Park. We were looking into the future with uncertainty, but with faith that God would provide. I'm sure you've all read Trevor's touching post about the faithfulness, generosity and love of our church, and you've probably even heard us talk about the ways that God provided during our time of need, but I just want to say, publicly, one more time that our God is so faithful! We were able to live for two full months on one paycheck - not neglecting any of our financial obligations, or dipping into our savings account. Don't get me wrong - we were stretched to the max, but the Lord sustained us, strengthened us, and blessed us immeasurably. I will always be a tiny bit thankful for our time of trial; for the extra time it allowed Trevor and I to spend together, for getting Trevor out of a job that he hated, and for giving us the opportunity to really re-evaluate our life and remember the things that truly are important: eachother, our families, our church family, and our faith in the One who truly cannot be shaken. Praise the Lord for all He has done!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Menu Monday
You know how much I love stretching the grocery budget by making menus from ingredients I already have on hand, and this week is no different. However, this week's menu is straight from the college cafeteria. We'll try to health things up wherever possible as we go along, but how can you beat $17.00 total for the week!? Including lots of fresh fruit for breakfast and lunches? Here goes:
Monday: HOTDOGS! Reduced sodium, reduced fat, all beef franks on whole grain buns with freshly opened potato chips and strawberries on the side. This is the perfect meal to chow before heading to the ball fields for a little church softball action. Summertime, here we come!
Tuesday: PIZZA! Not healthy or homemade here. Just plain ol' leftover Papa Johns. Boy is it going to be good though - I think I'll eat a nice big salad on the side to redeem myself.
Wednesday: TACOS! We make our own seasoning, so we can cut out a ton of sodium here. We also buy lean beef and try to drain off most of the fat. Small soft tortillas eliminate the need for fried taco shells, although they are white flour tortillas...the small size encourages us to be careful about our portions. Nice crispy romaine lettuce on top...All in all, not the most healthy meal, but it will be so tasty! mmmmm! Most likely tortilla chips and salsa on the side, in order to ruin any health value we may have added to the tacos, of course!
Thursday: BURGERS! We like to add lots of finely chopped onion and garlic to the meat when we make our patties, along with grill seasoning. We find it helps the burgers to stay nice and juicy on the grill. Topped with cheese for Trev and lettuce for me on toasted sourdough buns. My favorite part of this meal though are the sides: chili roasted sweet potato fries and chili lime sweet corn on the cob...gosh, I'm hungry already.
After dinner Thursday night, we'll be packing to head to KC for the weekend to watch Jenni graduate with a degree in Psychology. Congrats, Jen! I can't believe she's graduating already, and I'm so excited to see what the Lord has in store for her life. Trevor and I are convinced that this includes a move to Nashville, but I guess we'll leave that up to her. :) We're excited to see my family and to spend some much anticipated time with them, and we're also crossing our fingers for a little KC BBQ action whilst we're there.
So that's that. I've got to get back to it...but hopefully more to come this week. Until then, let me know what you're eating this week...
Monday: HOTDOGS! Reduced sodium, reduced fat, all beef franks on whole grain buns with freshly opened potato chips and strawberries on the side. This is the perfect meal to chow before heading to the ball fields for a little church softball action. Summertime, here we come!
Tuesday: PIZZA! Not healthy or homemade here. Just plain ol' leftover Papa Johns. Boy is it going to be good though - I think I'll eat a nice big salad on the side to redeem myself.
Wednesday: TACOS! We make our own seasoning, so we can cut out a ton of sodium here. We also buy lean beef and try to drain off most of the fat. Small soft tortillas eliminate the need for fried taco shells, although they are white flour tortillas...the small size encourages us to be careful about our portions. Nice crispy romaine lettuce on top...All in all, not the most healthy meal, but it will be so tasty! mmmmm! Most likely tortilla chips and salsa on the side, in order to ruin any health value we may have added to the tacos, of course!
Thursday: BURGERS! We like to add lots of finely chopped onion and garlic to the meat when we make our patties, along with grill seasoning. We find it helps the burgers to stay nice and juicy on the grill. Topped with cheese for Trev and lettuce for me on toasted sourdough buns. My favorite part of this meal though are the sides: chili roasted sweet potato fries and chili lime sweet corn on the cob...gosh, I'm hungry already.
After dinner Thursday night, we'll be packing to head to KC for the weekend to watch Jenni graduate with a degree in Psychology. Congrats, Jen! I can't believe she's graduating already, and I'm so excited to see what the Lord has in store for her life. Trevor and I are convinced that this includes a move to Nashville, but I guess we'll leave that up to her. :) We're excited to see my family and to spend some much anticipated time with them, and we're also crossing our fingers for a little KC BBQ action whilst we're there.
So that's that. I've got to get back to it...but hopefully more to come this week. Until then, let me know what you're eating this week...
Monday, April 20, 2009
Menu Monday
I finally got it together and made a menu this week. I'm trying out the couponmom.com method of combining coupons with local grocery store sales, so it takes a little more time, but I made it. We were also given some leftover fried chicken at church yesterday. I saved two pieces to warm and eat and pulled the meat off the rest and threw away the breading. Contrary to popular belief, one should not eat fried chicken EVERY night of the week. :) As such, here's what we're eating this week:
Monday: Fried chicken and crock pot corn
Tuesday: Chicken Taco soup and tossed salad
Wednesday: Chicken salad pita pockets (made lighter with plain yogurt instead of mayo, and of course, lots of yummy fruit and toasted walnuts mixed in)
Thursday: Steak and sweet potatoes on the grill (the last of our amazing Omaha Steaks - sad day!)
Friday: Homemade bruschetta pizza on the grill - this is an experiment (not the grill part, but the bruschetta part) We love pizza and we love bruschetta, so why not combine them into one yummy dish?
Saturday: Brunch with waffles, eggs, bacon and fruit. Hamburgers on the grill for dinner. Sidenote: in the South, you don't "cook out" or "grill," you "grill out". We are "grilling out" with our sunday school supper club :)
Sunday: Church potluck - Fried Chicken (of course) and various starchy sides. I think we'll probably bring a large tossed salad and maybe some corn? Dinner will be either out with friends after The Gathering or home for some popcorn, apples and cheese, our new favorite nighttime snack.So that's it, folks. Trevor played handyman this weekend and replaced our grill hose so in the weeks to come, you'll see lots more grilled food on the menu. Is there much better than cooking outside on a mild spring evening? I love the flavors, the smells, and the fact that I don't have to spend my evening cleaning pots and pans after dinner! So let me know, what's your favorite thing to cook on the grill?
Friday, April 17, 2009
Ah, the power of cheese
I hope to be back later with a little Lubiens update action, but until then, I leave you with this - a video sent to me by a coworker, that warms my heart and again brings to mind the power of good old fashioned song and dance to turn an ordinary morning into a fantastic day. I hope to witness something like it in real life someday. Enjoy!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Religion vs. church
This is Trevor. Jamie is really dominating me on the blog count so I thought I would post one.
I was let go from my job a little over a month ago. It was a rough couple of days. I didn't feel like much of a man. I was dealing with thoughts of not being able to provide for my wife, not knowing where I fit in the big scheme of things and that nasty feeling of rejection. Little did I know that this would end up being one of the biggest blessings ever.
I have deeply and fully experienced the love and faithfulness of God. I have also grown in my understanding of religion verses relationship. First of all, God blessed me with the most loving and supportive wife. Jamie has been everything for me. She has been a shoulder to cry on, a rock to lean on and a friend to kick it with. My family has been as supportive as you can be from 3000 miles away. Now here is where it gets even greater.
Our church, our family away from family, has surrounded us with love and prayer. Not the kind of prayer that you never know about, but this active, aggressive prayer that makes me tear up with disbelief every time I think about it. If I have a prayer cup, it is overflowing. We only told a few of our closest friends about my situation because it's hard to go through a normal conversation and avoid that topic. Out of concern and love, a huge number of people from our church now know about our situation. Since then we have received so many cards of encouragement, grocery store gift cards, money, food and most importantly, love.
This is what church is. This is what the body of Christ should be. It is not a list of do's and dont's or a checklist to be completed before you can join. It isn't a place to debate who is not going to make it to heaven or a place to create clicks in which you can feel good about yourself. It wasn't meant to be a place you go one day a week to fulfill a cheap promise to a God you never spend time with during your week.
It is people. People who are connected by many obscure ways but directly united in Jesus. People who would normally look out for themselves but instead they love others because they have recognized that their life was given to them and they live because God loves us and he died for us so we wouldn't have to die, EVER! That is the church I have been blessed with and the church I want so desperately for everyone to know.
Because the church is people and people make mistakes you can bet that there are mistakes in church. That is where God and His beautiful grace enter. I'm one of those faulty people and my mistakes are many. God is working on me because I am allowing Him to overtake my selfishness. Since I have done that I have been blessed beyond measure. I may not have much money right now but no amount of money could buy love. Nothing can duplicate love. EVERYTHING can be solved with pure, Christlike love. Science cannot explain love. Evolution cannot trace love. We cannot truly live without love.
I wish it didn't take the loss of a job for me to lose my religion about God in order to gain a relationship with Him. I wish it didn't take that but I am so glad it did. My prayers used to be, "God, give me that job because that's what I want and I would be good at it." Now I pray, "God, you know me better than I know myself. You know my strengths because You gave them to me. Help my eyes be open to whatever You have for me. I pray I don't get in the way of what You want because You can do more through me than I could ever imagine. Thank You for Your love. Thank You for all the blessings I tend to overlook. I love You."
If you don't "go to church" that's fine. If you aren't apart of God's church you are missing out on a huge, crazy, loving family and we are missing you.
I was let go from my job a little over a month ago. It was a rough couple of days. I didn't feel like much of a man. I was dealing with thoughts of not being able to provide for my wife, not knowing where I fit in the big scheme of things and that nasty feeling of rejection. Little did I know that this would end up being one of the biggest blessings ever.
I have deeply and fully experienced the love and faithfulness of God. I have also grown in my understanding of religion verses relationship. First of all, God blessed me with the most loving and supportive wife. Jamie has been everything for me. She has been a shoulder to cry on, a rock to lean on and a friend to kick it with. My family has been as supportive as you can be from 3000 miles away. Now here is where it gets even greater.
Our church, our family away from family, has surrounded us with love and prayer. Not the kind of prayer that you never know about, but this active, aggressive prayer that makes me tear up with disbelief every time I think about it. If I have a prayer cup, it is overflowing. We only told a few of our closest friends about my situation because it's hard to go through a normal conversation and avoid that topic. Out of concern and love, a huge number of people from our church now know about our situation. Since then we have received so many cards of encouragement, grocery store gift cards, money, food and most importantly, love.
This is what church is. This is what the body of Christ should be. It is not a list of do's and dont's or a checklist to be completed before you can join. It isn't a place to debate who is not going to make it to heaven or a place to create clicks in which you can feel good about yourself. It wasn't meant to be a place you go one day a week to fulfill a cheap promise to a God you never spend time with during your week.
It is people. People who are connected by many obscure ways but directly united in Jesus. People who would normally look out for themselves but instead they love others because they have recognized that their life was given to them and they live because God loves us and he died for us so we wouldn't have to die, EVER! That is the church I have been blessed with and the church I want so desperately for everyone to know.
Because the church is people and people make mistakes you can bet that there are mistakes in church. That is where God and His beautiful grace enter. I'm one of those faulty people and my mistakes are many. God is working on me because I am allowing Him to overtake my selfishness. Since I have done that I have been blessed beyond measure. I may not have much money right now but no amount of money could buy love. Nothing can duplicate love. EVERYTHING can be solved with pure, Christlike love. Science cannot explain love. Evolution cannot trace love. We cannot truly live without love.
I wish it didn't take the loss of a job for me to lose my religion about God in order to gain a relationship with Him. I wish it didn't take that but I am so glad it did. My prayers used to be, "God, give me that job because that's what I want and I would be good at it." Now I pray, "God, you know me better than I know myself. You know my strengths because You gave them to me. Help my eyes be open to whatever You have for me. I pray I don't get in the way of what You want because You can do more through me than I could ever imagine. Thank You for Your love. Thank You for all the blessings I tend to overlook. I love You."
If you don't "go to church" that's fine. If you aren't apart of God's church you are missing out on a huge, crazy, loving family and we are missing you.
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