What a great weekend we had! Yesterday we were able to get our family pictures taken and I'm so excited about seeing how they turned out! The menu this week is going to be a little short. I only planned meals for Monday and Tuesday as my parents will be here on Wednesday and we'll be figuring out a meal plan for the rest of their visit once they get here. So, here's the menu for this week... Monday- Spaghetti and Meatballs. I use whole wheat spaghetti usually and today I'll be using the leftover turkey meatballs from the veggie mac and meatballs from last week. Tuesday- Chicken Enchiladas. This got bumped from the menu last week and it's one of my favorites so I'm doing it this week. Plus, I have all the ingredients for it still. No need to buy anything for it. I did go grocery shopping, but I only needed to pick up a few staples- things that Aaron uses every day for his lunch and things like that. I spent a total of $19 on groceries for this week. Obviously, because it's a rather short week of planning, that made a difference. Verse of the Week I haven't gone back and looked to verify (and let's just be honest, I barely remember what I wore yesterday), but I'm pretty sure this was the verse of the week a month or so ago. But, it's more of a theme verse this week than a memory verse. The theme for our lives recently has been hurry up and wait. So, I have to just keep reminding myself that God is working even when we can't see or can't tell. And also that God wastes nothing- waiting time is never wasted time. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”- Lamentations 3:24
The Lord is my portion. Get's me every time. We may not be able to see the path ahead of us or control circumstances, but that's ok, because God is enough. He's enough so I will wait. And knowing he is enough makes it possible for me to wait. Redundant? Yes, maybe. But that's truly the point. Be hopeful this Monday knowing that God is enough. And because He is enough, you can wait. And not only can you wait, but you can rest in the fact that your waiting isn't pointless waiting!
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I hope everyone had a great weekend! We used it to rest and recoup from our long week of sickness. But, I'm glad to say we've all recovered and we're all feeling alive again! I thought I'd switch it up a bit this week and start with the verse of the week. I figured this would be a good verse to memorize this week as we're in the midst of the Lenten season and approaching Easter. I've heard this verse many times, but it's not one I've got memorized so I'll be challenging myself with this one! 2 Peter 3:9- The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Ok, onto this weeks menu. So, since we were all sick last week, most of this week's menu is everything from last week. We're supposed to get a big winter storm over the next few days, so I planned some warm hearty stuff to warm Aaron up when he gets home from delivering the mail.
Monday- BLT's Tuesday- Chili Wednesday- Spaghetti Thursday- Chicken N Noodles Friday- Homemade Pizza Saturday- Out So, as you can see, we're keeping it pretty simple this week. I hope that you guys have a great Monday and a great start to your week! If you've followed my blog for a while, you can probably guess what I'm going to say at the beginning of this Menu Monday post. I can't believe it's already past the middle of January. I know this year is going to be fast, but man! It's flying by already! If you saw my post on Friday, you know that I started a Definintely.Maybe. Facebook Page. I wanted a space that would be a little more conducive to conversation. It's easier for direct communication. If you get a chance, head over and "like" it so we can stay in contact. I mentioned a few weeks ago about wanting to memorize a different bible verse each week this year. I figured I'd start posting which verses I'm memorizing here on Monday's. I figured that since Monday posts were committed to physical food it was a great time to add the spiritual food as well. Our Daily Bread! So, this week's verse is... Isaiah 40:28- Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. I hope that you'll join with me in memorizing this week's verse!
Ok, so onto this weeks menu. This is the first week in a long time that I've planned 7 meals at home. We have a busy week, something going every day except the weekend, so I needed to find meals that worked for each night and the time we had. So, here it is... Monday- BLT's. Aaron's off tomorrow for MLK day and this was one of his requests. It's easy and good. I'm all for it. Tuesday- Chicken Alfredo Pita Pizzas. I made BBQ chicken pita pizzas last week and they were so good. I've never made pizza with pita bread, but it was really good! So, we're doing it again! Wednesday- Ranch Pork. This is one of my favorite meals for 2 reasons. First because it's soooo good, but secondly, because it's easy! Pork chops, cream of mushroom, a little milk, and a half a packet of ranch dressing mix. Cook in the crockpot until the pork is tender. Serve over mashed potatoes. SOOOO good! Thursday- Spaghetti. By now I'm sure you're not surprised to see this on the menu. Emmy has asked for it every day since we had it earlier this week. I'm all for it- cheap and easy. Friday- Cowboy Meatloaf. I fixed this for the first time a few weeks ago, and Aaron asked for it again this week. It's a rather complicated recipe, so when I get the chance to get my recipe page updated, I'll add it. Saturday- Sweet and Sour Chicken. This was another Aaron request. Kind of. He asked for chicken and rice and this is what I thought of. This will be new for me, so we'll see how it goes! I found this recipe here. I'll report back next week on if it was a success! Sunday- Taco Salad. Also another Aaron request. Which everyone in our family enjoys. Yum! There ya have. The plan for the week! I haven't grocery shopped yet, that's on the calendar for tomorrow. I hope that everyone has a great Monday! Oh man, what a great weekend we had! And unfortunately I have an extreme lack of pictures! Saturday we took the opportunity to start a new tradition with our kids. We had a yummy dinner of just appetizers and then we baked and decorated cookies and delivered them to some families in our church along with a Christmas carol or two. We had so much fun! The girls liked delivering the cookies and seeing familiar faces and Aaron and I were glad to be teaching them that Christmas isn't all about recieving! I'm looking forward to being able to do this every year with the girls! Yesterday we had a great simple Christmas service at Church and then spent the rest of the day relaxing as a family. I know I said this on Friday but I'm overjoyed at how our holiday season so far has been simple and relaxing. It's given us the opportunity to focus on the important things. Today!!! It's Christmas Eve! This is my favorite day! Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, but the anticipation of Christmas Eve is my favorite. We're taking advantage of free admission at the Indianapolis Children's Museum and meeting friends there for a day of fun! Then we're heading to a Christmas Eve service at a church here in town. Then home so I can go on a wrapping spree! We've kept no wrapped gifts under our tree because, well, they wouldn't stay wrapped very long. So, that's what I'll be doing tonight! Menu MondayI planned meals for Tuesday through Sunday. After Christmas we'll be getting into our new normal routine. Aaron starts his regular work at the Post Office and we'll have more of an idea of what his schedule will be like. Emmy's out of school until early January so we don't have to worry about packing lunches right now, so my grocery shopping was rather easy. I did a stock up shop this week so the fridge and cabinets are full!
Monday- Spaghetti. I figured I'd fix the girls favorite dinner on such a special day. Tuesday- We're having chili with Aaron's family during our Christmas celebration so we'll probably just end up making sandwiches for dinner. Wednesday- Taco Salad. Aaron found a new recipe in one of our Weight Watchers cookbooks so I'm trying that. If it's good or if I change it up a little, I'll link it up on my recipes page. Thursday- Chicken Pita Pizza. Also another recipe Aaron suggested out of the Weight Watchers cookbook. This one is a little out of the box for us so we'll see how it turns out! Friday- Green Beans, Sausage, and Potatoes. A staple in our house. And easy. Perfect winter meal. Saturday- Sandwiches. Easy easy. Sunday- Chicken N Noodles. Another family favorite and total comfort food. We're supposed to get a pretty big snow storm sometime this week, so I figured I'd max us out on the winter food this week! I hope that everyone has a great Christmas Eve! I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! I know we did. We celebrated with Aaron's family and then I shopped till I dropped! I planned to blog on Friday but never found the chance! Well, Thanksgiving is over and that means Christmas! And at our house, that means family visiting from out of town! Because of schedules, we're celebrating Christmas with my parents and sister and her family this weekend. I'm also excited because my parents have been storing our Christmas decorations and I've really been wanting to decorate. On Thursday, we will finally! Because of family coming in, I only planned 3 meals for this week. It was a very easy plan. Emmy asked for one, Aaron asked for one and suggested the other. Thursday and through the weekend we'll plan with my mom when she gets here. Monday- Spaghetti. Emmy's been asking and asking for it and I've been out of spaghetti noodles. So, tonight I finally got some. So finally Emmy will get her spaghetti. Tuesday- Green Beans, Sausage, and Potatoes. This is one of Aaron's favorite meals. And I love it for 2 reasons (beside the fact that it tastes good!) #1- it's easy. It's cooked in the crock pot. And #2- it's quite possibly the easiest recipe I fix. Wednesday- Sausage and cheese omlettes. We love breakfast for dinner and it's been a while since we've had it. Plus, for some reason I've got 3 dozen eggs in the fridge. So, omlettes it is. Ok, so a little bit of a Holiday and Weekend Recap in pictures.... #1- Getting back into a bit of a routine. I'm working on a bible study with a friend and seriously folks, this is one of the best studies I've done so far. It's called No Other Gods by Kelly Minter. #2- I've been able to be in my happy place some this weekend. I've been working on some crafts and projects for the living room redo, and a few small things for the kitchen. #3- Yesterday was the Hubs birthday. The girls insisted on having a tea party with him yesterday morning to celebrate! Well folks, we're getting closer on the living room. The truth is that right now, our furniture is in layaway, and it probably will be for quite a while. So a big living room reveal will be a long way off, because our ugly furniture just won't do this room justice. So, I'll give sneak peaks here and there as we get things put together. I'll post a few more sneak peak pics as we get stuff done. Have a happy Monday!
Yay!! It's Thanksgiving week! I love the holidays! And I love that my meal plan for this week was rather short. I planned Mon- Wed and that's it. I did my grocery shopping last week, so I most of what I'm cooking this week is from the pantry. As usual, recipes are linked to my recipes page. Monday- Chicken N Biscuits. Easy peasy. And my kids eat them. Tuesday- Spaghetti. Don't really need much explination for this. Wednesday- French Onion Burgers. Always a favorite in our house. Thursday of course is Thanksgiving, which we're celebrating with Hubs family. I'm making cheesecake for that. Friday I didn't plan anything. Not sure what the plans are for this day yet so we'll probably just order in or eat out. And Saturday is Hubs 30th birthday celebration dinner! Some people know this about me, but if you don't, I'll put it out there. Music is a big thing for me. I played a few instruments (not well) in jr. high and high school and I'm not musically inclined in the way of acutally playing it. I love to sing and that's about all I do. But I listen to music constantly. I listen to all types of it. Normally, I wake up in the morning, feed my kids breakfast and music goes on. Sometimes it's on all day. It wouldn't be uncommon to find the girls and I having a dance party in our kitchen on any given day. Over the last few days there's been one song in particular that I find myself listening to more often than most others. Sometimes on repeat. I wanted to share it with you today in hopes that maybe it would bless you as much as it has blessed me. I wanted to see if I could find the music video, and there wasn't one. I'm not going to upload just the song, so you'll get the lyrics instead. Which is the important part anyways.... Times by Tenth Avenue North
I purposely listed the lyrics in 2 columns because I wanted you to be able to see how the song is written. It's written as a call out to God. It's someone reaching out to God and God's response to that person. I believe 100% that the Bible is God's written word to us. But I also believe that God has blessed some very talented song writers and speaks through them as well. I know He's been using this song to speak to me almost hourly the last few days! I hope that maybe sometimes the truth of this song will bless you too! Lyrics posted here. Monday! Monday! Monday! I don't really dislike Monday's. I feel like my week normally goes so quickly that I can't complain about the begining of a new weeks. This week is rather slow on the social calendar so I've got meals for every day. Our church is having our Thanksgiving Feast on Sunday, so I don't have a meal planned for that day, although I am fixing green bean casserole and cheesecake. So, I don't totally get out of cooking for it. I'm trying a new recipe this week. I'll link them up to the original recipe or to my recipe page. Monday- Pierogi Casserole. I fixed this 2 weeks ago and it was delish! But don't think for a minute that this will help out your calorie count for the day. This is RICH comfort food! But oh so yummy! Tuesday- Chicken Spaghetti. This is my new recipe for the week. I've heard people rave about this recipe so I'm very excited to try it! Wednesday- Fried Chicken. It's been so long since I've made my mom's fried chicken. Sorry, no recipe for this, it's kind of a family thing! Thursday- Sandwiches. This was Aaron's request. I have been not putting this on the menu because he takes sandwiches for lunch to work, but when I asked him for ideas for this week's menu, this is what he asked for. Thursday is going to be a very busy day for us, so I'm good with easy dinner too! Friday- Biscuit Pizza. This is easy easy easy and pretty tasty actually. The girls love them because they're easy for them to eat. Emmy loves fixing her own. Saturday- BLT's. Pretty straight forward. And actually, we're not tomato eaters in this house, so normally we eat BL's. I use turkey bacon for a little extra calorie cut. Sunday- Fishers Point Thanksgiving Feast Extravaganza! Not a complicated menu this week, and I was able to get all the groceries we needed for this week and next for about $70. I had a lot of these ingredients on hand. Next week's menu will include Thanksgiving! Oh my time is flying! The last week of September. WHAT?! That's so crazy. I want time to slow down! Either that or come up with a better way for my brain to absorb all the memories I want it to so I can remember all that happens. Well, come Monday, come menu. I worked on it yesterday for a little bit. Nothing fancy happening here this week. It's a pantry week, so I'm workin with what I've got here at home. So, my kids might be a little bored with our meals this week. But, they won't starve! I only planned through Thursday because I'll be able to grocery shop on Friday. Alright, this is what this week looks like... Monday- Potato Soup and Grilled Cheese. I got a mix for the soup, so it'll be a low maintenence meal, which is what I want today! Tuesday- BBQ chicken. I'm going to fix it in the crockpot so I don't have to worry about it. This absolutely nothing fancy- chicken breasts and some BBQ sauce. I don't add the BBQ sauce until closer to the end though because I hate when it scorches on the sides of my crock pot. Wednesday- Church night! So, as usual, we'll have sandwiches. Aaron's been on a bologna kick, so I'm sure that's what his sandwich will be. Mine probably turkey, and the girls PB&J. We keep it real. Thursday- Spaghetti. I'm pretty sure I could fix this twice a week and my kids would scarf it every time. They LOVE spaghetti. And I like it because it's cheap! Win Win, in my opinion! Friday- Not quite sure yet. Friday is my birthday, so maybe I'll fix us something super special. I just don't know what that is yet. :-) I'll be eating lunch out, so it'll have to be something that can stand up to my birthday lunch! Weekend Recap
I'm actually having to think really hard about what happened this weekend. Obviously, it made an impression on me. Oh yeah... Saturday I went and got my license renewed. It was absolutely not as traumatic as I expected it to be. My picture is actually decent. Minus not being able to smile with my teeth and making sure my hair doesn't touch my eyebrows (which is nearly impossible). Yesterday was the 2 yr anniversary of our church. It was nice to be able to worship with our church familiy and celebrate two awesome Spirit filled, Spirit led years. I'm excited to see what the next 2, 5, 20 years look like for us! We started up women's bible study again. And I'm so glad! Man, I missed having time to fellowship with the women from Church. We're doing a study called Seed, by Pricilla Shirer. So far it's been 100% on point, thought provoking, and a great Bible study. Last night we talked about Enough. I won't say much more though, because tomorrow's blog post will be taken from it. I hope that everyone has a great start to the week! The 2nd full week of September already! Man, this month is going just as fast as the last. And pretty much all the others before it! We've got lots going on this week, as usual! Or weeks have naturally picked up pace with school starting! I was able to use a lot of what we had in our fridge and freezer for meals this week, which is good as this was pantry week! I only had to pick up a few things from the store, and I had a gift card so I got away with spending nothing! Plus, I had some great coupons! Free eggs with a purchase of $10 or more and $1.50 off any cheese purchase. I got some sliced cheese from the deli, and it was $2.89 before the coupon. $1.39 isn't too bad for about 15 slices of cheese! I only planned through Friday for this week. Alright... Here's the menu: Monday: Eggs, Sausage, and Hashbrown. Breakfast is always one of our favorites and it's easy and cheap! Tuesday: French Onion Burgers. Hamburgers browned on the stove and simmered in french onion soup. Lay a slice of cheese on it right before serving. It basically needs no toppings or condiments! Wednesday: Sandwiches. We eat on the run on Wednesday because of youth group. Ham and Turkey sandwiches it is! Thursday: Pancakes! My girls love pancakes. I figured we could handle breakfast twice in one week! Friday: Pizza. Friday is almost the only day this week we've got nothing happening, so we'll order pizza and have a movie night with the girls. :-) All in all, I spent about $15 for the groceries we needed for this week. Oh man, how do I recap this weekend?! Some of you may not remember, but this last weekend was my first ever 5k race! My friend Sarah came in from Michigan and we ran (well, ran and walked) the Color Me Rad 5k. My goal was to complete it in around 40 mins. Well, there were so many people that it was almost impossible to run. And when we got to each color station where they throw the color on you, we had to stop and wait in line to get through. We completed it in around an hour. I knew it wasn't a timed race, but I didn't realize how congested it was going to be! When we did have a chance to run, it was really hard because our pace had to change constantly because we were weaving in and out of people. I'm looking forward to doing a pretty straight forward race where everyone is running and it's not as crowded. But, with that being said, we had a great time! It was a great first race. The atmosphere was electric and everyone was very excited. After it was over it was cool to look out over the crowd and see the formerly white sea of people that were all covered in color. Here are our before and after pictures.... I look a little bit like an oompa loompa because I had an orange color pack busted right over my head. And I still have a few traces of that tattoo on my arm. :-) We had a great time. I think that maybe next year we'll do it with the girls. There were a lot of kids and they all seemed to be enjoying it. Later that day, we had the opportunity to go downtown Indianapolis with Sarah and her husband. We ate dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (one of my favorites) and then we spent some time walking around and enjoying the city. Sarah and her husband and never been downtown Indy, and it was a beautiful night. We stopped at The Circle to take some pictures on the Monument. Here is Sarah and I in our matching Color Me Rad shirts... As you can see, the color washed off pretty well. There were still a few traces, but for the most part, we got squeaky clean. We were able to hang with them for another day, and they left after lunch yesterday. We had a great time with them and I hope we can do it again soon!
All in all, it was a great weekend! What a crazy weekend! We were busy busy busy! But, I'm glad it's Monday. I'm ready to be back in a routine. My parents where here over the weekend and normally when they're here, we end up with a lot of leftovers. So, my menu this week will include a lot of leftover meat and things. There are only a few things that I'll have to pick up from the grocery store. I like weeks like this! Monday- Chicken Salad. We have leftover baked chicken and Aaron and I have both been craving chicken salad so I'm going to fix more and we'll go light tonight with chicken salad sandwiches. I use chunked chicken, halved grapes, chopped pecans, diced red onion, and chopped celery. I use a little bit of Miracle Whip light and some pepper. It's soo good! Tuesday- BLT's - We have leftover bacon, so I figured why not have BLT's. We love them and they are E-A-S-Y! Especially if the bacon is already cooked! We don't like tomatoes, so we really only eat BL's. I'll only have to get some lettuce and we'll be set! Wednesday- Wednesday we'll be eating at Chick-fil-A. Thursday- Grilled Chicken. We've been eating a lot of grilled chicken this summer. I love it, and I've got a ton of frozen chicken breasts in the freezer, so I'll probably do grilled chicken kabobs. I marinate it in Italian dressing and grill away! I'll get some fresh veggies to grill with it! Friday we're having a girls all nighter at our house and the guys from the youth group are going to play laser tag. I haven't decided yet what we're having. I don't really want to have pizza, but I'm not sure yet. We just had a super busy weekend and we're heading into a super busy week! Eek! |
HEY, I'M JESSICA!
Christian. Wife. Mommy. Daughter. Pastor. Friend. Saved.Redeemed. Beloved.
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